Drills & Hills

Tonight we sent in our entries to the Bear Chase, 2 weeks away. We're going to do this!

We haven't done the hills found at the end of the Bear Chase for a while, so that's what we did today. We were very inspired by the videos of the Olympic xc athletes, at least until a little part of the trail called Flamingo Hill. The down and uphill of that do remind me of footage of the courses at Whistler. Go down, turn and take that speed uphill as far as you can. Then keep climbing. Climb some more. And some more.

I couldn't really understand just how good these athletes are until I tried to do it myself. They are so fluid and can go so fast for so long; unless you've turned yourself into a gasping pile of rubber trying to do it yourself, it doesn't look that hard.

We started with some of the drills, then on the the Birch and Cedar loops at Swedetown. The first hills seemed easier with fresh legs. I wonder how they will feel after finishing the Bear loops. I did have some tired legs after yesterday's all-out effort. I'm pretty pumped that I could do today's workout the very next day. Yay, Crossfit!

On the way back, We did some pole/skate drills. I did 3skates/pole, Switching sides on V2 alternate, V4 (2 poles per skate) and used V1 for the finish. It was a good time. Kirsten and I have had a really fun weekend together. Mmmmm, all squishy feeling.

Here's the data:

Name:	Birch & Cedar Loops
Date:	Feb 28, 2010 2:21 pm
Distance:	5.73 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	41:56.9
Avg Speed:	8.2 km/h
Max Speed:	26.1 km/h
Avg Pace:	07' 19" per km
Min Altitude:	298 m
Max Altitude:	339 m

Start Time:	2010-02-28T19:21:54Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.238603º N
Longitude:	88.465581º W

End Time:	2010-02-28T20:03:51Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.238525º N
Longitude:	88.465453º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 30, 2010 1:58 PM PDT.

Ciao,

Charles

The Bad News Is The Good News

Today I rowed my very hardest at the Erg Monster indoor rowing race. The bad news: I didn't meet my goal. No 7:30 2k row this year. The good news?

• Time, 7:39.1!
• Personal best!
• Age group, men's and open winner!

Hooray!

Now for some more bad news: I hardly got any erg workouts in. The good news?

• I got as far as I did with mostly Crossfit and skiing.
• I didn't get sick as much this year.
• So far, recovery feels better. I didn't collapse on the floor this time.
• I've been able to do a lot more xc skiing this Winter.

That doesn't mean I don't need to row to do well at rowing. On the contrary, I think I would have been much closer to reaching my goal had I gotten more erg workouts in. During the race, I could tell that my form was not as good as when it's dailed in. Rowing takes practice. This year, the skiing needed more practice than the rowing. That's what Winter is for up here, anyway. I don't plan on roller skiing during rowing season. I do plan on being in good condition for the season, though!

The Race

Kirsten chose not to race, but to coach me instead. We drew up a race plan to meet the 7:30 goal on a 3 x 5 card. After thinking about it, we made a plan 'B' on the other side for 7:40.

The Plan was drawn up into 500 meter quarters, like this:

28 1:52

28 1:52

29 1:53

30 1:53

with power 10s at the beginning of each 500, and an increased stroke rate at 250 to go. The number refer to stroke rate, then 500m split.

Everything started out fine for the first 500. I did notice that my quads started to burn by the end. The second 500 held well, but got tough. The train fell of the tracks during the third 500. Any extraordinary effort here and you die on the last 500. Splits came up to 1:59. The last 500 I had a hard time getting the stroke rate to stay up. Splits were around 2:00. Legs were good (I couldn't feel them) but Kirsten noticed my arms not coming completely away. At the last 250 Kirsten said to go for it. I picked up the rate, maybe back to 30. The splits fell too, down around 1:56. We didn't need the plan 'B.' We started off of the goal pace, just in case I could do it. As keeping to the plan became impossible, Kirsten just coached off of what I seemed able to do. Many thanks to Kirsten for making it so that all I had to do was work. She Who Must Be Obeyed, indeed!

On The Shoulders Of Giants

A lot of people have helped to keep my bumbling around sports and fitness to a minimum. Thanks to great coaching:

Rowing; Terry Smythe got us started.

The folks at Craftsbury gave us a good grounding in technique.

Dennis & Deb Kamrad coached our technique and workouts.

Crossfit; Scott Machalk & Bill Houghton of Crossfit Marquette got us started with proper form.

