While visiting my parents' in Vermont last summer, my Mom off-handedly mentioned that she would like to try cross-country skiing. I was immediately taken with the idea but it being May there was no snow (even in Vermont) so I had to squirrel away the idea for the coming winter. I arranged for my Mom, Dad, Mike and myself to take a beginner's cross-country ski lesson at the Stowe Mountain Resort the day after Christmas as a present for my Mom.
I've used Hal Higdon's training plans for all my running and he has several articles about cross-country skiing on his website, touting it as an excellent form of cross-training and a great substitute for running in the winter because it is non-impact and similar to running in terms of burning calories. I've been intrigued about this sport for quite some time and was excited to finally give it a try.
The day after Christmas, the four of us headed to Stowe, VT and the base of Mt. Mansfield. We purposely got to the Cross-Country Ski Lodge a bit early so that we could take our time getting our equipment, trying it on and putzing around in the practice yard next to the lodge. As we fumbled around with the skis attached to our feet, slipping on the snow that had been packed down and made slicker than fresh snow by the previous night's rain, we laughed at each other's mishaps and as predicted Mom was the first to fall.
Soon the instructors and another group had joined us out on the practice loop and our lesson had begun. It was easy enough to gain forward motion on the skis but the technique took some time. We practiced skiing without moving, without our poles and finally just dragging out poles along in order to get the correct opposite arm-opposite leg skiing motion. It's funny how putting poles in my hand made that motion so difficult to grasp at first; however, eventually we were all gliding along (if not smoothly and efficiently, we were at least moving forward).
Just as I was getting comfortable with the skis and the poles, the instructor threw in the hills! We had to snow-plow (or "pizza" if you follow South Park) on the way down to fight gravity and slow ourselves down and the herringbone on the way back up in order to get back to the top of the tiny hill. As we got the hang of it, we progressed to a longer hill and finally "graduated" to a steep hill.
I enjoyed the downhill work because you just had to get your legs in the snow-plow position and then hold them there until you got to the end, letting gravity do all the real work but was frustrated by the uphill because my skis were continually hitting each other in the back and getting tangled up. Oddly, this was the exact opposite from Mom, Dad and Mike. Each one struggled to stay upright, let alone, hold the snow-plow position with their skis on the downhill but patiently working their way through the uphill sections.
At the end of the lesson we asked our instructor to suggest an easy beginner trail that we might try since we still had the rental equipment for several more hours. We set off, at the instructor's suggestion, for the Peavey Trail. Evidently my idea of beginner is dramatically different than these people's idea of beginner because we spend more time struggling up the uphills and falling down the downhills (Note: I didn't fall on the downhills, everyone else did…I just couldn't maintain my balance on the flat bits!) than gliding along through the forest enjoying the scenery as I had imagined. This doesn't even take in to account the monstrous hill we had to climb along the power lines just to reach the beginning of the trail!
We made it approximately half to three-quarters of the way on the Peavey Trail as we planned before determining that it was best to turn back. The way back meant more falling for Mike as his legs got tired, some walking the ups and downs while skiing the few flats for Mom and Dad and me tearing it up…but still managing to fall while standing perfectly still waiting for everyone to catch up. We finally made it back to the lodge and ended our cross-country skiing adventure.
Ever since we finished the adventure, even as we complained about the parts we weren't good at all, the parts that caused some pain, I couldn't wait to try it again another day. I've been looking up placed in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia that I could go and get another fix of cross-country skiing.
Merry Christmas Mom!
Today's Daily Dozen:
4.91 run (26 min. run/1 min. walk x 2 intervals)
Circuit Training @ lunch hour
Here are some other pictures from our Vermont trip:
Me, Mike and the Snow:
Snow Angel by Becki:
