Views from the Ramp, a backcountry ski area just north of Bridger Bowl ski area
Ski season, short as it was this year, likely came to an end for me on Monday, April 1st. It was a great day of backcountry skinning and powder skiing just outside the north boundary of Bridger Bowl, followed by some fun high-speed cruising down groomed intermediate runs inside the ski area bounds. Temps rose into the 60s starting on Wednesday, April 3rd. These temps have turned the snow to slush and will quickly melt it.
Running, however, continues unabated. I hit a milestone in mid-March; I crested 300 miles underfoot, and started feeling stronger. I still put in lots of slow miles, but progression runs, and uphill speed bursts have become more of a thing recently as they just feel right. I’m still slow. My fastest progression run thus far is a 5.2 miler at 11:08 pace. In part, that’s because my first miles are always in Zone 1 at 12-14 minutes per mile as I loosen up this aged carapace and feel out what it has in it for the remainder of the run. With each passing week, it’s more often the case that it has some speed in it.
I’m looking forward to my first 30/30s of the season, possibly this coming week. 30/30s are 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds are walking recovery. I do these on the “College M Trail.” I complete 30/30s to the ridge, then continue them up the ridge to the first small peak. The trail goes straight up, climbing 2000 feet in 1.4 miles. Last year I could do that in 26 sprints with 25 walking recoveries, all while counting out 30 Mississippi’s for each. They hurt, but with the first race of the season, the Baldy Blitz with its 4,000 feet of climbing in 3.9 miles, coming up on May 20th, I’ll need the fitness gains a few sets of 30/30s will provide if I’m to have a shot at beating my time from last year.
I pushed past 350 miles with 60,000 vertical feet of climbing by the end of March and I am quickly closing in on 400 miles and 70,000 vertical. To keep my body able to withstand this much pounding, I have been keeping up with swimming, weightlifting and PT. The swimming will likely get traded for mountain biking in the near future, but I hope to keep up weightlifting to the extent possible as travel and backpacking begin to fill parts of my schedule. I haven’t weightlifted for decades prior to this season, but I am finding it to be valuable. My back hurts less this year than it has in years past, and I attribute this improvement to the strengthening effects of weightlifting. PT gets squeezed in where ever I can fit it time wise. I have been consistently doing PT exercises for the past 8 years and they aid both my flexibility and strength.
My first backpacking trip of the season is planned for late April, with Jeremy, a buddy with whom I have shared many adventures. The plan is to cross Zion National Park from Kolob Canyons in the northwest, to Zion Canyon in the center of the park over four days. Should be stunning.
From there, we are heading to Gooseberry Mesa for a day of slickrock mountain bike riding. I can’t wait. I’ll let you know how it goes.