Theresa Rosenquist of Crossfit Appleton kept us on the straight and narrow and brought our intensity up a notch.

All the folks at the Level 1 Cert in Tampa showed us the complete package, acknowledged our accomplishments, corrected our faults and encouraged us onward.

Most of all, Kirsten supported and encouraged my efforts, even joining in, much to my surprise. I imagine that she is hoping that my efforts will pay off and one day I'll look good naked.

As for my win today, I especially want to thank Bob Sharkey, Jeff Massey, Nick Shimondle, Kristen Schuster and George Eakin for not showing up and beating me! You, perhaps more than anyone made this possible!

Now, on to the skiing!

Ciao,

Charles

Going Crazy On My Day Off

Yes, I know. It's actually my second day off. Kirsten and I were both a little stir crazy and needed some activity. We went skiing at MTU trails for a quickie. The same balance drills - they're helping! Then we took a little tour of the Oak Loop. After watching the Olympics online, we wanted to go faster than we had originally intended. At the top of the last rise, we stopped to catch our (well mine, anyway) breath before finishing up. Then V4 drills all the way back down. Back to the house where we did a few Crossfit type mobility things, mostly hips and shoulders.

And that was it. So why all the caution, the easy day? You see, tomorrow is the Erg Monster, a 2k race on indoor rowing machines. I originally set a goal of achieving a 7:30 2k. Tomorrow will provide a good test of my training, or lack of it. I haven't been on an erg for a month. We'll see what I can do. I promise to let you know.

Prepared list of excuses:

1. Oh, I haven't really trained for this. (Truly, my schedule has been on again, off again. But, thinking back, it usually is.)

2. I've had to work a lot on skiing technique. Mine was lousy.

3. I did too much of a workout yesterday.

Do you think that will fool anyone?

Here's the data:

Name:	Crazy on my day off
Date:	Feb 26, 2010 6:48 pm
Distance:	0.98 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	07:41.3
Avg Speed:	7.6 km/h
Max Speed:	14.3 km/h
Avg Pace:	07' 51" per km
Min Altitude:	16 m
Max Altitude:	266 m

Start Time:	2010-02-26T23:48:04Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.106706º N
Longitude:	88.552672º W

End Time:	2010-02-26T23:55:46Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.107207º N
Longitude:	88.552342º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 28, 2010 5:06 PM PDT.

30 Second Sprints

Hi, sports fans.

Speaking of, I watched an online video of the Dutch speed skating coach that sent his athlete into the wrong lane, costing him a gold medal at the Olympics. Watching what the coach goes through as he realizes his blunder, then tries to keep it together and coach his athlete - he can't even speak the last laps - I almost forget to feel sorry for the skater. Poor guy.

So, yesterday Kirsten and I hit the MTU trails for our skill drills and a CFE WOD. 8 intervals of 30 seconds all out followed by 30 seconds rest. My GPS thingy doesn't support interval based workouts, so no data. The straightaway on the back of the Isle Royale Loop is a nice flat straight piece about 300m long. Our sprints started at about half that, so 150m.

We lost about a meter on each interval. At the start of each sprint I was the faster one. After the halfway point, though, Kirsten would start to reel me in. We finished pretty close together.

Another note; Kristina Owen, who coached us last Fall on XC dryland training, won the City Of Lakes Loppet in Minneapolis MN last February 7th. Way to go!

Today off, back at it tomorrow.

Ciao,

Charles

Tempo 80-90 percent.

Hello. We squeezed this in between things. We started with the same drills as yesterday. Then once around the Core and Portage loops. Today's CFE WOD was a tempo workout; 1.5 miles, ski the first 1/2 at 80% effort, ski the last half at 90%.

The GPS says we came out a little under the distance; I went by the map. We are both getting over our skis better - each of us came close to tipping over! At the 90% turn, Kirsten really started to pull away. She still hasn't decided to ski with me or ski her own race on the day.

Here's the data:

Name:	Tempo 80 : 90
Date:	Feb 21, 2010 1:29 pm
Distance:	2.03 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	CW 10:01.3 - KW 9:31
Avg Speed:	12.1 km/h
Max Speed:	13.4 km/h
Avg Pace:	04' 57" per km
Min Altitude:	229 m
Max Altitude:	265 m

Start Time:	2010-02-21T18:29:39Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.107616º N
Longitude:	88.552011º W

End Time:	2010-02-21T18:39:40Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.107550º N
Longitude:	88.551713º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 23, 2010 11:53 AM PDT.

