Hi Lise!

I like using the poles on grass more than on pavement (I skid with the poles on pavement, because I'm not very good at it yet), but the ground is too wet right now.
I was just wondering if you have those rubber thingies at the end of your poles? Those give a really good grip on asphalt and other firm surfaces. And when you take them off you have the spikes and they give good grip on other , softer surfaces. It's hard to have good grip on ice though.

Am I remembering correctly that you're in ... Finland? Did Nordic walking originate there? How far do you go when you take the poles? I don't know what a good starting distance/time would be, although I'm sure it would be wise to build up.
Yep, I'm from Finland and I believe that it started here I usually try to walk for about one hour but in the beginning you should focus on your form. Remember to lean forward a bit and push with the poles. It's amazing the difference between normal walking and nordic walking, I think I can go twice as fast with the poles and get a great exercise for my upper body as well. This was actually the exercise what I started with when I started to lose weight (after I gained some because I quit smoking ) and I measured with my friends tha calories burnt in one hour and it was about 280 or so (so quite a lot!!). I also noticed that it helped me to build up some stamina so that I wasn't as dead in spinning lessons as I was before.

I hope you keep on doing this, because it is an excellent workout. I hope the weather will turn to the summer side soon (here as well..).

Take care, Laura