Monday, November 27, 2017

Resilient Skiers

Hey, Here are 8 of the 16 exercises that Twila demonstrated for us and a couple of weeks ago (we have another session on Wednesday, November 29th at Windsor Park 6:30 to 8:00)












Here is the full program.  Exercises are in sets of 4 different exercises.  The goal is to do with 2 rotations through each set of 4 exercises (and then move to the next set of 4).  Start with 3 to 4 reps of each exercise and then build to 8 to 12 reps.

Consider starting with the 8 exercises in the video and then after 3 or 4 weeks, add in three or four more exercises ... building until you can do all 16 different exercises.

These could be done twice a week.  Or, to save some time, but still get a good range of work, once per week for the full set of 16 exercises and once per week for just 8 of the 16 exercises.

Downtown Nordic Strength Session #1

Alternating dead bug
Front plank alternating reaches
Side hip raises
Foam roller mountain climbers

1-leg hip bridge
Dirty dogs
Hip bridge with alternating knee extension
Push ups

Stability ball shoulder trio
1-leg 3 point touches (aka “3 point stride pattern”)
TRX, bench or plank rows
Goblet front squat

1/2 side plank leg lifts
Alternating plank up downs
Clock lunges (12/3/6)
Foam roller 1-arm fly




Monday, November 6, 2017

DN Adult Registration

DN Adult program registration is now open.  Once ski season is in full swing, we will have a variety of sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Windsor Park Nordic Center.  Stay tuned for a more detailed program.

Registration will close the first week of December.

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION LINK!

FOR MORE INFO: contact steve_scoles at hotmail


We will teach you not to do this:


Sunday, March 26, 2017

The boys of winter

For the first time in over 5 years, the original Downtown Nordic founders reunited in Canmore for the National Championships:

Tim W - original DN head coach and now assistant coach with the Thunder Bay National Development Team.

Steven W - original DN president and now DN Chief Jackrabbit and also head wax tech for Manitoba Provincial Team.

Steve S - original DN mascot and now DN director of performance and assistant junior Nationals announcer.



The smiles did not last long.




Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Downtown Nordic Picture Contest

On behalf of Gord Buhr:

Most of us have our toques by now so we're sporting some pretty awesome toquehead.   I'm sure we're all wearing them all day long, aren't we?  
So we're having a toque picture contest.   4 categories.

1)Furthest away from Winnipeg. (Pic must include proof of location)
2)Funniest
3)Fan favorite(best overall picture)
4)Picture that best depicts club spirit.

In all cases the picture MUST feature the NEW Downtown Nordic toque.   If a group photo is chosen the prize will go to the person who took the picture.  Contest open to Downtown Nordic members only and only pictures posted on the Downtown Nordic Facebook page will be considered.

Anyone can post a pic for the contest.   Please caption it for the category you are entering it.  For the "Fan Favorite" category the pic with the most "likes" will be considered the winner.

In the spirit of fairness I will exclude myself from all categories except "furthest away" and "fan favorite" as these will be decided by impartial means.  

The judges for the other categories (funniest and club spirit) will be chosen  by a panel of 3 judges including myself (Gord Buhr) Steve Scoles and an as yet to be named judge (Any volunteers?)

Prizes expect to be awarded at our wind up event in March...

Sunday, January 15, 2017

The Loppet

What is a Loppet?

If you are new to the cross-country skiing community, you may have wondered if a loppet was some kind of furred animal or a specific ski technique you haven't mastered.


Loppet: Noun. A large, long distance (approximately 35+ kilometre) cross country skiing event.

Starting the Vasaloppet in Sweden.
Examples of famous loppets include the Vasaloppet in Sweden (90KM, 15,000 skiers), and the American Birkebeiner in Haywood, Wisconsin (a favourite of many DN club members at 51/56KM and 10,000 skiers).



Have no fear, anyone can participate and become a "loppeteer",  it just takes a certain amount of training and motivation. Many loppet events are open to all ages, offer open or non-competitive categories, and also shorter distance options for those just getting into the sport. You can even ski a full loppet at a touring pace, as long as you are mindful of the cut-off times on the course.

A loppet can involve good friendly competition between you and others in your age category (or outside of it) but a big part of a loppet revolves around supporting the ski community that is involved in planning and putting on the event, most often on a volunteer basis. Many hours go into grooming the course, setting up the staging areas and finish line, and of course, preparing food and drink for aid stations, and working out timing and post-race prize awards.

During a loppet, though there can be some tight competition at the front of the pack, the mood on the course is supportive and courteous - even when you're getting passed, someone will often turn back and call out "keep it up!"

