Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Skied and then ran, finishing up after dark.

All the ski trails that I was either on or saw while I was running had been rolled, and so I suspect that nearly all of the trail net has been packed at least once now. Why this didn't happen two weeks back remains a mystery to me, since at the very least that would have helped hold more snow, and begin to set up a useful base. But not my problem, or really my business either.

Day 3 of skiing for me now, and today I felt like I was skiing much more close to "normal"--some amount of balance, coordination, and weight transfer--whereas for the first two days it was much more a flailing type thing.

It's amazing what a difference it makes, and you (or at least I do) quickly forget about it once the season really gets underway and you're skiing well. Yesterday and the day before it felt like I was terrifically out of shape for skiing, and that the weakest link by far was arm strength. And while it's true enough that I start out each season with relatively weak arms, it's really those other factors--being balanced, coordinated, and weight transfer. My arms are just as weak today as they were yesterday, but today they weren't holding me back at all.

Hopefully more snow comes soon.

I function better when I have some kind of goal or set of goals to work towards. It makes it vastly easier for me to stay motivated. When things began to shut down in mid-March and one after another planned activity got postponed or cancelled, I thought that if nothing else, I could at least have a fitness goal of exercising/training the same amount of volume as I did last year. I've always done a high volume of training, or even very high compared to most people, with a very large proportion of that at an easy (level 1) intensity. Mostly I just enjoy going out for long runs and bike rides and skis, and it's something I look forward to rather than confronting and wondering how I will get through it. But the smaller remainder I work at trying to make it very high quality and make it count.

So going through July, not only was I on track to meet my goal, I was well ahead of it. And then came my unplanned hospital vacation in August--10 days in the hospital, with a 6 week recovery period to follow. I was allowed to walk, but I don't count walking as anything in my training log, and never have.

After about two weeks, I tried some indoor biking; I had asked, and after some hesitation my surgeon allowed that might be okay). After a few days of that with no problems, I decided I would try some road biking as well. There was way more jostling and such while walking than compared with biking, and yet there hadn't been any limitations on where I could walk or how long. Obviously falling would be bad, but I planned to stay upright, and happily I did.

So after a few days of some ginger road biking, it seemed to me that biking was no problem whatsoever, so I got going on that again.

That in turn led me to think that I could at least try some very easy jogging about two weeks ahead of schedule, and see how that felt. It felt fine. It wasn't so much longer after that that I tried some O' running, and from there I didn't look back.

My goal was shot though, and I figured that's just the way it was, unless...hmmm, maybe if the ski season started up early--it's pretty easy to log some hours skiing. That's not the way it worked out, however, with far too little snow and far too many nice, mild days in November and early December. But then I checked my spreadsheet in early December, and saw that I had actually done much better October through early December than I had realized, and that if I made a determined effort, I could probably make my goal anyway.

Which I hit and surpassed yesterday. In some sense it's fairly meaningless and maybe even a little silly, but it still feels good to me.

I am confident 2021 will be a much different year than the one ending today, and I already have several goals in mind to reach for.

C • Goals 5

Groomers were back out today. I don't know if they did any more trail packing, but I did see a few trail signs had been put up, so that will have to count as progress for the day. Unfortunately, the 7 day weather prognosis is looking very dry, almost Arizona like.

And in fact I overheard two skiers discussing this very thing, and opining that perhaps this could eventually lead to the successful implantation of the saguaro cactus in the Laramie Valley. It seemed to me they must not have had any personal familiarity with those denizens of the SW desert, and did not realize either how massive or prickly the saguaro is, nor that, in the fashion of the traveling wilbury, it is crucial that they be handled with care. Ordinary priority mail will not do.

Ran trails until it was dark and then ran some more and scared the beejesus (sic) out of a small group of mountain bikers who did not see me standing off the trail, yielding the trail to them. But to be fair, it was not my intention to scare them, and as well they were all armed with exceedingly powerful bike lights and head lights. They should have been able to have spotted a tiny mouse at 300m with those lights.

