FasterSkier sat down with the youngest members of the U.S. Ski Team, the Stratton Mountain School's Julia Kern and Katharine Ogden, both 18, to talk about their training seasons and outlook, and Kern helped us preview the Sun Valley SuperTour classic sprint.
With plenty of shovels and smiles, the Sun Valley crew is working hard to make both SuperTour races happen at the Lake Creek trails. "Putting the work in here gives the athletes an opportunity to test themselves appropriately on the kinds of courses that they need to be prepared to ski on," SVSEF Nordic Director Rick Kapala explains.
Where does the development of a strong ski program begin? U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Bryan Fish talks about the importance of engaging youth in nordic skiing. "Keep them moving and keep them active, keep challenging them, that’s what brings them back," Fish said last week in West Yellowstone, Mont.
The Rocky Mountain Racers team has a standby dryland workout called Ski Specific Strength that's as useful as it is brutal. While rollerskiing uphill, athletes pull a coach on a bike behind them, while their coach applies the brakes. "It’s pretty black and white if your power is going in the wrong direction," Andrea Dupont says.
What's hot this winter? FasterSkier took inventory of some of the latest gear and equipment displayed at this year's West Yellowstone Expo, including seamless suits, Kikkan poles and Diggins-designed race wear.
On Thanksgiving Day, skiers at the Yellowstone Ski Festival tell us what they are thankful for this week. For many of them, it's the snow!
Sure, West Yellowstone's the biggest and one of the longest-standing annual November ski camps in North America, but there are several other options across the U.S. and Canada for early season skiing. Start planning next year's trip now.
Hailey Swirbul of the Aspen Valley Ski Club takes us through a workout her team recently did in West Yellowstone, one designed to prepare them for this weekend's races and the season ahead: Level 3/ Level 4 combination skate-intensity.
While "a high VO2max is never a disadvantage -- ever!” Dr. Dan Heil of Montana State University explains that honing in on upper-body strength may be the way to go. "If [an athlete is] interested in being able to track their training progress, maybe all they need to be able to track is changes in upper-body power."
FS caught up with one of the most experienced elite female coaches club in the U.S., Pepa Miloucheva. Head coach for the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, Miloucheva details the path of the program, as well as her own, over the past 20 years.
What to do about shoulder season and the lack of daylight after school and work? Adam Terko, head coach of the Mansfield Nordic Club, shares some ways to fit in quality (and fun) training in the dark.
Why did World Cup veterans Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw sometimes race on what looked like antiquated Fischer skis? The duo talks about the almost-magic qualities of those boards, which belonged to a former team tech, and what life is like without them. “If I see Poltoranin on those skis, that will weird me out big time,” Kershaw says.
After being business-run for the last 40 years, the Weston Ski Track is now in the hands of the state of Massachusetts after the DCR decided to assume management this summer. Local skiers talk about the impact and potential implications of the decision.
The one workout no skier should sacrifice? Specific strength, MSU Head Coach Matthew Johnson explains. “It’s really easy to waste time rollerskiing,” he says. “... Practice makes permanent, so we try to practice good permanence.”
The results are in! Check out the winners and honorable mentions for our first annual costume contest.
Show us your ugly (or cute, creative, or really funny)! Today marks the start of our Halloween photo contest, with prizes for the best costumes. Contest ends Sunday.
While TSS can stand for a lot of things in a training plan (i.e. Top Secret Strength, Totally Stupid Strength), the bottom line is it's an uphill workout that reinforces good ski technique and power. All you need is a short, steep hill.
Not many nordic skiers find themselves coaching professionally at the age of 24. An even smaller percentage of those coaches are women. Here is a closer look at what drives one of the few: Bernie Nelson of the Bridger Ski Foundation in Bozeman, Mont.
With more than half of the World Cup races being stages this season, the U.S. Ski Team has decided to incorporate the mini-tour format into its training and is ending its annual Park City camp with a three-day rollerski series.
Heidi Weng has some big goals for the 2015/2016 season, and to reach them, she'll rely heavily on her offseason training. Here are two of her favorite workouts for the fall: one uphill intensity and one easy distance.