A Rose Between 2 Thorns

A last-minute respite from packing Kirsten's stuff up for her move to Lansing,  Kari invited us to come skiing.  It was fun!  We did Skidder at the MTU trails and a bunch of the Nara trails as well.  With the improvements over last year in technique and conditioning, all of the hills were much easier.  I wouldn't have been able to do this route this time last year.  Maybe I should do the Bear Chase again.  What do you think?  It was cool that we were skiing with Kari and Kari was one of the people that helped us with our technique.

Here's the data.  We did a lot of stopping and relaxing:

Name:		A Rose Between 2 Thorns
Date:		Dec 26, 2010 2:03 pm
Map: (valid until Jun 25, 2011)		View on Map
Distance:		8.54 kilometers
Elapsed Time:		1:16:23
Avg Speed:		6.7 km/h
Max Speed:		34.1 km/h
Avg Pace:		08' 56" per km
Min Altitude:		184 m
Max Altitude:		285 m
Start Time:		2010-12-26T19:03:02Z
Start Location:
	Zone:	16T
	Meter Square ID:	CT
	Easting:	82332
	Northing:	18271
End Location:
	Zone:	16T
	Meter Square ID:	CT
	Easting:	82215
	Northing:	18251

Ciao,

Charles

Swedetown with Kirsten

On Christmas Eve we spent a hour or so at Swedetown and got a lot of skiing in, at least for us.

Starting on Powderhouse, we changed to Greenstone and the 3 Bear loops.   That pretty well tired us out, so we headed for home from there.

There was about an inch of snow on top of the groomed base, especially farther out where less people had been.  The snow felt a little gritty underfoot.  I worked hard on keeping my hips forward and today I also worked hard on tracking my knees in line with my toes.  I think this would keep a flat ski on the ground.  Two part bonus - uphills went much easier and my knees stopped aching!

A few people were out skiing and a lot of families were out sledding.  A great day!

Name:		Swedetown With Kirsten
Date:		Dec 24, 2010 2:16 pm
Map: (valid until Jun 22, 2011)		View on Map
Distance:		11.8 kilometers
Elapsed Time:		1:18:42
Avg Speed:		9.0 km/h
Max Speed:		25.0 km/h
Avg Pace:		06' 42" per km
Min Altitude:		298 m
Max Altitude:		385 m
Start Time:		2010-12-24T19:16:36Z
Start Location:
	Zone:	16T
	Meter Square ID:	CT
	Easting:	89103
	Northing:	32695
End Location:
	Zone:	16T
	Meter Square ID:	CT
	Easting:	89088
	Northing:	32716

Ciao and Merry Christmas!

Charles

EZ MTU With Kirsten

Kirsten has been up this week.  We took some time off from tidying up loose ends before she moves downstate to get in some skiing.  We did some easy loops; Birch, Isle Royale, Superior and Oak.  Sorry, we missed Pine, I plum forgot it.  Wonderful conditions.  Tomorrow we'll head up to Swedetown.

Name:		EZ MTU With Kirsten.
Date:		Dec 23, 2010 2:10 pm
Map: (valid until Jun 21, 2011)		View on Map
Distance:		4.33 kilometers
Elapsed Time:		32:56.3
Avg Speed:		7.9 km/h
Max Speed:		24.9 km/h
Avg Pace:		07' 36" per km
Min Altitude:		279 m
Max Altitude:		298 m
Start Time:		2010-12-23T19:10:50Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	47.107324º N
	Longitude:	88.552520º W
End Location:
	Latitude:	47.107448º N
	Longitude:	88.552396º W

Skiing the Core with David

It was fun to have company today.  David hasn't been out skiing until now, so we are pretty close in ability.  We waxed our skis, so they moved nice.  I got Kirsten's waxed as well, so they're ready for when she arrives this week.  Great fun, I hope we can get together in the coming year!

Name:		Core with David
Date:		Dec 19, 2010 11:47 am
Map: (valid until Jun 17, 2011)		View on Map
Distance:		2.16 kilometers
Elapsed Time:		17:59.5
Avg Speed:		7.2 km/h
Max Speed:		16.4 km/h
Avg Pace:		08' 20" per km
Min Altitude:		240 m
Max Altitude:		326 m
Start Time:		2010-12-19T16:47:54Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	47.107397º N
	Longitude:	88.552575º W
End Location:
	Latitude:	47.107622º N
	Longitude:	88.552321º W

Ciao,

Charles

I'll Start Again.

After one good outing before Thanksgiving, I haven't been able to get my butt out to the trails.  Enter one good over-the-phone kick in the pants from my Sweetie, all the way from Lansing.

Kirsten is now working and living in Lansing (arggh!) but since she's coming up for a week at Christmas, we'll be skiing a lot.  Today I just got 20 minutes in to knock off the rust.  Easy terrain with some drills mixed in:

• Free skate
• Stop to check and fix balance point.
• A little bit of long glide work.

