The wind picked up with a perfect timing for the weekend. First it rained on Friday and then turned to snowfall yesterday. The snowing was good of course to cover the ice that was left behind by the rain, but I didn’t even think about going skiing yesterday, not under those conditions. But today was better, the sun was out and it was a few degrees below freezing. The wind however… still brutal. I skied from Bruksvallarna to Ramundberget and back, which meant that I had the wind in my face all the way to Ramundberget. I was supposed to practice technique, but in the end I was just happy I was going forward at all. Never mind how!
Apart from the wind, everything was ok. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, I wasn’t freezing (even if the wind did get through my clothes occasionally), I wasn’t pressed for time and I wasn’t hurting anywhere… and so I found myself smiling as I fought against a particularly nasty gust. There is a certain charm in being out in less than ideal conditions, so if you don’t have a reason to be concerned about anything, then it’s actually quite a lot of fun!
Having said that, I was grateful to reach Ramundberget and turn my back on the wind. But the struggle against the wind had zapped my energy more than I like to admit and I didn’t get much practice for my technique on the way back either. There were moments when I got it right, but I have a really bad habit of going stiff when I’m tired and there’s no way you can ski properly like that. But I did find that it’s more of a mental barrier than physical, and I was able to pick up speed if I just forced myself through that barrier. My body, apparently, can do more than I think it can! Now I just need to get my head to catch up and maybe I can avoid falling back to bad habits so often.