High-caliber junior athletes flocked to Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont on June 25 for the five-day Regional Elite Group (REG) camp. The week provided attending skiers with a chance to train with and learn from some of the country’s best coaches. This year saw some changes to the general REG plan, including more time trials and the requirement that athletes wear numbered bibs for all workouts, fostering a greater spirit of competition and professionalism. “I...
Relaxed and fast may seem like contradictory adjectives, but any successful skier can tell you otherwise. Learning to relax while skiing is essential to racing fast at a high level. Nerves and tension are natural components of any athletic competition, but if untamed they lead to choppy technique, inefficient movement, and a needlessly tiring struggle. “You can be as fit and strong as anybody but still not be able to hang on… You cannot power...
Two weeks ago for the first installment of our “Pro Workout” series, we featured a high speed session with Olympic sprinter Simi Hamilton. This time around we literally shift gears, talking with Alaska Pacific University’s (APU) two-time Olympian and distance stalwart James Southam. With three trips to World Championships in addition to his Olympic appearances, Southam is entering the final year of a strong career that also includes multiple National Championship titles. For the last...
Bryan Fish is the former CXC Team Vertical Limit head coach, and now coaches for the U.S. Ski Team. FasterSkier approached Fish about CXC’s unique approach to periodicity–the sequencing of hard and easy blocks in a training plan–and this was his response. We got an e-mail from a reader with a story idea—he mentioned that CXC takes a different approach to periodicity, alternating hard weeks with easy weeks rather than doing the typical three-week progression....
Friday marked the end of the Central Regional Elite Group (REG) training camp at the Cresthill Resort in Hayward, Wisconsin. Top athletes from throughout the Central region arrived on Saturday, July 3 for a week of tough competition, quality training, and phenomenal coaching. One of the great values of the REG camps is the educational component, as athletes attended lectures presented by the coaches almost every night. The star-studded coaching staff included Bryan Fish (US...
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.
Midsummer is upon us, and that means it is time for the annual Regional Elite Group (REG) camps. The annual Western REG camp recently concluded in Park City, where 30 athletes took advantage of excellent training opportunities to log 18 hours for the week. The schedule also included Medals Testing (a set of exercises including pushups, pullups and situps, performed in a controlled environment) the famous Agony Hill Time Trial, as well as talks from...
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...
Sara Renner is getting a crash course in normal living. Since announcing her retirement from skiing after her final race—the 30 k race at the Olympics, she’s jumped into the “real life of motherhood and work” with both feet. “It’s really eye-opening the amount of stuff you do in a day when you don’t ski [train],” she said. “It’s so busy!” Renner is now balancing motherhood with a new position—she and her husband, Thomas Grandi,...
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...
Following her Olympic debut in Turin, Italy in 2006, Rebecca Dussault planned to take a break, to include the birth of her second child, before returning to racing. The short break lasted a year and a half longer than planned when her husband Sharbel contracted a serious auto-immune disease. The long delay meant that her points coming into the 2010 season were far less than optimal and despite numerous fantastic results and a SuperTour championship,...
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...
After a nine-mile battle with first-place finisher Sopagna Eap, US Olympian and US Ski Team (USST) member Morgan Arritola finished the inaugural USA Half Marathon Trail Championship in second place, less than a minute behind Eap. The runner-up performance was particularly impressive given that Arritola is in the midst of summer training for a different sport and was competing against the best of the USA Track and Field team. “I was a little surprised,” Arritola...
Canada now has three Training Centres spread out across the country—Quebec, Thunder Bay, and Whistler. The Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC) is still in its infancy—after four years, it’s still trying to get its legs under it and prove itself. Despite having the perfect training site, an Olympic venue, and ideal conditions for athletes to develop into top-tier athletes, the Centre has been dogged with bad luck—three coaches in four years, a complete athlete turnover after...
Sadie Bjornsen, a new member of Alaska Pacific University’s ski team, gave this firsthand account towards the end of the recently-completed National Training Group camp in Utah. This post originally appeared on her blog,
Thursday marked the final day of the first training camp of the summer for the Central Cross-Country Ski Association (CXC). Based out of Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, the camp consisted of 10 days of training at various locations ranging across the St. Croix Valley. With previous head coach Bryan Fish around for the first week before moving on to his new position with the US Ski Team (USST), the camp also functioned as a...
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...
During the summer months, it can be hard to stay focused and keep your muscles snappy when all you seem to do is rollerskiing, rollerskiing and more rollerskiing. Cross training is important in order to avoid burnout or injury–especially for juniors or masters looking to mix it up during the off-season. In a new series to FasterSkier, we’re going to take a look at some of the ways skiers keep themselves and their bodies sane...
The first annual National Training Group (NTG) camp in Park City is underway, and participants were challenged early on with the infamous Agony Hill Time Trial on the first day. Alexa Turzian (SVSEF/CU) and Caitlin Patterson (Alaska Winter Stars/UVM) tied in the women’s race, both posting a time of 18:40. Kate Dolan (BSF/DU) finished third, 40 seconds back. Scott Patterson (Alaska Winter Stars/UVM) edged Reid Pletcher (SVSEF/CU) by two seconds in the men’s event, clocking...
