I’ve been off my training plan since late January. Still running, though less than I had been. It was time for travel and February is the peak of ski season. This was a pre-planned break, if you can call running 80 miles and skiing 10 days in February a break.
The running I did was almost exclusively slogging. In part I eased back to allow time for some strains to heal. Mostly, I took time off for skiing. I find alpine skiing to be an exhilarating sport. Powder skiing on steep terrain is intense. Catching the first chair on a powder morning earns one a few runs in which skiing has the feel of a downhill ballet before the slopes get carved up. Moments when the snow has just the right amount of resistance and consistency allow skiers to achieve a level of grace and style unavailable most of the time.
Yesterday, March 7th, was one of those days. It had snowed the day before, the powder in the ski area was already carved up, so we headed outside the south boundary of Bridger Bowl and climbed Saddle Peak, twice. It was a chill bluebird morning as four of us booted up the peak, skis on our backs. It was thrilling. Some of the thrill was probably the endorphins released by our efforts. Some of it was just the sense of where we were, climbing a beautiful snow encased peak with views of our frozen world in every direction. Some of it was the danger. Saddle is not controlled and avalanches are a distinct possibility. We skied down one at a time.
Alpine skiing can also be exhausting: it consumes a lot of energy and a lot of time, most of which is spent out in the cold. But I keep going back and I can’t say that I am glad the season is winding down, though I am anxious to get back into training.
I’m anxious both as in excited and in “Can I do this?” By late March I hope to be pushing my miles above 40 most weeks, 50 by sometime in April and to have at least 1 day a week of intense effort. Thus far, I have found that a day of intense effort requires a day of rest. Without rest, I get exhausted and the health statistics that my watch reports make it clear that I do not recover quickly. I will need at least 1 day of rest per week, maybe 2 a lot of weeks. Two rest days would put my average miles on running days at 8-10 miles per day. If I push 1 day to 12 miles or higher, that will take some of the pressure off the other days but I have yet to learn if I can consistently run that kind of mileage.
I have already cancelled a few planned runs because I was tired and thought rest would be more productive. I expect this will happen a few more times as I start rebuilding my distance and add in more intensity. Raging while aging or not, I have to accept that I am 65; I do not want to get injured, and I do not want overtraining to bring my efforts to a halt. It is a balancing act.
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