chico's abominable x-country snowshoe race

so i get this email from the captain on thursday night after crossfit . . .

What do you think? Must make mind up immeditately.
www.chicoracing.com click on Abdominable Snowshoe Race. online registration closes at midnight.

well, okay, let me check with coach spaff and see what he says . . .

Sounds like a fun race. I say do it. You've been getting in a little more shorter focused training with the speedwork so certainly would fit in nicely.

so i email the captain back . . .

okay, i’m in. but i’m heading to bed now – have to get up at 5. if you still want to go, register us and let me know.

and when i wake up friday morning, i get this . . .

DORA!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE IN!!!!!!!!!!!!! WILL FIRM UP DETAILS TOMORROW.

CAPTAIN

what could go wrong???

got up an hour earlier than usual on sunday so we could get in our session of ghetto gym - waytogo ladies - how did you like doing squats at 7 in the morning?!! was in the car and on my way to uxbridge by 8 - not bad ! quick drive over and met up with the captain just after 9. pleasure valley - what a beautiful place!!

and who do we see as we're entering the registration area but the adorable MR. MUSKY !

there was a bit of a kerfuffle at sign-up, as adam hadn't heard of 'dora olsen'. 'who the hell is dora olsen?' no worries - he's seen me fall enough times on my mountain bike to know who i am! the cap and i sat in his car for a bit before the race, sizing up our opponents - we surmised we'd be last and second last for sure ! man there were some fast looking people there.

start was delayed a couple of minutes, and then we were off - around 15 of us doing the 9k - and it was at an INSANE PACE ! i could see the captain trying to keep up, but i just did my usual. i passed a couple of people near the beginning, and then settled into my own little world. actually, i worked pretty hard and was probably red-lining it most of the way! haha - stoopid dora ! the course was nuts - lots of uphill, and then lots more. and because they'd just had some fresh snow, it wasn't tramped down at all ! holy crap! i rolled into the finish area just under 1:07 and i was pretty pleased with that. i was soaked !

good shot of adam multi-tasking at the finish - announcing runners and eating chili . . .

cap came in a couple of minutes before me - would have been faster, but apparently he had a few wipe-outs! doh!

and of course, a chico race wouldn't be complete without a hug from the ever gorgeous sean. thanks honey and so good to see you again !!

as usual, sean and adam did a bang-up job! we got kicking horse coffee and e-load gels at the start, all-you-could-eat chili, hot chocolate and yummy snacks at the end, and i won an adidas bag and hat for coming in second. (i'm not supposed to mention that there were only 3 of us . . .)

super super way to spend a sunday - thanks captain and love ya! wyoming should be insane !

presents in the mail . . .

had to do 2 'speed' sessions on the road this week. first one was monday - a bunch of 1 minute 'seizure sprints' on patterson with christine. then did way too many 10 minute tempo runs on centerville creek on wednesday - those kill me! worst was on the last one, when i was trying to change the song on my new ipod thingy, and couldn't find what i wanted and was screaming at it while running up a hill. good gawd i hope nobody saw me!

got my replacement cleats from coach spaff on tuesday (note to self - next time you run down the gore road, take the snowshoes off) - and check out my new hat!! sweet! it's made of 'turtle fur'. I LOVE IT! dions rock !!! thanks D !!

lotsa reps this week at crossfit. i'd been avoiding one kreepy workout in particular for days, but finally gave in when the ADORABLE kane talked me into doing it with him. total of 120 burpees and 45 cleans w 95#. blahh - burpees still suck ! then he talked me into 75 GHD sit-ups - STOP IT - if only he wasn't so damn cute ! thursday we took push-ups to another level - de-loads they called them - where you drop right to the ground, release your hands, and then push back up - krap ! and then let's make us do 150 of them! but wait, that's not enough, let's add 150 box jumps AND wallballs while we're at it! friday night club wasn't much better - let's throw in 150 squats, double-unders and GHD sit-ups! DILLON - STOP IT ! and finally, saturday, i obviously hadn't done enough squats or push-ups, so let's krunch through 175 and 125 of those suckers. and we'll do 75 pull-ups for good measure! argh!!

