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Getting through the off season

volklgirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm still mountain biking 2-3 days a week, plus I've added disc golfing 3+ days a week.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
I see that I've never posted in this thread.

Paddling and just about anything to do with boats. I'm a member of a dragon boat team, so that is 2 nights and week and then some weekends with festivals. I just cancelled my gym membership as I'm moving to a new one. I actually liked the Y over the winter, so I'm going to join it. Also its only 1 1/2 blocks away from home. I can walk!!

This summer I need to do some cardio work. It's OK to build muscle, but I have no wind as I found out last weekend at Arapahoe! And then paddling on Tuesday night I was really winded. Could be the allergies, but I don't think so.....

So it'll be off to the Y inbetween paddle practice. DH is getting my hybrid bike ready for summer too. So we will be doing something. Just going to mix it up!
 

sdskiqueen

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I usually do a lot of hiking with my dogs, Champ and Jackson. We have a condo a couple of miles from Keystone in Summit County so we try to do things at the condo. Although I hate to see the end of ski season, my dogs are really happy because they don't have to spend the day in the condo while we go ski. They really love the hikes around Dillon Lake. Jackson, full name, Jackson Brown, a chocolate lab, loves the water without question. Champ is a black lab with something else mixed in. He's not really the water dog that Jackson is. Probably because he is a Katrina survivor and has seen enough water for 10 dogs! I also try to get back to the gym for weight training. I'm old school and try to use free weights as much as possible. When I was younger weight training was a much bigger part of my life as I was a competitive bodybuilder. For women in general, keeping as much bone density as possible in your later years is really important and I want to keep skiing for as long as I can breathe! So at 54, I'm still hitting the bumps trying to improve and maybe some day will be satisified. I doubt it, because they're always room for improvement, but who cares as long as you're loving it!
 

Robyn

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This off season will be mostly about running but I'll get some cycling in as well. I'll be training for my first half marathon in October. Depending on my training schedule I'd like to do a bit more hiking this year as well, even if they are just easy after work hikes in the nearby foothills.
 

SkiBam

Angel Diva
Off season, that's for sure! It seems the older I get, the more nothing compares with skiing. But I'll be cycling, hiking, paddling, doing my yoga - and anything else I can think of to keep these aging bones, muscles, etc. as ship-shape as possible.
 

skibum4ever

Angel Diva
Well, the "off-season" won't begin for us until July 5! In fact, we hope to get quite a lot of ski days in the next (almost) 2 months. DH wants to make up for lost time, and I am only too happy to keep him company! :love:

We did a little jogging a couple of days ago, but he is really not supposed to jog with his new hips and neither am I on my bad knee.

We did a 20 mile bike ride today. After the ski season is over, we hope to bike at least twice a week, and to work our way up to longer distances.

I also garden. I've got tomatoes and roses to tend, and lots of weeds which need to be pulled.

I try to get to the gym about 3 days a week when we're at home. I've been riding the stationary bike to exercise my knee, and have recently added the elliptical which seems to burn more calories than the bike. I also do an upper body circuit when I have the time; my upper body needs a lot of strengthening!

Of course, all of this is fun, but none of it comes even close to skiing IMHO. It's good preparation for next season, however. I have goals to be leaner and stronger and to make next ski season one of my best. We'll see how it all turns out. Anyone want to start a weight loss thread? :grouphug:
 

lovebug

Certified Ski Diva
Swim/bike/run ;) Starting to actually enjoying running instead of seeing it as a chore :D. Im doing my first 10K tomorrow (YIKES!) and have a spring tri coming up at the end of june and two more Oly length tris in the works this summer.

I do switch it up between road biking and and mt. biking. This is the first year off-piste though and the learning curve is STEEP! :smile:
 

lovebug

Certified Ski Diva
This off season will be mostly about running but I'll get some cycling in as well. I'll be training for my first half marathon in October. Depending on my training schedule I'd like to do a bit more hiking this year as well, even if they are just easy after work hikes in the nearby foothills.

Go Robyn Go!!! I think that I *might* do the Baltimore half in october. Still not sure where this liking running thing came from ;)
 

pinto

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, I used to play tennis ... I have shelved it for a while trying to get the feet to calm down. (Who knew you could get arthritis in your sesamoids??) When your feet are most comfortable in tight ski boots that turn your toenails black, pay attention.:rolleyes:

So I will get on the courts for brief times, but not competitively, and not until after I get my new orthotics. Tennis was great for balance/footwork/anticipation/did I say balance? I'm not sure what to do next. I really prefer being on my feet. Swimming, meh. Bicycling is okay, but I don't have a properly fit bike yet and I need that before I spend a lot of time on one.

I picture more time on the bosu; I love working out on those things, plus they don't hurt my feet. Maybe I'll spread a dozen throughout the house, and just hop from one to the other while I go about my daily chores. :loco:
 

lovebug

Certified Ski Diva
UGH BOSUs .... bad memories of PT to repair a most busted ankle. Squats on BOSU, a rolly balance beam, standing on one leg on a trampoline with my eyes closed, and wobble board.

