I've decided to start a new log.

Link to old log

The old one was good, but I don't really think it fits me anymore. I'm no longer a fat guy just looking to lose weight. I might actually be a *gasp* endurance athlete. It just started to sink in this past fall. This might really be who I am.

My problem is, I'm really good at doing things for an extended period of time at a "comfortable" pace. My pace puts me outside of the "elite" range for my given sport (Marathon Canoe Racing). I understand that my accomplishments (two ultra marathons completed) put me on a different level from someone running the occasional 5k, but I still don't "feel" like a high level endurance athlete. My two ultra finishes are the equivalent of someone finishing the Ironman World Championships just under the 17 hour limit.

I'm the guy that can get to the end, collect the finishers jacket, and say he's an endurance athlete. I guess.

I didn't take last year very serious at all. I trained, but I went through to motions most days. My weight crept up to 165, and as an endurance athlete, weight is speed. My mobility suffered, things have started to hurt more, and I have a neck problem.

2017, new year, new start right?

So, I'm going back to logging calories, even though I'm within the range of where I'd like to be for weight (150-165).

I'm changing my training approach, and upping the intensity. To hell with slow and steady. I want to go fast. Can't go fast if you train slow. I understand you can't set a new PR every day. But if I'm not sweating hard, I'm not happy.

I'm also taking some time off from the canoe. Probably two months minimum. Maybe 3. I last paddled on November 27th. In the mean time, I've started Cross Country skiing (classical not skate). I did it a little bit as a kid, but then hadn't touched ski's up until January of 2015. The last couple winters I've kind of did it for fun. This year, I'm doing it as a serious way to train, and change my approach to training.

My goal is to a do a few races this winter, assuming I can get my speed and technique where it needs to be. Classical XC skiing is highly technical, and...simply put, I don't have any training on going fast. Lucky for me, I've got a friend that used to be serious skier in his youth to help me. I'm still slow, but I'm getting faster.

1/1/17

No calories logged, it's NY day bitches.

5k loop hard/fast with another 2k cool down.

This is my first year on kick wax skis, so it's been a learning process. I haven't hit my wax properly at all this winter, up until yesterday. And I didn't want to puke from being out of shape. Slowly, I've been pushing harder and harder. Hit the kick wax reasonably well, and put a new PR on the board of 28:05, which is still ungodly slow.

Mile splits were
1.) 8:55
2.) 9:35
3.) 9:00

I really want to be sub 8 minutes on all of them. Yesterday I thought I was going to puke about half way through, but pushed through. There's more speed to go. I can push it harder and not die.

There's a Strava segment on a portion of loop, mainly dominated by Skate skiers. Skate skiers are 20% (roughly speaking) faster than Classical's. I'm sitting at 31st of 60. My goal is top 20.

1/2/17
110 calories bagel thin dry
90 calories granola bar
140 calories soup
100 calories trail mix
1000 calories dinner
1440 calories total

(dinner was breakfast scramble, 3 potatoes @330, 10 eggs @1000, 1 Tbsp butter @100, 1 pound of bacon @2380 = 3810. Split four ways plus we threw away about 1/5 of the pan)

Exercise Stretch session(off day)
Skied hard the last three days in a row. Today is a rest day, but will still involve 45 minutes of stretching.

Good luck. I'm taking a foray into endurance racing and have started a log. First big event being the Bataan Death March. After that I may try to hit a Spartan or maybe an ultra.

I've been listening to OCR podcasts. In one they talked about cross country sking and how it's amazing training.

26 mile march across the desert. That looks wicked. The heat would get me.

XC skiing is incredible training. Your best paddlers tend to be some of your top skiers. It's a wicked cardio session to do at a high level. Not to mention the core stability and back/shoulders aspect.

1/3/17
110 calories bagel thin dry
100 calories string cheese
500 calories salad (chicken breast lettuce carrots italian dressing)
100 calories trail mix
1000 calories dinner (baked pasta/lean ground beef, cheese, sauce)
-----
1810 total

Rained here, 36 degrees. Stayed off the trails. Switched my speed day with my body weight strength day.

2 sets of each of the following:

20 push ups
30 sit ups
25 Dips
20 Frog Jumps

Supposed to start snowing sometime tonight, with a little luck, back on the trails tomorrow.

1/4/17

30 minute ski tonight. Ouch. It was warm and rainy, then the temperature dropped and everything froze, combined with a couple inches of blowing snow where I ski. My training partner was fine skate skiing, but for me to classic, the track was a train wreck. I haven't fallen as many times in the past two years combined as I fell tonight.

