After a few seasons where on the next day after skiing, I would not be able to walk down stairs for the next 3 or so days, or if I mistakenly went on a multi-day trip before enough day trips, where I wouldn't be able to make hard turns much, hoping for clear skies and hard pack so I just keep doing straight down runs with minimal turns. I decided to pre-condition myself for the season.
I was doing some spin classes, but the way they teach emphasizing high cadence instead of resistance, is useless, even with what they call sprints. I tried to do additional conditioning by going hard for 10min on stairmasters. It probably didn't help as much (although I felt it the next day) because its hard to go anaerobic til exhaustion on them due to the danger of coming to a stop on it. Then found out a coworker was walking up the 14flrs in our high rise office bldg after lunch (with each flr being in the 25 or so steps), did a few of those slow walks, then switched to a full run and record my time and heart rate over time. Did that for a while, then starting using citibike bike share on part of my trip to/from work and sometimes during lunch. I'll go full out on it, and if gearing allows, go slightly overgear so as to work on the quads. Now I also go on much bigger gear during spin classes and do sprints as if I am on 53x14 instead of the chain has fallen off gear that the instructors seem to want people to be on.
Now I don't have problems on the 2nd day of skiing, even early in the season, nor are there much lactic acid buildup by the time I stop at my usual recovery spots mid mountain. I could continue on and ski all the way down the trail if I want to feel the burn, but the burns from those longer runs are different because it also comes with less control.
I was doing some spin classes, but the way they teach emphasizing high cadence instead of resistance, is useless, even with what they call sprints. I tried to do additional conditioning by going hard for 10min on stairmasters. It probably didn't help as much (although I felt it the next day) because its hard to go anaerobic til exhaustion on them due to the danger of coming to a stop on it. Then found out a coworker was walking up the 14flrs in our high rise office bldg after lunch (with each flr being in the 25 or so steps), did a few of those slow walks, then switched to a full run and record my time and heart rate over time. Did that for a while, then starting using citibike bike share on part of my trip to/from work and sometimes during lunch. I'll go full out on it, and if gearing allows, go slightly overgear so as to work on the quads. Now I also go on much bigger gear during spin classes and do sprints as if I am on 53x14 instead of the chain has fallen off gear that the instructors seem to want people to be on.
Now I don't have problems on the 2nd day of skiing, even early in the season, nor are there much lactic acid buildup by the time I stop at my usual recovery spots mid mountain. I could continue on and ski all the way down the trail if I want to feel the burn, but the burns from those longer runs are different because it also comes with less control.
