Our first few days in Muonio have been pretty interesting. The skiing is great so far – it snowed a bunch in the last 24 hours and today there were many more trails open, which gave us all the opportunity to go on some adventures. I got sick of skiing around the short, well-groomed loop [...]
Ski jumpers don’t usually begin their careers at age 25. Nor do they progress from their first-ever jump all the way up to an Olympic-sized 90-meter hill in the course of one year. But that’s exactly what Australian cross-country skier Ben Sim is trying to do. There aren’t many athletes out there who have taken an approach like Sim’s and met with much success. But in the U.S., there’s one: Matt Dayton, who took up...
One year ago, Australian nordic combined didn’t even exist as a sport. But over the last few months, the country’s program has been gathering steam not just Down Under, but in both hemispheres. Ben Sim, the cross-country skier attempting to make the crossover to nordic combined, has been making consistent progress on ski jumps in Lake Placid and Park City. And in Australia, officials at two ski resorts responded “favorably” to a visit from an...
Yesterday I spoke to my former high school, National Sports Academy, about the importance of balance in an athlete's life. My post-lunch talk is a part of a larger series of speakers, ranging from sports psychologists to farmers, and their perspectives...
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a href="http://biathlonworld.com/en/press_releases.html/do/detail?presse=1050""Dedicated Organizing Committees preparing Presque Isle and Fort Kent Venues"/abr /br /table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Myriad, Arial...
People’s Republic of China Nations Cup Ranking: 22nd (20 pts) Men: 22nd (8 pts) Women: 21st (12 pts) People’s Republic of China Nations Cup Ranking: 22nd (20 pts) Men: 22nd (8 pts) Women: 21st (12 pts) 2010/2011 World Cup Team (Best estimate) Men Qinghai Sun Xu Wenlong Women Li Hongxue Dandan Man What you may have missed last season: The Tour de Ski China. In the 2010 edition, the Chinese took city sprints to an...
This past Tuesday I had my fourth blood draw in a month. And this time there was rejoicing - my ALT (liver enzymes) count was finally down, indicating the mono infection is no longer active in my system. Being a small town clinic and the fact that most...
There's plenty of beginnings and endings in skiing. And today I passed a relatively notable one, the one in which I trade in my trusty, slightly rusty Marwe rollers for my fleet of Rossignol's, which are all packed up for the flight across the pond to ...
5K/10K Trail Run, Walk or Nordic Walk – This exciting new event at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield, Wisconsin will utilize both the park trails and the ice age trail. It will start and finish by the Evergreen Shelter. The word Bergkönig means “Mountain King” in German. For those of you who are not familiar with the park, the course involves numerous hill climbs, technical sections, and flights of stairs. The race should be...
Greetings from Finland! After a long couple days of travel we are now settled in our home for the next three weeks: Muonio, Finland. The flights over were pretty uneventful, except that our plane to Paris was remarkably empty so we were all able to stretch out and sleep a bit during the flight. As our [...]
A mini tour is more than just three days of racing. The strategic and tactical elements require racers to pace for the whole tour starting with the first event. Every stride, every pole plant counts. That’s an important lesson, as the tour format gains hold on the FIS schedules.
Twenty eight days until what? Until my first race! Not that I'm counting or anything....! But really, I am ready. Mentally at the very least. There are skiers who mostly love training. There are skiers who mostly love racing. I ...
SMS Dorm duty actually has many benefits. Not only do we get to tell kids to clean their rooms, just like my parents would do to me, but during the study hall time I can make some videos. Here is the latest from the SMS DEVO group workout last Saturd...
The snow in the mountains has been teasing us....there's a nice dusting although there hasn't been enough to nordic ski just yet. As the dusting has crept its way down, so has our rollerskiing. Not the intensity or duration-- just the altitude, so we can use the least icy roads! Here is a 4x(45", 60", 90" L5 double poling) workout we did yesterday in the former gravel pit.For my relatives who
The snow in the mountains has been teasing us....there's a nice dusting although there hasn't been enough to nordic ski just yet. As the dusting has crept its way down, so has our rollerskiing. Not the intensity or duration-- just the altitude, so we can use the least icy roads! Here is a 4x(45", 60", 90" L5 double poling) workout we did yesterday in the former gravel pit.For my relatives who
The snow in the mountains has been teasing us....there's a nice dusting although there hasn't been enough to nordic ski just yet. As the dusting has crept its way down, so has our rollerskiing. Not the intensity or duration-- just the altitude, so we can use the least icy roads! Here is a 4x(45", 60", 90" L5 double poling) workout we did yesterday in the former gravel pit.For my relatives who
The snow in the mountains has been teasing us....there's a nice dusting although there hasn't been enough to nordic ski just yet. As the dusting has crept its way down, so has our rollerskiing. Not the intensity or duration-- just the altitude, so we can use the least icy roads! Here is a 4x(45", 60", 90" L5 double poling) workout we did yesterday in the former gravel pit.For my relatives who