Ciao,

Charles

CF Snatch CFE 2 x 7 : 2

This morning we did a Crossfit WOD; 10 minutes to a max snatch. A snatch is an olympic lift; you start from the ground, lift and jump it overhead. This was one of the eight workouts from the 2009 Crossfit Games. It's a highly technical lift, requiring strength, speed, core stability, balance and coordination. We spent our 10 minutes working on the lift and its progressions. From pvc we went to sand-filled pvc (about 5#,) then added small weights. Final Score:

KW: 10#

CW: 17.5#

This afternoon we did a Crossfit Endurance WOD. We have been doing mostly the traditional long distance workouts along with technique lessons, mainly because our technique needed so much work. Now that we've got that somewhat squared away, we can restart with the workouts.

We've got some specific drills to hit every time we go skiing. They focus mostly on balance.

1. Warmup skate, no poles.

2. Skate with poles across back, hooked in elbows. Practice forward lean.

3. No poles, only one ski on in track. Push off with other foot, glide as long as possible.

4. V4: pole twice on every glide (we did this one after the WOD)

Both of us are less strong and able to balance than on our right sides. The drills improved our performance today, though. Yippee!

Because of the bootprints, we did everything on the dog loop; it gets kind of chewed up anyway. It also made a nice 7 minute loop for the WOD.

Today was an interval WOD: 2 x 7 minutes on, 2 minutes off, going for distance.

Here's the data:

Name:	Dog loop: Interval 1
Date:	Feb 20, 2010 4:00 pm
Distance:	1.40 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	07:24.2
Avg Speed:	11.4 km/h
Max Speed:	17.4 km/h
Avg Pace:	05' 16" per km
Min Altitude:	219 m
Max Altitude:	251 m

Start Time:	2010-02-20T21:00:49Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.106530º N
Longitude:	88.559024º W

End Time:	2010-02-20T21:08:13Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.107766º N
Longitude:	88.562176º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 22, 2010 2:33 PM PDT.

Name:	Dog loop, Interval 2
Date:	Feb 20, 2010 4:09 pm
Distance:	1.43 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	07:19.1
Avg Speed:	11.8 km/h
Max Speed:	15.2 km/h
Avg Pace:	05' 06" per km
Min Altitude:	203 m
Max Altitude:	243 m

Start Time:	2010-02-20T21:09:38Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.107601º N
Longitude:	88.561547º W

End Time:	2010-02-20T21:16:57Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.108258º N
Longitude:	88.562642º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 22, 2010 2:32 PM PDT.

Kirsten was about 25m ahead of me both times. A pretty consistent pace.

I've also been working on the transfer of weight and energy, especially off of my left ski. In our last lesson (no blog entry, oops! It was last Wednesday night; We worked almost all on balance. I was terrible. 'Guess that means I need to work on balance!) I noticed my left ski washing out on every stroke, mostly at the tip. It's important - every sideways slide is energy spent and lost - it won't send you forward. From our lesson we figured out that not only was there an incomplete weight transfer, but I was coming up too vertical; the pushing ski was so flat on the snow it would just slide out. Today I got another thing entirely. I started with the keeping the hips low thing, but then got a feeling of carving a turn with the front of the ski. I have no idea what else I was doing, but it seemed to work, carrying more energy into the next skate. Yippee #2!

That's all for now.

Ciao,

Charles

3 Bears Again, An Overtraining Alert

The legs are saying "another day off, just easy stuff, o.k.?" However, with today our only day off and with friend and distance junkie Jeff Massey staying at our house, it was inevitable that we would go out and do another long piece. Off we went to Swedetown, skiing the same 3 Bears route that we did on 1/23/10.

And once in a while that's o.k. Sometimes in life you don't get an rest day when you need it; you still have to perform. While just moving around the house had my legs screaming, once we got going everything loosened up pretty good. With work starting up tomorrow, I'll get in the recovery.

The snow was a new base, freshly groomed but drifted in in a few parts. Most of the way if you pushed off too hard the snow would collapse under your foot; very encouraging of efficient weight transfer. A bit on the slow side, but good.

I felt pretty good, all things considered. It was fun being back, working out in the snow again. We know what to do with the cold!

