(
click on any photo to enlarge) I haven't posted in a few months so I though I'd better update family and friends on whats up with the Eastys. The winter weather is in full swing in the Sierra. We received early snow in December and have had a succession of storms that has kept snow in the mountains and cold temperatures in Reno. Christi just had a wisdom tooth extracted but in typical tough girl fashion, she's back to working out in less than a week. The girl is just amazing. Her P90X workouts are making her ripped and strong. (She has bigger guns than I do!!) RB is the only one in the family that has gotten out of shape this winter. Her thing is long runs and hikes and unfortunately the snow and mud at her local trails keeps her from doing the stuff she loves. But Spring is just around the corner and she'll be doing 3 hr runs with Christi or 5 hr hikes with me soon. I have been doing the same thing I do most winters - Skiing and teaching skiing. The weekly Rossignol Clinics I am involved in have become very popular in the Tahoe Basin. We have had up to 40 people at our clinics! It has been fun. I'm finally starting to gain some fitness after a short, forced layoff in December (from a strange injury in a Cross race). Its a bitch getting old! I just don't recover as quickly as I used to. Yesterday I skied for 3 hrs and 35km and feel pretty good today, so I'm finally coming around.
Both Christi and I have stuck to our New Years Resolutions - No Sugar for Christi and No Alcohol for me. Aside from a glass of wine at dinner with some friends a while back, I've been pretty consistent. Christi, in her typical determined way, hasn't had any sugar at all. Consequently both of us are at summer body weights which is nice in February. But with that said we are nowhere near our friends Kalli and Bill in SoCal. Their diet is amazing! Check out Kalli's Blog to get an idea of how good they are about their eating habits.
http://fitandfortysomething.com/I have also been going to Computrainer classes twice a week. Basically you put your bike in a stand that is connected to a computer and you race against 7 other riders that have their bikes attached in the same way. They're hard! There is no coasting downhill, no cruising to the coffee shop and no conversation, that's for sure. But they make you strong. Every year after skiing is finished, I have all this cardiovascular fitness but I feel like I pedal squares for the month of April until I remember how to pedal properly. Hopefully these classes will help my legs how to remember to pedal when I get back on the bike after Mammoth Marathon. Thats really about it. I will post for March as I plan on racing a couple of times during the month. We'll see how the fitness is! Until then- Don't take life for granted. Everyday is precious. Live life like your ass is on fire. Cheers
(click on any photo to enlarge) Today was the Sierra Nordic Relay Race at Tahoe Donner. I had hoped to kill it as I have been training well and my form is finally coming around. We have had an uncommonly warm past ten days with highs in the 60's! I skied for three hours on Wednesday and my biggest concern was if I had enough sunscreen on. Well that came to an abrupt end last night when 16" of fresh Sierra Cement fell. The photo above is my view upon opening the garage door to load the truck for the race. So my first ski race of the year was last Monday. I raced the President's Cup 15km at Tahoe Donner. I have raced this race many times in the years past and know the course very well as it is held on the trails I train on. Since it was my first race I really tried to ski within myself and not tweak out and try to ski over my head. I skied decent but not stellar. I was 22nd Overall and 5th Master. So this weekend I wanted to ski faster and see If I had any 'Red Zone' fitness. The answer was a resounding NO! I skied like shit today. The Relays are three 5km legs with the first skier doing Classic Technique and the last two skiers doing Freestyle (Skating). I was the middle skier. During the hand off I got tangled with our Classic skier, Danny Buchanon, and fell. I felt like such a rookie. I got up quickly and took off too fast. After about 2km I was past the 'Red Zone' and into oxygen debt. I had no choice but to slow up a bit to try to get into a manageable rhythm. I skied well up the two hills on the course but felt like I was going backward on the windy, flat sections. I finally came into the stadium area and handed off to Jeremy Purdy, our anchor skier. He skied fantastic (as did Danny) and we managed to finish in 3rd Place, no thanks to me. 
Lets just say I need to do more interval training! So I drove home with my tail between my legs and hung out with Christi and RB. They could care less if I ski fast or not. Thank goodness I have them at home to keep me sane. Friday I am going to the new Biathlon Range at Northstar to get certified for weapon safety so I can compete in the 10th Mountain Biathlon in late March. Biathlon is fun and unbelievably hard. You can't imagine how hard it is to hit a target the size of a silver dollar that is 50 meters away when you are completely gassed and breathing hard. I'm a far better skier than I am shooter so I'll end up skiing penalty laps (for every target you miss, you have to ski a 150 meter 'gerbil lap') Its fun and it keeps you fit, but I'll really need to work on my shooting if I want to do well! I'll teach at the final Rossignol Clinic of the season on Saturday at Tahoe XC outside of Tahoe City and than I'm racer boy for the month of March as I have no teaching commitments after Saturday. Lets hope I can pull my head out of my ass and start skiing fast! I'll keep you posted. Cheers.
