Birkie Class 1-18-11 Man's Best Friend

What a crowd, what gluttons for punishment. It was a busy night for the upper body. I have already heard of some tired arms. Paul Braun reports that his arms felt like doggy doo this AM as he circulated the Neshota hills. After 7 weeks I am seeing strong aerobics, and pretty good strength. I am a little nervous about the balance thing however. Balance is like strength, it is very trainable and very important as it effects the way you ride a ski. A strong balance component allows you to ride a flatter ski and flat skis are fast skis. FLAT SKIS ARE FAST SKIS. (worth repeating). Practice your balance drills. Jo and I have a new rope drill for next week, your hips will love it, blame her if you hate it.

The snow is great but the temps are predicted to fall. Morning skiers will almost certainly be facing sub zero or single digit temps, combine that with fresh, fine grained snow and you have a recipe for slow skis. I mentioned PRE-WAXING skis in anticipation of applying cold waxes. The high temps required to apply a cold wax can (will) damage a ski base. Pre-waxing means applying a base coat so that you are not waxing a DRY SKI. If you have a wax job in place that has not been used you are ready, if not, you just apply a coat of a SLIGHTLY warmer (Swix CH/LF 6 or 7 - Toko Red) like you always do, scrape and do a brushing and then go on to the colder wax. Remember, prewaxing is NOT the wax you ski on, it does not have to be perfect, don't spend a lot of time on it, save that for the cold wax that comes next. They are predicting
- 20F temps up north this week. Get out the handwarmers. At cold temps Balaclava's are a smart choice, staying warm is nice, staying healthy is critical.

Most of you have the jackets and are reporting they are nice and warm. Lighter base layers are all you will most likely need. Andy reports that they show off his ripplin' pec's and that chicks dig it, sort of. Speaking of jackets, do you know why dogs are MAN'S best friend? Because guys like dogs! Barky the dog was a hit with the dudes but the gals vetoed him. Poor Barky.

Time to go ski. The snow is at it's best and this will be a good time to experiment with waxes and cold weather clothing. Skiing in cold also sucks calories, always a good thing.
We had a good workout last night and as we hit week eight expect a mini peak as we introduce a few new ideas and bring up the intensity a notch. The Birkie Tour is this weekend as is the MPLS JOQ with several local juniors racing. The 3rd session of BayNordic is this Saturday so watch for the hoards of munchkins at the camp. For most this will be an OD weekend. Get to it....with a friend.

See www.skinnyski.com for trails and weather.

Birkie Class 1-11-11 Swing Lo

As the avowed leader of the Old Fat Guys who are Stiff as Bricks Club, I was shocked to see that virtually no one could slide their foot down to the floor from a paltry 8 inches. That tells me that lots of folks are not comfortable with their balance and have not developed the strength required to maintain a hips forward, flexed knee position. Remember the icy conditions last week? The people who thrive in these conditions (ME) are the ones comfortable in this position; it is not hard to see the parallel there. As a good note more and more of you are figuring out the Super Plank (Planck in German) position. It is really not about strength but rather control and controlling your effort. I am also getting very impressed with your Super Vee Crunch. Collectively this is certainly the best group ever to do these. It takes an inordinate amount of strength with control to pull this off, nice. Goals for next week include getting the triceps parallel with the floor when stepping up and more pelvic tilt on the rope pull.

The divine Ms. Lulloff reminded me (in between winking at Tyson,) that her TFL was sore. Good. The TFL is a major ski muscle connecting the quad with the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_fasciae_latae_muscle Real men skiers would be more apt to wear a Speedo and flex that muscle to impress skier chicks rather than their biceps (if they had any).

We still have a few jackets to hand out and they are here, with your names on them. I will also bring them next week. The new snow yesterday really helped clean up the trails and more is forecast later this week. Things are looking good for that OD ski this weekend, now get to waxing. Speaking of wax we are having a WAX CLINIC here tonight at 6:00pm See www.incompetition.com . I want to review basic wax application and hot cleaning as the snow we had was quite dirty and most skis benefit from cleaning.

As you may have noticed the 2nd installment of the Bay Nordic group was last weekend. Over 130 kids and nearly 100 parents and coaches made for a great day. See Steve Hoffman’s photo’s at http://shoffmanphoto.smugmug.com/CrossCountrySkiing-2010/Bay-Nordic/Bay-Nordic-01-08-2011/15384973_Tm9CG#1151402056_5HdKj
Saturday also was one of the busiest days in years at the camp. The number of skiers taking to the trails is outstanding. I saw skiers from Madison/MKE and the UP there, wow.

