Training Archive: jimaIn the 29 days ending 2008-02-29:
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| F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | |||||||||||||||||
Friday Feb 29 | ||
| XC Ski (skating) 40:00 [2] 7.7 km (5:12 / km) +165m 4:42 / km | |
| shoes: Yellow Fischer Skating | ||
| Dusk ski at Gunstock. Everything is set out for this weekend's BKL festival. Too bad they could have raced today - it was perfect. Snow cover is phenominal.
With another 4-10" predicted over night and into tomorrow, conditions could be softer. Hopefully it won't be snowing too hard. Sertup is great for spectators, but if you can't see through the snowfall it all for naught. | ||
Wednesday Feb 27 | ||
| Note | |
| Another 8-10" of fairly wet snow. Started yesterday afternoon, picked up throughout the evening.
Did a partial driveway clearing about 9 pm last night to stay ahead of it, plus Beth and the boys were out visiting a friend and thought it would be good to move stuff with one less vehicle in the way. Up again at 3:45 to clear a path through the end of the driveway so Beth and Tim could get out to drive another friend to the airport. Snow bank from plow, which had already been through!), was about waist high, but fortunately the snowblower was behaving today. I do think it's time to get a replacement, but with the winter we've had, the only ones still available are the dinky underpowered ones, or the clear-your-driveway-in-two-passes behemoths. Final (?) clearing at about 6:30 am, cleared around the hydrant and hit some of the backyard paths I've created to give Ryan (2-year old grandson) a place to run and explore. | ||
Sunday Feb 24 | ||
| XC Ski (skating) 1:20:00 [3] 16.5 km (4:51 / km) +366m 4:22 / km | |
| shoes: Yellow Fischer Skating | ||
| Skating at Gunstock. A beautiful day, but I wasn't waxed for the variable conditions. Some sections till nice dry cold powder, parts had been hit by the sun and softened with some glazing.
Quite a few tourers out, stoppped and chatted with a few. Wasn't pushing too hard - feeling a bit worn down. | ||
| Snowshoe 48:00 [1] 2.5 km (19:12 / km) +60m 17:09 / km | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| Late afternoon jaunt at Ahern with Jon. Only saw one sub-moron on a snowmobile - he was relatively well behaved. | ||
| Upper Body (driveway ice) 15:00 [2] | |
| Took advantage of the warm temps and full sun to remove some more of the ice at the end of the driveway. In anticipation of more snow on Tues-Wed. | ||
Saturday Feb 23 | ||
| Snowshoe 1:00:00 [2] 3.5 km (17:09 / km) | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| Rainbow Falls loop in Plymouth with Diane and Pete. About 3" of fresh powder on top of everything else. Well defined path, a few gnarly stream crossings, mostly from the steep approaches. Falls ice and snow covered, but still a very pretty spot.
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| Snowshoe race 40:30 [4] 5 km (8:06 / km) +100m 7:22 / km | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| MadburySnowshoe race, put on by Acidotic Racing. Mcuh better than my first attempt at Gunstock, at least from a psychological perspective. Start was on a double track trail, so the 86 racers were pretty well strung out. I was at about the center of the pack. A few plodders ahead of me, so there was some aggressive passing (get up a head of steam, wait for an opening to one side or the other, lunge to the side to pull even, then cut back onto the trail.
Technique failed one time, when the guy I was passing stepped on the tail of my snowshoe, locking it in place and send me down hard. Was waiting for the snowshoe on my back with him going over the top of me, but it didn't come. Was with a small group from Boston Athletic most of the race, a bit of passing back and forth. Last 2 km of the course, up and over HIck's Hill, were challenging. Still need to find a pair of racing snowshoes. | ||
Monday Feb 18 | ||
| Upper Body (Ice Removal) 1:00:00 [2] | |
| Multiple sessions of chopping up ice and shoveling it off the driveway. With temps up into the 40's and pretty steady rain, things started softening up.
Had built up over time with packed snow, freeze, thaw, run-off from the roof, etc. Generally 2-3" thick but some section up to 5". Arms feel like spaghetti - some residual from yesterday's Windblown ski-o. | ||
Sunday Feb 17 | ||
| XC Ski warm up/down 15:00 [2] | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| XC Ski race (skating) 1:27:00 [4] | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Windblown ski-o. Mass start - a lot of congestion at several points. A few routes choices that were sub-optimal, but I did get all the controls with a few minutes to spare.
A few terrifying moments coming down some of the hills and cutting across between trails on rock hard crust with minimal control. Some of the groomed stuff was in biscuit sized chunks, so control was questionable. On my butt on some of the donwhill sections, which didn't really slow me much. Need to relook at the map and seee if I can figure out distance and climb... | ||
Saturday Feb 16 | ||
| XC Ski 30:00 [3] 6 km (5:00 / km) | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Setting out the near controls for the ski-o, with my mind racing the whole time, trying to figure out what I'd forgotten.
