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Spring skiing: Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center hosts annual U.S. Ski Team camp
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Spring skiing: Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center hosts annual U.S. Ski Team camp

Rachel PerkinsMay 13, 2022

Believe it or not, it is mid-May. For those following a traditional cross-country calendar, this means the start of a new training year, building toward the 2022/2023 competition season. And, for many of the top American athletes, this means it’s time to make an annual pilgrimage to Bend, Oregon for the on-snow camp of the season at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center. The weather gods were kind to the camp attendees, with nearly a foot...

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On Pregnancy, Postpartum Recovery, and NCAA Ski Coaching: Eliška Albrigtsen (Part 2)
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On Pregnancy, Postpartum Recovery, and NCAA Ski Coaching: Eliška Albrigtsen (Part 2)

Rachel PerkinsMay 10, 2022

Part 1 of this story details Eliška’s experience coaching through pregnancy and the birth of her son. Keep reading to learn about the challenges she, like many women, experienced during the postpartum recovery process, and what it took to navigate year one of life on the road with baby Viggo. Expectation versus reality.  When preparing to interview Eliška Albrigtsen about her experience pairing NCAA coaching with new motherhood, I expected the challenges she faced during...

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On Pregnancy, Postpartum Recovery, and NCAA Ski Coaching: Eliška Albrigtsen (Part 1)
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On Pregnancy, Postpartum Recovery, and NCAA Ski Coaching: Eliška Albrigtsen (Part 1)

Rachel PerkinsMay 8, 2022

While skimming through the extensive photo albums shared by Tobias Albrigtsen during the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Soldier Hollow this past January, one head coach caught my attention. University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) head coach Eliška Albrigtsen (Tobias’ wife) had an extra member of the team in tow: her then 11-month-old son, Viggo.  As most ski coaches know all too well, the demands of the job are multifactorial, and can make it challenging...

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Hannah Halvorsen Studies Eating Disorders in Cross-Country Skiing from the Coaches’ Perspective
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Hannah Halvorsen Studies Eating Disorders in Cross-Country Skiing from the Coaches’ Perspective

Rachel PerkinsMay 2, 2022

At 24-years-old, Hannah Halvorsen recently announced that she is ending the pro-skier chapter of her life, but it’s not the only transition she has on deck. This past weekend, Halvorsen also graduated from Alaska Pacific University (APU) with degrees in cognitive psychology and business administration. As a senior capstone project, focused on the psychology side of her studies, Halvorsen chose to research a topic she has been invested in throughout her time as a student-athlete:...

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MountainFLOW Fluoro Takeback Program: Giving skiers the option to safely dispose of fluoro waxes from anywhere
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MountainFLOW Fluoro Takeback Program: Giving skiers the option to safely dispose of fluoro waxes from anywhere

Ben TheyerlApril 30, 2022

The ski community has known there’s a problem for awhile now. Fluorinated waxes, whose extreme hydrophobic properties make them ideal for fast skis, also are by that same property impossible to break down in the environment, allowing them to permeate through the soil into water supplies. The compounds are also known carcinogens, and frequent exposure to these compounds, particularly when heating and inhaling the fumes of waxes in which they are contained, is linked to...

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Trends in Age and Ski Performance: A Second Look by Ella DeWolf and Andrew Siegel
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Trends in Age and Ski Performance: A Second Look by Ella DeWolf and Andrew Siegel

FasterSkierApril 25, 2022

This article was submitted by a reader. To pitch a story or article to FasterSkier, reach out to info@fasterskier.com. In 2010, FasterSkier published an article titled “Analysis: Performance and Age”, written by Joran Elias, or as he is otherwise known, “The Statistical Skier.”  The piece attempted to parse the relationship between age and performance by comparing the ages of some of the world’s top skiers to their FIS points in a given year.  Elias was...

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Ten Exercises for Managing Hamstring Tendinopathy
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Ten Exercises for Managing Hamstring Tendinopathy

Jessica YeatonApril 5, 2022

Despite how it may appear, you are not picking a wedgie every five minutes. You are actually rubbing that sore spot right on your sit-bone (technically known as your ischial tuberosity) that has been plaguing you for weeks (or has it been months?) now. This pain is especially bad during and after sitting at work, and it gets even worse when you go for your evening classic ski, although you first noticed it during bounding...

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SkiErg Training: Training Considerations and Technique
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SkiErg Training: Training Considerations and Technique

Ned DowlingApril 4, 2022

I hate rollerskiing. As much as I try to be a good Nordie, I just can’t get over my fear of hitting the pavement. Between a history of bike racing and the rollerski learning curve, I’ve already lost enough skin. I know it’s good for me and might make me faster on snow, but I’m too old to put up with my heart rate being affected more by fear-induced adrenaline than by quality training. My...

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Train With Team SoHo in 2022
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Train With Team SoHo in 2022

FasterSkierMarch 26, 2022

Elevate Your Summer Training with Support from Great Coaches, a World Class Olympic Venue to Call Home, and a Lifetime Worth of Amazing Places to Explore! ​ Team Soldier Hollow is looking for ambitious skiers and biathletes who want to train and race at a high level collegiately or professionally and who will con-tribute to our growing club and vision of “Developing Champions in Sport and Life.” We invite you to spend your summer training at Soldier...

