Training Log Archive: GlenT

Moody Spring Snowshoe Race. A fun but tough race. With about 4" of fresh snow, the entire race course was soft, including the snowmobile track which makes up the first and last ~1.2 miles of the race. The middle 3 miles of single track was tougher than last year, when it was a trench about 2 feet deep, because the bottom wasn't as firm. Finished 24th out of 58, about 2 minutes slower than last year. Temps in the upper 20's with light snow at the start.

C • Moody Springs 2

Around the backyard, trying to keep the pace easy. 3" of new, wet snow on top of the compacted, crusty old base (probably still 6 - 12"deep). Broke through in a few places but mostly stayed on top of the old stuff. Low 30's and overcast.

Rowing. ~2.3 km.

Intervals - 6 x 0.25 mi @ 7:00 pace with ~90 sec recovery. FR trace includes 10 minutes of erging before treadmill.

Hiking at Sabino Canyon Recreation Area in the Coronado National Forest. The area is located at the very edge of Tucson at the base of the Catalina Mountains (if not for the National forest, Tucson would extend/sprawl further into the foothills so the rich people could have their houses even higher up on the hills). Started at the Visitor Center heading up towards Bear Canyon, then doubling back and heading a bit up Sabino Canyon, which is one of the few places in the area with continuously flowing water, resulting in a riparian/desert ecosystem. Checking out more flora and fauna - no significantly different spottings than in Saguaro NP yesterday. Actual hiking time was about 2 hrs. Drove back to Phoenix afterwards to return to winter on Wedesday.

Earlier in the day we drove up the Sky Islands Scenic Byway which climbs from about 2000' at Tucson to over 8000' (9500' if you hike to the top of Mt. Lemmon) and offers spectacular views in the Catalina Mtns. and of the Tucson valley and the various mountain ranges surrounding it. Upper 60's in the valley, 40 with snow on the ground above ~7000' but gloriously sunny the whole way.

Hike at Saguaro NP East. Meandering around the trail network in the desert. Actually out about 3 hours. Sunny and upper 50's - doesn't get much better than that! :-)

Wildlife spottings include a jackrabbit, some lizards, cactus wrens, gila woodpeckers and a phainopepla. Also heard some coyotes but didn't see them.

And there were lots of saguaros and other assorted cacti.