Good solid effort last night. I would ask that you “Work the Wood” and do some balance drills this next week. Next week we start (really) at 6:00pm so tell your family, staff, dog and others under your purview that you are unavailable after 5pm.
Lastly Todd Rosvold has an interesting method of calculating per kilometers times. My response is below his. See his:
Average speed calculations

20.512 Average speed = distance/time
Distance 29.4 Minutes 42 60 0.700
Hours 1 Seconds 1.45 60 0.024
Minutes 21
Seconds 50
Total Time 1.2150
Time Factor 1.433
Time factor 0.724
1.367 Time = distance/average speed
Distance 29.4
Ave. Speed 21.5 99.7
0.867
30.817 Distance = time * average speed 114.9942
Hours 1
Minutes 21
Seconds 50.00
Total time 1.43
Ave. Speed 21.5



#DIV/0! Average speed = distance/time
Distance 29.5
Time

Now mine:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=27335
and after that check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVyBjqY3r0k as you do your drills.

Birkie Class 1-4-11 Choo Choo Could

Whew whew, 49 skiers pulled the train last night in a workout bound for glory. It was an impressive night to watch as the efforts were both physical and technically improved (noticed I said improved, not perfect). The line lead by Joram and Steve was “on” all night. We may orient that way from now on as it really helps to have someone in front of you and the Birkie is after all just a series of packs heading down the trail. I would be a jeenyus if I had actually thought that one up. Andy L. has a new twist to doing crunches next week…..you can blame him. Meanwhile our balance drill with the WOOD needs still more work. Do your homework and don’t be in the 80% with (medial) knee collapse. Hide that binding as you ski with your knee.

News: Kris Freeman of the USST is placing well in the World Cup Tour de Ski. To give you an idea of the intensity at that level, in one race the top 11 skiers finished within 11 seconds of each other.
See www.skinnyski.com or more and for trail reports.

Bay Nordic continues this Saturday at 10:00am. Lots of fun and fun to watch. http://baynordic.blogspot.com/

The trails are amazingly good considering the weather. Having a Pisten Bully really can save the day, look for areas that have one. Here is what we are looking at for a new machine. http://www.pistenbullyusa.com/en/products/pistenbully-100/standard.html That would be my dream job!

We have a wax clinic next Wednesday the 12th, the Women’s Tea and Ski continues next week and there are a couple slots available for a skating clinic on the 15th. We have a free entry for the Seely Hills Classic coming up and the Boulder Lake (near Duluth) if anyone wants them. See www.incompetition.com for a schedule.
Be sure and get in the right mindset and improve your Hip Score by getting on this before next week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piUWIqWSthA

The important thing now is to ski. Do your balance drills and focus on proper technique on the fast snow we have. Lakewood has good snow and the big terrain needed to simulate the Birkie trail. The Birkie has 8900 skiers ready to ski, be sure you are ready too.
Next week the rope returns as we board the ski train at 5:54pm.

Birkie Class Dec. 28, 2010 Bursting Forth

For the 38 skiers who made tonight’s class there were several big discoveries [in addition to the birthdays of the Thrillsome Threesome]. One was what a difference focus can make on effort. A simple thing like were you place your eyes can help direct you down the track.
Another was breath control. When you dictate breathing effort and timing you can actually facilitate forward motion. Lastly was the visualization of a goal or target. I always raced with a TBF or Time Before Finish outlook. If the finish was at, say twenty minutes away I doled out my effort so that I too was finished…at the finish.
We saw all of that tonight and most completed the efforts strong and with a better focus than in earlier weeks, a very good sign.

Homework: With the weather likely to tank Thursday/Friday this would be a great time to do some of those balance drills. Use a mirror or darkened window and spend some time and effort there. This would be a great time to also catch up with your waxing and cleaning. With any temperature swing of thirty degrees or more waxing is more than needed but critical. The difference between our skis and a world cup skier’s is not the ski but the sheer number of times it is waxed (and used). Their [World Cup Athletes] skis may easily have 100 wax jobs on them, fast is not an accident, it is a lot of work.

