Jessie Diggins, Holly Brooks, Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephen skiing at Mt. Bachelor on Wednesday during an interval workout. (Photo: Dan Simoneau)

After six weeks apart, most of the U.S. Ski Team reunited again this week for their annual May training camp in Bend, Ore. Through sunny skies and falling snow, the group put vacation time in the past and set to work at Mt. Bachelor to get ready for the 2013-2014 season. So far that’s included on-snow speed workouts, over distance and intervals, along with mountain biking ride and lots of team meals.

“The team atmosphere is great,” said Holly Brooks, the USST’s newest A-team member. “There are lots of hugs, lots of great meals together and workouts, stories about the spring…it’s really easy to get back into the natural swing of things.”

There is also a quietly building anticipation for the most-hyped part of the upcoming season, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It snowed in Bend on Wednesday for the team’s first group interval workout, and athletes saw the soft conditions as practice for the snow they might see in Sochi.

“It sucks, none of us want to be in cold weather this time of year, but for training it’s pretty good,” said Andy Newell. “Conditions were pretty soft today, but realistically those are the conditions we may see in Sochi and so many other place on the World Cup. So we don’t like it, but it’s good practice.”

Andy Newell, David Norris and Erik Bjornsen during intervals on Wednesday. “Bjornsen and I did a few intervals together, which was great. I don’t get to do intervals with him very often,” Newell said. (Photo: Dan Simoneau)

Bjornsen and I did a few intervals togheter, don’t’ get to do intervals with him very often.

“We got to [Mt. Bachelor] and we said, ‘It’s championship day,’” added Brooks. “That’s Matt [Whitcomb]’s favorite thing to say when it’s adverse conditions.”

The first cross-country race of the Games, the 15/30 k skiathlon, go off on February 8, and a measured excitement for the opening ceremonies is already building in Bend. The team’s training program at the camp is similar to what it’s been in the past — on-snow sessions mixed with less structured workouts on biking and running trails — and only part of their recent goal-setting sessions have focused on Sochi. But there is no denying that Olympic hype has started in the media and within the team, adding an extra element of focus to their first camp.

“For an Olympic year, it’s definitely a big motivator,” Newell said, a 2006 and 2010 Olympian. “You want to make every interval session count; you want to make sure each one is at it’s best. We train like that every year, but it seems more magnified in an Olympic year because you have that thought in the back of your mind. It only comes around once every four years. It raises the intensity level of all the training camps.”

Even with the Olympics looming, however, May is still just the beginning of the off-season. Athletes are being smart as they reenter a full training schedule, Brooks says, resting when they think they need to so they’ll be ready to go come February.

“One thing that’s different is people are extremely proactive about their health and injuries,” she said. The Alaskan skipped SuperTour Finals, for example, to make sure she was fully recovered to begin training for the Olympic year.

“I think our whole team has gotten smarter in that regard,” Brooks continued. “People are being really patient with their bodies and…making sure they’ll be in good health come February.”

The media hype that surrounds the Games has already begun, adding another level excitement to the training season. Newell and women’s team leader Kikkan Randall flew to Los Angeles, Calif., last month for a photo shoot with NBC, where Newell said his interviews with the Olympic broadcaster indicated more interest in cross-country than he’s experienced in the past. The whole team will have another media summit in Park City, Utah, in October, and NPR is scheduled to do a piece on the team during the Bend camp.

As a result, the team’s reunion in Bend has been an opportunity to define what motivates them as a group as they enter a brighter spotlight and a year filled with big expectations. The increased media attention makes the upcoming season feel a little different, Brooks says, but the team’s drive to work hard comes from the same place it always has.

“We had a great team meeting last night and went over some goals that weren’t necessarily performance goals but process goals,” she said. “How to treat each other, what we want to do outside of ski racing as a group and stuff like that. And it was just really cool to see how united everyone is and how motivated everyone is and how we’re really ready to approach the Olympic year as a team.

“There’s not secret to it; it’s not like we do anything different,” Brooks continued. “At this point, we got here by doing something right, and hopefully we continue that good energy and take that with us to Sochi.”

One of the bigger goals for the team will be to replicate their pre-World Championships momentum from last season.

“I think a big goal for me this year and for everyone is: you don’t want to go into Sochi hoping you’re going to do well,” Newell said. “I’m looking to have a successful beginning to the World Cup season…For me a big goal is to be on the podium before going to Sochi. I think that can take the pressure off. Last year the more success we had, the momentum carried to the Championships. So that’ll be the same goal this next year — to roll with momentum into Sochi. Then it’s just like another weekend of racing, and that’s a fun position to be in.”

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Pretty much anything goes – from tech and training questions to what World Cup skiers actually do during the summer (besides grind down pavement and tear up trails). You simply ask, and we’ll do our best to find the answer.

Questions can be submitted anonymously or with a first name and town to questions@fasterskier.com. Email addresses will not be published.

The U.S. Ski Team’s annual May training camp began in earnest this week in Bend, Ore. A few inches of fresh snow greeted skiers at Mt. Bachelor on Wednesday morning, just in time for the group’s first interval session: a set of 6 x 4-6 minute L3 freestyle intervals with intermediate sprints.

“We’ll put a little sprint halfway through the interaval, and that’s to mimic mass start racing and preems and time bonues on the World Cup,” said U.S. sprint veteran Andy Newell. “We try to do it pretty controlled today, but skied in a pretty good group.”

The USST is joined at Mt. Bachelor this week by the National Training Group, the Canadian National Ski Team, the U.S. Biathlon team and U.S. Paralympic athletes. With so many high-caliber skiers training on the same six- to seven-kilometer loop, Newell says the workouts interesting.

“I think tomorrow we have a three-hour one on the schedule,” he said. “We have the Canadians here, the U.S. biathles are here, so there’s so many people out we can catch up with Tim [Burke] and Lowell [Bailey] an ski a lap with them. It’s pretty fun skiing with that many people around.”

Though the workout was the first group interval session all spring for many skiers, Newell noted the pace was pretty controlled.

“We’re pretty used to training with one another so it’s not that competitive,” he said. “Maybe the preems we definitely try to race each other, to try to ge across the preem line, but as experienced skiers we know that there’s not a whole lot of stock in being in great shape in May.”

Special thanks to Dan Simoneau for his photos.

Santi Ocariz bringing it home for a 49-second win at Saturday’s Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend, Ore. (Courtesy photo)

Seven years after discovering the annual Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend, Ore., Santi Ocariz couldn’t shake the urge to try it.

A 26-year-old Wisconsin native, Ocariz visited Bend during his college summers, fell in love with the area, and resolved to come back and one day compete in the alpine, cross-country, bike, run, kayak and sprint race.

Two months before last year’s big event, Ocariz and his wife Carolyn set out for their new home in Bend on rollerskis, raising close to $20,000 to feed impoverished children. They anticipated the 3,000-mile trip would take close to three months, but the couple sped up the pace to get Ocariz to Oregon for the PPP.

They arrived four days before. Ocariz ultimately reasoned he was underprepared in terms of training and equipment, and did not race.

This year, he was ready — maybe not in training hours, but definitely mentally. Last summer, Ocariz launched toward fatherhood when Carolyn became pregnant with their first child. He shifted his priorities to train less and work more in preparation for the hospital bills and additional expenses, and in March, welcomed baby Sonia to the family.

Suddenly, two-a-day workouts were no longer a thing, and he was lucky to ski once a week.

“I don’t think I have trained this little in a year since I was a junior in high school,” Ocariz recalled in an email. “However, what I lacked for in time, I made up in effort.”

Intervals and time trials become his bread and butter, and Ocariz worked with expert paddler Torsten Heycke on kayak-specific training.

He started biking in February to work on his weaker link, practiced transitions and graciously accepted a gift from his friends: a plane ticket to Bend for the event on May 18.

A week and a half before the PPP, the Ocarizes had moved to Moorhead, Minn., where Santi started an accelerated nursing program at Concordia College.

Suddenly, his initial urge to participate had culminated into a driving motivation to beat everyone else — including several defending champions. Ocariz knew his family could use the $1,000 grand prize for winning the elite individual race, and he remembered that as first place started to slip away last Saturday.

“Everyone crushed me in the beginning of the race,” Ocariz wrote of the alpine leg, which involves sprinting to the top of Mt. Bachelor to click into skis before navigating gates on the descent.

With little experience downhill skiing, Ocariz fell behind race leaders Andrew Boone, the 2011 winner, and 2010 champ Marshall Greene. By the start of the 8-kilometer nordic leg, he estimated they had 40 seconds on him.

Ocariz cut the deficit to 10 seconds by the end of the cross-country ski, and early in the 22-mile bike leg, passed Greene up front. A few minutes later, Greene regained the lead.

