SNNNOOOOOWWWW!!!!!

Oct. 31, 2010

Training: OD classic Total time: 2hr 45mins

     I got to ski on snow today!!!!!! Friday night, there were rumors of enough snow in Hatcher Pass and that grooming was going to happen. With a big thumbs up, the team took off there on Saturday and enjoyed the fresh groomed excitement. Mark and I had to keep ourselves contained one more day. We took off at 7:30 to head up to Hatcher and were waxing our skis in the parking lot at 8:45. I forgot how cold it can feel up there, but I had worn plenty of clothes and was ready. 5 layers of Extra Blue later, i was out on my skis. Like always though, the first few minutes are allocated to making transition from 2' skis (roller-skis) to 7'+ skis. I feel like a new skier every year for a few minutes, but sure enough the muscle memory kicks in and I feel right at home.
     With the body still feeling a bit tired from yesterday, I kept the pace pretty moderated. Mark was getting pretty excited because of the snow, reminding me of a two week old puppy, but i remained focused and calm.... like a fully cooled loaf of pumpkin bread. The loops are pretty small up there, so it wasn't hard to shut down the mind and phase out after a few laps. No matter what though, it was awesome just to have skis on again. I have my ups and downs every summer with motivation and whatnot, but putting on skis again this time of year gets me more pumped that anything. Its winter baby!

     My team typically takes off around mid-November to start out our season, which means Thanksgiving has been spend on the road for many years now.  I love the Thanksgivings on the road because we stay in a big house and everyone pitches in and we have a great meal. I do although miss being able to spend that joyous day of food..... I mean.. day of giving thanks with my friends at home too. With that in mind, Mark and I planned a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner for tonight. Full spread..... I mean if you think of all the best parts of Thanksgiving being made to perfection, this was it. Thanksgiving on Halloween is an excellent idea and one that I will push for in future years. Its great to be able to spend a good evening of food and conversation like that of Thanksgiving with all the good people in your life... and to that I say Cheers and Happy Halloween!
Pictures coming.

Oct. 30, 2010

Training: L3 Pace wrkout. Total time: 2 hr

     Today was a fun day! Its the day before Halloween and people are simply excited to go do things like party and trick or treat and whatnot. It has been a while since I have done anything for Halloween of any sort really, simply because its always smack right in the middle of the week with intervals the next day and working until late hours with training afterwards. I do believe that athletes should make time to go out an have fun from time to time, but I suppose that for me with the season coming up and being in the middle of our last good training block before heading out, I just cant afford to be up late drinking and exposing myself to possible sickness or a day of missed or non-quality training. I don't want to sound like a fun-nazi or anything, I get in a few epic days a year that seem to tide me over, but I believe its not worth the risk at crucial times in the season like we are now. Maybe I'm just getting older and prefer to take an evening to relax. Nonetheless, the excitement is there and I still fall into suit.
     Mark and I had to be at work at 12pm today and could not go to Hatcher's with the rest of the team, but we put in a great workout anyhow. We took to the hillside trails with our running shoes and poles and decided the best route for the day was 2 x Spencer Loop at L3. It was important that I keep the pace under the L4 mark and really work the aerobic system. Mark and I tend to push the pace with workouts like these and by Mark and I, I mean me. Its funny how when kept in check, L3 is a very comfortable pace. When keeping the legs just under that point where lactate starts to build, one can actually maintain a fairly fast pace with little fatigue.
     Saturdays typically are not my favorite days with a hard workout in the morning followed by a busy Saturday at the Raven.When Mark and I finished the workout, we were surprised to see how fast the workout caught up to us, with both our bodies feeling rundown and a bit beat up. Thats what and hour at threshold pace on tough terrain will do though. Ive been really good about wearing my compression tights to work on these days and they really help keep the body from feeling totally impaired. With though combined with my supersuit I wore to work, I had nothing to frown about.

      The day spent at work was pretty fun. With everyone dressed up in costume garb, it was hard for customers not to smile, even when you could tell they weren't having such a great day. All in a days work for......R-Man. I couldn't think of anything good. Rediculous-Man might have worked.
      The prospect of doing strength after work on Saturdays is never appealing, and feeling good about the last few weeks of training and knowing I have precious time left to spend with the beautiful lady in my life, I decided to take the evening off and spend some relaxing quality time. Very much an excellent day.