sad turnout for friday night club - not sure where everybody was - no excuses!! but big congrats to dave for a 'pr' of 150 double-unders - great job man!!

poor marsala really trashed her hands on saturday's WOD - who the hell thought of putting pull-ups AND knees-2-elbows together in the same workout for 200 reps ?????? i won't even attempt this one, as i 've determined my threshold before ripping to be about 80 reps.

here we are comparing the carnage. i got off easy this time !!

and so me and the captain are heading to uxbridge tomorrow for the abominable snowshoe x-country race put on by chico racing - superstar mountain biking organization led by the dynamic ruppel brothers - sean 'wheels' and adam 'chico'.

should be interesting!

snowshoeing at centerville creek

not a lot of snow left around b'town sunday - did a run after crossfit on the humber and it was mostly ice. (good thing i had the screw shoes.) so me, sharon and andrea stomped around andrea's backyard sunday afternoon.

sharon had a bit of trouble with hers . . .

relaxed by the fire after with some homemade pbcc cookies and hot chocolate ! aw c'mon andrea - smile !

that's better!

oh, and vito, get working on that loft for me, will ya . . .

'if you can change your mind, you can change your life.' william james

i read the above quote somewhere, and i really liked it. i think it was a crossfit site.

anyway, the weather this week was strange. monday it was freezing!! then tuesday i would have been in shorts had i not been snowshoeing. i actually learned my lesson from last year when i almost frostbit my calves. but wednesday and thursday were a go for sure. did some 'tempo running' on wednesday - sets of 20, 15 and 10 minutes - which almost killed me! pick a 'not too hilly route' says coach spaff. gee, maybe i'll try centerville creek - IDIOT ! 'hay ethel, there's a lady running down the road - looks like she's having a seizure.' haha! AND LOOK WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL - a pair of 'momma spafford sox' !! aren't they awesome !?

thursday i ran around palgrave for over an hour - totally enjoying the warmer temps! even had a little relax on the balcony afterwards.

friday was 'train miss lucy' day. harrison (shorty) - the little dude she was expecting when me and her husband paul did sinister7 a couple of years ago - decided it wasn't quite time for his nap. he wasn't too bad for the first round of kettlebell swings . . .

but insisted on being part of the 'weighted squats'.

he was okay with the 'piggy-back-walking lunges' and the 'little kid thrusters', but he looked kinda green when she tried 'harrison kettlebell swings'. if anyone tries to say they can't workout with a toddler, they should meet miss lucy. she is amazing! when i walked in and saw her doing the elliptical with shorty - who weighs almost 30lbs - on her back in a pack - i told her she could try out for the firefighters!

oh, and when he finally decided to nap, look where he ended up crashing. ahem - THIS IS NOT PART OF MY JOB . . .

ah - friday night club! me, sara and jen did our 1 rep max push jerk. i got to 105lbs before i couldn't move it anymore. check out fedon's t-shirt . . .

don't even want to know what's going on between these two.

the pic . . .

and saturday - long run day - saw me doing loops in palgrave. i wasn't sure, what with all the melting and rain and freezing again and snow, what the trail conditions would be like, so i figured this would be easiest. did 5 loops (great mental training) and a bit extra to make my 4 hours. and i felt amazing! my last loop was my fastest by 3 minutes! wahoo!

finished it off with my usual timmies chili and a few donuts! mmmm forbidden donuts!

busy week

my poor legs were still tired from the big snowshoe race last saturday, so i managed a slow trudge on the humber on wednesday. the view was nice enough to help me forget how sluggish i felt!

and you all know how much i LOVE getting stuff - so friday was extra special. i got a letter and a BUMPER STICKER from geoff roes - super leader of the 'alaska mountain ultrarunning camp' - squeal - another sticker for my car !!!! i also got a really kool pirate hat and a plate of yummy valentine snacks from my beautiful brit friend lucy - mmmmm chocolate delights! and finally, miss liz'bet surprised me with a box of sweet georgia browns - my total fave in the whole wide world. not sure why the box 'looks' empty in this picture . . .

friday night club was hosted by the yummy dillon, who gave us a great workout - 'wittman' - 7 rounds of 15 kettlebell swings, power cleans and box jumps. good shot of luca . . .

