Laughs
My nephew Till and son Wolf decided to sign up for a cross-country marathon race three days ago. Prior to this, neither of them have ever been on cross-country skis before. This real-time blog documents their efforts to get ready for the 53rd Engadin Ski Marathon in just 10 days.
- Related: From Zero to Hero, a Real Time Experiment: Can You Train For a Ski Marathon in 10 Days? — Day 1
Day 3: The Folly of Youth
Becoming increasingly confident after yesterday’s strong 10 miles training, Till decided to set off on a longer training ski. He admittedly thought he was about to embark on a 15-mile-loop, but it was further than anticipated and it ended up being a 19-mile-loop.
Wolf, whose training thus far had consisted of a leisurely few laps of the beginner’s track, tagged along but did not quite know what he was in for. He decided to turn around a bit sooner than Till. He did still manage to rack up an impressive 16 miles on his first proper training day. On the flip side, he spent the remainder of the afternoon in the bathtub, soaking his sore legs in Epsom salts.
Till meanwhile was contemplating his bruised hip and wondering how he can stop himself from continuously pole-planting between the skis going forward to keep it from growing.
Day 3: Training Summary
Till:
Distance: 19 miles (30.24 km)
Pace: 6:44 Minute/Mile (4:20 Minute/km)
Wolf:
Distance: 16 miles (26.7 km)
Pace: 8:04 Minute/Mile (5:48 Minute/km)
Elevation Gain: 299ft (91m)
Damage: increasingly bruised hip for Till, sore legs for Wolf
Lessons learned: maybe don’t pole plant inside of the ski (Till) and maybe you need to slowly build up your stamina (Wolf)