I need to put more balance work into my life; stand on one foot and stuff like that.

Here's the data:

Name:		I'll start again.
Date:		Dec 18, 2010 2:21 pm
Map: (valid until Jun 16, 2011)		View on Map
Distance:		2.61 kilometers
Elapsed Time:		19:13.3
Avg Speed:		8.1 km/h
Max Speed:		16.2 km/h
Avg Pace:		07' 22" per km
Min Altitude:		232 m
Max Altitude:		284 m
Start Time:		2010-12-18T19:21:37Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	47.107477º N
	Longitude:	88.552376º W
End Location:
	Latitude:	47.107418º N
	Longitude:	88.552346º W

Ciao,

Charles

I'm not moving.

Hello, Charles White here.

I've been hearing back from people that I'm moving away, so I thought
I should send out a blanket email to clear things up.
My apologies for the spam.

I'm not moving:
My wife Kirsten's lab in Houghton is closing. It's likely that to
keep job and benefits she will need to work a while at the main state
lab in Lansing.
I'll be staying here. I've been blessed with a great community of
piano tuning clients and I remain committed to keeping all of your
pianos sounding beautiful.
I will need to shuffle the schedule around a bit in the coming year to
create weeks that I can spend downstate with Kirsten. I'll be there
to tune for everyone, though.

At this point our plan is for me to stay in Houghton, hang on to the
house, have Kirsten work downstate until we can find a way for her to
return to Houghton full-time.
I'll be maintaining a full tuning schedule and running workouts at the
gym. (if you haven't yet seen our garage gym, check out the link below!)

Thanks to all of you for your support!

Sincerely,

Charles

Charles White, Registered Piano Technician
404 Frue Avenue
Houghton MI 49931
(906) 483-0204
cw2435@hotmail.com
Certified CrossFit Level 1 Trainer
Keweenaw Strength & Conditioning
http://keweenawstrong.blogspot.com/

I vote for...rowing!

What did you do on election day (after visiting the polls, of course!)?  We voted for: Rowing!

It was a gorgeous day.  Bright and sunny, and next to no breeze.  The dock is scheduled to be put away tomorrow.  Charles came home from work and declared, "Well, it is an absolutely beautiful day outside...it may be one of the last!  What would you like to do?  We could run, we could mountain bike, we could row...by the way, the dock will be put away tomorrow (hint, hint!)."  I already told you how we voted.
Well, by the time that we paddled out of the inlet and into the canal proper, the breeze had picked up.  The strange thing was that the wind and the current seemed to be traveling at 90 degree angles, making the waves "cross-hatch", tossing us around a bit.  We used our rough water technique to get to the opposite side of the canal and then followed the shoreline west toward the bridge.  The water calmed out after the bowl, and we had a lovely time.  Getting closer to the bridge, the breeze picked up again, and threatened to make the water quite choppy, so we crossed over and started on our way back to the inlet.  We went through some VERY nice water near buoy 33.  This was enjoyable.  I think that all of our technique work this summer has paid off.  Into the wind again, we entered the inlet, and rowed strongly until we docked.  When we had climbed out of the boat, Charles claimed that I have gone "over the edge" paleo, because I thought I smelled barbeque.  Turns out it was the crematorium....!
Ooooh.  Yikes!  Don't get caught with me on a deserted island...
Today was so cool!  Never before have we rowed in November.  This was a first.  Our weather has been quite mild, all year long.  How long will it last?  The "old-timers" are always predicting a winter of heavy snow.  It is always the color combination of the wooly bears, or the amount of black hair on the deer, or how soon the horses are hairing up (mid-August this summer!)....this last one makes me realize that I am now becoming one of the "old-timers"....
I hope that you took advantage of this beautiful day.  And that you voted.  And that you voted for your favorite sport or activity, whatever that may be.  Winter will soon be upon us, and it will be time for the next seasonal favorite sport.....

Kirsten

Here's the data:

Map views:

      Bing Maps 

      Google Maps 

      Google Earth 

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Interval details:

Workout 1, 4:26 PM - 4:28 PM, 293 m      (Download Summary CSV) 

#	Type	Start	Time	Dist (m)	Speed (m/s)	Pace (/500m)	Strokes	Avg Rate	Chart	Detail CSV
1	Just Go	4:26 PM	2:09.6	293	2.26	3:41.2	40	18.5	view	download

Workout 2, 4:28 PM - 5:18 PM, 6245 m      (Download Summary CSV) 

#	Type	Start	Time	Dist (m)	Speed (m/s)	Pace (/500m)	Strokes	Avg Rate	Chart	Detail CSV
1	Just Go	4:28 PM	49:23.5	6245	2.11	3:57.3	879	17.8	view	download

"Coach K"

"I want one!"

