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Wednesday Workout: Dance Cross-Training with Diggins

Anyone who follows Jessie Diggins extensively on social media knows the woman has some moves. She’s been the ringleader for multiple U.S. Ski Team choreographed dance videos, and two weeks ago, posted a video of herself doing a little “fancy footwork” House dance in Boston. https://www.instagram.com/p/BTrQiGcFVct/?taken-by=jessiediggins Her background in dance began at the Woodbury Dance Center just outside Saint Paul, Minn. “I think I started the year it opened, actually!” Diggins, 25, wrote in an...

Wednesday Workout: ‘Spring Fling’ Pushups TT (with Video)

On May 6, Sovereign Lake hosted a classic time trial with a twist. Instead of using a standard interval start, each skier drew a number, did that many pushups, put their skis on, and started the 5-kilometre, one-lap course. When one skier hit the 5-metre line, the next skier stepped up to the pushup station. Troy Hudson, general manager of the Sovereign Lake Nordic Club (SLNC), came up with the format the night before, so the special equipment...

Wednesday Workout: Sand Hills TT with the UNM Ski Team

This week’s workout comes from University of New Mexico (UNM) sophomore Julia Devaux, who recently wrapped up her second season with the UNM nordic team. Devaux, 23, is originally from Grenoble, France, and grew up training in Villard de Lans. She was previously a member of the French national team but sought out new motivation to continue skiing. “[UNM Head Coach] Fredrik [Landstedt] gave me the opportunity to come at UNM 2 years ago,” Devaux wrote in an email. “I chose UNM because...

Start of a New Season (as Seen on Social Media)

Happy May! With the start of a new training year, FasterSkier scanned social media for a sense of how nordic skiers kicked off Day 1 (and the days before) of the 2017/2018 season. Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) and Alaska Pacific University (APU) “sneaking in some secret Mom training” while pushing her son Breck on April 30: View this post on Instagram Excited to kick off a new training season tomorrow! (Sneaking in some secret Mom training...

Wednesday Workout: Spring ‘Break’ from Skiing with Utah’s Kevin Bolger

With spring in full swing and many skiers returning to training, this week’s Wednesday Workout is presented by University of Utah Ski Team member, Kevin Bolger. While most of his athletic accomplishments from this past season are nordic-based — he’s a NCAA All-American, the 2017 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) U.S. nationals classic sprint champion — most of Bolger’s spring workouts mean giving skiing a spring ‘break.’ *** It’s no secret that natives of Sweden, Norway and other overseas nations often...

Wednesday Workout: Finding Your Warmup Routine with Christian Gow

Has a coach ever told you that you should be hot at the start line of your races? That the engine needs to be revved up and ready to go? Then you might be surprised at the scene before a World Cup biathlon race. While some competitors are jogging around and jumping up and down, others seem to be just standing around for a surprisingly long stretch of time — the opposite of arriving to...

Wednesday Workout: Double-Pole Endurance Training

Double poling is an increasingly important part of cross-country skiing and it pays to be good at it. If watching World Cup stars double pole short races on television doesn’t have you convinced, take a look at the races you might enter. Most loppets, marathons and citizen races feature flatter courses with a lot of double-poling time. Even in skating, the three main techniques all include slight variations on double poling. When five Canmore skiers...

Wednesday Workout: Skiing Fat-Bike Singletrack (Like Eli Brown)

If you are craving a challenging ski workout that will train your agility, boost your strength, and add variety to your skiing, you should look no further than your local fat-bike, singletrack ride. Have you ever tried to keep up with the fat bikes? On their trail? “Hardest workout out there!” said Eli Brown, a longtime U.S. Ski Team volunteer wax tech from Michigan, who is doing the majority of his skiing this season on singletrack....

Wednesday Workout: Testing the (Endurance) Waters

Living in New England, the adult version of Christmas is waiting for the first snowfall. For most skiers in New England usually by the time the first race comes around you have skied once or twice on snow if you are lucky. The key to be race ready without going on snow is to train your body in race conditions. We do this by rollerskiing, running, strength, etc. One workout that I do to make...

Wednesday Workout: Race-Season Prep with SISU Strong

Editor’s note: This week’s workout was submitted by a company specializing in performance training. We were not paid for this, but chose to run it based on its merit and anticipated value to readers.  *** Race-Season Prep: Building the Posterior Chain Race season is here! Are you ready for explosive, double-pole starts and mid-­race attacks? How about sprint finishes? With race season already firing up across most of North America, SISU Strong wants to make sure you’re...

Leading Up to Lillehammer, U.S. Team Talks Midweek Race Prep

We hear a lot about the details of a cross-country ski racer’s day on race day, but what about those four or five days in between? What do World Cup racers do then, in the middle of the week? FasterSkier Norwegian contributor Aleks Tangen ventured to Lillehammer on Wednesday and Thursday to find out. *** LILLEHAMMER, Norway — The first mini tour of the World Cup season starts today — Friday — in Lillehammer. A year ago at...

Wednesday Workout: Saarinen’s New Morning Routine, World Cup Return

Moms are famous for multitasking, but how do these World Cup mommas do it? We recently heard from mid-April, and we got a second opinion from Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, who gave birth to a baby girl in early May. (Article continues below) View this post on Instagram #Repost @kikkanimal with @repostapp Uutta ja erilaista leireilyä. Mukavaa! ・・・ Family camp at @santasport in Rovaniemi with @ainokaisasaarinen and our #superdads ! Great to get our winter adventure going! #babytravel...

Wednesday Workout: Alpine Touring & Backcountry Skiing with NCAA Champs DU

Looking for a workout that will not only bring you individual NCAA Champions, but the national title? After taking the overall at the 2016 NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Denver University (DU) provides a workout that--perhaps to no surprise--combines an alpine skier’s agility and strength along with the cardio-fitness and adventure-loving-attitude often exhibited among nordic athletes.