We finished the race!
Please help fight blood cancers by visiting Joe's fundraising page or Dana's fundraising page (click either to view) and donating generously to this worthy cause.
Training Log:
3/14/10
Dana and I did another race today. It was the Mjomloppet classic 10 km race up at Bear Valley. We both finished
. I was fairly pleased with my performance but it was only good enough to get close enough to the podium so as to not need binoculars. Have I mentioned how this sport seems to attract men in my age group in much better shape, and more experienced than me? My time was 1:02:44. I came in 33rd out of 45. There were 3 in my age group behind me, and 13 ahead of me. Included in those in my age group ahead of me was the overall race winner who came in at 35 minutes and 2 seconds... and this even after he made a wrong turn on the course and had to back-track. Wow!
We had a good time, Dana won a prize, and we got to hang out with some great folks.
joe
3/8/10
Update on results for the 25km Classic race that we participated in:
Total Participants: 106
My place overall: 90
My place in Male 55-59 Age group: 9 / 9 
Fastest time: 01:25:07.00
Slowest time: 05:11:40.40
My Time: 02:59:35.10 
My goals this race:
1 - 3 hours or under
2 - Beat a good friend to the finish line (albeit me with a 40 minute head start) 
3 - finish in good form and feeling strong (dismal failure)
My goals next year's race:
1 - 2 hours or under 
2 - Don't finish so miserable.
Observations:
OMG are people that do this sport in great shape!
OMG is this sport popular with men my age... making it difficult for a newbie to place well.
You can see the route we took (along with my elevated heart rate) here.
Thank you all for your support, your contributions, advice, and motivation!
With your contributions to the team effort we raised over $75,000 to help fight blood cancers! You should all give your selves a big hug (or pat on the back, or whatever you feel comfortable with)! We ran into many fellow racers who expressed their grattitude and shared their own personal stories of friends and loved ones stricken with these diseases.
I hope to get pictures and a more complete race description out to contributors in the next few days... it's not too late
For more entries, click "READ MORE" below.
3/6/10
Need to make this short... we're on the way to our Race Celebration. Bottom line for now...WE MADE IT!!!
I did the 25 K in (unofficially) exactly 3 hours. Dana got done in about 4 hours even after a pretty nasty fall resulting in a scraped and bloddied chin. She finished in great spirits! The last 7km, I was constantly on the verge of cramping up but made it although my form had deterioated dramatically by the finish line.
Woot!!! we finished!
3/5/10
Long travel day yesterday including a 4 hour layover in Denver... What fun. We flew into Bozmean and drove up Gallitan Canyon to West Yellowstone. I was thrilled to see the one room log cabin that my grandparents had owned almost 50 years ago along the way.
We arrived in West Yellowstone early yesterday evening. It's a small, well kept community that appears to be in economically better shape than a lot of similar resort communities these days. I suppose the international draw of Yellowstone throughout the year helps with that.
One big difference between here and home... there's only one main street in town that they keep plowed. Snowmobiles rule the road everywhere else, including all the side streets in town.
Today is a rest day before the race. A lot of the team members are taking an all day tour of Yellowstone, but Dana and I are just going to take it easy, ski a bit, and poke around the town.
Tomorrow's the race. The course starts just ouside town and the start is only a few blocks from where we're staying so we'll walk there from here.
I'll let you know as soon as I can how the race went.
2/28/10
Well, today was the last day on the snow before the big event. We went up to Bear Valley for the send-off party and ski today. I forgot the GPS again so can't tell you how far we went, but distance wasn't the point today. We're winding down the preparation and focusing on recovery before the race instead. My goal is to go into the event with minimal sore muscles and bruises.
Today we did the Stansilaus Outlook trail, the Headwater trail, and the Aspen Forest trail along with some time on the flats. As I've said before, it's been an amazing trasformation... As I told one of the coaches today, my goal for today was not to icrease my confidence on hills, but rather to reinforce the confidence I've achieved. Hard to believe that a few short weeks ago the hills we did today would have had me on the ground many times each.
After the event, we'll let you know how it went.
Oh... and Dana and I just signed up for the Bjomoppet Ski Race (classic) on the 13th and Tom's race in April both up at Bear Valley
2/25/10
Masters class again today. Practiced step turn some more. Also got some pointers on better polling technique. It had rained then frozen over night which made the groomed snow pretty coarse and hard. In just a couple hours it completely stripped my brand new tip-n-tail wax job.
2/24/10
Not a training day but an important milestone was reached this morning. Thanks to the generosity of many of you, Dana and I both reached our fundraising goals this morning! Wooot!
