This was meant to be much more than a training blog, as I have so much to write about--especially things about conservation, evolution, Alaska, plus tales of my convoluted path from 0-48, going on 49--but those take thought and concentration, aspects which have been hard to come by at this stage. So a quick training update is in order.

Damn, it's cold. The sun just passed its peak for the day and the thermometer has just reached -20 F. Looks like it will "warm" into the single digits below 0 this week. Meanwhile, the skiing and training have been going pretty well in spite of the thin snow. We still don't have enough to set the grooves for classical skiing, but the 4-6 inch cover is enough for decent early season skate lanes. You just don't want to fall. It hurts and bones break with such a hard surface.

Last week was by far my best week in two months, capped off with a 6.5 km time trial on Saturday and a two hour ski with local masters skiers on Sunday. They act like 17 year olds, which actually makes it kind of fun. Totaled about 7.5 hours for the week.

Also started coaching on Thursday, where I have a group of about a dozen 6th and 7th graders of intermediate level. Should be a great group once we get rolling.