The data:

Name:	3 Bears again
Date:	Feb 16, 2010 11:06 am
Distance:	13.7 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	1:45:10
Avg Speed:	7.8 km/h
Max Speed:	8.0 km/h
Avg Pace:	07' 41" per km
Min Altitude:	267 m
Max Altitude:	351 m

Start Time:	2010-02-16T16:06:12Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.238533º N
Longitude:	88.465348º W

End Time:	2010-02-16T17:51:23Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.238507º N
Longitude:	88.465760º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 18, 2010 1:54 PM PDT.

Crossfit Level 1 Cert, Day 2. owww!

So, after a couple hundred or so squats, presses and deadlifts the first day, we came back for more on Sunday. We started with a review of the most complex of the basic movements, push jerk and medball clean. Two things were quite apparent. 1. My legs were realllly sore. 2. Everybody was getting it. The chance to sleep on it gives the brain a chance to process the information; the next day things come together much better.
Afterwords we had a lecture on nutrition. What we eat is the foundation of all our training. The guiding principles were the quality and quantity of our food, the proportions of protein, carbohydrates and fats, and documenting food intake. Not as controversial as recent online posts would indicate, but still radically different than the traditional Western diet.
Just before lunch came our 'treat.'. This workout, though tough, really was a treat - a team workout. It takes as long to explain it as it does to do. Here goes. There are 5 stations - kettlebell deadlift high pull (to under the chin,) pushups, box jumps, a 100 meter run and a rest station. With one team member at each station they work simultaneously, keeping count of their reps. When the runner taps the resting person, the resting person taps the kettlebell person, gets their rep number (for instance 25) and takes over, adding their reps to the team's total at that station (26, 27,...) The kettlebell guy taps the pushup guy and so on. 12 minutes for as many rounds as possible; the total of all reps except runs and rest is the team score. I started with the rest and got through three runs by the end. Our team 'Four Men Chasing 1 Lady' scored 880. I think the top score was about 1020. Here's the team:

We brought a sack lunch and stayed to watch the trainers work out on single max rep squat cleans. They were coaching each other and showed some beautiful form.

After lunch we had a an open Q & A followed by a lecture on the Glute/Ham Developer, or GHD. A potent core training tool. Then in rotating groups we worked on three other typical Crossfit skills; kipping pullups, muscleups and the snatch. While the pullups and muscleups are yet beyond me, I came away with the scalings and progressions to teach them to others.

The final presentation was on the principles and how to's of programming and scaling workouts. We took pictures (2nd picture) can you pick us out?) collected email addresses and said our goodbyes. After staggering out on used-up legs, we got take out, took showers and watched the olympics on tv.

And that's it. Kirsten and I are Level 1 Certified Crossfit Trainers. Of course it doesn't mean we know everything now. It means that we've had a grounding in understanding, performing and teaching the elements of Crossfit. What comes next is experimentation, experience and continuing education.

. . . And rest!

Ciao,

Charles

Killer WOD - The Missing Files

Here's the missing text from this post:

Thought you might enjoy the picture of the show from Sea World instead of the usual post-wod pic.
We spent all day here and had a great time!

WARMUP 3x10:
Walk / POSE drills
Jumprope singles/one-foot/doubles
Squats
Pushups (5)
Situps
Pullups
Back extensions (cw did 6)
Dips (5)

WOD:
Run 200m
Burpee Broad Jump 12.5m
Lunge 12.5m
Burpee Broad Jump 12.5m
Bear Crawl 12.5m
Burpee Broad Jump 12.5m
Lunge 12.5m
Burpee Broad Jump 12.5m
Bear Crawl 12.5m
Run 200m

Times:
KW: 6:20
CW: 9:28.
CW PR: jump rope: 3 singles, 1 double, 3 singles

We hope everything is well where you are!

Ciao,

Charles and Kirsten

Launching Into Fitness - The Missing Files

All posts this last week were sent via email from my iPhone. Some info didn't transfer, so I'm sending the original files. The pictures seemed to come through all right, so you can find them in the older posts. Here you go:

Down in Florida for a visit and the Crossfit cert in Tampa, we happened to be here for the delayed launch of the space shuttle. Maybe the last ever night launch for the shuttles. We had to leave for Titusville at 2:30am for the 4:14am launch, but it was worth it!

Today we were up at the crack of noon and did our workout. There's not much equipment here - bodyweight WODs to the rescue!

