has anyone tried it? I live in the midwest, and with a lot of snow, it seems like a fun alternative for some cross training in the winter.
What about shoes? It seems like the only running oriented ones are nearly $250.
has anyone tried it? I live in the midwest, and with a lot of snow, it seems like a fun alternative for some cross training in the winter.
What about shoes? It seems like the only running oriented ones are nearly $250.
Great workout! I don't get enough snow where I live to do it on a regular basis, but I will say that when I've done it, it was 100% harder than any kind of regular running.
XC skiing is also a great, fun way to workout in the snow as well!
Hard as HELL! my snowshoes arn't that quality but it is hard! It's really, really fun though. I wore a heartrate monitor once and I was redlining the entire time. I also got ski poles, good for balance, but not much else.
Matt Carpenter (Pikes Peak and Leadville 100 record holder) is nuts about snowshoe running. I'm pretty sure that he's won the North American championships at least once or twice.
You can check out the website
for details.
I have been doing snowshoe racing for three years...no question a great workout, and courses vary depending on amount of snow, singletrack sections, etc.
Mike
Twice as hard as running but only half as fast. It's a great low impact workout that requires high knee lift. Don't know if you can actually do an "easy" workout on snowshoes, so 2-3X/week would be plenty.
I snowshoe run two or three times per week Dec. to March. It is a great form of base training. Going about as slow as you can go while still running will put you in the high end aerobic zone.
I agree with the former poster----there is no easy day on snowshoes.
I was looking at snowshoes on overshoe.com and they stress that they worked best on packed snow, does anyone know how they work in natural snow that isn't packed? Do they work fine or would it be a poor investment?
There are different types of snowshoes. Snowshoes for racing allow you to get up on your toes and get in a great running position. Deep snow is tough to deal with, but is part of snowshoeracing. Courses are suppose to have sections of both packed snow, as well as deep singletrack sections. Part of the fun is learning to deal with each course, and section of the course.
Mike
Thanks - I was going to post the same thing.Also, at altitude where I am ... or in the mountains, I don't even bother trying to run ... too discouraging. 90 min of trudging around in snowhoes at 10,000ft and I call it a day. ;-)
AK-47 wrote:
Twice as hard as running but only half as fast. It's a great low impact workout that requires high knee lift. Don't know if you can actually do an "easy" workout on snowshoes, so 2-3X/week would be plenty.
Specifically, what are the best snowshoes for racing?
The Atlas Dual Trac Super Lite (SL) Running Snowshoes look pretty good.
Oh, I should mention that I'm a forefoot striker with neutral biomechanics.
I use to snowshoe race quite a bit until I got into Nordic skiing. Once I got into cross country skiing I pretty much ditched the snowshoes. I thus dubbed them slow shoes. Anyway, snowshoe racing is a great workout and really easy to to figure out. Nordic skiing is very techinical but extremely fun. Cross country skiing is by far the greatest aerobic sport that makes me a much stronger runner.... Nordic races can kick your ass like no running race can.....
Be careful if you try nordic skiing though... before you know it, you'll be spending your spring, summer, and fall on rollerskis while waiting for the snow to fall again. So much fun and so addicting.
Any advice on good racing snow shoes?
Where I live I see people on roller skis all summer/spring/fall! They use a hill near my house to train on, and use the backroads with little traffic.
It looks like a lot of fun, and I always wonder how I could do XC skiing because I drub the best local XC skiiers by 2+ mins in 10k road races.
I started a few years ago and really enjoy it. I live in SE Michigan and we get enough snow to make it worthwhile. I bought a Utility-type pair from Costco a few years ago for $65. Not made for running, but walking hard and fast gets the heart rate going. Also, a good Quad workout. They'll be sore after the first couple of long walks. Enjoy it.
Regarding equipment, I have a pair of Northern Lites Elites (see
); they've been great. At the few snowshoe races I've run in Minnesota/Wisconsin, a sizeable portion of racers were using Northern Lites (perhaps not surprising since it's a Wisconsin company). The Elites are currently $199 (they were $149 when I got mine a couple of years back). The Quicksilver 25 model is $50 cheaper and may also work well, although I have no direct experience with these.
Good luck and have fun!
Snowshoe running is a doozy of a workout. I've got a pair of Dion snowshoes meant for running (www.dionsnowshoes.com). Small company from VT i believe but they're awesome.
Redfeather's (a Colorado company) make great products as well.
Crecsent Moon out of Colorado also makes a great running/fitness snowshoe. The plus side is that they come in a cool powdercoated color. Bright Orange this year! The binding is also the best I have come across yet. Very easy to get in and even easier to get out of when your hands are cold at the end of a long snowshoe run.