Friday, December 23, 2016

Easing Into It

Athlete Jason Kask
This week is the first week in a long time that I have constantly worked out. These were not big workouts by any measure but they were workouts where I was there to train myself. No athletes to worry about, it was all about me (well one was about me and Tyr). This started on Sunday, a friend told me that she would and some mutual friends would be skiing at Korkki Nordic Center. This is a trail that I try to ski at least once a year. So why not on the coldest day so far this winter. When I was there it was not bad (-4 degrees F). I had overdressed but all in all it was a great ski. Just moving outside by myself. My friends got me out the door but I was pretty excited to ski by myself, something I rarely do. The woods were silent when I stopped moving. It was great. My second ski of the week was at another great trail, Chester Bowl. There I skied with Jennie Bender (amazing athlete and super cool lady), she was in town after Biathlon IBU Cup Trials at Mt Itasca. We had a great ski, three (Jenny Bender easy) laps of Chester is a solid workout when you are pretty out of shape. It is such a fun trail that any ski there is amazing. Jennie gave me some excellent technique tips. When you coach all the time you rarely take the time to really analyze your own technique so skiing with someone that is great at technique analysis was excellent. The third workout of the week was at Hartley Park. Jennie, Alena and I had a great classic ski. The tracks were amazing. Three days in a row was pretty sweet, up to this point it had been a bunch of coaching (that doesn't count) and walks with Tyr (which are great but at 8 months he is not supposed to run for extended periods of time). My fourth workout of the week was on Wednesday, Chris and I went for another great ski at Snowflake. With the little snow we have conditions are excellent there. We had a great ski, solved some world problems, solved more local problems and had a great time catching up. My fourth workout of the week (after taking a day off Thursday because I didn't prioritize working out) was on Friday. This one was short and sweet. Tyr went for his first ski! Pretty amazing day for me (they grow up so fast!) It took him a while to get the hang of it, we skied with Jennie as she warmed up for some intervals, and he would run in front of both of us, then jump out of the way as we almost mowed him down. After about a kilometer he figured out that behind is the best place for a dog. The next four kilometers went really well (astonishingly well) as he ran behind us. He would stop and smell (the snow...) then I'd call and he would be right behind us again. Everything went super smoothly and I was the greatest dog trainer ever until we got back to the chalet and there was another dog. Then all bets were off and I was thoroughly ignored. But, the first ski was an overwhelming success. That aside it was a pretty short workout for me, but I was OK with that because I had a lot of work to do. I got out skiing and had Tyr's first ski. Solid day. That makes us current. I don't know how much training the weekend will entail. There is a strong possibility of a run and maybe a ski on the lake but it's Christmas so I'm not going to worry about it.

I feel pretty good about this week. Four (legit, though easy) workouts in five days is good for me. I'm pretty proud of myself, to be honest. Hopefully next week the trend will continue and I will be in a good place to start working with a coach on the first of the year.


Coach Jason Kask

I know better than most one of the keys to success in sport is consistency. This was something that happened with this week's training. If any goals are to be met consistency is the key. The other thing that went well is scheduling and prioritization. Honestly this means I will have to work on Christmas Eve but all things considered it was worth it. Having a realistic approach to training is really important Athlete Jason did that well this week. He didn't try to go for workouts that he would have done in college, he did workouts that were what he needs now. This is hard to do as an athlete because we usually only think of ourselves at our peak fitness. It's also great to see Athlete Jason put his money where his mouth is and pay somebody to coach him. I shouldn't have to do that for free.