Hey Team,
This weekend I had a chance to attend a "Gaining the Edge" coaching clinic sponsored by NENSA. The clinic staff teach new coaches some important aspects of traditional and skate ski techniques and introduce them to introductory physiology terminology.
The class was also a good chance to tune up some roller ski technique and see some equipment that I would not otherwise see. I spoke with other coaches and took away some great ideas for our team. I also was introduced to several great training aids and an app for video feedback that I will share with you.
Physically, my biggest take away was an on roller ski core workout that I can still feel two days later. The basic motion is the double pole crunch called the robot or Locked and loaded where a full poling is not used but rather a short burst only six inches downward pushes you along. Hands from eye height to shoulder height only pushing a yard or so at a time.Do this for 10-15 minutes and feel a burn. Core is essential to this sport and this specific exercise will enhance your on ski performance.
We are getting close to some serious training weather so hit the rollers and dress up your technique. there are plenty of video online to watch and learn. On our next training weekend I look forward to sharing some great material with you.
Lastly this week, keep your cardio tuned up, you should all be comfortable with a hour long cycle or run at level 7/8 intensity with heart rate at 80% of max.If you have your rollers, go hit the bike paths and roads for 2 or three hours during the weekend.
All the best,
Coach Jeff
12 November 2012
25 October 2012
Winter comes
Hey team,
Its starting to get cold and that means safe winter training! Get out there and start getting your cold weather lungs adjusted.
I'd like to welcome back the MA guard team to the training season. I look forward to working with you developing strength, technique and with development opportunity build up for this season Biathlon season.
I hope everyone had a good summer and have maintained or improved your cardio. I know my own fall race schedule is coming to a successful close. Keeping up on cycling and running are two key elements of a successful ski season so if you haven't been hitting the tar or gym, lets get busy!
A couple of items of note before I share a great roller ski article I read this week.
1) It snowed already out west and our very own weatherman has confirmed that patterns could result in awesome snow this year. Lets hope things are way better than last year.
2) I have a DVD "Cheeta Fast" to share with a teammate who wants an awesome lactate threshold treadmill workout. Its from the Runnervals series by Coach Troy Jacobson. You may know him from Spinnervals cycle training workouts and all his DVD's are first rate.
3)I'll be doing some site maintenance and putting up better local events of interest schedule events and I have committed to a post every 2 weeks or less. If you find an event you will be attending, let me know and I will share it as well. I won't focus on only Biathlon because so much of our sport is ski racing, there are plenty of opportunity to participate around the region. Ever feel like skiing up-hill for 10k? Try Ski to the Clouds March 13 and something outside the box to consider. There are plenty of training sites in the region and we can even do a few meet ups between the team at locations such as Weston Ski Track, MA or places like Bretton Woods Nordic Center, NH.
Now to the article. This is a great review on what to look for in the roller ski hardware. I found it this week over at Snow Sport England here: http://www.snowsportengland.org.uk/roller-skiing-equipment
they cover what roller ski to be using for training and why. This goes beyond what were were discussing the last season about what makes for a good rollerski.
I look forward to a great training season and great races this winter. Good luck to everyone and welcome back Winter.
Jeff
Its starting to get cold and that means safe winter training! Get out there and start getting your cold weather lungs adjusted.
I'd like to welcome back the MA guard team to the training season. I look forward to working with you developing strength, technique and with development opportunity build up for this season Biathlon season.
I hope everyone had a good summer and have maintained or improved your cardio. I know my own fall race schedule is coming to a successful close. Keeping up on cycling and running are two key elements of a successful ski season so if you haven't been hitting the tar or gym, lets get busy!
A couple of items of note before I share a great roller ski article I read this week.
1) It snowed already out west and our very own weatherman has confirmed that patterns could result in awesome snow this year. Lets hope things are way better than last year.
2) I have a DVD "Cheeta Fast" to share with a teammate who wants an awesome lactate threshold treadmill workout. Its from the Runnervals series by Coach Troy Jacobson. You may know him from Spinnervals cycle training workouts and all his DVD's are first rate.
