Oh Well… (sorry it’s a long one)
How often does something challenge your positive outlook? If you’re anything like me… you may have to rationalize some to even call it a “positive” attitude. I am not sure of the average ratio… but mine can often lean toward many parts “attitude”… with maybe just a sprinkle of “positive” mixed in.
I tend to do a little better at mustering the positive over the long haul. But man do I sometimes struggle to do so in the short term. Last night was a perfect example.
We had some snow a few weeks ago… and I got excited about getting in some x-country skiing this winter. But since then, we have had warmer temps and mostly rain. So I was excited when I started work yesterday morning… and looked outside to see big puffy snowflakes drifting softly to the ground. They had started the night before as predicted… and were starting to build up a coat on things by morning.
My excitement started to fade by mid-day though as the warm ground temps seemed to be keeping the snow from building up much coverage. But the clouds doubled their effort over the afternoon… and by evening had pretty well overwhelmed the residual warmth… coating the ground pretty thoroughly. Enough to ski?
Snow was still falling as I finished up work… prepared and ate dinner… and started to contemplate some evening exercise. I was really itching to get on the skis again… so I decided to give it a try.
Of course, I had never really put things away from a few weeks ago… so I found where I had left them and started collecting and donning the gear. I knew this fresh wet snow would tend to be a little sticky… so I rubbed a little wax on the ski bottoms for good measure. And before long… Alright! Good to go!
I walked out back… dropped the skis in the snow… knocked the accumulated snow off my boots… and clicked into the bindings. I think I may finally be getting the knack of these newer NNN boots and bindings. My old SNS boots had the steel rod that clips into the binding a bit closer to the front. So to click in I would push the toe of the boot right up to the bumper on the binding… and raise the heel to step down hard on the toe. Where the NNN boots have the rod set back slightly off the toe. So if I raise the heel too high trying to step in… the tip of the toe will keep the rod from clicking down into the binding. So I have to step in with my foot considerably flatter. This was a difference I only recently figured out… which had created a lot of frustration for me when trying to click my boots into the bindings on this newer equipment. But that worked much better last night after realizing I need to keep my heel lower when stepping in.
I noticed the snow was sticking to the skis almost immediately. But after sliding them in the snow a bit… I was able to clear them and seemed to be able to keep them sliding when moving. I knew conditions were not ideal… but at least there was snow!?! By the time I got to the back gate I realized the term “poor” conditions might have been an understatement. If you can recognize the signs… these pictures say it all.
Keeping the skis gliding in the snow was impossible. The ground was still warm enough… the snow would stick to anything but it. Plus the snow was only just over a inch or so deep. So each time I would step down hard enough on the right ski to push off… snow would pack onto the bottom of that ski. So when I would transfer weight to the left ski and push off… expecting the right ski to glide forward… the snow stuck to the bottom acted like a brake. Instead of gliding forward… it would stick until the snow on the bottom would scrape off. Sometimes the snow would scrape off the bottom and the ski would start to glide. But sometimes it would not fully clear… causing even more snow to pack onto the bottom… and I would nearly fall onto my face as the momentum of my body would try to overtake my feet bound to the ski… sticking to the snow.
This is when you have to rely on your sound technique… to overcome the challenging conditions. Of course you may recall I mentioned I am just recently trying to get back into this sport. And how I desperately need to rebuild my technique after such a long break from using it! I am glad it was dark… and the chances of someone seeing the compounding catastrophe of poor conditions and lousy technique… compiling into a stumbling… staggering… struggle fest!
I would just seem to get the skis cleared and start to get some semblance of a glide. Then hit another particularly sticky spot… and again be struggling to keep the cart behind the horse. Unfortunately the dark did little to hide my vocalizations at these moments… so I am so glad there was no one around to hear them. Oh how I pray there was no one around to hear them.
I got most of the way around the school yard once before I finally stopped to see if it would help to clear my skis completely of any clinging snow. I scraped them off good with my pole basket. Then packed a snow ball to rub and really clear them off… and convince myself they would slide. It seemed to help at first… but I did not get far into a second pass around before realizing it was hopeless. My determination did not want to give up. But my common sense eventually won out. Still I was stubborn enough to try to ski back to the house… but before long popped off the skis… flung them over my shoulder… and started the disgruntled trudge. At this point… there was no positive left… it was all attitude!
As I neared the house I desperately attempted one of the psychological tricks I learned from my Noom app called the “Oh well” statement. It is meant as a technique to reframe the situation. So when facing a tactical defeat… you can refocus on the larger strategic picture and progress being made. “Oh well… next time I will do better and…”. But all I could muster was… “Oh well… THIS SUCKS”! Not exactly in line with the intended spirit of the technique. About the only success I could begin to attribute to the night was the fact I did not grab a bag of chips before I plopped down in my recliner to pull off my gear while watching TV.
After an episode of Gunsmoke… and watching Matt, Doc, and Miss Kitty figure out how to overcome some challenge. I decided to see if I could find any additional tricks on the internet about how to keep snow from sticking to the skis. I watched a good video from a guy that went through all the tips and techniques on proper ski maintenance and preparation. He explained how to brush off the old… apply the new… and how doing all this right should set you up for success. But he included a short clip at the end where he was out on a crappy day… facing just what I had… and how at that point technique and keeping moving was the last line of defense to keep the skis clear. But after saying all that he stopped again… tipped his ski up… and revealed how the snow was still sticking even after all he was doing. I think he had stuck that in there just for me.
Today I was finally able to sprinkle a little positive back into the outlook. When I stepped on the scale I realized my workout had not been a total bust. With all the effort I put into trying to overcome the short term challenge… and in spite of my apparent failure to do so… I had actually made progress on the long term challenge. Ah… how the light of a new day… can cut the darkness from the reflection on yesterday!