DN
training for advanced skiers (and those intermediate skiers preparing for an event or adventure!) over the next few months – we will have interval sessions each Tuesday
night
General
goal: build efficient & relaxed speed on skis in a long-term healthy way
For some,
the goal might be a big ski trip to the mountains in March, for others it might
be a specific event like the Finlandia or the Birkie.A few principles to keep in mind throughout
all your training:
1)Maintain injury-prevention strength
work year-round. We
tend to assume that we DESERVE to be able to do all the physical things we want
to do, but that’s not the case!Our bodies were not built to be skiers,
cyclists, rowers, etc., so a small amount of injury-prevention strength work
once or twice a week needs to be maintained year-round – see our videos on the
things that have helped members build injury prevention strength for skiing and
other sports.
2)Regular easy aerobic activity.Hard endurance training day-after-day leads to a lot of negative stress
that can turn into really unhealthy chronic stress.To help build your body’s ability to handle
a bit of harder training on other days, you should be aiming for 2 to 3
sessions every week of only light aerobic intensity – e.g. brisk walking or
light skiing for an hour+.
3)Enjoy the outdoors.We are lucky to be able to be outside in the winter and enjoying the
beauty of beautiful winter days!
Plan – this plan can be modified for
specific goals and each person’s strengths and weaknesses – feel free to reach
out to discuss in more detail.
Interval
sessions should not be overly hard.Goal is to maintain relaxed & efficient speed to the very last
interval effort.We want to ingrain
good technique, rather than push too hard!!
Week 1 – interval session – 4 to 5 x 30
seconds pick-ups with 1 to 2 minutes easy skiing in between – good technique
but at a faster speed; can add in a bit of terrain
Week 2 – 4 x 1 minute pick-ups with 2 minutes
easy skiing in between; should not be breathing too hard at the end of each
interval
Start
adding in a longer and hillier ski each week – these skis can get longer or a bit more
intense as you progress over the next several weeks.E.g. 1 hour hilly ski … then 1 hour 30
minutes hillier ski … building to 2 hours plus of hillier faster skis on
terrain closer to your goal
Week 3 – 4 x 2 minutes with 2 minutes easy
skiing in between; should have great relaxed technique throughout; should be a
bit faster than goal pace, but not too fast!
Week 4 – 4 x 3 minutes with 2 minutes easy
skiing in between; if goal is to race really fast, then you can be breathing
fairly hard at the end of these, but otherwise keeping technique relaxed and
efficient
Week 5 – 4 x 5 minutes with 2 minutes easy
skiing in between
Week 6 – 3 x 8 minutes with 3 minutes easy
skiing in between
Week 7 – 3 x 8 minutes with 2 minutes easy
skiing in between
Week 8 – 2 longer hillier skis
Week 9 – easier week of skiing before
bigger goal skis / event
See below for one injury-prevention exercise Jessie Diggins does year-round - go to 5:50 into the video for the exercise
Here is an interesting picture on downhill cornering. For the advanced group on Thursday, we will play around with downhill cornering options!
Downhill at France world cup last year -- watch how Klaebo looks to the turn and picks the outside line in the deep snow - this allows him to control the turn better.
Klaebo is third in line with the yellow bib:
Klaebo - looking at conditions on the outside:
Klaebo sliding into the loose snow
The only skier to use the loose snow to turn, rather than go through the icy corner apex
At times, a corner gets so icy and scraped, that it's easier to step into the loose snow to do an easier and safer turn. This is often the case at big events with lots of laps or lots of skiers (like the Birkie)
Registration will close on Monday afternoon (December 18th). We will start instructional sessions on Tuesday December 19th at 7PM on the training grid area.
Adult program registration is now open. We will have more details shortly - but we plan to have instructional sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting as soon as we have enough snow!
1) Dryland training has ended (get out and ski! Birds Hill Park and Wildwood golf course have skied in tracks)
2) below is the latest on our club plans for the season
Here are the plans for the season once we have skiable snow:
We will have 3 instructional sessions in each of classic and skate at Windsor Park for Athletic Beginner and Intermediate skiers starting as soon as there is skiable snow at Windsor Park (note that WP plans to make snow - if needed - this year, so hopefully we will get going by early December at the latest)
Athletic Beginner skiers - 3 x Monday (classic) and Tuesday (skate) - 7PM
Intermediate skiers - 3 x Tuesday (Skate) and Thursday (classic) - 7PM
Advanced skiers - drills and technique work most Thursday evenings and occasional daylight and other sessions.
Start date TBD - but we hope to start by early December. We strongly encourage AB and Intermediate skiers to attend all 3 sessions for a given technique
Also be prepared to be adaptable/flexible as every winter is different and conditions can vary greatly from day to day!
After instructional sessions we plan a combination of occasional evening / weekend (and possibly an overnighter) social skis, interval training, and occasional daytime and evening ad hoc instructional sessions over the rest of the winter. Please reach out if you would like to help organize a social ski or two. Also, there will be a CANSI ski instructor training session in January -- check that out and let us know if you are interested in this program.
Registration is at zone4.ca -> see the link in one of the posts below
CCSAM has again decided to cancel the annual Swap Shop. It had been held in mid November for over 30 years.
In recent years, the vast majority of equipment for sale at the Swap Shop has come from local ski shops who are clearing out previous years’ stock. Again this year, there is little to clear out, so the Swap Shop would have had a shortage of items for purchase.
There are a number of online buy & sell platforms that individuals can use to buy or sell cross country ski items — Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji are the two most obvious. In particular, there is a Manitoba Cross Country ski gear Buy, Sell and trade Facebook group that has almost 2600 members.
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