Weekly Summary: Feb. 20 - 27

2/20 - Splitboarding.  3.45 miles.  2:04:43.  1340'v.  Stagecoach.  PM.  Off work early today + 1 foot of fresh powder at home = splitboard session.  Supposed to be a rest day but when it snows, it snows.  And, for me, that means do whatever I can to surf the white wave.  I enlisted the company of faithful companion Benihana and up Stagecoach Mt. we went to ride the newly fallen snow.  Skinned up to The Beach down 3rd, 2nd and 1st Pitch, then hiked back up to the top of 1st Pitch for one more ride all the way back to the house.  I would have been up for a couple more laps but us "old" guys need to learn to take it easy sometimes.   Meanwhile, Steamboat got crushed...27" of snow in 24 hours, 34" in 36 hours.

2/21 - Snowboarding.  ~3:00:00.  Steamboat Ski Area.  No running.  Winter is finally back.  It took its sweet time, but I knew it had to happen eventually.  It snowed all night and continued through the day.  A gnarly drive to work but there wasn't any, so I called up JD and he was able to score me a medallion so I could go ride with him, Chris and, later, Derek, on the Mountain ("mountain, mountain").   Knee deep to waist deep snow depending on where we were but mostly, just sick conditions.  I just wished I had waxed my snowboard because I was a little slow on the flatter sections.   Run of the day definitely went to No Name Chutes but, really, it was all good.  Steep, deep and fresh.   It's supposed to continue snowing through the week so I might not be getting much mileage in the way of running but hopefully I will get in some of the best riding of the year.  Ah, life in a ski town does not suck.

2/22 - Snowshoe.  ~:45:00.  >1 mile.  Stagecoach.  PM.  Just a fun walk in the deep snow with my girl.  Katy made a cool figure-8 route and I had a great time following her around.  Actually, this was the first time I've really snowshoed and I thought it was a blast.  Later that evening the wind picked up and erased all of our tracks.  Bummer.

2/23 - 6.0 miles.  :57:12.  Steamboat.  PM.  Brrr.  Cold day.  Katy says it was "cold like back East."  I'm thinking the humidity was higher than usual and there was a biting wind that lasted most of the day.  It warmed up a little as I ran from downtown, past the high school and then up and down the hill by the middle school before going out to Buff Pass Road and back.  Overall, a nice mellow run.  Glad to get some mileage this week, I wasn't sure that was going to happen with the weather. 

2/24 - 14.05 miles.  2:21:48.  1320'v.  Stagecoach.  PM.  Sunny and somewhat mild this afternoon as I ran on snow, dirt roads and a little asphalt.  Decided to do my long run today since I'm going to splitboard Stagecoach Mtn. tomorrow.  I wore a Nathan vest I'm trying out for racing this summer and it felt pretty comfortable.  In it, I carried a small bag of cashews, a tangerine, an electrolyte tablet, a water bottle (for a few miles, I hand carried it the rest of the way) and my gaiters, once I took them off about 4 miles into the run.  I ate a few cashews just after the 5 mile mark and drank water most of the run.  In the last 3 miles or so, I dropped the tablet into my water bottle so I could finish my run and cool down while replenishing electrolytes.  The run went well, for the most part, although I did feel like I had a couple of rough patches but nothing too bad.  The best part of the run was seeing Katy pass me in her car as she was getting home from work!   It definitely made the last few miles easier.

2/25 - Splitboarding.  2:33:00.  1820'v.  Stagecoach.  AM.  Skinned up to within a couple hundred feet of the summit of Stagecoach Mtn. with my neighbor, Robert, for a nice morning session.  Very relaxed pace, stopping along the way to take a few photos and to talk.  For me, there are few things better than to walk right out my front door, start climbing a mountain and ride down.  The snow was quite good.  A little settled but still soft and deep, making for good speed and turns.  The terrain was rolling and smooth all the way to the bottom of the mountain.   A beautiful, sunny and breezy morning.  I think the wind is supposed to pick up tonight and it's supposed to snow again. 

