At last, A real winter...!

At long last, we are having a real winter. With lots of snow and cold. The past 2 weeks have brought over 2 feet of snow (Long live lake effect from Lake Erie) on top of a good base from December and temps in the single digits for highs, and -(minus) for lows. Today is a real heat wave with the current temp at 21. Not to worry, it will be back in the teens again by the weekend.

I've been able to get in a fair amount of X-C skiing the past few weeks. The nicest part about X-C skiing is all you need are your skies. So, in the same manner as the bike...I just put them in the car , head off somewhere and ski. Thus far I've skied Black Creek Park, O-At-Ka Creek park, around home I'll head over to Burnell Park, or over to PD's and Penny's on Summitt St Rd. When using the Monroe county parks, the trails are often packed down. Which makes the skiing faster.

Around home Penny's and PD's is a fantastic place to ski. There are a thousand or so acres behind their house. Now that I've ventured out and somewhat mapped out the area (with the help of my Garmin 305) I'm usually breaking my own trail, or following deer paths(they almost have their own highway system) and the going is a lot slower. I have found that the traveling through snow on skies is far, far easier than trying to walk through it. This past Saturday afternoon I went 9.2 miles in 7 degree temps, out behind Penny's and PD's. It's great to trek through woods, and fields, meandering which ever way looks interesting. Most of these travels would be nearly impossible in the summer when all the growth is on the bushes and trees.But with good snow cover and ski's the traveling is easier, and a blast. I came across a pond at the rear of a corn field that seems to be a swimming hole. Complete with floating diving platform, and picnic tables. Pretty neat ....!

Other area's of joy are coming from the gym and the trainer. The program I'm using on the trainer is going rather well. It's not easy, but I'm sure learning a whole bunch of new things. This will translate to meeting my goals for the coming season. As for the gym, I've surpassed the weights I was working with last winter. Along with this I'm now running 2 miles 3 times a week. That's pretty darn good for some one who couldn't run 200 feet a month ago. I've got my eye set on the Duathlon in May, so there's a lot of hard work ahead. Running seems to really work the hamstrings, and that should crossover to hill climbs on the bike too.

I will have to remember to bring my camera with me next time I ski. I don't think the camera will do capture the peace and tranquility along with the solitude I experience while out on a skiing adventure.