Watch the weather and check with www.skinnyski.com for trail updates. If the weather really goes south remember to preserve the trails. An hour slog is not worth the potential damage to the base. On a related note the county has extended the open season on Trail Walkers, bag one today.

More news and such. The Door County Triathlon registration opens midnight on the 1st. Check out the new race video at http://www.doorcountytriathlon.com/index.php We have a skate ski class, a wax clinic and the Women’s Tea and Ski continuing in January along with the second session of Bay Nordic for kids. See www.incompetition.com for news on that.

Lastly I had a nice visit with Bryan Fish the other day. We both had a very very busy December but we managed to get a nice chat in. Bryan is a former UWGB skier and then Coach who moved on to coach the CXC Team http://www.cxcskiing.org/ He recently advanced to become an Assistant Coach with the US Ski Team. He just returned from the early World Cup races in Scandinavia. Having done the same a decade or so earlier I found it refreshing to hear that the success of the USST was not a fluke or luck but rather the culmination of hard work and preparation. In reality success in skiing is about doing the difficult work so that the effort becomes the reward, regardless of your level.

Nice night tonight. I saw much progress although you not have felt that way it is coming. We will keep pushing the bubble a little but for now get out and enjoy skiing. Next week at 5:56pm as we ring in the new year. Oh, and for you young and not so hip amongst us.

Blasting, billowing, bursting forth with the
Power of ten billion butterfly sneezes,
Man with his flaming pyre has conquered the wayward breezes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChCbewCAk-o Be more hip than you possibly can be.

Birkie Class 12-21-10 Goodnight Irene

It was quite a crowd for a snowy Tuesday night. Some folks were wiped out and just wanted to take a nap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGd4jkaoHRg Pity the first timers as they surely felt it the next day [I feel no pity]. I am loath to assign homework but we need a jumpstart to this balance thing so here it is. Five minutes per leg 3 times per week (37 minutes) standing on a 2X2 or similar support. STRETCHED out in the technique of your choice. Do this in a darkened window (so your neighbors can’t see you) are a full mirror. Wear shorts so you can see the extensors and small ancillary muscles in your legs fire. No one has inherent balance, it must be practiced, that is why babies can’t walk, they need to learn and so it is for skiing.

Lots of news report. The Birkie registration has closed for the 2nd straight year. 8400 skiers have filled the waves and now the battle is for wave advancement. The first race that qualifies is the SISU marathon in January. http://www.sisuskifest.com/ See www.birkie.com for the complete list unless you are adept at snowplowing and falling on downhills.

Bay Nordic had 132 kids for the first session of the year last weekend. Whew! Who would have thunk that many kids would be skiing at one time in Green Bay, we might have a future Olympian out there. http://baynordic.blogspot.com/ for the web and http://shoffmanphoto.smugmug.com/CrossCountrySkiing-2010/Bay-Nordic/Bay-Nordic-12-18-2010/15131652_zKfH5#1131360507_7k23S for Steve Hoffmans photo gallery including some serious Photo Shopping.

I have a list of selected video links to look at various techniques. Good to review now that we are on snow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Vue10ItXg&feature=related
Basic Classic Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brGZlZkCwyk&feature=related
Basic Free Skating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yRGLRAR7QI&feature=related
Basic Step Turn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksXxzH55pw&feature=related
V2 video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyuYflyZta4&feature=related
V1 Technique

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slpvbWO4J5o&feature=related
Step Double Pole (double pole kick)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXk0vo2HsbA&feature=relate
Classical Technique Good Overview

Lastly WE DO HAVE CLASS NEXT TUESDAY, 5:58 pm. Do you have to ask?
The snow is great and the temps moderate, this is what we wait for so get out and enjoy it. Watch www.skinnyski.com for reports and www.incompetition.com for upcoming events and be sure and sign up for our newsletter
http://www.incompetition.com/html/register.psp , it is more up to date with lots of neat stuff. Have a great Christmas holiday and then go ski. Well done this week, it was a solid effort as we build towards the Birkie.

Birkie Class 12-14-10 Gut Wrenching

I know, I know. Where is the sweat busting aerobics that we heard so much about? It’s coming and soon, but for now you will have to satisfied with that punched in the gut feeling you have now.
We have snow now and we have a lot to do so let’s get to it.
Review.
Balance: Our 2X2 drill last night looked more like the Drunk Monkey Chorus Line review. Balance needs work. Do this (Homework). Find a big mirror or large darkened window. Floor length is best. Do just what we did last night. Wear shorts (or less) and watch the muscles/tendons in your legs fire as you balance. This is a REAL TIME DRILL, which is you getting to see the response in actual time. Corrections come fast that way. Imagine skiing with a video monitor hooked up right in front of you, looking at you! Do it flat foot then with a 2X2 or even a 2X4. 5 minutes left and right, 3 nights.

