Week 15 - You ski some, you run some

After all these efforts I've made at grooming a little Nordic trail of my own, it seemed a shame today to not use it for my timed "run." So, I got up at the crack of noon (love Sundays) and hit the snow.

It was somewhere during the second lap that I recalled this important fact: Nordic skiing is much harder than running! The differences are legion, for they are many... (resisting the urge to launch into a Monty Python, "amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as... surprise, fear, a fanatical devotion to the Pope..."). Primarily, you use your arms. Coupled with that, each step does not always result in forward propulsion. Third, although it is true that one can "kick and glide" to a decent extent, that is only true for 1) people with balance, and 2) people who don't suck at the Nordic diagonal stride. I don't qualify on either count.

So, I watched my per lap times increase and increase... because I was working at full capacity (my heart rate was cruising at 174 - close to maximum - not sustainable!), I had to keep stopping to 1) catch my breath, and 2) let my vision return. What does that mean? It means I was working so hard I started having tunnel vision! Yeah, that's a wee bit hazardous when you are out by yourself in the cold and snow; it's usually the first step in passing out.

To sum up: I love skiing! I missed you, I missed you! Hard to beat a workout in which you come right to the precipice of consciousness, and spit into the void! Plus, it's so much easier on my knees... Skiing it is, then. At the very least, my ass will be firmly kicked toward ratcheting up the fitness, and when I return to regular running later in the spring, I predict I'll just fly right along. Well, fly in the sense of a bumble bee... you know, you look at that huge bug and wonder how the hell it stays aloft...

Lap Times
Loop 1 (diagonal Nordic) : 3:57.7
Loop 2 (diagonal Nordic) : 4:19.0
Loop 3 (diagonal Nordic) : 4:47.6
Loop 4 (diagonal Nordic) : 5:12.6
Loop 5 (diagonal Nordic) : 5:29.3

Total distance: 2 km, Total time: 23:46.2, Best mile: n/a
Weekly weigh-in: 314
Average power: No data for skiing, yet
Heart rate following final loop: 174
Heart rate five minutes after cool-down stretch: 99