Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

Well, after yesterday's ski-o I was a bit worried about completing this course, as I was under the false impression that there was a 3 hour time limit. So 3 hours was my goal, and I think that I had I had even a little more practice and a bit of a cleaner race that would have been possible. As it was, my skis were feeling sticky and my arms leaden when I finally crossed the line.

So I had a lot of time to think about ski-o when I was out there, and I think that I like it. It gets placed into the same category as bowling in my mind, with sports that seem easier than they really are. I would have gotten a bored with just skiing for 3 hours, but I was always having fun during the race. I got to watch as Erin, Giovanni, Greg, and Randy skiied past and they are really good skiers and fun to watch.

I also have an unhealthy fascination with trying to find places to take my skis off and just run. Some places it helped me I'm sure, but probably lost more time than gained :) It broke up the routine though, and cycled through the various muscle groups so that by the end I was pretty thoroughly wiped :)

This time I was closer to beating other real skiers and now I've got half a mind to buy some of Ed's rollerskis and learn some technique so that I can get this sport a bit more. Thanks to all the people involved with the meet!

C • Woo! More skiing! 2

Blue Long Distance - Splits

Well, not truly prepared for this thing, but nothing ventured nothing gained, right? A bunch of the CSU crowd was helping put on the ski-o champs, a bunch more were going up to race, and a few more of us were going to "race" :) , plus Dad was aiming for a medal in his class and Sam was off galavanting with Cristina so it seemed like a good way to spend the weekend.

We arrived and had fun hanging out with people and then all too suddenly It was time for me to start. The snow was thin, but my real trouble came from not understanding a lot of the ski-o conventions and not getting a hang of the map at first. The little "maze" areas with dotted snowmobile tracks were new to me, and I was confused at first about how I was supposed to proceed. I got turned around trying to follow one of these trails to #3, and then followed that up by missing the V.A.S.T. trail to 4. tried to get down the hill on the way to 8 and lost control among the trees so I sat down and slid on my butt the rest of the way, but my SI got pulled off in the process. Sigh, I always hate when something insignificant gets in the way of forward progress... luckily not much stress for me because I was just out for fun. Cut through the woods on the way to 10, that was an adventure in a good way.

So, I was only about 30 minutes slower than the leaders and I took mostly the same routes as they did ( nice maps displayed afterward with the courses and markers to trace their routes). Good fun, and the first time in a really long while that I did anything on skis ( apart from last weekend) let alone ski-o :)

I did beat Ian, but this was his second time ever on XC skis and, I believe, the first time he's been on XC skis without breaking a pole :)

Blue Middle Distance - Splits

No running today, getting to work early so that I could drive Sam to the airport and then head north to VT. Sam's flight added some drama, but she was remarkably calm, and eventually things worked out okay. Traffic was miserable all evening, driving along Storrow was bad on the way to Logan, and so I took the Pike back out to Cambridge to get Lori and that was even worse, after we swung past and got Ian, 93N was also predictably horrible.

Running to work, didn't run home but rather took the shuttle home and went out to dinner with Sam. She claims that going out to dinner doesn't count as a date. Well, date or no, it was delicious and more fun than hurriedly packing for the weekend which is what we did next. I packed all of my warmest clothes, she packed all her coolest....

To work. A busy day.

From work. I don't like worrying about hitting start and stop on my watch when I'm running, but some of these stoplights are considerable waits and so I think I'll try to switch over to logging running time only. I still can't really be bothered to wait for satellites to find me though. Maybe if I was more serious about logging miles and accounting for each little bit then I'd make a point of waiting.

I'll flesh these entries out more soon. Not to worry, just seems as if Brendan's Street-o has worn me out and sleep is climbing the ladder of priorities :)

C • Orienteering 1