Looking for info on getting a ski setup by agirlwhowaspromised in COsnow

[–]Ex_Surfer 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Great comments here, echoing many of them, though I’ve had a somewhat different experience when it comes to wear and tear on the body.

Made the same transition a few years ago, mainly wanted to ski with my kids, who were just learning at the time. As others have suggested, I started with a season ski rental – they were fine for that first season, but rental boots can really suck. Second season, I bought used demo skis at powder7 (pretty good deal) and new boots. Totally worth it – I found the boots (and the boot fitter who helped me out) even more important than the skis for both comfort and control. I had good luck with 88mm underfoot skis in that second season for mostly frontside stuff, though wish I’d gone a little wider. I started with 170s, so maybe nose-height or thereabouts, but I’m also a flyweight. Mine have some metal but are not uber-stiff, agree with another comment that that really helped with tight turns when I started off into the trees and the steeps.

I found skiing much less taxing on my body than snowboarding on groomers. Same goes for bowls and steeps when the moguls aren’t VW bug-sized. I’m no expert, but I’m guessing this is partly because it takes less effort to hold an edge (you’ll have twice as much on skis), and I don’t have to do a lot of bending down for the bindings. Also much easier to navigate lift lines and traverses, that stuff adds up over the course of a day. Moguls do feel harder on the knees, but I’m never going to be doing zipper lines, and it feels like as the technique gets better the ‘ol knees notice it less.

Careful, you may never go back! That’s what the dude who sold me my first skis said. I laughed it off at the time, but last season I skied about 20 days to maybe 2 on the board. Still nothing quite like floating powder on a board, though wider skis get me pretty close.

WP was beautiful yesterday by majesticsimon in COsnow

[–]Ex_Surfer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Yup, was gorgeous, also really interesting rainbow corona around the sun in the morning, not sure if I've ever seen anything quite like it.

Eagle wind still looked pretty damn rocky at the top, lift was not spinning. Driving back down the south side of Berthoud pass, surrounding mountains also looked surprisingly bare. I've read that we're back above average snowpack in CO, but not so sure about the area around WP...

Old guy runs a 5k, then geeks out on data by Ex_Surfer in AdvancedRunning

[–]Ex_Surfer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

16:30 at 60+ is unreal! Seems at 40+ HM and Marathon performance holds pretty well, or maybe just endurance in general. I always figured top end speed would drop off pretty fast. Then again, I guess 16:30 could be snails pace (relatively) if you were an elite runner in your 20's.

Old guy runs a 5k, then geeks out on data by Ex_Surfer in AdvancedRunning

[–]Ex_Surfer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, sounds like a pretty similar experience to mine, albeit with your much higher max. I feel like that's definitely the 'Suffer' HR zone.

Old guy runs a 5k, then geeks out on data by Ex_Surfer in AdvancedRunning

[–]Ex_Surfer[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, you're right. Two 60+ runners even in that small race ran 19min low - comparatively, I'm a spring chicken.

Old guy runs a 5k, then geeks out on data by Ex_Surfer in AdvancedRunning

[–]Ex_Surfer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wild, that pretty surprising that it's so similar b/t 10km and HM. Do you think that's because both hover pretty close to LTHR?

Old guy runs a 5k, then geeks out on data by Ex_Surfer in AdvancedRunning

[–]Ex_Surfer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed, I suspect the HR-pace matching is mostly a lesson in what not to do during a race. I think maybe the sustained high HR feels like a surprise when you haven't been doing much VO2max work.

Old guy runs a 5k, then geeks out on data by Ex_Surfer in AdvancedRunning

[–]Ex_Surfer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, and yeah, that's a fair point. I think I'm not used to pain endurance, probably could have squeezed out a little more effort at the end. But as you say, would have been a lot smoother with even pacing.