This isn’t Erik Bjornsen’s first rodeo. The 26-year-old Washington native was named to the U.S. Ski Team big leagues — spending the bulk of each winter racing overseas in Europe on the World Cup. And at 6-foot-2 and roughly 175 pounds, according to his
For this Wednesday Workout, we’re bringing back a speed-inducing bounding session Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess shared with us four years ago. These days, Blackhorse-von Jess, 31, is still racing out of the Read the original workout here. *** [circa October 2013] This edition of Wednesday Workout was submitted by Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess, the man who
This week’s Wednesday Workout comes from Central Cross Country (CXC) Team member Felicia Gesior. In her second year with CXC, Gesior, 24, is currently working on coordinating the Bergkönig Trail Run, an annual event that began six years ago to raise money for post-collegiate CXC skiers. Race registration and information can be found here. *** Bergkönig. In German, it translates to “mountain king”. In 2011, it translated to the perfect name for the trail run Northern Michigan...
At the end of Mads Ek Strøm’s senior year at the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU), the 26-year-old Norwegian had some decisions to make. He started by looking for a job in the U.S., specifically in the finance industry, in addition to pursuing a master’s degree in finance. Then the three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion — who won back-to-back races at the 2016 championships and came winningest male skier in CU history, accepted the...
This week, we bring you a Throwback Workout perfect for October from Alaska Pacific University’s Reese Hanneman. Now 27 and married, Hanneman, a Fairbanks native, still lives and trains out of Anchorage, Alaska, and is currently at a (not-so-dryland) U.S. Ski Team training camp in Park City, Utah.
“I have a workout that I like and usually do in the autumn when it’s time to shape up.” Those are the words of Swedish national-team member Hanna Falk. To take Falk’s words literally, it is that time of year: in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s officially autumn and “time to shape up”. In two months, the 2017/2018 World Cup will open with classic sprints on Nov. 26 in Kuusamo, Finland. For the figurative aspect of...
Whether you’re an elite athlete or a master blaster, you want to be strong enough to ski at your fastest in your target event. If strength training isn’t part of your training plan, you’re missing an important fitness component. “Functional training is considered to be training that attempts to mimic the specific physiological demands of real-life activities.” — Ives et al., Psychophysics in Functional Strength and Power Training (February 2003) There are many great fundamental...
Swiss-Canadian skier Heidi Widmer found herself on a tough stretch of road, she recently ended up taking several weeks off training. “When I had a concussion (both in the fall of 2010 and again in 2013), I listened to mindfulness videos on YouTube,” Widmer wrote in an email. “Those were stressful and uncertain times for me, because I didn’t know what was causing my symptoms nor how to get better. The videos helped guide a...
On July 28, Masters World Cup in Minneapolis or other hallmark races like Sun Valley’s
For this week’s workout, we asked for a specific-strength workout from this year’s Junior National Training Group (NTG) Camp, which was held Aug. 2-15 near Park City, Utah. One of three coaches at the camp, Maria Stuber (head nordic coach at the College of St. Scholastica), shared the following, which she described as an “old-school endurance strength workout.” She led the camp with two U.S. Ski Team (USST) staff members, development coach Bryan Fish and...
BEND, Ore. — It’s August. That means a few things to keep in mind. Out West, it’s been hot and dry. Mid-90 temps have been the norm and in places like Bend, it’s in the teens for humidity. Don’t forget to top that with smoky air from surrounding wildfires. On the East Coast, high humidity can turn an early morning workout into a tropical death march. Left or right coast, even in the Rockies and...
If you have a lower-body injury, be it acute or chronic, training for cross-country skiing can be frustrating: there are so many activities which must be cut back if you are trying to protect a knee, ankle, or foot. Luckily, there are good training options available, especially if you have access to a double-pole machine like an Ercolina or a Concept2 SkiErg. “I use the SkiErg a lot because I fight with feet injuries, and...
From late June into early July, U.S. Nordic Combined hosted a major training camp in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Among the sessions was the Fish Creek Time Trial, a skate rollerski race first held in 2007. That year, Johnny Spillane set down the first in a series of course records that would be improved by different athletes in the next decade. The time trial is 8 kilometers and gains 885 feet of elevation, starting just south of...
The following workout comes from Alasdair Tutt, interim coach for the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks/Fairbanks XC (commonly known as NSCF-FXC). Tutt recognizes that while training in central Alaska has its perks (like reliable snow), it can also be tough for skiers to excel outside of their familiar environment (like on significantly warmer snow). This is true for anyone racing in variable climates and at both high and low elevations across North America. So for NSCF-FXC, the goal is...
When it comes to U.S. Regional Elite Group (REG) training camps, there are a few running themes that remain consistent across the country and from year to year. In the West and
For this week’s workout, we’ve brought back a how-to-guide to ski walking, hill bounding and moose hoofing, written by former U.S. Ski Team member Read the original here. *** [circa June 2013] Ski walking, hill bounding, and moose hoofing are a great way to incorporate ski-specific movements into a dryland workout. There are many ways to use these training tools, but I am going to recommend a favorite interval workout that touches on all three techniques....
Following the Women’s Ski Jumping USA national team. In order to train for nordic combined, Armstrong jumps during her scheduled practice times and joins the NYSEF cross-country skiers whenever she can. One workout she likes when she’s not with the NYSEF nordic team is aqua jogging with her sister and cousin, an endurance athlete who also holds the unofficial aqua jogging record at Stanford University. “She really knows what she’s doing,” Armstrong said of her cousin with a laugh....
You name it and Joe Howdyshell, director and founder of U.S. Ski Mountaineering national team. An average workweek for Howdyshell entails 40-60 hours for the SEA and another four to five hours for his national team coaching duties. His introduction to the U.S. Ski Mountaineering position and sport itself was in large part due to his background in cross-country skiing: he’s been nordic skiing since the age of 12, and he was previously head coach of the Summit Nordic Ski Club prior to...
“I’m Catharine Pendrel and I’m a cross-country mountain biker.” Fans of mountain biking need no introduction to the Olympic medallist, world champion and three-time World Cup overall winner from Canada. Pendrel, 36, is also a masters world champion in skiing after winning her age group in the
*Note: This article has been updated to include email comments from Laura McCabe as of Wednesday. Don’t let the name “Old Lady Intervals” (designated by Leslie Hall) fool you. The interval ladder she and Laura McCabe complete every Wednesday and submitted to FasterSkier is one that takes experience and willpower. Hall doesn’t recommend the workout for juniors, but more for masters and those with limited time for harder training efforts. *** If their houses were any...