My training plan dipped and soared over the festive season:

Italy for La Sgambeda ski marathon

Early December was great for Christmas parties so training was unavoidably tapering in the run up to my first ski trip to Livigno with my club, London Region Nordic.  But the work had paid off and I rapidly rediscovered my ski legs and lungs - Livigno is at around 1800m so it can take a few days to get used to ski-ing at that altitude.  Two years ago I couldn't ski up the long, gradual hill from the ski stadium without stopping, this time I made it to the top with energy to spare on day one. 

The week was designed as an early season training session with coaching from former New Zealand national ski team member, Peter Moysey, plus the challenge of La Sgambeda marathon on 16 December.  Run over 42 km and 22.5 km, this popular free technique race is the first in the FIS Marathon Cup so attracts top class skiers as well as keen amateurs.

Clear, sunny and -18C on race day made for scenic but slow ski-ing if you were skating as most competitors were.  The 42 km distance meant skiing the course twice so the snow warmed and was a little faster on the second lap but continuing past the 22.5 km finish option was mentally testing. 

I'd hoped to finish in under four hours but took 4.05 and was cheered to read Swedish winner Jerry Ahrlin's comments, "It’s been a great race, the toughest I ever made, it was really cold with a slow snow, I don’t know which was the temperature level, but I felt like there were - 50°C, especially the last part of the track was tough."

Go to moving feet+camera to see pictures of Livigno.

Greece for olive oil

Does olive picking constitute strength training - I think so.  In our area of southern Greece harvesting is done by cutting off olive-laden branches which are then combed of their olives, put in sacks and taken to the press for pressing into delicious oil.  My task was to manoevre the ladder around, climb the trees and saw off branches which is quite a physical job involving lots of lifting and balancing so the ski training paid dividends again.

As a reward I managed to get in some four hour hikes through lush countryside dotted with wild irises and stunning views across the sea and mountains.

Back teaching in London

Roller ski-ing is taking off this month with lots of people doing some last minute training prior to their ski holidays so I've been teaching some weekends with The Rollerski Co .  It's great to see people of all ages enjoying learning and putting new skills into practice.  Demonstrating and explaining technique also helps my ski-ing so it's win win all round.

Nordic walking has been generating interest too - it's excellent for general fitness as well as preparation for cross country ski-ing and gets you out in London's wonderful parks.  It's gaining popularity all over the world and I spent a stimulating morning with Ildikó Szigeti, a nordic walking pioneer in Hungary.  If you speak Hungarian have a look at her website - she's planning an English version too but in the meantime if you'd like to see what she does, have a look at the films and picture gallery.

And next stop Germany

I decided my schedule needed to be supplemented with more long distance ski-ing.  So I'm off to the Konig Ludwig Lauf in Bavaria at the end of January where I've entered the 25 km free technique and 50 km classic races.  The short race was my first Worldloppet in 1998 so it will interesting to see what time I take in 2008.