Fueled By FISH

Sticking with the theme of "activities that require poles," I've been mixing up the summer training with a good bit of fishing. I've convinced myself that this is the ideal recovery activity since standing waist-deep in glacial rivers is just as good as an ice bath and fresh, wild caught salmon blows any dish served at Paresky out of the water when it comes to both taste and nutritional value.

A good haul on the Resurrection river delta

Gettin dinner ready

Mom's happy to have some fish for the freezer too

A larger (albeit less edible) fish

 Of course it wouldn't be a summer blog post without a little training update. I've been working out with Alaska Winter Stars, which has a good crew of UAF and UAA skiers, as well as US ski team member Gus Schumacher (pictured above to the right of dead whale). I've also managed to get in some bonus runs with Jack, when he's not scrambling around glaciers.

Running along O'Malley ridge, featuring the upper left corner of Jack's head

Firing up the race engine in the Bird Ridge hill climb. Even made me miss pine cobble a little bit.

Midway through June my summer took an unexpected turn when I received a call from a fishing boat captain who needed a replacement deckhand for the remainder of the month. Within 36 hours I was on a plane out to the East Aleutians to work on a seine vessel in the Area M salmon fishery. After spending a night in the town of Cold Bay, population 128, I took a bush plane to King Cove where I met the crew and headed out into the Aleutian Islands for two weeks. 

One last run before two weeks at sea. The only pavement in town, this quarter mile long pier in Cold Bay was a good spot for some running speeds.

Tough time finding my gate at the bustling King Cove airport

I was a bit bummed to miss out on two weeks of training but the opportunity was too good to pass up.  The crew of 5 was an interesting mix, with everyone from an ex-marine to a California hippy who was fishing in order to live out of his van and rock climb all winter (Ivy take notes). We fished two 4 -day openers, working almost around the clock. The deck work was exhausting but I'm thinking about taking a page out of Emil's book and logging some of the days as ODs. On the plus side, the buff that I brought with me worked great for protecting against jellyfish stings, so I have nordic skiing to thank for that.

Cruising between sets on a rare sunny day in the Aleutians

Rain gear naps are a must when you're fishing 20+ hour days

Two weeks and almost a quarter million pounds of salmon later, its good to be back on land. Now its time to catch up on sleep, get some good training in, and enjoy eating food other than PB&J tortillas and canned chicken.