Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Week -35: Last Week of Excuses

(20 - 26 February)

Well, I guess this is it.  We now have keys to the new place in Kelowna.

Kelowna House
(Clicking on the picture will take you to Flickr for the rest)

You might guess that this meant not much training went on this week.  You would be correct.

We did manage to squeak in some mountain biking from our new abode (right out the abode's garage door, I might add!).  It's much snowier in the interior than in Vancouver.  I don't mind.

Knox Mountain Park


(T-35 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Sessions
0
0
Distance (m)
0
0
Bike
Distance (km)
24
22
Elevation (m)
200
200
Run
Sessions
1
1
Distance (km)
2.7
7
Backcountry
Distance (km)
0
5.5
Elevation (m)
0
200

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Week -36: Unsick

(13 - 19 February)

No complaints about this week.  Two extremely good swim sessions, two runs, and lots of biking through the commute.  Combine that with a very active weekend in Lillooet, and you have a nearly perfect week.  For this part of the season, anyways.  My knee is still bothering me off an on - the first run I only made it 2.2 km, and the hike on the weekend was half good - fine on the way up, but I had to hobble with a walking stick all the way down.   I suppose this is why I like ski touring and mountain biking so much.  But anyways, the stats:


(T-36 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Sessions
2
2
Distance (m)
3700
4300
Bike
Distance (km)
111
97
Elevation (m)
0
0
Run
Sessions
2
2
Distance (km)
5.7
8
Backcountry
Distance (km)
14
14
Elevation (m)
1100
1100

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Lillooet and Duffy Lakes

I think I'll let the pictures tell most of the story on this one.  Lillooet was amazing.  One of our better backcountry days so far.

There are lots of pictures, and I have not included them all in this post.

If you click here, you will go to the beginning of the Lillooet pictures. (go "left" to see the rest in order)

If you click here, you will go to the beginning of the skiing pictures. (go "left" to see the rest in order)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (3)
(Our host's house.  Not a bad view over your orange juice, huh?)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (19)
(Hike Saturday afternoon)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (38)
(Wet roads)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (40)
(Snowy roads)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (41)
(The beginning)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (65)
(Starting the descent.  We skiied the bowl that is farthest away in the picture, and you can see the entire run - "Equinox" - down to almost the highway.  Amazing.)

2012.01.18 - Lillooet (68)


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Week -37: Sick!

(6 February - 12 February)

When it rains it pours, right?  After last week's dismal showing, we were all set to have a really intense week to make up for it.  Which meant I was bound to get sick.  On the whole though, we didn't do too badly.  I got in 2 runs, the longer one being 3.5km, without pain.  This is fantastic news for me, so hopefully it continues.  We have also started doing some proper swimming drills, rather than just going to the pool and keeping your head down for as long as you can stand it.  Caroline was able to find a year long swim clubs schedule, with weekly drills and distances, all published online.  Works for now.


(T-37 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Sessions
1
1
Distance (m)
1500
1500
Bike
Distance (km)
88
83
Elevation (m)
0
0
Run
Sessions
2
1
Distance (km)
5
8.5
Backcountry
Distance (km)
0
0
Elevation (m)
0
0

Monday, February 6, 2012

Week -38: Too Much Going On

(30 January - 5 February)

Not such a good week this week.  We spent most of it packing for what turned out to be not much of a trip at all.  Friday we spent with Cobalt at Whistler, which was a lot of fun, but training wise it's been pretty sad.


(T-38 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Sessions
0
1
Distance (m)
0
2000
Bike
Distance (km)
74
45
Elevation (m)
0
0
Run
Sessions
1
1
Distance (km)
3.5
7
Backcountry
Distance (km)
22
22
Elevation (m)
793
793

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Mount Baker Winter Ascent: Epic Fail

Every year for our anniversary we try to plan a trip to the mountains, and try and summit something.

The first year we went to the whistler backcountry.  Our "summit" wasn't an actual summit, and our "sunrise" was behind some clouds, but it was a great trip.

2010.01.31 - Anniversary (13)
The second year, to the Callaghan valley.  This trip was not so good.

This year, we figured we would go big.  Mount Baker.  Not much bigger around here, anyways.

We started with a master plan.  And like always, it was much too big of a master plan.  My team at work was taking Friday off to go skiing at Whistler and we'd been looking at going to Mount Baker to ski tour for the weekend.  Why not do both?  Ski Friday, get up early Saturday, head to Baker, bag the peak Sunday morning in time to head home for work on Monday.

2012.02.05 Baker (6)

This sounded great, but meant that we spent the whole week packing, planning, re-packing, researching, shopping....everything but Triathlon training.  And we hit Friday completely exhausted.  We spent most of Saturday recovering, and then got up early on Sunday to head out.

[Note: this trip is usually done in the summer, to avoid extra gear and the typically bad weather on Baker throughout the winter.  This weekend had unseasonable amounts of sun and sky forecasted, so we decided to go for it]

First lesson: the access road is gravel in the summer.  In the winter, it is a groomed snowmobile trail.  This added 7-8 miles of skinning uphill on an access road to our day.

Second lesson: snowmobilers do not offer rides.

Third lesson: as the route is a summer route, the bridges over creek crossings are actually taken out over the winter.

Fourth lesson: crossing a creek in winter ski touring gear is difficult

2012.02.05 Baker (11)

Fifth lesson: not only are the bridges taken out, but all signage and trail markers are as well.

All in all, we ended up travelling 22 km, climbing almost 800 metres of elevation, and crossing 2 creeks.  We made it approximately 800 metres past the trailhead.

Maybe next year we'll book a helicopter or something.