The First Day of Skiing

Yesterday I decided to head up to Teton Pass to see what I could find for some skiing. I have not skied since April so I was really excited to at least make a couple turns. My friend hannah and I decided to skin up edelweiss which is a low angle grassy run about an hour skin away from the car. There is absolutely no snow in the valley, but the temps have been pretty cold. I was shocked with how great the skiing was, there was about five inches of powder on a crusty layer. The crusty layer underneath worked nicely for a base, I never felt that I was going to punch through. The other positive thing about my run was that since there is not very much snow edelweiss felt like a lot steeper run and longer run. It was a great first day, but I hope it starts to snow soon!

Ski Conditioning

As we are all waiting for the snow to fall we are also trying to get into the best shape possible to be ready for the skiing when it does finally start. I am teaching two different ski conditioning classes right now, one at the rec center and a smaller one at the Jackson Hole Athletic Club. I am also attempting to kick my own butt into ski shape as well. The normal ski conditioning class consists of lots of strength and agility training so that you can stay out there and ski hard all day and take nonstop runs. Ski Conditioning is great for all levels of skiers. Injury prevention is also another huge goal I have in mind when preparing my ski conditioning class. I feel that everybody that is participating is becoming stronger each class not just with strength but with balance and coordination as well. 

As for myself I am trying to do three days of strictly strength training and 2 days of hard agility. On my strength days I do a lot of lower body and core exercises but also try and focus on my upper body as well. Skiing is an entire body workout. I am also trying to improve my anaerobic training, which means without oxygen. This is what I use mainly when I am competing, short quick bursts of energy. Aerobic is longer endurance type exercises such as skinning or hiking. So hopefully my first day of skiing I will feel like I have trained.

Morelia Mexico

  My boyfriend Brian and I are traveling through mexico mainly the beach areas but traveled inland on our way south. We spent the first week near Sayulita and now we are heading to Xtapo.  

Along the way we stopped in  an old colonial town of Morelia Mexico. Moralia is the capital of  Michoacan state which is in the mountains of  mexico. The elevation is around 6,000 feet.We caught a cab into the center of town and stayed at a tiny hotel right across from a 17th century church. This city has so much history, we walked around and went in about six different churches including the large cathedral which is in the middle of town. This cathedral began production in 1640 and continued until more than a century later. Everything is old stone and very intricately designed, the streets are cobblestone and lined with many shops. There are about 150 historical buildings in Morelia.

I really enjoyed visiting this town, i had always been to the beaches of mexico that are more modernized. I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb in this town with my red hair and wearing my pink Arcteryx hoody. I especially got a lot of looks when I decided to go for a run around the city, it was really fun running the streets of a very old city.  The city was very clean and the people were very nice. I definitely need to brush up on my spanish though, but for the most part I have been able to communicate enough.