Skiing AND Running AND Lifting (??)
Hold on to your hats, folks! I have breaking news....
I WENT SKIING. Actual, real, live skiing. Downhill and everything. Holy wow was it as amazing as I remember it being.
Last weekend, Andy and Cinder and I left our house at the 'earlyish' hour of 5:30am and I enjoyed 2 glorious laps to and from Silcox Hut before the lifts opened for the day. I carved gently down perfect groomers, slowly and cautiously and SO happily making my way down with my partner and our little powder hound. My legs were completely toasted by the middle of my second lap but I had only the slightest twinges of discomfort in my ankle stabilizers.
It was so hard to call it quits for the day but I sat in the sunshine with C, munching on apples and basking in all of the Vitamin D-filled glory of the snowy parking lot. Life suddenly became 1000x better than it had felt in the months leading up to this day. Funny how that works, right?
Last week, I jumped in on my running plan of,
- Run 1 minute
- Repeat 10 times with walking breaks
- 3 times/week
Today, I began week 2 of this gradual increase in running time,
- Run 2 minutes
- Repeat 6 times with walking breaks
- 3 times/week
The difference between my legs during last week's runs and today's run was almost 180 degrees. Last week, I felt small twinges in my right calf when i would push off into the first few strides of each 1 minute block; today, I felt nearly back to normal until a small amount of fatigue kicked in in my last 2 minute block. It's nice to feel so much progress in such a short amount of time.
Yesterday, I doubled my ski vert and skinned to the top of the Palmer lift from Timberline (~2700' of vert). The skinning was slow and it took me about 1h50 to get to the top but it was a beautiful day and I tried to avoid putting performance pressure on myself.
The ski down was truly exceptional. To quote a pair of gentlemen i passed on the way down "it seems like a crime to ski groomers with powder like on the ground." I wholeheartedly agreed with them. It was some of the best skiing, handsdown, that I've ever had on Mount Hood–and it was in March! Winter is hanging on strong and I love it.
Aside from the fact that I was physically shaking my way through the final 500' or so feet back to the car, my legs felt strong and my heart felt so happy.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2202056844/overview
In addition to all of the running and skiing fun, Dr. Michelle (my PT extraordinaire) has incorporated weight training into my training regime and has advised me to continue weight training long after I am discharged from her care.... I understand where she is coming from; I weight train throughout climbing season so it should be without question that I would weight train throughout my run/ski season. But, the routine is foreign to me and I've been doing my best to make sure I follow through with my 2x/week weight session (I finally know how to deadlift!).
Plus, a couple days each week slowly dying on the bike trainer in my garage....
All in all, I feel like I am slowly preparing my body to run 50 miles in 4 months.
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