Winter is getting closer and over the last couple of weeks the Alps saw the first snow of the year. Skiing at Dachstein (Ramsau in Austria) in fall is always a special experience. The skiing last week was excellent, with the first two days nice and sunny with temps in the high 30s and first class trail conditions. There were few national A-teams, but plenty of junior teams from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The focus...
Houghton, MI – Last Saturday, the Michigan Tech Nordic Skiing teams set out on an epic adventure through the north woods of the Upper Peninsula. The goal was simple, a distance run on the North Country Trail to the raging torrent that is the falls on the Sturgeon River. The peaking fall colors and the scenic Sturgeon River Gorge drew the Huskies more than 30 miles from their home in Houghton, MI, the site of...
Lake Placid, NY: Prior to this year’s EISA (Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association) meeting, the Nordic coaches had a chance to attend a technique session hosted by national team coach Pete Vordenberg and Continental Cup coach Matt Whitcomb. Although many of the EISA coaches had recently attended other coaches’ conferences, this was a great opportunity and was well attended. While some aspects of technique (and technique training) haven’t changed in many years, other areas seem to...
Team Today reports on the ongoing camp, detailing workouts and providing excellent photos. And Head Coach Pete Vordenberg answers a few questions – Question 1. We only have X amount of time to train? Thought: maximize that time by focusing on 1 to 2 things every workout and making sure you accomplish those things within the time you have. Waste no time. If it is rest, rest well, eat a lot and drink lots of...
Far West Nordic Junior skiers began the transition from summer training to Autumn intensity last weekend at the first-ever Virginia Lakes Fall Camp. Set in an incredibly beautiful canyon in the Eastern Sierra, at 9,400 ft elevation, Virginia Lakes offers a great combination of high-altitude roller-skiing and hiking amid the pine and aspen forests of the Sierra Nevada. The weekend was designed as a high-intensity mini-camp for some of the top athletes in the division...
The Norweigan Sprint Team recently gathered in Trondheim to undergo the season's toughest camp. One of the key workouts was a wickedly tough uphill workout under the supervision of 800 meter gold medalist Vebjœrn Rodal, who has been collaborating with the sprint team over the past few seasons. The sprint national team is in a very difficult training period and the camp in Trondheim included a large number of challenging workouts. Under the instruction of...
The CXC Team kicked-off their September training camp with a four day camping excursion in the scenic Porcupine Mountains State Park of Upper Peninsula, Michigan. Athletes embraced the wilderness as they settled into their rustic accommodations along the shoreline of Lake Superior. The Porcupine Mountains, or Porkies as they are fondly referred to, offered picturesque rollerskiing and running terrain for the CXC Team. The first full day of training in the state park entailed a...
The athletes and coaches of the Central Cross Country (CXC) Olympic Development Team will be holding a weekend of enjoyable training and extensive technique work from October 26-28. Join them at scenic Rainbow Resort in Northwestern Minnesota, for a pre-season ski clinic. The Resort is located on a beautiful lakeshore and surrounded by a network of forested groomed trails and roller ski roads on the challenging Western slopes of the Laurentian Divide. CXC athletes and...
APU skiers just finished their third week-long camp on Eagle Glacier with sunny skies and excellent skiing conditions. Similar to the two previous camps the main focus was to ski a lot (volume) and to keep improving on-snow technique. Can this really be Eagle Glacier in August?! With one more on-snow camp under our belt we are confident our skiers have a good start to fall training. Since the month of May some of our...
Editor's Note: Steinar Mundal is a former Norwegian National Team Coach, and is currently in his first year working with the Canadian National Team. According to Cross-Country Canada, Mundal was hired to assist in the fine-tuning of athlete performance leading to the 2010 Games. He will also provide much needed relief to Canadian Head Coach Dave Wood, who has spent the entire winter on the World Cup circuit over the last few seasons. The following...
The Central Cross Country Ski Association (CXC Skiing) is pleased to announce three FREE Get Your Nordic On! clinics in the Hayward area. Join local CXC Team skiers Kristina Owen and Brian Gregg who will be leading the clinics. Riverbrook Bike and Ski, Seeley, WI The clinics will be held on September 23rd, 29th, 30th in Seeley, WI and hosted by Riverbrook Bike and Ski. The clinics begins at 1:00pm at the Riverbrook Bike and...
Think of one of the longest, toughest, most taxing over-distance (OD) workouts that you have ever run and then triple or maybe even quadruple the distance. Let the OD stretch on into darkness of night then through the heat of the next day and on into following night. Add a total elevation change equal to climbing and descending Mount Everest. Throw in three border crossings, a mild case of pulmonary edema, a rabble of rabid...
The following is an entry from Jens Arne Svartedal's monthly blog – where he gives insight into his training. This month he talks about the new challenges of returning to school and being a father. He emphasizes the notion of the “total load” from training and argues that for almost everyone, this is more important than the amount of training. This is a great article for people who are struggling to juggle their daily responsibilities....
Last week we published an article by Liz Stephen of the US Ski Team. She talked about training – keeping it interesting, training hard, training fun. And then she lets us know what it is all about – “I climb a rope” Liz writes, and goes on to say: “The sport we have chosen is one in which we must be among, if not the, most fit people in the world. Sure, this means physical...
US Ski Team Head Coach Pete Vordenberg has some advice for athletes headed back to school. Advice that is pertinent for any athlete, school age or not. In sport balance equals success. Inches are won and lost by choices made, actions taken. Your actions are your choice and your responsibility. Read the full article on
“Where are all the girls?!?” is the main question on Chandra Crawford’s mind when she meets the numerous ski teams who come through Canmore, Alberta for training camps. Even on her team (the Canadian Senior National Team) the ratio of boys to girls is 2:1. Don’t get her wrong, it’s great having lots of strong guys around wearing spandex, but this is an awesome sport that should see equal participation from the chicks! Fast and...
WANAKA, N.Z. (Sept. 6) – U.S. Ski Team athletes found midwinter snow for cross country training again in New Zealand while some teammates fine-tuned their own training with their grassroots club or personal coach at home. “There's more than one way to get the job done,” World Cup sprint racer Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) said of the individualized training approach. The annual U.S. Ski Team camp at The Snow Farm was blessed with a storm...
It’s been an incredible summer of Nordic training in the Far West region, with the division wrapping up it’s final training event of the season over Labor Day weekend at the 3rd Annual Bliss/Lake Tahoe camp. We thought we’d share a few notes and photos with the FasterSkier.com readers. For lots more photos, you can click to www.farwestnordic.org and go to the Photo Gallery pages for a complete list of camps and images. All photos...
The Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC), a National Athlete Development Centre based out of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic venue, just completed its third glacier camp of the summer with the Cross-Country BC team in Smithers, BC. The 5 day camp included 4 days of glacier skiing along with plenty of rollerskiing, core strength sessions and stretching. The glacier in Smithers is a low-altitude glacier with a lot of varied terrain. Because of this, the athletes...
This will be a great opportunity to learn from two-time Olympian Andrew Johnson, who will be working with coaches on Skate technique and drills. This will be one of a series of clinics designed to give coaches an opportunity to take a module of the Level I coaches education curriculum, or learn new information! The clinic will take place in Jericho, VT at the Ethan Allen Firing Range Rollerski Loop. Start time is 12:00, following...