My wife Paula cringes every time she catches a glimpse of my bruised hips. Then she remembered that our son Tim used to wear padded undershorts when he played Rugby. Maybe there are shorts I could wear to avoid getting bruised from falling.

Yes, and maybe my ski team nickname could be Lumpy Butt.

However, she found a pair of sliding shorts made for baseball players to protect their legs and hips when sliding into second base. The pads are only about a quarter inch thick - just enough to give me some protection but not enough to cause an unsightly panty line.

I asked coach Dave if XC skiers wear these kinds of shorts and he said no. “But if you find a pair let me know!” He added. I guess I’m not the only one with this problem.
Thank goodness we have this weekend off from training in the snow to help my bruises heal. Alternating between a heating pad and an ice pack for 15 minutes each a couple times a day helps a little.

But I can’t quit now! These new shorts will help me keep going when I get back to the snow.

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After a grueling day of team training, time trials and falling in the snow at Tahoe Donner I got “back on the horse” Sunday morning and went skiing again. Because we stayed overnight at a cabin made generously available by one of the coach’s cousins it was easy to get back to Tahoe Donner just a few miles away. Either that or I’m just a skiing fool.

I did much better skiing Lion’s Leap and other trails for a total of about 5 km. Was it the pasta dinner the night before? The acclimation to the altitude after another night in the mountains? Probably a combination along with making it a more relaxed run.

On the way home we stopped at a small barbecue restaurant with the unusual name of Drooling Dog Bar BQ just off Interstate 80 in Colfax. I had a brisket sandwich and my carpool teammate M’Lis had the combination plate. The food was great and provided a good amount of both carbs and protein to recover from a second day of skiing.

M’Lis got some food to-go to give to the person that was dog-sitting her pet. And I bet her dog was drooling when she got there.

I hereby declare Drooling Dog Bar BQ the unofficial pit stop on I-80 for the Team in Training Cross Country Ski Team when traveling to/from training in the Lake Tahoe area.

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After our training at Bear Valley last week I noticed new muscles hurting – on both sides of my hips. By the time I got home I realized these were not muscle aches but bruises. They were deep bruises and they started to show on the skin surface in a couple of days.

But training must continue!

This past weekend we were at Tahoe Donner Cross Country Center near Lake Tahoe. I questioned why we need to train at a different ski area. After all, I can fall down on the hills at Bear Valley as well as anyplace else.

But the coaches say that training at a completely new course prepares us for going to Alaska and skiing a race on a course we have never seen before.

At Tahoe Donner we carried out time trials around the Cup of Tea and Piece of Cake trails for a loop with a total of length of 1.5 km. We looped around these trails for an hour to get our first indication of speed.

Skate skiers are faster than striders. Most of us striders were able to make it around four times in an hour. The skaters could go eight or nine times around. Let’s see – 4 times around adds up to 6 km in an hour. If I can keep that pace then I’ll be able to complete the race in a little over 4 hours.

After the time trials, we skied a longer course out to the Lion’s Leap trail and back. I fell down a few times, mainly on the downhill sections. We’ve been trained how to fall but it is hard to have a controlled fall after catching a ski edge while heading too fast down a hill.

When you ski you are supposed to relax and enjoy yourself to perform well. But the risk of landing on my bruises has given me a fear of falling.

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Sandi Pearce, our team Web Captain in the photo on the right put together a terrific video highlight of our training in Bear Valley this weekend.

Luckily, she left out my attempt to skate ski! Look for me stride skiing in my gray sweatshirt.

Watch it on YouTube here.

Thanks Sandi!

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After I traded in my skate skis for striding skis after lunch on Saturday I attended a clinic given by expert cross country skier Paul Petersen. He watched each of us individually and offered his advice for improving. For me, it was to put my weight straight down on each foot and not to move my foot as far forward as I was.

