Gliding? I think you mean falling.

Hi all.

So... I have been asking/hinting to my husband about getting some cross country skis. I mean, we live in Nebraska, fairly flat over all with our town having some rolling hills, a couple of nice trails, and a great city park system . No mountains for sure, no good rivers (the Platte and Missouri don't count), no oceans (obviously), and no places to climb. There is just not much in the way of fun outdoor stuff. We create our own. We get to 100+º in the summer and the wind chill can be -25º in the winter. Quite the range. Anywho, he said that it was too much to spend on something I would only be able to do a couple times of year. I sadly agreed. But... last night at one of the high school basketball games, a couple from our church offered to give us their super OLD (circa 1970) sets. Just as luck would have it, we also got 4-6 more inches of snow last night. I picked the skis up today and yeah, they are antiques, but I freakin love them. Tried them out today. Pretty sure I fell about 10 times but I had a great time.

My questions for anyone who knows diddly squat about XC skiing are...

#1. Are the newer boots more comfortable? I felt like I was standing directly on concrete blocks.

#2. Should I feel like my ankle is going to roll out constantly?

#3. How much snow and what kind of snow is best to ski in? I found that when I backtracked over a place that I had already skied I felt way more coordinated.

#4. How have the new skis, boots, and bindings changed?

I am an average downhill skier but this was a totally different ball game and I love it. I have to admit, though, I miss going super fast on those downhills. =0)

Later

Winter Storm Warning: Your abs are in danger!

Hi all. So I was wondering... if you have to scoop off your driveway more than 2 times in one day and you tighten your abs while you are shoveling... can that be considered a core workout?

It started snowing last night and has been off and on all day long. The winter storm watch lasts until tomorrow morning. Hoping for a run about 6:00 am before the snow stops falling. I just love running in the elements. A much better adventure as I may have said before.

Still working out my race schedule for 2007. Need to hurry up so that I can figure out when to start building and doing intervals. No hurry there though, probably going to be in base training for a bit longer.

On another note, I was complaining about not being sore after lifting weights and my husband suggested dropping back the weight and doing 5 sets of 15 reps for everything. No more complaining about not being sore, I can tell you that. That is the last time I ask an ex-powerlifter to help modify my workouts! Just kidding, he is fantastic, I think I'll hang on to him. Speaking of, his birthday was yesterday and the dogs were very excited to give him their gifts. Each puppy proudly presented him with a 45 lb plate for his weight room in the basement. =0)

Keep on keeping on.

Winter Triathlon Camp

What a fabulous weekend it was. I spent 13 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday talking about and doing triathlon related activities. It doesn't get any better than that, does it?

I was one of 16 "campers" in a triathlon camp put on by Gary Bredehoft, CSCS from Tiger Coaching & Personal Training. His website is www.tigercoaching.com. He is a personal coach and trainer based out of Lincoln, Nebraska and he was full of good triathlon specific information as he has completed at least 4 IM races, including Kona.

We did video analysis of our swim (underwater) and run, ran intervals, listened to seminars and got tips on bike fit and maintenance, nutrition, training schedule, workout logs, core strengthening, injury prevention, transition, open water swimming, and on and on. It was really good although I am so sore today that I could hardly get up and down off the floor to work with my kiddos.

Three major things I took away from camp...

#1. A new philosophy on running style: I am working on a higher cadence, faster arms, and a shorter stride. The key to this is keeping the foot strike below the body, not ahead, and landing on the midfoot or forefoot, never the heel. I must be doing something right because all the right muscle groups are sore, specifically hip flexors and calves.

#2. I can definitely eat more calories, I always like to hear that.

#3. I should invest in a tri bike. I can rationalize this by reminding myself that with every change you make to a road bike to make it more like a tri bike you decrease the ease of handling and stability. So since I have fliped the seat post and stem, added aero bars, changed the seat angle and slid it forward, I am now basically riding over the front wheel rather than the back. Yay, lots of dreaming about a new bike.

Anyway, lots of things to think about. Best of all, camp really got me psyched about the upcoming season. I am working on my race schedule as I continue with base training. I am so pumped up!

-keep on moving forward -

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Well, we spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home which made it all the easier to jump out of bed on the 1st and go for a run with our dogs. Ice and snow made it more of an adventure. I will take that kind of running any day. Much more like the trail running I wish I could be doing more of.

We also took the pups sledding. They seemed to enjoy running up and down the hill as much or more as actually riding with us on the sled.

By writing this blog, I am hoping to be able to keep you all motivated while I consider the possibility of a HIM in the next year and a half. The one I have had my eye on is the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) HIM in San Diego, less of a "race" and more of a for-fun event.

So, again, Happy New Year to all and looking forward to 2007.