“Marshall destroyed me on the bike,” Ocariz wrote. “By the time I was out of the running transition, Marshall was 2 minutes ahead of me. From here I put my nose to the grindstone and began working on reeling him in.”

Three miles into the 5-mile run, Ocariz started to lose hope, but only for a moment.

“As soon as I reminded myself how much the prize money would mean for our family, I leaned forward, shortened my stride, and pushed harder,” he wrote.

Forty seconds behind at the kayak transition, Ocariz could see Greene. His friend and supporter, Heycke heaved Ocariz’s boat forward in the water, helping him gain 20 seconds. From there, Ocariz focused on staying smooth and paddling smart, gauging his distance from Greene and how hard he was working behind him.

“By the second turn-around buoy I had almost caught Marshall,” Ocariz wrote. “With about 200 meters to go I put in a surge and passed Marshall.  I was able to put 5-10 seconds on him in that last sprint.  When I hit the beach I burst out of the Kayak, flung my paddle and life jacket, and began sprinting for the finish.  800 meters later, at the finish, I was 49 seconds ahead of him.”

As a rookie, Ocariz had done it — winning the elite race in 1:44:35 over a slew of local favorites. Marshall was second and Boone finished more than six minutes behind in third.

“With my PPP inexperience and lack of ability to train as I have in the past, I was unsure of my ability to match up,” Ocariz wrote. “I was definitely the dark horse. … Winning the PPP in Bend is viewed similarly to how winning the Birkie is viewed in the Hayward area.”

Enough said.

***

For women’s runner up Zoe Roy, achieving a personal best in her hometown’s celebrated race was also significant. A 25-year-old skier currently training in Canada, Roy remembered first racing the PPP on a team when she was 9 or 10. She did it solo at age 12.

Zoe Roy near the end of Saturday’s Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend, Ore. She placed second for a personal best after friend and three-time winner Sarah Max. (Courtesy photo)

In 2009, Roy shared the individual podium with her mom, Muffy, a multiple PPP champion.

“She was second and I was third,” Roy wrote in an email. “Pretty sweet to be on the podium with your mom, though!”

She hadn’t raced it since. Back in Bend for an on-snow camp at Mt. Bachelor, Roy decided to enter the 2013 race a week before.

“I banked mostly on leftover fitness from the winter and tried to do a little a bit of everything just to get comfortable with all the different legs,” she explained.

Early in on Saturday, Roy led through the alpine and cross-country ski legs into the bike transition. Her friend Sarah Max caught her on the ride, but Roy got back in front during the run.

“I had about a 20-second lead going in to the paddle and she caught me!” Roy wrote of the kayak leg. “I think my body was so tired from everything else that I could barely hold my arms up, I didn’t know if I was going to make it!”

Zoe Roy (l) and Sarah Max the day before the Pole Pedal Paddle on May 18 in Bend, Ore. A Canadian skier originally from Bend, Roy placed second behind Max, now a three-time champion. (Courtesy photo)

A back-to-back champion in 2008 and 2009, Max claimed her third PPP title in 2:04:24, a minute and two seconds ahead of Roy in second. Another Bend resident, Mary Wellington finished third, nearly 5 1/2 minutes behind Max.

In a race packed with more than a thousand competitors between tandems and teams, Roy stressed the draw of racing individually.

“The individual is definitely the most team event out there when you factor in the number of people that helped me out, from my awesome support crew (my brother Tosch and my good friend from Bend, Matea) to all the people that I borrowed equipment from,” she wrote. “It takes a village!”

Now, it’s back to skiing, she explained. Roy is hosting fellow independent Canadian skiers Chandra Crawford, Amanda Ammar and Alana Thomas at her house in Bend for 10 days of training.

As for Ocariz, he’s already back in classes. After a season off, Carolyn has resumed full-time training and will race remotely for XC Oregon. Santi explained that he and Sonia, now 10 weeks old, will be her support crew.

“I won’t be training for or focusing on elite racing,” he wrote. “I hope to get to the opportunity to jump into a citizen race or two, but it is not going to be a priority. We have been thrilled with J.D. [Downing] and his organization of the XC Oregon team … The community and team are a perfect fit for us.”

PPP results

Carolyn and Santi Ocariz with newborn Sonia on their first family ski last winter. (Courtesy photo)

Coach Jonne Kahkonen takes video of Tim Burke during a workout at last spring’s Bend camp.

Welcome to Wednesday Workout, the newest workout series on FasterSkier. During the offseason, we’ll feature components of summer training programs from top individuals and teams throughout the U.S. and Canada at the junior, college and elite club levels. If you ever have a workout suggestion or training question, send them in to info[at]fasterskier.com.

***

As athletes ease back into training this spring, they will gradually introduce each component of their training plan back onto the table: distance. Strength. Threshold intervals. Hard intervals.

What about overdistance? “OD”s are long, base-building affairs, and it can be hard to know where to start after a month or more of relaxing. Can you jump straight into a two-hour run? A three-hour rollerski?

The U.S. biathlon team is luckier than most, as coaches Per Nilsson and Jonne Kahkonen say that all of their athletes are returning to camps this May at about the same level of fitness; that removes some of the guesswork. Today in Bend, Oregon, they’ll be tackling a classic OD on snow, probably in the range of three to four hours, depending on the athlete. In the thick of the training season, cross-training workouts on the bike could last up to five, but there’s no need for that now.

That said, this is the first volume block for the team. The coaches estimated that in nine days, divided into two four-day training blocks with a rest day in the middle, the biathletes would hit between 35 and 40 hours total.

“Bend is the place to be if we are talking big hours in the beginning of the season,” Kahkonen said. “It’s perfect here to get on snow and have the opportunity in the afternoon workouts to go out for either mountain biking or running.”

As the athletes build their endurance base and prepare for other types of workouts, Nilsson and Kahkonen discussed how to execute today’s workout well – both if you’re lucky enough to be on snow, or if you’re stuck doing dryland.

The Workout: “The main goal for sure for all this type of workouts is to have as much continuous work as possible and not too many stops,” Kahkonen said. “In our training system we have Wednesday as the day when we have a long session in the morning and then a halfday off. Here the standard is 3-4 hours.”

As always, there’s a balance between skiing continuously and getting something useful out of the workout besides just the hours. The team tries to have some OD sessions that focus on technique as well.

“It’s important to work on the key elements in the ski technique: postition, weightshift, rhythm, and balance, even if you are going pretty slow,” Kahkonen said. “This is not easy to do from the focus side, but you can see that the athletes that have that in the mind are most of the time also the athletes that have the best technique. We either work with the video or sometimes try to follow an athlete.”

(“It gets harder every year,” he smiled.)

As for the pace, it can’t be too fast or too slow. How to control it?

“By heart rate or feel,” the coaches said. “If you can talk the whole time then the pace is too slow!”

Some teams throw in sprints or mini speeds along the way to break things up; Nilsson and Kahkonen eschew that, saying they’d save it for other workouts. For them, an OD is a continuous workout, and the next most important thing to focus on is technique.

As such, they have their athletes ski mostly solo, especially in skate OD’s, where there is a more technical focus.

“For the specific workouts it’s better to go more alone,” the pair explained. “If you ski side by side and talk, it’s not so productive for the ski technique. In other activities it’s fun and they can run, hike, or bike together in the group.”

Finally, the team knows how lucky they are to be on snow right now. It’s a recent development; last year was the first time the biathlon squad made the trip to Bend, and before that they started their seasons in Lake Placid with dryland.

For athletes in similar positions, Kahkonen had a few suggestions about how to ease the body into dryland OD’s.

“If you are on other places, I think cross-training is good in the beginning,” he said. “You can combine two different activities so you don’t overdo it, especially the impact from the pavement.”

The men’s SuperTour field leaves the starting line in Bozeman, Mont., December 2012.

The annual U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association Congress concluded in Park City, Utah, last weekend, bringing a few changes to the American race calendar and rulebook for the 2013-2014 season. USSA Nordic Manager Joey Caterinichio called the outcomes from the meetings the result of a productive three days — “one of our better congresses” — with country-wide participation from coaches of all competitive levels.

“I had a lot of compliments from coaches,” Caterinichio said. “They said there’s been times they wanted to be gone after the second day, but they felt it was so productive that every single one of them stayed the whole meeting. It was just a really productive meeting, which is hard to do sometimes.”

One of the coaches in attendance was Brian Tate, director of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Tate sits on the Junior National Oversight Committee and he agreed that it was a constructive Congress.

“As a club director I make the effort to attend the USSA Congress to hear the plans and strategy our sport’s governing body and national team have in store for the next year and beyond,” Tate said.

“As a club coach, I do not have a ton of contact with the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff, so the Congress is an opportunity to hear the state of affairs, so to speak. They do a good job highlighting the past season and shed light onto the coming season.”