Thanks to all of you who have contributed! If you would still like to do so, the links are at the top of this article.
Oh, and on a training note... I was indeed sore due to tht weight workout the other day.
2/22/10
Just a short workout with weights today. Lots of squats, lunges, side lunges, crunches, etc... going to be sore tomorrow!
2/21/10
Dana and I went back up again today. I think it was even colder and windyer than yesterday. Dana tried a different set of boots today but unfortunately they were a no-go. So, for the time being we'll just have to do the best we can to get hers to fit better so her heal doesn't rub so badly.
We started out doing Bloods Creek again for the same reason as yesterday... get out of the wind. We were going to try our first Black Diamond run, called the Ridge Runner trail, but I suggested that we do some hill practice again before trying that. So, we went back to the practice hill and went up and down about a dozen more times. I focused mostly on getting more confident with the step turn and managed to employ it several times starting from the top by the time we were done. Dana split her time between regular plow turns and step turns. She was doing much better at control by the time we were done.
Speaking of "by the time we were done"... We (I) changed our plans. After we'd been doing hills for about an hour it started snowing so heavily and blowing hard enough that I couldn't see the trail in front of me. So, I decided I'd had enough. Going back to the trailhead there were sections of the trail that were completely covered and you couldn't make out the tracks at all... I think it was probably a good idea that we didn't do a Black Diamond that we'd never been on before... "discretion is the better part of valor" as they say.
2/20/10
Dana and I went up to Bear today. We spent about 2 1/2 hours on the snow and did about 10 km. Distance and speed were not the goal today. We wanted to get some more hill time in because Dana has had a bit of a setback controlling her descents.
When we started out, it was about the chilliest that I'd experienced so far up there, I started out with four layers on, and kept them on the whole time we were there. It was blustery and snowing lightly for much of the time as well.
We started out going over to Bloods Creek because that trail is fairly heavily wooded and we hoped to get some protection from the wind while we warmed up. After that we went over to Stanislaus Outlook. On the way there we met some neighbors who recognized us from this website... a very pleasant surprise! After Stanislaus we took the Headwater trail which has some "healthy" up and down hill sections. After that. we made our way over to the practice hill where we went up and down about a dozen times practicing control, step turns, and a little bit of hockey stop.
With a couple inches of new snow on the ground, and it being pretty cold, the conditions were great for practicing down hill compared to the last time I was out when it was like trying to ski on an ice cube. Today, all the hills were actually fun and I found myself wanting to stay more and more parallel and able to stay under control even after picking up quite a bit of momentum... What Fun!
2/18/10
Had the masters class today. I went up early and practiced some hill techniques. It was extremely icy in the early morning. Going down the "school" hill, I tried to turn using the snow plow... Indeed I managed to turn my body, but the trajectory stayed the same, just skittering sideways down the slope. I had to press hard with the edges to get any turn out of it at all.
I also tried down slope step turns as well as some bunny hops just to get used to the feeling of having no skis on the snow and then recovering.
During the masters class itself, our instructor, Pat, had us spend some time on double poling, step turn, and hockey stops (at my request ).
It was really interesting how the snow turned from ice in the early morning to bands of ice and slush by noon. You'd be on one secton of track where you couldn't get any traction and then next moment you'd be in a slushy section where you couldn't get any glide.... not all that fun.
Looking forward to snow this weekend!
2/15/10
Dana and I went up to Bear Valley for a couple hours this morning and put in about 10km. We did a coupe trails that we had not tried previously including Indian Rock and Headwater. Both of these trails had some good climbs and downhills. I only fell once, and that was only because one ski came out of th track on a turn and I didn't get it back under me quickly enough. We also did Stables Cruise and Stanislaus Outlook.
It's really quite amazing to me how hills that used to be impossible to navigate upright are actually fun now .
Sorry, no trail map this time... forgot the GPS.
2/13/10
It was a long day today... We left a little before 5:30 AM, dropped the dogs off at our daughter's place (thank you!) in Citrus Heights, and arrived at Royal Gorge cross country ski resort a bit after 9AM. We didn't get back home until 9PM. But, we got in a great workout in a beautiful location!
We were on the snow for a little over 4 hours. We gathered at the Summit Station lodge and got on the snow around 10 AM. The first half hour (or so) we spent on the practice hill going over various ways to navigate steep trail sections and doing warm up drills. We had a plesant, almost surprise, when we met our friend Anne while we were doing our drills. We'd hoped to see her on the trails today and managed to bump into one another several time during the day... Icing on the cake!