Everything hurts.

I think I might have missed my wax slightly as well. Probably time to redo my glide wax.

Our pace was fine, even considering all the falls and the generally poor conditions.

110 calories bagel thin
100 calories string cheese
140 calories soup
100 calories trail mix
90 calories granola bar
100 calories Gu Packet (pre ski)
700 calories dinner (2 small thin pork chops, brocolli, small serving potato)
-----
1340 calories total

1/5/17
110 calories bagel thin
100 calories string cheese
60 calories sports drink
200 calories trail mix
300 calories salad
90 calories granola bar
600 calories soup (two bowls, the entire soup was 3 small chicken breasts, a whole pack of noodles @880 cal, some carrots, celery, chicken soup base, garlic, parsley. There's a ton of soup left even after the whole family ate)
----
1460 calories

Skied 4 miles tonight at a state park, no grooming done, lots of snow. The track was not great most of the time, and non-existent at others. Thin skis were not the correct choice. Should have probably had my Back Country skis, but oh well.

Interviewed for a promotion today. Not sure that I like the way that it went. Oh well, such is life. Suck it up buttercup. Blah blah blah.

Weight is disappearing. Life is good.

Gl with the promotion. No idea how you're doing the workouts you're doing on those poverty calories; seems a little carb heavy for my taste, but I suppose you need it for the workouts you do?

Yeah, I need a more carb heavy intake for the training. I'm still not eating as many as I should be. The Gu packet right before heading out helps, but by last nights session I was extremely flat.

Really I need to make up my mind and decide if I want to ski serious to race, or am just using it as a fun way to lose weight. I can't train on a deficit and expect good results.

Subscribing. It's good to see more cardiotards in this forum rather than just dudes picking heavy **** up!

Do you have any specific training plan in place or are you just kinda winging it? I see you're looking at putting more intense workouts in, and I think that's a good thing. Nothing but long, slow plodding just makes you good at plodding over long distances. I imagine that the low impact sports you're doing make it relatively easy to put these regular hard sessions in without the risk of injury that you'd have if I did that as a runner.

#Cardiotards

Right now I'm just kind of winging it. Next year I'd like to start earlier and prep for the Birkie using this programming.

http://www.birkie.com/live/training-.../train-to-ski/

I've did nothing but long, slow plodding the last few years of paddling and skiing, so to try to go out and move for speed is quite the trip on skis. Cross Country skiing on waxless ski's at a slow shuffle is easy. Trying to master the proper technique to move efficiently and fast is a completely different ballgame.

Most people Skate Ski now. I really want to learn how to Classical fast.

As for my paddling, when that season kicks off, no specific programming there either. Normally though it's roughly this.

Sprints Wednesday at the lake
1-3 Up/Down (paddle up river and back down or vice versa) sessions 1-2 hours each
1 long day 4-6 hours on either a Sat/Sun.

When I first started paddling, I had no one to really ask or learn from, so we just started going out and paddling long and slow.

The next year, I hooked up with a more experienced partner, but he was of the long/slow mindset.

Last season I pretty much did my own thing, but didn't train very hard or effectively at all when I was in the boat. Comfortable pace.

This season I'm planning on trying emulate the top paddlers. Either steady hard non-stop, or steady easy followed by bursts of pure sprint.

The only way to get faster is to train faster.

In regards to injury, yes and no. Skiing is very low impact, assuming you stay upright. Paddling, even though low impact, can wear you out. There's a risk of repetitive stress injuries to the joints and tissue. I did 6 weeks of physical therapy last year trying to fix a couple issues. Most guys have back or shoulder problems develop.

1/6 Rest day (6 hour relay event tomorrow where I'll probably ski 15-28k on a very hilly course)

The usual everything during the day (soup for lunch)
320 calories chips
???? calories homemade bacon mac n cheese

I really think I need to start tracking my macros, or at least my carb intake. Talked to a few people today and they said 3-4.5 grams per lb so 480-720 grams. That's a truckload more than what I'm currently eating, at a glance.

1/7

Calorie Intake- No freaking idea.

Ski'ed in a 3 person team relay event today. First two hours were 4.19 mile loop. Next two hours were 3.37 loop. Last two hours were 2.88 mile loop.

We did 12 laps total, so 13.32 miles total per person (1 loop on each of the first two rotations then 2 loops each on the last).

I feel like J E L L O, but now I know what I need to work on. My kick wax was awful until the last lap I did. My glide wax was just bad the whole day.

