I ski, I climb, I run....in that order it seems

The past couple of weeks weren't so productive run-wise, but very productive on the ski/climb front!

The weekend (Sat) before last, Peter and I ski-toured out to the Elfin Lakes Hut to spend the night before attempting the Neve crossing the following morning. However, the powder was just too deep and it would have been a pretty arduous excursion for Peter/me to make our own fresh skin tracks all the way there. Not to mention, I don't think my skills are quite up to snuff to attempt what he had in mind.



The night spent at the Elfin lakes hut was a little insane. First off, there were no beds left, as a few large parties rolled in just minutes before we did. We found a couple nice benches downstairs in the kitchen/lounging table area and camped out there for the night. I am surprised at how well I fell asleep, even with all the drunken roudiness going on right beside us. We were up until about 10:30pm, playing board games and chatting with a group of snowshoers who had hiked in bottles of wine and other luxery items.



The next morning we woke up to the most stunning day I have ever seen in the backcountry. Since I haven't been in the backcountry that much, I guess that's not saying much but (insert laugh) it was stunning! The day was great except for the part where Peter wanted me to "roll", I would call it more of a "jump" off this cornice. After Peter swiftly dropped off the cornice and glisaded away to safety, it was my turn and it took me all of about 10 minutes of visualizing it not happening safely to realize that it wasn't happening at all. However, we found a more challenging route to make our way to the same spot! We even got some turns in this way...a win win! As the blue bird skies turned to snowy clouds, we made our way back to the hut for some hot soup and then our way back out towards home.



By Monday, Squamish hadn't seen rain for a few days and after a measly 5 minute walk from our front door, we were in climbing heaven! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! We spent the entire afternoon climbing some pretty mellow (perfect for me) cracks and having a great time.

Tuesday I came down with something pretty feirce. No barfies or anything but just an overall body ache and light headedness which kept me off the running blocks for 4 days. In fact, I didnt do anything except for a quick session at the indoor climbing gym on Friday.

Saturday was the Dirty Duo mountain bike and running race and I had been planning on running the 25km. Not having run in a week and a half coupled with having been pretty sick the 4 days prior, I was officially on the fence. However, I really wanted to join in the fun and hang out with friends and see some old faces. And I don't mean old, as in faces I havent seen in a long time...I just mean old! haha kidding.

I woke up feeling ok, not great but good enough to run I thought. I facebooked a lady I have met here in Squamish(shannon your a rockstar!) early that morning and within an hour she had called me and we arranged to carpool (race started at 11am). I tried to visualise myself running well. With all this time off runing, I thought my body would think it was some sort of a taper and I would actually feel good. Or, it would be the flipside and unfortunetly, I got the flipside. I went out like I normally would but it was clear early on that this was not going to be my day. And why should it!


(Me before the start, clearly shorts was a bad call!)

I battled mentally early on and had many thoughts of dropping out but I pulled it together and just settled into a pace that would allow me to finish the race with a smile on my face...which is exactly what I did!

It's funny, I forget how tiring things like skiing and ski touring are on the body. It's almost as if I void them as "training" all together when really, they provide as much benefit as running.

My body didn't feel very good by the end of the race. My ITB was starting to act up and tighten quite significantly and my whole right hip/TFL complex was super sore. Thanks Kristi from MOVEO for seeing me on the massage table literally seconds after I crossed the line (no one was on it!). I have been pretty lazy in the body stretching/rolling department and it's quite clear now that this must change!!!!

Gone are the days when I first got into running and ultra's and nothing use to hurt EVER!

Alright, time to stop complaining and get out training, nice and easy.

See you in the trails!