Soft.
To the veterans of the Birkie class they know what I mean. To others I hope last night was a quick way to get up to speed. Be assured we will ramp things up next week. We have a record number of folks in the group this year (I count on ten people NOT showing up each week). We are a little cramped but it should get better as more gear returns and we get situated.
Housekeeping: Because we have such a large group please use the locker rooms but store your gear in the cubby’s as much as possible. Please check in at the front desk, they like to know who is in the building. Jackets are being printed and for those who were not there last night we used your suggested size as our guide. I expect a few weeks on these as everyone is in the Christmas rush and the larger than expect numbers made us order more from Craft.
A few words about effort. This training will get hard but it is NOT a contest. I would rather have you LEARN from this than kill yourself. The thing I would like to see is muscle memory improvement; I (over and over) always say that practice makes…….permanent but not always perfect. Repetitive activity is critical and will have a huge impact on your skiing. We have room to improve on balance (lots of room actually) and while there appears to be some strength deficiencies I am confident that we will overcome that quickly. Skiing (like a lot of sports) is a series of contractions followed by periods of relaxation/recovery. If you spend more time per stroke in a recovery phase than a propulsive phase you save energy. Skiing is all about energy conservation. THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS TO SKI FASTER: TURN OVER FASTER OR TAKE A LONGER STRIDE. Turn over is finite which leaves us with stride length. Longer strides demand higher aerobics and strength with technique improvement. Please remember that technique will get you farther and faster (and is more fun). I found some video links that you may like, some are skiing, and some are training:
V1 (one step in other parts of the world) Use for slower speeds like uphill’s or harder conditions. Can work everywhere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyuYflyZta4
V2 Alternate (open Field Skate for us old farts) Use at faster speeds. Very fast and efficient. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmR5WXd_F8I
V2: Use at higher speeds and is becoming common for faster racers. High balance demand but smooth and fast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksXxzH55pw
The other strokes, Diagonal Skate, Jump skate, Free skate and our crossover stroke, the Double Pole are less used but good to know. http://www.xcskiworld.com/training/Technique/skating.htm#diagonal_v
This was actually adapted from our class (really) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fwJKWxrlQ&feature=related
This has some of the ideas we use. Not great production but good to know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMcsHR4lDY&feature=related
Miscellaneous: The Birkie is filling up. There are well under 1000 slots left for the race so if you are planning to do it, get your entry in now. Bets are that it fills before New Year. See http://www.birkie.com/ for info and be sure to look at “race info” for qualifying races unless you like the 10th wave. There is snow all around us and it looks like we will get our turn soon. Don’t forget to put http://www.skinnyski.com/ into your favorites and to submit trail reports as we get on snow. We are having an early wax clinic this Saturday at 9:00AM. We have already waxed hundreds of skis this season, practice makes permanent you know. This is a chance to re-fresh your memory. See http://www.incompetition.com/ for info.
Next week we launch at 5:57 pm. We start with the sticks, practice your balance!
ME
To the veterans of the Birkie class they know what I mean. To others I hope last night was a quick way to get up to speed. Be assured we will ramp things up next week. We have a record number of folks in the group this year (I count on ten people NOT showing up each week). We are a little cramped but it should get better as more gear returns and we get situated.
Housekeeping: Because we have such a large group please use the locker rooms but store your gear in the cubby’s as much as possible. Please check in at the front desk, they like to know who is in the building. Jackets are being printed and for those who were not there last night we used your suggested size as our guide. I expect a few weeks on these as everyone is in the Christmas rush and the larger than expect numbers made us order more from Craft.
A few words about effort. This training will get hard but it is NOT a contest. I would rather have you LEARN from this than kill yourself. The thing I would like to see is muscle memory improvement; I (over and over) always say that practice makes…….permanent but not always perfect. Repetitive activity is critical and will have a huge impact on your skiing. We have room to improve on balance (lots of room actually) and while there appears to be some strength deficiencies I am confident that we will overcome that quickly. Skiing (like a lot of sports) is a series of contractions followed by periods of relaxation/recovery. If you spend more time per stroke in a recovery phase than a propulsive phase you save energy. Skiing is all about energy conservation. THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS TO SKI FASTER: TURN OVER FASTER OR TAKE A LONGER STRIDE. Turn over is finite which leaves us with stride length. Longer strides demand higher aerobics and strength with technique improvement. Please remember that technique will get you farther and faster (and is more fun). I found some video links that you may like, some are skiing, and some are training:
V1 (one step in other parts of the world) Use for slower speeds like uphill’s or harder conditions. Can work everywhere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyuYflyZta4
V2 Alternate (open Field Skate for us old farts) Use at faster speeds. Very fast and efficient. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmR5WXd_F8I
V2: Use at higher speeds and is becoming common for faster racers. High balance demand but smooth and fast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksXxzH55pw
The other strokes, Diagonal Skate, Jump skate, Free skate and our crossover stroke, the Double Pole are less used but good to know. http://www.xcskiworld.com/training/Technique/skating.htm#diagonal_v
This was actually adapted from our class (really) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fwJKWxrlQ&feature=related
This has some of the ideas we use. Not great production but good to know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMcsHR4lDY&feature=related
Miscellaneous: The Birkie is filling up. There are well under 1000 slots left for the race so if you are planning to do it, get your entry in now. Bets are that it fills before New Year. See http://www.birkie.com/ for info and be sure to look at “race info” for qualifying races unless you like the 10th wave. There is snow all around us and it looks like we will get our turn soon. Don’t forget to put http://www.skinnyski.com/ into your favorites and to submit trail reports as we get on snow. We are having an early wax clinic this Saturday at 9:00AM. We have already waxed hundreds of skis this season, practice makes permanent you know. This is a chance to re-fresh your memory. See http://www.incompetition.com/ for info.
Next week we launch at 5:57 pm. We start with the sticks, practice your balance!
ME
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