Winter started here yesterday, despite what the calendar says. Mother nature graced us with 12-15″ last night, and she is still going strong as I write this. As I was shoveling the driveway this morning, I got to thinking about training during the winter. So, I thought I would put together a list of some of my favorite cross training events.

1. Snowshoeing — Whether it is at a local park or deep in the backcountry, snowshoeing is the ultimate in go anywhere hiking. My favorites are made by Atlas (Buy). A good pair of trekking poles are indispensible when snowshoeing
2. Skiing — Cross country or downhill, it’s all good. I prefer cross-country, for several reasons: more endurance, less people, and its cheaper. Plus, around here, you spend more time on the chairlifts then you do skiing.
3. Hockey — If you know how to play, it is a great sport that sharpens your reflexes and helps build your endurance and your speed
4. Weightlifting — when even mother nature doesn’t dare go outside, hit the gym to build strength. Good target areas are your abs, back and shoulders. Your core is essential for all three of our favorite sports and will help you avoid injury. Besides, nothing says fitness better than a 6 pack.

If these aren’t enough to get you out and motivated, then I guess you can stick to your treadmill and trainer and watch the same spinnervals video over and over again. If you ask me, there is no better workout then the one that comes from doing something fun outside, free from all the “fitness” trappings like heart-rate monitors, stopwatches and mindless drills.

If life gives you snow, go snowshoeing!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Training, Triathlon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.