First, I drove down to Denver via Ft. Collins, and apparently drove straight-dead-center through a storm that produced nearly ten tornado's in two states, all right along the path I drove. While I seem to have missed the twisters, I definitely drove right through some of the hardest rain and hail I've ever seen. I stopped the car (borrowed from Dan and Karin Bergum, to whom I am forever in debt, 30mpg is so much better than 9) because I was honestly worried that the windshield would break. The highway had so much very hard hail on it that it felt like driving on a gravel road, nuts. It wasn't until I got to Ft. Collins and the sun came out that I turned on the radio and realized I had just driven right down the throat of the lion. Weee!!
I got to Denver about 10 minutes until practice started for the DU ski team. This was the purpose of the trip. Three days of trying to hang with and learn from some of the best college skiers from the country. The workout today entailed a ski up Lookout Mountain. No idea how high or what grade or anything, not that steep, but frickin long. And pretty much uphill for a long long long time. On our way up we did four seven minute "L3" intervals. I use quotations because I was not in zone three. Well, I was on the first on, but went downhill from there, haha. Skiing with me was Mike Hinckley, Harold Loevenskiold, and a kid whose name I think was Karl, not sure who he was. Oh, and Garrot Kuzzy. Garrot, not being mortal, did single-stick intervals up the damn thing while we skated. I'm not sure if he was doing the same intervals, but he definitely beat us to the top. Damn. Anyway, first interval I stayed with them in the right zone, but after that I was about 6-7 beats higher than them, but staying with Mike and dropping Harold and Karl every time. It was awesome!!! Even though I was going a bit to hard, it felt great to push that hard. By the end of the last interval, I was pretty damn tired, but it felt awesome to be skiing WITH or ahead of two guys (Mike and Harold) who've both finished in the top six in the RMISA (rocky mountain ncaa region). I'm going in the right direction. I think for the rest of the summer I would like to come here and train with them a couple times a month. This is what I need to get fat. Skiing behind Mike while he V2'd the first two intervals was frickin impressive, I was doing my best to keep up, and I was V1'ing. On the third interval, I said "screw this, I'm hanging with this guy", and V2'd for nearly the whole thing breaking into V1 for about the last 30 seconds, which were steep enough that even Mike let himself slow down. It was awesome to sit behind him and figure out how he could V2 straight up the side of this damn mountain, very powerfully, and yet be efficient enough to hold it for seven minutes hard. And then to be able to DO it was so cool! Training with those faster than you is always an eye opening experience, and one which should happen often to make you a stronger skier.
Keep up the good work.
Joe
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