Training Log Archive: MJChilds

Ski-O Score-O (followed by snowshoe and bike-O) at Ohana Family Camp in Fairlee put on by Kevin Booker for UNO. Beautiful area. Did not expect good snow conditions (were not put on website) so planned to snowshoe. Was advised to skip snowshoes and just walk/run on hardpacked trails. Worked great until I tried to shortcut and ended up post holing off the trails. Exhausting. Don't do enough ski-O to remember that you need TRAILS to get from A to B. That resulted in bad route planning because I was not restricting my route choices to the ski trail network. Oops. Did a lot of retracing my routes because I wore microspikes which kept falling off without my noticing, so I had to go back and find the one that kept falling off. Finally took off both of them and had more fun. Took photos and forgot to punch. Oh well. It was not a competitive event and I really loved the woods, the terrain, the camp campus and the views.

Glad I got out. The fierce winds of the previous 2 days were dying down, the big meltdown resulted in glazed snow, but they still had a good 18" on the ground and the grooming was good. Got to get my forest fix and my O fix. Should include that it was about 50:50 running: walking.

Same workout. Walking part. Seems better to enter this as two activities even though the walking and running were interspersed in the same session.

The usual w Carl. Sunny! 45 deg. but very windy. Still some ice on the road and path, but avoidable. Carl spotted an inside-out rabbit in a sapling caught in the crotch. Top half of body was gone. Reminded me of the inside-out squirrel I found on a fence in TX years ago. Took a few pics to post of FB. I sense it was an owl, but could have been a hawk. Interesting.

Glorious day. 53 degree and partly sunny. No wind. Had to head down to the Lake Champlain waterfront. Was hoping the rec path would be clear of ice. It was, mostly, but wherever there was shade, there was ice. I did get a nice little walk in and thoroughly enjoyed the ice formations on shore and the feel of the sun on my face and hands. Headed over to the Rec Dept for a Tai Chi based celebration of the Chinese New Year. Ate noodles for long life, watched some Tai Chi fan demonstrations and visited a little with people from my class. A calligrapher was creating beautiful cards with Chinese characters. I was thinking about all the Chinese students that Ethan teaches and asked her to make me card that said, "Good Luck Finding Your Way". That stumped her (I think I was supposed to choose from the examples at hand). I know it says something about good luck and hope the rest of it is relevant to orienteering--or at least not something embarrassing! Decided to bring home that and my other souvenirs and make Chinese food for dinner. It's the Year of the Pig, btw.

Tai Chi. Definitely not aerobic, hardly about strength, but definitely about balance and agility. I have been taking the class on M and W since September. Never thought to put it in my log till now. It's worth a note, at least.

I started because I felt it would do me some good. My balance isn't what it used to be nor am I as agile. When I was a grad student in Ann Arbor, I used to see a group of old Asian people doing it on a plaza as I rode my bike to my office most days. I stopped occasionally to watch. I thought it was beautiful but not something I wanted to put time into then. "When I get old", I decided. Well, now I am old and now is the time. I love the class. Plus it is a short walk from home and is free. I love the motions, the concentration required, the development of new motor patterns, the control it requires to move through the poses. I think it is good for my mind as well as my body. Like a dance--a slow, beautiful, meaningful dance.