Revamped National Race Calendar

The biggest item on the agenda last week was the SuperTour calendar, which has been reworked to make more sense “athletically and developmentally.” The schedule now breaks down into two-week racing blocks that alternate with breaks to allow athletes to go home and recover or race regionally.

The geographic distribution of races is also designed to be more even amongst regions, so that athletes within each have equal opportunity to compete against higher caliber skiers. The calendar is arranged two years out to allow coaches more time to prepare their travel schedules.

“We spent a long time going over the philosophy of what we want the calendar to look like in the future,” Caterinichio said. “The whole nation had input on this calendar. It seems small, but it’s huge.”

Before this year, Caterinichio says the SuperTour was designed from the venue backwards; the shape of the calendar depended on who wanted to host a race at a given time. Now that coaches have agreed on a basic schedule that makes sense for them and there are more race organizers willing to host events around the country, the process has been allowed to reverse; Caterinichio approached venues to fill in specific dates on the SuperTour and build a domestic race calendar that makes sense for the athletes competing in it.

“For athletes and professional teams using the SuperTour schedule as our domestic racing series to get to the World Cup to continue racing, the current calendar does not make sense, athletically, to go with timing rest and getting our top athletes together in one spot,” Caterinichio said. “So we needed to build in some breaks.”

The rest periods were designed to both allow top athletes a travel break and to strengthen regional races by giving local junior skiers the chance to face tougher competition against the top athletes that will not be able to return home.

“Now we’ve got a good plan for the national calendar down to the regional calendars,” Caterinichio said. “Top skiers can race regionally and I think it will help everybody. It will help college and junior racers and not only keep their regions strong but also…strengthen the nation as a whole.”

Practically speaking, this means that several mainstays of the SuperTour had to either change their dates to fit the new design or be left off completely. The Madison, Wisc., sprints now fall a week later, for example, while Aspen, Colo., and the Tour de Twin Cities are no longer part of the tour.

2013-2014 Calendar Draft:

November 29-Dec. 1 West Yellowstone, Mont.

December 7-8 Bozeman, Mont.

January 4-10 U.S. Nationals, Soldier Hollow, Utah

January 17-19 Regional

January 26 Regional

February 1-2 Regional

February 8-9 Madison, Wisc.

February 15-16 Battle Creek, St. Paul, Minn.

February 22 American Birkebiener, Hayward, Wisc.

March 23-29 SuperTour Finals, TBA (Leading bid from Anchorage, Alaska. Sun Valley and some Eastern sites as “backup”)

2014-2015 Calendar Draft:

November 29-Dec. 1 West

December 7-8 West

January 3-9 U.S. Nationals, TBA (Leading bid from Houghton, Mich.)

January 17-19 Regional

January 25-26 Regional

February 1-2 East (Leading bid from Craftsbury, Vt.)

February 8-9 East

February 15-16 Madison, Wisc. (SuperTour prize money, no points)

February 23 American Birkebeiner

March 23-29 SuperTour Finals, TBA (Bid from Anchorage, AK, if not the 2014 host)

SuperTour Finals to Include Club Relay, Two National Championships

One of the recurring discussions at the USSA Congress every year is the timing of U.S. Nationals, and whether it makes sense to have a championship in January when the nation’s best athletes are racing in Europe. Last week the Congress decided to keep January nationals as is, but added a second championship race to SuperTour Finals in the spring, when World Cup athletes are back in the U.S.

As a result, the season-ending race series will not be a mini-tour next year, though Caterinichio says the format change can be revisited again in 2014. That means not more hill climb, and the series will be split into two SuperTour Finals races, a sprint and an interval start, and two national championships.

To complement the final the 30/50 k Championship on the final two days of the series, a club relay will be the second championship race on the schedule. It will include two classic legs and two freestyle legs, and to keep the relay competitive between clubs, the relay will be mixed — two men and two women. It has been proposed that only clubs teams be eligible for the championship, but that unofficial mixed teams will be welcome to race.

New Junior Age Group Nomenclature

In the junior skiing category, the most significant change came in the age-class nomenclature. The “J” age groups have been eliminated in favor of a “U” system, which is more common across junior sports. OJs are now U20s, J1s are U18s, J2s are U16s, and so on.

The Junior National Championships will take place in 2014 at Trapps Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt., and the schedule of races is under review. JNs tried out a new competition schedule this year in Fairbanks but there is a proposal to return to the original event order, beginning with the interval start and ending with the relay.

Ben Popp (r) and his wife, Megan, and twins, Grant (second from l) and Luke at the Barnebirkie kids’ race at the 2013 American Birkebeiner in February. (Courtesty photo)

Late last year, Ben Popp found himself at home – or at least closer to his roots – building a cabin in northern Wisconsin. He and his wife, Megan, had bought land in Earl, a 20-minute drive from the motherland of the American Birkebeiner in Hayward, in hopes of vacationing and one day retiring there.

In January, Popp’s dream started to take shape. News spread about Ned Zuelsdorff’s retirement as executive director of the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation (ABSF), and Popp entertained the idea of life in Hayward directing the Birkie.

New Birkie executive director Ben Popp (ABSF photo)

A 38-year-old native of Phillips, Wis., about two hours east of Hayward, he couldn’t tell you the exact number of Birkies he’d done over the years – maybe 14 or 15. He missed a few in college.

But even when he moved to Minnesota’s Twin Cities, he never forgot how iconic it was and came to appreciate the importance of the 50-plus-kilometer trail in the scheme of worldloppets and facilitating healthy outdoor activities.

Earlier this month, Popp accepted the position as executive director of North America’s largest ski marathon. What was more, he was going back to northern Wisconsin with his wife and twin boys, Luke and Grant.

“The stars were kind of aligning,” Popp said on the phone from St. Paul last week. “The position became open and we said, ‘Wow this is crazy. Not only are we building a place there, it might be kind of a dream job to run the American Birkebeiner.’ ”

New to the area, Popp intends to follow up Zuelsdorff’s eight years of executive work and bring what he learned with the SISU Nordic Ski Foundation to the ABSF.

The co-founder of SISU, Popp started the Twin Cities non-profit with Mike Nightingale in 2008 to enhance nordic skiing in the Midwest and promote what Popp affectionately calls “an active outdoor lifestyle.”

Five years later, the foundation has grown by 500 percent in terms of race participation with 12 events per year, according to Popp. SISU has 16 programs with more than 800 participants, and it hosted 2,600 athletes in the second year of the SuperTour’s Tour de Twin Cities.

No longer a fledgling startup, the foundation has increased its revenue by 660 percent and is working to build a nordic center at Battle Creek Park just outside Minneapolis. All that growth made Popp’s decision to leave a little easier.

“The baby’s going from crawling to walking, so to speak,” he said. “That’s what kind of put my mind at ease.”

With Battle Creek still in the planning stages with an anticipated completion in 2015, he’ll stay connected as a SISU board member. In the meantime, Popp will start tackling all things related to the Birkie in June, including land-rights issues with private owners and the currently closed Telemark Resort.

He’ll also finish converting his family’s cabin into a permanent residence with hopes of moving in before the snow starts to fly and his 7-year-olds start second grade this fall.

FasterSkier: How were you able to grow or expand SISU?

Ben Popp: The interesting thing about SISU’s been that it started only five years ago and has really grown rapidly, in part due to creating some good programs centered around really good coaches and mentors that were really good at attracting people to skiing and racing and being outside and active. Then we had some good events. They helped promote the sport and helped promote SISU, and through that, we got some really good allies through city officials and county officials. Suddenly we had all these partners, and it started to grow and that active outdoor lifestyle started to become more mainstream. People wanted to be a part of it, so it’s exciting for the foundation. It’s still very small and growing, but it’s becoming a bigger part of the community in St. Paul and the metro [area]. I think that whoever comes in [as executive director] is gonna have a great time and really enjoy seeing where this goes.

FS: How difficult was your decision to leave SISU for the Birkie?

BP: It’s been really hard having started it and seeing it grow. It’s silly to say maybe, but it was really proud [seeing] SISU kids on the podium at junior nationals this year. We’re five years in and already we’re starting to see some of our kids do really well … it’s exciting to see that growth.

Having grown up in northern Wisconsin, I’m really excited certainly to move back there and be a part of that community and the largest ski race in North America and all the influences that can happen to the Birkie because of the event that it is. That was an exciting opportunity, but I’ll be honest to say that it was a tough decision because SISU is very near and dear to my heart. Part of it was knowing that there’s a really good, strong board of directors, and the coaches that we have are really vested in it. That made it easier to say, ‘It’s hard to leave, but we’ve got a great group of directors and a great group of coaches so it’s in good hands.’

FS: What attracted you most to the Birkie position?

