Training – Page 5 – FasterSkier

The Pastimes App Builds Community in Outdoor Recreation with Ambassador Julia Kern

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 4, 2021

If you follow Julia Kern on social media or her blog, you have probably gotten the sense that outdoor recreation is more than just part of her job as a professional cross country skier. A quick scroll highlights a multitude of activities that extend far beyond rollerskiing and World Cup travel. Kern seems to do it all: open water swimming, backcountry skiing, paddle boarding, camping, trail running, rock climbing, and mountain biking. And always with...

Health Resources

Dynamic Stretching for Wellness and Performance

Jessica YeatonDecember 28, 2020

The video presents several dynamic stretches as you begin to develop your own routine using slower, coordinated movements to move the joint through the desired motion. Striving for flexibility is ingrained from a young age. The sit-and-reach test was a key component of the presidential fitness test which was administered to elementary-aged school children until recently. Middle and high school athletes often go through a routine of static stretches before starting practice. Acro-yoga masters now fill...

Racing Resources Training

U.S Paralympic Nordic: Making it Work Virtually

Jason AlbertDecember 28, 2020

With Para Nordic athletes scattered around the country, making the best of sub-optimal proximity to athletes has been a challenge. Coaches of the U.S. Paralympic Nordic Ski Team turned an eye towards utilizing virtual meetings for check-ins and a substitute for in-person coaching. According to Eileen Carey, Director of the Paralympic Nordic Ski Team, the team’s development athletes made use of the virtual sessions several times each week. Virtual meetings included “training sessions, camps, education...

Health Resources

The Power of Skiing Starts with Lifting Up Others: Ideas on Donating this Season

FasterSkierDecember 20, 2020

What a year. In the spirit of optimism, we want to highlight a few non-profits worthy of your consideration when thinking of buying gifts this holiday season. We know the wonder cross-country skiing provides. Gliding through the woods, no noise, totally connected. Silent sports fuel us. Why not support organizations lifting kids up and sharing the wealth that is skiing. Spirit North: Canada based and supporting Indigenous youth. Founded by Beckie Scott, a former...

Resources Training Workouts

Interval Session to Kick Start The Season

Rachel PerkinsDecember 17, 2020

We’ve reached mid-December. With any luck, your local trail system is beginning to fill in, you’ve scraped off your storage wax, and you’ve put in at least a handful of easy days getting reacquainted with your boards. Whether or not you rollerski during the summer, skiing on snow has its own jive and it’s normal to feel a little like Bambi your first few sessions. In my experience as a coach and masters athlete, I...

Resources Strength Training Workouts

Developing Single-Leg Stability for Improved Glide

Rachel PerkinsDecember 11, 2020

If you’ve found your way here, you are likely familiar with the three tenets of cross country skiing: push off, weight transfer, and glide. Whether it’s diagonal stride in the track or V2 on the corduroy, your ability to experience a complete weight transfer, ride a flat ski, and carry momentum is heavily dependent on the stability of your standing leg. Why is developing that balance and stability a challenge? For those who choose...

Health Resources Training

Another mask to add to your wardrobe? By Alasdair Tutt MSc.

FasterSkierNovember 17, 2020

Another mask to add to your wardrobe? These masks will not provide protection from Covid-19, however, they may be key to preventing breathing problems into the future for cross-country skiers. Whilst it may not be news to any of the readers here, but cross-country skiing as a winter sport exposes us to some quite extreme conditions both in training and competition. The FIS cut-off of -4°F (-20°C) was primarily established to prevent cold-based injuries...

Lifestyle

Banff Virtual Film Festival: A Most Excellent Diversion and Fuel for Inspiration

Jason AlbertOctober 21, 2020

Within my pay-grade back in November 1993 was the cost of a weekend pass to the renowned Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival. Living in Northwest, Montana at the time, the drive north and across the border and up to Banff was a streamlined affair. Beyond my means, however, a warm place to stay near Banff. Even back then, the somewhat tony Canadian town had a posh flare. So a friend and I...

Lifestyle

The Escape: Talus Lodge

Jason AlbertOctober 16, 2020

When we began this series, The Escape, we imagined it would be a slippery slope. It turns out the slope is blue-ice slick. Cabin-lust is real. This past spring, just as Covid-19 began making headlines in the U.S., one of the best treat makers on the planet, Zoë Roy, was chef at Talus Lodge. Roy, along with a friend who is rumored to ride bicycles in all forms, settled at the lodge for approximately two-months...

Feature Training

A Summer Without Snow: Athletes and Coaches on a Year with No Summer Skiing

Gavin KentchOctober 12, 2020

The koan that skiers are made in the summer has been around for longer than this website. The related truism, that summer snow time is necessary to effectively compete as a high-level skier come winter, also has a venerable history. For example, here’s Luke Bodensteiner, writing in Endless Winter about why he had journeyed to a place where “the weather sucks all year long” to ski on the Sognefjellet snowfields in August 1993: “We all...

