Our tree is up!!

Yeah I know, a lil early.  It was Lisa's idea, I just go a long with it.  We also practiced some of our dance moves.  Yes I learned to dip!!!  (I don't know how correct that is as this was one of the last things we learned)  Don't laugh too much, a little is ok though.

Anyone need a wetsuit???

Or even if you don't and think you might in the future, check this deal out.  I'm considering it even though I'm not doing any triathlon next year.  I couldn't find any reviews on the profile design suit, I know they make good bike parts, kinda strange they're designing wetsuits now.  It looks like it's relatively new, which is why there are no reviews worth reading(I found two but they weren't helpful) anyways.  You can't go wrong for 89 bucks, and I can tell you this.  The company(bicycleoutfitter) is awesome to deal with, I bought my kurt kinetic trainer from them and they sent it to Canada as a gift therefore I payed no customs fees, only the shipping.  I checked the cost of the suit other places and couldn't find anything close that that price.

http://catalog.bicycleoutfittersindy.com/product/profile-design-bionik-2-54134-1.htm

Some more sking notes

I forgot to mention a few things on yesterday's post.  I really notice the soreness in my muscles, especially after my first two skis, and then again immediately following yesterday's ski.  Just like cycling, it seems that the quad gets the most work.  I guess it's very similar to the cycling push down on the pedals, with sking it's pushing off the ground.  Although so far my hips, lower back, and overall core muscles are getting a working over too.  But I think that's mostly from the trail cutting(balance needed) and the uneven ground that I sometimes go over which would require more balance as well.

I got a cool head lamp from Mec.  I figured with the sking on uneven unknown terrain and often in areas with no lighting the head lamp would come in handy.  It's got two, well three settings, plus it dims as well on each setting.  So it's quite versatile, and all the brightness I need.

I have one slight problem that I hope will go away.  I don't know what mec's return policy is but my boots get uncomfortable after a while.  When I push off, the boots have to bend a lot just past the toes.  The boot material folds and puts a lot of pressure on my pinky toe.  After awhile my toes really hurt a lot.  I'm not sure if this is just part of breaking in the boot(will it go away??) or should I go back and try on a few more boots to see if I can find somthing more comfortable.  The boot fits perfect, and I like the style, so if I knew it would correct itself as I break it in, I would stick with it.  My foot doesn't blister, it just gets sore.  Sking two days in a row is painful when I start out on the second day, so I'm not sure.  And again, I'm not sure if Mec would take used boots back.  Does anyone know?  It's a shame cause there's no way I could have known this problem with out actually sking with the boots.

DP

NSR (new sport report)

Heya!

I've been out 3 times already on my cross country skis.  It's going so so as I need to learn to ski properly, and it's tough to learn when you're having to make/groom new trails all three times that I've been out.  I've also taken my garmin out a few times and although it's a great tool to see where you're at as far as distance/speed/heart rate, but then again sometimes those numbers can be down right discouraging.  But I do want to see my progress, so I did want to know where I started at.  Soooo I have to suck it up and ski, recording the numbers, but also letting them not bother me so much.

So the first two times I went out saturday and sunday near my house in the park with the ponds.  It's hard to find good space to make trails.  I attempted to make some and the first set that winds through Riverbend to get me to the park is fine.  I cut them far enough away from the path to keep the walkers/dogs/animals away for the most part.  Rabbits don't bother a good cut trail, but dogs and people really suck, and neither really cares that they're destroying my attempts at cutting a good trail.  So the the first part is fine, but then as I get out of the neighborhood it's tougher.  Especially since me and who ever else skis started cutting the moment the snow had nearly finished falling, so when people started walking their dogs they saw a ski trail so they figured why not just walk on that since it's already packed down a bit.  Grrrrrr  So I had to recut them the second time I went out.  So combined with the trail cutting, cornering, and with always having the new path it's hard to learn proper technique because you can't really glide well, and classic sking I've learnt is all about kicking and gliding. 

Today I decided to drive to a near by driving range.  I prepared myself mentally for more of the trail cutting, but I kinda hoped some other skier had already started with a trail.  I got there and saw there were none so I started cutting the new trail.  Verrrrry slow work, it's like a super slow walk, especially when at times your skis get covered with hard packed snow.  The second loop was ok, then the third I could actually start thinking about what my legs are doing.  I watched this youtube video just before I left, this guy I think teaches it really well.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjFcZRNR1Q check it out Cam or others that are interested in trying.  Or maybe you're an expert already Cam?  Feel free to correct me at any time if I'm wrong with this, but this is how I see it.  I've seen a few videos and at first I right away noticed that everyone kicks up at the back.  This may seem obvious to you, but it didn't for me at first.  It looked fine for them, but when I tried doing it the motion just didn't seem natural.  I'd always just kept my skis on the ground and shuffled along, we're affectionately called "Shufflers".  The people that strap skis on and walk along not sliding at all.  K, I wasn't that bad, I glide, but not nearly as much as I should and definately not with that damn'd kick.  So then I remembered buddy doing his warming up exercises.  That's when it clued in, it wasn't so much kicking back as it was pushing off one foot and lunging forward onto the other one.  As the weight transfers it forces the other foot back and with the follow through it'll kick back.  So this is what I started to concentrate on, pushing off each foot.  You see, with classic skis you got your regular wax, and then you have a grippy kicker type wax that goes in the middle.  So that when you step on one foot, the gripper wax actually touches down and it grips in the snow so you can propell the rest of you forward!!!!  Make sense?