I was happy with the core work we did. Even though the pace feels slow we are doing better QUALITY work than before. That will pay off. Remember that stride LENGTH is more effective than STRIDE RATE, especially as we get older.

I am working on more steps. We need some Aurora Doc’s to light a fire. Send Hartmann to management with your demands. Just kidding but the bulk of your aerobic base should come from skiing. Right now the tracks are pretty good and cold temps make classical waxing easy. Skating is slow on the desiccated snow we have and places a greater burden on your glide wax. Cold snow draws wax out of your base so keep up on it. It is doubtful that you can ski 3 days without re-waxing. Skis with a high wax count are fast skis. Put in perspective, 3% faster skis on a 3 hour Birkie skier equals 9 minutes faster. 9 minutes faster means your buddy buys the beer, what’s that worth!

Skiing: Right now most trails are open and groomed. Long is better than fast at this point. Low threshold with a strong technical focus is critical. No Christmas racers please. Check with http://www.skinnyski.com/ for reports. The Bay Nordic Youth Ski League has their first session Saturday at the Camp at 10:00am. You will note a groomed “stadium area” west of the trailhead. Give them some room and cheer them on. http://baynordic.blogspot.com/

Steve Peplinski (age 62 and the only one able to do repeated full planks) has an interesting perspective on KNOLL Training. Read that below. I am impressed with the overall fitness of the group; you collectively make me feel fat… now if we can focus that conditioning into skiing….Johnny bar the door. We start at 5:57 pm next Tue, 5:48pm if your name has an MD behind it.

Steve Peplinski writes:

Hey Dude! You got the wax!

Sometimes they scream it at me as I flash past them on the downhill. It’s always during a race. Sometimes it’s a long steep downhill, and I’m in a tuck shooting past some gently skating skiers. Other times, it’s a less dramatic pass, late in the race. A couple of years ago with only a few k to go in the Birkie, I was closing in on a skier. I watched him climb each hill, and then pulled closer on each downhill. Finally, I knew that I could pass him just over the next rise. As I glided past, he said “Boy, I wish I could change skis with you.” I smiled inwardly, knowing the secret of fast skis. I’m about to share it with you.

Is it stone grinding? Perfect base structure scientifically matched to the temperature and snow conditions? Maybe it’s using a heat box to saturate the bases. Or maybe it’s that final brushing with a brush crafted of Tibetan yak hair. It’s all of the above and none of the above. Yes, I have good wax, but in truth, my competitors probably know just as much about waxing as I do. So why do I have the fast skis? It’s simple. I ski faster. Not all the time, but I ski faster when it counts.

I watch my competition as I climb. They all look pretty strong. Some look more powerful than I. They may be pulling away from me on the uphill. But once I hit the downhill, I usually gain ground. I’m not too concerned about losing a couple of feet to them on the uphill. In fact, I prefer to. But when the crest of the hill approaches, I want to have a little bit extra to keep skiing when most everyone else is resting. I see it all the time, After a great climbing effort, skiers stand up and go into resting mode at the most critical part of the climb. Meanwhile, I’m trying out my best V2 sprint form as I crest the hill and accelerate down the back side. Once I get up to speed, I get into an aerodynamic tuck and enjoy the scenery as I close in on skiers in front of me. All because “I have better wax”. It’s interesting to see strong, experienced skiers stand up and get into a resting slouch as they get to the top of a hill. Interesting and rewarding because I know that even though they trained just as hard as me, even though they are in just as good shape (maybe better) as I; even though they may be 20 years younger than I, “I got the wax!” I’ve decided to come with an acronym for the phenomenon: WAX: Win At the Xenith” alright, zenith is the correct spelling, who knows what WAZ is. As they start their well deserver rest for a hard climbing effort, I win the downhill by the judicious application of power at the highest point of the climb.

So stop worrying that your skis didn’t spend enough time in the hot box. Forget about the shortcomings of your base prep. The way to have fast wax is to ski fast when it counts. And that is completely within your control.