That's what winter triathlon is about. The skating can be on ice or snow. While I like ice, I am even more of a rookie there than on snow. Plus, you know where my heart lies...
Today, in between being lazy, I spread 3 little workouts.
Run : 30mins net, before brunch
Bike : 90mins gross, after late lunch
Skate : 60min messing about after diner
Non of the outings were particularly long or hard, but I'd never actually done them all on the same day. And, I did it all solo, which is a great mental effort for me.
Hopefully tomorrow a friend will feel up to going for an easy bike ride with me.
The things I learned today:
- My outer upper hip muscles really need a lot of strenghening for the skating
- I seem to never ever use my abs while skating. Making a point of that though, gives a great speed boost. I know my abs are weak from being unable to keep up with anyone with situps at the running club. I used to do those to get through a long boring afternoon. Need to pick that back up. Shrug...
- Need to get me good rollerski pole tips, and sharp ones at that.
- Some semi-nice nearby cycling paths and roads for skating with low traffic after dinertime.
My name is Jan Gerrit Klok, call me J. I also go by Cloxxki. This blog will mark my progress as I start from zero. A desperately out-of-shape cyclist aiming to become fitter than ever, but in a sport hardly existing my his home country. My country gets on average one or 2 XC-skiable days per winter. Although that's improving quickly. Goal: someday race XC, and not off the back of the field. And new goal: deliver a good Winter Triathlon (coach wanted).
07 February 2010
06 February 2010
New gear!
I scored an awesome deal on ebay, and it wasn't even an auction!
Adidas Carbon skate boots. Made by Salomon in Romania, basically an RS Carbon with Adidas refinements. EUR65, shipped to my door, including matching overboots. Awesome kit. No-one will ever need better.
Also, after a long legal struggle with a web vendor, I got in the Swedish style skates I bought 2 years ago. I mounted on the the Profil Automatic binding s off a pair of cheap classic skis I shouldn't have bought (luckily little more expensive than their bindings). As it turns out, the Automatics are the not-so stiff variety, due to the campling being spring-powered, not a clamping mechanism.
Anyway, I got it all put together, wore my new Adidas boots, and tried them on the frosen field that is the ice club. I never ice skated worth much, but these skates make it easy! The clap mechanism of the bindings makes all the difference. Such a natural feeling... And, no cold or hurting feet or ankles!
I never even considered long-distance ice skating, but with this setup, it will just be a fun outing, just like an XC trip over fast flat snow, yet faster still. I can do this for hours, in any shape, I think.
When you shop, such swedish skates are just great to have, especially if you already have XC skate boots, of course.
Adidas Carbon skate boots. Made by Salomon in Romania, basically an RS Carbon with Adidas refinements. EUR65, shipped to my door, including matching overboots. Awesome kit. No-one will ever need better.
Also, after a long legal struggle with a web vendor, I got in the Swedish style skates I bought 2 years ago. I mounted on the the Profil Automatic binding s off a pair of cheap classic skis I shouldn't have bought (luckily little more expensive than their bindings). As it turns out, the Automatics are the not-so stiff variety, due to the campling being spring-powered, not a clamping mechanism.
Anyway, I got it all put together, wore my new Adidas boots, and tried them on the frosen field that is the ice club. I never ice skated worth much, but these skates make it easy! The clap mechanism of the bindings makes all the difference. Such a natural feeling... And, no cold or hurting feet or ankles!
I never even considered long-distance ice skating, but with this setup, it will just be a fun outing, just like an XC trip over fast flat snow, yet faster still. I can do this for hours, in any shape, I think.
When you shop, such swedish skates are just great to have, especially if you already have XC skate boots, of course.
Yet a new start, and more counter pressure
Interesting how defensive and even offensive the XC ski community responds to free thinking. People to get more out of their sport, people who dare to differ.
I know many kind and wonderful people in skiing, but all too other they'll think you're weird or even bad for skiing, just because you have a mind of your own.
On the web, they make a point of miss-spelling my nickname to try and ridicule me (I can do that fine myself, thankyouverymuch). If a name is hard to spell, copy-paste it, right? Lack of personal respect can never lend credibility to what you have to say, however heartfelt or well-intended.
OK, about tme then.
I'm back from a week of skiing. The Noords Festival in Reit im Winkl, Germany. Packed with skating tours and lesson, and I even took a classic lesson I sortof enjoyed. It's still not all for me, but at least I know I can sortof make forward progress and at times get my movements roughly in tune. I see it as a change of pace when I want to be out there, but take a break from skating. In weeks such as last week, I can ski until I drop, just too good to be out there. Next day can be a bit hard then.
In the races I didn't fare as well as I'd hoped. Not that I was all prep'd and fit for it, not at all. I just hoped my improved technique owuld get me to the finish line somewhat quickly. Turns out, I lack muscle endurance to stand up steadily, let alone ski properly, when I attempt race speed. The 7.5km skate race felt like a marathon after a beer drinking session. Not that I've ever tried that.
