I won't make any equipment recommendations. For that just drop into the local ski shop and see what fits your budget. You have to realize that skate skiing equipment is different from classical skiing. The big difference is that the skis are quite a bit shorter. I wear the same boots/bindings on both my classical and skate skis.

Technique is also quite a bit different. I much prefer the skating but a friend of mine who is a serious runner only skis classical style because he tells me that the classical technique is closer to running style than is skating.

If you want to maximize your training enjoyment, don't mess around with cheap skis or boots for skate skiing. For ~ $600 you can get equipment that is close to top of the line. Go for any Saloman Pilot Skate Boot (pretty well, all are good, so you have to buy the ones with the last that fits best to your foot) and binding and then get some Atomic Beta 9.1 or Fischer RCS skate cut or Mashus Hypersonics. A good way to save on cost is to buy clearout 2 year old "top of the line skis". They offer all the control, stability and speed you want at often 25% - 50% off.

Good plan to do some XC skiing in the winter. This is a great sport to get outside and build your aerobic engine for tris over the winter. Sure beats sitting on a CT and creating a small salt mine in your basement.

I've been getting a catalog in the mail for this company, here's their website.

http://www.ernordic.com/

You could also check out.

www.gearwest.com

This site has some used stuff in their classifieds.

http://www.skinnyski.com/...assifieds/index.html

Zeke

Skating on classic equipment for any sort of distance basically sucks. I have classic skied for 20+ years but once I learned to skate that's pretty much all I do. Classic in tracks is almost all upper body because of all the double poling, Skating is more lower body but still a lot of poling and core strength. The one thing you can do with skate gear you can't do with classic is leave your poles behind and skate a few km's skis only. Different brands of boots fit different feet so it depends on your feet but the Solomon Pilot boot and binding is really nice if it fits your feet. A sloppy fit will make learning 10x more difficult. Checkout www.fasterskier.com for articles and REI or REI outlet for last year's gear cheaper. I bought my boots half price at REI because they were last year's model.

You have made a wise choice. XC skiing is the BEST off-season training for triathlon. The advantages are numerous.

1. Get some good equipment( see Dev's post) and take a few skating lessons.

2. The skate technique is better for the cycling specific muscles. The classic technique is better for all around fitness, more closely related to running and better at keeping Heart rate low and going for longer efforts until you get very efficient with the skating.

3. To get full advantage of it you will need to ski 2 - 4 times a week for 2 - 4 months. Skiing a handful of times will not do much.

4. Go on a ski holiday for a week ski every day and really immerse yourself in the nordic experience.

If you do it right you should be able to jump back on your bike in late March and be able to go out for decent bike training rides almost right away.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

here are a few more tips, gathered over close to 20 years of skating:

spend on the boots first. get the best you can. going with older skiis of the top range is agreat idea - skiing is highly fashion conciouss and 2-3 year old stuff can be had for a song. oddly, it is just as good as the new stuff. with poles you must get the new fangled straps which wrap around your whole hand - do not dick around with traditional straps, they suck. cheap aluminum poles are fine - i know many an elite skiier who uses them in marathon races for the stregth factor and do fine.

learn some basic waxing. go to a clinic. going out on poorly prepped skiis is a waste of time. it is not hard - learn it and do it. 5 min the nite before you ski makes all the difference. poorly prepped skiis is like a bike wih 55 or 40 psi in the tires - better to shoot yourself in the foot, it would be more fun. did i mention to take a class/clinic? do it.

technique. listen up. there is one classic error everybody makes which they then have to unlearn before they are actually skiing. in skating you do N-O-T move directly on down the trail with your legs driving you - as you think. instead, you use your legs to power you --- get this now ---- first THIS way across the trail, and then back THAT way across the trail. you must grasp this crucial difference!! you move NOT in a line, but a series of left/right diagonals across the skating lane. at any given time while gliding to the left or right you should be able to stand on that ski and ride it clean off the side of the trail. if you find that you NEED to balance by "falling" to the other leg you are not doing it right. you must be centered on the fully weighted ski. after you grasp this you can add the R real power of the core and arms thru the poles. to use the core before you grasp the directional/weight transfer thing is intuitive - but a mistake of the highest order. as i say, most do it wrong, and many never really unlearn it and so never actually ARE ski skating.

to acheive the above do LOTS of no pole skating at first. hold your poles like a tray in front of you and practice a waltz-like glide first THIS way, and then THAT way with your whole body. or hold them behind you like a classy ice skater from an old movie. poles let you cheat, so use them only a little at first. the rule here is the more you dislike no pole skiing the more you need it so uck it up and do it. when you get so you actually enjoy it you can stop, grasshopper. have fun.

Yeah, TTN is totally right. You basically should put your poles away for the first 4-7 sessions out on skate skis and work on your weight transfer with legs only. Once you can get your weight transferred over properly on each stride, you are ready for poles. Then you can come up to Ottawa for the PenguinMAN100K XC ski event that I organize. Its a 100K training event, the winning time was 5:51 and the top ten were sub 7 hours. The course features almost 7000 ft of vertical climbing, thus the name PenguinMAN since on each loop you do this wicked climb where you are going so slow, you are barely moving like a Penguin :-). You can see last year's results at www.sportstats.ca and look up March