After a week of some pretty incredible skiing on Eagle Glacier Rosie and I loaded up her new car to head out on a road trip for several days. I wanted to experience Alaska. Real Alaska. This kind of Alaska. Although I didn’t have the former governor of the state as my guide, Rosie did [...]
The Men’s XC ski team is inviting athletes from all around the country to join them for a virtual training camp. Men, Women, and athletes of all ages are encouraged to join in on one of the US Ski Teams toughest training weeks of the year. Starting now everyone can go to the US Ski Team XC Men facebook page for constantly updated information. Athletes, Coaches, and clubs are encouraged to ‘like’ the page and show their...
This is the sixth installment of a seven part series in which the U.S. Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman recounts his 2010-2011 season. 3/22/2011 I’ve been extremely busy the last couple of months. I’ve been to four countries I’d never visited, I met several new skiers, and, as always, I had some ups and downs in my racing. At the end of January I had the Under-23 (year olds) World Championships in Otepaa, Estonia. Part 1,...
This last week I was fortunate enough to join APU and Sun Valley for a week of skiing on APU’s Eagle Glacier outside Girdwood, Alaska. For anyone from the east skiing in the summer is an unusual, almost foreign prospect. The season in Vermont is short, and as a skier you spend more time cross [...]
This last week I was fortunate enough to join APU and Sun Valley for a week of skiing on APU’s Eagle Glacier outside Girdwood, Alaska. For anyone from the east skiing in the summer is an unusual, almost foreign prospect. The season in Vermont is short, and as a skier you spend more time cross [...]
A creature of team sports – first baseball, then soccer – Duncan Callahan remembered his reaction when his older brother started nordic skiing at Glens Falls High School in northeastern New York. “I thought he was the biggest nerd in the world,” he said. A year later, Callahan’s brother, Bill, convinced him to try it. In darkness, the two set out on the city’s illuminated trail system. Afterward, Bill suggested his little brother come out...
Note: This is the first of a new series about working out with high-performance athletes. The idea is to shed light on the daily routine of someone dedicated to training and share a regular Joe’s story of trying to keep up. ALMONTE, Ontario — Upon my early arrival in Almonte, I decided to explore the hometown of Canadian Cross Country Ski Team member Perianne Jones. A few lefthand turns and I had completed the grand...
As both an elite team member and coach at Alaska Pacific University (APU), Holly Brooks knows that in today’s racing environments, the ability to ski well with the breakaway is essential. “You have to hang in the pack but also have some speed in your legs for when the pace picks up,” said the 2010 Olympian. To practice the high speed tactics of mass starts and sprints, Brooks and her teammates at APU will do...
(Author’s Note: While some of the athletes and coaches contacted by FasterSkier for this story were willing to openly discuss birth control, many wished to remain anonymous rather than allow the public to make assumptions about their sexual choices, a desire that FasterSkier respected. For these sources, pseudonyms will be marked with an asterisk (*) the first time they appear, and they will subsequently be referred to by first name, rather than last name like...
For Central Cross Country’s Jennie Bender, summer is for both building strength and taking time out for unstructured workouts. The winner of the classic race at last year’s Birkie tries to balance the exact focus of specific strength training with free form over distance. By losing track of time on a long run or canoe paddle, she gets inspired to challenge herself with a grueling intensity session. Her go-to intervals, usually done on classic skis,...
It is mid July and do you know where your rollerskis are? If you are Team Homegrown’s Sylvan Ellefson, they will likely be found heading up the valley from the town of Vail, Colorado to the top of Vail pass, cranking out some long level three intervals. Ellefson, a graduate of Bates College, native of Vail, and one of the founding member’s of the Ski and Snowboard Club of Vail Team Homegrown, likes to put...
This is the third installment of a seven part series in which the U.S. Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman recounts his 2010-2011 season. 12/5/2010 The race season is in full swing and so far it’s gone really well. I’ve been in Europe now for 4 weeks and it has been a great trip. I’m learning a ton, racing often, and seeing some amazing places. Here’s my teammate Ida Sargent finishing her semi-final. She skied to a...
This is the third installment of a seven part series in which the U.S. Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman recounts his 2010-2011 season. 11/1/2010 Since my last update I’ve been in Sun Valley, Seattle, Denver, and Lake Placid. I’ve been incredibly busy, but I’ve had a really productive fall. I’m ready to start racing! My training has gone as well as I could have hoped. My coaches and I have some high expectations for my winter....
This is the second installment of a seven part series in which the US Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman recounts his 2010-2011 season. 8/16/2010 My training so far this year has progressed really well! I feel fit, my energy has been really good, I’ve really enjoyed all of the travel, and my technique work is slowly but surely heading in the right direction. Since my last update I’ve been to two US Ski Team Camps in...
The US Ski Team’s Noah Hoffman spent most of the winter racing in Europe, with stints back in the United States for National Championships and the SuperTour Finals. With two top-30’s at World Championships in Oslo, Norway leading the way, Noah had his best season to date, adding strong performances on the World Cup and U23 World Championships. Along the way, Noah sent periodic updates back to friends and family – a digital diary documenting...
“Hellner had a couple of beers and we all know how that went,” Northug said to the audience at a presentation in Oslo last week. Northug is already focusing on Sotchi 2014.
At Polish three time overall World Cup champion Justyna Kowalczyk has never been one to keep her mouth shut. Take, for example, her accusation that Marit Bjoergen’s asthma medicine is performance-enhancing. “Without the medicine Marit would not have won gold medals,” Kowalczyk said at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. If Bjoergen has asthma, then it may very well be true. But Kowalczyk’s implication was that either Bjoergen did not have asthma and was taking the...
The 2nd annual National J2 Talent Camp will be conducted August 1- August 8, 2011 in Sun Valley, ID. The camp will provide a great opportunity for many of the top young cross country skiers in the U.S. to train together, and learn from USST staff and top club coaches. The camp is the first step along the U.S. development pipeline for promising young skiers. Each year the location of the camp will rotate around the U.S. to other great training venues,...
Registration is open to the general public for the 2011 Oregon Spring Camp taking place May 26-30, 2011 (Memorial Day weekend) at Bend/Mt Bachelor, Oregon. Designed primarily as a master/citizen XC ski camp, junior skiers with a chaperone adult camper are also welcome. Due to carefully limited enrollment numbers, this camp is recommended only for skiers at intermediate and above skill levels. Featuring on-snow morning sessions and a variety of optional events including...
