Training Log Archive: kensr

A few laps around trails and then exploring upper network with Dan and mom. Needs a little more snow, as back trails have not been completely smoothed.

Around hiking trails on beater skis. No grooming, just snowshoe tracks. Dan did fine with back couuntry skis, I struggled with my old skate skis.

Another half dozen laps of the fields at dusk, just to rub it in.

Great holiday season, with the kids home at various times. Good snow and ski conditions; lots of fun skiing. Target was 300 km for the two weeks, ended up at 278, which came pretty close.

C • 7:30 PM 4

So here's the summary for this year and the past couple:

................................... 2008..........2007........2006..........2005
XC Ski.........................1266km.......1121.........857...........1549
Running (incl o-races......931mi.........670..........636............685
& rogaines)
Bicycling........................204mi........407.........1666..........1015
Roller ski........................198mi........223

Weights............................23x.........17x..........33x............31x

Training hours..................435...........451..........404...........537

Birkie time.......................3:16......no times......3:37..........3:41
Manchester....................35:12.......37:29........37:58........37:23

Observations for the year:
1) Hours remain pretty constant, given the balance between job and family. Unlikely to see any significant increase here.
2) Continue to increase the xc km. Big number in 2005 was the combination of a long spring and early start to the next season. More importantly, the quality of the training is going up, thanks to coaching by Greg, Alex and Rangeley. Race results show it, with dropping times at the Birkie and other marathons.
3) Also saw a nice increase in running miles. This broke me out of a multi-year running slump. Made some progress on speed; this is a hard, upstream battle. No longer can I drop down to the track and knock off a few quarters to tune up the speed. Got to work hard during the 8 month running season.
4) Biking is now a secondary recovery sport. When I'm not running in the summer, first choice alternate is roller skiing. If that won't work, then maybe some bike time. You can't do it all.
5) More personally, relieved to have mom's situation in CT resolved after hard and frustrating effort by G.

Goals for 2009
1) Birkie under 3:00.
2) Vdot 46
3) Manchester <34; Springfield <28
4) XC ski 1400 km; run 1000 mi; roller ski 400 mi; bike 300 mi
5) Weights every week

A few fluffs overnight. Quick groom and easy ski. Dan was out with his back country skis exploring all the little trails.

Picked up a couple globs of Bombi grease that leaked from the tensioner cylinder, put a quick stop to any glide. Have to retap the zerk fitting hole.

Break for a party, then back with skis cleaned and rewaxed with LF7. Slow. Switched to rock skis with LF4 which were much better, despite temp up around 20F. Guess the wind blown snow has really sharp crystals and is acting colder than the thermometer would indicate.

Also smoothed out the trails with the snowmobile as it got dark, and that slicked things up, too. Dan took over and did a few more laps.

Ski-O Sprints Kingdom Valley Nordic -- postponed into Feb sometime.

Cold snow, gradually warming up. Most was doing long laps down golf course and back, 4-6 km per loop. Nicely groomed and hard, pretty fast. Good venue to work on open field speed. Tried to settle into hard, even rhythm and a little less thrashing at max speed, with coaching from Greg.

One venture up the hillside into the Mt Peg trails. Not good cover, lots of sticks and worse.

Found new section of trail on the flats that goes past the health club as classic tracks and then opens up into skate trails for another couple km. Nice addition.

Time trial on flats. Good hard run. Came in second on time; Greg also finished, coming in later.

Very cold, single digits. Groomed with snowmobile pulling a couple tires; worked well packing down the loose powder cover. Did all the narrow trails.

Fields were wind blown and loose. Best skiing was in the pines, despite lots of little branches blown down. Wove in and around all the funky side trails, drops and cutoffs.

4" new snow this morning, very cold and fluffy. Rolled, but really didn't pack it. Skied late afternoon until sun dropped and finished under the light of a bit of moon and Venus. Temp in single digits and snow squeaky and slow.

On the trails with Alex & Ed, Greg. Ground up frozen granular was pretty good in the fields, dirty in the woods.

C • snow cover, temp, and melt maps 5

Late afternoon session. Granular snow had set up from earlier and was fast, but bumpy. Had to quit early to collect pickup from mechanic; expect to need snowplow tomorrow with snow coming in.

Up to Craftsbury, more for a change than anything else. Conditions similar to home -- tilled granular with shredded sticks here and there. Skied the Race Loop and Ruthies several times, nothing else had been groomed. That was enough for a good workout.