BP: The reason I started SISU, the important part was obviously supporting ski racing, but also promoting this active outdoor lifestyle. I would argue the Birkie is – if it doesn’t do it now, it can in the future – be a really strong presence in … promoting that lifestyle. Suddenly that opportunity to be involved with that and carry that message to an even broader audience than I have with SISU was really exciting.

Because of the assets [the Birkie] has in terms of the Birkie Trail, the iconic ski trail and hiking trail and running trail as well as all the mountain bike single track that’s been created … it really becomes this destination for silent sports. You couple that with the race, now you have this tool to promote this active lifestyle and also skiing. That was really second to none, and getting to live back to northern Wisconsin where I grew up was certainly part of it. That only added to the location that has been of interest to our family and where we want to be.

FS: What are some of your goals for the Birkie?

Ben Popp while volunteer coaching the Minnehaha Academy ski team in Minneapolis (Courtesy photo)

BP: [Youth development]. Using some of the assets of the Birkie, whether it’s grant programming or utilizing coaches’ education or going around the state of Wisconsin to start more programs, just getting more youth engaged in nordic skiing really early on.

If you look at the Midwest team as a whole from the junior standpoint, it’s Wisconsin and Minnesota, basically. Forty of the 50 athletes this year came from Minnesota and 10 from Wisconsin. You look at the pieces Minnesota has and Wisconsin doesn’t, one is a really established high school program, and two is a really established youth program. Wisconsin, while it’s not that they don’t have that, it’s just that it’s not as established or robust. They do have a high school ski team program, but it’s only a handful of ski teams as opposed to Minnesota, which has thousands of kids. So you see, when you have these programs and this pipeline you get a bunch of really good skiers out of it. Trying to create some of that programming would be something that would be good for us.

The Birkie Trail as a whole is an iconic piece. Last year they hosted a snow-bike race in March and filled it up. We could’ve had the same sort of thing in the Twin Cities and had 50 people do it, but the draw was going to this crazy hard trail and snow bike on it. So I think, one, [we need to] utilize the trail through family events or races, just getting more people to it, to further grow skiing and this lifestyle of being outdoor and active. Two, growing the media attention drawn to, not just the Birkie, but skiing and biking and being outside. I think we can do a better job of promoting this sport that’s is sometimes looked at as really small. Certainly [U.S. world champions] Jessie [Diggins] and Kikkan [Randall] have brought more life to it, but we’re constantly fighting this uphill battle of gaining more mainstream attention to nordic skiing. That’s something that I hope to use the Birkie to do because it is a big event and there’s no reason that we can’t draw more attention to the sport, and gaining mainstream sponsors that will further promote skiing as well.

FS: What are some of the challenges you face as incoming director?

BP: The very obvious one is Telemark is closed again right now. That’s been the iconic start for the race since its inception and that’s important. You can’t have a race without a start, middle and a finish, and without a start, we don’t have a Birkie, we don’t have anything. I know that securing a start area and the parcels of land that [participants] cross are really important. I think getting up there and working with Bayfield County and Sawyer County and the owners at Telemark to solve that long-term is really important. The Birkie has a huge economic impact on that region so it’s in everybody’s interest to make sure that we get that solidified for years to come.

I’m new to the area so continuing to grow existing relationships is always a challenge. Anytime you’re stepping in, you don’t have a lot of those same connections and relationships so I think that will be an important component and challenge initially, especially since Ned has already left. [But] he’s going to be staying in the area and being involved in the trail-work crew so it’ll be an asset having him around, certainly he’s done great things and I think we can learn a lot from what he’s done.

FS: When do you think you’ll race your next Birkie?

BP: I don’t know, I think there’s going to be a lot more things to do on race day than skiing. … I think my days of racing are probably a little behind me for at least a few years. Maybe I can pick it back up when my kids start racing and we can race it together.

FasterSkier.com is seeking energetic and committed interns to contribute to its daily online publication. This is a great opportunity for aspiring journalists and those passionate about cross-country skiing to dive right into topics involving all aspects of the sport. Interns will work on meaningful projects, interview top athletes and officials, and potentially travel.

The ideal candidate would be able to start immediately and work through the summer, pitching ideas and collaborating on assignments with editors. Position is part time with a small stipend and equipment perks. Promising interns could be promoted to staff status and possibly assigned trips this winter.

Prospective interns should be highly motivated, strong writers and diligent reporters. Editors will expect several articles per week, encouraging interns to contribute “quick content” as needed. The offseason (spring, summer and fall) will be viewed as a training period, and prospective part-timers should be able work on weekends during the season.

Intern expectations:

• Commit at least 10 hours per week
• Brainstorm, pitch and start working on noteworthy stories
• Stay current on nordic news, especially internationally, and post to FS blogs accordingly
• Produce content in timely manner (i.e. race reports, breaking news)
• Conduct several interviews per week, mostly via phone or Skype
• Contribute at least three original stories per week
• Join weekly conference call
• Be available to assist editors, reporters as needed
• Cover events, interview subjects in person when possible
• Proofread own stories as well as others’ content

Interested candidates should send resume and cover letter to Alex Matthews at alex@fasterskier.com.

Patrick Stewart-Jones of the Alberta World Cup Academy leads the way at the high point of the Upper World Cup trail at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre last week.

VERNON, B.C. – Sovereign Lake Nordic Center’s annual Summer Ski camp from May 10-19 attracted the usual collection of hard-core skiers, a mixture of teams and day trippers who need a last fix of snow before the inevitable arrival of summer. With neighbour Silver Star Mountain Resort gearing up for a summer of mountain biking, and the city of Vernon already in full-summer mode in the valley below, Sovereign’s weeklong camp is the last chance for set tracks in the region.

Canmore Nordic was the first group to arrive on May 10, with a four-day camp justifying the six-hour drive to Vernon. Another Canmore-based team, the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) arrived next for a seven-day, sleep-low (train-high) camp beginning May 12. Black Jack skiers trickled in for the final four days, and biathletes and Para-Nordic team members flocked to the snow-covered trails as well.

The week preceding the camp featured five consecutive days of temperatures at or about 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in the valley below and significant snow loss even at the 1600-metre low point of the early season trails. After four days of skiing and a major thunderstorm, the track setters shifted to a higher set of trails.

AWCA brought most of its athletes, including last season’s NorAm winners Emily Nishikawa and Michael Somppi, as well as Canmore World Cup top-15 finishers Jess Cockney and Phil Widmer, and perennial domestic podium contenders Kevin Sandau and Alysson Marshall.

“We are up here in the mornings for skiing a few hours at least and then we’re downtown [in Vernon],” said AWCA coach Mike Cavaliere. “We do some cycling, or running in Ellison Park, or go to the gym.”

While the team is expecting to return to crust skiing in Canmore, this camp was attractive for set tracks and the nearby low elevation (380 meters), with accommodation on a beach near the Ellison Park mountain biking area.

“Part of the goal is to let people enjoy summer,” Cavaliere said.

One day, the AWCA women got out their road bikes for a training ride to Marshall’s parent’s house in nearby Salmon Arm for lunch. The next day, the men rode from their lakeside accommodation to Silver Star Village – ascending some 1,200 metres – for their post-ski workout.

Former Canadian national team coach Dave Wood, now happily “retired” in Rossland, B.C., persuaded his small Black Jack team to drive five hours to start the new training season on groomed trails.

“We started skiing [in Rossland] in October, and they set track until April 27th,” he said.

And what about those masters athletes? Most stayed down in the valley, mostly for all the biking, mountain biking, running, rowing, and stand-up paddling recreational options. Skiers from at least four nearby nordic areas were spotted up at Sovereign, having driven by the summer alternatives to get here.

Despite the example set by the elite athletes, middle-aged journalists are simply not capable of skiing two hours in the morning and then running or biking in the evening for more than five consecutive days. Lesson learned. Or lesson not really learned, because it was so much fun.

Sadie Bjornsen, Kikkan Randall, and Jessie Diggins, leading the pack at 2013 SuperTour Finals this spring. (Photo: Ryan Scott)

We probably haven’t heard the last of athletes joining new teams for the 2013-2014 season, but already there have been a number of notable acquisitions at the elite club level. The Stratton Mountain School T2 team gained Simi Hamilton from Sun Valley, Annie Pokorny from Middlebury, and Ben Saxton as a post-graduate from F.A.S.T. Performance Training. SVSEF, in turn, will soon bring on Miles Havlick from the University of Utah to join Matt Gelso and Mikey Sinnott.

