Training week – August 1

Monday

AM – 3.5 MTB – 3.5k feet of climbing

PM – 90 DP, easy

Tuesday

AM – 1 hr 50 min DP

PM – 60 trail run on new trails @ Turquoise Lake

Wednesday

AM – 2 hr skate ski

PM – 1.5 hr MTB

Thursday

AM – 65 run on Old Tennessee Pass + Forest Roads

PM – 40 Ercolina + 40 skate ski

Friday

AM – 2 hr. DP

PM – 1.5 mtb

Saturday

AM – 3 hr MTB with good climbing

Sunday

AM – 2 hr DP + skate ski with Ajee on the Mineral Belt

PM – road bike with Lillian and Chris – not sure how long but somewhere around 80 minutes I think!

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Colorado Trail + Wurtz Ditch Road

I didn’t worry too much about intensity this week, coming off the previous training camp, which is full of eventful challenges. Ever so often, I’d push uphill sections of my mountain bike, rollerski, or runs. There was no structured hard efforts, though. I did go up the initial climb of the Leadville 100, which is not easy. You basically ride above the high point of the Turquoise Lake road – and there are a few 15-22% steeps. Racers do hike this section sometimes – so I was happy to, on tired legs, mow right up it before switching out my podcasts at the top.

Not too many pictures – probably a boring blog! The ones above are from the Colorado Trail and Wurtz Ditch Road. Ajee and I ran the trail from the Tennessee Pass TH southwest back to the intersection with Wurtz. We then took Wurtz towards Minturn. I was pleasantly surprised to find how flat this road was. I did a steady ‘tempo’ effort for 14-15 minutes on the road, as I am trying to splice in some faster stuff when I can. Around Leadville, that isn’t easy. We can do hard. We can’t always do fast. Which I need.

We’ve been having TONS of rain here in Colorado – this was the first time I’ve woken up to a downpour, though. It made for a fun rainy run, though it wasn’t as fun when I followed a trail towards Camp Hale and tagged on an unexpected 4 miles….uphill….to finish. When you go from 75-85 minutes for a run to almost two hours…in the rain….uphill….I guess it was some early Stampede training.

The monsoons have been good from that vantage point actually. My Thursday workout started on the Ercolina, but I eventually ventured out into the flashflood lightning storm, shirtless and short shorts, skate rollerskis and all. It was a bit invigorating.

I will say, I haven’t ‘prioritized’ training, really for most of the summer, in a manner I maybe should if I want to maximize recovery and performance. I’ve been consumed with writing cover letters, applying for jobs, while still reading books on everything from how to raise kids to what the Soviet Union was like to how to improve your writing (which has had me reading straight out of thesauruses at times….). That, and trying to stay abreast with the cultural and sporting news so that I can keep growing the podcast and blog, has led to a few days where it is 7:00 PM and I’m realizing I should probably go for a bike ride if I’m going to make it happen. The cycle of training later, sleeping less, and repeating hasn’t been great.

Christie and I have been loving our time on the deck during the ‘pre-second workout coffee.’ She has been incredibly busy as well. She’s been up and about, working on the nursery, crafting, just keeping the house running as always. We’ve been so blessed by the good health of her pregnancy. She begins each day in the closet of the nursery, praying for our baby. I’ve been digesting about 2 hours worth of Doug Wilson sermons on my rides…then, in realizing my inadequacies, launching into impromptu prayer as well. The book Why Children Matter, has been phenomenal, and Christie agreed to coming on to the Skieologians to discuss…once she is ready….she doesn’t consume quite as quickly as I do.

I also nailed a new pair of skis into the seder-skier HQ office…which….per usual, I didn’t take a picture of. Oh well. You come here for the stories, right?

Even though the hours spent training are what gets posted here, my ploductivity is being charted elsewhere. I am striving to really be purposeful and aware of where my time has gone this summer. It is one thing I think I’ve done really well. The only bummer, looking back, seems to be the sheer amount of time spent in the job hunt sphere. Actually, the process of job hunting and applying is a great space for growth in a myriad of ways. I’m realizing that. I think the harder thing is the emotional and mental weight that comes from not having a job for so long. I lose time, and am a little less efficient at all of my other tasks, because I am constantly carrying around the baggage of not being secure and knowing what the immediate future looks like. I would like to know what it feels like, for the first time in three years, to not enter a summer without knowing what I’ll be doing in September.

All in all – it has been for God’s glory and my good, and Christie often reminds me of this. I know that to be true, and am grateful. I think my nature is such that even though I love the phrase, “Why is the sandpaper so rough….because the wood has to be smooth,” in regards to God’s providence in sanctifying me, I am acutely aware of each of the rubs of the sandpaper against me, too. It would probably be better if I didn’t think so much. Then again, I’m hoping someday that makes me into a great writer. We’ll see.

Keep striving.

-Sederskier