Training & Nutrition - Still concerned about purchasing my cross country ski package!!

Well guys, like I mentioned I have checked out the sports stores - immediately knowing from looking at the staff I wouldnt get to far. Today I went to a ski/patio shop and rei. Both had good advice, but both thought I must go with waxless skis. I didnt want to get into debating with them and letting them know that all of you reccomended the opposite! The other thing that Im wanting to know...I want skiing to be my work out, not really an all day thing - with kids its hard to find the time. I would really like to ski in the morning before work or after. Is there an advantage between the classic vs skate models for this type of skiing? Im not sure whats up, I take the advice from this forum over the guys I have spoken with - so I somewhat confused on the wax issue. The one shop didnt even carry wax ski. I have one store left to check that is a speciality in skiing only - I will hope for the best. :mad:

Definitely DO NOT get waxless skis! That is the easy answer to your first question.

There is no easy answer to the second question of whether or not to go classic or skate. I prefer classic myself but that is just my opinion. You can get a super workout from either style. Skating is a little easier to learn but there is something about classic which you can't put into words. It's kind of like getting the perfect pedal stroke. Somedays you think you are getting it and others you feel like you are riding/skiing with one leg.

Mike

I think you'll be better off with classic, though that really is a question of personal taste. The other thing to keep in mind is that classic lets you on more trails than skate. Classic skiiers are tolerated on skaters' trails. Skaters are not tolerated on classic trails.

And DON'T go waxless. You may have to spend 10-15 minutes before every ski waxing, but you'll go a hell of a lot faster in ALL conditions. Truth is that you'd probably grow out of waxless skis within a month of serious skiing.

And... yes, you can ski pretty much like you'd ride. A 2-3 hour ski is quite the perfect workout.

thanks for the quick posts. Right after I posted I went to the last shop that is tops in Madison on service. The sales guy seemed to know his stuff, stepped through the process of what he would do to get me fitted. Pulled out a board for the paper test? However, he reccomended waxless for convience. As you guys stated above about growing out of the skis - Im the type that wants the best options for best results - regardless of convience. My concern is learning how and where to wax the skis. Does the wax build up - thus having to remove layers?

The wax does build up but it is easy to get off and easy to put on again. Get the local shop to give you some pointers. If they are not good at it there are tons of reference spots on the web and the xc-ski newsgroups can help you with all the fine details and point you in the right direction. Once you get your package I'm sure there are enough people in this forum who can give you all kinds of pointers.

Waxless skis, in my experience, are really only good for back country bushwacking. For training and racing, they're no good, but they're tops when you're trekking into the woods in February dragging a sled of camping gear behind you. In that kind of situation, speed and efficiency aren't really big issues, and it's hard to plug in a waxing iron in the middle of the Boundary Waters. I have a pair of waxless for just that purpose, but I wouldn't dream of training on them.

So far as how the wax goes on (or comes off), it depends on your ski style - skate or classic. They're both the same thing at first, but there's a few more steps with classic kick wax or klisters. As Captain said, your local shop would probably be able to give you some pointers. Sone shops and ski area hold clinics on that sort of thing too.

I still recomend getting a combi set up if it is possible. That way you can do both skate and classic. I favor skating, but I have classic skis too and use them every once and a while. With combis you could do both, at least until you found a favorite style. Another option, which I think someone mentioned before, would be renting skis to try them out before buying them.

velocipedio does have a good point about the availability of skate trails, because you can't do it everywhere. Ask a shop about the availability of dedicated trails for each style in your area - if there are a lot more of one than the other (and if there's more of anything, it will be classic), that might be something to consider in your decision too.

Waxing and maintaining skis is a lot like maintaining a road bike. You wax before a ski -- I've seen people do i trailside with battery-powered waxing-irons, but that's just nuts unless you're REALLY hardcore. Afterward, you can leave the wax on for the next day if you don't expect the conditions to change [nice thing about winter is that weather conditions tend to be stable for a few days in a row] or remove the wax with a combination of elbow-grease and citrus dewaxer. This is not a process to be done in your livingroom. I find that I can thoroughly dewax my skis in about 10 minutes on a good day, and wax-up in about 10 minutes before I leave for the trails. On a crummy day, when I'm in a bad mood and everything is going wrong, it CAN take a lot longer... but that doesn't happen much.