Saturday, January 9, 2010

Zermatt Day 2

Workout of the Day

Ski forever…

Oh my aching legs. Today was humbling to say the least. Initially, just staying on my feet was enough of a challenge, so the fact that I was wasn’t falling every third turn was a victory in itself. But then, as my confidence grew and my cousin’s patience for my slow pace inevitably waned, we started hitting the hills pretty aggressively. This meant steep, icy snow, zero visibility (snowing all day), and lots of gravity pulling us downwards. The end result? My quads were practically cramping by midday. To be fair, this was as much fun as I have had in a while, but I was fighting the mountain. Even as my technique improved and I started to remember how to efficiently do this, I was still wearing out my legs. It was a little discouraging to discover that all the lower body strength and conditioning work I do does nothing to prepare my body to slide down a hill on sticks. I’m actually dreading tomorrow morning’s soreness.

All this aside, 7 plus hours of hard downhill skiing is a workout by anyone’s standards, and I will sleep well. Tomorrow we’re heading to the Matterhorn to ski the glacier and dip into Italy for a bit. There’s a rumor circulating my hotel room that an old stone church is sitting up on top of the mountain, just waiting to be explored. Here’s hoping I have the strength to stand…

2 comments:

  1. wow. what a day. hope you are able to walk, let alone ski, tomorrow. Remember the "apres" ski stretching.

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  2. A full days skiing is only considered recreation by the ones who have not done it themselves! Everyone else knows that it is grueling work... even if it is fun!
    //Mads

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