Emergency Face Break

Started the day with time trials (oh goody!) for the swim. Our lane did 100m and 500m time trials.

100m 1:46 (+4sec split)
500m - 10:12 (2:02/100m pace)

I checked my records and my 100m time is pretty consistent with what I've done over the past year, the fastest I've done is 1:45 so I'm happy with 1:46.

The only other 500m time trial I could find a record of was April of last year and was 10:49. My comments were "nasty, horrible, yucky swim :(" On the 4th of this month I averaged 2:26/100m in a 400m time trial, astoundingly slow. Hopefully I'm in the groove now for longer swims.

After swimming Joanne & I ditched the run and instead went up to Cypress to ski. It snowed the whole time but it was warm enough that the snow was super sticky and anytime we stopped or slowed I got several cm of snow stuck to the bottom of my skis - I felt like Trigger doing a counting trick when I was stomping my feet to get the snow off!

Unfortunately I forgot to practice my snowplough and downhill turning skills at the start and my first time to put my rusty skills to use was on the steep hill (there's even a warning sign!) on the Unknown Lake trail. I went way too fast, couldn't turn then crossed the tips of my skis and went down hard - using my upper lip to break my fall (not recommended).

Lying in snow I did the post crash check:
Am I broken?
- No
Are my skis broken?
- No
Am I going to cry?
[pause]
- Maybe.
Am I going lie here in the snow and block the trail?
[pause]
- Yes
[pause]
- Yes
[pause]
- Okay, I'll get up.

I was a little shaken but got going again. Joanne and I discussed how to get back to the lower trails but there was no easy way down so she suggested I just take my skis off and walk. My response was that would be the guaranteed time we'd bump into someone we knew like Jean-Yves. We decided to take Upper Powerline down then quickly realized why we never ski Upper Powerline (steep!). We both took our skis off to walk down the slope and of course who do we see at the bottom - Jean-Yves!

Aside from the fall it was a good day. It was great to get out in the snow.