Cross country skiing

A good alternative for cycling during the winter is cross country skiing. I did no training except riding my bikes for almost ten years until last year when i stoped trying to be elite. I then tried some running (no fun at all, but very nice to get that tired that easily) and during the winter i skied a lot. I had an average of five training hours each week during the winter, almost exclusively on my cross country skis. My big target was the Vasaloppet wich is the biggest ski race in the world. Almost 16000 people start at the same time and race for 90 k. My goal was to make it under six hours (victory time is around four hours) and I made it in 1801:st spot with a time of 5.45.58. When crossing that finnish line I tought it would be a great challenge to try and make in less then five hours in 2011. Last year I started my ski training around christmas after not using skis for 12 years. Now I have a winter of skiing behind me and I have already started the ski season. This year I'm not in as good shape as I was last year, but now I have the routine!

Look how happy I was this tuesday when I was going to do my first ski session this winter. It was late (9.45 p.m.) and I started working 6 a.m. the following morning so I was only out for 15 minutes. Little training is better then no training! My skis on the picture are from 1982 but works fine for training. I have an other pair of skis as well. Top of the line, of course.

A picture of the crime scene. This is The National Ski Stadium. Or as we call it in Swedish: Riksskidstadion. The world championships will be held here in 2015 and we (Falun) host a world cup every year. So I really have great skiing really close to my home.

Today I had company, it was my friend Christian who is also aiming for Vasaloppet this winter. It was great to have someone to ski with and I pushed my self a lot harder today. Average hart rate of 161 during our 48 minute session and a maximum hart rate of 183.

It was -9 ºC degrees (15.8 ºF) outside this evening and quite windy. Go fast and you will keep warm.