After the drills we went up the summit connection trail toward the Van Norden Track System. This was an interesting trail, made all the more interesting by multiple warnings from the coaches. In the middle of it is a somewhat steep down hill section. It wouldn't be all that much of a challenge were it not for the fact that it terminates at a road crossing and skis don't work so well on pavement. Most of us used our "big break" (i.e. butt) to stop before sliding into traffic. After crossing the road, we continued up the Summit Connection trail to the Timberline, Telegraph, and then to the Little Disney trail. The views are spectaclular! You've climed up the slope of a mountain and are looking down on the Lake Van Norden basin.
Now, came the exciting part! Herring Bone Hill looked very intimidating to me. The first time I got to it I turned around and went back and spoke with one of the coaches who assured me that indeed, that was part of our course. So, I went back and gave it a shot. There were a couple people ahead of me who seemed to be navigating it successfully so off I went. I thought I was doing well, successfully employing all my tools... snow plow, tight S turns, etc, when all of a sudden the person who was in front of me just stopped suddenly... down I went!. Unfortunately where I went down was on the steepest section of the hill and included a sharp left turn. So, I got up and side stepped down to the turn and skied from there down. All's well that ends well.
Herring Bone Hill drops you down into the Lake Van Norden Basin. We skied down in the basin, taking a The Broadway, Sleeping Beauty, and a short stretc of the Junior Loop for about the next three hours. This combination of trails basically takes you on a tour all the way around the lake basin. I went around the loop once and then on my second loop ran into Dana and other members of the team who said it was time to head back. So, on the way back we took the Telegraph trail back to the Summit Connection and back to the Lodge.
It was a great training day with lots of up-hill and lots of down hill. I did a little over 21km so distance was good also. You can see the route I took by clicking here.
2/11/10
Went up early for the masters class today and put some time in trying yet again to improve my down hill technique. I was very pleased with the progress! After about an hour I was able to do the entire training hill under much more control. There were still a couple short stretches where my speed got to where doing the tight S curves was uncomfortable, but it was much better than my previous attempts.
We also learned a new technique for going faster. Not sure it has a name but it's essentially a combination of striding and double polling. I believe the instructor called it double pole - kick. At first I felt really awkward but after a while it was much more comfortable.
Ok, Feeling pretty good about the event now. My toolbox may not be full but I've got enough of the basics to make it... just 3 more weeks and we'll be at the evnt. Wooot!
2/7/10
Dana and I went up the mountain today and focused on hills again. My goal was to become more comforable with going fast. Well, I did it! I don't know how many times I went up and down the practice hill, but it was a lot! By the way, the practice hill is not the "school" hill. The "school" hill is small, shallow, and easy. The practice hill is much longer much steeper, has curves, trees, and in our case today it had other beginners trudging up as we came down (daring souls!).
I started out just going up the hill part way and then coming down in a controlled, albeit speedy, manner. Then, I'd climb a bit higher and do it again. By the time we were done I was climbing to the top and coming down with very little snow-plow action. I only fell twice and that was all the way at the bottom of the hill... actually it was well past where there was any slope at all. However, I was still going like a bat out of hell and when I tried to stop in a hurry to avoid an obstacle I caught an edge and went flying.
On several of the trips downhill I had to turn to avoid folks who were trudging up the hill. I was very pleased that no one was injured.
So, I've managed to gain some confidence going down hill. That's a HUGE step forward for me. All this time, hills have been my nemesis and I've even got a strained rotator cuff to prove it. Now, the next challeng is to learn how to do those sharp switchback type turns so I can come down with more speed and direction control. The way it is now, I'm fine if there only a couple people below me, but in the race there may be 20... Yikes!
2/4/10
Had the masters class today. We focused mostly on hills. We stayed on the "school" hill for quite a while practing how to turn using various techniques as well as doing some work on going up hills. The one thing that I just couldn't seem to get was how to turn shaply... need to work on that one because it's necessary skill to avoid plowing into other skiers, trees, etc.
1/30/10
We had a Team In Training session up at Bear Valley today. It was a good workout! We started by doing a time trial around Stables Cruise. I went around 3 times, some went around twice, and the really fast skaters went around 4 times.
After the Stables Cruise loops we meandered over to Aspen Forest. I fell twice coming down the steepest part of the hill on the way out... Drat! Then I did a couple loops around Orvis Meadow and then did Aspen Forest again. This time I only fell once at the very start of the first steep section... encouraging!
