Just In Time - On Snow

For a while it seemed that winter was never coming.  No need to worry, however, the weather turned from the Indian summer just in time. 

My 4 year streak of skiing in October came to a close, but we did get a few inches of snow the first couple days of November.  It was enough for one long ski on the golf course.  That snow didn't last long, and for a while the warmth and sunshine that followed had no end in sight.  

Fortunately we got some of the arctic air last week and the Utah Olympic Park fired up the snow guns.  It's amazing how quickly they can get the hills going when the weather's right.  We weren't planning on jumping last week anyway.  We took our first jumps on Monday morning, the first day the hill was open, and the same day that Dave wrote jumping? into the plan four weeks ago. Funny how well things work out.  

Last week we focused on intensity: intervals every day, plus one time trial.  We spent a lot of time roller skiing on the treadmill, which always makes for tough workouts, but I think it's really beneficial.  Friday night mother nature gave us a few more inches of white gold, and we capped off the week with an interval session on snow.  

Whitepine Skiing from Adam Loomis on Vimeo.

If you've been reading my blog the past month you'll know about our Swiss "teammate" Tim Hug.  He decided to forgo the typical cold and dark preseason training in Finland.  As nice as the sunshine was, I'm sure Tim was getting as anxious for snow as we were.  

Tim Hug skiing at Whitepine. Photo: Swiss Nordic Combined Team.

Here's some photos from jumping today.

Martin catching me in the warm up.

Taylor was happy to be jumping.

Now's it time for packing!  We leave Saturday for Finland.  I'll be overseas until Christmas week, which I'll spend at home, and then presumably I'll fly back to Europe from there.  This means that I'm packing now for roughly two months.  To make matters more complicated, when I return to Park City in January, I'll be living in a new house - so I've got to get most of my stuff moved out before I leave.  Luckily packing is one skill that I've developed over the years.  

Until next time.  Thanks for reading.