Resources – Page 5 – FasterSkier.com

Self-Reported Observations Across Phases of the Menstrual Cycle Among Elite Cross Country Skiers with Guro Strøm Solli

Rachel PerkinsFebruary 10, 2021

This article is part of a series of interviews with professionals in sports nutrition and female physiology. To get started, you can find a primer on this topic here, and listen to this podcast on Nordic Nation discussing female athlete specific nutrition with registered dietician and professional runner Maddie Alm. Readers who have followed cross-country skiing for several decades may be familiar with the name Guro Strøm Solli. Now 37-years-old, Solli was a member of...

Resources Waxing

Snow – The Lubricant for Competition : The Latest Research from Matthias Scherge

FasterSkierJanuary 28, 2021

Swiss athletes ski testing in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus) Much has already been written about snow. There are countless pictures of perfectly grown snow crystals, but very little about snow found on the slopes or in the cross-country skiing tracks. The newest article in our science series provides a vivid picture of snow in its many forms. With a cell phone and a mini microscope, you get fantastic pictures of snow grains. You can...

Nutrition Resources Training

Dial in Your Race Day Nutrition

Jessica YeatonJanuary 26, 2021

You’ve likely heard lots of different ideas about fueling and feeding on race day. When to eat, what to eat, and how to eat it – there are hundreds of opinions. Ultimately, it comes down to what you find works best for you; the gut can actually be trained to adapt to different diets and eating habits. However, current research does suggest some strategies that will optimize performance on race day. I’ll provide some answers...

Feature Health Nutrition Resources Training

Training, Performance, and the Menstrual Cycle: A Primer

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 25, 2021

This article provides an introduction to a series of interviews with professionals in sports nutrition and female physiology. Results from a survey regarding how elite US cross-country skiers and biathletes use insight into their cycles in their own training will also be analyzed and shared. An arguably essential component of developing as an athlete is learning how to listen to the signals one’s body sends. Am I skiing easy enough on my recovery days to...

Community Lifestyle Resources

The Pastimes App Builds Community in Outdoor Recreation with Ambassador Julia Kern

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 4, 2021

If you follow Julia Kern on social media or her blog, you have probably gotten the sense that outdoor recreation is more than just part of her job as a professional cross country skier. A quick scroll highlights a multitude of activities that extend far beyond rollerskiing and World Cup travel. Kern seems to do it all: open water swimming, backcountry skiing, paddle boarding, camping, trail running, rock climbing, and mountain biking. And always with...

Feature Resources Waxing

FasterSkier Explains: How to Clean the Fluoros Off Your Skis So You Can Race the Birkie

Gavin KentchDecember 30, 2020

(Photo: NordicFocus) What: Fluoros, aka perfluorinated waxes, aka ski waxes containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), aka the really expensive waxes that you put on for big races, in some or all of block, liquid, or powder form. What they do: Make your skis go really, really fast, particularly in the wet or dirty snow conditions that sadly characterize more and more high-end races in an era of artificial snow and climate change. What else...

Health Resources

Dynamic Stretching for Wellness and Performance

Jessica YeatonDecember 28, 2020

The video presents several dynamic stretches as you begin to develop your own routine using slower, coordinated movements to move the joint through the desired motion. Striving for flexibility is ingrained from a young age. The sit-and-reach test was a key component of the presidential fitness test which was administered to elementary-aged school children until recently. Middle and high school athletes often go through a routine of static stretches before starting practice. Acro-yoga masters now fill...

Racing Resources Training

U.S Paralympic Nordic: Making it Work Virtually

Jason AlbertDecember 28, 2020

With Para Nordic athletes scattered around the country, making the best of sub-optimal proximity to athletes has been a challenge. Coaches of the U.S. Paralympic Nordic Ski Team turned an eye towards utilizing virtual meetings for check-ins and a substitute for in-person coaching. According to Eileen Carey, Director of the Paralympic Nordic Ski Team, the team’s development athletes made use of the virtual sessions several times each week. Virtual meetings included “training sessions, camps, education...

Racing Resources

Virtual Event Hosting: the Strava Club Recipe

Gerry FursethDecember 21, 2020

There are many kinds of virtual events, and many ways to run them. Look here for context and alternatives. This is a simple and free solution to running a temporally distanced event on a fixed course. Summary: Create an invitation-only club on Strava. Create a segment. When the event concludes, select the club from the segment leaderboard options to view results. Advantages: Free. Low effort for OC. Strava provides tools to detect groups skiing together...

