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Editor's Note: According to Beckie Scott’s personal coach from 1998-2006, Torbjorn Karlsen, this is very similar to the training method that Beckie used from 2004-2006 enroute to her best season ever in 2006 – 4 World Cup victories, 9 World Cup podiums and second place in the overall World Cup. Karlsen and Scott worked closely with one of the pioneers of the “interval-block” training method – sports physiologist Jan Helgerud of Norway. This style of...

Finally, the winners! Fasterskier asked the readers to send in their best picture of “Fall Training.” The theme was open to interpretation and Fasterskier received a whole bunch of images….ranging from skiing to running to cliff jumping to longboarding to family skiing. Lot of great pictures were submitted. Thanks to everyone who participated! Thank you to every person who emailed in a picture. We had way more than we could post. Grand prize through 3rd...

During the races at Beitostœlen, the Ski Foundation and the Institute of Sport Science collected wide-ranging data. The coordinator for the ski foundation and former U.S. national team coach, Vidar Lœfshus, explained the background. Significant Differences “Nordic skiing is a sport of margins and we are interested in finding areas where we can improve. We filmed technique and tactics in different types of terrain. The results are not ready, but there are significant differences between...

Editor's Note: This article was written earlier in the fall, but is still applicable as many of us are still in the middle of the transition to skiing. I’m sitting in my hotel room here about as far north as you can get in Finland. Sariselkaa is the place, a little town with a focus on Nordic skiing. The conditions are terrific here, with 5km of “train” track loops that will soon be 8 km,...

What's the one thing you are really nagging the skiers on right now? Right now, I’m really focusing on technique while also working strength. We’re doing a lot of double-poling, no-poles skiing and pull-ups. We also do a fair amount of speed and coordination work. I can’t absolutely say that doing agility drills and speed-work will make my skiers faster, but I can hope that when they play pick-up ultimate in college they won’t embarrass...

The 7th Annual New England Women's XC Ski Day, sponsored by TD Banknorth is a cross country event “for women, by women,” inspired by similar events in Norway (the Inga Lama) and Alaska (the Anchorage Women's Ski Day). Every woman interested in learning or improving her time on cross country skis is welcome to participate. Women are also encouraged to make it a weekend and stay at the www.nensa.net or mail to: Event Directors, P.O....

Several more inches of snow fell Saturday night in Foret Montmorency and the weather pattern looks as if it'll keep dropping snow on us a little bit at a time all week. The skiing is excellent! There are a ton of people here but most of the Canadian groups appear to be packing up. Along with UVM it looks like Stratton, Maine Coast Nordic, St Lawrence, and Bates are all here for some part of...

Bolton Valley, Vermont received 6″-8″ of nice snow Thursday and Friday. It was enough to get the snowmobile and small pull-behind-groomer out and do some packing. This made for both great skate and classic skiing. Broadway is the prefect place for early season no pole practice and distance skiing. There were some high school racers and college skiers out there today doing classic technique. For more early snow images from Bolton Valley visit, http://boltonnordic.wordpress.com

Why do I continue to train at competitive cross country skiing? This is a question that I get asked by many different people. My response to that question comes from a coach that I worked with when I was younger. She always said to me “You have to enjoy what you’re doing to succeed at it, to train well you must enjoy the training.” This little phrase has stuck with me from the moment I...

** Editors note: This will be a twice-monthly column highlighting our ski coaches from around the country… including elite coaches, college coaches, high school coaches, volunteer coaches, and learn-to-ski coaches. This is an effort to sample a diverse group of coaches and recognize the people who are the backbone of today’s skiers. If you would like to nominate a coach for an interview, please email rob@fasterskier.com. Please give coach’s name, email, and a several paragraph...

Continental Cup Team athletes recently completed a successful training and testing camp in Park City, UT. While the main goals of the camp for these development athletes were placed on training and altitude acclimatization for our Super Tour campaign, the Sports Science staff helped continue to track physiological changes in each of these athletes through the use of our treadmill. This treadmill test provides a wealth of physiological markers including Maximum VO2, Lactate Efficiency Curve,...