Winter Strikes Again!

Winter is now in full force in Buffalo. I went cross country skiing with a co-worker on Friday, and enjoyed some spectacular scenery. The topography was varied, with steep embankments, and the 8 to 10 inches of fresh powder with snow continuing to fall made for a spectacular outing. The good thing is that this all counts as training.



I skiid again at a local park near my house on Sunday, averaging about 12:59 per mile for 3.25 miles. Once again, I remind the readers that cross country skiing, especially when blazing your own trails, or when there are any hills, is much slower than running.

I am pondering, though, how running and skiing work together. I've noticed that since I've been skiing more, it seems my running is a bit slower. Today I averaged only 8:29 per mile for a 4-mile run. I felt ok, but I feel like I'm working different muscles. I hope over the course of the winter that the cross training will ultimately have value, and when I start running full-time in the spring, I will have either gained ground or not lost any during the winter.

Regardless of the training benefits, I really enjoy the change of pace, and cross country skiing has always been one of my favorite workouts, especially with scenery as shown in this post.

Mark