Our official training year starts up tomorrow, and we've got a bunch of great ideas on methods for this year. Stay tuned!
Springtime
It's been a great month of April, with warm weather and plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy some unstructured "training" before ramping back up into the 09 dryland season. Here in the Methow there's been lots of mountain biking, backcountry corn skiing, road biking, loafing around... Scott's been busy updating some of our training apparatus and building new tools of training/torture for us this season. We've gotten out a few times to scout some new terrain for uphill striding and rollerski intervals, as it's a constant challenge to find decent pavement with minimal traffic 'round here.
The Beauty of April
As full time ski racers we spend eleven months a year in organized training and racing. The month of April is typically considered a break from this routine. A chance to engage in more unstructured activities, to give especially the mind a brief chance to relax before launching back into a new year. For the MOD Squad, April is chance to hit the backcountry slopes for some great North Cascades ski touring. On Saturday Erik, Scott and I ventured up and over Delancey Ridge and into Leap Creek to find powder. It was a beautiful day in the mountains and a great tour!
Skinning up the back side of Delancey Ridge, with the Needles peaks in the background
Preparing to drop into Delancey, checking out the views of Silver Star peak and the Cascade range as it extends past the Methow Valley
Skinning up the back side of Delancey Ridge, with the Needles peaks in the background
Preparing to drop into Delancey, checking out the views of Silver Star peak and the Cascade range as it extends past the Methow Valley
Spring Break
It’s spring break and the snow in the Methow has almost come to end. After Junior Olympics I took two weeks completely off. It’s one of the longest and worst times of the year. It’s the time when you’re most pumped up and it’s beautiful outside, but you’re not supposed to train or think about skiing. After those two weeks, I decided to take a trip to Vancouver to ski at the Callaghan Valley 2010 Olympic venue. I’m staying with my friends Jim and Sharon Bishop. I left Mazama on Monday, so my first chance to ski at Callaghan was Tuesday morning. It’s about an hour and a half from the Bishop’s house to Callaghan. It’s quite a hectic drive because the whole road is under construction, getting ready for the Olympics next year. The weather the first day couldn’t have been better. It was sunny with about a half foot of fresh snow. As soon as I got there I was so excited to put my skis on and get going!. I had skied over to the stadium and set some clothes down whenI noticed there was another ski team nearby, so I skied over to check it out. It was the Norwegian National Team! I couldn’t believe it! Right there was Petter Northug, the fastest cross country skier and a personal hero. After stopping to get a couple of pictures I skied off and did the Olympic courses. I spent about an hour skiing around enjoying myself, stopping every couple of minutes to soak in the beautiful views and the perfect trails. I also ran into a couple other famous skiers, including Dario Cologna, the overall World Cup winner this year from Switzerland. With all of these top athletes here and the great conditions, I’m very glad I came. It’s been great to check out the Olympic venue, and the Bishops have been so generous with their hospitality. Sometimes all it takes is to get some skis in to have a great spring break.
The view from the parking lot.
The Lodge.
Petter Northug
Callaghan Valley, Canada
The view from the parking lot.
The Lodge.
Petter Northug
Season's End: A Coach's Perspective
The fat lady just finished singing. For this season at least. I am trying to take stock of the racing season just past and look forward to the beginning of what I know is going to be an even more productive training period through the next summer and fall. All three MOD skiers will see substantial improvements in results again next year.
I am excited at the prospects of building on the lessons learned from this successful season Our novel training methods will continue to evolve and I already have some progressive plans to develop more speed and a stronger finishing kick to our skiers.
My personal high point this season was to attend the World Junior Championships in France in February. My last first hand experience with elite international ski racing was during my final World Cup races in the winter of 1987. My WC career was brief and unremarkable except in its mediocrity and consistency (consistent 40th places). But the fact that it had been 22 years since I had had my nose buried in it (albeit now vicariously) made this experience all the more meaningful to me in my coaching role.
Up until now I have felt very confident in preparing these three skiers for the races they have been involved in thus far in their racing careers. Results bear out that our training has been effective and development of the skiers has been right on the money. As they move through the national ranks and try to scratch their way on to podiums in international events a new standard needs to be applied. The bar has been raised for them of course,but also for me as the coach who needs to be at least a step ahead of them in anticipation of their need for speed.
Watching Sadie get out doublepoled in her sprint heats; watching the depth of the Norwegian girls' team in the relay and finally seeing the top Russian boy put over a minute on the field during the last 2.5km of his lead off relay leg left indelible impressions on my otherwise add'led mind.
I consider this year's results by Erik, Sam and Sadie to have been a complete validation of our training practices. Nonetheless, I came away from my time in France with more questions than answers about my training ideas. Not in the sort of undermining or self doubting way that would lead one to discard the baby with the bath water. No, it was more a series of AHAH moments that lasted for the next month as I absorbed what I saw during those great races. I saw how what we had done was working well but I also saw how we can improve what we do to make our skiers competitive at the next level.
As the racers evolve the training must evolve to keep pace with them.
This is going to be fun!
Scott
I am excited at the prospects of building on the lessons learned from this successful season Our novel training methods will continue to evolve and I already have some progressive plans to develop more speed and a stronger finishing kick to our skiers.
My personal high point this season was to attend the World Junior Championships in France in February. My last first hand experience with elite international ski racing was during my final World Cup races in the winter of 1987. My WC career was brief and unremarkable except in its mediocrity and consistency (consistent 40th places). But the fact that it had been 22 years since I had had my nose buried in it (albeit now vicariously) made this experience all the more meaningful to me in my coaching role.
Up until now I have felt very confident in preparing these three skiers for the races they have been involved in thus far in their racing careers. Results bear out that our training has been effective and development of the skiers has been right on the money. As they move through the national ranks and try to scratch their way on to podiums in international events a new standard needs to be applied. The bar has been raised for them of course,but also for me as the coach who needs to be at least a step ahead of them in anticipation of their need for speed.
Watching Sadie get out doublepoled in her sprint heats; watching the depth of the Norwegian girls' team in the relay and finally seeing the top Russian boy put over a minute on the field during the last 2.5km of his lead off relay leg left indelible impressions on my otherwise add'led mind.
I consider this year's results by Erik, Sam and Sadie to have been a complete validation of our training practices. Nonetheless, I came away from my time in France with more questions than answers about my training ideas. Not in the sort of undermining or self doubting way that would lead one to discard the baby with the bath water. No, it was more a series of AHAH moments that lasted for the next month as I absorbed what I saw during those great races. I saw how what we had done was working well but I also saw how we can improve what we do to make our skiers competitive at the next level.
As the racers evolve the training must evolve to keep pace with them.
This is going to be fun!
Scott
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