Was very pleased to see that all the trails had been groomed including the one higherup on Cobble - otherwise the Blue course was going to have a tough climb and an exciting descent. Should have rousted myself up earlier and gotten there in time to ski to the southern part and check controls and trails, but too late to worry about that. | ||
| Note | |
| Was a bit disorganized - wasn't sure until the last minute how I was going to establish start order. Pushing to get things going just at 10:00.
Finally just made a list of all the entrants by course, and started putting start times next to names and calling them out. Screwed up a couple of folks - gave Candice Raines a red map instead of a green and then gave Bob Lux a green map instead of red. Bob didn't care one way or the other - he seemed perfectly happy with just doing the green distance. Candice was a little upset - wanted to compete in her age category. She'd also been thrown by the one short trail that hadn't been groomed and was roped off as closed at one end (the end she approached). She saw the roped off trail, thought "closed - not a trail" and kept going back and forth looking for the trail she was supposed to cut over on. Concerned about a couple of folks who were out longer than I was comfortable with, but they came back OK. Sprint went very well. Decided to have 1 minute start interval (for ease of calculating times), but to start racers in pairs to increase the sense of competition. Wish I could have been out in the center of things to see which way folks went. 2 second difference between first and second. Was feeling great about it as most of the folks were in and excitedly comparing routes and discussing relative choices right near the start / finish. Using the GNA clubhouse made things a lot easier. Not sure Andy had tolkd anyone else we were going to be there, although I'd also talked to Igor. A couple of folks were waxing and scraping inside - Nina was there and grabbed a broom and dustpan and was quickly cleaning up after them. Not sure if she was irritated or just a neat freak. Very grateful for help from Tim, Ben and Jon. Tim helped get stuff set up prior to the start, before he had to head off to work. Ben showed up shortly after and helped with start/finish, then brought Jon back after lunch to help with the sprint and clean up afterwards. | ||
| C • gunstock ski-o 1 | ||
| XC Ski 30:00 [2] 4 km (7:30 / km) | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Control pickup at the end of the day - a good feeling.
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Friday Feb 15 | ||
| Snowshoe 3:00:00 [3] 12 km (15:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| Stomping in trails and setting out the southern controls for Saturday's event. Had been out last weekend setting the same trails, but hte 8" of snow then rain had hidden most of my previous effort. Not sure if a couple of the cutovers I created will be used by anyone, but I convinced myself that it was a logical route for me to take while setting them.
Ran into a couple of maintenance guys with chainsaws while I was on the Knoll and Rock Loops. They were clearing out the numerous bowed over trees and fallen branches. Talked to them for a minute or so, probably thought I was nuts, as I approached from through the woods on one of my cutovers. Was pusing to get this done, as I still have to print maps for tomorrow, decide what to do about the map exchanges (really don't want to ski out to the southern tip of the map to put out the second maps for the Blue and Red courses). Did have the thought to just pass out both maps at the start, back to back. Folks are going to be more concerned about getting their maps into the holders and looking for the first control, than in studying the second map to see if there was an advantage to be gained by looking at it early. Other than knowing you'd see a control you would be coming back to later, I don't think it will make much difference. | ||
| XC Ski race 37:21 [4] 7 km (5:20 / km) | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Night ski-o at Weston. This was a hoot!
Mass start 3 map motala. Skimpy snow cover except the loop where they make snow. Had warmed up during the day, but was cooling down enough that it was hardening pretty fast. Slick, fast and fun for the most part. Scale (1:3500) threw me at first. Got the first control quickly, then over-shot the second one I was going for. Realized it when I was almost to the far end of the dogleg at the NE corner of the map. Since I had a control there, got it and was more careful on the way back. Don't think I lost too much time as was an out and back for that part of the first map. Northern most fairway had decent cover, except for the one large puddle that had frozen smooth and slick. One just south of it had a lot more bare spots, exposed paved cart tracks, etc. Got my ski stuck under the twine holding the covering on one of the snowmaking pipes as I went over it. Lost a few seconds having to back out if that. Got all the contorls - first for the M50s. | ||
| XC Ski warm up/down 25:00 [1] | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Warmup prior to the race. Making sure my headlamp would stay on.
Cool down afterwards - picked up a couple of control stands after helping Aims with scoring - a confusing effort, as many folks had punched several controls in inventive places. | ||
Tuesday Feb 12 | ||
| XC Ski (Skating) 41:00 [3] 8.6 km (4:46 / km) +190m 4:18 / km | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Evening ski at Gunstock.