More new developments:

• The Craftsbury Green Racing Project, home to Ida Sargent and Susan Dunklee, announced a few additions and departures for next year. Liz Guiney (University of New Hampshire), Andrew Dougherty (Denver University) and Peter Hegman (University of Vermont) have signed on as new or soon-to-be college graduates, Clare Egan has shifted her focus to biathlon, while Tim Reynolds and Dylan McGuffin were not on the roster.
• In addition to Havlick, the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation elite team will include new members in Rose Kemp (University of Utah) and Mary Rose (University of Colorado), according to an email from head coach Colin Rodgers.
• The Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Club, the most dominant domestic squad many years running, has three new men in its training group. Head coach Erik Flora reported that Tyler Kornfield (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), David Norris (Montana State University) and Lex Treinan (UAF) will join Erik Bjornsen, Reese Hanneman next season. The women’s roster remained relatively constant; Kikkan Randall, Sadie Bjornsen, Holly Brooks and Rosie Brennan again headline the team. Brent Knight and Mark Iverson, Flora said, are retiring from the group.
• Sam Tarling (Dartmouth), who announced this spring his plans to continue skiing after graduation, is presently finalizing his team plans. He wrote in an email that he hopes to know who he’ll be skiing for by next week.

New teams mean different things depending on the caliber of athlete. Hamilton’s move to Vermont was mainly for training purposes, as he spends most of the race season in Europe with the U.S. Ski Team, but others will have more of an impact on the domestic circuit. So far, it looks like the SuperTour can expect a sizable incoming class next season.

Noah Hoffman competing in the 50 k classic at the 2013 World Championships.

Noah Hoffman ran outside for 20 minutes on Wednesday. On Thursday, he hiked for four hours on a treadmill at a constant 15% grade. If that sounds like unconventional ski training, that’s because Hoffman, the top-ranked distance skier in the U.S., is now in the recovery phase for surgery he underwent on his left shoulder this spring. It’s the second time in three years he’s gone under the knife to prevent recurring shoulder dislocations, this time with the goal to eliminate the problem entirely.

Wednesday was Hoffman’s first day of running outside since mid-winter; on Friday he’ll be able to run for 30 minutes, and then 45.

“It’s tedious,” Hoffman admitted on the phone from Park City, Utah, where he does most of his summer training.

Hoffman completed the best season of his life last winter, which included a 15th place in the 15 k individual freestyle at World Championships. With the Olympics on the calendar in 2014 it may seem like the worst possible summer to be held back by surgery recovery, but Hoffman says hasn’t been held back at all. In fact, he’s already put in more training time this spring than ever before, including last spring when he was healthy.

“Being able to do [the surgery] in the spring allows me to do it without any setback,” he said.

Indoor training has given him more control over his workouts, which Hoffman considers a good thing for this time of year.

“One thing I would say about training indoors is, it’s definitely more consistent training, which I think is really good for base fitness,” he said. “I walked uphill today at four miles per hour at 15% grade, and added a couple micro pace-changes. It’s incredibly consistent. So for base fitness, I think it is really high level training.”

Though he considers his training unencumbered, Hoffman’s workout options are limited. He tried hiking outside in the weeks immediately after surgery but found the available terrain wasn’t challenging enough to elevate his heart rate. Since entering a more structured training period he has committed to working out inside the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s Center of Excellence, where his physical therapy, lower-body strength and aerobic workouts can take place under one roof until he’s cleared for more activity.

Hoffman reintroduced running this week, and has until the twelve-week post-surgery appointment with his doctor to know when he can start rollerskiing and biking. He won’t attend the U.S. Ski Team training camp in Bend, Ore., next week but hopes to be allowed to ski on snow by the end of July.

So, does hiking on a treadmill for four hours — “a new personal record for longest consecutive indoor workout,” he wrote on his blog — get boring?

“I’m not worried about entertainment value; I’m going to do what’s planned out,” Hoffman said. “It’s not about having fun; I have fun when I’m not training.”

That said, Hoffman does allow himself TV to alleviate the monotony of the gym — he’s started watching ski races on an iPad while he hikes on the treadmill. During his recent four-hour session he watched the entire 50 k from World Championships this February, a two-hour race, and parts of the men’s and women’s classic sprints from Val di Fiemme.

“It was entertaining,” Hoffman said. “I hadn’t seen exactly what [Johan] Olsson did in that 50 k and of course it’s astoundingly impressive. It was a fun race to watch not having seen any video from that race.”

While his shoulder heals, Hoffman’s summer is still about progress — he doesn’t want to simply main fitness he had last season.

“It’s not just about getting back to where I was, but beyond where I was,” he said. “I’m going to use this process and physical therapy to add strength to my upper body.”

Technique development has been a major component of Hoffman’s training in the past, but in the face of limited ski-specific sessions at the moment he has broadened his focus to include upper-body strength as soon as he can lift weights again. He has four technique blocks planned at the end of the summer and fall, but independently of surgery Hoffman decided that strength and power is another component of his skiing he can improve.

“The technique is a focus, but I would say that it’s become clear to us that the strength and power deficiency, especially upper-body, has been a bigger limiting factor last season than my technique alone was,” Hoffman said. “I’m going to be able to make a lot of gains just by adding upper body strength and power, and I’m excited to work on technique again as soon as I’m able to.”

For the moment Hoffman is limited to 10-pound curls with his left arm, which has atrophied to a fraction of the size of his right arm since surgery. But his doctor adjusted his physical therapy protocol to let him build back strength more quickly than he did two years ago. Mobility and range-of-motion, which came before strength last time around in his physical therapy, is set to return more naturally.

“With strength and power being my big off-season goals, independent of the surgery, I’m really happy with the strength as a recovery tool,” Hoffman said.

Long-term, Hoffman views surgery recovery as a necessary part of the process in pursuit of his goal to eventually reach the top of the sport. He considers his improvement last season as step in the right direction, but is by no means entirely satisfied.

“It’s never a smooth, continual uphill process, that’s for sure,” he said in April. “I achieved some of my goals but not others this year; I guess I shoot pretty high. [A top-15 at World Championships] is just, to me, one step beyond being second at U23s. Those people that were in the top-10 with me [at U23s] have excelled as well, and many have had significantly better results than I’ve had since that race.”

With the Olympics on the horizon Hoffman is focused on making another step forward in the months ahead.

“The Olympics are big in the U.S., and big for any skier’s career, but I believe it would be a shock to win an Olympic medal for me next year,” he said. “I have other very lofty goals that I hope to achieve, and only one of them, to be honest, has to do with the Olympics. I want to continue improving next year and continue striving towards my goal and continue reaching the top of the sport. One of them is to win an Olympic medal, but I don’t think that’s going to happen in Russia; more in South Korea [in 2018].”

Auburn Ski Club Training Center on Donner Summit, CA is currently seeking to fill the year-round position of Training Center programs manager.

ASC-TC is a nationally recognized club that offers a wide range of Cross-Country, Alpine, Snowboarding, Freeride and Biathlon programs with a competition schedule in all disciplines. ASC-TC operates its own facilities that include a 20K XC trail system, biathlon range and Alpine race arena at the adjacent Boreal Mt. Resort.

The TC Programs Manager is a key member of the TC staff devoted to providing winter sports opportunities and athletic achievement to club members. Interested applicants should submit a resume, references and cover letter to Bill Clark at bclark@inc.auburnskiclub.org. Deadline is June 1, 2013. More information and the full job description below and by clicking here. 

Position: Training Center Programs Manager

Employer: Auburn Ski Club, Inc.

Reports to: Executive Director

Compensation and benefits: Competitive compensation, full-time salaried September through May, half-time June through August. Includes health plan (after waiting period) and 2 weeks’ vacation.

Job responsibilities and duties: 

• Work closely with executive director and staff to manage the Training Center athletic programs, events, activities to meet the goals and objectives as established by boards and discipline committees.
• Coordinate the development of annual program descriptions and implementation plan to create a healthy athletic environment with a focus on achievement and safety.
• Work closely with accounting staff to oversee and manage program budgets, reports and projections
• Administer program registration and membership process
• Assist in recruiting, training and supporting a coaching staff of 20+
• Coordinate and communicate a schedule of training sessions, venues and competitions
• Manage race events, volunteers, results and scoring
• Oversee program outreach communication, published materials and social media
• Plan marketing and athlete recruitment goals.
• Work closely with TC staff and volunteers to plan and organize fundraising events
• Participate in general TC operations as needed.

Qualifications: 

• Experience in one or more winter disciplines of Alpine, Nordic, Snowboarding, Biathlon or Freeride
• Working relationship with USSA, Far West Alpine, Far West Nordic, USASA or CNISSF preferred.
• Experience in youth sports, preferably snow sports
• Experience with Ski and snowboard competitions, timing and race administration
• Strong organizational and proven communication skills
• Organized, with attention to detail and ability to handle multiple projects
• Proven ability to work as part of a team and be productive when unsupervised
• Computer competency – word processing, spreadsheets database managment, email and internet
• Ability and willingness to work in an outdoor winter environment, ability to ski or snowboard, lift up to 50lbs, operate snowmobiles.

Interested applicants should submit a resume, references and cover letter to Bill Clark at bclark@inc.auburnskiclub.org. Deadline is June 1, 2013. 

