Alaskan John Wood, 67, explains his journey in athletics after a serious knee injury at age 21, and how he recovered from a total knee replacement to win his age group at the 2015 Classic Birkie with the help of an Anchorage surgeon, physical therapists and the APU masters program.
The following is a tribute to a high-school coach who impacted hundreds of young skiers in Glens Falls, N.Y., over the last 30-plus years, submitted by a former athlete.
An intimate look at first-timer Seth Adams' adventures with NANANordic, which introduces youth to nordic skiing in remote regions of Northwest Alaska.
In the last year since she retired from biathlon, Germany's Andrea Burke (formerly Henkel) has been in a period of transition, taking classes and preparing for her big move to the U.S. while fitting in quality strength sessions whenever possible. “I really like to do [these] kind of programs for staying in shape and get some heart rate between studying,” she explains.
CXC masters skier and American Birkebeiner board member Charlie Dee recalls the story of two subsequent days of skiing in 2014 and the memories of late coach Igor Badamshim that came with them.
This weekend, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, of Rocky Mountain Racers, will make her World Cup debut in Östersund, Sweden. Less than a week later, she'll appear at her first World Championships in Falun, Sweden, where she hopes to start the classic sprint and 10 k freestyle.
This week's Wednesday Workout comes from Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Patterson's addresses how to feel sharp on days when your skiing is sluggish from her home course at the Craftsbury Outdoors Center.
In this revived Pro Workout, Caitlin Gregg (formerly Caitlin Compton) explains how to deal with challenging and unexpected circumstances, especially before race day. “You need to have the ability to be flexible and to understand that there are some things you can’t control,” she said back in 2010. “But there are tons of options. The beauty of cross-country skiing is that we do lots of cross-training in the offseason.”
Facing a lack of snow? Writing your training plan for next year? Here are some bounding tips from three-time 2015 national champion Rosie Brennan that will whip you into shape.
NorAm leader Michael Somppi shares a tool that can be used as a race-day warmup or post-interval cool down, and it's one Canadian World Cup coach Tor-Arne Hetland shared with him. "The recipe is 4 x 15 seconds on/45 seconds off, and the key to doing this effectively is the pacing," Somppi explains.
The reigning double-sprint champion from 2015 U.S. nationals, Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess talks about race prep and how he practices getting up to speed in training. "Personally I have an incredibly hard time replicating a race effort," he says. "The 15-15 is how I practice qualification."
Optimizing performance is a tricky business for winter-endurance athletes. Climate variations, equipment choices and training methods are all factors in a successful performance, and frequently leave nutrition at the bottom of a long checklist. For many reasons, hydration is an overlooked aspect of winter-sports performance.
A master skier learns a valuable lesson about aerobic training while blowing out the early season cobwebs at the start of the season in West Yellowstone, Mont.
How does one get ready for the Tour de Ski, or more specifically, prep for a prologue? Jessie Diggins takes us through a "prologue practice day" workout, which she did about a week ago in advance of the 3 k freestyle prologue on Saturday, the first day of the 2015 Tour de Ski.
There's snow in Quebec, and FS contributor François Léger Dionne gives us a great way to burn off the holiday treats and work on skate technique with the following workout, which he recently did at the Far Hills Ski Center in Val-David, Quebec.
After a career-best finish on Sunday, Canada's Rosanna Crawford takes us through a typical week on the IBU World Cup and explains how and when she fits in intensity sessions, a.k.a. race prep.
Norway's Pål Golberg tells FasterSkier why Lillehammer has been good to him in the past (and it's not because he lives there) and why he rollerskis through the winter, at least once a week, and plays golf as much as he can.
What does a World Cup racer do after, say, a mini tour for recovery? We asked Canada's Alex Harvey, who placed 10th overall in last weekend's Lillehammer triple. He opted for an hour-and-15-minute run on Monday in Davos, led by coach Tor-Arne Hetland, who lives in Davos.
While many in the nordic community flock to West Yellowstone each November, this New Mexico master describes what Thanksgiving skiing in Crested Butte is like, with individual attention and a homologated 5 k loop on the edge of town.
This gem comes from Matt Gelso, which he wrote three years ago after taking fourth in two distance races in West Yellowstone. Gelso, now 26, made the podium at this year's SuperTour opener with a 15 k skate victory in West last Friday. "I require a longer and very substantial warm-up, some simply need a few minutes to move around," Gelso explained. "It is important that you find your own unique methods and progression that gets you perfectly warmed up before a race."