Snow Camp Workouts

The snow storms we are accustomed to, finally arrived this week. For those of you that don't live in our neighborhood or haven't been fortunate to visit during a "Snow Camp", this means that in addition to everything else in our daily routines, we do major snow maintenance often twice a day. We normally keep track of inches, but this year has been so light we haven't bothered. Canyon's snow report shows 38" over the last 6 days, and we had about that much on the back patio this morning after not shoveling all week. In normal winters, this is an average week but it was really our first system of significance this year and very welcome.

Snow Camp involves gearing up in a couple layers and if you do it fast, you work up a good sweat just like any good workout so you have to plan ahead. You also run the risk of smelling like gasoline after running the snowblower for 30minutes, so it is good to wear old clothes and shower after. Another timing issue involves the snowplow and the loader w/ blade (thanks to Terry for heavy equipment clarification). The best solution is to wait for these guys so you only have to go out once. If you go before, it's guaranteed that you have to go back out to remove the pile at the driveway entrance before you can back out. Weekday mornings require a bit of luck and coordination. There are other factors that involve neighbors, snowblowing the street, etc - but you have to attend Snow Camp to get the full experience.

Here's a rundown of this week's Snow Camp workouts:

Tues 5:30am - Terry wakes up, stretches, drinks coffee, then snowblows before showering. This also wakes all the neighbors, but does provide an audible indicator that they will have to get up early for their own pre-work Snow Camps.

Tues 6:15am - Snowplow comes by and blocks the driveway entrance. Jenny finishes making lunches, then snowblows in time for Terry to back out.

Tues 5:30p - Jenny arrives home to several more inches, parks in garage, eats a snack and then snowblows driveway with only minutes to spare before driving to cycling class.

Wed am - I don't recall, but think all we had was the garage door shovel. This is a daily activity of shoveling out the ice and snow that gathers in the garage and causes the garage door rubber seal to pull apart from the garage door if not maintained.

Wed pm - Leap Day Snow Storm arrives! Terry beats storm home in time to grab bike and go to cycling class. Jenny takes a chance and stops at Costco after work but comes out to raging storm. Commute home takes an hour or more. Snowplow hasn't even made it to the neighborhood, so no driveway entrance issues and able to go straight into garage. Storm continues to rage. Terry makes it home from cycling class, but it takes 30min. Snowplow still hasn't come. Jenny goes out right before bed (and right after the snowplow) to snowblow 8"+ in the driveway, 12"+ from driveway entrance, and had a bonus workout when the corner wall fell.

Thurs 5:30am - Terry snowblows the overnight storm deposit. Snowplow comes by one more time but thanks to Terry snowblowing most of the road, no backing out issues for Jenny.

Thurs 6pm - We both get home just in time to turn-around for cycling class. Only a couple inches in the driveway, so we let it go. Have to throw the gas can in back of truck with the bikes, in order to fill up on the way home in preparation for future snowblowing. Running out of gas during a Snow Camp workout is not enjoyable.

Fri 5:30am - Terry snowblows driveway. Thursday's inches, plus driveway entrance. Jenny carpools with Terry so no concerns about backing out post snowplow.

Fri pm - Come home after the game (Jazz beat the Heat!) but only have a few inches at entrance and able to drive through.

Sat am - Terry snowblows driveway and entrance, digs out gas connection, mailbox, fence, and window wells. I join him after an hour and we push down the corner wall in order to make room for more snow. Then shovel the steps and patio. A solid 2hr arm and core workout.

There you have it, a week in the life at Snow Camp. There isn't much snow in the forecast so we have time to recover. Maybe next year, we'll offer food and lodging for anyone that attends Snow Camp and as a bonus to the early-risers, provide head lamps.