just hanging around yapping, waiting for the traditional fnc picture - isn't kane adorable ?!!

the gang . . .

saturday was long run day, so me, christine and homey set out from the tennis courts. it was snowing pretty good for awhile there. 'wait, i'm not ready'

okay, that's better !

check out these two shots from blueberry hill . . .

homey down by the fern garden . . .

oh, and in hindsight, i probably should have worn the dions. stoopid deep snow!

regardless, we managed just under 3 hours and i was exhausted. stomping through all that deep stuff just about killed me!


sunday's run was only an hour, so after ghetto gym, i headed into bolton for sunday mass crossfit with father jimmy. 100 thrusters and 40 box jumps - wonder if THOSE muscles will be sore tomorrow . . .

and then, in the afternoon, team caledon headed to the hills of hockley! well, a group of us took a little longer getting there, as we had to push marion and the silver bullet out of the driveway of the treehouse - should have warned her she needed snowies to get in when pops hasn't plowed. anway - eventually - 7 amazing ladies donned their dions and hiked through 8" of heavy, wet snow! here's a shot of cathy, sharon, lexi and andrea

it was cath's first time on snowshoes, and she only wanted to do an hour. well, all was going according to plan until she and little shar decided to hike back on their own. miss lucy and marion also decided to venture back on their own. 'what could go wrong?' my group of andrea, lexi and irene got to the 'cut-off' and wondered if the others had taken the same route. not seeing any tracks, we started to worry but headed over to the cars just in case. i circled back and saw the rest of the ladies coming towards me - they had taken the long way back! doh ! sooooo, poor cath was exhausted and ended up going over 90 minutes. we voted her 'rockstar of the day'. i wonder if she'll be sore tomorrow . . .

here's a shot of the group - back together again !

oops! forgot the dions . . .

thanks ladies!! what a fab way to end the weekend! you are ALL superstars in my eyes!

cast a shadow

can't remember which morning this was last week, but check out the beautiful sunrise . . .

and yummy dillon came up with an amazing workout for friday night club. we had to move 10,000lbs from ground to overhead, using whatever olympic lifts we wanted. the amount of weight on the bar determined the number of reps. lisa, sara and sonia are tuff-chicks, so they used 75lbs and had to do 135 reps. i was the sally-girl and only had 65lbs - meaning i had to do 153 reps ! what a blast! i did a snatch for every one and was the last to finish! and i must say, my snatch muscles sure were sore the next day . . .

saturday morning, me and christine made our way to rochester to meet up with the captain for the 'cast a shadow' snowshoe relay. 6 hours of running loops of 2.5 miles. we got there early and set up camp . . .

cap and christine going over some pre-race strategy . . .

and we're off - i took the first leg and after stomping through some fairly deep snow, tagged off to christine.

christine pretty much imploded on her first lap. she had too many layers on, ran way too fast, and shouldn't have eaten the sausages for breakfast. she was pretty cranky when she came in, and she was this awful yellow color - ewww! she mumbled something about writing a letter to bob evans . . . but what the hell was she thinking - seriously - sausages before a race ??!!!
she managed to eventually calm herself down, and we waited for the captain to do his first lap. he too went out a little fast, and dressed a little too warm, but wasn't quite as bad! after this though, everybody settled down and had a great time. the night laps were the koolest - it had started to snow and everything looked really neat by headlamp. i started my last lap just after 7, and figured i could get back in plenty of time for the cap to push out one more and be done by the 8pm cut-off.

here's a pic of race director mort - love the patio lanterns.

christine and me waiting for the captain to finish.

and here he comes - racing through the finishing tent and just about bowling over a soloist!

done - 4 laps for christine, and 5 for me and captain. 3rd place in the coed category! not bad for a bunch of fat ass pylons. we had a really good time and for sure want to try and drag at least a couple of teams down next year. super atmosphere all around !

and of course, a trip to the states just wouldn't be complete without the purchase of a bunch of monster sized hershey bars ! all this for only 12$ - gotta love the americans and their 'super-sizing' . . .

next up - 'outdoor crossfit challenge' march 5 at blue mountain with lisa, jay and marsala !