XC Skiing (Skate) 50:00 [4]
Time to get the heart rate up, so we headed over to the Canmore Nordic Centre for some skate skiing. I was torn about whether to take a lesson, since I'm determined not to develop too many bad habits with this new sport. In the end, we decided that we wouldn't be skiing too much more this winter, so we might as well just enjoy our day.
We had gone about 100 meters when 'Bent slammed into a hockey stop in front of me - arrgghh! What the...??? Then I realized why he had stopped. Sean Ruppel of Chico Racing had skied past in the opposite direction, and he had also screeched to a halt upon seeing my Caledon Hills Cycling vest. He turned around to join us for a ski. After the first 10 minutes, I tried to get the boys to go on ahead at their higher speed, but it turns out that Sean is an awesome skate skier who is hanging out with national XC team members this week. He insisted that we all stay together, and he gave some excellent pointers to both of us. Nice! I think I've got my poling technique figured out again, but I'm going to be SORE tomorrow.
Note
I picked up a Parks Canada pamphlet on how to avoid problems with cougars. This is for Meridian, of course, since he has repeatedly expressed concern regarding this subject.
XC Skiing (Skate) 1:30:00 [4]
After a lunch break, 'Bent and I headed out to do a longer skate ski. We promised each other that it would be "easy", but I still haven't reached that exalted state where it feels easy for very long. (Although I did remember urthbuoy's discovery about the flat ski.) I'd picked an ambitious loop with some difficult hills, but 'Bent (yes, even 'Bent!) thought it would be too much, so we decided on something the same length, but with a lower difficulty rating. As luck would have it, not all the trails were groomed, so we mistakenly turned at the wrong junction and ended up doing the difficult route anyway. Lots of steep up and down, and we could definitely feel the altitude. I guess when you're doing a sport that makes you go anaerobic pretty easily, it makes quite a difference when some of the oxygen is removed from the air. Anyway, it was fun - in spite of stopping to gasp occasionally - and we felt entitled to eat a huge dinner, including chocolate cake. :-)