Back to the Pool

Today I finally did some swimming at the Y again. It's been a while, but I was glad to find out that I can still swim :). I practiced my drills, especially bilateral breathing. It's still a work in progress. I'm getting better at the pulling thing - I was able to feel myself moving the water for some of the swim, and it definitely made me move faster. Also, it was a lot more work - so better exercise. The big problem is that I don't really swim straight when I do that and I bumped into the guy I was sharing a lane with.

Speaking of sharing lanes, the Y has a 3 lane pool. When I got there it was empty and I chose the center lane. And so did the fourth person. And then someone got out, and the guy I was sharing a lane with moved over there. And the fifth person chose the center lane too. Lesson learned. Go for the far lane if the pool is empty.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have our first Nor'easter of the winter. We just sprang forward - why couldn't it have been February?? And, no more skiing out of this storm - pretty sure my right toe nail is going to fall off after skiing yesterday. 

One More Ski Day

I put my skis away and was done for the season (twice, actually), but the weather was so nice and I didn't have anything important to do today, so I decided that I would do one final day of skiing. I was thinking about pat's peak, but their lift is so slow, so I decided to try crotched mountain again. I'd been there once, a couple of years ago, and remember it being fun but hard.

I invited my nephew to come along too, because he love skiing and apparently his ski-y friends have moved to silicone valley. I asked him to come to my place at 7:30 to leave, and then I would drop him off at home after. What I forgot was that we spang forward last night (something that I love, of course), but that meant we were really leaving at 6;30. So early! It was a good think I had already put the time out there, or I would have left later. 

We got there a little after 9, and I decided I could ski no more at about 3:15. I told my nephew I was fine with hanging out if he wanted to ski more, but he was ready to pack it in too. I did every green and blue at the place, and even a few segments of black! It was super fun. 

I stared with the greens, and felt a little awkward on them the first run. But then I got in my groove, and moved up to the blues. I was feeling pretty good about my curving and edging for most of the day. I feel like I'm getting the hang of having my lower body move while my upper body doesn't switch around. I also went down a few spots that were steeper, which was scary but successful. I kept just telling myself "the mountain isn't going to ski itself" and went for it.

After getting off the fast lift there is a little part that is pretty hard for me. I remember it from last time - eventually I gave up on the lift and took a slower one. This time, it was still difficult, but I did it a lot more times. By the end there were some mogels developing. Not easy at all for me, but I think a little better.

When I got home, I could barely get out of the car, my quads were so tight. I took a long bath and some advil, but I think they are going to be sore for a few days.

Good Ski Days

I bought a five pack for nashoba, which I was kind of regretting because I didn't think that I was going to be able to use all of them, but then I did! Yesterday we got some surprise snow, and today I was able to hit the slopes. I went with my nephew, which we do sometimes, and it was pretty fun.

The best thing was that for a couple of runs I felt like I got the edging and leaning piece of skiing, and it felt really great, super easy and relaxing. I still stuck to the blues there, I did the blacks a few times, but they are a little too steep for me really, but they felt good. I'm increasing my speed a little, and getting how to stop down better. 

My nephew skis a lot faster than me. He did a few runs on the blacks, and then practiced jumping in the mini terrain park that they have.

Next year I think one time at nashoba might be enough. 

This woman who I took a swim class from was at Memphremagog, and she invited me to be on her endurance athletics team, team b*real. Like a personal invitation. I can't resist a personal invitation, so of course I joined. Now, I am thinking about going back to running so I can do a triathlon.