Even though it had been four days without skiing, I decided to go for a run with my Saturday morning group. I guess I missed them more than I missed skiing. I ended up with a nice 12 miler around the lakes – and 39 miles for the week.
Sunday started a nice string of skiing; 32K on Sunday, 13K on Monday and 16K today. I’m feeling a lot better about my Birkie prep after that 32K outing. But I do need to keep in mind that I still have another 18K to go. If I were training for a marathon and my long run was a comparable 16-17 miles, five weeks from the race, I’d be a little – okay, a lot – freaked out. But the long skis don’t beat you up like the long runs, so I think I can still get in at least 3 more of them. And I don’t know anything about tapering for a 50K ski race, but intuitively, I think the “normal” 3 week taper I do for a marathon would be too long. We’ll see… one month from tomorrow!
Quote of the Day;
“I'm already worried about the snow next year.” – Scott LaFrenz
5 comments:
One week taper from a non-skier. The extra time you can fit in skiing will probably be beneficial.
Double
My experience with tapering for a 50k ski race (Noquemenon, this Saturday) is to start about 10 days before the race. I ski about as often, but shorter, with some brief higher intensity stretches mixed in. Of course, I haven't really tried any other method. But I've always felt good on race day. My longest ski is usually about 40k. I always wish for a couple of longer ones, but it's hard to make the time for 3+ hours of skiing.
I was kind of thinking 7-10 days would be ideal.
Adam, do you run much during the ski season? I ran 39 miles last week when it was cold. Now this week I haven't run a step because the skiing is so nice.
In November - December, I was averaging around 30 miles / week on 4 runs, vs. closer to 40 in the spring/summer. In January, skiing takes precedence, but I usually end up getting in 2-4 shorter runs, and usually one of them has some kind of intensity to keep the foot speed (or at least the memory of foot speed) intact.
I think that next winter I'm going to experiment with more skiing (roller/snow) and less running starting in October. I'd like to see if a more dedicated approach to the ski season makes a difference. My fear is that if I let my running lapse too much that won't come back. I know that's irrational.
Adam, good info. Thanks for sharing.
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