Training

For the week of November 23-30th, Patrick Weaver, a two-time Olympian and current Atomic Team skier will be tracking his daily workouts in West Yellowstone using a lightweight GPS unit. After each workout Patrick will upload his workout data to EndlessPursuit.com, where you can get an inside perspective on just what it takes to be an Olympian. To check out Patrick Weaver’s daily workouts visit:

Sprinter Havard Bjerkeli Talks About His Team's Fall Training Many skiers on the Norwegian Sprint National team are equally ambitious about the regular races as sprint racing. Havard Bjerkeli, the winner of Friday’s Norwegian opening sprint race feels that this is (negatively) affecting the training: “It has affected some of the workouts” Sprint team members Eldar Ronning, Kristian Horntvedt, John Kristian Dahl and partly Tor Arne Hetland and Havard Bjerkeli himself are all trying to...

Nordic skiers, as a breed, love to get out and about. They spend whole winters on top of their skis: hours whizzing along groomed trails, days spent kicking track to explore the backcountry. After any cross-county skiing expedition, great or small, the common question is: “How far do you think we went?” Cyclists have it easy. They hop on their bicycles to go for a ride and their cycling computers, ubiquitously mounted on the handlebars,...

I have in several articles this fall discussed what I consider being a good approach to distance training, intervals and training volume. See the Fasterskier.com archives (Training section) to re-read these articles: “Interval Training That Works” — Sept. 23 “Update and Fall Training Ideas” — Oct. 3 “Distance Training That Makes You Better” — Oct.6 “One Very Good Interval Session” — Oct.22 Some key factors that effect decisions regarding training should be: – How you...

Editor: Much of the material for this article is based on articles in Norwegian magazine SkiSport and misc. Norwegian newspaper articles Getting oxygen to the working muscles In the previous article, we decided that a person’s Max Heart Rate is genetic, and can not be changed. The only way to increase the amount of blood the heart can deliver to our working muscles is therefore by increasing the stroke volume of each heartbeat. In terms...

Contrary to earlier research conclusions, a study at the University of UmeÃ¥, Sweden, has shown that you renew and re-build muscles and muscle fibers even though they hurt and are sore after training. This means you can train the day after a hard session, without worrying about getting injured. Even though you are sore, this does not mean that you have injured the muscles or the connective tissue. Rather the opposite. You have improved. –...

The Norwegian Men’s team has under new coach Krister Sorgard's guidance systematically worked to improve technically. They will continue with technique work toward the upcoming World Cup races at Beitostolen. Sorgard explains: “We have worked hard to improve the skier’s technique in both skating and classic. We started this summer and I think it’s looking good”. Some time has been used on classic, but it’s especially in skating they have focused on improving. The goal...

Continue to read if you are curious to see how the Norwegian junior National Team is training. The team’s new coach, Jon Arne Schjetne is dividing the year into seven different blocks. Each such block or period is focusing on certain things that get high priority in this period. This can be: especially long workouts, easy training, strength, speed or capacity (max VO2).

Steinar Mundal had ambitious adult racers in mind when he wrote this article. The suggestions can however just as well be applied to juniors and masters. From Langrenn.com: I hope really hope that (you) ski racers are as stressed at this time of year as us coaches. The last thing we do in the evening before we go to bed is to check the weather forecast, and the first thing we do in the morning...

We at FasterSkier are excited to welcome Torin Koos as a contributing author. This account of US Ski Team’s summer training in Park City is the first of Torin’s articles about life as an elite racer. Altitude training uniquely stresses the body. Less oxygenated air naturally raises hemoglobin and hematocrit values. One’s oxygen transport system improves, but at a price. Recovery takes longer. Training too ambitiously at high altitude for a week could push one...

Swedish men’s Cross-Country sprint results have improved a great deal the last few years. Last season they won a number of the World Cup sprint events in addition to the Sprint Gold at the World Championships in Italy. Norwegian sprinters, such as 2002 Olympic Champion Hetland, that normally uses his tactical finesse to capture the victory in the finals, are now struggling to even make it passed the qualification round. Last weekends’ sprint World Cup...

Norwegian Cross-Country Sprint aces Trond Einer Elden and Tor Arne Hetland get help from experts in the weight room. – Yes, we have done more strength training than last year, says Elden The warm-up is done with medicine balls weighing between 10 – 18 pounds. – We do a variety of exercises with the medicine balls for 20 – 30 minutes. The weight of these balls seems light, so we go at max effort until...

Big Stress and Big Rest has been the trend of our training since New Zealand this past August. The volume of intensity in New Zealand demanded a good long recovery period afterward, and so the athletes went home to recover and show up ready for the final period of dryland training this past September. Showing up ready in September meant showing up rested. "Plan rest into the training. Take unplanned rest when needed". We have...

I have in some recent training articles discussed what I consider to be smart (interval) training and following is an example of what could be used as a smart approach for many interval workouts. In short this is: A good but easy warm-up, a conservative effort on the first couple of intervals and then gradually faster and harder. Some interval sessions should avoid the hard race-type finish and be kept around -30 to -18 beats...

Vegard Ulvang is provoked by Norwegian researcher’s training statements, – and calls him arrogant and “cocksure”. Fasterskier.com yesterday posted an article describing recent research statements claiming that distance training is worthless, and that interval training is the only answer to cardiovascular (aerobic) capacity. Vegard Ulvang has been measured with one of the highest max VO2 values of any athlete (in any sport). He became this strong by performing “old fashioned” endurance training: Hours of easy...

For Oddvar BrÃ¥, Vegard Ulvang, and Bjœrn Dæhlie, distance training was the main ingredient. Researcher Ulrik Wislœff believes that much of this training was worthless. The researcher from Trondheim, Norway is strongly questioning the training philosophy used in all Norwegian endurance sports. He claims that the Norwegian Olympic Committee is leading athletes down the wrong path, that the Norwegian Ski Federation is “sleeping through class” by teaching the wrong things, and that Cross-Country skiers are...