Lifestyle

All the Lightness as they Rotate Towards Winter: Chad Salmela and the Family in Finland

Jason AlbertOctober 8, 2020

FOMO: Fear of missing out. FOMO through the lens of envy is probably not the way to thrive. FOMO through the lens of seizing the day, on the other hand, has a lovely ring to it. Chad Salmela: biathlete, skier, running coach, forever linked with “HERE COMES DIGGINS”, husband, and parent. He is also the lone member of his family of four without a Finnish passport, although he has Finnish ancestry. His wife, Mimmu, hails...

Lifestyle

The Escape: SKIGARD HYTTE

FasterSkierSeptember 23, 2020

These are times for daydreaming. Times to stay grounded. Times to remain socially distant when appropriate — but, still, daydream. We’re prone to daydreaming here at FasterSkier. There’s the eventual skiing, solitude, and winter light to distract from daily tasks. Fun stuff to imagine. Along those lines, we are starting a new series: The Escape. Think of the series as an opportunity to daydream along with the rest of us, or be inspired to book...

Feature Health Resources

I Don’t Have a Six Pack, but a Car Hit Me and I Survived

Hannah HalvorsenSeptember 15, 2020

I’ve struggled with body satisfaction my entire life. I don’t just want to be skinnier, I want to be leaner, more defined, more like an… “athlete”. But last fall, I was hit by a car and I find myself wondering, is the body I have, not the body the insecure part of me craves, responsible for my return to sport? Since I was little, the word “athlete” activated images of beautiful toned-muscled people in my...

Sponsored: Summer Training With Krista Pärmäkoski

Resources Training

Listening in: Nordiq Canada’s Webinar – Group vs Individual Training

Jason AlbertJune 18, 2020

As part of an ongoing webinar series, Nordiq Canada held a webinar titled Group vs Individual Training. Senior National Team athlete Dahria Beatty, National Team coach Erik Bråten, Para Nordic head coach Robin McKeever, and sports psychologist Jon Coleman were on the panel. For any person interested in learning about the yin-yang of individual versus group training sessions, the video, which runs nearly an hour, is well worth a viewing. Bråten, originally from Norway, was hired...

Resources Training

Getting out There: Some Map and Compass Basics

Jason AlbertMay 13, 2020

For someone who traditionally does not watch videos, I’ve been streaming my fair share lately: Some are mindless; some resonate. Of those that resonated, Coming Home – Ag Teacht Abhaile was a highlight. This trail running documentary follows Paddy O’Leary on his quest to complete the “self-navigated 115 kilometer Wicklow Round.” One cool aspect of Ireland’s Wicklow Round is the reliance on old-school tech: A map and compass. Runners navigate up and over 26 Wicklow...

Resources Testing Training Workouts

DIY Fitness Testing: The How and Why with Pepa Miloucheva

Rachel PerkinsMay 6, 2020

It’s May. Yes, really. For most skiers, the new page on the calendar also marks the beginning of a new training year. Dust off your rollerskis, locate your heart rate strap and drink belt, and make sure your running shoes have plenty of life in them. With the country still predominantly on public health orders to stay close to home, avoid groups, and keep at least six feet of distance from those outside your home,...

Resources Strength Training Workouts

Wednesday Workout: Strong From Home with Carolyn Parker of the Ripple Effect Training Center

Rachel PerkinsApril 29, 2020

Like many mountain towns, Carbondale, Colorado is a magnet for athletes. The definition of that word is used broadly — though there are plenty, it is not just home to the uber endurance junkie. Within 30 miles, you can find world-class rivers for whitewater kayaking or fly fishing, five ski resorts, a variety of rock climbing and bouldering objectives, and miles of single track to be run, hiked, or ridden. With this unbelievable backyard, we...

Resources Training

Transitioning to Running Injury Free by Ross McKinnon

FasterSkierApril 22, 2020

Ross McKinnon, Physiotherapist. Kelowna Manual Therapy Centre Nordic athletes will be transitioning to running over the next few weeks as the snow disappears and/or the ski trails shut down. Overuse injuries from running were the most commonly reported injuries in British Columbia Ski Team athletes in injury surveys completed in 2018 and 2019. The vast majority of these overuse injuries occurred in the General Preparation phase of the yearly training plan. Ski coaches...

Lifestyle Resources Reviews

Subscription Review: Athletes for Yoga — Designed to Fit Into and Support and Athletic Lifestyle

Rachel PerkinsApril 14, 2020

My relationship with yoga is very one-sided. Though I do not consider it in any way lesser, I ignore it most of the year when considering my options for exercise, choosing primarily running or skiing instead. Then something crops up. A switch from skiing back to running in the spring makes my hips and IT bands cranky, causing pain in my knee. A couple ankle rolls on a trail run fire up my peroneal tendon....

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