My maraton time dropped when replacing running with cross country skiing

Skiing is the best exercise for cardiovascular system as involved legs, hands more muscles than during running, if you want you can make cross training on bike for cardiovascular system, but need ride almost double as you are seat and vertical height between working muscles and heart is almost double less than during running. Endurance sports are interchangeable for developing cardiovascular system (left ventricle) except swimming where you are horizontal and there is no sufficient vertical height between working muscles and heart...

Great training! You are doing 3-4 hours of work. Trust what you are doing.

Absolutely, what Canafis says above. English may not be his first language, but his physiology is right on. It goes without saying that one needs some specific training (long runs and MP runs) to make progress in the marathon, but there is no doubt about Nordic (cross country) skiing being the best activity for general cardiovascular training. I had my best racing summers after huge doses of skiing the winter prior.

If I had the option to cc ski in the winter, I would definitely do it (that and snowshoe running), but, alas, not much snow where I am. Great cardiovascular training, less prone to injuries, fewer dogs and traffic (I assume)--what's not to love?

Fiars wrote:

How is this possible? I am i jury prone and before this i ran two hours top. Now i do one hour of running and two to three of skiing

What time did you run?

[quote]Fiars wrote:

How is this possible? I am i jury prone /quote]

Well... everybody over the age of 18 in the United States is jury prone. It just depends if you get called to do so.

ilonggo wrote:

If I had the option to cc ski in the winter, I would definitely do it (that and snowshoe running), but, alas, not much snow where I am. Great cardiovascular training, less prone to injuries, fewer dogs and traffic (I assume)--what's not to love?

Try rollerskiing. Almost as good in terms of injury prevention and cardio benefits. And I get a kick out of people's reaction when they see me. Dogs seem irritated, though. Also, I find classic techinque more compatible with running that skating.

Fiars wrote:

How is this possible? I am i jury prone and before this i ran two hours top. Now i do one hour of running and two to three of skiing

Your PR dropped from what to what? The fact that you didn't list a time leads me to assume you are slow.

ilonggo wrote:

If I had the option to cc ski in the winter, I would definitely do it (that and snowshoe running), but, alas, not much snow where I am. Great cardiovascular training, less prone to injuries, fewer dogs and traffic (I assume)--what's not to love?

Schlogging, for one.

Ingrid Kristiansen did a lot of skiing throughout her career. Not sure about Grete W. Kilian J. is an aerobic machine (even though some here won’t admit it) and he cross trains extensively. Running 12 months of the year is risky- not for everyone.

Good for you. I hope you continue to improve. (I’m also curious about your times)

Thanks for good answers. I have been running effectively for 2,5 years., or 3 if you count injury time. My former best was 3:02. My new record is 2:38. It may be because of general adaption because I am fairly new to running, but not really sure. Four months since last race.

Norwegians baby! wrote:

Ingrid Kristiansen did a lot of skiing throughout her career. Not sure about Grete W.

I believe that Grete Waitz did not ski; she had more of a middle distance runner background, whereas Ingrid Kristiansen was first a skier.

I agree with your point, though. A recent example is Therese Johaug: world leading skier, able to run a 10000m under the world championship qualifying time solo, without spikes, and with just a handful of interval sessions, otherwise just jogging plus her skiing training.

Fiars wrote:

How is this possible? I am i jury prone and before this i ran two hours top. Now i do one hour of running and two to three of skiing

Is this per day? I'm not that surprised. Not injured and getting so much more aerobic training should lead to such results.

I totally agree.

I watched a good friend run 2:33 debut in NYC with less than 20 miles per week of running and a lifetime of Nordic skiing for his training. He did about 5 specific runs before the marathon and still ran 2:33 on a very windy day.

I’ve personally run 2 Boston marathons off of 75% skiing and survived with low 2:30s. It wasn’t ideal but it worked.

Where you bee, Ray? You still racing?

Canefis wrote:

Skiing is the best exercise for cardiovascular system as involved legs, hands more muscles than during running, if you want you can make cross training on bike for cardiovascular system, but need ride almost double as you are seat and vertical height between working muscles and heart is almost double less than during running. Endurance sports are interchangeable for developing cardiovascular system (left ventricle) except swimming where you are horizontal and there is no sufficient vertical height between working muscles and heart...

Interesting information, thanks Slava.

quickstepper2 wrote:

ilonggo wrote:

If I had the option to cc ski in the winter, I would definitely do it (that and snowshoe running), but, alas, not much snow where I am. Great cardiovascular training, less prone to injuries, fewer dogs and traffic (I assume)--what's not to love?

Try rollerskiing. Almost as good in terms of injury prevention and cardio benefits. And I get a kick out of people's reaction when they see me. Dogs seem irritated, though. Also, I find classic techinque more compatible with running that skating.

Roller skiing is great especially since most don't live somewhere with reliable consistent snow for nordic skiing.