WARMUP 3 rounds
Jumprope singles/one-foot/doubles
5 Squats
10 Pushups
10 Situps
10 Pulldowns/reverse rows
10 Back extensions ( CW 5)
10 Dips (CW assisted)

WOD
4 rounds for time:
Run 200m
25 squats

KW 8:56
CW 9:22

KW PRs
10 bar dips x 2. Next, the muscle-up!
Pulldown 2 x 10 @ 110 lbs. Wow! Why we do pullups.

CW PRs
63 jumprope singles
Running all the 200m pieces. I'm leaner & in better condition; also the POSE running technique has drastically reduced impact shock to my knees. Thanks, Dr. Romanov - I didn't think I'd ever get to run again!

Kirsten post- workout


Charles post-workout


Ciao,

Charles

Crossfit Certification Day One

We're at the Crossfit Level 1 Cert at The Next Level Crossfit in
Tampa, Florida. Temperatures down here have been cold for Florida, 40s
& 50s. All day today lectures and demos then physical practice of the
9 essential Crossfit moves; three squats, three presses and three
lifts. A 'rockstar' level trainer worked us hard on each move until
our form was just so. Before the the noon break we did Tabata squats;
8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, doing as many squats in
each round as you can. Your score is your worst round.

KW 12
CW 13

End of the day 'treat' was Fran; 21-15-9 of thrusters (front squat
into a push press) and pullups.
KW 35#, full pullups. Time 9:11
CW 45#, jumping pullups. Time 5:56

That was great after doing all that work before.

Tonight a pizza and beer cheat with the olympics on. More crossfit fun
tomorrow!

Ciao,

Charles

Killer WOD

Launching into fitness.

Down in Florida for a visit and the Crossfit cert in Tampa, we
happened to be here for the delayed launch of the space shuttle. Maybe
the last ever night launch for the shuttles. We had to leave for
Titusville at 2:30am for the 4:14am launch, but it was worth it!

Love and War - and Skiing

Herein lies the (at least for us) long slog I promised. Tomorrow is planes and airports, so today was our last ski for a week. Up to Swedetown for a long distance ski. There was a secondary theme in the background, the kind of quasi-fun you only have after having been married for many years.

The original plan: Swedetown loops

Powderhouse 4.5K hills

Pine 1.7k flat

Valley 1.4k flat

Greenstone 3k flat

Mama Bear 3.1k 1/2 long down, 1/2 long up

Baby Bear 1.3k hills

Papa Bear 3k 1/2 long down, 1/2 long up

Cedar .9k flat

Birch 3.3k hills

Valley 1.4k flat

Len's 1k flat

Total 24.5k!

So, a long slog with hills at the beginning and near the end. I announced this on the trip up. Kirsten said words to the effect of 'I don't think so.' A discussion ensues; I want a hammering before our trip, she has other things left to do after, etc. In the end, we negotiate an agreement; we start with the original plan, only giving Kirsten veto power over continuing after the Bear Loops.

Wait for it...

Off we go! The lessons and technique work really paid off today, I can carry speed around the corners into the uphill. The V1 is much improved - knees driving down the ski, poling arms well in front providing better leverage. Kirsten did well but got really tired after the intial hills. I guessed out loud that she may be overtraining and not getting enough sleep. Naturally she was less than pleased with my assessment!

Skiing the flats, we worked on the V2 alternate. Getting a good double-pole and driving the knee down the ski made for some very long glides. My goal for the Bear Chase is finishing the distance, so the most glide for the least energy is my main game.

(A side note; near the bottom of the Bears you can see Lake Superior just over the treeline. Today's Picture has that as our background. See if you can spot it, a straight blue horizon just under the clouds!)

However, the climbing work has taken its toll. Working the position for V1 climbing engages the posterior chain; my butt hurts! (I need to do more squats!) On the way back up the Bears even the most gradual uphill is taxing - I can only hold that lower position so long. Strangely, Kirsten seems now to have gotten her kinks worked out, and is cruising up the hill and soon is out of sight. So once we get back to the Valley Trail, guess who it is that decides we should skip the hills of the Birch Loop? Yes, that's right - me! Straight back home we go.

We took out Pine, Cedar, Birch & Len's Loops. Total 17.7k. Next slog, I think we'll try the Bears first, then the hills after. The Bear Chase has somewhat less hills at the beginnning; they come near the end.

Pace: at today's pace, a Bear Chase race would finish at 3h 6m.

