Thursday 22 November 2012

Back in the UK - temporarily

September, October and early November were hectic to say the least. Each week a different hotel room and rarely in Falun with the comfort of my own clothes and bikes!

After Val Senales, we returned to Norway for a night before I jetted back to the UK. We went skiing on Lygna to test out the effects of high altitude. I was surprised to find skiing relatively easy for once and enjoyed the I-don't-think-I'm-going-to-pass-out feeling! The snow had been there for a few days so it was icy and didn't give under the ski's. We hedged our bets and headed off up the hill hoping the trails on the top were ok. Sadly it was not to be and just after reaching the top of the hill, the solid pisted track stopped. So back down the icy hill all the way with a big snowplough. :-)

We hoped the trails on the other side of Lygna might be better so disappeared over there. The best we found were some 'ski-o' type tracks and a nice skate across a marsh with beautifully soft snow. Back to the ice and I mostly managed to stay upright!

But the next morning I had to fly back to the UK early, so it was bye-bye snow and hello rain! My road bike had been fixed and was ready to ride once the rain stopped.

As it has turned out, the rain has only stopped briefly so with the lurgi going round my family, in a bid not to catch it, I've been avoiding too much outside training. Most of my training has been gym based (I miss it as I haven;t had any chance since May to do weight training), and geared towards the beginning of the ski-o season - triceps and lat work alongside shoulder and arm work. Balance exercises and avoiding running on my ankle. The goal this winter is to not finish last in a ski-o race. Depending on how that goal works out, mp's and dsq's may start counting the further winter progresses. I also have to choose races that have no contours since downhills are scary and I fall over too much on them. Plus, uphills are hard given my lack of upper body strength, and little penguin steps up are apparently uncool.