What an improvement! I immediately started getting the swing of things and actually getting more distance with each stride. Not only do I now put each foot forward the right distance but I am also getting some glide forward each time I do.

Again we slept in the loft area over the rental office and I skied on Sunday before coming home. The new technique gave me great confidence and I decided to take on some medium difficulty slopes. I headed for one named Granite Roller (click the map to enlarge).

Off I went from the trail head along the Stables Cruise trail. Then I got on Granite Roller, or thought I did. This trail isn’t so bad I thought as I went along. Then I came to a warming hut. Wait a minute, there’s no warming hut on this trail. Oops, this is the Equippe trail (pronounced “E-keep”) and rated as Most Difficult! Indeed, down the trail and around the bend was a very steep downhill (at least for me).

My shoulder still hurt from a crash last week. Rather than risk life and limb, I removed my skis and walked down. How humiliating! I’ll definitely be working on my downhill skills next weekend.

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Well, we did so well last week that a bunch of us decided to take a lesson on how to skate ski at our next training which was this past Saturday back at Bear Valley. Striding is supposed to be easier but we were tired of getting passed up by the faster skate skiers on our team.

Skate skiing requires the skier to move forward by going to the left and then the right in a motion similar to ice skating or rollerblading. Unfortunately, I have never mastered those sports.

Coach Dave says you want to move your hips as if you are Frankenstein. At one point he showed me how I was trying to skate ski with too much leg movement – more like a John Wayne swagger than a Frankenstein walk.

Oh well. I figured I could get it eventually but probably not in time to ski well in the race on March 8th. I traded in my skate skis for striding skis at the rental office after lunch.

I’ll ski between the lines in Anchorage.

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We had our first team training on snow at Bear Valley Cross Country Ski Center in the Sierras. We split into groups depending on skiing style (striding or skating) and skill level. I was in the basic striding or “classic” skiing group. I’m wearing the gray coat on the left in the photo (Click to Enlarge).

I am starting to get it – moving side to side as I put one leg forward and then the other in the tracks groomed into the snow like ruts going off into the distance. It takes balance and oxygen!

And hey! Here’s a muscle I didn’t know I had – the Gracilis muscle.  It runs along the inside of each thigh. Who knew I had it or that I would use it while stride skiing?

One of my teammates, Ron Lichty does. He remembers learning about this muscle a few years ago too. Apparently about half the people new to stride skiing will experience stiffness in this muscle for the first couple of weeks. I am in week one.

Doing the “butterfly stretch” really works these muscles. That’s where you sit Indian style with the bottoms of your feet pressed together and then use your elbows to press your knees toward the floor. Oh baby! I have to go slow but the muscles start to relax after a couple 20 second stretches.

We got to stay in the loft over the rental office at Bear Valley with a special arrangement for team members for only $25 per night. It was a bit like camping indoors but we had a kitchen and feasted on spaghetti Saturday night.

On Sunday morning I awoke in the loft with both my Gracilis (although I didn’t know what they were called at the time) muscles stiff and achy. Ron suggested I pop a couple Ibuprofen which I did and voila! I skied for several hours on Sunday morning and into the afternoon with no pain.

I retraced the easy trails we took during our lessons and then challenged myself with a couple medium difficulty slopes. The difficulty comes from hills. I’m pretty good at “herringboning” up the hills with my skis pointed out like a “V” and using the edges to move up the hill on leg at a time.

Going down the hills is another matter. If you downhill ski you know how to “snowplow” down the hill by pointing your feet pigeon-toed to make your skis point inward. It’s the same with cross country except the skis are skinny. As I said to Coach Larry, in my opinion cross country skis don’t edge well going downhill. He replied, “In everyone’s opinion cross country skis don’t edge well going downhill.”

Hmm. I guess that explains my propensity for wiping out when heading downhill. It’s something I need to practice. I landed on my shoulder during one of these falls. It still hurts but that’s OK. Ibuprofen is my friend.

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