brrrr....

Dot said:

IMHO, that's a reason to not run that area unless there's someway of
dealing with it - it's not worth risking injury. Sometimes traction
devices help (slippery, but even surface), but if the snow is lumpy and
frozen (think lots of hoof prints in a corral so there's no flat
surface) it's pretty hard to deal with - even for walking.

That part of the trail has heavy traffic from walkers, runners,
cyclists, dogs and occasionally horses. (The southern part bans
dogs because of the cattle.) The surface was rougher than usual,
but nothing like what we'll see in the spring (on other trails)
with mud/dry cycles.

"Dot" <dot.h@#duh?att.net> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bear G said:

To my surprise the trail was almost entirely snowpacked. I could only
run about 1.5 miles on it because my feet were rotating on the slick
surface and the little muscles around my knee were screaming.

IMHO, that's a reason to not run that area unless there's someway of
dealing with it - it's not worth risking injury. Sometimes traction
devices help (slippery, but even surface), but if the snow is lumpy and
frozen (think lots of hoof prints in a corral so there's no flat surface)
it's pretty hard to deal with - even for walking. When the snow is softer,
I've found snowshoes can flatten some of that stuff or at least provide a
more stable footing. I've used ss to run a number of times, not because I
need the flotation, but because of the stable base and traction.

Dot - how is ss running on the knees? I plan on doing more XC skiing
because I tried it last year and really liked it and found it wasn't bad on
the knees, just on the butt. However, I will be doing a lot of snowshoeing
too - we already have plenty of snow - and DH has offered to get me a pair
of ss more suitable for running. Ours are the huge 4' wooden variety, not
very conducive to running. Plus, there are more places to ss than to xc ski
and it's cheaper (no trail pass needed!).

Anyway, the knee thing is touch and go. Just enough of an annoyance to keep
me from doing as many miles as I'd like these days so I'm working my way
back into it very slowly and doing a lot of cross training in the meantime.

Jenn

JMA said:

Dot - how is ss running on the knees?

On soft or even snow, they're fine. If you get hard packed snow, it's
almost like running on concrete, but you're flexion in the toes may not
be as good as a regular running shoe (at least with me it isn't). If
it's uneven and firm, the lumpiness may torque legs and hence knees. The
great thing about sunday's run was they hadn't groomed the trails yet,
so we had about 3-5 inches of soft stuff that was especially nice for
downhills. There had been some usage, esp. by our club, so if we wanted
a little less snow for some uphills, we just moved to the packed stuff.

I plan on doing more XC skiing

Quoted message said:

because I tried it last year and really liked it and found it wasn't bad on
the knees, just on the butt.

🙂

However, I will be doing a lot of snowshoeing

Quoted message said:

too - we already have plenty of snow - and DH has offered to get me a pair
of ss more suitable for running. Ours are the huge 4' wooden variety, not
very conducive to running.

I know what you mean. I've got a pair of wooden modified bearpaws from
the early 70s. They were fine back east, but when I moved to Colorado,
they were too wide for traverses and no cleats so they liked to slide
sidways on traverses. When I saw the running ss - narrow with cleats -
then tried them, it was love at first sight. I xc ski on certain trails
under certain conditions, but there's a lot of conditions and trails I
don't enjoy skiing at my skill level or lack thereof. But snowshoes, I
can go most anytime we have snow - with the exception of some of this
stuff we had earlier that was too lumpy to even walk on. My T day "run"
was reduced to about 100 yds running and the rest a casual walk trying
to avoid twisting something. Snowshoes have been a major expansion in my
winter enjoyment. And I think they'll payoff in terms of increased
conditioning for hill running in the summer.

Quoted message said:

Plus, there are more places to ss than to xc ski
and it's cheaper (no trail pass needed!).

YEP!

Quoted message said:

Anyway, the knee thing is touch and go. Just enough of an annoyance to keep
me from doing as many miles as I'd like these days so I'm working my way
back into it very slowly and doing a lot of cross training in the meantime.

I'd mix and match. Keep an eye on it. If it seems to be acting up, then
ski for awhile and come back. My body was starting to speak to me early
in the year with the uneven stuff, so I backed off until conditions
improved.

Enjoy!

Dot

--
The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury.
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml

Thanks for the helpful advice!!!

Jenn

"Dot" <dot.h@#duh?att.net> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

JMA said:

Dot - how is ss running on the knees?

On soft or even snow, they're fine. If you get hard packed snow, it's
almost like running on concrete, but you're flexion in the toes may not be
as good as a regular running shoe (at least with me it isn't). If it's
uneven and firm, the lumpiness may torque legs and hence knees. The great
thing about sunday's run was they hadn't groomed the trails yet, so we had
about 3-5 inches of soft stuff that was especially nice for downhills.
There had been some usage, esp. by our club, so if we wanted a little less
snow for some uphills, we just moved to the packed stuff.

I plan on doing more XC skiing

Quoted message said:

because I tried it last year and really liked it and found it wasn't bad
on the knees, just on the butt.

🙂

However, I will be doing a lot of snowshoeing

Quoted message said:

too - we already have plenty of snow - and DH has offered to get me a
pair of ss more suitable for running. Ours are the huge 4' wooden
variety, not very conducive to running.

I know what you mean. I've got a pair of wooden modified bearpaws from the
early 70s. They were fine back east, but when I moved to Colorado, they
were too wide for traverses and no cleats so they liked to slide sidways
on traverses. When I saw the running ss - narrow with cleats - then tried
them, it was love at first sight. I xc ski on certain trails under certain
conditions, but there's a lot of conditions and trails I don't enjoy
skiing at my skill level or lack thereof. But snowshoes, I can go most
anytime we have snow - with the exception of some of this stuff we had
earlier that was too lumpy to even walk on. My T day "run" was reduced to
about 100 yds running and the rest a casual walk trying to avoid twisting
something. Snowshoes have been a major expansion in my winter enjoyment.
And I think they'll payoff in terms of increased conditioning for hill
running in the summer.

Quoted message said:

Plus, there are more places to ss than to xc ski and it's cheaper (no
trail pass needed!).

YEP!

Quoted message said:

Anyway, the knee thing is touch and go. Just enough of an annoyance to
keep me from doing as many miles as I'd like these days so I'm working my
way back into it very slowly and doing a lot of cross training in the
meantime.

I'd mix and match. Keep an eye on it. If it seems to be acting up, then
ski for awhile and come back. My body was starting to speak to me early in
the year with the uneven stuff, so I backed off until conditions improved.

Enjoy!

Dot

--
The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury.
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml