The Norwegian Women’s coach Svein Tore Samdal and the national team women have agreed to continue with the extreme periodization (of intervals) in the training program. The program will now be even more specialized and focused than last year. We feel this is a good way for us to do things, says coach Samdal. Sprint Queen Marit Bjorgen was also second in the overall World Cup Samdal admits that some of the skiers were very...
Deciding to continue ski racing after college was not easy. Years of training, thousands of dollars invested courtesy of my parents, and busy weekends from December to March—these are the sacrifices necessary of a promising junior skier. In May, I’ll be graduating from Middlebury College with a B.S. in neuroscience at which point I will begin my “professional†ski career. Since I will be forced to take a part-time job, I have never won prize...
University of Utah skiers Ben and Daniel Sonntag sent us some great pictures from a crust skiing adventure in the Wasatch Mountains above Park City on May 2. Ben says: Me, Ben(jamin) and my brother, Daniel are skied for the U of Utah since January. We are originally from Germany. Today ( May, 2nd) we enjoyed a great day of crust skiing around Park City. We did a 4 hour tour, which started with a...
Norwegian newspaper VG reports: The Swedish cross country skiing star Per Elofsson was (again) named to the Swedish elite team.  He is counting on racing some competitions next season, but the 2006 Olympics in Torino is his big goal. The Swedish XC star was predicted to be the next cross country king after Bjorn Daehlie, but things have not gone his way. The 2002 Olympics was a “disasterâ€, he won the pursuit (surprisingly) at the...
The Norwegian long distance cross country team is moving ahead toward next season with more resources, better financial conditions and new popularity. The popularity of long distance cross-country skiing increased significantly in Norway last season. Anders Aukland’s popularity has almost reached hero status following his victories in the “live on television†Marcialonga and Vasaloppet races. “Some of the races in the marathon cup will be used as qualification races for the next races. This makes...
About three years ago, members of the xcottawa.ca racing team made a trip to the Chic Choc Mountains, in the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec for some spring skiing. We piled 5 people and all our gear into a rusty old car and kept our fingers crossed for the 12 hr. drive from Ottawa. Interestingly enough, the transmission that replaced the one we managed to ruin on that trip, belonging to my parents’ 1990 Mercury wagon,...
The Norwegian cross country ski teams are bringing in the “heavyweights.†National heros Vegard Ulvang, Thomas Alsgaard, Bjorn Daehlie and Bente Skari are going to help Norway's top skiers in the hunt for gold.  There are three important championship seasons (Worlds – 2005, Olympics – 2006 and Worlds again in 2007) coming up and the Norwegian coaches want these heroes to help in tezching a “winning attitudeâ€. Key ideas are how to prepare, how to...
National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation Announces Formation of North American Ski Gymnasium School Year Program to start August 2004, skiers live and train at the Solleftea Ski Gymnasium in Sweden The National Cross-Country Ski Education Foundation (NCCSEF) has formed a partnership with Solleftea Ski Gymnasium in Sweden to bring six cross-country skiers to Sweden to live and train for the school year. Pete Phillips will be the program director of the North American Ski...
One of the current hot topics in our national US Cross-Country world is the detail of skating techniques. Technique is an important part of what can also be called work economy in any sport, and work economy is one of three elements that will distinguish great racers from good racers. The other two elements are the skiers maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and Lactate Threshold (LT or AT) — both of which are much more...
April 19 I have spent the entire last week trying to recover from a cold. I don’t recall the last time I was unable to train for a week because of the common cold. I should feel fortunate that I didn’t contract a case of full-blown flu. On Easter morning my scheduled workout was a 5 mile race pace run. This is like a race, but I’m the only runner at the race, so it’s...
While most people have put away their skis and taken out their bikes and running shoes, here in Alaska we still have some great skiing. Even in town Anchorage we had great skiing up until this week. Nice views! Tearing up the downhill Notice the skier in the lower right Perfect tracks on April 23! Prince William Sound is another thing you might see on a crust ski. For even more great Alaska crust ski...
Lahti is a party town. This town goes out at midnight every day of the week. There is shouting and revelry on the snowy streets at 4am. There is bar after bar on every block, and they are inevitably full, and loud and smoky. Can it be like this all the time, or is it only for the World Cup weekend and other big events? Something tells me in Lahti it is all the time....
Ah yes, spring in the Midwest; glorious days filled with high winds, cloudy skies and rain on a fairly consistent basis, not to mention, temperatures ranging from 30 — 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Waiting for the onslaught of hot, humid summer days, spring here in the Chicago suburbs is a great time to do a little cross-training and relax. Â Sipping coffee on the day after Easter I read Torbjorn’s account of how he spent his...
The youngest member of the Norwegian National Team, Espen Harald Bjerke was not able to live up to and reach his own expectations this season. He is disappointed by his performance and how he raced, but will make changes and is promising that he will “prove something†next season.
The Top Ten Signs of Spring in Northern New England Compared to many other sports, cross-country skiing requires considerable attention to the weather and a general sensitivity to changes in the seasons. For example, knowing when winter is over can be crucially important. This awareness allows you to: Add “structure†to your race skis with a few last-minute “spring denial†workouts on dirty, wet, melting trails with several pieces of snow showing through the rocks;...
Just the train from Milan up to Germany was a ten-hour ride. But the views were excellent. The big Italian valleys are patterned with row after row of grape vines some thin as a finger others thick as trees. The air is heavy, a near permanent haze that is humid and sticky and which lays a misty veil over everything. Italy is old and new, run down and newly painted. A hotel room can lack...
Today and the next week we will present a few articles covering safety, training and workout suggestions for those of you that are ready for specific training this spring. The articles are presented by These are some tips to keep in mind out on the road. Always wear a helmet and bright clothing when rollerskiing. It may be a good idea to include other protective gear as you learn to rollerski, such as elbow and...
This early season block was the results-highlight of our year. Trond and the waxers drove all over Europe (from Italy to Norway to northern Finland and back) on roads slick enough to rival the Fairbanks — Salcha commute while the athletes flew from race site to race site. The racers, coaches and waxers basically kicked ass scoring our best world cup results so far and putting Kris in the World Cup red group. The rest...
Editor's Note: We received a lot of great feedback on Pete Vordenberg's New Koch series that we ran last April. Now Pete has generously offered to do it all for us again. This is Part One in Pete Vordenberg's US Ski Team 2003-2004 Year In Review. Part One has a ton of great information about how the US Ski Team trains, particularly in the spring and summer months. I have always wanted to be an...
August. New Zealand. Still an hour or two out of Auckland and high over the pre-dawn South Pacific there is nothing but blue. Blue unpolluted by other color, and every tone and hue of it too. From the edge-of-space dark-blue in the high west, fading all the way down to the pale-blue horizon where it meets the deep-blue sea far, far below. Thirteen hours cramped in this winged-tube of air-born aluminum hurling through all that...