Training this week ...

We'll be training Monday night instead of Tuesday this week.   Interval training on the first fairway (turn left out of the clubhouse).  Warm-up starts at 6:30 PM, intervals at 6:50.

Any technique -- we split everyone into groups based on speed and technique.

Should be another great -25 degree night!

Our First Race!

Nothing like having 60 km/hr winds, heavy snowfall, and plummeting temperatures to set the stage for Downtown Nordic's first actual race this last Saturday.   Ruth and Esther were early leaders, but Murray Carter put in a late surge to take victory.

Thanks to Megan for timing.  Thanks to Yvette, Catherine, and two unknown skiers for cheering on the racers.  Thanks to Jacek for his cameo appearance (as you'll see in the video).  And thanks to Sue and Mia for for being our "Ski Patrol" by sweeping the course for any injured racers two hours after the completion of the race.

                              Official Finish Time    Handicap Time   Actual Time
Murray C                    25:52                            9:00                 16:52 
Steve S                        26:18                            7:45                 18:33
Sean C                        26:39                            9:00                 17:39
Brian H                       26:56                            7:45                  19:11
Esther M                     27:18                            2:00                  25:18
Jim M                          28:23                            3:00                  25:23
Ruth H                        28:30                             0:00                  28:29
Jason H                       32:54                             6:45                  26:09
Joanne S                      32:54                            2:00                  30:54


Slightly embellished video:

Tour de Ski - Canadian Men take first and second

Talk about unexpected ... Canadians Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw took first and second at the first event of the Tour de Ski in Germany today.  The Tour de Ski is a seven-stage ski race across 3 different countries.

Results here: http://www.fis-ski.com/cross-country/events-and-places/results/

Skating

Great finish at the 2011 World Championships in the 50 K skate race:

Heat Box Waxing Service

Club member Jeff McMillan is offering Heat Box wax service.  Generally with new skis (or recently stoneground skis) you need to glide wax your skis many times before all of the pours are filled in with wax.  The Heat Box speeds this process up as the skis "soak" in the wax over several hours.

Contact Jeff for more info at jmcmillan@stpauls.mb.ca

...

Heat Box Waxing Service

Basic Saturation $30

Service includes: Brushing to open up the base (skis must be clean), Fibretex to cut micro hairs, scrape, brush and polish of the wax.

Basic Saturation involves 6 hours in the heat box with a very soft paraffin at a temperature of about 55 degree C. This ensures excellent saturation of the base. The skis will still need to be hardened to the appropriate level for the desired conditions.

Ultimate Saturation $45

The Ultimate Saturation Heat Box is the ultimate base treatment. It starts by applying a very soft paraffin heat box wax and letting it saturate in the hot box for a full twelve hours at below 50 degree C.  A finishing layer is then added of Swix LF-6 to harden the base. This same process has been used on the World Cup for years to get skis to run at their absolute optimum speed.

Other Waxing Services to choose from:

1. Standard Universal Hot Wax - The appropriate glide wax is melted onto the glide zones of the ski base, ironed onto the base, cooled, acrylic-scraped, and brushed and polished.
$15 per pair

2. Low Fluo Hot Wax – Same as standard, but faster wax.
$20 per pair

3. New ski base prep  - New skis need a lot of work to get fast, this service will include, cleaning all debris out of skis (hot scrape), Fibretex brushing to get cut all micro hairs out of the ski. + Ultimate Heat Box  $50 per pair

4. Cleaning by hot wax scrape to get all dirt out of base.  $5

Contact Jeff McMillan (jmcmillan@stpauls.mb.ca) to set up an appointment.

All I Want for Christmas is Two Fast Skis ...



 

The Club of the Year Trophy and it's fellow Downtown Nordic members wish you Happy Holidays and a Prosperous & Fast New Years

 



What it takes:

Liz Stephen (USST) hits the weight room hours after racing to third with the U.S. women’s team in Sunday’s World Cup 4 x 5 k relay in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Billy Demong/Twitter)

skate technique

On Thursday, Dec. 26th, we'll do some skate technique work on the training grid.  We'll start at 2:00 with a warm-up and then do some drills starting at about 2:20.

