Keweenaw Strength & Conditioning: Love and War

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