To the glacier and stuff... like babies!

Tomorrow morning we (APU) are scheduled to head back up the Eagle Glacier for camp 2 of 4 for the summer. A short one this time only 4 days instead of the usual 7, just keeping in touch with the snow feeling.

After the last one and my trip south where we saw the sun for the first time this summer I was whooped. Once I got back on my feet after a few mellower training days things started going really well once again. But the highlight came Monday when I saw the ultrasound of the little baby that Annie are expecting in the fall! Little hands, feet, and just watching it move inside was pretty amazing.

... and I'm spent.

The last workout on the glacier pretty much left me completely depleted (glycogen-wise). Monday was off, Wednesday was hard, and today was steady hard. 3x17 minutes was the plan, the first was good pace and intesity were right where I wanted them. The second was slower and harder and I was drained. Workout over. I still haven't quite gotten over the Sunday workout but now I get the weekend off and get back to work on Monday.

Camp 1

So after acting like a fugitive with my bags packed by the door I finally got to grab them and head down to Girdwood on Wednesday right after morning training to get to Alpine Air to fly in to the glacier. We had 4 days of great skiing up there. Typically June on Eagle Glacier means blue skys, red klister, and 30 spf. This year we didn't see the sun until the last day and were kicking on blue hardwax for the first 2 days! I've been going up there since the mid 1990's and used hardwax once and it was more the klister in a can variety, so that was pretty sweet. So 4 days of skiing, 1 distance, 2 intensity days, and 1 long day on great tracks. I really can't remember skiing on that consistently nice of trails up there, good stuff.

I also turned 30 on our first day up there. A great day back on snow and a couple of the girls made a two big cobbler's with a candle 30 on them and my old man lungs managed to blow them all out, a relief...

Now back to dryland for a few weeks before heading back up at the end of the month. I also have a quick trip to Seattle for the weekend for a family reunion and a weekend off from training.

Waiting...

I feel like some kind of special agent. My bags are packed, ready to be off with a moments notice.

For the last 3 days every few hours we have been checking in to see whether the weather will be good enough to fly up to the glacier and every few hours it still isn't ready. It hasn't been bad here in town and the dryland has been good as usual. This has been kind of a nice break since I have been able to get quite a bit of downtime (recovery) in since I have the week off of work and I am feeling pretty good. Yesterday was the first interval workout of the year on one of my standard courses from years past and it was super promising, ahead of where I usually am at this time. Just need to keep the training stable.

If today we can't fly then the camp is off but it is looking the best to get to the glacier that we have seen so far...

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Changing season

After a month or so of getting used to training again last week last week training started up for real. This year I finally did a pretty good job of easing back into running, rollerskiing, lifting, and biking so the soreness and little injuries that can start up this time of year have not. Big ups to the Physical Therapy Place for getting me set up with a balance and stability plan that has made a huge difference!

This morning I am getting the last things together for the first glacier camp of the summer before I fly up this afternoon with the rest of the APUer's. Tons of snow up there and it sounds like the building is in great shape after Erik, Dylan, and Casey have slaved away up there for the last week getting all the systems ready for the invasion that is the athletes. The weather forecast could be better but the skiing should be fantastic.

The other big excitement is I get to ski on some new skis. Atomics! I made the switch this spring and am super excited about racing on the Red Cheetah! This also means that I will be racing for APU which will make things a lot more simple.