Book Review – FasterSkier.com

The Legends We All Are Living Out: “Winter’s Children: A Celebration of Nordic Skiing” Book Review

Ben TheyerlMarch 7, 2022

In a history of American skiing centered around the Upper Midwest, author Ryan Rodgers weaves together the stories of individuals who have found joy, love, and purpose in skiing with their heel detached, inspiring his readers to do so, too. At the intersection of outdoors and pursuits, the street signs read “myth” and “heroes.” And we, those who spend our time outside, are here to patiently listen. That intersection has given rise to classics across...

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Book Review: Trail to Gold, the Journey of 53 Women Skiers

Ella HallDecember 16, 2021

The rapidly approaching year of 2022, and the upcoming Beijing Olympics, will mark 50 years since women cross-country skiers first began competing in the Winter Games. With multiple World Cup podiums already achieved this season and strong chances for medals in February, the origins of the U.S. women’s program might not be at the forefront of one’s mind. We’ve become accustomed to seeing our women at the top of the results lists; with almost an...

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Book Review: Going the Distance: Piecing Together a Life of Adventure by Elspeth Ronnander

Rachel PerkinsMay 4, 2021

For those immersed in the ski marathon racing scene, particularly in the Midwest, you’ve likely shared tracks with Elspeth Ronnander. A member of the Vakava Racing Team, a competitive masters group based in the Twin Cities, 36-year-old Ronnander has racked up over 50 marathon finishes in the last 18 years, sometimes within weeks of one another. Outside her rigorous training schedule and full time job as a nurse practitioner, Ronnander is a passionate writer who...

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Cooking My Way Through Emma Coburn’s “The Runner’s Kitchen”

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 19, 2021

Starting with a quick disclaimer, I’ve been a fan of Emma Coburn, Olympic Bronze Medalist and World Champion steeplechaser, for most of her career. Spending this winter in her hometown of Crested Butte, Colorado has, if anything, amplified my appreciation for her as both an athlete and role model for other female runners. As such, I was very excited this fall when she announced the release of her cookbook, “The Runner’s Kitchen”, and immediately pre-ordered. I’m...

Book Review Training

Book Review: High Performance Nordic Training by Stuart Kremzner

Gerry FursethMarch 11, 2020

Stuart Kremzner has published a new book with a bold title — High Performance Nordic Training: A Guide to Taking Your Athletic Ability to the Next Level. Kremzner is an exercise physiologist and nordic coach and also the author of the Bill Koch League leader manual, last updated in 2008. Training, even restricted to a single sport, is a complex topic with unending opportunities to dive into bewildering detail and unexplored research topics. Anyone who...

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‘Brave Enough’ Book Review: Here Comes Diggins’s Memoir

Gavin KentchMarch 9, 2020

There are certain precepts that permeate Brave Enough, the new memoir by Jessie Diggins: Teamwork is good. So is glitter. Self-belief is important. Training hard pays off. As for substance, I have nothing snarky to say about these morals; nordic skiing, if not the entire world, would be better off if we all felt these things so fervently, and it is engaging to trace the development of these themes in Diggins’s life. But as for...

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Turning the Pages: “Training for the Uphill Athlete”

Jason AlbertApril 11, 2019

For many who read FasterSkier, going uphill remains the name of the game. Although we assume the fidelity to nordic skiing is strong we know many dabble in several outdoor pursuits. Some athletes nordic ski as a means to remain aerobically and anaerobically sharp to parlay their fitness into proud adventures or race efforts far from a PistenBully’s corduroy. In many mountain towns, Crested Butte comes to mind, cross-country skiing becomes a default post-work burn...

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David Norris Masters the 30 k Skate Mass Start National Championship

Jason AlbertJanuary 7, 2019

Link to mass start skate race photo gallery. Always a threat in the grinding and longer distance races, APU’s David Norris positioned himself as the primary disruptor in the men’s 30-kilometer freestyle mass start at the U.S. Cross-Country Ski National Championships in Craftsbury, VT. With the men racing after the women’s 20 k, the 5 k ski loop used for the mass starts had been skied in, with a faster, narrower best-line often making for...

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Longer, Stronger Frozen Thunder Open in Canmore

Chelsea LittleOctober 27, 2017

Frozen Thunder is back, but it’s not the same Frozen Thunder you knew before. Every year, snow is stored all summer at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta, and rolled out in October to provide local ski and biathlon teams with on-snow training opportunities. This year, the loop has changed. “It feels good to be back on the snow after such a long time away,” Biathlon Canada’s Nathan Smith wrote in an email. “The...

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We’re Not Invincible: More Heart Arrhythmias in Endurance Athletes (Book Review)

Chelsea LittleJuly 27, 2017

When I heard that there was a new book coming out about heart arrhythmias in endurance athletes, I was interested. Several years ago, I read some of the research papers that the book’s authors refer to. One was a cohort study on participants in the Vasaloppet, the 90-kilometer ski marathon in Sweden. Those researchers found that skiers who competed in more Vasaloppets had more heart arrhythmias – as did those who finished the race the...