Back to Work, snowshoes included

Hello everyone. It is time for a few updates from Poland. Well, I am back in the work mode (well, sort ofJ Unfortunately, it has snowed like crazy here for the past 5 or 6 days, so there is a ton of powder out there. That means one thing—snowshoes. Normally I really like to snowshoe, but only for a few hours at a time, since they tend to really rip my feet up, no matter what I do. I had my first snowshoe outing a few days ago, after a night of crazy snow. I picked a loop that would be about 18 kilometers to survey, since I had to cover a lot of ground and I only have a week to do it in this area. I thought it would be manageable, especially since I had been regularly hiking 25km a day for the last few months. Yeah, well it was snowing out when I started and only let up for a few hours in the middle of my trek. There was much more snow than I expected, all of it was powder, and I had to break trail for the whole 18 kilometers. I had to go over one mountain, and then descended all the way into a valley, and had to climb out of the valley back up and over the mountain on the other side. My snowshoes absolutely killed my feet, and now I barely have any skin left on my heels. The combination of having to break trail in powder mostly 2-3 feet deep, the long, steep ascents, and the horrible pain my feet were undergoing all made the trek much tougher and longer than I had expected. I ran out of food with about 2 hours to go, on a long ascent up to a peak. I tried to take my snowshoes off numerous times, just to relieve my feet for a while, and also because it was pretty cold and the snow was forming ice on the bottoms of the snowshoes, essentially turning my snowshoes into 3-4 pound weights that I had to drag uphill. Unfortunately for me, the cold had also frozen the bindings shut on my snowshoes, so it was impossible to get them off without cutting the straps. Since they aren’t my snowshoes, that wasn’t really an option. About 1.5 kilometers from the top of the peak, I felt myself getting very, very tired and my body starting to go to sleep. Probably most of you have experienced this feeling before, when your body starts to shut down and go to sleep as a protective mechanism when you are really pushing hard. In some cases, it is good, but in a case like mine, going to sleep is the last thing that I wanted to do. I knew that if I went to sleep, there was a slight chance that I would never wake up again because of the snow and the cold. I really had to dig deep and force myself to just take one step at a time, no matter how slow it was. I knew it would be getting dark in about an hour and a half, and that there was a good chance I would have to finish in the dark. I was honestly starting to wonder if maybe I had made a serious mistake that could cost me my life. While I was trying to dig myself out of a hole in the snow I had fallen through, I started thinking about my options and about what I would do if I could not muster any more strength to continue. I scanned for possible shelters I could make, about anything I could eat, and entertained all those survival instincts. Finally I decided to try to keep going. So for the last hour or so of snowshoeing up to the peak, I basically had to yell at myself in between every step not to go to sleep and to push forward. It was so crazy! I literally had to fight from not falling asleep between steps! I have never experienced anything like that before, and I hope I never will again, because it is a seriously scary feeling. Just letting your body go to sleep would be the easiest thing to do, and your mind knows that and tries to convince you to let it happen. However, I was still able to think rationally for a few moments at a time and told myself that going to sleep was not an option. I finally spotted a mountain shelter on top of the peak and knew that there was a good chance at least one person would be there and I could buy a candy bar or something to give me enough energy to get off the mountain. At first, I looked up every few steps to hopefully see the shelter getting closer, only to be disappointed that it actually seemed to be getting further and further away. Then I remembered what I had first experienced in triathlon during the swim leg, especially when you are doing a long swim to a place way off in the distance: don’t continually look up, expecting to see it coming closer. Just keep your rhythm and trust that it will be closer with every stroke, even if you can’t tell by just looking. So that is what I did, I just put my head down and focused on putting one foot in front of the other, not thinking about the shelter or how close or far away it was. I knew that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other, it was a physical certainty that I would arrive at that shelter. Oh, it was so incredibly hard. In all honesty, I think I probably would have stopped if I hadn’t learned to be extremely patient and to deal with discomfort and both physical and mental fatigue through my triathlon training. It is kind of weird to say this, but I actually think that training for races might have saved my life.

Well, to end the story, I made it to the shelter and there was one lady there. I bought three Snickers bars and a large Coke and finished it all in probably under 2 minutes. I continued in the dark down the other side of the mountain to the place where I was staying. After getting safely into my room, I took my shoes off, only to find that the place on my leftt heel where I was sure to find a blister, did not have a blister. Instead, there was just this gaping hole in my heel, probably ¼ inch deep and the size of a quarter, where my boots had completely worn away all the skin. No wonder it hurt so badly! Needless to say, I took the next day off to recover and let my feet heal a little. Unfortunately, they didn’t get much of a chance to heal, because the day after that I had to go out again and I ended up doing a 21-mile hike/snowshoe until dark again. My feet are starting to rebel against me and I can’t say that I blame them. I am looking forward to this weekend, so they will get more than a few days off.

Well, that’s enough about that stuff. On a lighter note, I have been staying in a town called Szczyrk, which is one of the most popular ski destinations in Poland, and where the Polish Olympic training facilities are. Luckily for me, I was able to go exercise in the Olympic training facility. Now, when I say the “Olympic Training Facility,” it probably isn’t what you are thinking. It is the equivalent of a small Gold’s Gym or something back in the U.S. Anyway, I got some good treadmill runs in (despite the feet killing me, I had to take advantage of having a place to workout) and some good weight workouts. One funny thing is that I tried to go into the swimming pool and the Jacuzzi to just relax, and I was wearing my tight-fitting swim shorts, like the ones most of the Olympic swimmers now wear. Well, the people at the entrance told me that I wasn’t allowed in the pool or Jacuzzi. When I asked why, they replied that I had to be wearing a speedo! Now, I have never worn a speedo in my life and don’t intend on ever wearing one. Some people have the speedo look and can pull that look off. I don’t believe that I am one of them and really don’t care to find out either. So, reluctantly, I obeyed and stayed out of the pool and Jacuzzi. Speedo? Are you kidding me?

Okay, I don’t want to take up everybody’ day, so I think I will stop here. Anyway, it has been an interesting week or so. I have enjoyed staying at the place I am now, and have been staying with a very nice family. The mother has actually cooked me dinner every night, which has been amazing, and far better than the pasta, rice, hot cereal, or whatever I would have thrown together after a day of hiking. One more day of hiking to go before a nice little break is upon me. I hope everyone is doing well and I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Eat some turkey for me!