Crested Butte

Haven't posted in a few days.  The family took a nice long weekend in Crested Butte to do some skiing, eating and relaxing, and I'm just getting back into the swing of things here.

After frantically packing up on Thursday night, we hit the road late Friday morning for the drive to CB.  It should have been about 4 1/2 hours, but took longer when we ran into a closed highway heading out of Denver.  We got on 285 only to run into a sign indicating that Kenosha Pass was closed due to weather.  So, we hopped back on the highway and took a different route, which added a bit of travel time.

After getting to CB and checking in to the Grand Lodge, the same place we stayed last summer, we hopped on the bus and headed to town for dinner.  I really love almost everything about Crested Butte, but one of my favorite things is the free shuttle bus.  After parking the car at the hotel on Friday, we never touched it again until we left on Monday.  Anyway, we jumped on the shuttle and headed to the Secret Stash down in town.  When we visited last summer, this was one of our favorite spots, and we've recently been trying to recreate the pizza we had there, called The Hamptons.  It was good to have the real thing again.  Filled up on pizza and beer, and jumped on the shuttle back up to the hotel.

At the Secret Stash in CB, ready for some pizza.

On Saturday morning, we got up and got ready for some skiing.  My wife doesn't ski, so it was just me and the kiddos.  We got dressed and walked over to the resort to pick up our lift tickets and rentals.  Then we grabbed a quick breakfast at Camp4Coffee and hit the slopes.  I've been skiing for as long as I can remember, but the kids just started last year, and have only skied twice.  So, it was more like ski lessons than a rockin' day on the mountain.  The resort had one lift that just served a couple short green runs, so we headed there first.  We spent most of the morning there, while the kids tried to remember how to ski.  It took a little while, but they improved slowly throughout the morning.  Well, pretty much everything except getting off the lift.  Ugh.  They were both crashing every time they got off the lift.  It was really frustrating and embarassing.  More on that later . . .

After meeting my wife for a quick lunch of some pizza in the base area, we hit the slopes again.  This time, I decided the kids were ready for a bigger, although not necessarily more difficult, run.  We headed up the Red Lady Express, which leads to a ton of green runs, as well as a few blues.  The kids were getting better and better with every run.  Except for getting off the lift.  Oh man, they were a mess.  We skied the rest of the day, crashing off the top of the lift every time.  We stored our skis for the night, then headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

After relaxing for a bit, we jumped on the shuttle and headed to town again.  This time, we went to a place called The Last Steep.  We had quite a bit of a wait for a table, but eventually got seated for a pretty good dinner.  Then, back on the shuttle and back to the hotel.

That night, I really felt like I needed a workout, so I headed down to the fitness center.  I did an interval workout on the treadmill for 30 minutes, followed by a pretty difficult hill workout on a recumbent bike.  Back to the room for a shower and bed.

Sunday morning, it was time to ski again.  Picked up lift tickets, and then grabbed another quick breakfast, this time at a little bakery at the base area.  Then back of the Red Lady Express, where we spent the rest of the day.  After a couple runs, and more crashes at the top of the lift, I made the mistake of offer the kiddos $1 for every time they got off the lift without falling.  The next time, my daughter stayed up but my son still fell over.  But every time after that, like magic, they managed to get off the lift perfectly every time.  It's amazing the problems a little cash can solve.

After another long day of skiing, we heading into town again, first to the local ice rink for some skating, and then to the Brick Oven for some more pizza.  Then, back to the hotel, and the kids did some swimming.  I went to the fitness center again, for 30 more minutes on the treadmill, followed by Strendurance Workout C.  I didn't have the video to watch, so I just pulled up a description of the workout on my phone, and just did the routine as described.

After another good night's sleep, we woke up and packed up our stuff.  Breakfast at the hotel, then into the car for a long drive home.  We've spent a couple days trying to get ourselves back into the swing of things, and I missed some workouts.  But I got back into it tonight, cranking through Spinervals 34.0 - Super High Intensity Training.  I wanted a good hard workout mid-week, so I have time to recover before Saturday's race.  I'll do some easier workouts tomorrow and Friday, which should leave me ready for the race on Saturday.



Food for the last few days:

• Breakfast:  Blueberry muffins at the ski resort.  Smoothies since we've been back.
• Lunch:  Various crap while skiing.  Pizza, burgers, etc.  Protein bar today.
• Dinner:  Various stuff at Crested Butte.  Described above.  Pizza, etc.  Had a nice caesar salad at The Last Steep.  Like a normal Caesar, but with a jerk-marinated chicken.  Delicious.  Pizza last night, and a salad with chicken tonight.

Exercise:

• Saturday:  30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill.  30 minute hill workout on the recumbent bike.  At the hotel fitness room.  Plus skiing, of course.
• Sunday:  Skiing again.  Plus 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes of Strendurance Workout B.
• Tonight:  Spinervals 34.0 - Super High Intensity Training.

Today's weigh-in:  Not doing a weigh-in tonight.  Don't feel like it.