Had my map holder with the Green course for this weekend in it - was goign to ski that to get a sense of the flow, after putting out a few stakes for some of the close in controls. However, my headlamp died about 50m after I started, must have been turned on in my bag. Just enough moonlight that I was able to ski, but couldn't do anything with the map. Did the whole time with the mapholder and headlamp, not that they were of any use to me. Good training in preparation for the Friday night ski-o - being comfortable with the extra stuff on my head and chest. It's a different feeling skiing with very limited light. Trails are groomed well enough that there's no problem skating smoothly. Downhills feel very fast, I feel every ripple in the trail. GPS says I topped out at 27 km/hr on one downhill, over 20 km/hr on a couple of others. Downhill slopes lit up for night skiing, some extra reflected light on that side of Cobble Mtn. Mentioned night skiing by headlamp to someone at a meeting yesterday evening (to the effect that I'd rather be skiing than at the meeting). He said, "of course, you don't do that alone, do you?" and seemed rather surprised that I do. My response was "I used to be young and foolish, I'm no longer quite so young." What's the worst thing that could happen to me - crash and burn and be lying there until (or if) the groomer comes by in the early morning? Sometimes carry my cellphone with me. There is a good signal on most of the trails, assumes I'd be able to call for help. Oh well, I have seen numerous critter tracks out there, at worst I'd be a nice evening snack. Critters gotta eat too... | ||
Sunday Feb 10 | ||
| XC Ski race (Ski-o Pre-run) 1:21:00 [4] 13.4 km (6:03 / km) +340m 5:22 / km | |
| shoes: White/Red/Black Fischer Skatin | ||
| Pre-racing the Blue course for next weekend's ski-o. Mostly took the right hand route, which wasn't always the best way to go. Generally satisfied with control placement and route choice options.
Another 3-4" of pretty wet snow. Had been groomed in many areas, but some trails untouched. Went across the marsh - not too bad. Was wet enough that I had some kick with skate skis. Could have a winning time of about an hour. Got a few strange looks, with the map holder. | ||
Saturday Feb 9 | ||
| Snowshoe 3:30:00 [2] 12 km (17:30 / km) | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| Putting in some snowshoes trails for next weekend's ski-o at Gunstock. Plenty of time to think - made a few adjustments on courses.
About 6" of dry powder on top of 8" of heavy wet stuff. Out on one of the marshy areas, the rain from earlier int he week had collected on top of the existing ice, and it was soaking up to the surface in a couple of sections. Pounded on the ice with a stake and wasn't able to punch through. No suspicious creaking, it should be plenty safe unless we get a long thaw. Just checked the forecast - looks like more snow over the next week and a few nights down into the single digits. As long as it's not frigid and blowing next Saturday... | ||
Friday Feb 8 | ||
| XC Ski (skating) 59:30 [3] 11.6 km (5:08 / km) +250m 4:38 / km | |
| Evening ski at Gunstock - 6-7" of new powder on top of the 8" of heavy wet from day before yesterday, with a day of heavy rain in between.
Pretty good conditions - powdery areas tended to be slow, wetter areas starting to firm up and felt faster. Contemplating control locations as I was out there and whether or not to add in some snowshoe trails. I know where I'd probably add them, but unsure as to if it adds to the mental challenge. Got my headlamp back from Photon Fusion late last week - old one was a discontinued model, not repariable, so they just sent me a new one of the new model. Single button, as opposed to the 2 buttons hidden under one rubber nipple on the old model. Throws out some good light. | ||
Tuesday Feb 5 | ||
| XC Ski tempo (skating) 32:00 [4] 6.75 km (4:44 / km) +148m 4:16 / km | |
| 3 x one of the race loops at Gunstock - a little shorter than I thought it was, but still a good workout.
By headlamp on 8" of new heavy wet snow.. Must have been packed mid-morning, then the GNA kids on it this afternoon, a few ruts and area starting to crust up. Pretty fast, even though I had a totally inappropriate wax on. Still pretty warm - stuff melting and falling off the trees onto my head. Fog in some of the low lying spots. | ||
Sunday Feb 3 | ||
| XC Ski (skating) 1:20:00 [3] 13.6 km (5:53 / km) +290m 5:19 / km | |
| shoes: Peltonen Skate Skiis | ||
| Pretty decent conditions today, given the crap we got yesterday. Was mid-30s, so it was loose granular. A few degrees colder and it could have been really slick. Probably need to throw some more wax on my skis and fill in a couple of good sized gouges I picked up at some point.
Checking control locations for the ski-O in 2 weeks. Will be nice if all the trails are groomed and open as they were today. Spent a few minutes chatting with Igor - the UNH ski team was up training to day at GNA's invitation. Saw a few fast guys I didn't recognize - that's where they came from. GNA is planning quite a few more trails - mostly up higher on Cobble. | ||
Saturday Feb 2 | ||
| Snowshoe 40:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| At Ahern. Probably didn't need the snowshoes, as the stuff we had last night was heavy wet ice on top of packed trails.
About 40 minutes of walking, but pushing the pace. | ||
| Snowshoe tempo (running) 20:00 [3] | |
| shoes: Axis 930 Snowshoes | ||
| Combination of uphill, downhill, and some on the flats.
Actually was easiest running on the snowshoe trails - the snowmobile trails were chewed up a bit, so it was sloppy going. Wondering how much of a difference smaller and light snowshoes would make - I assume quite a bit. | ||