Training Log Archive: Torino

Did the same loop as on Monday and was a little less slow. It was still hard. Normal times for me should be now under 50 min. It will come again.
Started in a drizzle which got heavier by the end.

Working day in Interlaken. Was really stressed as there was tons to do. Besides the normal going-through watering all the plants and taking care of them plus the decorations.
Then, as renovations are going on where I used to teach and have now my working space for the plants, I had to tidy up, throwing away lots of plants that I had been nursing and re-potting others and re-arranging and finding spaces for some of the huge plants. After 6 hours of this heavy work, I was so tired.
But I still had a birthday party to go through that we were throwing for 4 birthdays in February with a very pleasant group from my former classes. Lots of fun. Got to Bern after midnight!

Crosstraining in the evening; it was quite hard but pushed through it.

Matti days with walking, lifting him a hundred times (10 kg each time), carrying him and walking with him as he walks quite well holding just one hand. And he has boundless energy and curiosity.
As usual from Tuesday mid-afternoon to Wednesday late afternoon

C • Baby core workout 1

An absolute beautiful spring day and SO warm. (the crocus and liliy-of-the-valleys have been blooming for about 3 weeks in the gardens, and now the primroses are blooming as well).
Had another almost sleepless night and felt so crabby. The lymph drainage therapy did wonders to my mental state and the cold that's still hanging in there.
Ran the course, not too fast nor too enthusiastic, just did it to be out and enjoy the sun and warmth. Had sore muscles from classic skiing yesterday and felt that. Little strength in my legs today.

Met up with Sandra at Les Bugnenets-Les Savagnières and looked after Matti while Sandra did a skating loop. Beautiful sun up here and as always, enjoyed being with Matti. This time he was supposed to sleep but he refused for the longest time. We walked far up a little road towards the Chasseral. When I sang to him, he hummed back, then made his special noises that crack me up. But I tried not to laugh, so he eventually fell asleep.
After Sandra left, also did a loop, but this time the slush, slow snow had turned to harder, sometimes glazy tracks. It was hard to get uphill sometimes. It felt really good to be out in the sun and warmth despite my cold. Did not push it, just found a happy medium.

A very slow run as I had little energy. The cold is creeping back. And I had three nights with less sleep than needed for my beauty. So I took it easy, enjoyed being out, spoke twice with people about their dogs and more, basically, just jogged.
Urs came back from his business trip with (another and even more) severe flu and coughing attacks followed by fever. No fun.

C • Dormi! 2

Sneaked in a crosstrainer workout watching some of the Olympic skicross competitions while Matti had the after lunch nap.
Watched Matti for 2 1/2 days and we had lots of fun together. Very intense days with lots of lifting (strength), agility (trying to change him or give him a bath, going up/down our spiral staircase) and endurance (he goes non-stop when he's awake). This little guy is so special and curious about the world and its social habits such as toasting with his cup for every gulp he's taking and squealing with delight.

Quick run before pickung up Matti who will be staying with me until Friday evening (and Urs is gone :'-/).
Felt quite good, was surprised and pleased, of course.

A beautiful sunny day!
We climbed Mt. Chasseral from Les Savagnières. It was an incredible climb, just such beautiful country. We saw a herd of chamois along the way. The restaurant on top of open so we could get out of the cold wind. Actually, at that time, the wind was whipping up the fog from the lower areas (Bernese middle land, including Berne) and obscured the views onto the Alps at times.
On the way down, we first did another loop into a pleasant valley, but then steeply down through woods enjoying the deep snow and partially "skiing" down on our snowshoes. Lots of fun.

C • Schöne 2

C • Bellissima 3

Overcast day but with 40 cm of beautiful new snow! We drove down to La Corbatière and went up to La Communal and walked along the top tracking in that new snow all the way. The open woods were dotted with incredibly beautiful big fir trees.
I had problems fighting my flu-symptoms at the beginning but then the meds kicked in.
My Garmin ran out of juice, but we actually walked down to La Sagne and down in the valley back up to where we started.

Met my previous (Interlaken) fitness-/Nordic Walking group on Tête-de-Ran for a 3-day weekend of snowshoe touring. Was not sure I could actually lead the group because of my long-lasting dear friend cold/flu. But it actually was not that bad, I let the men break trail through snow on the uphills and when I had moments of lower energy, they waited for me, but never more than a few seconds.
I rushed the group out the door after we had checked in because a storm was supposed to move in. We started on the East side of Tête-de-Ran and still had a beautiful view onto the Alps all the way down to Mt. Blanc. But to the West the front with dark clouds was waiting. At 1:30 we finally ate our sandwiches but during that time the clouds moved in and we were in the thickest of fog. The group wanted to move on and climb Mt.Racine (!), so I led them through the fog with visibility of maybe 20 m. Luckily, I know the area quite well and knew when to turn off to "climb" our point.
On the way back I opted to follow the cross-country tracks which were barely visible but they were marked with stakes. We made it back to the hotel just when the wind picked up and wet snow started whipping our faces. It had been fun anyway.
A nice fondue rewarded our efforts in the evening while the snow was piling higher and higher on our windows.

The first day without meds. Some of my old energy is back. Went running, at the beginning the legs were still kind of wobbly, but then the control came back and it was not too bad. Felt good anyway even though the nose is still running faster than the legs.

In the afternoon I got some energy back and felt like I needed to get out for some fresh air and sunshine (we have springlike weather), so I walked, talked to my brother, and did some light jogging. Felt good. The cold is becoming manageable.

A day spent mostly at home with this nasty cold feeling miserable.

Note: on Thursday night another cold or flu hit me like a dump truck. My head was full of styropor and spinning, throat hurt and nose started running. Slept very badly.

Had to go to work anyway as the plants were thirsty and needed some care.

Today was supposed to be the only good day of the week, so I switched my work day and went skate skiing instead. Went up to Les Bugnenets (where the restaurant and house is where Didier Cuche grew up in). I needed to check out the area for a snowshoe trip I had planned with a group for next weekend.
Unfortunately, up there I found some sun but also a very strong headwind which made it quite cold and hard to ski. It was a lot of uphill and even though the snow was fresh, it was newly tracked, the skis just did not run that well. It was quite tough. Wanted to reach the Vue-des-Alpes but turned around before on the highest spot. Coming back and lots of it downhill was a little faster even though I stopped often.

C • Wow! 2

Crosstrainer training is still kind of hard to push through the 45 min. I'm amazed. But it's good for my calves.

On the spur of the moment decided to escape the fog and go up to the Gantrisch and enjoy the first sun on snow in a loooong time!
Felt good even though had no strength and energy in my legs and took it easy. Lots of stops enjoying the view.
I was stupid as well as I chose the harder loop with more climb than I had in my legs for. But I made it back.
Even up at 1600 m I heard birds singing and it was 2.5 degrees warm!

Grey, dreary-kind of day. Kicked myself out the door, but really was too tired for this. Turned around earlier and got back ok. Finished by going up the 103 steps up to "our" bridge.
Another night where I could not fall asleep again. What's going on? Constellation of the stars? Today, I was really, really beat and dragging.

Note: slept well and a lot :-) and it showed!

Another note: since about 5 weeks we are having these south-westerly weatherflows, bringing masses of rain (to Italy) and snow on the south side of the Alps and Austria. In our area it means warmish temperatures, birds singing, unstable weather but warm and very little snow a little higher up.
A very mild "winter" so far. January was 3 degrees above the mean average.