AUBURN SKI CLUB TRAINING CENTER 

Box 729, Soda Springs, CA,95728

(530) 426-3313×103 or fax (530) 426-3501, www.auburnskiclub.org

The Auburn Ski Club Training Center is a non-profit facility located on Donner Summit, adjacent to Boreal Mountain Resort. ASC-TC provides a variety of programs for 1500+ members including Junior Alpine, Snowboard, Nordic and biathlon ski teams; recreational XC skiing and clinics on club XC trails; competitions and social events.

If Marit Bjorgen can’t change people’s perceptions about what women can accomplish in sports, then what can? (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus; facebook.com/FIS Cross Country)

MONTPELLIER, France – Women’s sports have come a long way in the last half century. But they are still nowhere near on par with men’s sports, in terms of participation, depth of field, or funding. What is stalling the progress?

One limitation is stereotypes, which in many ways have changed startlingly little. It’s taken as a fact that women’s bodies aren’t capable of the types of performances turned in by men. Yet in a recent review published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, authors noted that innate physical differences can’t fully explain the difference between men’s and women’s athletic performance.

Many stereotypes and expectations have psychosocial effects on women from the very day they are born: what they wear, how they play, how adults interact with them. As girls get older, there’s the expectation to look pretty, to get married, and to have a family – and maybe leave a promising career to take care of the kids. All of this contributes, research shows, to the differences in both participation and performance between the sexes.

Among the researchers who published that review is Julie Boiché. She’s a psychology researcher at the Epsylon Laboratory, a collaboration between three universities housed in this southern French city which bills itself as an “interdisciplinary research unit dedicated to the human sciences and health.”

Sports aren’t what Boiché, a slim woman with biceps that Michelle Obama would envy and an elegant streak of white through her dark-gray hair, set out to focus on. In her career so far, Boiché has studied gender stereotypes and expectations in many aspects of life, from academics to professional settings.

But it’s not a strange direction for her take, either. Boiché plays rugby, a sport which in France is definitely considered to be for men.

“There was a student who came [to our team] and did a survey about it, talking with some of the male staff members,” Boiché recounts. “She felt that we were tolerated, nothing more. And sometimes we had feedback where they’d say, ‘actually, we’re really surprised that you can play!’”

Of course, most people don’t come right out and say that, even if they think it. Stereotypes can be expressed in subtle ways, yet still have a huge impact.

And while nordic sports are pretty egalitarian – at least compared to rugby – there are plenty of ways that these gender expectations are ingrained into athletes’ daily lives: the relative rarity of female coaches, even for female athletes. The shallower depth of field at almost every level of racing. And, fairly uniquely to skiing, the different distances for women and men.

“I think it definitely marks differences, to say, ‘you can’t do the same distance because you’re just a woman’,” Boiché says of the setup. “Nothing legitimizes that, because you are just as highly-trained of an athlete. You can run the same distance, even if the male and female times are different.”

So what is the impact of being reminded, weekend after weekend, that you’re different from a man? And why are situations like this deemed “okay” by the sporting world and the general public? That’s what Boiché and her lab has set out to study.

Experiments and Surveys

In psychology, stereotypes are defined as sets of beliefs about behavior or personality that are shared by a group of people. There are two ways to consider their effects: as internalized, or as situational.

The internalization hypothesis tests the idea that the extent to which someone is affected by a stereotype depends on whether they endorse it or not. If they believe that a stereotype is true, then it will have an effect on them.

The situational hypothesis is more broad. It states that anyone can be affected by stereotypes, as long as they are exposed to them. It doesn’t matter if they agree with the stereotype, if they are ambivalent, or if they actively fight it.

Boiché gives an example of a situational effect from the academic realm.

Fast and Female in action: Annie Hart, Sophie Caldwell, Jessie Diggins and Erika Flowers on Oct. 7 at a Fast and Female event in Park City, Utah. (Courtesy photo)

“Some very famous studies show that if you present a task as a drawing task, girls and going to be better, but if you present it as a geometry task, they will be worse than boys, even if it is the exact same task,” she explains. “It is just the stress, the pressure induced when you know that your group is considered as worse and you are afraid of confirming those stereotypes. You become less focused.”

In sports, the internalization hypothesis is mainly used to study participation, while the situational hypothesis is used to study performance.

“In the [internalization] sense, what we are working on is to what degree people agree with the stereotypes that men differ, and that sports are not as appropriate [for women],” Boiché says.

This approach seeks to answer questions like those raised by Canadian Olympic gold medalist Chandra Crawford’s Fast and Female events: how can adolescent girls be encouraged to stay in sports?

“We assume that if people endorse such stereotypes, then girls would be less likely to engage in sports,” Boiché explains. “Maybe they associate their gender with other kinds of activities. The idea is that in adolescence, gender identity becomes increasingly important and young women that identify strongly with femininity, if they endorse the stereotypes, would be more likely to drop out.”

Assessing how people endorse these stereotypes is not an easy task for many reasons, but primarily because people are not always honest.

“Women won’t necessarily tell you if they consider sports not to be for women,” Boiché laments. “But they will make choices in different proportions in men. You see that females drop out more than males, but at the same time they would deny that this is because of stereotypes.”

The situational approach, on the other hand, can be studied in a less biased and more experimental manner; it is often applied to individual tasks. For instance, researchers can present a female athlete with a stereotype, and then ask them to perform a skill or technique. Women who take sports seriously probably don’t buy into the notion that athletics are a male domain – yet knowing that others do can still affect their performance.

Confronting Reality

In a world where Marit Bjørgen exists, along with Brittney Griner, Lindsey Vonn, Serena Williams, and Abby Wambach, and where women have made appearances everywhere from NASCAR to the Kentucky Derby – why do these stereotypes still even exist?

Changing people’s perceptions, says Boiché, is hard. She and PhD student Melissa Plaza recently completed a study looking at participation by sex in a variety of sports, as well as people’s perceptions of those sports. They found nearly a perfect match: if more women did a sport, it was considered “appropriate” for women. If more men did a sport, it was considered a “men’s sport.”

(There is also a stereotype against men doing sports that are perceived to be more appropriate for women, which Plaza believes is very important to study more. But the problems for women, she says, are greater: “It is not the same degree of conflict. For instance, a male dancer is going to be athletic anyway, [conforming to norms] since in social life men are expected to be muscular, even if they are not very large.”)

Boiché called it a vicious circle.

“As long as people think like that, it will be hard to change behavior,” she says. “Young children and adolescents don’t want to play a sport that is not ‘appropriate,’ and the parents won’t push them.”

The women recount a story about a young participant in one of their studies. The girl wanted to play rugby; she signed up secretly because she knew her parents wouldn’t approve. Her mother found out and actually forbade her from playing; she was worried, she said. It’s a dangerous sport, and her daughter might break her nose.

The kicker? It was a rugby family. The mother had not forbade any of her sons from playing.

“People actually believe these stereotypes, that women are just physical capital and you have to keep that,” Boiché marvels.

“It’s crazy,” Plaza agrees. “You have to change behaviors before you can change perceptions.”

It’s a seemingly impossible proposition. So in the last part of her PhD, Plaza hopes to study whether it’s possible to change people’s perceptions before changing their behavior.

For questions like this, researchers use computers and ask participants to do a task, like associating two words. Do they click faster, for example, when they’re presented with “men” and “sports” than with “women” and “sports”? This type of “implicit” study removes the bias and dishonesty the researchers encounter with survey-based methods.

The plan is to examine whether being shown images of female athletes affects the way that participants make these associations.

“That’s the question – if we present a model of someone that contrasts stereotypical behavior, will people realize that this person is as able in these sports?” Boiché asks. “And then that she’s not a man, that she’s feminine? Maybe that can change things.”

Modern Complexity

She could be talking about Plaza. Sitting across the table, the 25-year-old researcher wears a pink shirt with delicate shell buttons; and her long hair bounces as she moves. Her posture is perfect. She’s on point and slightly nervous, since she wasn’t sure she would be comfortable doing an interview in English. (She speaks, of course, very well.)

So when she talks about broadcasting images that contrast stereotypes, you imagine, well, her. Besides conducting experiments and writing papers, Plaza is a professional soccer player, which is why she’s so interested in these questions in the first place. The midfielder has played an average of 78 minutes in 16 matches of the French championship league; in that time she has received two yellow cards for the Montpellier team, which is ranked fourth in the country.

(For American skiing, this moment came when Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall – flipping their blonde hair and batting their lashes – marched atop the World Championships podium. Fast? Athletic? Feminine.)

Despite the many, many examples of women who go completely against the stereotype that ladies shouldn’t do sports, and that those that do are more like men because of it, Boiché points out that as yet, they have “no solutions.”

