Training Log Archive: nicki

I wanted a short and hard ski today before the long slow one tomorrow. Went alone to Banff and skied Cascade Fire Rd and back. I've never been there before but can't believe I didn't know about it until this year. A great place to ski if you like long flattish conditions. Trail conditions improved the further I went up the valley with great track set after the bridge. Felt good to hammer on my own in the mountains.

C • Use caution 2

10 min treadmill warm up, then

6 min sprints (20:10)
4 min fast skipping (20:10)
4 min bicycle crunches (20:10)
4 min plyometric double leg jumps (20:10)

100 boy push-ups (yah!)
tear-jerking foam roller love
other random stuff.

.....and I finally tipped the scales at 152 lbs. I like to think that I'm storing up for the upcoming season of ultra-marathoning and my extra energy source will put me well ahead of my competition. If only... Sigh!

pitiful

Definitely more of an adventure ski marathon than a loppet. Yikes!
I unranked myself at the start and promised not to get on the podium (like THAT was going to happen at my debut ski race) and enlisted Claire to ski leg 1 and 2 for me because my back is still iffy. She got the big downhill from the chateau which made me happy. I got the interesting adventure section on leg 5.

What a fun day, though. I LOVED it. Already can't wait until next year. I hammered leg 3 and passed 6 guys, had some problems on the big icy uphill of leg 4 and then chickened-out on the downhill and ran down the road instead (totally legit in this race). Leg 5 was just plain messy but so much fun. Had a fabulous stack...right on the 1A roadway and right infront of a car of tourists. The back of my right ski went over my head as I faceplanted in the snow and almost impaled my boob on the end of my pole. Fun times. The swamp area was crazy.....hard to see the trail for the thickets and I got tangled in a bush a couple of times. Very skinny, windy, bumpy, hazard-ridden section and I barely got a glide stroke in. Popping out onto the Sunshine overpass felt good. So did the 800 m run over to Healy Trailhead (I should stick to running). I caught 3rd and 4th place girl at that point but they had sneakily swapped out their classic skis for skate skis and blew through the last 10 km in a third of my time (also legit). A fun sprint into the finish along the Bow River right into the middle of Banff.

I'm pretty buggered but not completely wrecked so I'm feeling good about the Birkie now.....which they promise is a million times smoother and faster!!

I need to go get the bases of my skis re-done after they got shredded from the rocks and trees and other interesting sticking-out-things.

C • I was wondering how your da... 3