December 18, 2011

Endurance addict embraces the snow!

View from my apartment today's winter wonderland that is Banff.


Skiing Cascade Fireroad

Being a runner in Banff has it's benefits for sure - living at 1400m sure is awesome altitude training, and the network of stunningly beautiful trails in my backyard ain't half bad either. But I spend a good portion of my year hauling myself out of the door in the cold and snow and just dreaming of green trails and temperatures above zero. Yep, I like to ski - but in my heart of hearts I'm a runner who just wants to run on snow and ice free roads and trails.

I love snow (on skis or snowshoes, but not so much in running shoes)!

But I'm trying to make the most of the weather and I today I made it out cross country skiing with 2 friends, probably the first time I've cross country skied in a good few years. My technique is bad but it was so much fun just to enjoy the snow as it was coming down all day and was truly a winter wonderland. That said, of course my outing also had a slightly ulterior 'training' motive. Being an endurance addict I ignored all better judgement and signed up for a cross country ski loppet this past week. Race day is nicely soon enough - Jan 22nd - time to get some skis on and practice a bit, yet not too far away that I'll have time to get overly concerned with the details, and done before I need to really start being concerned too much about long runs (important given I now work a 48hrs/ 6 day work week, so have one day a week to get long runs in).

Oh, did I mention that the loppet is from Lake Louise to Banff. It's only 72km :) It'll be an experience to say the least I'm sure. Bring on the snow!

December 8, 2011

TNF 50 mile Endurance Challenge San Francisco



Find my race report of my final race (promise!) of the year by clicking here.

And a big shout out to Bryon & Megan of iRunfar.co
m for their awesome coverage of the race as it unfolded on twitter as well as the great post-race analysis.

Happy trails x