This is not the article I had planned to write. No, I had much different things in mind. I had a great idea for a season-long series of articles: the 6-month ski plan. Here is the background. I stopped racing competively at a National level in spring 2002. Since then I had remained active, exercising 5-6 times a week for an hour or two, but no serious training. At the beginning of last September I...
The last report in this “training and racing†series featuring my friend Gordon Lange and I was posted in November, following a great 50 kilometer ski tour into the West Yellowstone Park with Olympic Champion Thomas Alsgaard. Here is a little report on mostly my training and preparation from that November workout up until the recent Masters Nationals in Marquette, Michigan. The skiing in Utah has been stable and pretty good from November, however relatively...
Right now there are abundant opportunities to get out and enjoy winter, especially if you are a woman. In the next few weeks, there are many “Women's Only” events going on around the country. Not coincidentally, many of these are being held this weekend (AKA Super Bowl Weekend). Here we have provided links to some of the most popular events. A Huge List of Many Cross Country Events for women can be found here:
These suggestions assume that you’re able to train four time per week, but at the same time attempt to vary (or periodisize) the sessions from week to week. To vary the volume is not very relevant, since the number of total hours is relatively low every week. I also assume that most of you can ski close to home, or have access to ski-trails relatively nearby. In case you do not have snow, the interval...
All of us have heard that we’re supposed to warm up before strenuous exercises and races. But, do we know why, how and how much? Since you’re reading this article, you’re probably an endurance athlete and/or a Cross-Country ski racer. Your endurance distance training, intermixed with quality sessions such as intervals and pace/time-trial workouts, may have prepared you well for your regular or occasional races. However, how well do you perform your final race preparation,...
Norwegian National Team coach Svein Tore Samdal denies that there is anyone on the women’s national team with diet problems, but points out the challenge of good nutrition. – Supplying good nutrition is a constant challenge for us in the support system. We are constantly focused on making sure that the athletes are getting enough and a balanced nutrition that makes it possible to avoid getting sick and achieve optimal results. I’m not saying that...
Norwegian National Team skier Vibeke Skofterud had lost lots of weight through dieting when she made lots of progress two years ago. It didn’t work in the long run.
Norwegian junior skier Martin Sundby has taken a giant step in the right direction this season and has until now clearly been the best male junior racer in the country. There are (despite this) experts that are claiming that this giant talent is training wrong. Sundby’s training is by some (experts) viewed as a bit unique. – I’m doing lots of hard training – interval training around 90-95% of max heart rate. I’m also the...
Norwegian National Team skier Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen doesn’t like the word dieting, but notes that some skier has it on their plan. She warns very strongly against young skiers trying this in order to become a better ski racer. -This is a warning to all young skiers since this is not the way to go. Dieting is not a short cut in order to become a better ski racer. The only thing that will make...
“You’re always in the danger zone”, says Sweden’s Cross-Country ski-ace, Mathias Fredriksson about the possible reason for the recently observed cases of over-training among the World Cup elite skiers. Two of the Swedish National Team skiers and last year’s World Championship medallists, Per Elofsson and Jorgen Brink, have both been absent from racing this year, due to over-training and fatigue.
The toughest part about nordic skiing in Antarctica comes the moment you turn around to ski back. It's when you realize that, after 40 minutes of effortless V2-ing, you've been skiing with a gale force tail wind the entire time. And now you have to ski back INTO it in order to get home. Duh. McMurdo Station, Antarctica (summer pop. 1200) is located on Ross Island and is the US Antarctic Program's base of operations....
Fasterskier.com did a profile on 17-year-old Glenn Randall on December 10th. Glenn lives in Collbran, Colorado. He is the only (serious) racer in the area and made last year’s Junior World Championship team as a 16-year old. A week ago he participated in three of the Super Tour races at Soldier Hollow, Utah. Only a handful of junior racers showed up and Glenn came out as the top junior in all three races. He placed...
Depending on snow conditions, December can be a tricky month for Cross-Country skiers. Many of us have trained faithfully from early summer with anticipation of being able to get on snow at Thanksgiving time and be able to ski consistently thereafter. If you’ve planned the training season correctly, you would have built up your training and yourself to be ready for the race season in early to mid-December. However, as most of us have experienced,...
Fasterskier.com has featured Norwegian skate specialist Tore Rud Hofstad a number of times. He was second in the 15 kilometer skate World Cup at Beitostolen, Norway and 14th in the 30 kilometer skate mass-start in Toblach. He got sick after that race (in Toblach) and did not train for six days. He is now training again and hopes to fight for a podium finish in Ramsau this weekend. Hofstad skipped the races in Davos last...
A few photos from skiing in and around West Yellowstone during the 2003 Fall Camp.
The annual 2003 West Yellowstone Fall Camp in West Yellowstone, Montana ended last weekend. The ski conditions were the best I have seen at that time of year in more than a decade — maybe the best ever. Between 800 and 1000 skiers visited the town from November 20 — December1 – and some are still there enjoying some great skiing. Approximately 150 took part in the three or five day ski clinic, several hundred...
This story orginally appeared on Zack Simons' website:
Fasterskier.com coaches Torbjorn Karlsen and John Aalberg are hosting their annual on-snow camp Thursday — Sunday December 4 — 7 in Park City, Utah. The camp can be taken either as a 3-day or 4-day camp, with skiers divided into groups based on ability and skill levels. The focus of the camp is on enhancing the participants’ individual abilities in classical and skating techniques, as well as increasing their understanding of proper training methods and...
In the previous two articles in this series, we wrote that an athlete’s maximal oxygen uptake – VO2max – is the most important element of aerobic performance. We also said that recent research has showed that the VO2max can be improved by increasing the heart’s stroke volume. Based on research studies, it is suggested that the most efficient way of increasing stroke volume (and therefore VO2max) is to do interval sessions at 90 – 95%...