Thursday, December 07, 2006

Brrr - temperatures dipped below zero!

Just last week it was warm enough for the kids and I to walk over to the club for dinner. But today, I know winter is really, REALLY here in Minnesota. It dipped below zero last night. And it was only 3 degrees at 11 am today when I was scheduled for my x/c ski lesson, so I canceled it. It that lame? Can I count it as only half-lame since I did get up and swim 3,000 yards this morning at the crack of dawn?

T-minus eleven weeks to race-day (American Birkebeiner) and I finally put my freestyle skis on last night for the first time - it was great! -- I only fell three times. But it was very cold.
I am SOOO glad I bought those roller-skis to practice with on the streets this fall.
I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I am doing this ski thing with a bunch of other Ironmen who have also never skied before - we are all just learning. We figured that since we're Ironmen, how hard can a 31 mile ski marathon be. We'll find out in eleven weeks. Now I am thinking the Birkie may have been a bit aggressive - there are lots of shorter races. Why did we have to sign ourselves up for the grand-daddy of all x/c marathons? Are we really that full of ourselves? What we were thinking? I had to herringbone-walk up the "hills" which at Elm Creek are what is considered "flats" on the Wisconsin course. (Those of you who have done IM Wisconsin -- imagine x/c skiing up and down those hills. It's the same hills. ) How long is it going to take me to finish this thing? Five hours? Six? What if it's really cold like last night? and windy? My fingers and face were frozen.
I'm going to check into some extreme cold-weater gear. Some old timers had on neoprene face masks. Any of you ever used one? Does is adhere to your skin? I felt like my "turtle-fur" neck gaitor that I pulled up onto my chin was "rubbing" my skin.

8 comments:

Comm's said...

Believe it or not I have some experience in extreme cold conditions. The polar tech gear that acts as a neck gator or face shield are very good. I have used neoprene shields but found them rigid and singular of purpose. With something like polar fleece thickness you can wear it in multiple styles. I very similar to the buffs that are on survivor.

Bolder said...

that is just outstanding!

i've been struggling with what to do in our 'off-season'.

i think you've nailed it!

good luck with the 31K!!

Anonymous said...

Wow... and here I am in Dallas thinking 25 at night is cold!

31m x/c sounds like a great adventure. Can't wait to hear more over the winter.

Stay tuned...

DV said...

uhm, 3 degrees... uhm, 31 miles... skiing?

wow...

WOW!

William Lobdell said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
William Lobdell said...

ah, i'm from so cal, but doesn't cross-country skiing, by definition, take place in the cold?

Cliff said...

I would love to pick up cross country skiing.

But for now budget wise and the lack of snow where i live make it unfeasible.

I figure..if i pick up cross country skiing..somewhere down the line I can pick up Biathlon :)....now that's cool.

I was reading another blog, she lives in MN too and heard you guys have some freezing weather.

brendaj said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. I love your kitchen spinning idea. I was just thinking this weekend we would set up our garage spinning studio for the winter....hopefully you'll see evidence of that next week!