On Sunday I rollerskied for 3.5 hours and covered 42 km in my ski club's [London Region Nordic] annual rollerski challenge at Hayes cycle circuit in West London.  It's always a good benchmark to see how you feel rollerski-ing for longer than usual and reminds you that more training is required for the ski season.  This year I could feel the lack of rollerski-ing in the previous month with legs that seemed to lack spring and sore thumbs and toes.  Sore feet usually indicate poor technique and balance, much as we skiers would like to blame our boots.

Time for a training plan.  I find a scary article on FasterSkier.com about a Norwegian who has incorporated monthly 130 km long rollerski workouts into his schedule, clearly we're not starting from the same place.  He's looking to beat younger skiers from his area so I guess he was aiming for under five hours whilst my goal will be to finish, so about double that. 

There's a training scheduler on the nordic section of Snowsport England's website and I download a six week plan  that will take me up to my first ski trip to Italy in December.  It comprises a mix of roller ski-ing , running, cycling working at different intensities, plus strength and balance over six sessions a week.  I will substitute nordic walking in some of the sessions because I enjoy and teach this, and it's easier to fit round other activities.