Skiing the Marathon Loop

The Marathon Loop.  Sounds a little intimidating, doesn't it?  If you look at the loop on a map, it looks a lot longer than the 15K loop, which is the next longest loop at the ski trails.  In 4 years with my ski pass, I've never attempted the marathon loop, but this year I wanted to conquer it.

We've had an unseasonably warm February, so on this long weekend, I decided to tackle it while there was still snow on the ground. The BF was working on Monday, and I wanted to spend the day outside. My weekly email from the ski club told me it was freshly groomed, and some research on the website told me that despite appearances on the map, the loop is only 16K (so marathon is a bit of an exaggeration).  Still, a 16K ski is significantly longer than what I've been doing.  My previous longest ski was 10K, but I really wanted to do it, and Monday was the day.

Before leaving home, I waxed up my skis and said goodbye to Cookie.  I felt like a guilty dog mama for leaving her at home, but dogs are only allowed on a couple of trails, and this isn't one of them.  I packed my fuel belt that I never wear for running, but turned out to be quite comfortable for skiing.  It was -3C when I left the house and I had on two long sleeves plus a jacket, but lost one layer before even setting out.

I was surprised pulling into the parking lot that there were only about a dozen cars.  It was such a nice day and a holdiay, but I didn't mind.  It was nice to have the trails to myself.  Between the second km and the last I didn't see any other skiers.

I started off pretty quick, but slowed down after about 30 minutes. The first 3K were familiar, but then everything was new for quite awhile.  I was in the trees for about 5K, and quite warm.

 

 I had to tie my jacket around my waist and took off my gloves.  Around the 7th km, I came to a field and it was open and windy.  I'd lost the sun and the jacket went back on.  For this section you could tell there had only been one other classic skier and two skate skiers since the trails were groomed that morning.  I saw a few moose tracks as well, but none that were fresh since grooming, though I had my eyes peeled across that field.

 By kilometer 9, my legs were pretty tired.  I had the option of turning to make the route shorter, but I figured I'd come this far and the rest was on familiar trails.  I knew I had a couple of big climbs, but some quick downhills that would make things go quickly.

In the end, Garmin said my ski was 15K (I started it a bit late, so I'm rounding up), rather than the 16 indicated on the website. Maybe Garmin couldn't quite keep up as I was zipping down those hills - it certainly has never seen speeds like that when I'm running!  Either way, I was glad to be done!  I had to sit for a couple of minutes in the car before I drove home to shake out my legs.  This was my longest workout in a long time.  Even though we will sometimes snowshoe for 2+ hours, we do a lot more starting and stopping and playing with the dogs.  On Monday, I only stopped when I adjusted my jacket and every few kms for a sip of Gu Brew.  Call me crazy, but it felt good to have tired legs again.

I'm really glad I sucked it up and went out on the marathon loop.  There are still a few other trails in the network that I haven't been on yet, and I'm hoping I can get out a few more times before the end of winter.  Who knows, this warm spell could be a tease - there may be a lot of winter left yet!