As I had a preventative wellness visit for the year still in my pocket, I figured I would give my doctor's office a call, and if they had an appointment this week, I would take it and thereby at least give a tiny boost to the local economy. And they did, and so I did.

When I went in, I could not tell whether they were happier to see me or vice-versa, the problem of course being it's hard to tell when everyone is masked up. So we will call it a draw.

And when the doctor went down a list of all things from head to toe--in that order--to see which body parts might be okay or not, I did not mention my hip pain. For one, it seems to be getting better, and for the other, it's overwhelmingly likely to be just another one of those niggling things that virtually all runners encounter. If you're a runner and you're over about 24 years old and don't ever have any niggling running pain/injuries, you're either a) not running enough, or b) lucky and have no idea what is coming.

The doctor's parting shot as I was about to leave was to suggest I get some blood drawn and have my cholesterol checked. We'll see. My diet and lifestyle and medical history would not seem to put me at any heightened risk with regards to that, and it seems to me I paid my medical dues back in August and that will last me a while and certainly into 2021, given that 2021 comes in two days.

A small miracle? Finally parts of several ski trails were rolled, even though last night's snow didn't amount to much. Maybe more efforts to get the trails in shape will be forthcoming.

In mid-afternoon the parking lot was packed. I don't know if word that something had been rolled had seeped out, or if it was a flash mob type of thing. At any rate, I had brought my skis up with me just in case, so I was ready, and made my inaugural foray for the 2020-2021 season, which has now just narrowly escaped being the 2021 season only.

Ran trails afterwards. Crisp and cold out today, just winter should be.

Ran trails, easy. Snow falling lightly on the Laramie Range all afternoon, but not in sufficient quantities to awake groomers. Maybe enough will fall overnight?

We had a smidge of snow overnight in town.

Got out on the bike again in the early afternoon--colder and some wind, and less sun than yesterday, but was dressed okay so it wasn't bad at all.

Then went running at Happy Jack, where there was an inch+ of new snow. I started below the ski trails and as I was running up to them, I wondered if there was any chance this new snow had alarmed the groomers into action. But no; maybe some other day. I ran longer than yesterday, and again kept to a very easy pace, finishing up just as dusk was going over to nightfall.

The day was nice enough for some biking, and I made that the main effort because something with my right hip is sore.

I actually noticed something on Thursday, but it was so mild and insignificant that if I thought about it at all, it was just a passing thought that I must have bumped into a tree or a bush or something.

But on Friday after I got home from O', I noticed some pain as soon as I got out of my truck and started to walk, and it was stronger later in the evening. That was when I first probed the area, expecting to find a bruise or skin deep sore spot, and realized instead it was deeper down.

Not at all familiar with hip pain or even the hip structure and associated soft tissues, but after doing a little studying, it seems most likely to be some kind of anterior hip pain, and soft tissue related--not the joint.

I tried some easy running on snow trails, partly because I wanted to run and partly to see if the pain would get worse or not, and planning to stop if I started to feel pain. I ran very easy, and went for about an hour without noticing anything more than occasional mild discomfort. And better in the evening than it was last night. Will continue to monitor and take it easy as indicated.

When I woke up they were saying it was Christmas, and so I looked outside to see for myself. Couldn't see any definite signs of Christmas, but there was definitely sunshine. So I drank some strong coffee, put on some bright pink flash pants, and hit the road and drove until I found a good place to stop.

This looked like a good place to me:



This pretty well typifies what December has been like: more snow on the ground than up in the skies, but not a whole lot of snow on the ground. It wouldn't even qualify as fast grass.

So I put aside my skis, and pulled out some O' shoes, a compass, and a Christmas map (see, I did find a sign of Christmas after all):



I was happy to see the course didn't go into the white SE corner. It might look like it's wonderful open forest, but local rumor has it that it is in fact covered in impenetrable bamboo grove with stiltgrass in all the interstices. It always sounded bad enough to me that I've avoided it.

