Wrapping up Winter

The last few weeks have found me out enjoying the winter weather, both rain and snow, in the mountains and getting the most out of the season before heading to South America in 3 weeks.

Digging Pits

I've been taking part in a Mountain Madness Trail running clinic every saturday morning to build up to the Dirty Duo 25km trail race which is taking place on March 10 (Our 2nd Anniversary!). Mike has also been joining Lara and I in the clinic so we can run the race together in two weeks.    This past weekend we completed our longest run of the clinic with a 4hr, 23km lap of the woods that covered a majority of the race course. The weather was dry ( a nice change from the past few weeks), but the recent rain made for an exciting muddy, snowy adventure run.  We're now into tapering mode and enjoying a couple weeks of casual running until race day. In other running news, I threw my name in for the Knee Knacker lottery; fingers crossed for lotto day on March 5!

Rutsch Block Tests

On the skiing front, I've been taking advantage of the training opportunities that the Alpine Club of Canada has recently been providing to its members. Two weeks ago I took part in a very informative 2-day avalanche awareness course where we spent one full day in a class room learning about avalanche safety and a second day out in the Paul's Ridge area of Garibaldi park digging pits, analyzing snow and choosing safe travel routes through avalanche terrain. I have also been taking back-country ski technique lessons on a weekly basis that are proving to be incredibly useful.

All in all, I've been making the most of the winter season before leaving it behind for some South American Sun!