I don’t have a camera, anymore, so unless I am with a friend and his or her camera, I can’t show you the amazing things I get to take in while out on the trail. In the meantime, I will have to illuminate your imagination.

Still, white birches reflected pastel colors resulting from the illumination of the setting sun. The sky was clear and a nearly half moon was high in the deep blue sky that was transitioning to night. Occasionally, I would spot a star that was previously hidden by the sunlight. This is the vision I saw while finishing my two-hour skate around the Michigan Tech ski trails.

After almost two hours of skiing, I would stop at the top of every climb, open my arms and tilt back my head to allow for deeper breathing and the drainage of snot somewhere other than out of my nose (hey, if every picture were beautiful, it would be boring ), and take in the view of the moon against that gorgeous blue sky. Blue is my favorite color, so it makes it that much better.

I would stand there and marvel at the different shades of blue that terminated at the orange sky surrounding the sun setting on the horizon. The tall, white birch trees were the perfect compliment to the sky. I was happy. I was in pain and ready to eat, but I was happy.

As my breathing slowed, the world would get quieter. The absence of wind made the experience seem magical, as if I were in the winter scene of a Christmas greeting card. It was quiet, and I was surrounded by some of the best art nature has to offer.

The Gritty Details

This brings me to the details of my workout. I skated for 125 minutes. This is five minutes longer than my last good ski on February 16th. The distance was the same (17.1 kilometers). However, I skated from the Nara trailhead to the top of the hill in 34 minutes. I previously did it in 40 minutes. To repeat what I said in that day’s blog post: “Holy wah!” That’s quite an improvement, especially for a girl that’s recovering from a persistent chest cold.

After my hard effort up the hill, I skated the green/easy loops at the top. I had to periodically stop because my quads were burning. I’m assuming the burning was the result of my mega-fast climb. Upon completing the green loops, I knew I had to somehow get back down the hill. Going downhill is pretty demanding of quads, as well, so I stopped at the chalet for a granola bar and water. I also quickly stretched my quads. Then, I was off.

The downhill was fast and fun. I felt confident and I wasn’t snowplowing nearly as much as before. I felt quite stable on my skis. The last two loops were difficult, though. It took a lot for me to climb the hills on those loops. It hurt and I was hungry. This is where that beautiful sky came in. It gave me something wonderful to enjoy while I was taking mini-recoveries from the pain.

My persistence paid off. In terms of my diet, I burned 18 POINTS which I could put toward food. This was great because I took in a few extra points at the Monday night potluck. It was also good because I got to eat a filling dinner and even indulge in some pickled bologna (like pickled eggs, except it’s bologna).

Reality

The problem with training like this and being on a weight loss plan is that I often gain weight after a workout like this. It’s not fat. It’s muscle. After a few years of abuse, my body has learned to adapt to hard efforts, so I put on muscle fairly well. For those of you who aren’t too privy to this kind of information, this means that I could lose fat, but gain muscle and, therefore, weight. Muscle weighs more than fat. It’s actually a great result, but the scale can’t differentiate. With this in mind, I chose to include an additional measure of my success: waist measurement. I took my baseline measurement, today, and I am hoping that I have a fairly consistent decline in size as the days go by.