Cross Country Skiing: Wellness in Winter

We know it’s hard to maintain your healthy habits on those cold, short winter days. But, it’s not impossible. In our Wellness in Winter series you can hear directly from healthcare and fitness professional GoGetFit users on what they do to stay active year round.

For the fourth piece of the series, we talked to Dan Burton, a clinical director, pharmacist by training, serial entrepreneur, and founder of Healthcare Evolution about cross country skiing and what it’s like to “hit a wall.”

The reason we’re putting this series together is to show people what some of their winter physical activity options are and how these might relate to some of the activities they do in the summer as well. That said, what do you typically get to before the winter rolls around?

Before winter, it's just kind of exploring the mountains in any shape, form, or fashion. Mostly hiking, but this year I’m planning to get into road biking and maybe some mountain biking as well. I’m primarily a power sport athlete, if you will . So lots of bodybuilding, powerlifting, and that sort of thing. And now, you know, my body can't necessarily take that, so I’m learning to enjoy more of the endurance side of things. Road biking and cross country skiing are all things that I'm kind of looking to become better at and see if I actually enjoy it or not. I'm finding it's interesting because I'm heavier than the average guy my height and I have a lot more weight to move around; that's not always the most ideal but it’s honesty going pretty well!

Have you always been a pretty active person? Like, what's your what's your background… How did you get started?

I mean, physical activity is something that's always been like a huge part of my life. It's kind of a stress-relieving component; I sometimes call it my meditation time where I go to the gym with my headphones on, and there's no phone, there's no distractions. I talk to very few people while I’m there. It’s just my time to do my thing. So I much prefer to kind of get that kind of activity in, that endorphin aspect of things. Even with outdoor activities, people often say, “I always go for the views,” and that sort of thing. And the views are great, they're fantastic. But for me it's like the whole combination of getting that workout in and the views and just doing it kind of in that environment, if you will, that really makes it cool. It's my way of disconnecting and getting all the feel-good feelings.

Where’ve you mostly been skiing?

We've done everything from West Bragg Creek, Confederation Park here in Calgary, Ribbon Creek, PLP, and the Kananaski area!

Tell us about the competition you have coming up! The Loppet right?

So yeah, I took up cross country skiing last winter. I had never done it before and was like, well, it's COVID and I need something to do. So I went and took some lessons, learned about it, and fell in love with it. Then, the U of C has this Learn to Loppet program where basically you go through start to finish on learning how to cross country ski and also how to develop the endurance and stuff like that to actually compete in the Lake Louise Loppet at the beginning of March. It's about a 20k race. So, I've been training and it's been a really interesting learning experience. A couple of weekends ago we went out for a 20k ski to match what the race will be. And for the first time in a long time, I hit the wall just before our last half a kilometer or so, and I just couldn't physically move anymore. Thankfully it was mostly downhill the rest of the way but I was looking for a place to just lay down and die because I was so, so close to that point. There’s been a lot of learning what my physical limitations are and where I need to even better my nutrition and how that all kind of plays into it.

What was it like to hit that wall?

For me, it was just all the classic symptoms. It started with just getting really hungry and then it was more like classic low blood sugar symptoms; I was lightheaded and dizzy. My muscles, my legs just couldn't move anymore. And I felt just nauseous, sick. It really felt like I literally hit a wall. I didn’t feel better until hours later after doing some serious eating.

Since then have you been more aware of what the limit is?

It was interesting because my muscles just felt like they didn't have the energy to be able to train longer. I just didn't have the glucose to properly supply my muscles with. So, the next big thing I started doing now is a bit of a carb load the night before, especially if it's gonna be a longer ski and then definitely a big breakfast and something else shortly before starting. And then having something with me on the trail as well to make sure I’ve got that constant stream of energy going into the system.

Did you encounter some challenges when you were first getting into cross country skiing? What was that experience like?

I mean, it's all it's super humbling in a way. Even last night we just did some skills training and, you know, some of the basic skills that you would think are kind of transferable from say downhill skiing or whatever, but even basic cornering, getting the technique down in that regard, and just making sure you're putting the proper pressure on your knees and the balls of your feet, it’s a different experience. That's all been very humbling in the sense that I'm very, very new to it all. And it's often stuff that on the trail you don't really think about; you just go for it. But when you actually to get the proper technique, proper stride, it's all been a lot of brain power; more so, I guess you could say, than what I was expecting.

And so what's been your favorite part?

I think my favourite part has been picking up a new sport and the idea, you know, that you can teach an old dog new tricks. You’re starting from the very basics and working your way up to become better and better and better at it. And that's been, I think, the coolest part about it. And I would say just wanting to further progress and see how far I can push it.

Are you classic skiing or you skating skiing? What’s the distinction between the two?

I'm just doing classic. Next year's goal might be actually learning to skate ski and do that aspect. The distinction is basically just the ski type; the skate skis are sometimes a little bit thinner, but they're for sure shorter. It's almost like you're on longer ice skates. And so last night, we were out and it was minus 20 or something ridiculous and it's very icy; not great conditions for classic and so skate ski would have been perfect because you literally could skate like you're on ice at that point in time.

Do you have any advice in general for people who are trying to be more active during the winter time or carry their healthy habits into a different season and a different environment?

I would say the biggest thing with winter is just the layering and, surprisingly, it's not as complicated as what people make it out to be. With a really good base layer you can stay super, super warm. So that's fantastic. And yeah, just putting on the other layers and making sure that you layer up properly. Depending on what you're doing, if it's gonna be a lot of wind coming at you, having something that can break. Also, keep in mind that having vents on the back of your legs or the back of your jacket can really help to still keep you cool but not freeze from the wind. So, looking at the equipment and just investing in good quality layers. It’s gonna make a huge, huge difference to make it that much more enjoyable. If it’s a totally new sport for you like cross country skiing was for me, find a program where you can go and get some initial basic lessons just to get the basic techniques down.