Another three day weekend off from consulting – I headed up to the mountains Thursday night in order to teach Friday!
When I got up to Minturn Thursday night, I wasn’t feeling well – a little bit dizzy, like the altitude had hit me extra hard. So that night, I went to bed early and slept pretty hard, and woke up Friday morning wishing I could sleep longer. A quick 20 minute Peloton core class and 10 minute arms & toning class helped, and I was happy I got all that in. I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast (Trader Joe’s pretzel bagel topped with cottage cheese + Everything But the Bagel Seasoning), and then headed to the mountain.
I taught a class of level 2s in the morning (working on solidifying the wedge and beginning to turn), and ended up moving them all up to level 3s by lunchtime. Hooray! In the afternoon, since none of them were returning, I was originally thinking I might get cut, but I ended up being asked to go over to kids’ ski school and help out there. I got assigned a private lesson of just one 11 year old girl to teach all afternoon, and she was so much fun to teach! She had been pulled out of her original class as needing extra help, but I quickly discovered the issue wasn’t her skiing abilities; it was just confidence. We ended up getting to ski a lot of really fun terrain together, including the bottom of a blue (intermediate) run, where she was flying past me and having a great time. I love lessons like this where I can really see the students blossom!
I was really hot all afternoon, and ended up actually ditching my outdoor jacket next to the lift at one point. When I finished teaching for the day and got back to my car, I saw the temperature was 60°F. Wow! Since it was so sunny and warm, I ended up going for a run as soon as I got home. I haven’t run up in Minturn since last fall, and it felt like a really slow slog at altitude, but it was actually about a 9:30 pace – not too shabby.
I was so proud of myself for going out for a run, and it definitely made the rest of my night more productive! I spent the evening catching up on a lot of email and online reading, then curled up in bed for some reading of an actual book. Overall, a great end to a great day.
The next morning, I once again started my day strong, with a short Peloton stack of a 15 minute core class, another 5 minute core class, and a 10 minute chest and back strength class. After breakfast and getting dressed for skiing (in a lot fewer layers than the day before), I headed to the mountain for a morning of teaching level 3s. This ended up being one of the best lessons I’ve taught all year!
At the beginning of all group lessons, every instructor has to take their students down one specific run while the supervisors watch to make sure the groups are split evenly and no one is in the wrong level. Normally, if there is more than one instructor assigned to a level, we break into groups right when we meet, then move people around if needed. But this time, we made a lot of moves after split – so we weren’t just moving people if they were a level 2 or 4, but we made sure that each group of 3s had people with similar abilities / issues. It worked really well – I had so much fun working on wedge Christies with my group, and they all made a ton of progress in just a few hours. Hooray!
In the afternoon, though, I was happy to get cut since there weren’t many students. A coworker had let me know she was visiting Beaver Creek for vacation, so I went to meet up with her and her mom on the mountain and we got to ski a bunch of runs together. It was really fun to have someone from my “real life” see me on the mountain! I am always so proud to wear my uniform – I wish I could wear it on days when I’m not teaching (though of course totally understand why that’s not allowed).
Once again, it was a really warm, beautiful day, so I told myself I’d continue my streak and go for a run when I got home. But just as I was pulling up to my house, my friend Heather texted and asked if I wanted to meet up for a beer at Vail Brewing. Since that’s just down the road for my house, I ended up running the 3.7 miles there to meet her (whoops, I thought it was exactly 3 miles and so was five minutes late) and enjoyed the afternoon catching up with her on the patio.
I opted for a (non-alcoholic) kombucha instead of a beer, and was really happy with that decision, since I wanted to be productive that night and not feeling any effects of alcohol. My attitude toward alcohol has definitely changed in the last year – I still enjoy it on occasion, but most of the time, I’d rather skip it. Ironically, I know that has been quite the opposite of most people’s COVID experience!
In spite of skipping the drinks, on Sunday morning, I woke up with a start to my alarm, and didn’t have time for as much of a workout as I wanted, but I told myself I could do more when I went home to Superior that night. I was scheduled for private lessons, but didn’t have an actual assignment yet, which meant I was due to report to lineup but might get cut and go home. I figured it was a win-win either way: I love teaching private lessons, so it would be great if I got an assignment, but getting cut would mean I could go home to Superior early. I ended up spending an hour greeting guests as they arrived at the mountain, but then didn’t pick up an assignment – so homeward bound it was!
There was a little more traffic than I expected for the early departure, but I still got back to Superior by 1pm – and was starving! I quickly made okonomiyaki for lunch, but I put far too many carrots in, so they came out more fluffy pancake-like in texture rather than crispy. Oops! They still hit the spot, and all those veggies were good for me 🙂
But then I got pretty lazy for the rest of the afternoon… and I don’t know where the time went! I did not, in fact, get in the “big workout” I had been thinking of that morning. Instead, Mom and I decided we felt like baking, and ended up giving Trader Joe’s mochi cake mix a whirl. Inspired by a poster at r/traderjoes, we made the mochi cake in cupcake form, and added a different flavor to each.
Although I didn’t get a hardcore workout in, Mom and I did start a new evening workout ritual – I dragged her onto the treadmill to walk while I did a quick Peloton ride, and we were both really happy we did it! It was a lot easier for each of us to motivate when we knew the other was doing it too. We are going to try to make this evening exercise a new habit.
And to wrap up the night – I made this fantastic braised chicken thigh dinner over fennel and onions, . I so rarely cook with fennel, but it had accidentally gotten into my last Misfits Market order, and this ended up being a delicious way to use it.
I can’t believe it’s spring already! Only one more weekend of teaching for the season – and I have to say, I am looking forward to turning my attention to running. I think good things are ahead this year!