Skiing!

We've had such an amazing winter this year! (So far anyway.) Both Saturday and Sunday were warm and sunny, so cross-country skiing was in order. The snow was PERFECT! It was actually TOO fast for a beginner like me. I did alright on Saturday, but fell half a dozen times on Sunday. My skis just kept getting away from me on the downhills. Those long, skinny skis just have no control. I torqued my knee pretty bad and pulled a ligament. I spent a lot of yesterday afternoon watching the football and icing.

The knee felt a lot better this morning. Still not a hundred percent, but much improved. I did LT training on the bike for 50 minutes, which went really well. My plan also called for weight work on the legs, but I'm skipping it because of the knee. I look at weight training as icing on the cake anyway.

Tonight is Karate. I've barely attended the past couple months for a variety of reasons, but am looking forward to getting back into it.

In other news, although it was supposed to open this week, I've still heard no word on the pool. I'm REALLY getting nervous here - I want to start back up with tomorrow's swim workout that is planned.

Catching Up Yet Again

Well, Thursday Dr. Z and I (with the help of IronMom and IronDad) ran the kid's class in Sensei's absence.

Friday was gym - I did an easy three miles at a 9:31 pace, followed by a whole bunch of weights. I purposefully left out upper legs, figuring those would get a workout over the weekend.

Saturday proved that I wasn't wrong - Dr. Z and I went to Cascade Ski Center and spent an hour and a half Nordic Skiing. The weather was absolutely beautiful - sunny and 20s. I fell on almost every downhill of note, but hopefully will get the hang of it - Nordic skis are just so much harder to control than Alpine ones.

Sunday was a much needed day off. Went for a short walk but that's it.

Today was long run day - I did 5 miles at a 9:04 pace, the usual, but this time added a one percent incline. I did it for 3.5 miles before crying uncle and putting it back down to no incline. This is for endurance, after all.

Tonight is covering for Sensei in Kiddie and Adult class, and tomorrow will be weights.

Finally Somewhat Warm

The arctic sub-zero temperatures have finally let up, at least for a little while. Although a nasty wind turned Dr. Z and I around from skiing after about a mile on Saturday, we skied almost four miles on Sunday and only turned around because we didn't want to overdo it, especially with me having the Fun Run on Saturday.

Today was warm again, 30 degrees, and it was a pleasure to run outside. Or, it WOULD have been a pleasure if I were in shape. I ran four miles for the first time since October and it was TOUGH. Took me 35:58 with lots of walk breaks, but I wanted to get a feel for four miles before Saturday.

The rest of the week will be easy. Tomorrow will be three miles on the treadmill, followed by Wednesday off, three miles on Thursday and a two mile jog on Friday. Yay!

Tonight is Karate as well. After today's run I think I'll cry if we have sparring. LOL!

Run, Run, Run

Friday night was pretty fun at Karate. Dr. Z and I worked Bo a lot after doing a quick kata and sai review. We worked the general "high, medium, low" drill until it felt comfortable again.

As planned, I took Saturday off, which was really needed at that point.

Yesterday the supercold air FINALLY left Lake Placid, so Dr. Z and I went cross-country skiing at the Lake Placid golf course. The weather was perfect - 20 degrees. We went for about an hour before heading out to catch the playoffs. (Speaking of which, the big bad Cardinals defensive lineman with tears running down his cheeks while being interviewed right after their win? Awesome.)

Today was treadmill day at the gym. I started off at a 9:30 pace but upped it to 9:22 after only ten minutes or so. I sprinted the last two minutes at an 8:00 pace. No coughing at all this time. Yay! I'm finally back to the point where I'm being challenged a little, so tomorrow I'm going to go for doing the entire run at9:22 and try 2:30 at an 8:00 pace at the end. I also added a little weight work back in, doing chest presses and tricep extensions.

So, tonight is Karate and I have no idea what we're doing. It's been weeks since we've sparred, so I'll be crossing my fingers for that. And finally being promoted to black belt.

First High Peak Bagged!

Wow, it was one of those weekends where I needed to go back to work to get some rest! LOL.

Friday night was Karate. BruceLee was there for a little while, but mostly it was just Dr. Z and I. We worked on brown belt kata and once BruceLee arrived, KusankuDai.

Saturday we went crosscountry skiing. It was the first time there was actually enough snow on the ground to do it properly. Despite the frigid single-digit temperatures, we managed to keep warm enough for two laps around the golf course. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but uphill is still giving me a problem. It just feels extremely unnatural to go uphill on skiis.

Sunday was a long hike with Dr.Z, JewishMom and Megatron. And by "long" I mean all eight hours of daylight we have this time of year. We went up Phelps under snowy, windy and icy conditions, but we made it! Dr. Z and I officially bagged our first high peak and are on our way to becoming 46ers.

Needless to say, no gym today, only Karate. Even *I* can only do so much! LOL

Running Again! And X-C Fun!

Well Saturday started my trek back into running after a month off. My cardio is shot to hell, but it felt great and my shins feel like new. Yay! It was only three miles on a treadmill, but I'm very happy to get back into it.

Sunday I got to try out my new cross country skis on the Ray Brook golf course. (There was BARELY enough snow but I really wanted to play with my new toys.) It was...interesting. I kept trying to ski Alpine-style. I'll get the hang of Nordic style eventually. I can't wait to try again with more snow.

Today I went for my first outdoor run in almost six weeks. It took me over 27 minutes to run three flat miles, but what the hell. Like I said, I did need that time off.

More Updates

Some more random updates now that it's midweek:

- Sunday I bought my first pair of cross-country skis. The local place had a deal going and set me up completely for $150. Score!

- I noticed that they also had the Denali Lightning Ascents I've been coveting, so I asked if I could get a discount if I bought them at the same time. They gave me 15% off, knocking $40 off the price. Double-score!

The weather all week? Sixty and sunny. Hee. Not that I'm going to complain. I'll take the nice weather while it lasts and let my new purchases sit in the basement. Dr. Z and I were even able to go for a short bike ride yesterday.

Other than that, I've been hitting the gym. I canNOT wait to run again. I can't believe it's been less than two weeks and I've got at least another week off to go. ARGH!

Now that competition season is over, not much coming up except gym workouts and Karate. Once the snow falls, stuff will pick back up.