Resources

SEPTEMBER TRAINING FOR GOOD ADULT SKIERS Hi again. We’re back with some training suggestions for the month of September. It’s now just over 2 months before the ski season may start. In some places we’re already seeing sub-freezing temperatures at night, but we’d still like to see a nice and warm September month suited for good dryland training. Many of you may be starting to feel the pressure of the upcoming racing season, but if...

At FasterSkier.com we have gotten many comments, questions and requests for more material about weight-, circuit-, core- and specific strength (strength training done on rollerskis or skis) training. Articles, research, rumors, comments and such have possibly created some confusion regarding what to do, loads, number of repetitions and sets, length of the workouts and who would benefit from the different types of training. Typical questions are: – What are World Cup and National Team skiers...

Even though our Coaching Services and articles here at FasterSkier.com may seem to focus on master and elite skiing, we are also involved in coaching children and youth. Using the knowledge of the growing child's developmental stages is critical in fostering a lifelong interest in skiing, and optimizing their enjoyment and potential. It is human nature to care about our children and the quality of their childhood. As parents we constantly read, learn and implement...

Vidar Jakobsen, one of the leading kinesiologists at the Norwegian Institute for Sports, thinks Norway has been going down the wrong path when analyzing skating technique. “ Daehlie and Alsgaard skated technically very well in the early 90s, but instead of copying them, as most other countries did, Norway wanted to develop the technique even further. This led us down the wrong path. Now, we’re more back to what was done earlier. You may say...

Only one disappointing event marred what was an otherwise excellent New Zealand training Camp. We came to New Zealand with several goals in mind: Stay healthy. Improve technique (specifics below). Train a high (but manageable) volume. Complete 6 to 7 quality intensity sessions. Beat the Alpine team in Soccer. Our only disappointment came when we lost the soccer match against Alpine 2 goals to 1. We lost in spite of having a good number of...

General thoughts What is efficient strength training for Cross-Country skiers? Very few of us can claim to have the exact answer. The question is usually not how to get stronger, but what is effective relative to skiing faster, and at the same time balancing this with other forms of Cross-Country training. It does not help to have big and strong legs and huge triceps when skiing up a long hill if your oxygen uptake (Max...

USST Report from New Zealand NZ National Championships New Zealand is having one of its driest winters in history. The Snow Farm still has over 2 hours of groomed skiing, and today for the New Zealand National Championship 5 and 10km classical — we had hard wax conditions (multi-grade and extra blue). The US Ski Team has been in New Zealand at Snow Farm near Wanaka on the South Island since the 4th of August....

Hard physical activity or training has a defining effect on the body, but perhaps not fully understood by many of our endurance athletes. The body itself is a most amazing organism that reacts to stimuli in many ways, and there are still many areas of human anatomy and physiology that are not completely understood. One of the areas we as endurance athletes are most concerned about, is how to make our body react to our...

Norwegian Sprint Coach Ulf Morten Aune says that National Teams must be better tactically in sprint and mass-start races. He says skiers could learn tactic from bike racers. “In Sprint we quickly see conflicts between caring for the individual skier and what is best for the team as a whole. Everyone wants to do well individually, but regardless of this there are things we can do better for the team. Here we can learn both...

Now the serious training starts. August is in a way the first month of fall, even though it is really still considered summer. It is however only about 3 months until the first competition starts. If you feel you haven’t trained optimally so far, then plan on skiing fast after New Years, not in November. If you’ve trained well all summer, you can ski fast the whole winter season. Some advise for your August training:...

Summer for the US Cross-Country Ski Team is officially over on August 2nd. On August 3rd we leave for the middle of winter, which lies 13hours over the Pacific Ocean in New Zealand. After a month in NZ we return to Park City, Utah, to begin fall training. The National team and Development team, as well as a small hand-full of promising non-national team athletes, have been training together in Park City this July. It...