Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Plenty of wind oomph today, but the roads seemed to be working okay anyway. Skied (short), and ran (longer).

Looks like the coldest temps of the season are headed this way in a few days.

The skies were overcast from start to finish today, with that kind of pallid gray that, together with an ample dose of wind, made it look like it was going to be much colder than it really was. Skied some and cut it short so I could run longer. Ran around the new Summit Loop. There are a number of short segments along the new cuts that are unlikely to ever hold snow well as things sit now. It will be interesting to see if any other folks reach the same conclusion.

Today was so easy to describe I'm just going to do it: it was grey from start to finish. Which is funny because the forecast even at the end of the day was showing a whole lot of sunny suns for the day. But that's okay; I just pretended I was in Seattle and it felt completely normal.

Skied and ran. Yesterday's new snow was mostly today's gone snow, with stumps and rocks and dirt showing through again. And that's okay, too. I just pretended I was somewhere near the Waco XC ski trails, and suddenly the conditions felt super awesome. Saw Danno and Phil while I was running, and said hello. Also saw two green glow-in-the-dark dogs. They were cool, and they knew it.

A small amount of snow fell overnight, but enough to improve things some. At least the woods looked white and the thin spots on the trails were harder to see, so if you didn't look too hard it was about how mid-winter ought to look.

Did ski intervals, and could only barely conjure up any sweat as some raucous wind was serving up loads of chills. On the way back had to hit the gas hard to get down the canyon because of the wind, and signs at the bottom informed the driving public that the interstate west of town was closed--surprise, surprise.

For all of that, I thoroughly enjoyed the day, probably because there was just enough new snow and just enough sun.

A small amount of snow feel today, and a small amount is better than no amount. I was happy to see it, and at least for a day the bare patches on the ski trails will be hidden. Maybe 2 days!

The snow was on the slow side with my skis, but still it felt good to me. Ran afterwards until it was dark, and then ran a little more. Didn't see or hear any wolves, but I did read that a wolf was spotted and tagged very recently in the north part of North Park. That's not far off, especially for a wolf with a good gait.

Mild and sunny, so a foray across the river on my bike was the thing--a quick hit, get in and get out fast before troops can be spilled out of their barracks. It was too nice to be winter and so won't last long.

Skied on some pitiful looking trails of dirt and roots for as long as I could stand it (several minutes?) and then tucked in some running.

It was supposed to be a mild day with little breeze, and a walk around the neighborhood confirmed that it was. So I looked at my skis and told them: "Skis, you don't get to come along today." Instead it would be O', and my chosen destination was Remarkable Flats.

Typically, by the time I got up there the sun in town had changed to grey clouds over the Laramie Range and there was some nice wind blowing. But it was still mild out, especially for February. In order to give myself a good chance to see lots of animals, I set a course of 12.4 kms with 41 controls. And a good thing--I needed every one of those controls in order to sight one solitary mule deer. I guess Remarkable Flats was not the happening place today after all. Lots of the running was in snow of varying depth, including everywhere there was sage, but it was always possible to keep running. There were even some bits of pine forest where nothing was on the ground except for brown pine needles. So the running conditions were vastly better than the skiing conditions.