Ski #4 (No More Nicotine Patches)

The weather hasn't cooperated for 2 weeks. I had a small window on 1/25 - 1/26, so I went up on 1/25. The slopes were crusty. It didn't snow as much as I hoped for and it has been warm. It probably has been melting in the afternoon, only to freeze in the morning. I went to East About, a narrow and steep run and instantly regretted. The skis picked up speed quickly and I couldn't make turns quickly enough. I'll have to wait till we get a better snow to go back there.

The rest of the day wasn't bad. I spent most of time on Castle and Lower Dynamite off Grand View Express. I was having so much fun, in fact, I ended up skiing over 5 hours. I had to rest after about 1.5 hours because of the ordeal getting out of East Run. Then I spent another hour before taking the lunch break. I went to the West Bowl in the afternoon, but the black runs were closed. I came back to Grand View, spent more time and then I was ready to go home.

My skiing is progressing nicely. I did what I wanted to do this time: stay straight and fall into the fall line. Looking at the video, though, I'm still not straight enough. I'll have to correct that the next time.

I didn't use nicotine patch at all this time. The post-exercise recovery progressed fine for 3 days, and then I crashed on the 4th day. It might have been triggered by watching the NFC championship game with emotional ups and downs. SF won, but I was feeling crappy through the evening. I'll repeat the same thing the next time -- no exercise for 4 days other than 4 block walking -- and see I'll get away with not crashing. In any case, not using the nicotine didn't make it any worse, so that will be the end of nicotine patch.  I could use it recreationally every once in a while, but it no longer has any effect. I'll use up whatever I have left and that will be that.

Ski #3 and Aftermath (Nicotine Patch Doesn't Work)

After the ski #2, I crashed on the 3rd day. I did 2x8 pushups the night before and then I slapped on the nicotine patch on the top of the old one by mistake in the morning. So, the plan to stay on the patch didn't get executed. 

The mountains got another foot of snow, and I went back up on 1/12. Most of the lift were open this time. Castle run, which I remembered as Rook instead, was open too. It was great at the top, but then you have to paddle to get to the second half of the run. So I went up there only a couple of times. West Bowl Express was open too, but I didn't make it there. I got lost on the way there in the afternoon and ended up at Nob Hill instead.  I'm going back next week for #4 and I'm sure I'm make it to West Bowl Express then.

I stayed on the nicotine patch this time for 4 days. I still crashed on the second day. It wasn't bad, but it still was a crash: I ended up spending 5 hours lying down during the day.  So, I'm coming to the conclusion that nicotine patches don't help preventing crash. I'll stay off nicotine the next time.

Ski #2 and the Aftermath

18 more inches of snow from the storm over the prior week allow them to open up more lifts and slopes. Both Grand View Express and Nob Hill had sections of black runs open, and I went up those chairs and down the bumps all day long. 2 hours in the morning and then 1.5 hours in the afternoon were enough to tire me out. Maybe skipping lunch made me tire out quicker than I would have. I was going to come back to my car for my lunch, but it was a little too far. I had enough for the breakfast and wasn't hungry anyway, so I decided to skip lunch and just rest. 

That was on Jan 4th. In the evening, something was cramping inside my knees. I don't know what it is exactly, maybe the ligaments or tendons, but it's been happening since last year whenever I ski hard. All the knee rolls that I've been doing on the slope must be taking the toll. I remember having to pull off coming back from Heavenly last year because my knees were cramping so bad that I couldn't drive. My thighs and calves then took the turn the next morning and became sore. The soreness turned into pain the morning after. Then they were all gone after 2-hour nap in the afternoon, and I seem to have fully recovered from skiing. Recovery from a hard skiing in 2 days? Not a bad aftermath performance. 

Anyway, I think I'll be able to get my 2nd degree black belt in skiing this year. I'm still hunching a little too long after the turns on steep mogul runs, but I'm getting straighter a little quicker. I'll have my back straight and be in the rhythm all the time by the end of this season.

I got on nicotine patch starting from the day 1 after skiing this time, and the bottom hasn't fallen out after 3 days. Being on the nicotine for at least 3 days may have prevented the week-long weakness like the last time. But then, it could be just that I struggled the last time because it was the first day of the season. I struggled after the first day last year too. Still, nicotine should've prevented the weakening, and it didn't. And the success this time could've been because it was the second time, not because of nicotine. So, the hypothesis that nicotine is not effective for hard exercises still stands. I'll keep using nicotine throughout this season and see what happens. If the aftermath performance becomes progressively worse, then it'll be same as the last year, or the year before. Which will mean that nicotine didn't make a difference. If the aftermath doesn't get worse, then it's either that nicotine made the difference, or I have made further recovery that I no longer get weaker as the season progresses.