Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Weekend skiing and Monday Workout

This past weekend was really interesting. After a big snowfall early last week and a moderate snowfall on Thursday, it rained most of Friday. Saturday morning, the mountain seemed like a giant ice cube, yet I could tell from some of my pole plants that there was still fresh snow under the icy veneer. Skiing on Saturday was not a lot of fun, so I concentrated on teaching for a lot of the day. But, as the day warmed up and skiers broke up the crust from the rainstorm, the skiing improved through the afternoon.

Sunday morning, I woke up and it was 36F and pouring rain at my house. I had visions of a repeat of the previous week - pouring rain, wind, no students, no skiing, etc. But, as I drove to the mountain, I got a nice surprise. At about 1400 feet in elevation, the rain changed to snow. It had been snowing at the mountain most of the night. It wasn't nice light powder snow, but it was fresh snow.

We did an hour of instructor training and found the skiing to be excellent. Suddenly, everyone was in a great mood. Six of my students showed up and we spent some time getting warmed up on easier terrain. And then, they started begging for steep moguls. I wasn't about to say no. By now, I'd heard that the summit had 8" or so of much lighter snow. And, we had two double-black diamond bump runs that we hadn't done all year. So, after our warm-up and a brief lesson, we headed for the steeper terrain. One girl was kind of nervous, but after she skied the first part of a trail called Paradise, she relaxed. She realized that she belonged there and she just had fun. Next we tackled a steep line right under the Castle Rock chair. This is an all-natural part of Sugarbush, sort of like a mini-Mad River Glen tucked inside Sugarbush. Liftline was amazing. Even the spots where rocks and ice are usually waiting to get you were fine.

After a late lunch, we changed our focus to skiing in the trees. After a couple tougher tree runs, I noticed that some of the girls were tired. To be honest, so was I. So, we headed in for a hot chocolate break and then finished the day with an easy groomer. All in all, it had been a great day.

Monday, I worked from home, so I didn't make it CrossFit. I did go to the gym last night for this workout:

Deadlifts: 5x5 at 225#
Squats: 15/9/6 at 135#, 185#, 225#
Cable Rows: 3 x 10
Chin-up grip lat pulldowns: 3x10
Sprints: 10 x the length of the parking lot

I wanted to do more upper body work and less leg work, but my right shoulder is still too sore for any pressing movements in any plane. It's been 13 days since my ski fall that hurt the shoulder and it's not any better. I'm going to give it one more week of rest, and if it's not any better, it will be time to see the doctor.

On a side note, I'm a big fan of Akira Kurosawa's films. It seems that the news from Japan these days is eerily similar to the segment of "Dreams" called "Mt. Fuji in Red".

No comments: