The Perfect Triathlon: Run, Ski, Nap

Run: Treadmill, 92 mins., 8 miles, comfortable 7:45/mile
Ski: Skate, 1 hr, 15 mins.
Nap: 45 mins.
(the perfect triathlon!)

This morning was another treadmill day, albeit a little later than yesterday. I got in a very comfortable 8 miles at a gentle pace. My approach to early season training for ultramarathons is to double up the weekend runs and try to make them of the longer sort. That is not to say that I think 12 and 8 miles are long runs, but they are a nice progression to the 20 and 30 mile Saturday and Sundays I will be doing in a few months.

Having said that, I did prolong my work out a bit today by eating a quick breakfast (freshly baked bread in the form of french toast - thanks Kelly) and heading directly over to Pineland to meet the most excellent skier/ultramarathoner, James Demer, for some skate skiing. As I was rushing out the door I could not find my keys so I grabbed the spares and headed out. Upon arriving at Pineland I went to get my skis and poles out of my Thule roof box and realized that the key to the box was with my other key set. So, no skis. I also had no wallet nor money to rent skis so I went looking for James hoping he had an additional pair skis to lend me. Like myself, his box is full of gear (I always have a couple pair of classic skis, my skate skis, and Riley's little skis). So we set out skiing, me in his well-waxed racing skates, for some snowy skiing. The conditions were a little slow due to all the "wet" snow we had recently and the higher temps (near mid-30s), but this gave us quite a workout and a great opportunity for me to really work on my technique. We skied about 1 hr. 15 mins. before I had to head home to take over kid watching duty for Kelly. She was going to spend her afternoon at Maine's Democratic Caucus (won by Obama!). The rest of the afternoon went well with Quinn and Riley taking long naps (I also got one in, which is very rare but welcome, as I fell asleep reading to Riley. Gotta love afternoon naps!