I'm finally getting the hang of this Cross Country skiing. And I'm having a really great time.
On Tuesday night, I went to Ride & Glide, hesitantly, because we had a thaw and a chill and it was extremely icy. And hell to ski on. But Coach Kurt had us practice V2ing uphill. Apparently "because it was fast snow."
V2 is the most challenging ski stroke, and is used consistently only by the hotshots--and few of them will go up a hill doing that. It requires fantastic balance, and is less efficient *but faster* than the V2 alternate/open field skate; most people's normal flat terrain "dance." The ice was hell on the balance, but I was surprise how quickly my body adjusted, and I was able to ski up the hill! WTF?
Thursday night, I escaped out to Elm Creek and put in a few laps. The northern lights trail was vacant, and I enjoyed the cool air and the hills. The snow was softer/closer to normal (and forgiving), and all of a sudden, I felt very comfortable taking a few stokes of V2. So I began to skip open field skate altogether. Some deer crossed the trail on my last loop, completely unconcerned with my prescence.
Friday night, I put in 45 minutes at French park, and had a fantastic time. The snow was falling, leaving cool halos around all the lights. The snow in the air made the sky light enough that I could ski on the unlit trails--a fantastic feeling. The new snow was slow on the wax I have on my skis, but I didn't care. What a great feeling.
Today, I went back to Elm Creek-it was saturated with high school teams, but I ran into Coach Hank, who told me the long outer trail was open, so I took his advice. It was vacant. I took 3 laps. I was intending on a lower intensity endurance ski, but I couldn't help myself on the hills. The V2 felt great on the flats.
I decided to see how fast I could head up one of the hills. All of a sudden, my V1 transformed into a Jump V1 (see the pass), something I've been told about, but never observed. It felt fast. Coming back down hills, I could suddenly hold the inside track on tight turns at the bottoms of a few of them--using something between a marathon skate corner/jump.
I was out for 1:48:49, averaged 9.2 mph, 16.66 miles, and burnt just shy of 2600 calories.
I can't wait to go ski again tomorrow morning. I have downhill league in the evening.
I'm gonna kick ass at the Birkie.
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I skied into Canada on Saturday. (Okay, it was from the Boundary Waters, not from the Twin Cities. But still--6 hours of skiing--through a foot of fresh snow. I hurt.)
You are hardcore.
I am jealous of your mad nature skills. We defective people can't do the awesome stuff that you do. So when you are swishing down the slopes, think of my broken-ass self and how I will never be able to do that.
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