Wait, while that all hurt ... i guess it was kinda fun ;)
 

Robyn

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Go Robyn Go!!! I think that I *might* do the Baltimore half in october. Still not sure where this liking running thing came from ;)
Right? It shocks me when I'm stressed out at work and the only thing I want to do to calm myself down is lace up and head out for a run. :eek:

Good luck in your 10k. My first of the season is on Memorial Day.
 

abc

Banned
About 3-4 years ago, I had a "off-season". It's called...Winter!

It's the off season from cycling and kayaking.

Then I got back into skiing. Now, I just wish it would rain (winter or summer) so I get to sleep in and rest without feeling guilty of wasting another perfectly great day!

This coming weekend will be 70 degrees and abundent sunshine. I'll be kayaking Saturday and biking Sunday! :smile: I've got chores to do too. But I'm not sure if I'll find the time to do them. :(
 

Skise

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hiking, riding, training my dogs, showing my dogs (and perhaps cats). But I stay in shape by playing Wii (ok, it's perhaps stretching the definition of the word to call EA Sports Active personal trainer/more workouts playing...) safely indoors.
 

SkiNurse

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
A lot of hiking, some biking, softball, will still meet with my trainer 2xweek, cardio at the gym on the days I work. Then there is the camping, concerts and drinking of adult beverages that cancel out most of the hard work I do to keep in shape! :becky:
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
I didn't think I had an "off-season" - but apparently this year I do. It's when the resort I have a pass to has been closed for over a month but it keeps snowing (there is significantly more snow up at the resorts now than there was in January), even in the valley and the days I can ride my bike seem few and far between... And now it's supposed to be snowing again all weekend.

We mountain biked last night but didn't realize that Monday's snowstorm had taken out about a dozen trees that are now covering the trail. Going back today with a saw to clear it again, but yeesh. Not much flow to a ride when you spend as much time climbing over downed trees than you do riding. And then to top it off, someone apparently hiked down the smoothest, buffed out singletrack in our area when there was snow melting on it Monday, because there are deep footprints dried into the trail now and it feels like crap to ride on now that it's dried that way. Sigh. This weather is getting on my nerves.

But if we ever get to have an actual spring/summer, I'll be riding my bikes (road, XC, DH) as much as possible.
 

cyn

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I HATE the heat, but I try to stay active anyway. I'm continuing with Pilates through the summer, I do a 5-mile walk every other day and I hike with a friend once a week. I'm also a master gardener, so I garden a lot.
Our big problem here in RI is ticks. Almost everyone I know - especially the gardeners - has Lyme Disease. I hiked in the woods yesterday and despite my many precautions including repellent, tucked in pants and a long shower, I pulled two ticks off myself this morning, thankfully before they had a chance to dig in. :eek:
 

Witchery

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
At the moment I go for a jog every morning with Lily (my dog) and then head to the gym afterwards for either a PT session, body Combat or Pump class, that keeps me busy for 5 days of the week. I still go for a jog on my off days and also go for a cycle with my husband and lily each night when my husbands home. We've got one of those doggy carriers behind the bike so when we go for a big ride she can have a break every now and then...so cute! My gym is about to start Zumba classes, so going to give that a go too!! I'm about to start some serious Ab training as well, didn't realise that with all the exercise I do I still don't do enough Ab work. Now just to keep it all up until ski season and reap the rewards!!
 

Rosie Facer

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
At the moment I have a tai chi class once a week but I'm still waiting for my summer yoga class to start. The tai chi has been much better for my problematic knee than yoga.

Hiking is now back on the calendar (thanks to Superfeet inserts) but I'm still only at half day outings. I'm also trying to get back into cycling (gentle trail riding) after a lay off because of the knee. In the meantime I've been using the stairs at work to try and build up some leg strength (I work on the 20th floor) before next season.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This summer my goal was to work up to trail running on a regular basis. I say work up to it because last summer I just dove into hour-plus-runs every day in the woods on narrow-twisty-turny-hilly trails with rocks and roots and that caused me all kinds of injuries - plantar faciitis, sprained ankle, continuing knee issues, achilles tendon problems, and more but I won't go into it.

I succeeded! I've worked up slowly to 4 or 5 trail runs of the sort I just described each week, and so far no injuries. I love trail running -- almost as much as skiing. It's technical in its own way, and challenging because of all the obstacles underfoot. But it's often hot, and I have to spray with insect repellent, and carry pepper spray to protect myself from lions and tigers and bears and coyotes, so I think about skiing narrow lines through the trees as I run narrow lines through the trees.

Wish winter would come early this year. Trail running is great, but it isn't smooth and cold and flowing and white and fast like skiing.
 

vanhoskier

Angel Diva
I never think of it as an "off season"....it's just a different season. While I never liked heat and humidity, I still found ways to deal with it and get outside...this summer I was lucky enough to spend it in northern New Mexico, where it never got very hot and never was humid.

I've been mountain biking, road biking (lots of hill climbing to strengthen my legs and muscles supporting my knees), hiking, and rock climbing. Back in PA, the hiking and rock climbing will take a back seat (until I get back in the climbing gym in the fall) but I am road biking every day and will get back on the mountain bike this weekend. I have had the best ski seasons following months of long rides on the bike.
 

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