[Scott Johnston]

Brian:

I don’t think skiing will move the aerobic needle for running for someone with your fitness.  XC skiing is indeed a great way to increase aerobic fitness, both central and peripheral.  The demands of delivering more blood to both the upper and lower body in XC skiing puts a bigger street on the heart. This is why XC skiers typically have among the highest VO2 max numbers ever recorded.

When it comes to peripheral adaptations, though, these are more sport-specific. However, the transfer from running to XC skiing is quite good, which is borne out by looking at how much running the best XC skiers do.  You see some XC skiers doing quite well in mountain running.

Good luck this winter,

Scott