Thursday, November 20, 2008

GOOD RUN SPOILED

Mark Twain once said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” Last night I found my running equivalent, “Hiking is a good run spoiled.”

I finally got around to going to one of these x-c ski classes that I’ve mentioned. The class is basically October – February. They roller ski until it gets too dark, then they switch to dry-land training like hiking and bounding drills until the snow finally arrives. During last night’s hike, I spent the whole time thinking about running. I mean, wouldn’t it be better for your fitness to run, rather than hike? Not to mention, I would have stayed a heck of a lot warmer by running.

After our hike we sprinted up about a 10-second hill, twice. I was thinking what someone else said, “Is that it?” From there they moved onto bounding drills, while I ran to my car. It was just one of those things that you realize right away isn’t what your looking for – especially when I factor in the drive time and time away from my family. Maybe once we got some snow and they’re able to provide some skiing pointers, it’d be worth it. But as far as getting the most bang for my buck (and time), this wasn’t the best option.

Quote of the day;

“One tiny area of pain had been added to another until a vast catalog of discomfort had been logged.” – Mike Plant, author of Iron Will

3 comments:

Evan Roberts said...

Depends on your definition of hiking :)

I think of hiking as overnight out in the forest, but wandering round a grassy ski trail within the metro area to be merely "walking".

Adam said...

I have to admit that the only non-snow ski training I ever do is roller skiing. When people have asked me to go hill bounding or something like that, I can never rationalize doing that instead of just running.

Chad said...

Evan, yeah if I was hiking all over New Zealand, I'd be totally stoked.

Adam, I'm glad to hear you say that. Now I won't worry about it.