3)I'll be doing some site maintenance and putting up better local events of interest schedule events and I have committed to a post every 2 weeks or less. If you find an event you will be attending, let me know and I will share it as well. I won't focus on only Biathlon because so much of our sport is ski racing, there are plenty of opportunity to participate around the region. Ever feel like skiing up-hill for 10k? Try Ski to the Clouds March 13 and something outside the box to consider. There are plenty of training sites in the region and we can even do a few meet ups between the team at locations such as Weston Ski Track, MA or places like Bretton Woods Nordic Center, NH.
Now to the article. This is a great review on what to look for in the roller ski hardware. I found it this week over at Snow Sport England here: http://www.snowsportengland.org.uk/roller-skiing-equipment
they cover what roller ski to be using for training and why. This goes beyond what were were discussing the last season about what makes for a good rollerski.
I look forward to a great training season and great races this winter. Good luck to everyone and welcome back Winter.
Jeff
04 September 2012
Avoiding heat emergencies
Building off my last post, I had a summer Half Marathon racing experience to share with the team.
My family and I ran the Virginia Beach Rock & Roll Half Marathon this weekend in the high humidity and heat. We prepared well all season and did well but others weren't so fortunate. As can happen with any race, conditions were far from ideal. Start temperature was already in the 80's, high humidity, and partly overcast. The spots of sunlight were perceptively warmer and the course had few shaded areas.
We started off at a conservative pace keeping the weather in mind and hydrated at each water station. We all carried a 20oz of water/Gatorade (for me sugarless NUUN brand) for electrolytes. Right away we saw people showing heat stress with people shedding clothing, running topless (men), women in sports bras. By mile three we started to see heat emergencies with medical teams attending to cramping runners and treating for heat stress.
We maintained our hydration plan and consumed water at every aid station. By mile 5 our pace slowed and we started to take walking breaks but those seemed even hotter as the apparent cooling wind died when we walked. We started dumping water on our heads at water stations to help cooling. There were heat emergencies at nearly every mile from this point forward to the finish.
At mile 10, I noticed my heart rate hitting max counts and I decided to slow down and monitor things very closely to avoid becoming a heat emergency myself. We watched each other for signs of heat emergency such as stumbling, cramping, confusion, dizziness, the profuse sweating was obvious because of our effort level but we looked to ensure we kept sweating. I took frequent walk breaks from mile 11-13.1 to ensure I would not become an emergency and keeping my effort level below max for safety.
We all finished and enjoyed the post race ice water, chocolate milk, Popsicle, Gatorade, banana, and ice towel to help cool down. Overall we watched ourselves closely, we planned for the heat but were still surprised by the intensity. I'm glad I had my heart monitor (Garmin Forerunner 405) on as an additional indication of my effort and I will continue to use it during peak performance events to ensure that I don't hurt myself.
At the finish while we recovered in the shade, we witnessed several post race emergency crews transport people from the crowd back into the support tents to treat heat problems. We continued our hydration consumption well into the afternoon to ensure our kidney function was back to normal by evening.
Strategy for off season cross training competitions:
Train to the event's likely conditions, duration, elevation gain, altitude etc.
Have a plan for likely obstacles (heat/cold, clothing, earplugs (for sleep), etc)
Plan nutrition and hydration for performance on race day (don't try something new on performance days)
Monitor yourself during the event and adapt (ability to perform under conditions of the day)
Post event, watch for symptoms during recovery, cramping, urination color, elevated pulse for example
Train safely!
Jeff
My family and I ran the Virginia Beach Rock & Roll Half Marathon this weekend in the high humidity and heat. We prepared well all season and did well but others weren't so fortunate. As can happen with any race, conditions were far from ideal. Start temperature was already in the 80's, high humidity, and partly overcast. The spots of sunlight were perceptively warmer and the course had few shaded areas.