The Whiteshell Cross Country Ski Club has hosted the Manitoba Loppet in Pinawa for the past 40 years, and the 41st is coming up this Saturday, January 21. The full loppet is a 30k ski, but there is a 15k distance also. See you there?

Manitoba Loppet Race Notice: http://www.whiteshellskiclub.com/news/2017manitobaloppet

Upcoming Loppets:

41st Manitoba Loppet, Pinawa, Saturday, January 21
City of Lakes Loppet, February 3-5
Canadian Birkebeiner, February 10-11
Gatineau Loppet, February 18
Minnesota Finlandia, February 18
American Birkebeiner, February 25
Sleeping Giant Loppet, March 4
Riding Mountain Loppet: March 4


Post-loppet bliss!

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Interval training

Interval Training:
According to Wikipedia, "Interval training is a type of training that involves a series of low- to high-intensity exercise workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic threshold, while the recovery periods involve activity of lower intensity. Varying the intensity of effort exercises the heart muscle, providing a cardiovascular workout, improving aerobic capacity and permitting the person to exercise for longer and/or more intense levels."

Improved aerobic capacity!! How lovely!  Anaerobic exercise sounds pretty enough, like Olivia Newton John, without the head band.
 

Downtown Nordic thus has one scheduled interval session per week throughout the ski season.  The sessions start with a lower number of repetitions and shorter intervals in mid-December, and gradually increase in number and length as the season progresses.  We generally use the hills on the first fairway to add to the intensity of the intervals.


Pre-intervals:
Driving to an interval session is usually a quiet, eerie affair.  All skiers in our car are withdrawn, dealing with their own dark thoughts, their private hell, struggling with the grim sensation that we are all heading to an execution.
Upon arrival at the Windsor Park Nordic Centre club house, members examine the others who have also come for the night's interval session.  Do the others look rested?  Tired? Strong? Any conversation between participants donning their ski gear generally revolves around the night's excuse.  All participants are primed with their excuse for the evening.  The stories vary in quality and tone  "I ran this morning...really far."  "I have not slept for three days."  "I have a cold." "I have a disease."  "My ribs are broken." "I left the stove on."etc etc etc.  We all know the stories are as truthful as a VW emissions report. We just all need to have an excuse ready  for that moment of inner shame, if ever we need to pull out of the interval session early, or if we show any weakness during the session, or especially if another skier passes us.


Warm-up:
During warmup, the stories sometimes change.  "I used the wrong wax."  "I brought the wrong skis."  "My binding is broken."  "My knee is broken."  We hurl out the stories as faster skiers pass us, not that they listen, but we feel mightier and emboldened by our own stories.  We actually start to believe them.


The Intervals:
The intervals begin.  The format generally varies.  Sometimes coach Steve breaks us up into six groups based on ability and technique.  Sometimes, we self seed ourselves.  Sometimes, we are doing intensity intervals between pylons, or other times, Steve is blowing a whistle letting us know when to go hard, and when to ski easier.  In any case, once the intervals start, any ability to carry out a conversation ceases.  The only sound is the heavy breathing of the skiers, the slap of the skis on the tracks, the poles slicing through the air before finding purchase in the snow.
I ski hard for the first few intervals, but sometime after the first five, my heart rate no longer returns to a respectable zone after the rest interval.  It hovers somewhere above my recommended maximum heart rate.  I want to ski slower, at a more civilized intensity.  However the Lioness is right on my tail.  I can hear her gasping for air right behind me, her skis sometimes slap mine letting me know of her proximity.  There is the metallic taste of blood at the back of my throat.  I feel as though I have nothing left to give; but as the Lioness pulls up beside me, I know that if I lunge harder, dig a little deeper, I can just beat her...this time anyways.  At the pylon which indicates the end of the hard effort, I pull up, ski slowly, trying to regulate my breath, trying to let the oxygen flow into the cells of my extremities.  The Lioness is doing the same. We don't make eye contact.  We cannot spare the energy.  I wonder if she can smell my fear, my desperation.


"If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve." Carl von Clausewitz, On War



 Three more intervals to go.  We battle back and forth, pulling ahead, lagging behind, the light supper we ate several hours ago now seems like a bad idea.  The bile rises through my digestive tract, fighting gravity.  My field of view narrows as we plunge up the hill one final time.  We can hear Coach Steve's muffled voice in the background, urging some inner competitive beast to come forward for that final push.  "This is where all the gains are made!!!"  We ski harder and harder, and finish that last interval before collapsing in a heap in the snow.




We have finished for this week.  We claw ourselves back to standing, wipe away the snot and the bile, and begin skiing slowly.  The stories start again, but only if excuses are required.   Generally, we feel proud.  We pushed harder than we thought we could, went faster than before, felt stronger.  Just like a difficult childbirth, we will forget about the pain for a little while, until next week....