I just got back from Tom Temple’s wedding. I was the best man. To be the best man I had to win the Best Manthalon. It wasn’t really ski training, but was it ever hard. Here’s as brief a write-up as I can muster. (more…)
Medium week with total volume of about 16.5 hours of training scheduled with a little strength focus. Next week will be the first decent volume week.
It’s Sat. now and I’m feeling pretty good except for my upper body which is still getting sore after harder strength sessions. More importantly I’m starting to feel more “in shape” again as compared to this spring when I felt like I was racing on the weekends, never training, and just losing fitness.
a.k.a running a half marathon when you’re not in shape. (more…)
I made it up to ski one final time today. It wasn’t that great, to be honest. But hey, it’s June 12th and not many people can claim they have skied that late in the spring (summer?). Most places haven’t had snow since March so when I tell fellow ski racers around the country that good skiing exists until the end of May, they are either envious or skeptical. Not that it is any secret. The US Ski Team came for a camp here just a couple weeks back and we had great grooming and T-shirt weather skiing. XC Oregon gladly took advantage of a week of sweet skiing. (more…)
At one point or another this past week, most of the team has gone up to the COCC lab and hammered out the spring VO2 max test, which we do ski walking/bounding. (more…)
Although the blog looks the same, I’ve updated the regular part of the website which really looked pretty novice before. The old layout would have been pretty decent—in 1993 and I’m allowed to say that since I was the one who designed it. If you have any strong opinions one way or the other, let me know.
Obviously the regular xc oregon site doesn’t get updated as frequently with content, but there is some info on the summer and fall cross-country ski conditioning classes at COCC, and the on-snow December nordic ski camp.
I made it here after way too much traveling. Just to let everybody know, Los Angeles Interantional (LAX) is really confusing, way more confusing than Frankfurt. And no, I don’t speak German, if that helps with how crazy LAX is. I also got to experience the joys of flying Air India. Actually, not bad. Yes we got curry for dinner, and it was pretty good. The plane was absolutely packed and I didn’t understand a word of what people were saying. So I did the best thing to do in that situation, I fell alseep and did not wake up until we landed. It was beautiful.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pGnpLQDCXj9QUtOugFZoMNg
Update Sat. morning: Feeling a bit tired last couple of days and not really sure why. I’m guessing that I’m just absorbing the training from my big ski week 2 weeks ago when the US Team was here grooming. I definitely find that when I train a decent block as long as I keep going I don’t feel too bad but then when I take it easier I start to feel lethargic. My non-scientific theory is that the body somehow knows that this is the time for it to rebuild and hence makes you feel actually more tired than when I was doing all the training.
Volume is still fairly moderate but a little more intensity this week. Trying to be a little more consistent with getting into the gym now too. Not so much to build muscle mass as to help lean me out. Might sound odd, but I definitely have found that I can get rid of some of my spring fat by lifting. Maybe the increased resting metabolic rate… Or maybe it’s just in my head.
The beginning of June means that it’s time for another round of lab testing. Lactate profile, VO2 max, and body composition. We do testing in June as something of a baseline to which we compare our fitness in September when we test again. Of course, we want to see improvement from year to year each June but sometimes that doesn’t happen depending on how tired or burnt out we were from the winter’s racing.
Personally, I’ve been racing a little too much and fear that my base suffered a bit this spring until a couple of weeks ago when the US Ski Team was here grooming and we all took advantage of great grooming and warm sun. So I guess what I’m saying is that I won’t be too surprised if this isn’t my best test ever. I’m leaving for the college in about 10 minutes and talking about the test is definitely making me nervous. I’d say wish me luck, but when it comes to VO2 max, there isn’t much luck involved. Just get on the treadmill and stay on.
