Rock skiing @NorthShoreGolf

We are so lucky to have some ski trails within 10 minutes of work.  Tonight we tried them out on our old no-wax rock skis, because there are only classic trails.

We managed three laps before dark - and we could barely see the track-set at 6 p.m., but the days are only going to get longer, and our daughter gave us such amazing headlamps for Christmas that the dark is irrelevant anyway.

We weren't fast, but we had fun!  Pizza is such an awesome post-ski recovery food too, we discovered!

Week 1 Run 3 5 km

Day Skiing at Kamview

Lots of sore muscles today, but what is a trip to TBay without going for a ski?

This was an easy day, just an opportunity to get outside and move.

I probably should have had my rock skis though.  While the night loop is great, Aspen trail is a bit sketchy still.  Lots of grass.  There is some ice on the uphills of Jackrabbit as well.

Otherwise, just a beautiful day.

And yes, I forgot to turn my watch back on after stopping for a chat.

Night Skiing at Kamview

Night skiing at Kamview!  Our first night ski of the season.  There is plenty of snow on the night loop.

Thank you to the sponsors who help keep the lights on at night!

Was I the one asking for more snow?

I did two easy laps of the night loop.

Week 1 Run 2 8 km

This week I am simply trying to remind my body that it is a runner.   It's about putting in the mileage, getting back into the habit, getting the equipment and routine down.

It is challenging!  The roads are icy and we are in a bit of a cold snap - though -14C isn't all that cold for Thunder Bay.

Today my body didn't really want to run, but I looked at it as time to listen to some podcasts.  I am working on an essay on student health and change initiatives around this topic, so there were some ASCD podcasts that were relevant.









The little snowflakes were quite beautiful on my mittens.  We need snow really badly, so I have no complaints.  Photographing them with an iphone on a shaky arm was a bit challenging.  This is actually the only one I managed to get focused.

Once I got to the end of the road, I was making the only footprints in the new snow (except, of course, for a few fox and wolf tracks).

It was cold enough to freeze my gatorade!

The snowflakes kept sticking to my eyelids!

I love being outside.  I could never be a gym rat!

Training Program

I can never find this when I want it, so now I will always know where it is.

Thanks again, Hal Higdon!

Resolution Run!

I was disappointed with myself yesterday when I went online to check out when today's resolution run would be held in TBay, only to discover that it was happening in 5 minutes!  In Thunder Bay, resolution runs are on Dec. 31!

So, today I did my own run.  I have some lofty goals for 2013, including finally running a few marathons, so this was day 1 of my 18-week training plan.

It was quite cold out today.  I waited until the mercury hit a high of -12C, but it felt much colder than that, even though there was very little wind.  I was very happy to have my wool buff, a present to myself for Christmas, since I bought them for all the other members of my family and I couldn't stand to be the only one without one!

I was also trying out my new watch, a present from my husband for Christmas.  I didn't know that it didn't have a heart rate monitor until I was out with it, but I am impressed with how very quickly it picks up satellites, a huge improvement over my last garmin!

It was very icy running today.  I needed to do 5K, which is normally a run to the road and back, but in reality that is only 4.5K, so today I looped a bit, looking for that last half.  I overshot it a bit, but then I think it is better to do a bit of extra training than not enough.

It was a slow go.  Certainly after being out very late ringing in the new year last night (this morning), it would have been easy to skip that run.  So the win, I guess, is the fact I have it under my belt.

I am looking forward to being back in shape and being happy with my running again.  It has been awhile.