Base Training-Teton Style

Teton Springs: fresh cord and sunshine 3 min. from my door.

The hoses have turned off. We haven't received any measurable new snow for almost 2 weeks and people in the valley are starting to get pretty cranky. I'm not one of them. Well, okay I take that back. I am a tad cranky mostly because I am taking Inferential Statistics and am stuck training indoors for another 2 weeks, not because the powder skiing is non-existent. Skate skiing makes me very happy. SSPS data crunching does not.

Typically, when Nate gets a rare day off we are going to bed early, getting up early and going for long tours in the backcountry. Instead, Nate was in the shed until all hours last night tuning up his dirtbike. He drove to Dubois this morning to go burn gas with a bunch of other jonesing powderhounds. I suppose they need some other kind of adrenalin-based entertainment than racing the tram to the bottom of the hill.

I am still sticking to skis. The great thing about being a nordic and a tele skier is that if one isn't good, the other is typically pretty awesome. I've been going to Teton Springs almost daily for long skate skis. They have a crazy-good track, it's 3 minutes from my front door and it's free. So, while it seems like most serious cyclists are out logging long January base miles, I am doing my base training Teton Valley style: a hour or so of intervals on the trainer, followed by a few hours of skate skiing or a snowy trail run. I usually finish these days feeling like I have been flogged by a sack of raw potatoes, so I think I am probably doing something right. My biceps and triceps are coming along nicely, too.

Sometimes I feel like I am just killing time until I head to Tucson for the entire month of February for some real training. But, after a few hours of rocking out to good tunes on a sunny day of skate skiing, I don't want to leave Idaho at all. I'm looking for a slower start to this year that in years past-I guess I just don't want to come out flying for the early races in March-so a little biking and a lot of on-snow training is working out just fine for me.

No snow means Maddy is getting mucho skiing and trail running time with me.