The problem with slipping skis that I mentioned in the last post, that’s solved. It was just a bad job in the shop, because as soon as I got expert help, the skis were fine and my technique is not to blame either.

The bad news is that my body doesn’t seem to be able to keep up. When I skied down the long and steep hill in Ramundberget, my hips and thighs were hurting really bad. I dismissed it as normal training ache and it wasn’t until a week later that I felt that the pain was gone. However, as soon as I was standing on skis again, my right hip (the one that’s always been problematic) was hurting bad enough to mess up my technique. One thing led to another, and the long trip I did yesterday on my day off ended with an aching back. So the priority now is to give the hip some time to heal, which means that I’m forbidden from skiing (that being the activity which causes the pain) for one week. One week!! It may not sound like much, but it feels forever… the winter is too short as it is! I mean fine, I’m allowed to do other things, like snowshoeing, but skiing is just simply the best thing I know and I was really starting to get the hang of it now. Both classic and skate style! I just have to believe that one week’s investment now will pay off so I don’t need a one month of rest later down the line. That, or hip replacement. Come to think of it, one week is not so bad…

The worst part is that I may have caused this problem myself. You see, in order to fix that chafing ski boot problem (yadda yadda I know I’ve written enough about this already), I added a 5mm cork heel in the left boot and that did it. The right boot has the 10mm cork heel that I have in every pair of footwear, to compensate for the length difference of my legs. And sure, this 10mm heel has worked wonders, I haven’t had a major problem with my right hip since I started using it. Until now, that is – adding 5mm in the left boot has apparently tilted me more than I thought it would do, cue stabbing pain in the right hip. So after a week without skiing, I’m gonna have to risk getting blisters again in my left foot because the cork heel has to go. Can I hope for a miracle that the boot doesn’t chafe any more?