Energy on the slopes

Hi Tspill,
I am reasonably fit but I can't ski for more than about 5 hours per day, broken into two 2 1/2 hour sessions with a long lunch break in the middle. It's not just the physical activity - I get mentally tired as well with the concentration involved in learning new tasks during my ski lessons, constantly adjusting my balance, trying to remember what the instructor said, and studying the landscape and working out where to turn etc.

So, if you started early, at say 9 O'clock, and only had a one hour lunch break, at say 12 O'clock, then I think it would be perfectly normal to be tired by, say, 3 O'clock.

But I do agree that a good breakfast, a sensible lunch, and drinking plenty of water is very important.

It's okay for Dave Mac to say it's not normal to get tired mid-afternoon, but that's because he keeps himself super fit all year round :D

Ally

Got to say I agree with dave though... I hadnt considered health as any issue, maybe go and have blood tests to be sure....

I'm not fit and I normally get through till 16.30 ...... If I start to feel knackered just stop for a coffee
and cake and off you go again 8)

I think maybe it depends on the sort of ski-ing you're doing, as well as how fit/healthy you are.

I mean, I'm usually in a lesson pushing myself to keep up with the group/not get lost/not look like a total idiot etc. or else I'm ski-ing with my younger daughter who goes like a rocket and having to put up with her slagging me off for ski-ing too slowly.

Probably if I was allowed to ski at my own pace I could ski all day with a few breaks for hot chocolate and lunch etc.

Like, for example, the instructor told us to ski down in short tight turns and after I'd done what I thought wasn't a bad job he asked me to tighten them up even more and do it again and I went smash and lost a ski, which is pretty exhausting. I have noticed that instructors always try to push you out of your comfort zone.

Another woman who was in my morning ski lesson last week confessed that she has to spend the rest of the day in bed resting after our lesson!! :lol:

And yet another woman was dragged practically screaming out of a lower class into ours (although she was a better skier than me) but by the next day she'd managed to sneak back into the lower one.

Ally

For info I am generally skiing with a group who are better skiers than me so I try to keep up when my technique isn't really up to it. I improved well with them last year. But it still takes me more effort to keep up.

Theres a difference between keeping up and "hitting the wall"

I am hardly super fit, far from it, but I never get tired enough to feel I need to stop or slow down, and we're out first lift in the morning, and ski off after last lift has shut at night usually.

Breakfast - v important. Eat a lot, and have porridge if you can. Drink lots before you go out as well.

Take water with you, half a litre in a backpack every day. And a couple of small choccy bars, Mars or Twix usually.

Stop for a coffee at least twice; once in the morning, once in the afternoon.

Have a decent lunch, early. We stop before the big rush when ski schools come in, roughly around 12. That way you eat early for afternoon skiing, and have the quiet slopes to yourselves whilst the numpties come off )

Eat a hearty meal at night, and keep hydrated as well.

And dont forget to have at least 4 beers straight after skiing, of course.

If you're still tired all the time, maybe as dave suggests you have a medical condition.

tspill wrote:For info I am generally skiing with a group who are better skiers than me so I try to keep up when my technique isn't really up to it. I improved well with them last year. But it still takes me more effort to keep up.

If you're struggling to keep up with your friends I'm not at all surprised you're tired by mid-afternoon! Maybe you need to take some extra lessons?

Top tip from my instructor last week - he reckons the reason I get tired and ski more slowly than my daughter is because I'm ski-ing on two skis - apparently I should only be using one at a time so that I can rest my other leg :lol:

Ally