Whenever nordic skiers are being stereotyped, you are almost sure to hear the word granola, often accompanied by words like crunchy, and nature. So what better to bake than a food that will fulfill all the world’s stereotypes about us? Because granola can be made with just about anything, the recipe is wide open to your interpretation. Substitute craisins for raisins, throw in your leftover almonds, replace the fiber with chocolate – go nuts!
If I know it’s going to be a big day, I make sure I have a solid breakfast. People always say that it’s the most important meal of the day and that’s true. When you wake up in the morning, you probably haven’t eaten in at least 8 hours. Your glucose stores will be depleted, which are the main energy source of the body. A lot of people tell me, “I’m not hungry,” or “I...
OSLO, NORWAY – It’s a well known fact that cross-country skiing is among the worst offenders when it comes to increasing risk of exercise induced asthma and has some of the highest use of asthma medicine among elite athletes. According to the Norwegian TV station NRK, as many as half of the skiers on the Norwegian national team have asthma. “These are not exact numbers, but we test the national team every year, and about...
Yeah right, we’re all skiers, and we all need to eat carbohydrates. Pesto, the classic Italian combination of basil, pine nuts, garlic, cheese and olive oil, is a staple. Relatively easy to prepare, it meets a skier’s carbohydrate needs. However, one doesn’t live by pasta alone. As the chief dishwasher as well as cook in our house, I’ve adapted the classic pesto recipe for to incorporate vegetables and protein, while minimizing the number of dishes...
Been out of the game for the past few weeks with an illness that kept me from trying out and eating tasty recipes but here it is. We’re back with a delish recipe involving, rice, cheese and spinach… my favourite! Risotto with Mushrooms, Red Peppers, and Spinach Ingredients: – 1 cup Arborio rice – 3 cups chicken stock – 1/2 onion or three shallots, chopped – 3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely – 1/2 a red...
The summer is in full swing. For athletes, that means building up your training base with long workouts, intensity sessions, and time in running shoes and on rollerskis. While the training is what will keep you fast for those race weekends in January and February, during July and August, the season can seem a long way off. The temptation to have a barbeque with your friends, knock back a few of your favorite adult drinks,...
Protein is a very important component of any athlete’s caloric intake, but it can be difficult to sort myth from fact when judging how much protein to incorporate into your diet. In the next few paragraphs, I hope to debunk some myths and provide you with a new pieces of information that might improve your diet and subsequently enhance your training. Myth: You only get protein from meat. Fact: While this is a bit exaggerated...
Summer means variety in training methods, activities and intensities. However, almost all of the summer training methods that skiers engage in, carry some risk of injury. Martin Lobben, a chiropractor and manual therapist who works extensively with athletes recognizes some common injuries that plague skiers. ”I’ve treated a fair number of nordic skiers, and come up with a short list of tips that can be useful,” Lobben says to Norwegian web site www.langrenn.com.
The summer sun is enticing to outdoor enthusiasts like most of us skiers, but it can be more dangerous than we realize. We all grew up with Mom chasing embarrassingly after us with a bottle of SPF 200, but it turns out Mom was right. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and studies have shown that endurance athletes are at a greater risk due to the extended hours spent in...
Tired of going out for a rollerski in the rain only to come back with soaked boots that need to sit for a day and a half trying to dry, stuffed with newspaper? Tired of rollerskiing in the hot sun? Tired of rollerskiing already, period? Running may be the answer, according to Dick Moss of Sudbury, Ontario. He’s been a coach for 29 years, working primarily with runners, but he has seen the occasional Olympian sneak...
Breathlessness, delayed recovery, cold intolerance, feeling fatigued after even mild exercise – any athlete has experience these symptoms at some point or another during their training. Usually they are signs of an oncoming cold and the remedy is simply to slow down for a few days. In some cases though, these may be signs of a severe iron deficiency. Iron is essential to athletic performance, and especially to endurance events. According to a study commissioned...
When summer hits, one of my favourite things to do is stock up on in-season fruits, especially blueberries! Here’s a simple but sweet recipe for blueberry crisp, one of my top-5 favorite desserts. It has a nice combination of carbs, fats and antioxidants. If you want to pack a bit more nutrition punch, you can add other fruits in as well, such as peaches or other berries. As a topping, you can add ice cream...
Ski news is all well and good and satisfies the ski nerd in us all but since food tends to eventually take up an unbelievable amount of any conversation athlete have, why not incorporate that into the site? So, starting now is a new series with a new recipe every week. You can try them, adapt them, review them, whatever. We’re also going to run nutritional stats with whatever we cook up so that you...
Even though carbohydrates continue to get a bad rap from the mainstream public, to endurance athletes they are still the gold standard of energy. “Carbo Loading” is the known term for eating more carbohydrates – such as pasta, bagels, cereal, and potatoes – in an effort to stock up energy stores before an endurance event. But how much “carbo loading” is really necessary, and how much is just an excuse to eat that extra cinnamon...
FS Author Nat Herz copied the link to this article during a fasterskier email team-building session today. It is written by a guy that turned himself into a Dope in order to write about it for Outside Magazine.
After several years of training hard and working towards skiing fast, I am now in nurse practitioner school in – gulp – Connecticut. After reading
USSA has posted PDFs from this fall’s Coaches Education Conference.
This 3-DVD set is a cross country ski-specific presentation from experts in the field. You’re going to hear from Sweden’s cross country physiologist H.C. Holmberg, USST’s sport psychologist Dr. Jon Hammermeister, Pete Vordenberg – USST Head Coach, and Justin Wadsworth – USST coach as well as ex-coach of Olympic Medalist Beckie Scott. Stratton Mountain School Coach Sverre Caldwell speaks on developing young skiers and the U.S Development System. Other topics include Ski Service by USST’s...
As the years roll by, you hone your skills in maximizing your workouts and can thoroughly break down your body. But as a result the recovery is also becoming harder to deal with. Maybe you're pushing 16 hours, or 20 hours, or maybe even 30 hours. You aren't sleeping as well after the harder days, and your part-time job is becoming a chore.
