Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

15.8

Warm up

Squats 7 x 2. Started at 105 lbs. Worked up to 165 lbs, a new max. None of the lifts pressed on the collarbone, my set ups all went well. The last lift went fine - in control, good depth and hold, just took some extra determination from the bottom of the lift. Was tempted to try the next weight but ran out of sets.

Split squats, 5 sets of 3. 55 lbs (5 lb plates), 65 lbs, 75, 75, 75. My balance limits me at 75 but getting better.
Alternated with 5 sets of 3 box jumps, one-legged from sitting.

Face pulls 3x12 19 lbs

Toes to bar. First set was 3.8 out of 4 T2B. Next set was one good and three partial.

16.1

Time trial
5 min and 20 min
Increased my 5 min from the pathetic number in September.
Didn't increase my 20 min. Was below for the first 15 min but then attacked the last 5 min enough to bring it within 1 watt of the September number.
Legs were tired from the big weekend of skiing but I think my fitness is down too. I think I need to get back into more running, I think that helps my fitness a lot and I haven't been doing much of it.

Finished with 20x 30sec on/30 sec off at 5 min watts.

16.3

Again, time is an approximation of how long the body worked during the day (ie not counting lift time etc)

Headed directly to The Ripper chair today. Snow was even a bit better today. Started with the run under the chair before it might get skied up. The line directly under the chair had the least tracked snow; I guess folks don't like to be right under the spectators. A good run, so we kept repeating it several times. Then hit the trees to the skiers left, starting with a run someone found that we nicknamed Swedish Pow. After that, we hit the trees just to the skiers left of the chair. Great glade, nice spacing in the trees, a few steep drop offs that you would stop and scope at first but then just started skiing off them. Lots of jumping off moguls, having fun pushing bigger on each run, fortunately the day ended before I pushed too far.

(Skied all day but trying to approximate how much time the body was working)
At Revelstoke Mountain Resort with a couple of friends from Canmore plus a bunch of their friends, 11 of us in total. I wasn't sure how it would work with that many people, possibly different abilities and speeds,...

As it turned out, everyone was close in ability and quite advanced. We skied black diamond moguls and trees all day, my legs got blasted, I was glad I didn't try to start on telemark gear just in case.

Good snow, great terrain, spent most of the day lapping off the skiers right of the Stoke chair, often in the trees. Also a couple of runs far skiers left of the chair, found some good snow in the trees.

14.9

An easy jog on the treadmill, starting below 6 mph and finishing above 6 mph. Didn't feel like I had the energy to hold 7 mph the whole time without really tiring myself; feeling a bit tired from last night's spin class.
R big toe was not too bad during the run, and a little grumpy after but not horrible.

Left inner thigh feeling a bit pulled, probably from sitting position on bike. Need to get back in the habit of daily glute exercises for the weak left side.

Warm up

Squats 7x2. Worked up to 155 lbs (55lbs per side) without much discomfort on collarbone. Almost stalled when trying to do the last raise.

Split squats 3 sets of 5. Empty bar, +5 lbs per side, +10 lbs per side. Could probably start a little heavier next time. Placing the rear foot a little wider helped with stability.

Shoulder press 5x5. Started with empty bar. Couldn't do 5 reps when I worked up to 15 lbs per side. Did the rest at 10 per side.

Toes to bar: got toes to bar on three of first four, then two of the second four.

Face pulls: 3x12 15 lbs

Warm up

4 min high E4 to low MAP
4 min easy
8 min low E4
8 min easy
16 min sweet spot (rode this a bit higher, low E4, but forgot to set the level from zero to two)
10 min easy

4x (at sweet spot E3/E4 cusp in Target Watts ergo mode)
3 min 95 rpm
2 min 105 rpm
1 min 110 rpm
30 sec 115 rpm+
No rest breaks, you use the 95 rpm interval to recover. This felt especially hard in the first set, then it became a little more manageable.

Cool down.

A solid night, and managed to hold everything.

15.8

Canmore Nordic Centre with Carbon, Tom and Heather. A nice loop, out on Banff and Bow, back on Meadowview.
Fun to xc ski again, haven't done it in a while. Toe was pretty good with it.
All 4 of us were on skin skis. Mine clearly had the best glide on the downhills.... which suggests that the operator wasn't as great, as we were all holding about the same pace on the flats.

C • Toe 1

15.8

15.2

Kicked out of the house by the wife so that she could have her guitar group over... too cold out for homeless people like myself to be outside so I stayed late after work and hit the gym.

Still kicked out of my own house...

Might be allowed home soon, but not yet

myotatic crunch with 7.5 lbs
Cat vomits
front plank 90 sec
side planks 75 sec
dumbbell curls
wide fly incline dumbbell bench press
tricep pulley pushdown

C • Guitar Group 2

Warm up with a couple extra jogging laps because the start time is now 15 minutes later.

Squats at 70 percent of previous max, 5x5, did 3 second hold at bottom
Bulgarian split squats with just the bar at first, then 5 lbs and 10 lbs per side for the last two. 5x5.
Standing overhead barbell press. Just the bar at first. Then 10 lbs per side for the last three sets. 5x5.
Toes to bar, two sets of 4. Got the toes up there on the first two or three reps and then the first of the next set.
Face pulls, 3x12, 15 lbs on hydraulic pulley machine.

Warm up
5 x 1 min high cadence/ small ring, 1 min easy
Increasing set from E2 to MAP

8 min sets of sweet spot, then at E4/threshold watts. 2 min rest between sets. Did the last couple in ergo / target watts mode.

I figured I'd be tired from the ski trip but managed to hang on and have a good workout. Legs were really tired after.