It was a freestyle event, so the majority of the skiers were doing Skate skiing. I was one of, if not the only male doing classic the whole event. Skating is definitely faster, but I still have this grand vision of diagonally striding gracefully across the terrain.

I'm just a touch slower than what I want to be on gentle climbs, but not bad. It will come. The 12k race I want to in 5 weeks is at this course, and I really wanted to get a look at it, and look at my metrics.

It's hard to focus on my stride technique when I have a back and upper body that's used to propelling me in the canoe. On the very last lap, a world class paddler (this guy was in the olympics back when distance racing was a thing) double poled by me and told me just to use my paddling muscles.

Sure I could go out there on Skate Skis (all glide no kick zone) and double pole the entire course. But what fun is that?

In-laws family christmas yesterday.

Went off the rails.

All my progress for the week went away in one glorious day of eating.

Don't care. Or maybe I do. I'm not sure yet.

1/9 Morning weight

165.0

Subscribed, interesting log.
You might be interested in the book racing weight by Matt Fitzgerald.

Very good book. I understand the majority of what he says, but implementation is a different beast. Actually might buy the recipe book, even though I'm anti-cookbook in general.

1/9/17

The usual daytime food, with a special kicker at the end. A little thing of strawberries. No bagel to start the day.

Hit the strawberries about an hour before the trails. The trails were absolutely beautiful tonight, temperature 21 degrees. Really need to redo the glide wax on the skis, but haven't had time, so I slapped on some TF90 paste wax along with Toko Red kick wax.

And moved like a freaking boss. Another minute came off the 5k loop time, and I think there was another minute or two in the tank pretty easy. It's time to start putting the focus on my pole work and arm drive. I can propel myself better with a huge kick double pole then I can with just a stride.

Last night's beer of choice was a Perrin Gold, which is an ok Ale. My mom bought me a ton of Michigan beer for Christmas, and this was in there. So, I drink it. 12 oz can, pretty unremarkable beer. At times it has a sweet/honey taste to me, other times it's hops. 2.9 stars out of 5.

I'm trying to figure out my wax situation for the week.

projected high/low for the next five days
1/10 40/21
1/11 35/20
1/12 24/9
1/13 16/3
1/14 25/11

I'm currently using Rex Glide wax, because it came with the kit that I bought.

My wax choices are as follows:

Red 39 - 32
Purple 35 - 25
Blue 30 - 14
Green 17.5 - -4

If I ski tomorrow (depending on how hard it's raining when I get out of work), I'll probably take my Crowns and not my good skis. The wax will be off (I think these have blue on them), but I don't really care.

I think I'm going to Blue on my good skis. Should cover a wide enough spectrum. I think this is why Blue is the most widely used wax in the game.

1/10- Indoor strength day. Rained outside, really messed things up

1/11- Skied at a state park that I like. Knew I made a decision when things weren't groomed and I was breaking fresh trail. Didn't care. 45 minutes of relaxation out in the woods was much needed.

I need to fast either tonight or tomorrow night to have my annual blood work drawn. If things go well, hopefully my cholesterol is still down in the normal range. When I first started this journey as a fat bastard, they told me that I needed to start on the drugs asap. I refused, and slowly brought my numbers down. Last year about this time, I was able to celebrate the "normal" range, completely drug free.

I'm having some serious neck and back issues right now though. Driving or sitting at a desk and typing is very painful. I'm not taking 6 weeks of physical therapy as the answer. This time I'd like X-rays/MRI to know what is actually happening.

Ski's are getting re-done BLUE for tomorrow/Saturday's ski.

1/12

Weight looked fine this morning, was on a 12 hour fast so that I could have my annual lab work done. Celebrated with a sausage biscuit and hash browns for breakfast after.

Ski'ed my timed 5k loop tonight with the same exact time as on Monday. Pretty unsatisfying. Went out 11 seconds faster the first mile, 6 seconds faster the second, and then gave the time back when I fell in the third.

Didn't kick double pole at all. Was slow as hell on my climbs. Just felt like ****. Plus I don't ski very well in the dark.

Still, to peel a little time off those first two miles felt good I guess.

Plus I moved up the Strava leaderboard one more spot on the segment (the middle 2 miles of this loop).

Tomorrow if I get a chance to ski, I'll shorten the kick zone/wax pocket on my skis and try it again.

1/13 off
1/14 Long slow day



Changed my wax pattern slightly, attempting to maximize my glide. It worked great. Until I got to mile 6, a section called "rolling hills", my kick wax was thin and spent, my legs on fire, and I had to climb.