Oct. 29, 2010

Training: AM bounding speeds at kinkaid. Total time: 2hr
              PM easy jog. Total time: 30 minutes

     Why can't I just wake up to snow in the morning. My senses were tickled last night as light snow started to fall in the evening. I went to bed with a smile on my face, dreaming that i would wake up to white fluffy power on my car and only my skis to think about. I was deceived once again! I woke to a good thick layer of ice on the roads and a tough enough layer on my windshield i had to pull out the tough scraper. The plan called for a double pole session with speeds out at Kinkaid Park  and "Rollerskiers......On ICE!!!" was my first thought. Late emails from Erik confirmed a Kinkaid start, but the workout would be on foot.


 Mark demonstrates good DP form

     Even though the ice made for a comical morning, the workout on foot went very well. After a short hour warmup, we hit some speed circuits on a 5 minute loop with two steep climbs. The sun was coming over the mountains to a clear day and most everyone was in good spirits.  I felt way better than I did yesterday, which relieves me as always. I occasionally reach the "why the hell do I do this to myself" thought when my body feels as though i would lose a fight with a third grader. I did some stretching exercises with my back last night and it seemed to loosen up it up a bit. Just enough i would say to let me pound a bit more today.



  

Oct. 28, 2010

Training: Recovery Double pole. Total time: 90 minutes

     I think the last few days have finally caught up with me. I spent a good part of my day at work utilizing a magnificent device known as the Theracane. This contraption is in simplest words a big candy cane like stick with knobby ends. One of the drawback to being a skier is the plethora of fun muscle knots that develop throughout the back, which from me guessing might be from jamming ones arms via poles into the hard asphalt thousands of times a day. I'm pretty sure the knot I was working on at work yesterday could have made Mr.T cry like a little girl. I was not far from it. If it weren't for other customers being there, I'm sure i could have made it sound like I was dying against my will. If only one could afford to see a massage therapist after every practice. I think I'm the biggest wuss in the world though when it comes to the back or perhaps mine is just in that much more disarray than the norm, I don't know. Whatever.
     Last night, I got to the APU gym around 8:15 to start my strength workout which meant that I didn't leave until 9:15 or so. This is never very ideal because I end up eating dinner around 10pm, but this has been my lifestyle for the past 5 years post college and I've gotten used to the odd training and eating habits developed. That being said, it always seems odd to me when i experience a "normal" day where I eat at "normal" times such as having dinner at 6pm. I feel like I'm eating a big snack before supper and spoiling my appetite. But nonetheless, the late evenings spent training hardly ever yield refreshed feelings the mornings after. Today was not out of the ordinary. The body did not coordinate itself this morning and no amount of that precious coffee seemed to do the trick. I felt pretty sluggish and slow during the easy dp workout and I cut the workout a bit short from the recommended plan. They call these "recovery" days for a reason. You wouldn't need recovery days if your body didn't feel occasionally like it had gone through a Mike Tyson- Evandor Holyfield fight.

Thought of the day: There is good pain and there is bad pain........and Tylenol for both.

Tuesday L5 session video

Threshold Workout

Oct. 27, 2010

Training: AM L3 threshold workout. Total Time: 2hr
              PM easy run and strength. Total time: 1hr

So bring people up to speed. I did a race called the Trans-Alps in early September that consisted of 195 miles over the alps in a 8 day stage race format. I did structure a bit of my summer training to prepare for a race of that magnitude. from late August through late September I was in Europe focused entirely on mountain running. This of course had its effects on my skiing fitness, but as truly believe, the mental aspect of athletics plays a substantial role in competition. For me, The Trans-Alps not only gave me a needed break from the everyday ritual of eat-train-work-train-eat-sleep, but also allowed to experience discomfort as a whole new level. This was an event that was well beyond my mental grasps and simply put, would test my "demons". I think many athletes have these so called "demons", which are born from the desire to push yourself harder and faster. Nonetheless, the experience was invaluable and an amazing time was had, but the month spend on foot had brought me away from my ski fitness. I have spent the past month building my strength back into my upper body.  I lost a solid ten pounds during the race which I'm sure came out of the upper body. Luckily, I have learned my body responds to L4/L5 work very well and i can build power pretty quick, but the L3/L4 grinding gear takes quite a while to build back. I decided to race both time trials last weekend to gauge where I was at physically. Surprisingly, I faired much better than thought in the sprints, but wasn't necessarily thrilled with the distance TT. My time was similar to that of a so-so L3 test during the summer testing sequences. There are a lot of parameters to consider when comparing times, but the short of it was that my movements did not feel as crisp as they could be at this point. That comfort comes with good L3 training, building the capacity and strength to hold better movements at higher speeds. I have a bad habit of always going a bit too hard on L3 workouts which tends to tap the anaerobic system too much taking away from the aerobic system. So after a short meeting with my coach, it is in the best interests that bring myself back a step and spend a couple of weeks with predominately L3 work, deviating from the teams L4 race prep sequence. I will focus on staying much more within the L3 realm and keep the aerobic system the dominant engine. With still about a month until the first set of races, I have ample amount of time to raise that L3 threshold and find smoother stronger movements for the distance racing. After many years of training, I have a pretty good handle on how my body responds to certain types of training, but there is always new things to learn. The coach and athlete need to be good with communication to achieve success in a program. At any rate, due to icy roads, our hilly course was relegated to a fairly flat out and back course with the outward direction being fairly gradual uphill. This made for a great workout nonetheless. I held a very solid L3 pace with a little bit of L4 in there for about 45 minutes of total work time. .

