I’ve written about this before; the side benefits of training for an adaptive body able to perform spontaneously or when the situation presents itself. Well, what better way to embrace Winter with (Tough Mudders aside) my best workout of 2012!

After an 8″ accumulation of white gold, I started this Winter Dandy of a day with an hour of shoveling. Since I always strive for movement awareness, I tried my best to maintain proper technique. I find it to be a lot like a twisting kettlebell swing. But I digress…

Once the asphalt was black again, I took the short drive up to Neutaconkanut Hill Park (aka Neuty) for an afternoon of hiking and backcountry riding! I figured I would get in a handful of runs on this beautiful sunny day! Here’s how it went down:

Started hiking in full snowboard gear when the thought occurred to me that I got up to the summit in 61 seconds this summer. I estimate it took about 6-7 minutes on this day. The slope itself was well packed but above the guard rail remained mostly virgin.

I strapped in and packed down a path to the guard rail. After floating down I had decent speed but not enough to jump over, so I swung my board over and bombed down the slope. Wooohoo my first run of the season! On the way back up I stopped by the guard rail and made a little ramp on the uphill side. It was a pleasant surprise that, by just the second run, I was able to cruise right from the summit, clear the guard rail, and shoot down the slope! Radical!

It took all of three runs for my legs to start barking. I had a good workout two days earlier that included Front Squats and had just spent an hour doing twisting kettlebell swings. I stopped by the car to grab some water.

The thought of riding down the steps (aka the “Great Stairs of Death“) kept me up the night before. I was anxious to conquer them in a different capacity but they also scare me! These things have brought harm to many a leg muscle and personal pride. If you don’t believe me, ask a Neuty Oso! Just getting there was a feat in itself since I was making my own tracks in the soft snow…I have new appreciation for the term “trudging” after today.

I wish I could say I thrashed the steps on my snowboard. Oh well, I got two runs in safely with the second being smoother than the first. This video however, is not so smooth:

After the second run I ascended the steps again and took the scenic route back to the summit and stopped to breathe in this scene.

Leg fuel was running dangerously low at this point so I finished up with two runs straight down the slope. Here’s the last one of the day. The camera work is a slight improvement from the video above but is hardly stable. I’ll work on this!

Moment of the day occurred before my last run when a boy asked me “Who are you? You’re a good snowboarder!”

“I’m nobody, just an old kid” was my response.