Training Log Archive: W

Well, I said I was going to go and ski, and I did, temperature be damned. When we started, it actually wasn't quite SO cold, around -26. I dressed to the nines (so classy), and also really warmly, almost to excess. My legs, core, and arms were nice and toasty. My fingers eventually thawed out, my face was rather frosty but okay. However, my feet froze and simply did not thaw out, despite my biggest socks, and boot warmers. I was able to tough out an hour and five minutes with thoroughly numb feet, but the resultant hot shower was painful. I've frostbitten one toe before, and although I could tell it wasn't close to that happening, it was still on the less comfortable side.

I should be nicer to that toe. One day it might just up and leave.

-19 yesterday, now -24. So.... treadmill time. I mind the treadmill less and less as I run it, I'm actually looking forward to jumping on it more often when I get back to Finland, although I never went to the gym to actually check them out. Here's hoping they go fast!!

Anyway, I didn't really get up as early as I should've, so I only squeezed in 30 minutes and a bit of strength before the shop opened and it would be inappropriate for me to wander around really sweaty.

My foot has felt improved in the last few days with only skiing, and I suspect that these Mizuno Wave Riders are not helping the cause, possibly because of the narrowness of the toe box. They are not coming with me back to Cold & Dark, and I hope my Brooks order arrives before next Friday, I've got several things in that order I'd really like to take with me.

Wouldn't you know it, the temperature has gotten lower, now -25. So.... evening trainer time!

Tomorrow, though, I'm definitely going skiing, to just feel all hardcore and whatnot. It'll be great.

I was concerned I wasn't going to get to do anything today. We packed up from Canmore and got going on the road relatively late, and were knowlingly driving directly into a monster snow storm with chaos on the highways. Naturally, when we got past Airdrie, the conditions rapidly deteriorated to about 50 meters of visibility, crazy icy roads, and smash-ups galore. At one point there was a bit of a backup of traffic, so I went off to a side road, and came across the collision itself, at least of the remnants, wherein two now empty cars had slid off the highway, down a hill, through a ditch, crash through a barbwire fence, and settled on the access road, about 30 meters away. I ended up weaving between the two cars, and most alarmingly, driving over the remnants of the barbwire fence the car had dragged with it and strung across the road.

It was a solidly white-knuckled drive after that all the way to Red Deer, before it got better. People driving like maniacs, occasionally zero visibility, and stunningly, many, many people driving without their lights on. People are craaaazy.

Anyway, the point is, I didn't think I had the energy to do anything (that and the temperature tanked from -1 to -19), but I managed to pull myself together and ride my trainer.

Good job, me. But maybe don't complain about it so much next time.

2015 is going to be the year of optimism!

Durn it, it just never really ever got warm in Canmore, despite Environment Canada's insistence. And second darn it, instead of bringing my good classic skis, I brought my sister's good skate skis. Not even close with that confusion.

However, by using my rock skis, I felt more courageous to head off in the non-lit darkness at the nordic centre and ski on trails I really weren't sure were going to be in very good condition. This turned out to be fantastic, because the conditions were just fine, and the moon came out and lit up the trails so well, I didn't need no stinkin' light. Out all by myself and possibly a few cougars, you can never be sure. Great evening to be out, I wish I'd skied longer, should have done a few more loops!

Arrived in Canmore! .... to cold weather and not great snow conditions. The schedule of Canmore is often strangely different than normalcy, and makes it usually a tad difficult to get in two workouts a day. That's okay, though, I feel like its not a bad time to spend a few days hanging out and doing almost nothing. I'm not used to doing almost nothing though, so its some anxiety-inducing times.

Anyway, eventually, when 5PM rolls around, the Nordic Centre is generally free and some of the trails are lit, so its time to go out for a nice cruise. My feet didn't really respond well to my boots, or possibly moreso it didn't really respond well to the ungodly firm-ness of the trails at the Nordic centre. All that manmade snow makes it awful firm.

The last workout of 2014! My feet felt a little happier today, and I did a bit more of leisurely cruising around the lit loops of the nordic centre. I really thought about continuing since I didn't feel particularly tired and had nothing better to do, but decided it was probably late enough that people would be waiting for me to come home and have dinner.

Did a bit of arms-only strength work in the middle as well, and got quite sore in the pecs. This is good, because it lets me know that I still have pecs.

The last workout of 2014! My feet felt a little happier today, and I did a bit more of leisurely cruising around the lit loops of the nordic centre. I really thought about continuing since I didn't feel particularly tired and had nothing better to do, but decided it was probably late enough that people would be waiting for me to come home and have dinner.

Did a bit of arms-only strength work in the middle as well, and got quite sore in the pecs. This is good, because it lets me know that I still have pecs.

Arrived in Canmore! .... to cold weather and not great snow conditions. The schedule of Canmore is often strangely different than normalcy, and makes it usually a tad difficult to get in two workouts a day. That's okay, though, I feel like its not a bad time to spend a few days hanging out and doing almost nothing. I'm not used to doing almost nothing though, so its some anxiety-inducing times.

Anyway, eventually, when 5PM rolls around, the Nordic Centre is generally free and some of the trails are lit, so its time to go out for a nice cruise. My feet didn't really respond well to my boots, or possibly moreso it didn't really respond well to the ungodly firm-ness of the trails at the Nordic centre. All that manmade snow makes it awful firm.