After that I went back over to the trail head where I'd left a shirt because it was starting to get quite chilly. Then, back to Orvis meadow and up the fisrt section of the Aspen Forest trail to find Dana who was having feet problems. She ended up with blisters on both feet which could not have been fun.
We then went around Orvis Meadow a couple times until Dana decided it was time to go back to the ski shop to see if she could get something done about the boots that were causing so much discomfort.
I went back out the Runway, and did the Stanislaus Lookout loop and didn't have any problems on the hill coming out. It's really pretty amazing... just a few short weeks ago I would have fallen multiple times coming down that hill, now it's a piece of cake!
We were on the snow for a little over 3 hours and did almost 16 km.
You can see the route I took here.
1/27/10
Went up again this morning, picked up my new skis and put in about 12 km in about an hour and a half. I liked the new skis, but was more tired than ususal. I guess I should expect to be tired after having done two workouts yesterday .
Tomorrow we have the masters class up at Bear Vally but Friday I'm taking a break because on Saturday the Team In Training coaches want us to put in 15-20 km. I need a rest day.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention... the NATHAN Elite 2V Plus hydration pak was awesome! After a couple minutes I almost forgot it was even there! The way it sets and the angle of the bottles fit body contours so it didn't interfere with movement, didn't giggle or wobble, and unlike the fanny pack I was using before, the Elite 2V didn't gouge anywhere. Even with two full 22 Oz bottles it was completely comfortable.
Please help support this event and more importantly help fight blood cancers by donating at either Dana's or my fund raiser links.
1/26/10
Went up this morning an did a little over 9 Km in about an hour and fourty five minutes. Just a nice easy pace and a couple of good practice hills (and dang it if I didn't fall a couple more times 
). We went down to Waldens meadow and then around Orvis Meadow and the Blood Creek trail. We were going to do Aspen Forest and Stanislaus Outlook but neither was groomed.
Tonight we have indoor workout with our local team captains. Great workout, thanks!
Wooot! Update... my new NATHAN Elite 2V Plus hydration pak arrived today! I've only worn it around the house for a bit so far but it is MUCH more comforable than the fanny pack that I've been using recently. It has a bit less storage space, but that just means a little more planning and less weight to carry around... sounds like a good tradeoff for a race.
Wooot #2 for the day... Some skis that I've had my eyes on have become available up at Bear Vally Cross Country Ski! What wonderful people to do business with!!!
Wooot #3 for the day... It's looking a lot more likely that I may be employed soon! Thanks so much... You know who you are!
1/24/10
Dana, I, Sandi, and Judy (Fellow TNT teammates) went up to Bear Valley this morning for another training run. This time we took a little more adventurous route. We were on the snow for about 3 hours and put in about 12 Km.
The route we took starts by taking the runway, a nice straight flat path that is actually a runway in the summer, out to its end. From there we got onto Sunshine Bowl. Wooot! What a ride! going in you start out at about 7050 feet and in the next 2.7 Km you go down (with a little up) to about 6740 feet. For experienced skiers that may not sound like much, but for someone who's just starting out and has "hill issues", this was a HUGE accomplishment. I must admit I fell a couple times, but just a week ago I would not have even tried a trail like this. In fact, quoting from the trail guide... "Sunshine Bowl 3 km - A challenging trail with wild dips and turns. No beginners please." Of course, as we approached the bottom of the bowl, one could not help but think... "Dang, how the heck am I going to get back up this thing... more on that shortly.
From the Sunshine Bowl trail we took Jack's Trail which is a loop that goes out behind Tamarcak Lodge... YAW! (Yet another Wooot!
). While this trail was certainly calmer than Sunshine Bowl, it was not with out it's own up and down hill experiences (and a couple more falls).
By this time it had started snowing. Not heavily, but it was a wet sticky snow so standing in one place was not all that comfortable. On the bright side... we weren't standing around much as we had to climb out of that bowl. It was at times a bit of a slog, but we all made it to the top without incident and with good humor still intact.
You can see the course we took here.
What a wonderful new (to me) sport!
If you haven't tried it and you've ever had even an inkling that you might want to try it, now is a perfect time. I'd highly recommend setting up a short training session and then spend a few hours out on the trails. There are quite a few trails that are quite tame with virtually no hills to climb (or fall down) that are great for beginners! Call Bear Valley Cross Country Ski to set it up at 209-753-2834.
1/23/10
Dana and I went up to Bear Valley today. We were on the snow for an hour and fourty five minutes, but our distance was a little under 7Km.
