On the surface, it might seem like sport is a purely competitive affair. Athletes compete against one another, so all athletes must be extremely competitive people. To be honest, though, I must admit that I am not a very competitive person. Sure, I would rather win than lose; and in a race, if someone is just ahead of me, I will find energy from somewhere to try to make up the distance. But for me,...
It was a rainy Friday night in Anchorage, but that didn't stop some hardy cross country skiers from showing up for a rollerski sprint race. Eleven racers participated in the event, which took place around an 800-meter paved loop in the Cuddy Family Park in midtown Anchorage. The small park, situated next to the main Anchorage public library, is used by many as a place to take a quick walk during a lunch break, but...
There are only a handful of summer skiing facilities in the world, and we Alaskans are extremely lucky to have one right in our backyard–the Thomas Training Center on Eagle Glacier. Just thirty minutes south of Anchorage by car and a short ten-minute helicopter flight, the Thomas Training Center (TTC) is a great place to log dozens of kilometers and keep touch with the snow during summer months. This past week, the APU Nordic Ski...
Rain and wind made for difficult conditions during the Swedish rollerski championship in Burseryd. Maria Rydkvist dominated the Swedish rollerski championship last weekend and won the women’s race by more than two minutes to Hanna Seppas. Rain and wind made for difficult conditions. The men’s race took place on a 2.2 kilometer loop that was skied ten times. Rollerski specialist Tobias Westman got a 5-10 seconds lead after two laps. He stayed ahead of the...
The World's oldest ski club, Oddersjaa in Kristiansand, Norway organized a 500-meter track sprint and a 3000-meter track rollerski race as pre-match and halftime shows during a premier league soccer match last weekend. Two German national team skiers were up against most of the Norwegian national team. 9662 spectators got to watch some great duels. The sprint event took place before the start of the soccer match. There were two heats of four skiers and...
The CXC/ Birkie Summer Camp was well staffed for the group of open camp participants. The coaching staff included recent Olympian, Abby Larson, former Olympian and Russian National Coach, Igor Badamshin, U23 World Championship team member and CXC team member Brian Gregg, CXC CEO Yuriy Gusev, CXC COO Scott Wilson, and CXC Team Coach, Bryan Fish. Telemark Resort is a great Cross Country Ski facility, summer and winter. The intense four day camp focused on...
Editor's Note: The National Elite Group (NEG) provides an opportunity for some of the best developing skiers from around the country to get together in a training camp environment. Hosted by NENSA and Maine Winter Sports Center, this camp will be hosted each summer by a different USSA region. This year, you will notice a very strong group of guest athletes from the western United States featuring World Junior and USSA J1 Trip qualifiers from...
WANAKA, N.Z. (Aug. 11) – A handful of U.S. cross country skiers are back on snow for the first time since the end of last season, midway through the Ski Team's fifth consecutive preseason trip Down Under while other athletes nominated to the 2007 squad are training at home. New Zealand camper Liz Stephen competes in the 5K Freestyle event during the US Cross Country Championships January 8, 2006 at Soldier Hollow (credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty...
The altitude tent debate has heated up in recent weeks after the ethics panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, determined in July that such devices violated “the spirit of sport.†WADA plans to rule in September about whether to include altitude tents and other hypoxic chambers on its List of Prohibited Substances and Methods for 2007. The ethics panel ruling against hypoxic chambers is expected to carry significant weight with WADA officials making the...
By Park City, Utah junior Nordic team/NSF coach Gordon Lange The Park City Nordic Ski Team has just finished up five days of backpacking, running and climbing in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming. We were able to bag a couple peaks, get in an eighteen-mile run, and cover about 50 miles of trail and 20,000 vertical feet. Participating in the camp were Rosie Brennan, Kirsten Stray Gundersen, Alexis Sumsion, Elizabeth Guiney, Nick Hendrickson, Andrew and...
Laura Valaas is a 2006 graduate of Whitman College and a current member of the Central Cross Country (CXC) Team. Originally from Wenatchee, WA, Laura finished 4th in the 15K free race at the 2006 NCAA Championships, and 5th in the sprint at the 2006 US Nationals. Now, as she makes the jump from busy collegiate skier to full-time ski racer, Laura will be sharing her experiences with FasterSkier.com readers. You can also follow her...
From the 12th to 16th of July the 6th Annual Trout Lake Ski Camp was held in scenic Trout Lake Washington. Nestled at the base of Mt. Adams in the Cascade Mountain Range and billed as a “dry-land training dream,†the training opportunities in Trout Lake did not disappoint. First discovered by Bill Koch, Trout Lake has been a summertime training destination for a couple generations of elite level American skiers. The combination of generally...
Far West Nordic juniors skiers recently returned from this summer’s first High Sierra training camp, held in the Sierra Nevada region of June Lake, near the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. At 7,600 ft., June Lake has proven over the past years to be a perfect location for high altitude training, with excellent access to hill bounding, roller skiing and mountaineering (not to mention some great lake swimming). This year’s camp was once again...
Utah Camp Leads XC Team to NZ Snow SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah (July 28) – U.S. cross country skiers are packing this weekend for their annual on-snow camp in New Zealand. They prepped for the camp, which runs until late August with a two-week camp that ranged from the 2002 Olympic cross country venue here to the Olympic skating oval in Salt Lake City. “It's been another good camp,” Head Coach Pete Vordenberg said, pausing as...
July 12th through 16th saw approximately 25 junior skiers from around Colorado gather on the Western State College Campus to take part in the Western State College/Crested Butte-Gunnison Nordic Summer Training Camp. The camp provided young skiers with the chance to work with an impressive group of coaches who have 7 trips to the Olympic Games between them. 3 time Olympian Ingrid Butts shared her insights on training, racing and preparing for a career as...
Eldar Ronning (Norway) is hoping that he will ski fast enough to race Tour de Ski, Worlds and World Cup. Ronning is a member of the Norwegian sprint team, but is training just as much for regular races as for the sprint. Racing in Tour de Ski, World Cup and Worlds will be very tough with lots of frequent races. Ronning will therefore down-prioritize the Norwegian national championship which takes place after Tour de Ski,...
German Skistar Axel Teichmann has started the seasonpreparations, in a very special way Teichmann had surgery for a leg injury in June. He now has a special made wheelchair made with rollerskis in order to get going with the dryland training. Teichmann is very happy with the wheelchair that allows him to double pole and says: – This way I can get in some meaningful training despite the injury German headcoach Jochen Behle is hoping...
Cross Country Alaska (CCAK) and the US Ski Team hosted a dry-land training camp in Anchorage July 11 – 15, 2006 for elite junior and senior skiers. This was a step toward fulfilling CCAK’s mission “to create and support a cross country skiing culture and environment that allows Alaskan cross country ski racers to succeed in regional, national, and international competitions.†Invited athletes included those that qualified for the 2006 Alaska Junior National Team, NCAA...
Central Cross Country Ski Association recently completed a week long testing and technique camp for CXC Ski Team, Regional Development Group, and State Development Group athletes. 38 junior, collegiate, U23 and top senior athletes from across the Central region attended this camp. www.cxcskiing.org for comparison by athletes not able to attend. “This is the best camp we have ever done by far. Three years ago we set the bar where we wanted to be today,...
The Norwegian women’s team has a new coach, but Kristin Stormer Steira (25) has no plans of dropping the old coach’s interval oriented training principles. Stormer Steira made great progress by following Svein Tore Samdal’s training principles. The women’s team’s new head coach is Egil Kristiansen, but Steira continues to use the interval blocktraining introduced to the national team by Samdal. Enjoys hard training – I enjoy training hard more than long and easy workouts....