It’s late at night and I’ve got a lot on my mind, so there’s no hope for sleep anymore. I hit the wall with running races after Mat Peak and Lost lake, but in a sick way I’m really stoked about sitting around all tired and cranky because I totally found my physical limit without injuring myself or killing all of my motivation for the winter. There is plenty of new information to reflect upon, and after a terrifically fun summer of racing that’s a really good thing. Success #1

So I’ve had a pretty bitchin’ summer for training and racing. I’ve exceeded most of my expectations, and am now changing training focus to fall mode, another bump in hours, and forming some slightly new perspective on train activities. One thing that has changed is that the amount of energy I’m putting into training is starting to cut into the energy I have for my job for the first time. There is a point around 15 hours a week for a single, childless athlete when combining 3 hour workouts and a full time job starts to get a little difficult. I thought I’d try to write about the training/work mix, with regard to what works, what doesn’t work, and what’s [still] possible.

I’ve re-written this post about three times. I hope this one is the last one. A couple of my blog readers have asked me about my objective goals, and a lot of family members or local trainer types have asked me with a puzzled tone of voice what I’m training for. Well, this is an interesting topic for me and a difficult one to put into words, so if you want them the numbers are at the bottom but the real beef follows directly below.

Sitting here at this moment with a slight discomfort in my left side, I’m really glad I’m right-handed. Funny enough, it’s the fact that we *have* a strong side that our weak side tends to pick up the pieces left behind by accidents and sloppiness. Every injury I’ve had in my life due to weakness of some body part other than skin has occurred on my left side. That includes tendonitis of the foot from over training, broken middle toe from a heavy machinery accident, meniscus tearing due to a genetically loose ACL, dislocated shoulder from instinctually choosing to ram the left shoulder instead of the right into the groomer run at 50mph. Poor left side, Daddy’s here, everything’s going to be aaaaalllll riiight. Oh wait, more on that later…

Welcome back to Alaska, Pat. After a warm welcome from friends and an extended 5-day birthday celebration, I’m back in Ancheragua, AK. The last part of the drive was pretty sweet, and I only got ONE speeding ticket in Fort Nelson. Awesome.

Sorry, I hate that phrase. But when you’re gettin it, you’re gettin it.

I finally got under way towards alaska, and now am sitting in my van in a sun-baked parking lot just below the Chateau Lake Louise. I took off two days ago through eastern Idaho and Missoula then crossed the border yesterday at Eureka, MT/Rooseville B.C. I managed a nice 1 hour mountain run through some rolling cow fields in Lima, ID then a 1.5 hour skin up the Lake Louise ski area yesterday.

Bust A Skin

So I’m kind of stuck in the JH valley waiting for work to say “Sure, now you can drive the middle of nowhere for 8 days when last time your car blew up. You rock, we love you.” Well, I might get all but the last bit. So with the exception of fixing the odd bug that trickles in from the beta testers, I’m kind of in a holding pattern. But at least I get to get outside for some nice runs or hikes. Right? I mean what’s the best way to kill time? Skiing the corn! We got our first couple of days of 60+ degrees and it’s nice to walk around in shorts again. After three weeks of running, crust skiing, and hiking again I’m starting to feel like I can run for 90 minutes without my legs getting all pissed of and saying the exact opposite of “You rock.”

So racing is officially over with the end of the 50K classic in Fairbanks. While they make for fantastic spectator events, I feel like I see a heck of a lot of sprinting these days, and it’s really good to see what i consider to be the gold standard of cross country ski racing - the 50K classic. You’ve got to be burley, you have to use kick wax, and you have to have Lats of Steel. In other news, everyone that I know that rocks the skinny skis in the winter also rocks the phat skis in the spring. This winter in Jackson Hole has provided the most desirable snow fall any cold-day buff could ask for. As of this writing @ 10am on March 31st, JHMR is exactly four inches from it’s all-time record of 599.1 in 1999. The JH valley saw a constant snow fall from a late December to now, with only two weeks of blue bird to speak of. This meant that in a destination that boasts the sickest terrain in the lower-48, the best snow in the country (sorry, Utah) and an extremely progressive downhill skiing culture, no one shows at the skinny races on a powder day.

So it’s here - it’s spring and it’s time for the “No’dic nerds” to unite! It’s time to get up in the hills and show the rest of the downhillers what we’re made of and what we’ve been doing all year. It seems like every day one of my Jackson friends asks me “So when are you going to chill out and start skiing powder?” After 11 months of box jumps and core workouts what do you think happens in the spring? We RULE the backcountry! We get out and hike faster and ski longer than anyone else out there!! We can do it at altitude and do it all day. The mountain series is just around the corner and there is no better way to train for those 60 minutes of red-lined cardio than to get out and bust a move with your skins and shovel and transceiver. More weight, more vert, more turns - “smoke”‘em if you got ‘em!!

Here’s a video of my buddy Monkey carefully navigating one of the many spectacular couloirs in Granite Canyon. Hike Hike Hike!