Working hard and enjoying the snow...

Today is my day off but the past few days were hard efforts with plenty of weather to keep me energized.  I also finished a few books while lounging in my tent at 13-14,000 feet (4000-4300m).  Life is pretty good.  If you are interested in reading adventure books, I highly recommend Ed Webster's 3-part series on his adventures to Everest.  Check out... Snow in the Kingdom: My Storm Years on Everest. 

Just to give you a taste of the good life in Northern Virginia when it snows, I posted a picture of me post-run on Monday afternoon.  All smiles of course.

Hope you had an enjoyable week so far.  My training week begins tomorrow (Thurs-Tues) and just 9 more weeks until I get to rest.  I have a ton of ideas to post in the meantime.  Here are a few just to whet your appetite:

1. Finding comfort in discomfort.  Have you ever found that a little bit of discomfort leads to a greater sensitivity and appreciation of comfort?  My colleagues and I are interested in discomfort tolerance but I see it as a necessity; others of you may find it something to simply endure.
2. Routines help us get things done but sometimes routines can be destructive.  I have several examples where a training routine can be useful to get going but can also lead to overtraining if I become a slave to that routine.  The post on routines shows several personal projects I had over the years that ended with both good and bad outcomes.
3. Slimming down, shaping up, and readying yourself for failure in the mountains.  Fitness can be a key ingredient but it can also lead to serious problems at altitude.  I recount several instances where the fittest people work too hard, too early and fail to acclimatize.  Thus, I intend to go fat, fit, and acclimatized - a sharp contrast from the greyhounds that run up hills.  

Thanks for following.  See you in a few days.