12.8 kms, some of the legs went where they went because there was something I wanted to check out. The jeep trail leading to #31 has been fenced off and plowed under. I didn't see any sub-morons. I assume they were all gathered at Walmart, maskless and crammed together at the doors, wondering why the doors were locked.

It was really beautiful out, mild (40s) and with winds that gradually picked up the whole time--typical for winter afternoons in these parts.

C • Straight Ahead 11

Precip amount for the year here now down to 48% of normal. Dry.

C • And we are forecast to get ... 10

And upturn in the temps and a back-off in the wind tempted me into a foray on the bike over into west Laramie. Not bad riding at all--just had to keep my eyes out for ice patches on the streets on the north sides of any thicker trees or taller buildings or parked cars. Registered a win by staying upright the whole time. ; )

Followed that up with a nice run on the trails up top. There was some definite wind with feeling over at the east overlook, but nothing remotely like it would have been yesterday. Out for 2+ hours, and my legs felt really good and light from start to finish.

Went up top to go running in the late afternoon, reached the parking lot, parked, and sat there watching the rocketing wind blowing old snow past. I knew the temps were somewhere around 10F. The wind was gusting somewhere around 50+ mph. The trees were all violently shaking back and forth. It looked like the conditions warranted expedition style winter clothing; I had ordinary winter running gear on.

I thought to myself: "What are we doing here, how smart is this?" Made the call to forget about running, and went back home and hit the trainer instead, and watched the WOC 2015 Women's Relay.

A rare example of some commonsense on my part, probably happens about once every year or two.

C • Rare example 6

The day was forecast to be sunny and mild. Maybe the forecast included some wind, but if I did, I missed that part of it. However, I didn't miss it when I went out biking to run some errands. It was much windier than I expected, windy enough that when I was riding cross wind, there was no way I was going to take a hand off the handlebars to signal a turn--that would have been disastrous. Even turning itself was questionable.

I had initially planned to do some orienteering, but after seeing what the wind was like in town, I scotched that--totally the right call. I ran trails in the forest instead.

Then, when running, the sun was overswept by a thick blanketing layer of clouds and it started snowing. It didn't snow long, but while it did, it stung like it always does when it's headed for you horizontally. Neither the snow nor the clouds were forecast.

The snow resumed about the time I was finishing up running, and by then it was dark. The snow + warm roads + dropping temps made for iced up roads that were trending quickly towards bad. But the drive home itself wasn't bad. I was surprised--all the traffic going down the canyon was going slowly in observance of the conditions, and at uniform speed. Often there is some percentage of idiots who will drive much faster than everyone else, endangering themselves and anyone nearby.

By the time I reached the bottom of the canyon, the interstate was closed along a very wide stretch west of Laramie. No doubt due to wrecks. Later the interstate was closed between Laramie and Cheyenne.

Still later in the night the winds went up to a low roar level. I expect to see blown down trees up top.

Mild temps (eventually 40+F) plus lots of sun meant that most N-S streets were clear and dry or nearly so by mid-day, so I got out on my bike for a quick tour of southeast Laramie and checked out some of the newest construction. Then I changed over and headed up top to run.

A school bus was in the parking lot, and no doubt it was the high school ski team, even though my path never crossed theirs. But then I was running on the bike trails, and they were no doubt seeking out the best bits of skiable snow. Still no sign of grooming activity.

I had planned things time-wise so that hopefully I would be at the southern overlook off the HQs trail by around dusk, to catch sight of the conjunction. If the clouds would permit...which they did. Actually the skies were nearly totally clear. I was at my appointed spot at almost exactly 5 pm, and Jupiter came into sight about a minute later--or at least that's when I first caught sight of it. Somehow it resonated with me in a way most things like this don't as much, and I liked this even better than the recent eclipse. Though visually, the way the thin crescent moon and the two planets lined up almost perfectly vertically a few nights ago was visually perfect.