2/26 - 7.87 miles.  1:06:19.  880'v.  Stagecoach.  AM.  One mile warm-up for 10 minutes followed by 6 miles of tempo (8:28,7:41,8:01,7:34,7:35,7:35) and .8 mile cool down on some pretty icy roads (with a little bit of dirt).  A good run with some pretty modest splits but fun for me.  Spent quite a few steps telling myself, "Don't slip.  Don't fall.  Don't bust your ass."  Stopped to talk to my friend Dave Demos for a couple of minutes as he was driving home and then again at the port-o-potty at the trail head by the reservoir. Sunny but a damn cold wind kept it really chilly. 

Weekly Totals:  28.92 miles running/snowshoe. 2200++'v.  (4:25:xx running, 7:34:00 splitboarding/snowboarding)

I got a chance to mix it up a little this week thanks to the return of winter.  Mother Nature timed it perfectly and I got to take advantage of a low mileage week and get out and ride some powder, even if it meant skipping a couple runs.  It also helped that we were slow at work so I could move my training schedule around a little bit (it didn't help financially).   Next week, I'll be back to bumping up the mileage with a 21 mile long run on Saturday, so hopefully (for me) the weather will cooperate.  However, if we are back to a normal cycle in terms of snowfall, we could still see alot of it through March and April.   I think that as long as I keep hitting my long runs, I can keep sacrificing a few shorter runs here and there. 

Weekly Summary: Feb. 6 - Feb. 12

2/6 - Rest.

2/7 - 6.09 miles. 1:15:58.   -  4.12 miles. :36:37.  Steamboat.  Noon.  Lunch road and trail run from 4th street around the middle school and back.  PM.  1.97 miles.  :39:20.   Stagecoach.   After work, did a couple miles with the dogs at an easy pace. 

2/8 - 3.7 miles.  :35:14.  Steamboat.  Noon.  Lunch road and trail run from 4th street but ran the reverse of yesterday's route and used the trail a bit more.  Didn't run in the evening so I could spend some time with my beautiful future wife and my dogs. 

2/9 - 6.08 miles.  1:29:02.  ~750'v.  Stagecoach.  PM.  -  ~.5 mile,  ~:20:00, 400'v.  hike with the dogs.  Let them pull me up the hill then I ran behind them on the way down the hill.  They're so fun!  Followed by a 5.58 mile, ~350'v.  1:09:02 snow run/trudge in 2-5" of new powder.   Those hills were tough.   Didn't get seven miles for the day but the time on my feet more than made up for it.

2/10 - Rest.

2/11 - 11.48 miles.  3:46:33.  ~1200'v.  Stagecoach.  AM.  After a couple of days of snow, I wanted to have some fun instead of the usual Saturday long run so I broke out the splitboard and made a one-mile touring loop in the open space by the house.  It took a little longer than a half hour to put in the initial trail.  I did two more laps in the same track then, on the 4th one, I started a new track about half way through the loop so I could break into some virgin snow again.  After 4.32 miles in 2:03:42, my legs were feeling pretty heavy, so I figured it was time to go run a few miles.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and a warm one, as well.  I changed into a pair of shorts and a long sleeved shirt and looked, I'm sure, completely out of place as I ran on snow covered roads around Stagecoach (6.46 miles, 1:15:52).  After that, I took the dogs for a walk as I cooled down (.57 miles, :18:59).    Quite a bit short on overall mileage but I got a great "time on feet" workout. 

2/12 - 8.01 miles.  1:26:xx.  ~500'v.  Stagecoach.  AM.  Ran the first couple road miles with Katy before I jumped on the snowpacked and groomed trail.  That didn't do much for traction though, the snow was loose enough to slow me down to 11-minute miles as I ran along the south shoreline to where the boat ramp would be. 

Week:   35.56 miles.  ~3000'v.  8 hours, 21 minutes!

Came up quite a few miles short of 42 for the week but with 8 hours on my feet, I'd say that was pretty worthy for almost 40 kilometers!  Alot of slow running, trudging and splitboard touring should be good for my leg strength and endurance, if not for a fast leg turnover.  No matter, speed work (which I do plan on doing this spring/early summer) is not essential for ultramarathon success (re:  finishing!) and it's always worth skipping a few miles if I'm spending that time with the ones I love.