Nordic Skiing Observations of the New Technique of Arm Movement, in Double Poling, Skate or Classical

Another winter season is upon us.

Nordic ski technique is going to change even more as the fast moving youth of today, move up to the senior ranks.
Certain countries with older athletes, will have made a more obvious change in their arm movements, or be left behind.
The athletes that have done a lot of roller skiing on pavement, have changed their technique, from those who have not spent as much time on roller skis.
In order to get a better purchase into the pavement, they do several things slightly differently.
First they bring their hips ahead of their ankles and use gravity to fall on their poles. They then use a strong crunch of their core, before loading their poles even more by collapsing at the knees slightly. The drive down and back of the elbows assist in propelling them forward with hands shoulder width apart or slightly wider. However poles are for push not for balance, so not too wide.
The elbows drive back bent, to around the back of the trunk, before whipping the bent elbows forward again. There is now, not normally any extension of the elbow as this uses triceps, which is a smaller muscle. The bigger stronger lat muscles are used a lot more in the bent elbow position.
The core is strong or should be, and the tempo is increased to make up for the slight loss in push of the triceps.
The back does not bend to 90 degrees, but to around 45 degrees.
In a sprint there will be a higher core crunch turnover, with elbows very high, and in normal poling the elbows will not be as high.
In sprinting the poles are also recovered very high, almost head height or even slightly higher, before they slam down into the snow.
When you whip the poles ahead there is a slight period of recovery (I say float), before engaging the core again, as you are falling forwards.
Your poling action and recovery are straight forward and back with no excess movement.
There is still a period of time when you shift the weight to the heels and pull up on the toes of the boot when pushing back, and the hips are behind the ankles, to assist in the glide..

A few advantages will be next to no soreness in the triceps, or the back, if done correctly.
Your hamstrings if they are tight will be more forgiving.

*Word Of Warning*, please beware that your rotator cuff area, takes a real beating the higher the elbows are held.

A New Nordic Ski Season Begins

Well the leaves are changing, the weather is cooler, wet, cloudy and dreary. The big question is, when will the snow come and STAY for the winter?
Hopefully the athletes have trained all summer, and have a good base. Did they do some ski specific off season training, or not? Did they do some long 4 hour sessions plus, of some kind of aerobic activity? I know for sure some have been training, and their awesome results will be reflected this winter.
I wonder what percentage of the class will be able to do the super man push-up, the L-sit and pull ups, this year? Last year 40% were able to do them, both men and women, by the end of the season. Body strength is important! The core body is so important so do lots of steep uphill double poling and it will make you strong.
Dry-land sessions will begin shortly, but hopefully, we will be on snow soon. I much prefer to be on skis, then on my feet, as I get older and less nimble, grr. Our club is slower this year, then last for registration, as we were already several dry-land sessions in, by this time.
Hmm? Maybe I should look  at my skis and see what kind of mess they are in? I know they are buried under some camping gear, etc. I wonder where my rock skis are? Maybe I should just go double poling downhill on the wet grass, as I have not done that for a long time. Is the grass frosty? Roller skiing or roller blading is dicey at times, in cool wet weather especially with the leaves.

The picture above is part of Canmore Alberta from the backside of Mount Rundle, as we tried to get one more trip to the mountains in, from the flat-lands of Edmonton.
Shortly (10 mins or so) after this picture was taken last weekend, the temperature plummeted, the thunder started and we were hammered by whiteout conditions of snow, sleet, hail, snow pellets, and as we made a hasty retreat back down, rain. The winds were so bad, that it was very difficult to stand and was it dark! The hood of the raincoat sounded like we were being hammered by huge noise maker with a high pitch humming whine. The storm lasted at least a half hour, but when you were up there, it looked like it could last all day and night. Thankfully for the most part, we were prepared and was carrying the gear. However, we will carry (TIP) some waterproof mitts, in the future. My hands were so cold, they could barely grip the ski poles.

Nordic Skiing and the End of the Season.

For some of us, though it appears the skiing is over for the season in the city, we travel 30 minutes out of town and some of the best skiing of the winter is still occurring.

Daily grooming at SWC, has been awesome, as it certainly helps to have a groomer who is an avid skier as well. Take your choice of skiing straight ice, granular ice, or wet slushy snow. It will all depend upon the time and temperature of the day as when to go skiing.

Winter must draw to a close, sooner or later, though for some of us that will bring mixed feelings. Our ski season friends will be replaced by our summer time friends. That may mean the same people or might be a whole different circle of friends.

