Goals for Next Season, and Some Skiing

My goals for next season are as follows:

1. Set up and follow a structured training plan
2. Be between 145lbs and 150lbs by the Pontiac Lake TT
3. Race in, and finish, the Lumberjack (under 10 hours would be nice)
4. Top 15 in Singlespeed at Iceman (I'd need to finish in ~1:50 to acheive this)
5. Top 2 in Sport/Beg Singlespeed - USAC XC series
6. Enter a race in Expert by the end of the season, and finish in the top half
7. Help TSB win the USAC team award!

To aid in meeting these goals, I have a "Hamster Cage" down in the basement. This consists of a set of rollers, a trainer, a treadmill, and a bench and weights. Of course, when the weather cooperates I'll take my training outside. I'm currently reading "The Mountain Biker's Training Bible", by Joe Friel. After only reading the first 4 chapters thus far, I can already see a number of things I've been doing wrong.

Skiing

On Sunday, I took advantage of the new snowfall and waxed up the cross country skis. A slow drive later, I found myself at a familiar locale: the West Branch parking lot at Stony Creek. I had never skied Stony before, and was eager to give it a go. Last year, I skied 2 or 3 times on the Polly Ann trail (a rail-trail), and that was the first I had x-c skied since the winter of 1998-99. Because of this, my stride was... shall I say... less than graceful. Fortunately for the most part there were nice tracks cut in from earlier skiers.

I looped around the outer perimeter to start. This was the easier and flatter section of trail; the trails in the middle of the mountain bike/ski area tend to be hillier. This allowed my legs to get used to the motions, and for the body and muscles to warm up. The only real hiccup here was when I got to the golf course. Just past the starter building (which will also serve as the ski hut when the renovations are finished), the trail basically disappeared due to drifting. This forced me to break new trail for a bit over a mile. Not the easiest thing to do.

After finishing the "outer loop", about 6 miles, I found myself back at the parking lot. I ate a Cliff bar, and set out to do a loop of the more advanced and hillier trails in the middle of the ski/bike area. Surprisingly, I was quickly able to "re-learn" the herringbone technique for climbing hills. The downhills that followed added an adrenaline rush also. I finished the "inner loop", and estimate that I had put in roughly 11 miles. Legs were sore, especially my inner and outer thighs, and toes were on the verge of developing blisters. But, I had a great time, enjoyed seeing very familiar trails in a new way, and am now hoping for some good snow throughout the winter.