mountains

That was a great week. Romana organized the cross-country skiing training week in the Jesenik mountains. On Sunday, a bus picked us up in Brno, brought us to Ovčárna and from there we hiked 1.5 km to our mountain hut Barborka:

Just before sunset, we managed our first cross country run.

Here are a few pictures I shot:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After that, I took a picture of the sun setting and we had a drink at another mountain hut:

On Monday morning, we did a XC ski run to Svycarna:

In the afternoon, we hit the training loops close to our hut:

On Tuesday, the sunny weather was gone. It was snowing hard. We decided to stay close to the hut and hit the training loops again:

After lunch, I ran to Svycarna and back in heavy snowfall:

On Wednesday the weather started to turn good and I took the three most experienced girls on a long tour, to the Cervenohorske Sedlo (“Red Mountain Saddle”, a mountain pass and hotel).

We were lucky. At Svycarna we met the snow groomer and we had freshly groomed trails all the way to the Saddle pass:

In the afternoon, we didn’t do a training, but we hiked back to the bus stop and visited the nearby village. Very nice woodenn mountain architecture:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On Thursday, the beautiful weather had returned. We decided to ski up Praded mountain. The girls took the elevator to the top floor of the TV tower and enjoyed the view. I did a few more km by skiing to Kamzik and back.

I took many pictures when we climbed up to the TV tower on Praded mountain:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the afternoon, we were back on the training loops and did the 5k loop twice. By this time, I was already pretty tired, and my daughter Lenka skated away from me in the second loop and there was nothing I could do. Let’s say I let her win to boost her confidence, but to be honest I am not sure about it.

Actually, all the girls had by now made tremendous progress in their cross-country skiing. Romana taught them some technique, a few different styles, and they were all enjoying themselves.

On Friday morning, I took a very easy run to Svycarna, where we had coffee. On the way back, my son Dominik was getting the hang of the skating technique (on thawing, icy trails), and I did a sort of interval training, running up the hill until I caught up with Radka, the lady who was accompanying us, then going downhill back to Dominik who was struggling but not giving up, turning around, and repeat.

In the afternoon, we organized XC team races. Each team consisted of three athletes, and each of them would run 2 loops of 2km, 4km in total, 12km per team. During the coffee break at Svycarna, we had carefully arranged the teams in such a way that all had a chance to win. Here are the pictures from the race:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My job was to measure the times. At the end, I did the 4k myself. My time was 15 minutes and 52 seconds.

This morning we packed and hiked back to the road. A two hour coach ride later we were back in Brno. From the sunny mountains to a smoggy Brno, with just the memories of a nice stay in the mountains:

Today: Rest.
Tomorro: Rest & Sauna.