Racing Resources

Virtual Event Hosting: Things to Think About

Gerry FursethDecember 21, 2020

This is part of the Virtual Event Hosting series. With all the ideas and potential solutions out there, here are some things that might help you narrow down your choice. Safety Issues And Compliance There are many things to consider when hosting an event and health restriction rules related to COVID differ for every community. These rules also tend to change weekly, which may be awkward for a series of events. Some of the safety topics...

Health Resources

The Power of Skiing Starts with Lifting Up Others: Ideas on Donating this Season

FasterSkierDecember 20, 2020

What a year. In the spirit of optimism, we want to highlight a few non-profits worthy of your consideration when thinking of buying gifts this holiday season. We know the wonder cross-country skiing provides. Gliding through the woods, no noise, totally connected. Silent sports fuel us. Why not support organizations lifting kids up and sharing the wealth that is skiing. Spirit North: Canada based and supporting Indigenous youth. Founded by Beckie Scott, a former...

Resources Training Workouts

Interval Session to Kick Start The Season

Rachel PerkinsDecember 17, 2020

We’ve reached mid-December. With any luck, your local trail system is beginning to fill in, you’ve scraped off your storage wax, and you’ve put in at least a handful of easy days getting reacquainted with your boards. Whether or not you rollerski during the summer, skiing on snow has its own jive and it’s normal to feel a little like Bambi your first few sessions. In my experience as a coach and masters athlete, I...

Resources Strength Training Workouts

Developing Single-Leg Stability for Improved Glide

Rachel PerkinsDecember 11, 2020

If you’ve found your way here, you are likely familiar with the three tenets of cross country skiing: push off, weight transfer, and glide. Whether it’s diagonal stride in the track or V2 on the corduroy, your ability to experience a complete weight transfer, ride a flat ski, and carry momentum is heavily dependent on the stability of your standing leg. Why is developing that balance and stability a challenge? For those who choose...

Gear Reviews Resources Reviews

Gear Review: Fischer Speedmax Classic and Carbonlite Skate Rollerskis

Rachel PerkinsNovember 25, 2020

Depending on where you live, rollerskis may seem like a distant memory, retired to a storage closet not to be looked at again until next May. For others, sliding on snow might not be the agenda for another month. Perhaps you are foregoing Thanksgiving travel to snow this year due to the pandemic, or you are an urban-dwelling weekend warrior whose usual routine of traveling regularly to snow has come to a halt. Regardless of...

Health Resources Training

Another mask to add to your wardrobe? By Alasdair Tutt MSc.

FasterSkierNovember 17, 2020

Another mask to add to your wardrobe? These masks will not provide protection from Covid-19, however, they may be key to preventing breathing problems into the future for cross-country skiers. Whilst it may not be news to any of the readers here, but cross-country skiing as a winter sport exposes us to some quite extreme conditions both in training and competition. The FIS cut-off of -4°F (-20°C) was primarily established to prevent cold-based injuries...

Resources Waxing

Competition Preparation from the Point of View of Ski Technicians

FasterSkierOctober 19, 2020

Below is an excerpt from a detailed article exploring “Link to article.

Feature Training

A Summer Without Snow: Athletes and Coaches on a Year with No Summer Skiing

Gavin KentchOctober 12, 2020

The koan that skiers are made in the summer has been around for longer than this website. The related truism, that summer snow time is necessary to effectively compete as a high-level skier come winter, also has a venerable history. For example, here’s Luke Bodensteiner, writing in Endless Winter about why he had journeyed to a place where “the weather sucks all year long” to ski on the Sognefjellet snowfields in August 1993: “We all...

Community Resources Waxing

WSCA Announces Webinar: Waxing Skis and Waning the Gender Gap (Press Release)

FasterSkierOctober 6, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The WSCA Announces Webinar: Waxing Skis and Waning the Gender Gap Today, the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA) announced it will host a Webinar to connect and educate women coaches, and redefine ski waxing culture and opportunities. The webinar, Waxing Skis and Waning the Gender Gap will take place on October 21st. “The ski coaching world is going through a big shift with the ban on fluoro waxes and we see...

Feature Health Resources

I Don’t Have a Six Pack, but a Car Hit Me and I Survived

Hannah HalvorsenSeptember 15, 2020

I’ve struggled with body satisfaction my entire life. I don’t just want to be skinnier, I want to be leaner, more defined, more like an… “athlete”. But last fall, I was hit by a car and I find myself wondering, is the body I have, not the body the insecure part of me craves, responsible for my return to sport? Since I was little, the word “athlete” activated images of beautiful toned-muscled people in my...

Gear Reviews Nutrition Reviews

Product Review: Tailwind Endurance Fuel

Rachel PerkinsSeptember 14, 2020

Looking for an option to keep your glycogen stores full while logging hours this fall? Consider adding

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