7/10/10
This humid weather has slowed my brain, I fear, or maybe it is just trying to finish a volume week? I've been trying to write a blog post for a few days...
It is so nice to be able to train with other athletes who are going a speed that is my speed, particularly on easy days. Having someone to talk to, to work on technique with, and otherwise keep the time flowing on a long workout is great! Thanks, girls!
It was particularly helpful to have other people around on a track workout this week. Will's group met PJ Gorneau's group, and we managed to run some of the workout together, which made the workout much easier. Just watching Leo and Susan, for example, pushing to finish the round of 200s they were running without letting up (16 of them!), was inspiring for those of us who thought the heat was too much. Plus, they set a great pace!
PJ put out a hose, people were encouraging, and we got through the workout not too much the worse for wear.
I missed the Mooseturd Mile last night, but I hope that it went well. I was at home meeting a friend and giving an un-official tour of Stockholm, which was fun.
All in all, I got a lot of help from friends, which was a good thing as Will has been at camp all week. Fran and I paddled together on Wednesday. The evening on the river in Caribou is lovely. We were rained on, but no thunder, and it felt so nice to be out on the water.
I am currently working on the motivation to get out the door for a long, easy pole walk around home. It is raining, but the bugs shouldn't be too bad!
So, get out there with a friend, a group of friends, or even your dog, and get going! The summer is here, and we get such a short one we might as well enjoy it!
6/22/10
The Joys of Training Partners
First, I'd like to apologize for my blog (or lack thereof) for the last 2 months. I don't know where the time goes, but I do at least know I am not guilty of hours spent online!
In the time I've been away from my blog, good things have happened: MWSC has a much larger women's cross-country team. I, for one, am extremely grateful! My family's ranch is back under Dominick management, something else to celebrate. The weather has been lovely, allowing all of us vitamin-D deprived northeasters to feel better. Life is good.
Mostly, though, I have new friends. I value true friendship over almost everything else in life so I am happiest about these.
Before I left to work on my family's ranch in Wyoming for a month (www.7dranch.com), I already had people joining me for strength, distance workouts and even a canoe race! The addition of Melinda M. to the MWSC team, having Meagan T. healthy and training with the x-c team, getting Ashley M. and Emily S. into the weight room; these are awesome! Danni and I had company this spring, and I didn't even feel I was totally abandoning her to the men's team when I left (major step forward if you ask me). I'm sure I do not need to explain the difference a training partner can make, and all of the women I mentioned above have great energy and contagious goodwill, I'm thankful.
Also, I was able to join the running group in Caribou on the track one evening before I left for Wyoming and that was a surprise gift. Thanks Susan and Renee!
Among the 7D staff I found running partners, which in grizzly country (the ranch is only 20 or so miles from Yellowstone National Park's back country) is a huge boon. I think I was a little pathetic with my bell and hope that the dogs would come with me. Molly, the hardest working jack of all trades I've met in awhile, and Dianne, one of the ranch cooks, joined me for workouts very early on in my stay, running from my cabin's door out into the surrounding country. At first these ladies were interested in learning the trails near the ranch as much as anything. As the miles and trails disappeared under foot, we all found comfort in someone else's rhythm of breath and cadence of foot.
Because of our schedules and duties, Molly and I were most often able to take off at the same time, and running with her became one of the ways I kept going through the hours of repetitive work out there. The snowy mountain views, the wildflowers, someone to talk to made these treks my favorite part of the day. Molly's dogged determination on uphills was inspiring and her joy in life always a boost. It was very hard to leave such a great training partner /friend, even to come home!
Now, back in Northern Maine, I am grateful for the consistency our daily Molly-Sarah workouts provided. After the first week of scrubbing walls and generally being on my feet all day, morning workouts disappeared from my schedule. I am working them back in, but found I did not lose fitness even with somewhat abbreviated training.
I do feel 7D withdrawal pangs, leaving the ranch I spent summers on growing up and the people who worked so hard to help get everything clean and in order for the ranch's summer season, but I find myself in a good place in Maine. I maintain that we should try to surround ourselves with people we wish to be like as those around us tend to rub off; we become a bit like the people we spend our time with. I am please and thankful to find myself in a good place this way, surrounded by teammates and coach I admire and wish to emulate.
On Sunday, 3 days after returning home, I entered the rollerski time trial Will and Gary set up. 5 km for the women, 10 km for the men, skate, 10th Mountain rollerski loop. I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but managed to click into the rollerskis and make it around. I am proud to say I skied 2 seconds faster than last year on the same skis and same course (any improvement is always something to be proud of!) I feel, more and more, the target on my back as the old lady of the group, but it is OK. The competition is friendly and we are there to push one another, after all.
The help fellow teammates give was demonstrated to me today in a workout on a nearby floating bog. Melinda and I were doing 15 seconds on/15 seconds off bounding with poles for 8 minutes. When I chose a section that was a little less stable than could hold our weight and fell in up to my crotch, she helped me get my foot out by reaching under the peat and grabbing my ankle. (I'd been struggling for 15 seconds on hands and other knee to pull said foot out). I was so excited to be free that I crawled away without thinking about the fact that she might need help... some teammate I turn out to be! Luckily, she was better at freeing herself than I and made it without my help. I, however, must strive to be better... as a teammate and blogger! Thanks, all for bearing with me!
First race of the year!
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winter trees at 6 p.m.
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tucking in the tunnel.
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Reindeer in the road on the way north.
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