Training Log Archive: revy

Snow shoveling and hip PT.

First run in a long time... I had consciously limited my running over the winter. I don't think that the break solved any of the issues I was having as my low back and hip were not happy today. I took it pretty easy - going faster would be hard as the running motion just doesn't feel easy.

First real ride of the season on the Cartier trail. Biking legs felt surprisingly OK. A couple snow patches but otherwise clear.

Excellent day of spring skiing with Travis, Russ and Tom. A bit of fresh snow over the last three days with minimal wind and reasonable FL. We broke trail up to Glacier Crest (staying on the ridge this time which required a short boot pack). Beautiful weather with minimal wind - such a great position on the ridge for views. We skied an east facing line into the Illecillewaet drainage (snow was good) and then climbed up the glacier. Our original plan was to head over to Perley Rock but a line right below Overlook looked appealing so we skied that instead. We came across Cody Townsend and Bjarne on the glacier. They were filming their Seven Steps day with Elyse (Cody's wife who just had a baby) moving fairly slowly. Greg was out with them and we had a nice chat. Our line was quite nice and even the lower moraines were OK. I've never had soft snow on the lower section... it did get a bit heavy and had to pick your way through the cliffs. The valley was very heavy (to be expected for April) but OK if you stuck to the skier tracks.

Five runs on the Stoke... as usual I have days left on my card that I need to use up. Pretty good spring conditions actually.

Greenbelt with Milo. The snow is starting to melt but not completely clear yet.

Very nice ski post race at Sovereign. When I woke up I wasn't that motivated but once I started moving I felt pretty good. There was no on else out so we had fresh tracks. Since we had skied almost all the trails during the race we chose SIlver Queen to keep things interesting. It is a nice gradual climb from the low point.

Day Two - 40 km Skate. No new snow overnight meant conditions should be faster today. Truthfully the snow conditions were amazing for the event. I can complain about snow speed but coverage was excellent and for April the snow quality was about as good as you could ask for. I think I waxed for slightly warmer conditions as my skis seemed best on the lower trails (and especially slow on the upper north facing trails).

I was in the second start wave today (30 per start wave every 3 minutes) so a much more competitive event. The "easy" start on Woodland Bell seemed hard but I think that is the initial adrenalin leading to a fast pace. I settled into a group of 4-5 guys and tried to set my own pace on Carl Wylie one skating almost all of it. I still felt a bit of pressure with them behind me (and was not getting any draft benefit) so I allowed them to pass at the first aid station. I settled in behind for the next bit though our group started splitting apart in the Montezumas. I wanted to conserve my energy in this section and I think I managed to meet that goal as I felt good on the long climb back to the stadium and then on to the high point of the longest climb. I had one skier in a Mito Canada suit as a carrot for pretty much the entire race. I think our skis were the same speed. On Lars Taylor I could suddenly see 4-5 skier's just ahead but once we crested the top they seemed to glide away easily (I'm blaming it on the skis). This was the section where my skis seemed especially slow (highest part of the course). Mat Hewitt blew by me just after Alder Point and managed to put five minutes on me by the finish. He paced the distance much better than me... I felt like I was petering out after two hours. I still had the Mito guy in my sights and thought I might catch him but I sacrificed 30-45 seconds intervening in an altercation between a skier and a volunteer and didn't see him again. Once we were back on the sunny side my skis seemed better and even managed to glide down the last hill long enough that no skating was required to make it across the finish line.

Overall I think I felt better today than yesterday. Reasonably happy with the performance. Finishing slightly faster would have been nice - perhaps slightly slower off the start (and more training) would be a good idea. A very well run event with so many volunteers. Hopefully it grows as the experience would be even better with 3-4 times the amount of skiers. 2:19 race time - I measured only 39 km. Fastest guys were 1:45 (national team level).

C • Good race! 5