As a member of Athletics Yukon, there are a lot of cool opportunities that come up… I got an email about training sessions for snowshoe running, which I really wanted to try out because I’ve been at a loss with what to do with myself now that I can’t run on the street (ice, tons of snow, freezing temperatures, me being wimpy).
I left a voicemail for the organizer along the lines of “Hi I don’t have a way to get there nor do I have snow shoes , nor do I have mukluks ’cause I don’t even know what those are but I’d love to give it a shot!” and despite all that he called me back and graciously offered me a lift and to borrow some snowshoes and mukluks. So today after work, off I went to Mount Mac, site of groomed trails for cross country skiing and snowshoeing.
Now the training session I attended was basically me as someone totally new to the sport, and the rest of the group was comprised of extremely talented youth athletes training for the Arctic Winter Games (to be held in Whitehorse in 2012, by the way!), who also have medals from previous games as well. Enter me, who has really slacked off the whole running/cardio thing since the snow and freezing cold started up here in November, needless to say, I was a little out of breath keeping up to them!
However, I totally had a blast and it was an excellent workout. I will definitely be going back for more (I even kept the snowshoes and mukluks as proof I would return and with hopes to practice a little this weekend!).
We ran with traditional-style snowshoes. I thought we’d be running with those fancy new kinds of snowshoes, but apparently with those you run with your knees up quite a bit, so it doesn’t make for good cross training and preparation for summer running. Also the traditional style of snowshoe is regulation for the Arctic Winter Games. Which means I donned snowshoes and mukluks, which I am now pleased to say I know what they are (booties! Haha).
The trails at Mount Mac are superbly groomed and well lit. I found them very confusing as a first timer, but I had a fabulous guide who put up with my wheezing, and “Are we there yet”s! I definitely recommend dressing in layers for this activity, I really heated up towards the end, as I said, great workout!
You almost shuffle in the snowshoes, and run more toe/ball of foot to heel rather than heel to toe, toe-heel is apparently better for regular running too. I was surprised I didn’t trip over myself, it’s not as complicated as I thought it would be!
As a side note, my running partner told me all about the cool stuff they do in high school here, like at F.H. Collins , you can take part of your education at the M.A.D. Program (Music Arts and Dancing), or if science is your thing, you can take part of grade 11 in the field with Experiential Science - so basically a lot of hands-on experience and having fun while you’re at it- very cool!
That’s all for tonight, now off to bed I go, I am very sleepy for some reason 
<3
Tags: athletics yukon, high school, snowshoe running, Whitehorse, Yukon
