Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

Pulpit Knob
Parked at the Hector Lake pullout/lookout and dropped down to Hector Creek. The initial downhill track through the trees was longer than I expected. We already had skins on but it might have been nice without skins, given that it was kind of long. That said, a few tight spots might have been too fast without skins. Followed the creek to Hector Lake to the southeast end of the lake. The lake was frozen solid and good to cross, even though the outlet was open, not too far away. Followed an uptrack that was already in. At times the track was set too steep, but it was a coin toss on whether it was worth a little extra effort to put in a better track or use that extra effort to climb the steeper track.
For our first run down we traversed a little further skier's right than most people, and got a line with fewer old tracks underneath but the trees were a little tighter. Pretty good snow.
Second lap, we traversed all the way over to the far edge of the trees, opening into the large gully on the far looker's left. You could feel a sun crust about 10 cm down, where the aspect faced the afternoon sun. We skied from tree island to tree island as we tried to ski cut. Then the shoulder rolled to a better aspect and a lesser angle for our main run down the gully along the edge of the trees. No tracks, not sun affected. We lost some elevation getting to this line, so it was a matter of quality versus quantity of turns.
Third run, skied more along the main area of opening, it was a mix of feeling some old tracks underneath and finding sections that were fresh.
Fourth run, angled more skier's left as we were planning to ski this one all the way out. Neither of us had been here so were weren't sure how it would play out, but based on what we had eyed up from below and above, we had some ideas in mind. It worked out beautifully. Great, fresh snow, often deep, managed to connect enough space through the trees and finished in the bottom of a slide path that skied really well. Just after we headed into thicker trees at the bottom, we could spot our access trail just a few meters away. Hopped on that and had an exciting slalom ride all the way out to the lake - nailed it, I'd come down the exact same way again in the future.

C • You guys are killing me 1

Narao Shoulder
with Tom, Heather, Peter and Carbon.
Fun to get out backcountry skiing with Tom and Heather for my first time. Peter and I were keen to discover this spot, neither of us had been. Super easy access. Skied up the Lake O'Hara road about 1.7km from the car, then headed up into the trees. Noted several patches that were a little more open on the way up; if you could connect these, it may ski well. Breezy today; the original plan for Peter and I was to hit Crowfoot Mountain, but not with this wind and the possibility of some snow during the day (no point in going up into the alpine if the visibility isn't good). Narao worked out well for taking Tom and Heather out. Climbed up to about treeline and then traversed left quite a bit, looking for some more options for routes down. Had just enough space in the trees to turn and this area didn't see much traffic so there weren't many old tracks underneath. About a 450m run. Back at the road, Tom, Heather and Carbon headed back to the car while Peter and I went for one more lap. Back up the same uptrack. This time we came back down closer to the uptrack and it skied quite well. All of those patches of space we saw connected nicely. At one point I leapfrogged Peter when he stopped and it was the beginning of a nice long stretch with plenty of space for easy turns that went for about 150 metres. Eventually we had to stop just to rest the legs a little. A few more old tracks underneath than when we skied the less open line of the first run, but I think I would still target our second line, especially sooner after a new snowfall; the extra space was fun and easier to ski.
Near the bottom, we then took a diagonal route, following Ross Lake hiking trail north toward the car. I wouldn't bother with this again, it was a fairly flat traverse and tight. Instead I would cut just a little north (skiers right) then just keep chasing fall line down to the road if I spot enough space between the lower trees.
Back to the car was super quick, gliding along the road. Tom left us homemade jerky in our car which was freakin' amazing, especially after a day of skiing.

Friday Night Lights at the Nordic centre with some Canmore crew.
It's been a while since I pulled out the skate ski gear. Fun. I forgot how fast those skis are, even without being waxed yet this year. It was tough to hang back to socialize with a bunch of friends on classic, although there were a bunch on skate, several that are faster than me. Still, I wasn't looking to tire myself out because I knew I had a couple of days of backcountry planned for the weekend.

warm up:
lunge stretches, scorpions, 5 min easy on treadmill

lower weight, more reps
5x Power cleans @ 60%, floor, 3, 2 push presses
5x Power cleans @ 70%, floor, 3
6x Squats @ 60%, 5 reps
4x Split Squats @ 60%, 5 reps

Knew I'd be tired from last night's hard spin class effort. Figured I would do a slow run at E1 pace and see if I could drag it out for 90 or 120 minutes to get some good endurance training. When the treadmill reset after 60 minutes, I was pretty tired, even at this pace.

If some is good, more is more good.
Stacked another run on in addition to the run at lunch. Another easy E1 pace

high cadence warm up

3 sets of:
4x (5 min E3, 1 min MAP) @>= 94 rpm
5 min easy
(one set in each of: resistance 25%, level 2, target watts)

Rode the high end of my wattage zones, making for a good hard class.

E1094
1:36 <170w
:29 170-210w
:12 >210w

Marta Monday’s, also including Carbon, Simon Lee and Dietmar; run up Spray Lakes Road to the Gap.
Simon and I went ahead at a decent pace and he did an impressive job of working really hard and holding the pace.
Then jogged back to meet up with the others and ran back down.
Nice to do it all in the daylight. Legs felt good despite all the mogul pounding on the weekend.

C • Simon 5