Part of the reason for the short distance was the state of the trails. They'd had some snow since the last time they'd groomed so the tracks were pretty much filled in unless someone had recently skied through and re-packed the snow. In many areas the tracks were a real mess. On the bright side though, with new powder and several feet of fresh snow, the trails were soft enough to get good bite going down hill. We took a couple trails with significant downhill sections that would have been much more difficult under other conditions.
Another reason excuse for the short distance is the amount of time we spent with gear changes. In the short time we were out there the conditions changed from cold still air to blowing snow to freezing rain to sunshine, and a couple more variations just to keep us on our toes. I don't think I've ever taken off, put on, unzipped, and zipped up so many things so many times in such a short time. At one point, I had to stop before going down a hill and put my goggles/over-glasses inside my jacket to un-freeze the freezing rain that had completely golobberd my vision just so I could see where the trail went.
Tomorrow we're going up again and I hope to put in some significant distance.
1/21/10
Had a breakthrough day at the Masters Cross Country ski lesson today! Maybe not a huge breakthrough but it was very exciting to me. The biggest leap forward was starting to learn a technique called herringbone glide. It's similar to a skate style move and is a way to keep up or even increase momentum outside the striding tracks. Up to now, every time I got out of the tracks I just sort of shuffled along until I could pick up the next set of tracks. That was a very slow movement. The herringbone glide is much faster!
The second, perhaps not as big, breakthrough was advice regarding my striding style. Apparently, in my quest for speed and efficiency, I was "over-striding" which boils down to a somewhat exagerated arm motion, kind of like you see with some "power walkers".
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm going to try both techniques as well as doing some hills and distance.
1/20/10
Who would have thought that weather would get in the way of cross country ski training, but it has. Strong winds have created some pretty unplesant conditions and while I know we may have to ski in those condtions for the event, I'd really prefer to minimize the frequency and severity of torture where I can. I guess it's on to the treadmill / nordictrack today. Hopefully I'll be able to get up the hill for the XC Ski masters course tomorrow.
Wanted to post today just as an fyi... since starting to think about this event, and start training, I've gone down from over 192# to 177# as of this morning... Woot! I've had to switch to a smaller pants size, and also had to let go of my favorite belt, having gone past the last (smallest) notch. My hope is to get down to no more than 170 before the event which will mean that I'll have to spring for new XC ski pants / tights sometime soon.
If I go with tights, ther will be no pictures.
1/16/10
We had another on-the-snow training session with the team today at Tahoe Donner. We left the house at 5 AM, dropped the dogs off at our daughter's house at 7:30 and arrived at Tahoe Donner around 9 AM.
We were on the snow for about 3 and 1/2 hours and got in about 20 KM, this time with much more hilly terrain.
I can't believe how much I've improved on the hills. When I first started I was intimidated by even the shortest, gentlest slope. On this session we had several relatively long, curvy, slopes (up and down). For the whole day I only fell once and that was just a klutzy move at the top of a hill, not going downhill.
You can see the course we took (sans a couple gaps where I forgot to turn on the GPS) by clicking here.
1/14/10
Went out today for the first of 10 cross country ski masters courses. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of things, Coach Larry bumps it up a notch and makes me all uncomfortable again... I guess that's what it's like when your learning. You feel all good about what you can do with crayons and then somebody goes out and buys you your first set of water colors.
It was a beautiful clear day and the snow conditions were awesome since they'd just gotten a new 6 inches the night before.
1/12/10
Indoor training with the team tonight.
Forecast is calling for 15 to 27 inches of new snow between this afternoon and Wednesday night up at Bear. Sweet! I start a Masters (as in old, not as in mastery) class in Cross Country siking Thursday morning and conditions should be just about perfect!
1/11/10
Yikes! It's already time to recommit. That means that Dana and I are commiting to provide whatever funds that we don't manage to raise through donations in the next few weeks. We could really use your help, and this is a really worthy cause!
If you've thought about donating but just haven't gotten around to doing it, NOW would be a great time! You can use the links in red above for Dana's or my fund raising page, or the DONATE NOW button to the right, or if you'd prefer you can mail me a check made out to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
If you've already donated, thank you very much!
1/6/10
Dang! The event is only 2 months from today. Yikes!
Just makes you want to slide over to the right and click on the DONATE NOW button doesn't it? Go ahead, as Clint Eastwood would say, make my day.