So today I was practicing my lunging forward.  My back foot isn't kicking up much yet, but I'm gliding forward on each step as I should.  Especially as each lap around my golf driving range would cut the trail and pack it down better for me to slide on.  So for example today I skied 3.5 miles in 52 minutes.  I think that's an average of 15.XX minutes per mile.  hee hee super slowwwww.  If I look at my first mile when I was cutting most of the path it was somthing like 21 or 22 minutes.  One lap I saw was about 0.65 miles.  So each lap/mile got quicker and by the end I cracked the 12 minute mile.  Getting better, I'm seeing improvment.  I just have to think of pushing off one foot and LUNGGGGGGGGGGGINg onto the other foot as I slide.  hee hee.  I have yet to go to an actual groomed trail this year.  I think there's a golf course near by that cuts trails, maybe I'll go tomorrow.  That should be interesting.  Guess I'll have to put on the different wax as it's warming up(they got dif. kicker wax for dif. temperatures as the snow is stickier as it warms up).  Wish me luck,

DP

I feel like a Gollum quote!!

`I daresay,' said Sam. 'But where have you been to – sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain? '

* Gollum withdrew himself, and a green glint flickered under his heavy lids. Almost spider-like he looked now, crouched back on his bent limbs, with his protruding eyes. The fleeting moment had passed, beyond recall. `Sneaking, sneaking!' he hissed. 'Hobbits always so polite, yes. O nice hobbits! Sméagol brings them up secret ways that nobody else could find. Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say _sneak, sneak_. Very nice friends, O yes my precious, very nice.'

* Sam felt a bit remorseful, though not more trustful. 'Sorry.' he said. 'I'm sorry, but you startled me out of my sleep. And I shouldn't have been sleeping, and that made me a bit sharp. But Mr. Frodo. he's that tired, I asked him to have a wink; and well, that's how it is. Sorry. But where _have_ you been to? '

`Sneaking,' said Gollum, and the green glint did not leave his eyes.

Tips for getting your man into dance lessons(it worked on me, it could work on anyone)

This may not be a simple task. 

1. Keep at it.  I'm gonna let you in on a little secret about men, if you don't already know it.  Even though they may "seem" totally against it, they might actually want to, or at least not be as against it as they may show on the first request/attempt.  Remember some of us think or think others will think less manly of us for signing up.

2. Ask multiple times.  This may not at first fit into our schedules, and in some cases the man will use anything and everything as an excuse as to why we may not have time.  So plan ahead, get creative, use your head!!  Say your man happens to be a triathlete and is preparing for the big event of the year.  Think to yourself, hmmm he's gonna need some downtime, recovery.  He won't be training as much after the event.

3. Find a inexpensive opportunity.  This will help thwart the excuse, "oh but honey, it's wayy too expensive".  Maybe offer to pay for it?!?!?!  Or just look for a cheap lesson.

4. Something convenient.  If you have a community centre check to see if they have lessons, or might somtime in the future.  Walking distance is perfect

5. Focus on having fun.  Don't put too much pressure on the man, especially if he's like me and is totally un-coordinated.  Go figure, who knew you could get to the finish of a IM with two left feet??  Another secret about us men.  We ultimately want to please our mates, so if you show how much this will please you and how it's about hangin out and doing something fun together.  Maybe give him a little something to look forward to after the lesson,  ha ha j/k

6. If he's super duper embarrassed about taking the lessons, don't put it on your facebook or blog.  Help him keep it discreet.  Lisa if you're reading this, in my case I don't mind having random girls ask me about how the lessons are going.  I just figured other men might not be cool with that, I'm fine though.  I probably wouldn't have blogged about it if I didn't want people knowing.

That's all I can think of for now.  There ya go Julie, some tips for you and Mike.  They worked on me, and trust me I was the last person I thought would be taking them.  CHeers,

DP 

I learned something new today

I have this calender thing at work, where you have to tear off a paper each day.  It's a stack of days basically, 365 days that is, one for each day.  Each paper has a picture, well most do and they often have 2-3 in a row telling facts about a certain animal, land form, etc.  The last few have been about tall/big trees.  Today's had no image but told me that the largest living thing in the world is a tree!  Go figure, I'm not surprised about this really, but when they named the tree I just had to google it to see it for myself.  I knew it would be big, but man this still blew my mind when I saw it.  It is named General Sherman after some General in the war.  I found it hilarious that when you google that, the tree wiki page comes ahead of the actual civil war General.  Some other interesting facts are that it is believed to be between 2300 - 2700 years old, 275 ft tall.  Google it, very interesting.

Oh yeah, also had a pretty good run yesterday.  Ran a hard 5k in 21:09.  Not too bad, did the same route in summer just after IM in 19:40 somthing so I've lost a bit, but it felt good to letter rip.  And I actually finished this hard run, the last two times I tried some intervals I couldn't do as many as I had planned.  Getting mentally stronger, which is nice to see.  Curtis and I will run Sat. morning again, we did our first long one in a while last weekend.  We need to keep this weekly long one up as it not only provides a decent long run, but also motivates us both for the coming week.  Cheers all, happy running,

DP

PS:  The second pic is that of the biggest branch that broke off of General Sherman in 2006, yes that's right it's the freakin branch!!!