1:16:30 <170W
:28:30 170-210W
:12:00 >210W

E840

Day 5
Just Revy and I. Did two runs in the morning. Even a little more snow today. Explored a cool run to ski a nice gully. Some of the storm snow was sluffing more easily today.
On one pitch where I went ahead, one of my turns kicked up a cloud of powder that blocked my view as I headed to a roll off. At the last second I got a glimpse of a fallen tree across the slope below. I couldn't see but knew I had to keep my tips up to stay on top of this monster. When I could see it again, I could tell I wasn't going to ski over it but would at last be able to stop with my skis pressed up against it rather than have my tips dive under it. My skis hit it and I safely came to a hard stop right against it but then I could feel the whole tree and I starting to move down the slope. When all the powder settled, I could see that I had only shoved the tree a little down the slope, not taken it for the longer ride that it felt like. Both skis ejected at the heel and one also released at the toe.
Climbed over the fallen tree and carried on.
Back to the hut after our second run to pack up the rest of our overnight gear. Skiing down with the heavier pack wasn't too bad, we actually had an enjoyable run with good turns (Revy picked a nice route for skiing with the heavy packs) and were down to the snowmobile sooner than I expected. A smooth and comfortable snowmobile ride got us to the truck and back to town early enough to make the drive back to Canmore easy.

A great ski trip. Snow conditions seemed much better than usual, but this is a month later than our usual dates. Maybe we should stick with this.

C • Tree Hugging 2

Day 4
All 5 of us got to ski together in the morning before coming back to the hut for another hot lunch and the boys (Cousin Larry, Kiwi Rob, Hot Lunch Mike) packed up for their trip out today.
Skied a couple of good runs this morning, the snow is deeper. Mike and I paired up and hit a few good pillows and drops.
After lunch, Revy and I went back out and found some really nice runs that would have room for the five of us, including a cool little gully on a run that did a nice tour down the mountain.
Bootpacked and switchbacked our way up a couloir to get back up again, a fun little adventure.
Another run, this time found a little bit of old suncrust underneath, just to remind us to appreciate the excellent conditions we had been skiing on the other aspects. A few steep roll offs including one tiny icefall that Revy directed me to and I skied right off for a brief feeling of weightlessness. All good.
Headed back to the hut but decided we had time for one more short run. Could feel ourselves slowing down at the end of the climb.

Day 3

Skied a couple of runs below the hut. Good consistent snow and then plenty of drops and pillows in the trees. Dropped a big one at almost zero speed followed by another.
Climbed back to the hut and had hot soup for lunch. Then was cold starting out again but dried out and warmed up later on that run.
More good snow and good turns, heavy overcast all day and often snowing.
Cousin Larry did test drives on three different skis. I was happy to give him a partner for his last lap although the light was getting low. Climbed back in near darkness at the end and came home to spicy Malaysian curry and rice, followed by chocolate and two more great games of Carcassone.

The right big toe continues to improve. The attempts at minimizing its motion after my sprain injury probably contradicted the arthritic joint's preference to always have a little motion.

Day 2:
Hot in the upstairs of the cabin last night. I had a light sleeping bag but could only get in it for one hour, laid on top of it the rest of the time. Didn't get to sleep until about 3:00 or 3:30. Still didn't feel to bad when I woke up.
Today did a big day to go check out Cauldron glacier nearby. Dropped off the other side to descend into the other valley behind the hut (Glacier Creek drainage). This valley and its logging road would ultimately take you to Meadow Creek about 80-100 km away.
Pretty good snow today, boot top deep or more. Pretty consistent quality, easier to ski than some of yesterday. Snow was just slightly heavy/thick. Skied terrain that was somewhat treed. One small patch at mid elevation that was slightly more open pulled out when Revy skied it, forming into big blocks and doing a slow slide. The avy reports rated the mid elevation as higher hazard (considerable). The slide was 15 metres by 15 metres, and about 60 cm thick. Revy was fine and we were able to verify this by simply shouting even though he and I had radios on, once the snow stopped moving. Kept eyes on him until the very end when he dipped out of sight.

Continued along down the slope with more good snow. Eventually picked up a logging road and traversed toward the glacier. Then toured up the left moraine, often following a cool wolverine track. Then hung left and climbed up for a run down through the trees. Then picked up the road again and were able to coast down the track we brought in.
Finished the day with a big climb of about 800 metres back to the cabin. Rob and I were slowing down for the last few hundred metres.
Wrapped the day up with great elk stew and two rounds of Carcassone.

Had a couple crashes where I noticed that on the binding on one ski (with right sticker), the toe lever would flip up into a more locked position.

Right big toe was better today, only some discomfort.

Jumbo Pass cabin with Revy, cousin Larry, Kiwi Rob and Mike Baker.

Day 1
Not toughened up to winter and cold yet. Felt cold on the snowmobile ride in. Got to double with Revy rather than being towed. Nice.
Skied up to the cabin and ditched the extra gear and food. Had a quick lunch and then went above the cabin and dropped off the other side. Wasn't sure what the first turns of the season would be like. It went quite well, felt at home. Snow conditions were variable and made the skiing challenging. Still had some good turns and only struggled a bit on the trickier stuff; I think those skis help. Conditions got better further down and enjoyed some nice deep snow and good pitches. One long run down, then back up to the cabin as it was getting dim.
Dinner of Cousin Larry's bathroom butter chicken. Yum. Then discussions about how we each proposed to our wives. Finished with a big game of Carcassone and good dark chocolate.
A pine Martin scoped out the cabin.

Right big toe not very happy.

16.9

15.9

16.7
Texas trip weight gain :)