training is good

Sometimes, I race myself into shape.  Who am I kidding?  I usually race myself into shape, race a lot, and love it.  But this year I've got some big events lined up - longer endurance races than I've ever done before.  This year, I think a different approach is actually working.

It's nearly June.  I've only raced once.  40 miles at Michaux Maximus.  I love that race, but my body wasn't thrilled with all my choices and I had a rough and slow second half - wanting to puke doesn't make it easy to crush any hills.  But, it's Michaux, I finished, and the women's field was only 3 deep (another race was being held about 2 hours away - I'll assume it stole some of the would-be Michaux folks) - I'll take the privilege of finishing Michaux any day - especially in 2nd place.  Especially on a day that beautiful to be in the woods - without an afternoon rainstorm to spoil my spirits.

Next up is a gravel road race in West Virginia followed by the evil fun that is the Stoopid 50.  I owe that race one - last year in the midst of an illness that caused me to lose more than 10 lbs in two weeks, I dnf'd in the pouring down rain at the 18 mile mark.

But for now, I'm training a lot.  18 hours a week on the bike.  Give or take.  Group rides to get dropped from.  Bugging some training partners to drag me around for a hundred miles and a lot of thousands of feet climbing every weekend.  Long, flowy loops on the mountain bike out in Frederick.  And a lot of eating.

It's good.  I'm loving riding my bike.  It's easier to get out the door for the long rides than the short ones.  My legs are coming around and the power tap is showing me that.

But I've gotta curb the eating - this is actually something I experience every year - weight gain as I start training - my body is just craving food all the time.  I'll admit that some other challenges in life mean that I have been pretty stressed - that doesn't help.  The power part of the power:weight ratio is coming round.  Guess it's time to work on the denominator.

Tomorrow, I'll ride my bike.  It's a rest week.  I only get to ride it for an hour.  Saturday and Sunday will make up for it.

caramelized onion pizza anyone?

I love caramelized everything.  Including caramel corn, though that didn't turn out so hot the last time I made it (typo = 3x too much salt, yuck!).  This week, I grabbed a pizza crust from the freezer when I got home from work and,  voila - when I got back from my ride, it was waiting for me on the counter, ready for cooking.

In an effort to lighten the amount of food that I waste, I'm trying to use what I've got - egg scrambles and pizza crust can help with that.  So this week's pizza was a caramelized onion, garlic, and spinach white pizza.

The crust:
Herbed Whole Wheat Crust (freezes maybe better than it is fresh)
Proof 2 packages of yeast in 2 cups warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar.  Add 3 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1-2 tablespoons Herbes de Provence or similar dried herbs. Stir until sticky.  Knead approximately 5-8 minutes incorporating another ~1 cup white flour until it's an elastic ball.  Allow to rise in an oil coated bowl for about 1 hour and divide into 4 crusts.  Wrap tightly with saran wrap to freeze.  Each will make a 10-12" thin crust pizza.

The toppings:
olive oil
garlic
spinach
caramelized red onion
pizza cheese
parmesan romano

Assemble and bake 15' or until done at 425 on a pizza stone dusted with cornmeal.  Yum.

The rest of the trip notes...

I posted details from my BC trip over at the Diva Ski Tips blog - it gets substantially more traffic.  At least go look at the extra pictures. 

Whitewater and Red Resort

White Grizzly Cat Skiing

Photo: Brad Karafil

If in doubt, make a snow angel.

Crossing boundaries

I haven’t skied outside of the U.S. since 2001 at Tremblant.  I was a college junior on spring break with my beau at the time.  As a compulsive rule follower, I also hadn’t consumed alcohol before that trip.  The drinking age in Quebec was 19 at the time.  I pretended it was the same when I returned to school, though that’s another story.

I recently headed up to British Columbia for an adventure. The Canadian border patrol asked me about three times if I was planning to work while there.  Oh, but how I now want to. 

Kootenay Lake

The trip details and recommendations on why you should go and where are saved for another post here or on the DivaSkiTips blog.

This was a trip about pushing my boundaries a bit.  The exhilaration of exploring new resorts – Whitewater and Red Mountain.  Picking up hitchhikers on access roads. Getting nearly cliffed out and lost on my way to a named run.  Noting that many a Canadian makes their home-grown Arc’teryx gear look pretty good.

Oh, and some cat skiing with White Grizzly.  I’m hooked.  

Here’s something that’s embarrassing to admit – my whole time in Utah, I never had enough faith in my fitness to go into the backcountry.  I even had avy gear and the knowhow to use my beacon and probe.  I had plenty of friends with skins and touring gear to borrow.  Many an invite to tag along.  But never trusted myself to be able to keep up with the guys who I would trust with my life in avalanche terrain.  Never thought that I would add anything to the group and unwilling to just be along, slowing them down.

So really, this was my first trip into the backcountry.  No lifts, but no skins either, just a cozy snowcat and a few trusty guides.  With somewhat tricky avalanche conditions and very steep terrain, trusting the guides that we were with was pretty key.  And I did.  They shared what they were thinking, too.

Incredible powder skiing.  Deeper than I’ve ever skied for more than a run or two.  Steep trees and fun lines.  Scolding myself for skiing poorly then putting it together to point ‘em down the fall line and go.  Getting into the air a few times – highly unusual for me.  Pushing my own boundaries. 

Photo: Brad Karafil, White Grizzly Adventures

Giggling.  A lot.  Forgetting to breath.  Making new friends.  Drinking Canadian whiskey.  Smiling until my cheeks hurt.

Being sad. Among the reasons - sad to leave the powder, terrain, and friends behind – not necessarily in that order.  Sad for those who died doing what we love in an avalanche at a nearby heli-skiing operation.  One gal who was caught was 29 and from Salt Lake.  That precise tour operator and date were in my final list of possibilities for this splurge of a trip.

This trip was well-timed for me.  It’s hard not to look introspectively at life when surrounded by amazing mountains, adventures, and fun people amidst a pending career change for me and with news of an eerie tragic accident.

B.C. has stolen a place in my heart - I’ll be back to cross the boundary for more. And next time I get invited into the backcountry with people I trust, I’m going.  If nothing else, I can add the giggles.