Big thanks to Bob Sharkey for letting me try out his first boat, Coach K.  The boat is a Kaschper International model.  Nice!  I learned many things; a smooth transition through the catch, balancing with squared oars in the water, reverse squaring the oars and river turns.  Does the boat suit me any better than Jaws?  Either that or I'm just progressing in the narrower boats.  The way to tell will be to get back into Jaws and see if I get worse.  Kirsten borrowed a lightweight single cared for by the Kamrads of Coach K fame.

A fun morning, "simply messing about in boats."  Since we did the time trial yesterday and what with the day off, we took it really easy, playing with singles.  I rowed some, balanced some, taught and just visited some.  The data reflects that.  I still got in my 2k, so I'm happy.

Here's the data:

Map views:

      Bing Maps

      Google Maps

      Google Earth

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Interval details:

Workout 1, 8:29 AM - 10:04 AM, 2041 m      (Download Summary CSV)

#	Type	Start	Time	Dist (m)	Speed (m/s)	Pace (/500m)	Strokes	Avg Rate	Chart	Detail CSV
1	Just Go	8:29 AM	73:38.3	2041	0.46	18:02.4	342	4.6	view	download

Ciao,

Charles

Chasing Deb Again

Tomorrow we'll be having another learn to row at 9am.  Contact me if you'd like to be involved.

This morning was a 5k Time Trial in the double with Kirsten and chasing Deb.  We did better today than last week.  for the last 1000 meters our technique went to poo; I was tired and Kirsten had one hand go numb and useless.  Still, it felt much better on the whole.

Deb got a 30 second head start.  Boy, she's fast!

Here's the data:

Map views:

      Bing Maps

      Google Maps

      Google Earth

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Interval details:

Workout 1, 8:00 AM - 8:26 AM, 5002 m      (Download Summary CSV)

#	Type	Start	Time	Dist (m)	Speed (m/s)	Pace (/500m)	Strokes	Avg Rate	Chart	Detail CSV
1	Distance	8:00 AM	26:03.1	5002	3.20	2:36.2	754	28.9	view	download

Ciao,

Charles

The Rogue Wake

Kirsten and I took out the double for some short, technique oriented work.  The intervals were a repeat of our last workout.  The weather was nice, winds light and a bit cool.

Along the way, we noticed, far away, an old-fashioned cabin cruiser going by across at a medium rate.  When the wake finally reached us we could see breaking waves, so we stopped.  The wake came at us at an angle and the wave broke over the boat, hitting me between the shoulder blades!  Our washboxes were mostly filled.  After the the wake had passed, we opened the bailers and started rowing; the boat emptied out to the sound of a five-year-old finishing a chocolate shake.  We, however were soaked!

Good times.  Here's the data:

Map views:

      Bing Maps

      Google Maps

      Google Earth

---

Interval details:

Workout 1, 6:42 AM - 6:46 AM, 410 m      (Download Summary CSV)

#	Type	Start	Time	Dist (m)	Speed (m/s)	Pace (/500m)	Strokes	Avg Rate	Chart	Detail CSV
1	Just Go	6:42 AM	3:41.0	410	1.86	4:29.5	48	13.0	view	download

Workout 2, 6:47 AM - 7:08 AM, 2482 m    (show rest intervals)   (View Summary Chart)   (Download Summary CSV)

#	Type	Start	Time	Dist (m)	Speed (m/s)	Pace (/500m)	Strokes	Avg Rate	Chart	Detail CSV
1	Time	6:47 AM	0:30.0	91	3.03	2:44.9	13	26.0	view	download
2	Time	6:48 AM	0:30.0	96	3.20	2:36.3	14	28.0	view	download
3	Time	6:50 AM	0:30.0	99	3.30	2:31.6	15	30.0	view	download
4	Time	6:51 AM	0:30.0	74	2.47	3:22.8	13	26.0	view	download
5	Time	6:53 AM	1:00.0	143	2.38	3:29.8	23	23.0	view	download
6	Time	6:55 AM	2:00.0	289	2.41	3:27.6	42	21.0	view	download
7	Time	6:58 AM	0:30.0	91	3.03	2:44.9	15	30.0	view	download
8	Time	6:59 AM	0:30.0	95	3.17	2:38.0	16	32.0	view	download
9	Time	7:01 AM	0:30.0	95	3.17	2:37.9	15	30.0	view	download
10	Time	7:02 AM	0:30.0	101	3.37	2:28.6	16	32.0	view	download
11	Time	7:04 AM	1:00.0	170	2.83	2:56.5	27	27.0	view	download
12	Time	7:06 AM	2:00.0	377	3.14	2:39.2	60	30.0	view	download

Ciao,

Charles