Here's a great photo of uphill skating:  when going uphill the ski angle needs to widen out.  to deal with this for poling, you need to widen the pole base.  However, to maintain maximum power, you try to keep one pole vertical

 

 

The offset technique from the side:

Here's some beautiful cornering technique ... see how the lead skier has all of his weight on the outside ski as he step turns around the corner

 

 

 

Here's great technique on the flats ... pushing off and then shifting all of his weight onto the gliding ski:

technique training

This is what we want to look like ...

This is what we don't want to look like ...

Any questions?

Something to help you get outside ...

Great video highlighting the performance of the US Women's team at a recent World Cup relay ...



Team USA - Lillehammer 4x5km 2013 from MarcelH on Vimeo.

Grand Beach race ... cancelled due to cold conditions

Sadly, the Grand Beach race this Sunday was cancelled.

... but we will be back with a Grand Beach race in the future some time!

12 Days of Grand Beach

On Sunday, December 22nd, ski racing returns to Grand Beach.  The Grand Beach trails, when groomed well, are arguably the best ski trails in the southern half of the province.  The trails will be groomed very well for the race ...

Information:
www.ccsam.ca/race-notice-manitoba-cup-1-grand-beach-classic/

Course maps:
http://www.ccsam.ca/grand-beach-race-course-maps/

online registration ... closes on Monday!
https://zone4.ca/onlinereg.asp?id=6121&lan=1

Grand Beach Classic

It's back ... December 22nd.  We haven't raced there in 5 years. 

http://www.ccsam.ca/old/rr_2009_GrandBeachClassic.htm

registration details coming soon (and there is an early registration closing date)

Nice classic technique

We are spending sometime working on classic technique right now in the club.  Here's a great photo of perfect striding.  It's actually on a fairly steep hill.

Here are a few things to note:

1) All of her weight is on the right side (her left).  To help with the weight shift, she has a bit of body lean to that side.  In the old days, it was taught as Tony Knows (Toe-Knee-Nose all lined up on one side).  Rather than move the lean to the side, the better way is to shift the hips over a little bit so the body is aligned over the foot.

2) Her hips are not pushed back, nor is her body piked in a way that pushes the hips back.  By doing this, she is both keeping her body weight over the foot and will also be able to apply significant power from her hip and hamstring muscles in pulling back that ski to propel herself up the hill.

3) She has just generated that significant power on the left side (her right), so that foot and ski have come off the ground.

4) To help maintain that correct body position, she is looking slightly ahead and not at her feet ... Look ahead and you will shred.

Live TV:

The day got off to a bad start when I found out I would not have my own personal trailer on the set, but other than that, things went well ...

http://www.btwinnipeg.ca/videos/2895682630001/

http://www.btwinnipeg.ca/videos/2895706692001/

Grand Unveiling of the DN Buff ...

I was wondering when pets would be brought into this ...



No animals were hurt in the making of this photo

Last Yellowstone update

I got a little behind on the blog ... here is the last update from DN's Elite team in Yellowstone:

We all seem to be feeling less sore as the week progresses but are feeling very fatigued from the training volume, and feeling the effects of training at an elevation of almost 7000 feet.
David continued with his clinic today while the rest of us hit the trails to get as much skiing in paradise before returning to the loops at Windsor Park. Ben, Stig, Gyula and Esther started with classic skiing in the AM. Ben was loving it, and we got over 23 km in before lunch. We watched the Supertour freestyle sprints. Very exciting to see such powerful skiers, and Ben was able to see those he would be competing against tomorrow in the 15 km distance event.
In the afternoon, we reluctantly pulled ourselves out of our beds, and returned to skate the trails. Esther and Gyula soon lagged behind Ben and Stig, who ended up skiing  50 km today.   They also hit 59.2 km/h on the telemark hill. Hoping to hit sixty tomorrow.
There was once again free beer, hot chocolate and s'mores at the end of the trails.  Great atmosphere, and so inspiring to be surrounded by such fit people. They make us feel like slobs as they get up and run in the morning before skiing. Average person here has 6% body fat.
Tonight we all plan to go listen to the keynote speaker, ex Olympian Dan Simoneau. 

Another ...

... great video from Julia Kern (West Yellowstone):