Hillbounding Week Two. POOF the Magic Technique

32 skiers last night found a new meaning for sucking air. Many experienced a certain "high" that can only be achieved by becoming anaerobic. Judging by the DPM (drip per minute) rate of several people it looked to be a good night. The video turned out pretty good and I encourage you to look at them (there are 5 in all). Of particular interest is the 3rd profile and head on views. Be sure to look closely and put your cursor on the scroll bar to slow it down or stop it. I would note the following:
Head down posture: You can't breath when your head is down. Rolled shoulders, stooped over posture and bent waist will restrict movement.
Note forward shin angle: An ACUTE lower leg angle is paramount to proper form. look at your lower leg angle (shin). In the head on view note the weight shift (transfer) left to right (or lack of). NOSE-KNEE-SKI. Get the hips over the foot.
POOF: Push Off Outside Foot. "Overshift" your weight to the outside of your foot for a more dynamic and longer push/stride.
Big remember: There are ONLY two ways to ski faster; turn it over faster or increase your stride length....I saw nobody over-striding out there.

Don't sweat the small stuff when watching but note that what you do here WILL TRANSFER TO SNOW. As we said last week: Practice makes permanent....not perfect.

See the videos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54192844@N02/

Now that you are fully perplexed, discouraged, stiff and hung down remember this; you are doing more right than wrong and this is a brutal workout. If this was easy there would be a lot more folks doing it. It was a solid effort and next week expect a few new ideas and a faster rotation (oh great!). Good work and enjoy the DOMS....you are welcome. What goes up....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfWOzzy381Y&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLF57973E82692C232

Skal we go pa ska Hillbounding Naught 11

Welcome to the 31 folks the made it back to the hill this year. The weather was nice with light sprinkles right at the end although no worse than the sweat falling off some of the skiers.

Tonight was our annual "soft start" where we worked more on the technical side and introduced some of the techniques used (but not all) Plan on seeing some new strokes and faster recovery in the future. We will reduce the "loiter" time which will intensify the effort considerably. Here are some of the things I noticed.

• Running: You MUST separate skiing and running. It is called hillbounding...not hill running. Our goal is to improve your technique 1st, develop strength 2nd and the cardiovascular side, well that takes care of itself.



• Pole control: Whew, I noticed some interesting adaptations of proper poling form. We will address what is correct and what is not. I have a narrow window as to what is correct so expect some nit-picking.



• Balance: Perhaps the most important element, I noticed a lot of wide stances, muscle tremble and "early push" (not riding the gliding ski). All are signs of balance issues but very trainable. Expect to see the wood next week.



• Glacial best describes the effort at the knoll. The fastest skiers have the biggest push at the top of a climb. Coincidence? I think not.

Obligatory Clique:

Practice Makes Permanent....not Perfect. Train it correctly and you will have it when you need it to and be automatic.

All in all it was a good effort. Expect a ramp up in intensity and be sure and have your gear ready. A pair of XC poles (not too good) to the armpit in length (80% of body height) is good to have for all your trail efforts. Bring a bottle and dry clothes and a masochistic training friend. We have the meet and greet at 5:24pm next Tuesday and we start at 5:30.

Note: Steve P. sent in his HRM strip. Note the 26 reps and the rise in effort at the Lactate Interval (LI) as he made forays into the dead zone. How you RECOVER from these efforts is perhaps the best indicator of fitness you can have. If you have an HRM, wear it and learn from it. You can see some video we shot last year at http://www.flickr.com/photos/incomp/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyuYflyZta4&feature=related to get you in the mood.