Training Log Archive: Swampfox

I took the radical step of waxing skis today. I know, I know--what's the rush, it's only Jan 9 and very early in the year. But I figured why not, it might even confuse the posse on my tail, if there was one. I don't think there is a posse after me, but you never know.

What made this was extra nice was I used a glide wax for what would pass for normal temps, while last night it got a bit chilly and stayed a good bit chillier up top than it has been lately, and plus there was some fresh overnight snow. So the skis were slow, and so what. It just meant I got more exercise.

Even with about 3" of new snow, it didn't help much. On the sections where there was already good coverage, it freshened things up, so good. But on the the thin spots, 3" of fluff was next to nothing and had been almost all skied off by the time I got up there.

Lots of folks were up. There were more cars in the parking lot and spilled over across the highway than I can ever remember for a non-race day or a non wee ski day. I like to see lots of people up and out and enjoying the national forest. It's also nice to be able to find a parking spot though!

The best part was leaving a very thin section of trail to traipse through some deep snow only to at one point have my ski bottoms go hard aground on some 1.4 billion year old granite. It hurt them more than it hurt me, and it didn't hurt the rock at all. Oh well, it happens. It just means I get more exercise. Wait, didn't I already write that?

Fine and sunny day, crisp, with almost no wind.

C • Exercise 1

I did not strike gold/moose during the moose run Friday, but tonight, while I was running just as I was about to leave the woods and hit a ski trail, there was a single big CRASH! off deeper in the forest and not too far away. I stopped to look and listen for additional crashing sounds, but it was night by then and dark in that piece of forest so it was hard to see much of anything from where the sound had come from, and following the crash sound there was complete silence. After listening for a few moments and concluding that was that, I moved on. No way to know for sure what it was. Possibly it was just a partially fallen tree settling more fully down.

From there it was about 3-4 minutes back to the trailhead and parking lot, and just as I was coming to the edge of that a skier was finishing up. I said hi and we started to exchange comments about how the skiing had been and as we were doing that I saw a largish dark object heading down an open hillside adjoining the parking lot, and then hitting the parking lot and crossing it, and continuing down the slope below until it finally hit the next treeline and vanished from sight. It was a yearling moose, and not hard to link to the sound I had heard a few minutes earlier. First time I've seen a moose in the parking lot, and clearly I should have spent last Friday running around in the parking lots rather than along a willow choked creek drainage--if I had had hopes of seeing moose.

C • CRASH 2

We caught a lucky break with the weather. As recently as Thursday, there was nothing special in the forecast today. And yet it ended up snowing all day long up at the ski trails, maybe 3". Not a lot, but this season it actually is a lot compared to what we have had so far, and it was enough to freshen up dirty spots in the trails and will add more to the base once compacted.

I skipped running and took full advantage of the new snow, skiing about 2 hours, until past nightfall.

I was surprised to see a dusting of snow on the window sill when I woke up, but there it was. Beautiful day--sunshine, temps right around 30F for a high, and no wind. My choice for today was to go moosing, and ran a long ways alongst and backst (is that how the Brits do it, or is it just whilst?) a particularly favorable drainage with loads of willow marsh. Which the moose were either scorning or else hiding in, because I didn't see a thing. No worries because it was so nice out that it hardly mattered.

I liked the way when I was running backst, now up the drainage, the sun was behind a ridge and I could feel the air rapidly growing colder against my face. By then it was i the high teens, but didn't feel like it (again, no wind).

The dusting of snow in town translated to at least a massive 1/3" or even more higher up where I was running.

C • Brits. 4

Did a little biking, a little skiing, and a little running, and a little looking around and wondering where all the snow has gone. Talked to a few folks in the parking lot before skiing, and one of them mentioned Washington (state) has been hammered with snow, so maybe that's where it all is.

Worst day for our country in my lifetime.

Maybe this will finally make it clear that you can be a Trump supporter or you can be for America, but you can not be both.

To say that what happened today is sickening doesn't begin to get at it.

Ran snow trails, easy effort, and concentrating on foot placement to try to avoid aggravating my hip and making it less happy than it already was after yesterday. It was snowing lightly the whole time, with maybe 1/3" new snow as I started and perhaps double or more by the time I finished. So, not so much, but much better than the zero snow we had over the past 2 weeks. I may take the skis up tomorrow and give the trails a shakedown; I could see that another rolling pass of the trails was made this morning.

And, after doing some further research, I think my hip problem is most likely a sore IT band. This was a surprise to me because up until now, I thought the IT band was just something that ran along the outside of the knee and connected right above and below the knee itself. I had no idea it ran all the way up to the top of the hip. Besides location, further confirmation is the pain/soreness feels almost exactly from what I remember when I have had a sore IT band before in the area of the knee.

C • tracks 2

C • Might also look up the TFL 6

Orienteering at Remarkable Flats. Maybe 50% snow cover, with no places too deep to run through.

Running at speed over terrain was clearly harder on my sore hip area than running on trails. Not so surprising.