One of the interesting aspects of training with the xcottawa.ca racing team is that because a significant portion of the team works regular office hours during the day, sometimes, if you want to train together it has to be either very early or relatively late. On most of the other teams I have been part of teammates were usually students or basically full-time athletes. In either case, training at those easy to get ready for...
Fasterskier.com recently posted an article about Norwegian distance skier Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset that wants to win “The Double” – the sprint and the 50 kilometer at next year’s Worlds in Oberstdorf, Germany. World-class sprinter Jens Arne Svartedal captured third place in the overall World Cup last season has the very same dream and goals. Svartedal had a very good season last winter. He has always been World-class in the classic style sprint, but took a big...
Norwegian National team skier Kristin Stormer Steira has struggled with an Achilles injury since early this spring. – It started to bother me this spring and it’s not letting go, says Stormer Steira.
Grand Rapids, MI For the second year, John Aalberg visited the Grand Rapids Nordic Ski Team for a dryland and rollerski clinic. Over two days, we were again treated to in-depth personal attention from one of the top coaches in North America. We are extremely fortunate for this opportunity because John is a talented skier who can teach effectively, and has many “real life” requirements of his time; among them his young family and serving...
Some people may refer to me as “Megan the Klutz†(I had a book with that title when I was a kid) and sometimes it couldn’t be more true! How many other cross country skiers (a non-contact sport I might add) have undergone 3 orthopedic surgeries in 4 summers (two ankles and now a knee)?? Well, I am the lucky one! My dad says I’m no longer allowed to do the following things: Football, soccer,...
Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher struggled getting motivated after last season, and looked for more personal coaching than the German National Team was able to give her – her answer was the coach of the Swedish Biathlon Team. Sachenbacher ended up eleventh overall in last season’s World Cup, with a couple of top-3 finishes in individual competitions. At the end of the season her motivation came to a low-point, and she chose to switch coach. Her new...
15 June 2004 I must’ve followed my coffee cup around the house ten times a couple weeks ago before I finally admitted defeat. There was no way I was going out in the pouring, 40-degree rain to get in my long run for the week. Even though I’m registered to run in Grandma’s Marathon here in Duluth, MN coming up on the 19th, I couldn’t summon up the studliness to venture outside. Dejected, I tromped...
Norwegian national team cross country skiers Anders and Jorgen Aukland and Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset got a little taste of what the Tour de France participants can expect, when they test-rode a small portion of the course last week. Tour de France starts July 3 and ends 22 days later after 3395 kilometer of the hardest riding you can imagine trough a mostly burning hot France. The Norwegian skiers traveled to France to bike some of the...
I was excited. As I drove up the mountain road all around me was white. It was May, early May. It rarely has this amount of snow in Australia this early. I was down in our mountain region in Australia for a job interview at one of our big alpine ski resorts. As I was doing some job research on their website, I noticed their snow cams just showed white. It was snowing. I decided...
Fasterskier.com has posted several articles this spring talking about how the training season official started May 1, (give or take a little) for elite level skiers. In case you didn’t get the point, this was meant to get everyone else like masters and juniors going as well. Gordon Lange and I didn’t stop training this spring either. For information on the training with Torbjorn and Gorden column go to: www.torbjornsport.com/tbksports/030707coaching.html) Gordon got a kick out...
Fasterskier.com checked out San Diego, US cross country team’s choice for a low altitude and high intensity camp in September (September 18 – October 1). We also talked to head Coach Trond Nystad about this. San Diego Men’s Journal Magazine (www.mensjournal.com ) named in their 2004 June issue San Diego, California (right next to the Mexican border) their #1 “Best Big City” in USA. They used 37 variables, like cost of living, air and water...
Bjerke surprised many after getting second place in the Norwegian National Team’s time-trial during their last training camp. The Lillehammer skier won silver in the National Championship two year’s ago, qualifying him for a spot on the National Team. However, poor results last year resulted in being taken off the team. However, he was allowed to participate with the National Team on their recent camp. – I became too focused on controlling my intensity during...
Early tests are confirming that World Cup Sprint Queen Marit Bjorgen has conserved last winters gold winning shape this spring. Many ski racers are getting their MaxVo2 tested several times during the training season. The highest levels are usually tested right prior to the start of the season and the levels usually tapers off in the easy period following the end of the season. Marit Bjorgen also had an easier period after the season, but...
On April 27th we posted an article on FasterSkier.com about Norwegian skier Tore Bjonviken, – I feel that I’m close enough to be able to do this financially that I want to continue as a ski racer at high level, says Bjonviken. Tore became a dad to a little girl in May, make ends meet through sponsors and working in a sport shop. – I have worked quite a bit to find sponsors, and have...
Olympic and World Champion Bente Skari retired after the 2003 season. She and her husband Geir traveled around the World in her first winter without skiing and competitions on the agenda. She is now back in Norway after seven months “on the roadâ€.
The Norwegian national team just finished their first dryland camp of the season. National team coach Krister Soregard attacked the skier’s weaknesses from day one. The spring is barley over, but the national team already has one camp under their belt ahead of this important World Championship season. Despite being only late May, it was not an option to start with a careful approach. – We did much of the same as we are doing...
Last week I stumbled over a copy of the May issue of Running Time Magazine, I have heard and read about Bannister's achievement many times but was not quite aware of the true magnitude, world wide attention and importance in not only sport but history itself this had. I can highly recommend the article for those enjoying reading great “dreams come through†stories. It’s hard to think about anything else in sport history having been...
There have been some cool articles on fasterskier.com lately. Several articles have given us views of adventurous cross-training activities unique to various areas of the US and Canada. It's interesting to learn what our ski brethren do for ambitious fun and training in the off-season. Things like crust skiing in the High Sierra, in Utah and on Mt Ranier, and canoeing and backcountry skiing in remote Canada. The bottom line is – every place has...
Anders and Jorgen Aukland, together with Odd-Bjœrn Hjelmeset, are setting course for France next week to take on some of the mountain climbs that have made Tour de France famous. – We’ll stay in Annecy, and bike some of the stages in this area. Annecy is also a short distance to Chamonix and Albertville, says Anders Aukland. We want to bike the toughest and hardest stages of Tour de France, not only this year’s, but...
Usually around this time of the year, when I start rollerskiing again, I think back upon one of the lines from that most intensely masculine of all man-movies, “Fight Club.” In said movie, a line is narrated thusly (or as close an approximation to this as I can remember). “When a guy first shows up to Fight Club he’s a wad of cookie dough, but after a few weeks he’s cut out of wood.” That’s...