I skied some intervals yesterday. They weren’t really what my training plan called for; I have been hoping to focus more on fast, short, intervals or on longer level three efforts this year, but the demands of work and family have made that difficult (or at least serve as a convenient excuse). So when I had the chance to go hard I chose a familiar way: level four intervals up Upper Osceola at the North End of Waterville Valley.

Last year at this time we were still hoping for snow. This year, I have the luxury of being disappointed by the rain which means not quite all the trails at Waterville Valley are open.

I got out today for my first real overdistance day in far longer than I care to think about. I skated for three hours, skiing most of the trails at Waterville, including some of the trails that were closed; for whatever reason skiing on sketchy ice with melted out streams is my idea of a good time, even when there are perfectly good groomed trails I didn’t get to ski. I think it is because in the last ten years I have rarely skied the South End trail system there so any chance I get I take.

I didn’t have Iris with me today; I am going to have to take a look at my log and figure out if I have skied more hours pulling her or on my own. When skiing is limited it is nice to pull the Chariot; it lets me get more time out of less trail. But on a day like today, when I could ski over 50 kilometers and never ski the same trail twice, it was kind of nice to go alone.

Unlike the other Fasterskier bloggers, I am not trying to compete internationally (well, technically Kikkan isn’t trying to compete internationally right now–she is kicking butt and taking names). So my workouts look a little different. For instance today, with all the beautiful snow we have in New Hampshire, I didn’t have time to ski after work. So I went for a six mile run with my daughter, Iris (you can see her at the top left of my homepage). I bundled Iris up, put her in the Chariot carrier (configured as a jogger today, not as a pulk) and pushed her six miles through the two inches of snow and ice still on Old Bristol Road in New Hampton. This is a great road with light traffic; a good thing since on one steep downhill I was sliding as much as running for a bit. Tomorrow I finish teaching early and get to ski. Tomorrow is a good day!

So…I’m told my blog can go live as soon as I get some photos for the top of the page. I am working on that, mostly because it seems a lot more fun than putting together the physics quiz I am supposed to hand out tomorrow. So within a few days you might even get to read this post!

I promise the next one will be more interesting.