We started off at a conservative pace keeping the weather in mind and hydrated at each water station. We all carried a 20oz of water/Gatorade (for me sugarless NUUN brand) for electrolytes. Right away we saw people showing heat stress with people shedding clothing, running topless (men), women in sports bras. By mile three we started to see heat emergencies with medical teams attending to cramping runners and treating for heat stress.
We maintained our hydration plan and consumed water at every aid station. By mile 5 our pace slowed and we started to take walking breaks but those seemed even hotter as the apparent cooling wind died when we walked. We started dumping water on our heads at water stations to help cooling. There were heat emergencies at nearly every mile from this point forward to the finish.
At mile 10, I noticed my heart rate hitting max counts and I decided to slow down and monitor things very closely to avoid becoming a heat emergency myself. We watched each other for signs of heat emergency such as stumbling, cramping, confusion, dizziness, the profuse sweating was obvious because of our effort level but we looked to ensure we kept sweating. I took frequent walk breaks from mile 11-13.1 to ensure I would not become an emergency and keeping my effort level below max for safety.
We all finished and enjoyed the post race ice water, chocolate milk, Popsicle, Gatorade, banana, and ice towel to help cool down. Overall we watched ourselves closely, we planned for the heat but were still surprised by the intensity. I'm glad I had my heart monitor (Garmin Forerunner 405) on as an additional indication of my effort and I will continue to use it during peak performance events to ensure that I don't hurt myself.
At the finish while we recovered in the shade, we witnessed several post race emergency crews transport people from the crowd back into the support tents to treat heat problems. We continued our hydration consumption well into the afternoon to ensure our kidney function was back to normal by evening.
Strategy for off season cross training competitions:
Train to the event's likely conditions, duration, elevation gain, altitude etc.
Have a plan for likely obstacles (heat/cold, clothing, earplugs (for sleep), etc)
Plan nutrition and hydration for performance on race day (don't try something new on performance days)
Monitor yourself during the event and adapt (ability to perform under conditions of the day)
Post event, watch for symptoms during recovery, cramping, urination color, elevated pulse for example
Train safely!
Jeff
03 August 2012
Summer heat
It's hard to think snow when its hot and muggy in the Bay State. This last year didn't leave us with many options either so all we can do is hope for the best this next season and live vicariously through other teams training in colder climes.
I've been watching the elite team profiles on fasterskier.com and their pictures of places like Alaska summer camp on a glacier. I guess we will have to be satisfied with rollers for now.
While I consider my own training, its time to think about the period to build up for next season. Get your cardio in gear and stay in shape with some summer biathlon regional competitions.
I'll start some training suggestions in a few weeks building up to that first snow.
All the best,
J
I've been watching the elite team profiles on fasterskier.com and their pictures of places like Alaska summer camp on a glacier. I guess we will have to be satisfied with rollers for now.
While I consider my own training, its time to think about the period to build up for next season. Get your cardio in gear and stay in shape with some summer biathlon regional competitions.
I'll start some training suggestions in a few weeks building up to that first snow.
All the best,
J
17 January 2012
Fantastic Weekend
Well, we all were getting ready and all the hard work paid off. We had a fantastic showing and great effort by everyone. Thank you for your dedication to the workouts and the team. All of our athletes did a great job and I look forward to the next year of training.
I wanted to give you all a link to a recent news item about biathlon in the world cup.
http://fasterskier.com/2012/01/after-cross-firing-debacle-removes-neuner-in-tears-from-contention-berger-emerges-from-confusion-to-take-pursuit-victory/
Don't let up on your training and I will be purchasing some week by week training plans in the coming days.
Again, great job!
Jeff
I wanted to give you all a link to a recent news item about biathlon in the world cup.
http://fasterskier.com/2012/01/after-cross-firing-debacle-removes-neuner-in-tears-from-contention-berger-emerges-from-confusion-to-take-pursuit-victory/
Don't let up on your training and I will be purchasing some week by week training plans in the coming days.
Again, great job!
Jeff
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