I went up this morning and did a timed trial... I ended up stopping at 20K (12.4 miles) rather than 25K because I was tired enough that I thought I might injure myself. So, I did 20.28 Km in 2 hours and 46 minutes. That's not a great pace by race standards (25K in 1.5 hours is a winning pace), but given that this is my first season on skis, I was pretty happy with it. It was slick out when I started so I skipped hills for today.
If you want to see the route I took (several loops) click here.
I convinced myself that I can make the distance in a reasonable time (for a newbie) if I put some more effort into going up and down hills.
BTW, I tried a different fuel method today and it seemed to work ok. I don't like gatorade full strength, but wanted the calories so I mixed gatorade half strenght in 20 oz bottles and added 25 grams (100 calories) of maltodextrin. The resulting mixture was palitable (to me) and had about 165 calories per 20 oz bottle. Next time out, I may try doubling the maltodextrin because I ended up only going through 2 bottles and was tired by the end.
Some of you may be asking yourselves... How can he take the time to ski in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week? Well, the simple answer is that my employment terminated the week before Christmas. So, while I look for another job, I've got some time to get out and train. If you know anyone looking for a telecommuting employee who has experience with program management, communications systems engineering, visual basic, XML, SQL, PHP, javascript, python (a little), and Matlab, please let me know!
1/5/10
Did another 1+ hour exercise session with the mountain team. Really concentrated on stretching.
1/3/10
Dana and I went up with Sandi and Judy (non-coaches extrodinaire) today. We went up later than yesterday and the conditions were much more foregiving. We put in a little more than 9 Km over a little less than 2.5 hours on the snow.
I tried out a longer pair of skis today and decided that until I get more confident with my downhill, turns, and herringbone (up hill) I'm going to stick with my shorter skis for the time being. The longer skis are faster, but more difficult to navigate sharper turns, and more difficult to do the herringbone.
I also decided that I need a recovery break so no skiing for the next couple days. There's a tentative plan for me to do a time trial over a distance approaching 25K on Wednesday, 1/6/09. We'll have to just wait and see how that turns out.
1/2/10
Dana and I went up early this morning. When we arrived at about 9:30 AM it was brrrr chili! The trails were very icy and we both managed to fall multiple times on hills that on other days we would be able to navigate with no problem.
We were on the snow for a little over two hours and put in about five and a half kiometers. We kept a slow pace today as I was still nursing a minor injury from yestereday.
For the path we took take a look here. For a short video from my "ski-cam" of two of my falls and one of Dana's click here.
1/1/10
I was going to stay home today to recuperate and because the forecast called for rain up at Bear Valley. I decided to go up though and am glad I did... sort of.
I did a little over 12 Km this morning in a little over 2 hours. I was slower than yesterday for several reasons:
- I was still a bit worn from yestereday's workout.
- I included much more climbing (and falling).
- It was snowing and most of the tracs were half full of new, wet, snow.
I started out going down the runway, and then taking the Stables Cruise trail just to get warmed up. Then, I went back down the runway and took the Stanislaus Lookout trail. I fell once coming down the hill but at least I fell forward rather than backward. I wasn't used to the amount of new snow on the slope and did something wrong. So, I went back around the Stansislaus Lookout again and this time made it down the hill with no problem. After that, I made my way over to Orvis meadow and Box Canyon trails. I then went over to the Meadow Cafe and had some water and something to eat. From there I had intended on going up to Hidden Meadow, and then back home. However, I first took a wrong turn and did the Out and About trail and then I missed a turn and ended up taking the much more difficult, and much longer Aspen Forest trail. The Aspen Forest trail ends (in the direction I was going) in a VERY steep downhill! At the top, on the steepest part, after I'd fallen once, I side stepped down a ways until I thought I could handle the incline. From there to the bottom, I only fell once more when I got to a steep part and got out of control.
I was amazed today at how much I've improved in going down hill. I'm looking forward to learning even more so I can approach these slopes confidently.
Anyway, by the time I got back down to Orvis Meadow from Aspen Forest, I'd had it. I made my way back to the trailhead, and called it a day.
You can see the path I took by clicking here.
12/31/09
I went out alone today... well not quite alone... I didn't go up with anyone but there were about a gazillion people on the trails and sledding hills again today. It was good to see so many people having such a good time.
I did a little over 10 Km this morning in a little less than an hour and fourty minutes including the time I stopped to help one gentelmen get back up from a fall, and got his skis waxed and helped another young lady get up from a fall. Today was a good energy day. If it weren't for the need to get back I felt I could do it again with a little food and drink break.
