Hey skiers,
With the nice weather this week, we will do skate on Tuesday at 7PM.
It's rare to get nice days like this in January for skate, so we will do that this week and then do Classic for next week.
(For the advanced group, either technique will work as we will do some general drills and start the interval training.)
Steve
First session is skate on Tuesday at 7PM - meet in the clubhouse and then we will out to the training grid!
(We will then break for the holiday and start up again after the new year)
Here are your awesome coaches for this season!
Athletic Beginner:
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Soo
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We hope to start on Tuesday, December 16th at 7PM for adult programs.
But it depends on conditions and availability at Windsor Park Nordic Centre ...
If you are registered, be sure to check for email updates (I sent one the 7th but it went to spam for some people!)
Steve
The DN adult program is back again this year!
It will be Tuesdays evenings (likely 6:30PM ... but confirmed later)
We hope to go for about 7 or so weeks starting in December alternating generally between classic and skate and going till about early February.
Athletic Beginners led by Coach Katrina and Coach Soo Yang Kang.
Intermediate led by Coach John K with help from legends Coach John M and Coach Jim
Advanced led by me.
However, no dryland training this fall.
Registration is open here: https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=39771
I will send a reminder email and more details around mid to late November.
Steve
On January 7th, we will start formal interval training for the advanced group (your choice of classic or skate!)
But you should start on your own over the holidays with 6 x 40 second efforts at a bit faster than race pace with sold technique
The program is split into those looking to peak in February OR March
1)Tuesday
interval training – see details below for February peak or March peak
30 minute
easy ski warm-up (+ a few 20 second pick ups near the end of your warm-up)
The hard
part of the interval is a bit faster than race pace – the shorter the interval,
a bit more faster effort (but always solid technique)
2)On Weekends -> 1 or 2 longer skis with hills
Work on
hill efficiency – climbing with good technique and a relatively low heart rate –
this is a skill you want to develop for long events (rather than thrashing as
hard as possible going uphill!)
Gradually
lengthen your longer skis towards event duration – e.g. if you expect your peak
event to take you 4 hours, then shoot to build to a 3 to 4 hour ski about 7 to
10 days before your event.
3)Keep up
injury-prevention strength
February
peak – Tuesday intervals (remember 30 minute warm-up before)
Jan 7 5 x 1 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in
between efforts
Jan 14 4 x 2 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in
between efforts
Jan 21 4 x 3 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute between
efforts
Jan 28 3 x 5 minutes / *keep up a reasonable
pace between intervals* - goal is to train body to be able to recover from
a harder effort while still going at slightly less than race speed
Feb 4 2 x 10 minutes / keep up a reasonable
pace between intervals
Feb 11 3 x 10 minutes / keep up a reasonable pace
between intervals
Longer
program for those looking to peak in mid March.
Jan 7 5 x 1 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in
between efforts
Jan 14 4 x 2 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in
between efforts
Jan 21 5 x 2 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in
between efforts
Jan 28 6 x 2 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in
between efforts
Feb 4 5 x 3
minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in between efforts
Feb 11 6 x
3 minutes / easy skiing 1 minute in between efforts
Feb 18 4 x
5 minutes / keep up a reasonable pace between intervals
Feb 25 2 x 10 minutes / keep up a reasonable pace
between intervals
March 2 3 x
10 minutes / keep up a reasonable pace between intervals
March 9 4 x
10 minutes / keep up a reasonable pace between intervals
We will start instructional sessions on Tuesday December 10th at Windsor Park at 6:30 with SKATE sessions for Athletic Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced groups.
We plan to start instructional programs for adults on Tuesday, Dec. 10th.
More information early next week.
Registration will close on Dec. 7th.
Check out the snow-making at Windsor Park!
A few years back, we had Twila from Pure Fitness show us some really good strength exercises to make our bodies very resilient.
It's best to add these exercises into your regime gradually -- they don't seem like much when you first do them, but then the next day, you realize they strengthen all of your muscles that are very weak!!
Do a few light reps of these your first time and see how your body feels the next day before building up to more reps.
After 4 or 5 weeks (of doing these twice a week), you could build up to 6 to 10 reps of each exercise.
Again, be really gradual as you add these in.
I have been doing these exercise once or twice every week for 9 years and it's really allowed me to be quite injury-free over that time. But I always do a good warm-up and never push myself very hard with them -- just a modest workout that helps balance my body with everything else I do.
Coaches for 2024/25 Season:
Athletic Beginner:
... and we are back!
DN Adult programs for the next season:
Main Change = Tuesdays only
Adult instructional programs each Tuesday in December and
January (as soon as we get skiable snow)
Will alternate each week generally with skate or classic
instruction (a little bit conditions-dependent)
Will have Athletic Beginners, Intermediate, and
Advanced.
AB + Intermediate will be instructional; Advanced will be
mostly drills and interval training
AB will be led by Coach Katrina
Intermediate will be led by Coach John K with support for
Coach John M
Advanced will be led by me
Coach Jim B is taking a year sabbatical and will be back
next year.
Dryland training for those interested will be at
Westview Park on the north side Tuesdays at 6:45PM starting October 22nd
Registration here: https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=36525
Here is an interesting picture on downhill cornering. For the advanced group on Thursday, we will play around with downhill cornering options!
We have added several new policies as required by CCSAM. They can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dd9HgopWwOI2F0z_EBOWdCImC_uVU9IQ?usp=sharing
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!
First session is skate on Tuesday at 7PM - meet in the clubhouse and then we will out to the training grid!
(We will then break for the holiday and start up again after the new year)
Here are your awesome coaches for this season!
Athletic Beginner:
Soo
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!
Register here:
https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=33442
Your awesome adult instruction coaches ...
Athletic Beginner:
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