Even in 2013, women’s sports are often treated as a lower level. Plaza, for instance, is paid a fraction of what even the worst male players on French professional squads receive. Her team, she says, practices even more than the men’s team – and the women hold jobs or are students, while the men just play soccer. Sports aren’t perceived in the same way in every country, and soccer is a particularly striking example. In the United States, it’s seen as neutral, or appropriate for both men and women. In Europe, Boiché says, “it’s really the male sport.”

So Plaza, and other female athletes, are exposed to stereotypes all the time, even if they don’t buy into them.

“In the last few years, all these sexist declarations have been made by coaches,” Boiché fumes. “When you do the kind of job that we are doing, it’s surprising. You say, ‘what? We’re in 2013 now!’ Just this year there was a soccer coach who said – he was unhappy with what a woman commented on the radio – and he said ‘well, I never talk about soccer with women, they don’t get it and she should just go back to her kitchen.’”

And even within her team of highly dedicated athletes, Plaza still sees women who endorse the stereotypes that she studies.

“I often hear that they will have to stop their career at 40 so they can have children,” she says. “But what is the problem? You can have a child and then go back to your career. It’s not a problem for me.”

It’s just one example of what the researchers often encounter in their work: women who at the same time endorse and completely reject stereotypes. Another example has to do with body image.

“For women, at the same time that they are happy about their body because it is efficient, powerful, and strong, it also doesn’t fit societal expectations – like to be good-looking, you have to be thin, little, delicate,” Boiché says. “So not really muscular.”

This presents some athletes with a mental tug-of-war, an internal disagreement. Until the stereotypes disappear, these contradictions will likely continue to be a source of both conscious and unconscious stress for female athletes.

Solutions?

Besides their experiments, Plaza and Boiché discussed some more society-level topics that are often brought up when discussing women’s sports. For instance, what if there were more female coaches? Would that provide more role models, and keep girls playing sports for longer?

But the lack of female coaches is a product of the same stereotypes that limit women’s participation as athletes, plus all of those that go along with professional life, or even just the desire to have children and spend time with them at home.

“The characteristics of the job are more appropriated for men, because you have to be self-confident, you have to be a leader, you have to be many many things that are male-typed,” Plaza said. “So maybe that’s a barrier for women to be able to get this opportunity.”

Then there’s the media aspect. Women’s sports exist, but they aren’t broadcast as often. Plaza thought that changing that ratio might help change people’s perceptions, seeing female athletes more frequently might make it more “appropriate” to be one.

But Boiché wasn’t sure.

“I think the hard thing is that when people have a really strong opinion about something, it is really hard to make them change,” she said. “I’m not sure coverage would change this kind of vision.”

For Plaza, the best she can do to try to solve the problem is to keep researching, and trying to understand what drives people’s perceptions.

That, and keep playing soccer.

“For the moment we have no choice but to keep playing, to stay involved in the sport and to be better and better,” she concludes.

Trail running in the Sawtooth Mountains north of Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo: Miles Havlick.

Welcome to Wednesday Workout, the newest workout series on FasterSkier. During the offseason, we’ll feature components of summer training programs from top individuals and teams throughout the U.S. and Canada at the junior, college and elite club levels. If you ever have a workout suggestion or training question, send them in to info[at]fasterskier.com.

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We saw him outsprint a stacked men’s field in the 20 k freestyle at NCAA Championships this March to win his second national title two years running. Now, Miles Havlick is getting ready to continue his post-University of Utah ski career with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.

May training season is in full swing, and he’s logging the hours on foot, on his bike and on rollerskis.

“I’ve been rollerskiing a little bit; my hands are still getting used to that so I ride my bike a fair amount this time of year,” Havlick said. “Mountain and road [biking] is a great way to get in the hours and is a bit more tolerable when it’s really hot like it is.

“I like to change up my workouts a lot to keep it interesting; I don’t want to get in a routeine of doing the same stuff all the time.”

Miles Havlick winning the 20 k freestyle at NCAA Championships in March. (Photo: flyingpointroad.com)

In addition to long hours on wheels, one of the staples in his summer training program is on foot: a point-to-point L3 trail run near his house in Salt Lake City. Though simple, the workout requires focused execution.

The Workout:

30 min warm-up

50-60 min L3

30 min warm-down

The session is doubly productive: like any L3 threshold workout it improves VO2 max, but it can also serve as an informal periodic test if repeated throughout the summer. Havlick does this workout from the same starting point about every two weeks on a trail that has varied terrain: with rolling hills, flats and gradual down hills.

“You can mark where you finish, or make a mental note of it, and see where you improve along the way,” Havlick says. “It’s almost like a time trial but less formal, and usually it’s a good measure of how your fitness is improving throughout the summer.”

He emphasized the importance keeping the heart rate in L3, easing back on the climbs and picking up speed on descents as necessary — which also makes the session a good pacing workout.

“There are different goals for every workout session,” Havlick explains. “Some days you go easy and just do it to get the blood moving, to recover or for a long OD. L3 workout days, L4 workouts and time trials — stuff like that — if you go hard all the time you’ll start to decline in performance. You want to improve certain aspects. L3 work does a lot with improving your VO2 max and your overall fitness, so that’s the goal of this workout.”

To change things up, Havlick will sometimes adjust the way he attacks the hills and flats to see how it affects where he finishes, all the while staying close to L3.

“I run the flats a little harder some days and push the hills harder other days, and see how it affects the finishing position,” he said. “It’s kind of interesting; it kind of makes it like a ski race, too.”

Though the workout looks simple on paper, know that an hour at L3 is not to be undertaken lightly.

“It’s a pretty hard workout, so I’m pretty cooked after that,” Havlick says.

Responsibilities:

To provide cross county instruction/coaching to clients from middle school age (14 years plus) to adults. Clients would range from members of cross country state squad and development teams to adults on first time ‘touring’ lessons. As well as instructing the candidate would interact with parents to provide feedback and promote/develop the instruction business. The candidate would be involved in on-snow product demonstrations aimed to retail sales of cross country equipment.

Personal attributes:

The candidate would need to present a well groomed and professional image and be capable of working un-supervised on-snow in a responsible and mature manner. Excellent interpersonal skills are important as interaction with parents and clients before and after lessons is essential to relationship and business building. Maturity and capability to recognise and work proactively to address client issues is vital. An overall a desire to work hard and contribute to a strong team and business is expected, and while this would not be a holiday there would be time prior to and after the busy periods for personal skiing/adventures.

Experience and qualifications:

A formal qualification as an instructor/coach is highly valued and will contribute to the work opportunities, particularly at state team/squad level. The candidate would certainly need to be relatively experienced and confident to manage groups of varying sizes and provide excellent skill development, technique critique and training plans for a wide variety of students.

Work hours and locations:

The amount of instruction will depend on bookings, however it is anticipated that this would be a full time instruction/coaching position. By arrangement, if there are substantial periods without instruction, work in the retail/rental shop may be available.

Pay and benefits:

Pay will be dependent on the relevant qualifications and experience of the candidate. Accommodation, transport and airfares are open to inclusion in the arrangement. We are a fair and flexible employer and aim to meet the mutual reasonable expectations of both parties. The position is casual and while some level of minimum work hours can be negotiated, there is no guarantee of full time on-snow work. Work visas are required for Australia and ideally the candidate would obtain a working holiday visa which is available to under 30 year olds. Other visas may be available but this would be strongly dependent on formal qualifications.

Timing and locations:

The busy work period would commence late June and finish late August 2013, depending on demand from client and snow conditions. On-snow work will be carried out on the nordic trails at Perisher Valley, Snowy Mountains, Australia. Shop/rental store is located 30 mins by road at the foot of the mountain in the township of Jindabyne. There is potential for this to develop into an ongoing seasonal position.

Applications:

Applications should be made as soon as possible and should include a work and experience summary, reference from recent employers and some images of the candidate showing their professional presentation. Clarifications and enquires by email or phone are encouraged.

Contacts:

John Weir, Owner, Mountain Adventure Centre. Email: shop@tmac.com.au, phone: +61 2 6456 2922.

Petter Northug celebrates a win in Drammen this season. Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus.

The most recognizable name in cross-country skiing and the 2013 overall World Cup champion has decided to ski independently of the his National Team next season. Petter Northug, Jr., held a press conference on Wednesday with Norwegian National team cross-country head Åge Skinstad to announce that instead of signing a contract with the Norwegian Ski Federation he will compete for a private team in 2013-2014.

“I’ve been on the team for many years and wants to go in new directions,” Northug told the press.

Northug was reportedly given until late May to decide whether to rejoin the national team for another year. On Wednesday he said his decision to leave came from wanting more control over his own training and daily life leading up to the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

“Now I’ve been around for many years, and I will manage things [myself],” Northug said. “I will be my own captain until the season starts.”

Asked if his independent status will become permanent, Northug wasn’t be sure. Skinstad said Northug would be welcome back to the national team if he decided to return.