The other change I made today was going to shorter poles. Busted out my wife's 150cm poles, and left my 162's in the car. Actually really liked the shorter pole, and will probably go to a similar length. My stride was smooth, my glide ok.

I enjoy reading this log, but I have no clue what is going on

At some point can you do a little primer for non-skiers?

Also can you link me to your Strava please? PM me if you don't want to out it here. There is a Strava group of a few of us from this forum so can add you to there if you'd like.

Absolutely!

In traditional cross country skiing, there are three basic techniques.

1.) Diagonal Stride- Think, about walking at a fast pace, how your arms and legs move. Now strap ski's on your feet. It's the simplest technique in the sport. Yesterday, there were people on the trails ranging from very young (took my son out for a night ski last night, and he's 6. This is his second year on snow) to very old (on nice days, you'll always find a few 70-80 year old's out striding and gliding).

It's actually very complex to do perfectly, but to do it on a basic level, you just shuffle along. It's great for slight uphill inclines and lower speeds, but at an advanced level you can only go so fast on the flats or on the downhill sections.

2.) Double Pole- Picture both ski's side by side, no "kick" motion in the legs. The upper body and core drive the poles down in to the snow propelling you forward. This seems to be the fastest technique, but is incredibly physically demanding to do for 10-20k. There's also little nuances involved that get the ski's to float and glide depending. Very fast downhill technique.

3.) Kick Double Pole- An "in-between" technique that combines both of the above. Perfect for slight declines and flat areas. Allows faster speeds then the diagonal stride, but without the heavy energy usage of just double poling.

Link to good videos on how to do all three


Waxing is a completely different beast. The wax that is on your ski's affects your glide. If you apply the proper wax, your drag is near zero, and you just fly along. If you apply the wrong wax, your skis drag and you expend tons of energy moving very slowly.

Last weekend, the temperature at the relay race we did was -2F to start the day, and 10F at the end. Different waxes are good for different temperature ranges. Someone that skies once or twice a year just slaps a universal wax on and doesn't care. The really high level people are using multiple layers, and blending together different waxes and additives to optimize speed and glide.

To further complicate things, some classical skies have areas to apply kick or grip wax. Same thing as above, if you have the wrong one on the ski, you either have too much grip (and drag) or not enough grip depending.

1/16
Morning weight 163.9
I seem to take it off heavy during the week and then balloon back up with Sunday food. Not that I'm overly worried about the weight, but it still makes me feel better that the scale clicked in my direction a little this time.

Went out and did the middle loop at the place I first started skiing at. I won a bet on this loop last year, 5.2 miles, I had to do it in under an hour. Mind you, I really wasn't a skier last year. It was just something I did to get outside. When I did it on 2/15 last year, I did it in 58 minutes, which was all I had to do, break 60 minutes.

Tonight I went out to the same loop, with the same ski's. 46:09 for 5.2 miles. I was pretty happy with it, even though I fell a couple times, and didn't climb nearly as well as I'd have liked to. The real challenge now is to see if I can get that down even more in the next month or so.

Thanks for the explanation, makes a lot more sense now!

1/23
Morning weight 160.9

I've been lax in logging, mainly because from a classical skiing standpoint, last week sucked. The weather here has been above freezing for the past week, causing a lot of the trail surfaces to turn to mush. I ski'ed two days up in the Sault, one day on my Crown's (waxless grip skis), the other on my regular skis. The day I was out on my Crown's, they had the wrong glide wax on, and didn't move very well. The next day I took the regular skis with proper wax on them, and the glided extremely well. But sucked balls in the grip department. When the air stays above freezing, the top layer of the trail either turns to mush or ice. Either way, it's very difficult to find traction or grip for your kick motion.

Saturday I ski'ed 20k with a friend on Crown's. It was a fun, leisurely pace, no where near race training.

Yesterday was a 5k outing with my kids. Once again, no where near a race pace.

After yesterday's ski, we demo'ed skate skis. Holy **** batman, this is a completely different game. The leg motion is like ice skating. The foot motion is completely different. I'm still not completely sure that I understand it, but I understand that in order to better master my classic style, I need to learn skate style.

My wife, on the other hand, quickly picked up skating. So much so that I think I'm going to buy her a set of skate ski's this week to continue to learn and develop on.

I also ordered a set of race ski's. What I'm on now would be classified the highest end/fastest performance touring ski. One of the big online retailers just marked their Madshus Redline Carbon Classic's down, so I couldn't pass it up. Gives me a full blown race ski at a touring price.