With grooming not getting underway yet, and no signs of snow in the forecast for the next 7 days, it looks like it could be a while yet before I'll be skiing.

C • But... 4

Surveying the weekend scores, you have to presume Rick W. and all those other folks out western NY way continue to be pretty happy with their Bills! And that Denver wishes it could go back in time a redo a certain draft choice...

I hope Buffalo can make it to the Super Bowl and take home the trophy!

C • Josh Allen 1

C • Bills 2

The wind had some definite gusto today and some unknown number of trucks were sprawled across different parts of the interstates--which remained open for all of that. It looks like gusts topped out at about 90 mph near Cheyenne, so they were the lucky ones this time, but surely we will get our due before winter is done.

I ran trails and only came across one tree down across a trail. Not a very good show considering, but then we had several very forceful blasts in early summer that prematurely thinned out the herd of trees ready to fall, and so maybe there just won't be many casualties over this winter unless we get a real cricket blow.

There was a pleasant sunny woodpecker near the trail at one point, otherwise there was nothing at all for wildlife today. Probably everything was hunkered down.

And managed to catch Jupiter and Saturn right after nightfall, and enjoy that sight. When I tried to look at them again after I got home, clouds had moved in and that was that for this evening. Right now the forecast for tomorrow is for partly cloudy conditions at dusk, so I will keep my fingers crossed!

Regression to the mean as the winds were fully back in action today. The interstate was closed to light, high profile vehicles (no idea if there is ever any enforcement; maybe you get ticketed after you blow over?). But the roads were okay, at least the sections I wanted to use, and not too much snow was blowing over them by afternoon.

The wind made me think that a selection of trails on the big north slope at Happy Jack would be the way to start out, and that's what I did. It was sunny the whole time I was out even though there was heavy cloud cover in various directions; the Snowies were completely obscured in clouds.

Was not expecting to see any signs of grooming starting up, and was not disappointed in that. To make up for it, I did see two very alert looking Steller's jays. Too bad I didn't have any french fries for them.*



* -- have no idea if these birds prefer french fries or french toast.

Still no sign of work on the ski trails, but ran anyway. There was no wind (implies there will be a price to be paid soon), and how often does that happen around here? Plus, it was the 18th, so what the heck. Passed Becka and a couple of dogs and said hello to all.

Noticed the sun had come out in the early afternoon, and by then the main streets were clear and nearly to the curbs, so...hopped out on my bike for a quick spin outside--quite nice to get out at least one more time before the end of the year.

I ran trails later in the afternoon; still no sign of any grooming activity, not even the fences coming down. But that's okay--if they never get around to getting started, it's only another 6 months until summer, which will be here soon enough. Bumped into Jim and Danno and Deb while I was out, and said hello to all of them. Jim was so admiring of my scar installation that he is going to get one, too.

I saw three moose, and all of them ran away at once. I am pretty sure it was because of my ferocity in appearance. Good choice on the single moose, but the pair probably could have taken me, if they had worked together.

Got home, had an early dinner, and then hopped again, this time onto the trainer, with just three minutes to spare before the start of the Cowboy basketball game. Time flew by and by the time the game was done, a lot of salt that had been inside of my was now outside.

Pulled off some bandages this morning and looks like I can trade that for some running shoes this afternoon. In the deepening snow!

C • I'll bite 6

Went up to Happy Jack after work, and ran snow trails. Unfortunately, no signs that grooming will get underway soon, or even any (ski) trail packing. But fortunately there is now enough snow that the trails could at least be rolled, if the powers that be saw fit. Crossed paths with Ken and Carol, who were classic skiing, and stopped to say hello to them.

On the way home I enjoyed the sublime early evening sky, which featured a thin crescent moon with the dark portion of the sphere easily visible, and Jupiter and Saturn directly above. I'll never see this exact configuration again, and neither will anyone else living today.

Another rest day with no running. Did some light exercise on the trainer in the evening.

Rest day.