Thought of the day: In training there is a fine line between improving ones system and going too hard. Better to keep things in check, but its not bad to test the body now and again!

Oct. 26, 2010

Training: AM L5 speeds with L2 distance. Total time: 2hr
              PM L1 easy run. Total time: 30mins

Well I woke up this morning remembering that I had forgotten to set the coffee maker up last night and there wouldn't be coffee waiting for me when I arose. That was a good reason to stay in bed an extra five minutes. The weather had called for a couple inches of snow last night, so i finally decided that it was worth getting up to at least see if mother nature had graced us with her light fluffy stuff. Walking upstairs, i looked out the window to find wet sidewalks and gloominess. De-motivation number two....check. To my surprise though, i found the coffee had been turned on and was hot and waiting for me. My girlfriend gets up ridiculously early to go to work some mornings and she had set the coffee for me before she took off. Girlfriend gets 1000 points for that one. Motivation..... 1 point. I had spent yesterdays free time making Granola and for the first morning in a couple weeks had a solid breakfast. My Granola is packed with all sorts of goodies and protein and such, perfect for the morning feeding. As I sipped my girlfriend-made coffee I watched video of the distance TT our coach posted this morning. Watching people go hard was motivating..... point 2 for motivation. Apparently one of our juniors took a pretty bad crash just before the finish. Although I felt bad for him, the scene was entertaining. This was my third point for motivation giving it the win. I was out the door a few minutes later to hit the roller-skis. We had a simply set up this morning. Race speed L5 circuits (45sec, 60sec, 90secs). I did 3 sets and felt that was good enough for me. The power is coming back and feels good to go fast and hang up front again.  The sun came out just after finishing the last set. What a beautiful day. I finished off with a good distance ski into kinkaid park.

Thought of the day: The simply act of making coffee for someone can change that persons day!

Distance TT Video

Recovery Day

Oct. 25, 2010

Training: Easy recovery run. Total Time: 1.75 hr

Although today was supposed to be my day off this week, I decided that I would join Mark out on an easy mountain run. Mark had one of those days yesterday where things simply couldn't come together to find his way out the door, a type of day I have had many times throughout my career. I'm sure many people can relate to those days where doing nothing at all sounds better than almost any other option. We brought the dogs and heading up towards O'malley Peak. As we got up into the saddle, snow and wind met us with excitement. I was debating whether or not to keep my over-pants on at the car and of course the wind and snow up top was quite chilly making me regret my opting to leave the over-pants at the car. Although the chill was a bit surprising, the slow trot was feeling good. Running back down though, my legs were actually feeling quite wobbly, a feeling i thought would be non existent after 195 miles through the Alps. Oh well.. guess i should just train more. Not much else to note today other than i did make a great batch of apple cinnamon granola which is beginning to become a staple in my morning along with the coffee. Home made granola can sure tide a guy over through a tough workout, let me tell ya!

Thought of the day: Is there such thing as too much ice cream before you go to bed?