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Nordic Pulse Uses GPS Tracking to Improve and Accelerate Communication Between Groomers and Skiers
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Nordic Pulse Uses GPS Tracking to Improve and Accelerate Communication Between Groomers and Skiers

Rachel PerkinsMarch 23, 2022

If there’s a generalization that can be made about cross country skiers, it might be that we like to “know before [we] go.” As the ski season waxes and wanes, or mid-season storms roll through, we relentlessly check the weather forecast and our local grooming report as we fantasize hungrily about the fresh corduroy or classic tracks we hope to enjoy that day. But we can’t always know before we go. Timely grooming reporting asks...

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From Athlete to Technical Delegate: A Q & A with Kelsey Phinney
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From Athlete to Technical Delegate: A Q & A with Kelsey Phinney

Rachel PerkinsMarch 18, 2022

When reaching out to Sun Valley’s Annie Pokorny to learn more about her decision to become a technical delegate and her experience so far, it was also on the radar that Pokorny’s friend and former teammate Kelsey Phinney was also engaged in the process. As it turned out, Pokorny had been a leading influence in Phinney’s decision to become a TD herself.  Like Pokorny, Phinney is a 2016 graduate of Middlebury College, before continuing with...

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From Athlete to Technical Delegate: An Interview with Annie Pokorny
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From Athlete to Technical Delegate: An Interview with Annie Pokorny

Rachel PerkinsMarch 8, 2022

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day, which celebrates “the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.” Simultaneously, International Women’s Day is a call to action, recognizing the disparity and challenges women face for a variety of reasons in different realms of society, and seeking change. While the American women’s team has put together an ever-growing highlight reel on the race course, cross country skiing, like most sports, remains male dominated when it comes...

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Ask the PT: Managing Achilles tendon soreness, which is aggravated by skating
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Ask the PT: Managing Achilles tendon soreness, which is aggravated by skating

Ned DowlingMarch 4, 2022

We’re excited to share our first edition of the “Ask the PT” series, where Ned Dowling does his best to support our readers in staying healthy and strong to get the most out of the ski season, and beyond. To submit a question, email: askthept@fasterskier.com. *** Hi Ned, I have been dealing with bilateral Achilles tendon soreness (midsubstance, several cm proximal to insertion) since an over-zealous hill bounding session in October.  When ski season arrived...

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Opinion: Get your commentary off our bodies
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Opinion: Get your commentary off our bodies

FasterSkierFebruary 24, 2022

The following was submitted by reader Ivy Spiegel Ostrom in response to the New York Times coverage of Jessie Diggins earning an Olympic bronze medal in the individual freestyle sprint. FasterSkier published a story expressing some of the early reactions to the NY Times piece here, along with an opinion piece by our contributor Ben Theyerl here. The viewpoints expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect that of FasterSkier’s staff or sponsors. We fully...

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Environmental consciousness without performance compromise: the MountainFLOW Eco Wax team takes on the Birkie
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Environmental consciousness without performance compromise: the MountainFLOW Eco Wax team takes on the Birkie

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 23, 2022

A team of familiar faces is soon headed to the American Birkebeiner, and rumor has it, their race suits will be something to behold.  Spearheaded by brand ambassador Simi Hamilton, the team of Sophie Hamilton (Caldwell), Sadie Maubet-Bjornsen, Liz Stephen, Matt Gelso, Sylvan Ellefson, and Erik Bjornsen will be racing as members of the mountainFLOW Eco Wax team. Based in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, where Hamilton grew up, mountainFLOW Eco Wax is the...

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Brennan breaks out with near-medal in Olympic sprint
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Brennan breaks out with near-medal in Olympic sprint

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 8, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA — Rosie Brennan brought two left boots to her cross-country ski race at the Olympics on Tuesday. Then, she crashed. Just speed bumps on her way to history. Brennan’s fourth place in Tuesday’s sprint, in the skating technique, was overshadowed by her teammate Jessie Diggins’ bronze — only the third Olympic cross-country skiing medal in U.S. history, and the first individual medal for women. But Brennan’s result is arguably just as big of an...

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An Inside Look at the Canadian Olympic Prep Camp
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An Inside Look at the Canadian Olympic Prep Camp

Gerry FursethJanuary 29, 2022

The Canadian Prep Camp in Sovereign Lake and SilverStar, BC prior to the 2022 Beijing Olympics sounds like a nordic skier’s heaven. A two-week ski vacation with 100 kilometres of perfectly groomed snow. A private room above a great coffee shop (pain au chocolate!) and next door to some great beer. January weather just below freezing with enough falling snow to make every day a hardwax day. Two weeks of what locals call superhero snow. A...

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Prime the Body for Race Day with a Race-Prep Workout from Jessica Yeaton
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Prime the Body for Race Day with a Race-Prep Workout from Jessica Yeaton

Jessica YeatonJanuary 25, 2022

All the athletes are all stripped down to their race suits and zooming around the course with laser focus.  They are breathing hard; in fact, some of them seem to be skiing at max effort. If it weren’t for the lack of announcements, race bibs, and cheering from the crowd (pre-COVID, of course) you might actually think it’s race day – but it’s not. It’s actually the day before the race, and many of the...

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The Nationally Shared Workout: A Look at the U.S. Pace Project
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The Nationally Shared Workout: A Look at the U.S. Pace Project

Pasha KahnJanuary 12, 2022

Last year, in an effort to create a standardized workout that could be easily replicated and repeated, national team coaches presented the concept of the “U.S. Pace Project.” The concept is straightforward: a shift away from time-based intervals to distance-based, centered around repeated laps of a 5-kilometer course. This familiar distance is key. In a call in July, Matt Whitcomb, U.S. Ski Team Head Coach, and one of the creators of the project explained that:...

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