Can I sub XC skiing for running? (Sometimes) | Uphill Athlete

Can I sub XC skiing for running? (Sometimes)

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #37546
    kmjunge
    Participant

    I’m scheduled for a long-ish run today but it has snowed about a foot over the last few days. I did a backcountry xc ski yesterday instead of running and I’m considering something like that again today in place of my long run. Am I short changing my training if I (classic) xc ski rather than post-hole for 8 miles? Would snowshoeing be a better alternative?

    I’m near the end of a long 15 week transition period and I’m about to start increasing miles for the base period of the beginner 50k training plan. My longest run so far has been around 9 miles plus I’ve been sick a couple of weeks. At this point I’m beginning to be concerned that I haven’t put enough long runs in my legs and that a large bump in mileage in the next few weeks may put me at a higher risk of injury.

    Last year I trained up for a 21 mile race but my quick increase in mileage gave me some knee pain. Trying to avoid that this year.

  • Inactive
    Anonymous on #37547

    I don’t see with a problem with it. All things considered, the XC seems like a better choice.

    Participant
    ajpartanen on #46213

    Hi, as the winter and snow are looming here in Finland, I was thinking same as the original poster. Hoping to change some of the running (my objectives are in (hopefully) next summers trail run competitions (30-50km)) to cross country skiing.
    I was thinking as skiing uses more arms and all the limbs are moving so should I do AeT and AnT tests by skiing?

    Participant
    Aaron on #46221

    I’d choose xc classic over snow shoe if the goal is running cross over. I do like snow shoeing for ski touring training esp if breaking trail in steeper terrain. Actually, I find snow shoeing a nice occasional alt for training as it can be more accessible, safe alone (rel to solo ski touring) and can open up some fun low elevation winter exploration to valley features often obscured by summer bushwacking.

    Participant
    rich.b on #46238

    Another solution is to go for your ski – get the fun and training time in – and tack on a short run directly afterwards.

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