OD - Over Distance Meditation

Oct. 24, 2010

Training: OD classic roller-ski L1-L2. Total Time: 3hr

Free time is a rarity in my life it seems. The most relaxing part of my day is the thirty minutes in the morning as I enjoy  my cup of coffee in the morning. I get up earlier just so I feel like I'm not rushed through my coffee drinking experience. As most people would agree, the morning coffee is like switching on the "on" buttons. Its important not to rush it otherwise you might feel as though some button was missed somewhere in the morning hoopla and you feel slightly off kilter for the rest of the day. With days that seemed packed to the gills with training and work thirty minutes almost never feels like enough time to collect your bearings. I always seem to have a hundred things running through my mind that i never really have time to sort out. Finances, training, work, fitness, relationship, they all go into the ongoing circus which is my head. I try to stay relaxed as much as possible , but as most people know, all the effort in the world sometimes cant counteract the stress buildup. Fortunately, for me I have one good workout a week that allows me time to sort through some issues. The OD or over-distance workout is one of the key workouts in almost every endurance sport athletes regime. Its a workout that is generally low intensity and allows the body to key into certain muscle groups to promote capillary growth in those areas, thereby allowing more blood to those muscles. With more blood comes more oxygen and nutrients, allowing those muscle groups to work longer and/or harder etc.. For me, its a time to ponder those things aching to be pondered. Most of my OD workouts are in the 3 hour range which provides plenty of time to sort through things. Ive been doing these workouts for a long time and tend not to focus on the movements as much as I used to. I have gotten pretty good at shutting my brain off and plugging out the hours. In cases such as today, I hardly even notice the time ticking away and before I know it I'm back at the car three hours later. These workouts are like black holes to me. I get lost in thought almost immediately and seem to come back to reality just before i reach the end of the workout to chick in with the body and see how  things are holding up. Its like a three hour meditation for me. By the end of the week, I'm generally pretty worn and tired and have plenty of things going through my head plucking "stress strings". By the time i finish my OD, i always feel much calmer and lacking a better word...normal. I'm able to sort through just enough issues to make my ongoing stress level tolerable. I know they say that exercise relieves stress and whatnot, but I always seem to find a way to make exercising, training, or whatever you might call it be stressful. I think i just find some workouts as time away from the everyday life. It provides that extra "coffee time" that everyone needs one way or another to screw their heads on straight. Without the multitudes of hours training, they would probably put me in an institution. Another day done and another 3 hours in the bank. Nice.

Thought of the day: Its totally worth it to wake up 20 minutes earlier and have those few minutes to smell and enjoy the morning beverage of choice. It can dictate how your day goes from there.

Distance TT

Oct. 23, 2010

Training: AM Skate roller-ski time trial approx 10k distance. Total time: 2 hr

The course for today was the same course as we use for our L3 testing (aerobic threshold) which begins ath the Potter Marsh parking area and heads out the Old Seward and takes a right up into residential neighborhoods. We finish at the top of Prominence Pt. after skiing up Goldenview drive about 600m. All in all roughly 10k of predominantly uphill skiing. After yesterdays Sprint TT, my body wasn't necessarily psyched to do anything hard again. It took every bit of the 40 minute warm-up to feel even remotely qualified to do anything. Of course as luck would have it I was put in the drivers seat (1st guy out) meaning I was going to be the one everyone was chasing today. It was a 15 second interval start, so the spread was going to be thin and excitement to reel the guy in front high. Mark was starting right after me and because he had been posting some great times this summer here, i wasn't going to be surprised if he caught me fairly quickly after the start. I left the start line wanting not to succumb to the pressure behind me and stay relatively relaxed the first half.  As we turned off Old Seward and into the climb into the residentials, mark had gained some time on me, but was still 10 seconds back. We got into so steeper V1 climbs and the clicking of the poles behind me started to fade. This was encouraging to me, but at the same time a bit confused because i wasn't feeling that great either and didn't think i was going particularly fast. I kept trucking and a few minutes later i looked back to see Mark was no longer there. When i reached the bottom of Prominence Pt. with still 8 minutes or so of climbing to go, I was slowing down. I got a bit excited thinking i was doing really well to be pulling away from Mark and had picked up the tempo a bit. I made it through the climb fairly smooth and without breaking down. Half way up there was a long stretch where i caught sight of someone coming up on me about 45 seconds back or so. I figured this was James Southam, a fantastic skier and Olympian, who had previously overtaken me by more on occasions and had only started 45 seconds back. When I crossed the finish line, i was surprised to find the Patrick Johnson was that skier. He had started behind James and had for all I could tell.. a great day. I figured he was about 20 seconds or so up on me. Its always frustrating when younger guys beat you, but at the same time you feel proud of them too. I still love to see guys when they are on. But at far as guys that are "ON" goes, Bart Dengel had one of his best times ever up the hill in just over 32 minutes. He crossed the line and was obviously beyond himself. He was laying on the gravel face down and breathing heavily from exhaustion. Bart had started in the last position in the starting line and had passed most everybody to finish in a sprint with James. In the end it was Bart in 32:14, Patrick 33:33, Myself 33:55. This was not a particularly great time for me by any respect, but it was the best i could put forth for the day given my fitness. Mark had had a day where nothing seemed to function properly and fell far from his idea of PAR. We all have those days for sure. I can think of quite a few days over the past month that were like that for me. Its never awesome when those days fall on TT days, but it does happen now and again. I am pretty happy with the early TT results for myself. I have another month to find my form and I know it will come when it comes time to throw down. But for now, Hats off to the guys that threw down great performances, our team looks great right now.

