Want to be faster off the starting line? So does the U.S. Ski Team. Here's a workout they did last week -- rolling speeds and sprint starts -- on skate rollerskis, head coach Chris Grover explains.
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Wednesday Workout
SMST2 and U.S. Ski Team D-team member Ben Saxton describes a workout his Stratton team does almost every other week in the summer. "It is perfect for building a strong base as we move forward into higher intensity intervals later on in the training year," he explains.
This week’s workout comes to you from Martin Benes, nordic coach of the Sugar Bowl Academy and the Far West Elite Team Administrator. In addition to coaching the Sugar Bowl and Far West teams, Benes has coached for the Auburn Ski Club, Dartmouth College, and Bates College.
A swimming prodigy in his younger days, Andy Newell, 29, still goes back to the water for workouts a couple times a month. "I always do open-water swimming because it's way more exciting," he says of one of his go-to aquatic activities. The others? Surfing and stand-up paddling.
As nordic skiers we are extremely ambitious, especially when it comes to our training plans. While there's nothing wrong with aiming for many hours filled with intensity and distance during our volume weeks, it's important to remember to be just as enthused with our recovery weeks.
Last month, Norwegian shooting coach Joar Himle, who previously coached biathlon greats like Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Halvard Hanevold, visited the Canadians for a weeklong camp in Canmore. While he mostly worked with individual athletes, he also had them do a few interesting drills, including a sort of 'shoot 'til you miss' exercise, which takes about an hour on the range.
No, no, it's not paddle boating: stand-up paddle boarding requires balance, strength and technique, all things that could translate to improved skiing come winter. Plus, it's a fun cross-training option for oh-so-hot summer days.
This week's workout comes from Far West coach Mark Nadell on the very day that his athletes, as well as the Auburn Ski Club and Sugar Bowl Academy skiers, will be doing the “Drifter Time Trial” at Tahoe Donner XC in Truckee, Calif. Course records have some weight; they were set by Noah Hoffman in 2007 and Caitlin Gregg just last year in 2013.
This week's Wednesday Workout comes from Erika Flowers, a member of the SMS T2 elite team. She brings us an early training season workout that develops a strong base and solid technique.
This week's workout comes from U.S. Ski Team Women's Coach Matt Whitcomb shortly after the team's on-snow camp in Bend, Ore., where they practiced improving technique after watching video clips, then created some footage of their own.
Sarah Max has experience on her side when it comes to multi-sport races. "After a winter of planned workouts, I generally don’t follow a training plan for the Pole Pedal Paddle," the race's four-time winner explains. This year was no different. But she did incorporate running workouts to minimize the "brick" feeling one gets from transitioning from the bike to run.
Wednesday Workout: Mountain Boarding Anaerobic Workout with Colette Bourgonje
Alex KochonMay 21, 2014
This week's workout comes from Colette Bourgonje, a 10-time Paralympian who recently retired from the Canadian Para-Nordic Team with 10 Paralympic medals to her name. "I like this workout because of the change in pace, which makes you focus on technique with speed and adds variety with the distance you end up putting in," she says.
Taylor Fletcher is not a master blaster, but the 24-year-old U.S. Nordic Combined skier does like to get out for a hard, group road ride a few times a month. Here's an example of a 2 to 2.5-hour workout, or race, depending on your viewpoint, called Wednesday Night Worlds.
This week's workout comes from Ezekiel Williams, FasterSkier's newest intern and an athlete at the Alberta World Cup Academy. This time last season, Williams said he really enjoyed doing what his team called, the Agility Sprint Track Workout. "Combine the agility work and lactate threshold building into the short 1:30 hour workout time and it makes for a solid early training-season session," he says.
Wednesday Workout: Volume Training (Long Days, Piggybacks and Alaska’s Version of Sharks and Minnows) with NANANordic
BrainspiralApril 30, 2014
Having the opportunity to teach 8 days of cross country skiing to the remote villages of Alaska is both rewarding and demanding. It’s hard to pin down an exact ‘workout’ we do up there, because by the end of just one day, your feet burn, and your mental focus just got tested by 100+ eager Inupiaq kids, thirsty for time on skis. There can, however, be progress made toward personal growth depending on how you want to slice it.
Two days after nearly 36,000 people ran that Boston Marathon on Monday, we’re willing to bet there are more than a couple still feeling the pain of the 26.2-mile run from Hopkinton, Mass., to Boston. Here are some tips for minimizing post-race stiffness and soreness.
Unless you’re the audacious Liz Stephen or Overall World Cup Champion Therese Johaug, you’re probably not a huge fan of hill climbs. However, when the mid-April temps turn our favorite trails into puddles, nordic ski enthusiasts have to get creative to get their on-snow skiing fix before spring training begins.
Wednesday Workout: Rollerskiing Intervals + All-Out Sprints with Aku Nikander
BrainspiralApril 2, 2014
The Wednesday Workout is back with featured contributor Aku Nikander sharing some of his secrets to success while skiing for the University of New Mexico.
Santi Ocariz is living proof that you don't need a ton of free time to keep skiing and training when possible. "I would describe my exercising as opportunistic," he says. "If everything else is done, then I treat myself to some exercise.” While not the most foolproof training plan, it was enough to help him nearly win the SISU Marathon last Saturday. A former elite skier, he might be an exception.
Not quite all of the the skiing regions of North America have been hit by the so-called "arctic blast" of air that resulted in temperatures as low as -35F with the wind chill, but cold is the theme, and training in frigid weather can be challenging. So this week we bring two different Wednesday Workout options, both ideal for extreme cold.