On August 4, the National Para-Nordic Ski Team landed in New Zealand for a four week training camp at the Waiorau, Snow Farm in the South Island. Now at the mid-way point, this group of athletes is certain that everyday in this region of New Zealand is a “Skiers Paradiseâ€. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, utilizing every possible moment to ski but making time to stop for a few moments to take in and...
Team 2014 just completed one of their bigger camps of the season. The intent of this camp was to have the athletes from the east and west complete a big block of training together. All athletes under went testing so we could see improvements made during the last 6 weeks of training. During the on-snow portion of the camp athletes were provided feedback on technique and video sessions consumed the afternoons. We were blessed with...
HAYWARD, WI (August 17) CXC with support of the American Birkebeiner recently completed the big open summer camp of the summer season. The goal of the camp was improving technique in small groups. Along with technique training, athletes attended educational seminars on nutrition and motivation and watched some of the latest cross country videos. On the last full day everyone enjoyed waterskiing and swimming following an afternoon roller ski session. “Once again this was an...
The Callaghan Valley Training Centre along with the NTDC Thunder Bay and a few awesome additions from XC.com, Indi-2010 and Lakehead University spent this past week training hard at the Haig Glacier near Canmore, Alberta. The 6 day camp started off with cold and wet weather, followed by a terrifying thunderstorm, where athletes had to race off the glacier to the safety of camp as fast as possible. Fortunately, our luck changed, and we were...
Aotearoa Atop a mountain, in a country known by the native Maori as Aotearoa — land of the long white cloud — weather moves in and weather moves out. One day to the next can make all the difference. On Friday morning the U.S. team ran for 2 ½ hours up the Matukituki Valley in t-shirts, then put in a distance and on-snow specific strength session in the half-light of the evening sky. The nighttime...
Testing is just that — a means of measuring fitness, rate of force production and economy. Testing gives an indication to how training is going. Training, though, is where the work gets done that makes skiers faster. With this on their mind, four American women and five U.S. men currently are in a three week on-snow altitude camp, putting in the kilometers, testing equipment and refining technique at the SnowFarm on New Zealand’s South Island....
PARK CITY, Utah (Aug. 4) – From on-snow training and some ocean fun in June to intense testing and roller-ski workouts. That was the transition for U.S. Ski Team cross country athletes in their latest camp where their third round of testing showed continued improvement World Cup skier Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) does a strength test during the Team's July Park City camp before heading to New Zealand (credit: J. Fritz/USSA) “We're ahead of where...
HAYWARD, WI (JULY 30) CXC Team members Johanna Winters, Matt Liebsch, and Garrott Kuzzy led several Get Your Nordic On! clinics in the Twin Cities recently. The CXC Team skiers were able to work with a number of summer training programs for both Junior and Master skiers, including the Wayzata Ski Club, Go! Training, FinnSisu skiers, and Nordic Werks. The series of Get Your Nordic On! clinics began on Wednesday evening at Baker Park with...
It’s been another scorching summer here in West Yellowstone. Like much of the US, we had a low snow winter and we are following that up with a super dry summer — the ground here is parched and many of us are looking forward to the return of winter and a giant accumulation of snow. Just thinking about the possibilities makes it feel cooler here. One thing is for sure; when the snow does start...
Now in its sixth year, the annual Pacific Northwest Troutlake Junior Development Camp, was moved to the Seagle Ranch in nearby Glenwood, WA this past week where 37 skiers from Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and New York gathered for a week of training, technique instruction, and camaraderie. Attracting national talent and a superb coaching staff, the Glenwood-Troutlake camp has easily become one of the premier dry-land junior development camps in the country. With clouds hanging ominously...
Set to motion by Miles Minson in 1999, REG camps have become the bread and butter of the US Ski Team’s recruitment and interaction within the reaches of the current developmental pipeline. The camps serve as a critical pathway between the National Team and the clubs, where each entity can both learn and share. Above all, it is another occasion where the regions collaborate together to expand upon ideas that help drive the concept of...
Led by the intrepid Erik Flora, twenty-one Alaska Pacific University Athletes spent last week, July 8-15, living at the Thomas Training Center and skiing on the Eagle Glacier. The wide range in experiences, skills, personalities, and ages of the athletes created a dynamic group with everyone having something to contribute. In addition to skiing everyday on beautifully groomed trails, the group cooked, cleaned, entertained each other and generally created a functional and self-sufficient community for...
The Callaghan Valley Training Centre, a new Canadian National Athlete Development Centre based out of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Venue, along with the Cross-Country BC Team just finished up a successful 6-day glacier camp at the Haig, located near Canmore, Alberta. Athletes were able to train 18-26 hours during the 6 day period and got in some quality technique and agility training as well. Monitoring was a high priority for this camp due to the...
Over 40 top athletes from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois plus CXC Team spent one week of training and testing at Cresthill Resort in Hayward, WI HAYWARD, WI (July 10) Great sunny weather and over three dozen committed athletes highlighted last week in the Central Region. Top regional coaches in the region led athletes through a week of testing, education and training including US Ski Team coaches Pete Vordenberg and Matt Whitcomb. In the first...
The 2007 edition of the Western Region Elite Group Camp, sponsored by the U.S. Ski Team and Far West Nordic, is complete and was huge hit with both athletes and coaches alike. Almost 50 athletes and 14 coaches arrived on Sunday afternoon in time to get acquainted and enjoy a mentally AND physically demanding special Team Orienteering Challenge at Donner State Park on the shores of Donner Lake in Truckee. Led by guest coach Mitch...
Sometimes a change of scenery can have a huge – make that HUGE – impact. Exhibit A: Oregon hosted the first cross country training camp of the season, a two-week mix of snow at Mt. Bachelor and water on the coast that jump-started the preseason training regimen. It was a mix of drills for the mind and body, from on-snow training to team dynamics exercises with the U.S. Ski Team's longtime sports psychologist, Jon Hammermeister,...
Over 60 of the best nordic athletes and coaches from the Western United States have come to test their mettle in the sunny Sierra Nevada this week. Perfect conditions and a full menu of activities greeted everyone on Sunday, starting out with a special team-bonding experience of a special orienteering contest around Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee. Athletes were divided into teams, with maps, compass, and instructions on how to best navigate the course...
APUNSC Athletes had nothing but sunshine, sweet tracks, good food, and sunburns from the first glacier camp of the season! Last week was the first of four scheduled on-snow camps planned for the 2007 summer training season. If everything goes according to plan, athletes will have had a total of 28 days on snow come fall. Camp Highlights included: -a quality big-hour week for everyone (18-25 hours) -Valuable video sessions -Taz Mannix’s 21st birthday! (Happy...
2007 CENTRAL REGIONAL TRAINING AND TESTING CAMP Qualified top senior and junior CXC athletes will join for a week of training and testing on July 1st. HAYWARD, WI (June 6) Central Cross Country Ski Association is pleased to announce the 2007 Regional Training and Testing Camp for CXC Ski Team, CXC Junior Development Program, Central Regional Development Group, State Development Groups and petitioned athletes. Pizza dinner, sponsored by Coop's Pizza Location Camp will take place...
CXC TEAM — CAMP 1 Hayward, Wisconsin The first CXC Team training camp of the season began on May 5th. The goal was four fold: welcome back returning athletes and meet the new athletes to kick off the year with overall team goal setting; physiology and general fitness testing; results analysis and individual coach/athlete meetings to develop individualized plans; and begin ski specific team training and technique analysis. We sat down as a team, looked...