Classic Sprint TT

Oct. 22, 2010

Training: AM Classic rollerski sprint time trial. Total time: 2.5hr
              PM  Shaking the legs out run. Total time: 20 mins

Well we didn't have any frost on the car window this morning, so there was no reason to think the TT will be cancelled due to snow. I was actually pretty nervous this morning. I had a talk with my coach a few days ago and we thought it would be a good idea to do both the sprint time trial today and the distance TT tomorrow just to see where I'm at. This was going to be my first real comparison of my ski fitness in a while seeming as i took time away to do the Trans-Alps most of the fall. I felt as though my upper body strength was slowly coming around, but comparing myself during the speeds the other day, I had a little bit of work to do still. After a good warm-up I was feeling pretty relaxed. I wasn't planning on doing anything beyond seeing where I was at fitness-wise compared to my teammates. Our set up was going to be two rounds of prelim style starts (15 second intervals between skiers) followed by two rounds of reverse pursuit start (meaning the slowest finisher leaves first  followed by the second slowest in however much time was between them etc...). To my surprise, the first round went fairly well for me. The strength was there and for the most part I was able to hold my technical composure through the finish line. The second round was similar paced and i found myself right on the teammate starting right in front of me as i crossed the finish line. The final two rounds were confusing at best and therefore i wont go into much detail. Being one of the fastest qualifiers i started second to last and as its set up, most everyone finishes at roughly the same time. So as a whole the day went well for me. I gave my training partner and generally better sprinter a run for his money in the last round. I didn't expect to be able to handle the effort with such little anaerobic work underneath me, but it seemed to come together a bit. I'm tired now. Duh!

Thought of the day: I have heard rumors that Chocolate milk is one of the best recovery drinks out there..... Whatever..... Its just freakin goood!!!!!

A Good Recovery

Oct. 21 2010
Training: AM 2hr easy classic rollerski

It was cold morning this morning, but still no sign of snow, just some frost on the windshield of my car. It was still  brisk when i started out at Sand Lake Rd by myself. Mark was having a "slow" day and was going to meet me a bit later. I plugged in my headphones and went out at a nice sluggish pace. I was definitely sore from yesterday, but moving the muscles in a non-stressful manor was relaxing. I had a nice groove going when i met up with Mark, who had specifically told me he put on extra long underwear because he was going sllloooowwww, and we skied off into the park. The sun was still rising over the mountains and i had one of those rare moments when you actually check out the view around you. Alaska Rocks. Maybe i should take pictures some time.

Thought of the day: Sometimes taking those day where your out there... but not really doing much.. makes all the difference.

Athlete Benefits

Oct. 20 2010:
Training: AM-1hr L3 threshold bounding with L4 over the climbs. Total time: 2hr
              PM-light strength. Total time: 1hr
I would like to compare being an athlete to many older generation folks out there for a moment. I put my body through many rigorous ordeals and with such I wake up each morning and assess the body damage. Hmmm... Yup...thats hurts..... thats not doing to good...... ill be icing that later for sure. I cant help but wonder of the similarities between myself each morning and that of a person 80 years old or so. At the ripe old age of 26 I cant help but ask myself  from time to time why I put myself through this each morning. But as quick as the question appears, I'm out the door and off to see if the punishment has yielded any benefits. I do occasionally see someone of the eldest generation out there "getting fit", and I'm motivated by the fact that they are out there regardless of the social norm of sitting around and reflecting on "way back when". I have to think theres a big difference between pain thats age induced and that of pain created by self infliction which can almost addicting. Any any rate, another workout in the bank. My training partner Mark took no mercy on me and worked me around the course at more than uncomfortable pace. If I hadn't have done that to him so many times previous, i would have complained a little, but alas... i'm just as mean sometimes.
WORDS OF THE DAY:   Enough self-inflicted aches and pain from working out might just trump those of getting old. And you might just feel better about them. Keep at it.

A good training day

Today was the .. thousandth day that I arose from my very comfortable place of warmth and traded it for a pair of roller-skis and chilly winds. Everyday I question whether or not it will be worth it to leave the warm bed where a few extra hours of sleep are definite could-bes', but each  time I get up and choose to face the day (with a few exceptions) I never regret the decision afterwards. Its unfortunate that the pleasure I gain from training each day never seems to carry over to the next morning. Oh well though, like most mornings the workout consisting of three sets of speeds on classic roller-skis pleased me. First time in a while that I felt strong enough  to hang in with Mark and Bart and the other guys with more rollerskiing and less Trans-Alps under their belts. Its  one more day down and less than a month until the season gets underway.