An unofficial poll of summer time activities that Nordic skiers might do, would include; hiking with poles, all forms of biking, swimming, canoeing, weights and stretching, kayaking, and running.

Goals might be formed to lose weight, gain ski specific muscle, and perhaps do or race a certain event next winter, with an eye for improvement of time.

May is just around the corner and some of the die hard skiers, have been skiing since late October and we will, perhaps, ski till May which is just another 12 days away at the time of this post. With the possibility of doing a glacier ski or two this summer next ski season is not far away. 

The groomer just scratched the ice enough to allow the skate skis to get an edge. A second pass would have made it awesome, but that would shorten the life of track. In just over an hour this snow will be slush as it warms up to +6C to +8C. That is when you take off a few layers of clothes, and let the snow soak into your muscles down to the bone. 

As always keep an eye out for the moose relaxing and suntanning in the snow as well. The moose pick a more open area with shrubs close by where they can just reach with their neck and have lunch.


                                  HAVE A GREAT SUMMER, BE SAFE, HAVE FUN!

Nordic Skiing and Knowing your direction on the Ski Trails

I came across a couple of situations where the potential for a danger might have of occurred.

The first event had 2 new skiers, skiing after dark on lit trails, in the city river valley, and the temperature was dropping from +6C to -12C. They had been out night skiing for over an hour and were tired. They did not know where they were. They were frightened and a bit panicky, and the time was now 945pm in the evening. The coyotes were howling close by, and the ladies had seen 5 of them. They were unsure if coyotes attack people. They had come to a junction, and did not know where the trails would take them. They did not want to go even further from the parking lot, but were unsure what direction that was. They called me to describe where they were. The conversation was mixed up because of their panic.

As they were talking with me, thankfully a late skier came by while we were on the phone, and was able to explain to them quickly, which way to go. The ladies called me back shortly thereafter and said everything was fine and they were headed for Tim Horton's for coffee.

Lesson learnt, know where you are when skiing, and carry extra clothes, food, and water.

Second situation had a first time skier out in the bush, skiing with 2 friends. One of the ladies left her friend, to find her boyfriend. There are 4 staging areas several kilometers apart, and their plan was to pick the lady up, from one of those staging areas. She did not know what staging area they had parked at. The clothes she was wearing, were of a bulky cotton nature. Once again the temperature was dropping from -2C to -18C, and it was getting to-wards dark. At that time we stopped and said hello on the trail, and she explained what was happening. We told her the directions to the closest staging area. 

On our way back we decided to swing by the staging area to make sure that the lady was ok. She had made it and was patiently waiting for her friends, she hoped. She did not have her cell phone with her, which may or may not have worked anyway, because of being in a no service phone area, at times. There were 2 cars in the parking lot.

We tried to find firewood but there was none to be found. She did not accept any food or liquid when we offered it to her. We told her to catch ride if she was able, with someone and told her and that we would come back for her in about an hour. We skied quickly back to our car, to another staging area, and drove back to the lady. She and her skis were gone, as she must have caught a ride with one of the 2 cars.

Lesson learnt, know where you are when skiing, and carry extra clothes, food, and water.

                                                        Always exciting skiing for sure.

