I must say.. I am HOOKED on my new favorite sport of the Tundra- Nordic skate skiing!! Or as it is called in French, Ski de fond! This sport combines it all! Hard work, the thrills of constantly working on mastering the technique, conquering a downhill, and boasting the best athletes of any sport with the highest VO2 max... Nordic skate skiers are the fittest people on the planet. The first time I made it up a hill (which running I would have done no problem) on my skate skis, was after I had to stop mid way just to catch my breath. This sport is not easy. The technique is also a necessity. People who you would consider to be 'not as athletic as you' will leave you in their dust if your technique is sub par, it really is amazing how much it plays into it all!
I am actually getting sad that the season is soon to be drawing to a close. In a few short weeks, almost all the snow base will be gone, and my new skis (Simon bought me new skis!) will be put away in the locker downstairs. The exciting thing is, next season- I will be back!
To say I got to have a 'season' on a completely new sport is a slight exaggeration, but for two months I got to practice my technique each Saturday, in preparation for the Gatineau Loppet 29km race two weekends ago. The race was fantastic, I actually did it, and I finished well below my goal time!! I set a 3hr goal time for myself, not knowing what to expect, but come race day, I was ready to go crush that time (and the fast conditions of the snow helped too!) and came in at 2:00:22 4th in my AG and in the 40's overall for Women (including Pros)... and was more aggravated that I missed breaking 2hrs by 22 seconds.. bah. Next year!
Simon had an INCREDIBLE RACE! I saw his wave B start (you start in waves A-E) as I was in E, and after the first turn around into the woods I saw him skiing strong in 3rd position with two other guys about 20 meters in front of the pack. I knew at that point he was going to have a killer race! And killer he did, clocking a 1:23 for 3rd place in his AG & 30 something overall, including Pros! Next year he will definitely start with the A's & I will probably move up to C or D, just to put myself in a better seeding position.
Next year I will also have my brand new skis & poles (not that my skis and poles were bad- but they were 15yr old skis, the camber was almost dead & the aluminum poles were old and too long for me) which will allow me to technically descend down hills much faster, where the previous skis I was using lost most of their edges & was resulting in me having to slow myself down the hills (pizza slice) to keep from wrecking into trees.
I guess it is time to start thinking about warm weather sports again (by May) but it is still too cold to ride outside, so the bike has remained in the bike box since IMAZ & its been too cold to think about going to a pool... so there hasn't been any swimming since IMAZ. Unless you count the swimming I did down in the BVI with a drink in one hand, swimming out to a big raft? No? Ok, maybe I should go swim soon too. :)
And the new skis! :)