Some quick and fun Yowsa! to take care of the light snowfall overnight. The skies cleared off before sunrise, and when that happens this time of year, typically the temps plummet. -15F a little after sunrise, which qualifies as decent winter.

Ran trails; the new snow from the past 2 days was around 3"-4" on average, and deeper in zones of accumulation. Running was much easier in snow bike tracks, which were plentiful. In contrast to yesterday's calm, the winds were back up nicely today, and effectively it was colder.

Grateful that we had some more winter today. Temps were around 19-20F for a high, no sun, and very light snow was falling much of the day. Just a dusting in town, but a dusting+ higher up, maybe even a 1/2" or so. Every bit helps.

Ran trails in the new snow and breathed in and out a real lot. Didn't feel cold at all and the fact that it was dead calm might have helped with that a tiny bit. Okay, that was totally why it didn't feel cold.

No idea if it's true, but I saw a rumor today that the Bottom 25 might expand the playoffs to 8 teams this season--too many unwon teams to choose from!

Finally some more snow, a couple of inches worth, making for some light, quick Yowsa!

Winter without snow is like soft drinks without carbonation.

About 3" or snow fell during the day, ending before mid-afternoon (or what passes for mid-afternoon in these winter short days), making for some fun Yowsa!

Did that right before taking off for some trail running in the new snow. No wind so it was extra pleasant to be out, and finally it feels like real winter again! 19F when I stuck out and 9F at return.

That said, the snow amount is nowhere near close enough to allow for some grooming, and really not much better than "fast gravel"--which I could ascertain from checking the one set of fresh ski tracks I came across. Hopefully more comes soon, otherwise we are closing in on a record late start for skiing.

I was thinking out of the box a little today, and was thinking, why not try out for the Junior Team? I still have all my years of eligibility, and I know I might need to get a waiver for being left handed and all that, but it can't hurt to apply anyway--after all, I had to get a waiver just to go to school, and they gave me one and let me right on in, and gave me a whole lot more, too.

Besides, my bionic eye is better than it ever used to be for map reading, and that's the simple truth.

As an example of that, I laid down a 11.9 km course at Remarkable Flats, printed it up at 1:15,000, and took it out in the latter part of the afternoon with completely overcast skies and fog and dim seeping down over the Range from the north.

And though I had my doubts that I would be able to finish up the whole thing before darkness shut the exercise down, given how late I was starting, I got 'em all, even with dusk arriving for the last 4 controls and 2 km of running.

Maybe I'll forego the application and just print off this post and send it in, and see what happens. Lordy, you never know.

C • Junior Team 4

Biked some around town at midday, and then was out on the trails for some easy running by right around 3. Enjoyed the last mild day in the streak of December mildness by running in shorts. Can't remember the last time I've done that at Happy Jack in December. I'm not sure I'd ever even thought about it before. All that ending with a spectacular sunset featuring skies with a scattering of lenticular clouds and some very high cirrus wisps.

Back home for some quick dinner, and then hopped downstairs to hit the trainer and watch the Cowboys take on DU.

C • shorts 5

Looks like chances to tie or set new record highs both today and tomorrow, before a cool down on Thursday.

Tisdags Träning, på Tisdag, denna veckan! 10 x 5 min cruise intervals. NOt sure if the temps hit a record high or not, but whatever they hit, it was pretty strålande ut. Ingenting alls at klaga på.

At one point, a piece of trash blew across the dirt road I was using. Except that it wasn't that windy out. As I got a little closer, I recognized it wasn't a piece of trash at all. It was an ermine! It vanished when it hit the verge, but when I came up that spot, there it was again, right by a clump of sage, stopped and staring at me as I went by, not more than 6' away. (So still socially distanced.) It's cool to see a moose, when you do, but seeing an ermine is at least an order of magnitude better.

C • Ermine 13

Wanted an easy day today, and so I opted to go back out to Pelican Bay and retrieve a mule deer shed and an old 1 pint milk bottle I spotted yesterday.