I started out by going out the runway, and then the stanislaus lookout loop and back to the trail head via the Stables Cruise. From there I took Ted's Trail out to Orvis Meadow, did the orvis meadow loop and took the Headwaters Bridge trail back to the runway and back to the trailhead. I stopped briefly for a water and snack break and then did the Stables Cruise to runway to trailhead loop in the oposite direction from earlier. Then, just to push it over 10K, I went out to the Meadow Cafe and back.
You can see the path I took by clicking here.
12/29/09
Another approximately 2 hours and close to 5 miles on the snow today. One of our non-coaches (who are both great coaches) took me on a new trail (for me) with a couple pretty easy hills. I managed to stay upright the whole time. I feel like I'm making real progress conquering my hill deamon.
I'm also becoming more and more confident about completely committing to my forward ski in the kick and glide sequence. When I started, just a couple weeks ago, I was always putting pressure on the back ski, basically not really balancing at all. Now, I can watch myslef sway side to side and can pick the back ski completely off the snow should the urge arise.
Though the weather was nicer today, I did'n feel as quick or strong as yesterday and didn't have the same level of stamina. I guess that's to be expected when you go out three days in a row and you're not in great shape (yet).
I went back to my regular pair of skis today, with the delamination problem fixed. I definitely think I got spoiled yesterday by the racing skis. I even went back into the shop to talk to the owner about them... Had to turn around as there must have been 30 people standing in line.
What fun! What a workout!
Tonight we have another 1 1/2 to 2 hr session with our non-coaches doing strenght, stretching, balance and aerobic exercises. I should be pretty much done for the day when we're finished.
2/28/09
Put about 2 hours and colse to 5 miles on the snow today. Did a couple hill runs... with an audiance this time... so, of course I fell... drat!
Had to rent a pair of skis today becuase the used ones I'd bought this fall were delaminating. The ones I rented I believe were entry level race sckis rather than the standard rental style we have. I really thought they were faster. They're certainly longer. We'll see if a purchase is in the cards.
12/27/09
Dana and I spent about 2 1/2 hours on the snow today. We did lots of hill practice and got in a total of a little over 5 miles (8Km). It was chilli but beautiful out today!
One of Dana's skis started to delaminate so we'll have to see if it can be repaired.
12/24/09
Spent about 2+ hours on the snow today, about half of it was tramping up hill and practicing downhill. I was finally able to do the downhill without falling . I tried out a head cam on a couple runs. There's no sound because the camera is inside a waterproof (and sound proof) housing. You can check it out by clicking here.
12/22/09
Great hour+ workout with Sandi and Judy from the team.
12/21/09
I was going to go up the mountain today to do some more down hill practice. However, I'm so sore from last week's aventures that I decided to take it easy today and let things heal.
12/19/09
Had a great 2nd snow training day up at Bear Valley with the team! We spent about 3 hours on the snow and covered about 5+ miles. Most of the day was dedicated to technique training rather than distance since Dana and I are in the newbie group.
I fell far less frequenly today but still had significant issues dealing with hills. We learned how to step out of the tracks, slow or stop using a half wedge, how to do a step turn to avoid obsticals, and several methods for climbing hills.
The team training was not nearly as brutal as my last "hills only" personal training. Learned a lot, and it was fun to spend some time on the flat (or nearly so) where I could concentrate on striding.
Here's Dana demonstrating the proper technique for staying upright
And here I am demonstrating how to look really nervous going down a hill.
See all the photos here!
12/17/09
Up on the mountain for a while today...What a beautiful day! We were on the snow or almost 3 hours. I practiced hills for much of the time. My intent was to get to 10 out of 10 going down a fairly good slope without falling. I got to about 3 out of 4. Here's a video that Sandi shot. Last fall of the day involved doing the splits... at least that's what it felt like!
Today we had MUCH better conditions than last weekend!!! The sun was out, it wasn't snowing wet snow, it was just beautiful.
Back on the slopes this Saturday with the team. Looking forward to lots more practice!
12/12/09
1st training day in the snow up at Bear Valley. We were on the snow for about 2 hours. It was snowing heavily almost the whole time and the wind was strong much of the time. The snow was what one might expect for early season in the western sierras. It was wet, cold (of course), and stickey. It was still a lot of fun and good exercise.
I think I beat the entire team (maybe combined) for number of times falling down. It would have been closer but then we practice the wedge/snowplow. Actually the rest of the team practiced the snow plow, I practiced falling down and getting up. Well, at least I can claim to be the best getter-upper on the team!
One thing I learned in the conditions we had today... I need to gear up. glo
ves, and parka both got soaked.