Nutrition: packing water. A very good idea. Zone bars for food. I wonder how that affected muscle glycogen? What meat protein would travel well and be easy and quick to eat/digest on the trail? I need to do more work here. Maybe Kirsten felt better after our bottom-of-the-Bear feeding because she eats more grains day-to-day? It's probably just because she is so amazing!

Wax: Good. Nice day, though with some sun-softened spots.

It was fun to do. We'll both sleep good tonight! I'll write if we do workouts in Florida, and of course from the Crossfit Cert!

Here's the data:

Name:	Powderhouse + 3 bears!
Date:	Feb 6, 2010 12:17 pm
Distance:	17.7 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	2:06:15
Avg Speed:	8.4 km/h
Max Speed:	28.0 km/h
Avg Pace:	07' 08" per km
Min Altitude:	235 m
Max Altitude:	342 m

Start Time:	2010-02-06T17:17:40Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.238599º N
Longitude:	88.465509º W

End Time:	2010-02-06T19:23:55Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.238572º N
Longitude:	88.465535º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 8, 2010 2:58 PM PST.

Ciao,

Charles

Let That Be A Lesson To You.

Another lesson, oh boy! Kirsten and I got a chance to demonstrate our progress so far. Our instructor, Eric Volk was a little punchy after working on the all-nighter snow statue competition for MTU Winter Carnival. It was pretty warm and we kept going off on tangents talking.

We skied at MTU Trails on:

Balsam Loop (hilly) .8k

Linden/Peepsock Loops (hilly)1.8k

Flat back and forth drills

Oak loop (mostly flat) 1.1k

3.7k total + drills

Stuff for me to work on more:

V1 main hand more forward - lots more leverage.

V1 especially, drive much more into the knee; more complete weight transfer.

Balance

Drills:

V20 as many reps as possible of poles balancing on one gliding ski.

V4 2 poles per ski.

Kirsten's bugaboos:

Arms closer to the body during poling.

Drill - brush your sides as the hands go by.

Follow through at bottom of poling. Let go of the poles.

O.k. So after several days in row, tomorrow is off. Saturday I promise we'll have a big slog, with data and everything. Then Sunday it's off to sunny Florida for a week, culminating with a 2-day Crossfit Level 1 Certification at Crossfit Tampa. We're pretty wired up about that. It should be pretty intense. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ciao,

Charles

The One That Got Away

So, here's us over by the Porta-Potties at the MTU trails. I messed up, thinking we were just in time for our next ski lesson. A quick call to instructor Eric Volk - Oops! Tomorrow night. He had it right in his email, I scheduled it right on my calendar, but my brain was cross-wired (not the first time.) Since we're dressed and ready to ski, Kirsten recommends we do flat trails since we did hills the last couple of times. Let's add today's trails up:

Isle Royale Loop 1.6k (the dog loop; we met 4 or 5 dogs, all galumfing along.)

Birch Loop 0.8k

Wax Hill 0.3k

Oak Loop 1.1k

Total 3.8k

And the time? Oh, no! No data! I forgot to turn on the GPS thingy! So no data. Without the data to back it up, I can say with complete confidence that I was much faster overall. ;^) What I did notice was that I didn't have to stop after hills that we went over; Even without actually skiing at a faster pace, not having to stop would have really cut down on my time. So far, so good.

We'll see if our instructor notices any difference tomorrow.

Ciao,

Charles

Balsam & Linden Loops

Just a quick one after work today. A little work on typical Crossfit skills afterwards. We'll hit it harder after tomorrow's ski lesson. Mostly downhill and uphill. Technique is improving. When I needed to stop, I tried to stay focused and continue moving as soon as was possible. Of course, Kirsten just skitters up the hill. At home, she's working on developing a butterfly pullup. Wow!

The map.

The Data:

Name:	Balsam & Linden Loops
Date:	Feb 2, 2010 5:36 pm
Distance:	2.33 kilometers
Elapsed Time:	17:09.7
Avg Speed:	8.2 km/h
Max Speed:	18.1 km/h
Avg Pace:	07' 22" per km
Min Altitude:	196 m
Max Altitude:	254 m

Start Time:	2010-02-02T22:36:36Z
Start Location:
Latitude:	47.107555º N
Longitude:	88.552318º W

End Time:	2010-02-02T22:53:46Z
End Location:
Latitude:	47.107413º N
Longitude:	88.552498º W

Click on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Mar 4, 2010 8:31 PM PST.

Ciao,

Charles