The sprint races were pretty fun, just the soft fresh snow doesn't exactly favor my stature and overweight. Again, it was fun anyway.
The 20km skate "marathon" was really tough on me. More soft snow, and lots falling as we struggled alone. My skis sank way deep each half-stride, where I saw lighter built racers just glide along, which made me quite jealous. I was skiing non-stop (after for some breathers on the big hill) for 93 minutes though, a new first.
Now home, I trying again to pick up my training. Just finish a pre-lunch jog, after having attended the 2 track practices already this week. It feels good, in the tiring way. Planning to get a bike ride in this afternoon, and some skating (slow inlines and poles) tonight. Tomorrow more cycling. Unique for me, but it will need to become normal. Thursday I rode my bike to work as usual, just with a 50km+ detour to pick up something in The Hague. You don't know how out of shape yo are, until you do something that used to be almost daily routine. Yep, very much out of shape. Still, it felt good in the degrading kind of way. Reason more to get fit.
Although I'm no Lars Berger nor will I ever be, I am satisfied with my skating progress on snow. I've found (outside the racing that is) some better balance, and my climbing seems to be quicker and more efficient. I learned for the first time to make a side slip at (some) speed without long snowplowing first.
I still suck at pretty much everything but straight line flatland skiing. Turns, downhilling, bad side poling, etc. Quite content on my freeskating efficiency though, I found myself just leaving the poles hanging in the air, relaxed following other that were poling their way forward, even on steep hills. That suits me well, as I'm all-legs anyway, and they're certainly more used to intensity sports. My long twiggs for arms will need serious weight lifting to put any real pressure on the poles. My abs barely give me a sit-up, let alone an abs workout. No idea how that has gone so bad, pushups never went away as badly.
I know many kind and wonderful people in skiing, but all too other they'll think you're weird or even bad for skiing, just because you have a mind of your own.
On the web, they make a point of miss-spelling my nickname to try and ridicule me (I can do that fine myself, thankyouverymuch). If a name is hard to spell, copy-paste it, right? Lack of personal respect can never lend credibility to what you have to say, however heartfelt or well-intended.
OK, about tme then.
I'm back from a week of skiing. The Noords Festival in Reit im Winkl, Germany. Packed with skating tours and lesson, and I even took a classic lesson I sortof enjoyed. It's still not all for me, but at least I know I can sortof make forward progress and at times get my movements roughly in tune. I see it as a change of pace when I want to be out there, but take a break from skating. In weeks such as last week, I can ski until I drop, just too good to be out there. Next day can be a bit hard then.
In the races I didn't fare as well as I'd hoped. Not that I was all prep'd and fit for it, not at all. I just hoped my improved technique owuld get me to the finish line somewhat quickly. Turns out, I lack muscle endurance to stand up steadily, let alone ski properly, when I attempt race speed. The 7.5km skate race felt like a marathon after a beer drinking session. Not that I've ever tried that.
The sprint races were pretty fun, just the soft fresh snow doesn't exactly favor my stature and overweight. Again, it was fun anyway.
The 20km skate "marathon" was really tough on me. More soft snow, and lots falling as we struggled alone. My skis sank way deep each half-stride, where I saw lighter built racers just glide along, which made me quite jealous. I was skiing non-stop (after for some breathers on the big hill) for 93 minutes though, a new first.
Now home, I trying again to pick up my training. Just finish a pre-lunch jog, after having attended the 2 track practices already this week. It feels good, in the tiring way. Planning to get a bike ride in this afternoon, and some skating (slow inlines and poles) tonight. Tomorrow more cycling. Unique for me, but it will need to become normal. Thursday I rode my bike to work as usual, just with a 50km+ detour to pick up something in The Hague. You don't know how out of shape yo are, until you do something that used to be almost daily routine. Yep, very much out of shape. Still, it felt good in the degrading kind of way. Reason more to get fit.
Although I'm no Lars Berger nor will I ever be, I am satisfied with my skating progress on snow. I've found (outside the racing that is) some better balance, and my climbing seems to be quicker and more efficient. I learned for the first time to make a side slip at (some) speed without long snowplowing first.
I still suck at pretty much everything but straight line flatland skiing. Turns, downhilling, bad side poling, etc. Quite content on my freeskating efficiency though, I found myself just leaving the poles hanging in the air, relaxed following other that were poling their way forward, even on steep hills. That suits me well, as I'm all-legs anyway, and they're certainly more used to intensity sports. My long twiggs for arms will need serious weight lifting to put any real pressure on the poles. My abs barely give me a sit-up, let alone an abs workout. No idea how that has gone so bad, pushups never went away as badly.
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