Biggest lesson learned... Waxless Cross Country skis need to be waxed... who would have known. Both Dana and I had a pair of used skis that we'd bought earlier this fall. Out on the trail, we were picking up 1 to 3 inches of snow on the bottom of the skis. It made gliding ratehr difficult but trudging quite easy. Our friend and coah, Sandi, fixed us up with some wax on the trail (see pic coming soon) and from there on out we Stayed Slick (team motto btw).
Looking forward to getting out on the snow again soon!
Check out the rest of the pictures here!
12/02/09
15 min stretch
15 min balance exercises
10 min NordicTrack
2 Mile run/walk (mostly)
12/01/09
Happy B-Day to me
11/17 - 11/30
I won't go into the various reasons why but I basically took the last two weeks off from training. Back to it this week!
11/16/09
179# - Yeah!
11/15/09
Nothing but driving back from SoCal
NA
11/14/09
No exercise but lots of trench diging and other yard work.
NA
11/13/09
Nothing but driving to SoCal.
NA
11/12/09
15 minutes stretch
15 minutes back exercises
1/2 hour Nordic Track
NA
11/11/09
Over did it yesterday... lower back issues today.
Short walk with the doggies.
NA
11/10/09
15 Min Stretch
30 Min Nordic Track (whew!)
1 hour workout with the Mountain TNT.
NA
11/09/09
30% to 50% chance of snow mid week at Bear Valley!
Blah day.
181# - boooo!
NA
11/08/09
Not on home turf and did a lot of driving today but got in about 1.5 hr fast walk with some good hills.
NA
11/07/09
No training today... Today was the TNT kickoff in Berkeley. What a wonderful group of people and what a great cause to be fighting for! A big thanks to Sandi and Judy (new member JudyB) for twisting our arm so hard to join.
NA
11/06/09
6+ mile walk with the doggies @ about 3.5 mph.
NA
11/05/09
1/2 hour exercise tubing workout. First time with these so took it easy. Still a good workout and mixed it up with the stability cushion and BOSU ball to add more stability / core to the routine.
NA
11/04/09
Over did it a bit yesterday and lower back is tightening up. Taking a rest day today.
NA
11/03/09
1/2 hour on the Nordic Track... Whew!
2.5 mile walk with the doggies.
Nice 1 hour stretch and core session with fellow Mtn TNT Teammates.
NA
11/02/09
1/2 hour BOSU Ball... First time... Looked easy... Wasn't. Sweated a lot. Damn shame I let myself get so out of shape.
180#, NA
10/31/09 - 11/01/09
Busy but lazy weekend. No exercise 
. It was awesome to see baby granddaughter though, and picked up a little more equipment for our program. First "formal" dry land training/exercise session is this Tuesday evening.
10/30/09
1/2 hour of balance exercises. The have some good ones depicted at this website.
Fairly quick 3.4 mile walk around the neighborhood with the dogs. You can see the route here.
10/29/09
Good thing I kind of committed to keeping this log.... almost opted out again due to "turmoil at work".
1/2 hour of core exercises (abs, back, etc). Starting slow. Don't want injuries getting in the way. Still though, it's a half hour of core exercises that I didn't do last week!
10/28/09
Nothing... Turmoil at work got in the way. Consider it a rest day .
10/27/09
Shoulder was killing me this morning... from 10 minutes on the Nordic Track... Are you kidding me? Definitely need a lot of training.
Did a 6 1/4 mile mostly walk some run with the dogs out the fire road from Boards Crossing to Meko. The wind was really blowing and it was chilly unitl I warmed up. Saw a small herd of deer along the way and one .223 shell... way to close to the neighborhood! You can see the trail here.
We had our first official TNT information meeting this evening. Great job Sandi & Judy! If anyone else is interested, there's another meeting on Saturday during the day at the new fire station near the post office in Arnold. See Upcoming Events for details.
10/26/09
1/2 hour stability ball core exercise routine... Not too dificult, but there was sweat involved :-)
1st 10 minutes on the Nordic Track... wow! That's a workout! Need to work up to at least 45 minutes.
182#
10/25/09
Went out and bought some equipment for the training program yesterday. First local training session is next tuesday.
10/24/09
Did a 12 mile mountain bike ride in Big Trees State Park this morning with Coach Sandi. Should have been about 10 miles but the navigator (me) took a couple wrong turns. Great trail though once we got on it. Historic too... half of it is on an old loggig railroad grade. You can check it out at my Garmin site. Here's a grossly speeded up video of some of the ride ... YouTube Video.