Another terrifically fine day outside for everything except water. If you've needed a lot of water this year, you've been hosed, because with only 3 weeks left in the year, we're at about 49% of normal for precip, or, put another way, about 1/2 of the upper limit for a desert. If we keep this up, we're going to start seeing active dunes someday.

Today would have been extra fine even if it hadn't been extra fine weather, because today and tomorrow the afternoons for these parts are as short as they get, and they start lengthening again on Tuesday--by a whole, extra second.

I did some biking late in the morning over into west Laramie, and saw Mark and Martha outside their house so I stopped and said hello. It turned out Martha was COVID positive and wearing a mask; she's the first person I know personally who has been positive. Mark somehow has escaped getting infected and for now they are quarantining in different parts of their house. I was never close by either one of them and we were outside, so it should have been safe.

As soon as I got home, I changed over for O', and headed out to Pelican Bay for an 11.5 km course. Conditions were ideal with respect to clouds (none) and wind (none) and temps (low 40s), and the sun being low in the sky is simply a given. Didn't see anyone or even any animal out on the course from start to finish.

Less fine/fun was driving out. As I was getting near Remarkable Flats, I saw a helicopter up ahead, which isn't unusual. Helicopters from Warren AFB are flying around over the National Forest all the time. Then I noticed it wasn't moving any more, but hovering--also not unusual to see up there. But then, as I got closer to the intersections with the roads leading into Remarkable and Pelican, I could tell the helicopter was hovering directly over the highway there, and quite low over the road, which *is* unusual. I bet for safety reasons they're not supposed to do that.

As I came up over the hill right before those intersections, the helicopter rotated enough that I could see it wasn't an AF helicopter. Then when I topped out and could view the intersections themselves, all at the same time I could see the helicopter was a Flight for Life helicopter, and that there were a whole bunch of vehicles parked on the Pelican Bay side of the highway, on both sides of the cattle fence, and that an ambulance was there along with about 8 law enforcement cars--all of which had their lights flashing.

I wasn't turning there since I was starting from the east side of the map, and could not tell what was going on. But it couldn't have been good, and my best guess would be there had been a shooting.

Headed out to Devil's Claw to do battle. It has the feel of the steepest of the areas we use in the Laramie, and to me, when you go there, you better bring it. It's the kind of place if you're feeling un-Swissed, it will put some holes in your cheese.

Don't know if I brought it today or not, but I did go out there, and ran a course with lots of up, and lots of down, and then some more lots of up since I was parked at the top of an up part.

And running...well, in some of the forest parts, that would be a real stretch. There are so many downed beetle kill pines in some of the forest that it has become pretty well bullet proof, with a maze-like quality that does not lend to ready solutions.

But for all that, I had a good time out there. If I wanted easy, I'd just head on down to New Orleans.

By about 4: 40, it was trending to dusk, and that was without a cloud in the sky. Add another 20 minutes, and there was Saturn trailing Jupiter heading for the horizon.

The forecast was for a stellar day, and if anything the reality exceeded--100% sun, 40s by afternoon (after a start near 0F at sunup), no wind. The path this pointed to couldn't have been clearer, and I was out at Granite Planite for some race speed O' in the very early afternoon. The highlight/lowlight was running by a fairly fresh looking, isolated head of a cow elk, stripped of all the skin and fur. Probably from some hunter's kill, and I didn't stop to look around to see where the rest of the remains might be.

Ran long, easy, 2+ hrs, on trails w/ 2" snow (from Tuesday). Quite pleasant out, even late in the afternoon.

Tisdags Träning, försenade en dag, pga vädret: intervaller 10 x 5 min.

20F when I left home, 5F when I returned. Crisp.

C • Det finns... 6

Ran trails with some amount of falling snow and a much greater amount of I-80 Corridor wind. The wind was the best part. Finished up at dark, by which time many wrecks and diverse accidents were visible along I-80 from the heights I had been on.