In practical terms, Northug’s new independence gives him autonomy over his training schedule. But it also eliminates national team support at international competition.

“All support from the Norwegian Ski Association — funding and support, [waxing] team and medical team — lapses,” Skinstad said according to Aftenposten.

TV2 reported last week that Norwegian supermarket chain Coop is willing to pay millions for a sponsorship agreement with Northug, which the skier declined to comment on.

Northug also plans to ski with a newly-formed team, the details of which are still in the works.

“Details of those around me are not set in stone,” he said. “We’ll come back to [it] when it falls into place.”

While Skinstad expressed disappointment in Northug’s decision, reports described the joint press conference as amicable. The national team has left its doors open for Northug to return.

While Northug is a popular public figure in Norway, Skinstand said his team was bigger than a single athlete.

“Cross-country skiing is much more than Petter Northug,” Skinstad told Aftenposten. “Marit Bjørgen is the most popular athlete in the country and Therese Johaug is as popular as Petter … no skier can be bigger than the national team.”

Head coach Trond Nystad, who was not present at the press conference, told the NRK on Wednesday that Northug’s departure would not significantly hurt his team.

“We were eight before Peter decided to retire. Now we have seven,” he said. “We had 10 of 12 podium finishes at the end of the season, and it was not Peter who took [them] all. We have a strong team with or without him.”

While he will train independently of the national team this summer, Skinstad indicated that Northug would be able to compete for Norway on the World Cup and at the Olympics.

“What I’m happy about is that we have a common goal, the Olympic Games in Sochi and the Tour de Ski,” he said.

Building on the success of our BKL day camps, we’re excited to offer our first residential Junior Ski Camp for J2 and J1 skiers (born in 1999 and earlier) June 17-21, 2013. Camp will be located at the perfect setting of our sister organization, Hosmer Point.

Skiers will be doing two workouts a day, with rollerskiing, running, weight and circuit training, technique work, biking, canoeing, kayaking, biathlon, and sculling. Thursday’s morning workout will be the run up Elmore Mountain in Elmore State Park. This run has been used in the regional and national elite camps we’ve hosted the past several years for skiers to benchmark their fitness. Green Racing Project skiers will be doing this and other workouts with the kids, staying the night as counselors, and sharing their experiences and knowledge in evening talks.

In addition to the work will be play! Campers will have daily time to relax and unwind in between sessions, hanging out at the HP waterfront, swimming at the Center or picnicking and swimming in Lake Elmore after the run. Days close with activities like movies, campfires, or dances.

Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club Members will have first opportunity to sign up, until May 17 when registration goes public.

More camp details:

http://www.craftsbury.com/members/club/juniorSkiCamp.htm

Registration:

https://www.skireg.com/Net/3515

Hope to see you in June!

Chandra Crawford racing to 37th in a classic-sprint qualifier at the Kuusamo World Cup in Finland on Nov. 30. Midway through a tough season last year, Crawford, 29, decided to stop racing in February and returned home to Canmore, Alberta, to recharge before the 2014 Olympics. In April, she declined her nomination to the national team and will work with personal coach Peter Larsson this summer. (Photo: CCC/Nordic Focus)

And then there were two.

That’s how many women are on Canada’s World Cup Team after Chandra Crawford recently decided to train on her own with personal coach Peter Larsson for the next several months.

Dasha Gaiazova is back in eastern Canada for the second-straight offseason, which makes Perianne Jones the lone World Cup female at the national team’s base in Canmore, Alberta, where she’ll work with women’s coach Eric de Nys.

Crawford, a 29-year-old Canmore native and 2006 Olympic gold medalist, will be there, too, working independently with her technique and tactics coach of the last four years, Larsson, a Swedish sprint specialist who won six World Cups. Technically, she declined her nomination to the 2012/2013 national ski team (NST), but in an email last week, Crawford reiterated that she’ll be back onboard once the World Cup season starts in November.

“After a solid burn out and overload I’m re-charged and keen to make the most of the days until Sochi,” she wrote of the pre-Olympic training phase. “I have to manage my energy and do things in ways that work for me so while it’s financially sketchy it is the best option.”

Last season, she ended her season in early February after the World Cup in Sochi, Russia, citing the physical and mental toll of 13-plus years of international racing.

“I’m just preparing to go into the Olympic year so rested and so calm from this time I took to step back and center myself and become so healthy and energized,” Crawford said at the time. “The system is overtaxed now and I need to be more honest about my skiing level and listen to my body better.”

She spent the next few months recharging and catching up with family, friends and loved ones, “something I’ve missed for so long I didn’t even know to miss it,” Crawford wrote.

“My weekdays were usually spent on self-improvement and appointments for all aspects of my physical and mental health,” she continued. “Weekends were enjoyed with friends – skiing in the mountains and dance parties. … April I made my decision early about my plans for the year and got to work communicating that out with everyone involved.”

She based the move on her needs in an Olympic year. “I always give at least my best on race day and love big events so it’s a question of how good my fitness and ‘best’ can be on that day,” she wrote.

The news didn’t necessarily surprise de Nys, but it was one that slightly complicated his team’s training plans.

“I thought it was definitely conceivable,” de Nys said Monday on the phone. “I didn’t think she would choose that, but at the same time I totally understand why and totally support her in her decision. We wish her all the best in her training.”

On Monday, he spoke with Crawford and other independent racers, Amanda Ammar, Zoe Roy and Alana Thomas, about the upcoming NST camp in Bend, Ore. Jones will be there, and de Nys invited them to coordinate workouts from May 19-29.

“I’m not writing her plan or anything like that,” de Nys said of Crawford. “I’m just keeping the door open.”

Canadian World Cup teammates Perianne Jones (second from left) and Chandra Crawford (second from right) go head-to-head at a time trial last October in Canmore, Alberta. (CCC photo)

As for Jones, he’s in the process of lining up training partners for the 28-year-old Canmore-based skier. So far, he has mostly aligned schedules with Gaiazova, who trains with NST assistant men’s coach Louis Bouchard at the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre in Quebec and B2ten in Montreal.

De Nys will also invite foreign training partners to Canmore and explained that Jones has talented biathletes around town as well, like Zina Kocher, Megan Imrie, and Crawford’s younger sister, Rosanna.

“I’ve also made the commitment to start to become in better shape so I’ll make her feel really good about herself as she drops me on the hills,” he joked.

Looking at his team of three (technically two until Crawford proves she’s capable of racing internationally again in the fall), de Nys stressed the importance of end results – not how one gets there.

“I don’t view it any different than how it works in the U.S. with Gus Kaeding coaching [national-team members] Andy [Newell] and Simi [Hamilton] in Vermont,” he said, referring to America’s elite-team system.

“There’s more than one way to the top and the national ski team is one way and there’s other ways we can do it,” de Nys explained. “The important thing is you have a team that’s willing to work with each other. We do have a group of women, albeit a small one, that do want to work with each other.”

He likened Crawford’s situation to that of an NHL player going down to a farm team. It’s unusual that one would do so by choice, but the athlete still has to show they’re worthy of playing at the highest level before getting bumped back up.

“Chandra will have to undergo some testing and some evaluation,” de Nys said of her anticipated re-entry to the national team. “It’s one thing if you want to go off and do your own training, that’s all fine, but before we take someone to Europe, we want to make sure they’re physically healthy. … We’re not going to take somebody to Europe for vacation.”

In Crawford’s case, he doesn’t expect that will be a problem.

“Sometimes the environment or the pressure in whatever team you’re on doesn’t necessarily suit everyone,” he explained. “I think that’s the point Chandra is at in her life. … While we can’t necessarily support that, I understand why she chose that.”

In July, Crawford plans to train in Alaska, he said. Meanwhile, Gaiazova and Jones will join the Canadian men’s team in New Zealand and also in Hawaii this summer. Separated for the first time last year, the men’s and women’s World Cup teams previously held camps at different venues. This year, de Nys said it made sense to combine overseas trips and share resources (i.e. physical trainers).

With two women on its current World Cup squad, it raises the question what Canadian women’s skiing could look like in the future. De Nys expects some changes.

“We anticipate that perhaps Dasha, Peri and Chandra will be done after this year so we have to start grooming the younger crowd as well,” he said. “There’s a fairly large gap from the World Cup level to the younger levels. … We have to make sure we keep building up this castle.”

He pointed out talent in the junior- and senior-development ranks, especially with skiers like Anne-Marie Comeau, who made the top 50 in two debut World Cup races last season at the age of 16.

“You just don’t show up and pull races out of your hat like that,” de Nys said. “Now we just have to make sure that we do the right things … bring in some of those girls, work with some of them.”

After Bend, the NST will host a women’s camp on Canmore’s Haig Glacier with its World Cup, junior and senior development teams.