Training Log Archive: AliC

4-5 loops around the warm up loop? Actually felt warm by the end, which I suppose is the point!

Middle Distance at Beaver Brook Farm

Lotsa fun. There are times that are so fast paced, decisions every junction and then other times you are really just skiing hard for quite a bit, going for it.

I had one bad mistake, on number 3. Took a left too early (having misinterpreted snowmobile trail) and then went into the woods on the wrong little trail, found a control I was convinced should be mine, but wasn't, and then continued on for a bit, being confused, passed my #4, still confused and went the wrong way, then found myself at a junction and actually relocated and went back, finally finding the control. 5 minutes extra. Whoops.

Some other fumbles, but not bad. Lost 30 sec going to 10 before 9.

Really did enjoy it. Wish there were more races besides tomorrow left in the season!

Map holder was much better today, but think I have to get used to it. When I really wanted to see the map I held it with my right hand, like I normally do with foot orienteering.

So many thanks to everyone who made it happen!

C • Do you classic or skate? C... 4

Little clinic on skate skiing with John, Bob, Kseniya and oops, one other woman, bad name memory. Working on keeping weight forward without poles, with poles, flat uphill, then a few other little things for each!

Red Middle Distance - Splits

Event: U.S. Ski Orienteering Championships
 

3 x around Dot's loop at Morse Farm. Didn't feel that great. Why not? Had a day off yesterday.

Red course @ Morse Farm

Woo, ski-O!

Didn't remember until I pulled in the drive that I'd been there before- skiing one day with family over last Christmas break. Still didn't know it very well because most of the trails weren't open then, just the basic field loops on the lodge side of the road.

Felt pretty good and navigated fine. The trickiest bits were the quick left turn right after the start (not much time to get into the map- I almost skied by!) and then #4- the intersections before it were tricky. I ended up choosing a trail based on the woods and the fence, luckily being in the right place to make that choice in the first place...

Shins cramped up right at the start, have no idea why, but got better, not worse, so wasn't a problem!

First time with a map holder, which was good, but not yet great because it kept slumping down and had to keep picking it up to get a glace at the map. Still much better than safety-pinned map though!

Model event at Craftsbury Common.

Good fun, a little extra tricksy due to ongoing chainsaw work, I skipped the last control, which was probably good as they were in the business of tree-felling.

Nice to get a feeling for what green lines mean what as for trail thickness and things.

Skiing around a bit more afterwards, used the solid green trail to actually ski a bit more continuously. Nice to be on skis!

Red Morse Farm - Splits

To post office, to gym, back home.

On the Espresso bike again- the Oh Mama! course. Still lots of fun. So much different when you have to steer to stay on the course. Like a video game almost!

And Cage workout again. Tried to keep it shorter due to physio's recommendation. So only did 3 instead of 4 miles.

5.44
5.48
5.48

Not great times, might be tired from the racing + long workout still over the weekend. Oh, although the second one was chaos- cheerleaders everywhere!!! Jogging in whatever lane they felt like, totally oblivious. Then they also had to drag these mats about which took up major sections of the track for a few laps. Should have hurdled them, but didn't have quite enough energy.

C • Hurdling cheerleaders 6

And physio visit. Joe tested my ankle. Still have the pain with extreme flexion. So so frustrated!!! I thus *still* shouldn't trail run. In fact, Joe suggested I don't run at all, which caused me to become slightly hysteric and break down crying... he modified it to don't run over 5-6 miles in the end...

I just don't understand what is so wrong that it hasn't healed in 1.5 years. Ok, most of that time I was crunching it fairly frequently, but haven't for the past 2 months now.

The pain wasn't that intense, pretty mild actually, but still definitely there, while the left ankle has no pain at the same angle of flexion.

Cool! There's a machine at the gym that's a cycling arcade game. You steer around the course and everything, chasing down other cyclists. And the resistances increases when it looks like you're going uphill. Super cool. Least bored I've been ever on an exercise machine maybe.

While clothes were in the drier. (Cycling was while they were washing.) Nice and convenient there's a gym right next to the laundromat.

Ski weekend = so much fun!! So nice to have people up there! And the snow was great, best snow north of DC? =) Can't believe the weirdness of this winter!

Actually got a better warmup in this time- a bit sore from yesterday's racing, but not bad once I finished warming up. Cheered hard for Stephi when she came through for her lap too, then saw her finish as I was just about to start!

10k skate interval start Eastern Cup (+ EISA Carnival) @ Trapps

And again, a totally decent, although not fantastic race. 16 out of 158, 3 min behind the winner. So further percent back than yesterday- I've always been better at classic, but I thought today was a better race. Guess not! I felt strong on the hills, but weak on the flatter bits- I don't have the upper body strength to have a very powerful V2 at the moment... Still, I'm perfectly happy with the result, given the lack of ski-focused training.

Stephi was super-duper cheering for me up almost all the tough hills. Helped so much! Ross, Sam and SGB caught the very finish I think, where I probably looked totally exhausted...

Back and forth on Fox Track, coaching Heather, Kathleen and Eric. Eric helpfully got skate-length poles so could start with making v1 asymmetric and fully committed to the pole-ing ski and also started to teach him the rhythm of v1 alternate. Heather and Kathleen are doing really well with a full range of motion, not just walking while skiing- they're now working on allowing the toe off the ground in the back, like I worked with Caroline on yesterday.

Since there's no snow in Amherst, wanted to get in a nice long ski particularly motivated with the French marathon I'm doing in 2 weeks now. Woo!

Skied the 5k race course and added the 2.5k add-on that makes it 7.5k. Then up to the Cabin! And around Slayton Pasture and then down Haul Road, but detour back up Oslo where I ran into the Hosmers and chatted for a bit. Then back down Bobcat and continue on down Haul Road back- *love* the chute bypass- best fun downhill turns this side of the S-turns at Oak Hill. =)

Was tired at the end. Very tired. And the lodge meadow was doing its best to be utterly inhospitable with strong wind, blowing drifting snow and cold temps. I bundled up, grabbed skis and headed to the car for a 3.5h drive back home....