Nordic Skiing and One Skate Lesson Fragments

Yesterday's class was a good day for learning one skate, though the snow conditions in the skate lane could have been better.
Let us look at some of the exercises that were used.
Inside, a few exercises with a partner catching you, first with eyes open and then closed. With eyes closed, you fell forward on one leg a couple of inches, concentrating on the hips coming past the weighted ankle.
The learning of how to control balance outside on skis, was worked on.
Some of the exercises were:
-free skating, with concentration of landing on the outside toe of ski boot, and then pushing off the inside big toe.
Always think of landing on a flat ski, not an inside edge, with imagery of almost landing on an outside edge, instead.
- Mantra; outside, flat and then an inside edge.
- Mantra; flat ski, flat ski, flex, edge, push over.
-Did a quick review of double poling(DP).
-Did some ghost one skating with no poles.(awesome exercise, if you ever break a pole!)
- There was the tap, tap, DP on each side, with the un-weighted ski either touching the ground when needed, or held off the ground.
- There was also DP the full length of the grid area on one ski, using the tail of the un-weighted ski for balance if needed.
-Some of the key areas that were looked at, were the heel, toe foot recovery.
-Swinging the recovery foot at least under the hips, and then the belly button, and if you could get the swinging rocking motion of the foot recovery under the opposite side hip, so much the better.
-Looked at a nice low ski recovery
-Looked at a naturally bone supported stance, not muscle supported stance on a flat ski, before flexing the leg and pushing over. Naturally bone supported stance, is one of two places that there is the opportunity for fresh blood to be pumped into the legs, with the total leg extension being the other position (i.e. dog lifting his leg to pee)
-In the DP the bent arm position was worked on. Elbows bent in the forward position, like answering a phone, and then the elbows bent and back. Elbows bent are using lats, and elbows straight are using the weaker triceps muscle.
-When the elbows come forward in one skate, your one leg, like single DP in classic, straightens into a bone supported position  At this time your chest comes up, stick it out, and you float(flat ski), bringing your hips ahead of the ankle(flat ski). Imagery like hugging a tree, or being a conductor were suggested.(flat ski)
-Next there is a forward dropping of the body, C of G ahead of ankle, first gravity(flat ski), then stomach crunch(flat ski), leg flex(flat ski) and then finally push over(edged ski).
-Tri-podding was still showing up at times, and for that exercise an over emphasis of wide hands and elbows were introduced.
-Bent wider elbows, both forward, and back, help to get the timing easier in the one skate, with longer poles.

Nordic skiing and Points to remember about Half Skate, and Diagonal Skate

Some common correction areas that occur, while practicing the Half skate and the Diagonal skate

Do not keep the legs constantly bent.When you do this, the legs will fatigue quickly. In the glide phase use a natural bone supported position, not muscle dependent position, which is one of two positions to flush out the lactic acid. At the end of your push be sure to have the leg straighten, so that lactic acid also has a chance to be flushed out.
Whenever you weight your ski, be sure to land on a flat ski and do not go to an edged ski till the last possible moment. Mantra: flat ski, flat ski, flex, edge, pushover.
Lead with your belly button
Recover your foot at least under your hips, if not under your belly button
Remember to have a heel toe foot recovery
Plant your poles shoulder width apart, which will be hard to do if you do not have a good foot recovery
When poling, reach forward with bent elbows, like answering your telephone. Do not think of reaching forward with the hands.
The elbows drive forward and then the elbows drive down and back, and the hands just happen to be in the front of the elbows.
In the diagonal skate, wimp skate, coaches skate all names for the same movement, the elbow/hand reaches towards the opposite ski and there is a 2 point touch of one ski and one pole. (i.e.Left hand, right ski and then right hand, left ski) Keep your hands low in the movement, and your feet should be like a metronome, tick tock, tick tock, leading with the belly button. Once the elbows have pushed back to the trunk, the final phase of the push begins in the new direction to assist the leg push. Its like a J stroke in canoeing. This movement is normally for very steep hills or slow snow. Use the diagonal skate, rather then the half skate, if you are able to go at around the same speed. Heart rate will be lower and muscle fatigue less.
In the half skate or marathon skate which are the 2 most common names for the same thing, there is a 3 point touch, of 2 poles and a ski, just like the offset skate, except one ski is kept in the track. The half skate comes in handy when there are slower skiers in front of you, who are using the skate lane and you wish to pass. The half skate can be used to climb a bit as well, and will give you a bit of relief for your legs. Sometimes it is better to half skate, when the skate lane is perhaps icy or dirty. Where there is a slope, you would normally have the ski that is out of the track, push down the slope.

As mentioned in the past, the slower the snow conditions the more you will be pushing the poles, in direction of ski travel. The faster the snow conditions, the more your pole push will be down the direction of travel. The faster you ski, the narrower the V will be with your skis.
                                                                         

                                                                                 

Nordic Skiing, and Student Tips for Skiing Long!

Apply many thin layers of wax, not 2 or 3 thick ones

At the start of a race don't start too fast, or you will run out of gas fast if you do
Don't attack the hills unless you have trained to do that.  Slower
easier ascent helps keep energy reserves for later
Try to stay up with someone a little faster than you.

Don't overdress. Start a little chilly and you will warm up fast.

Learn to always be looking ahead at the trail, to decide what technique is required for the terrain

Try to transition smoothly from double pole, to single kick double pole, to diagonal stride and visa-versa.

The hippity-hop, comes in handy going around corners, in order to maintain momentum, especially when there is a hill to climb around the corner.
Bring kick wax with you on long ski runs. There was no wax left on the skis after the ski race.

Put base binder on in 2 very thin layers, iron in, and be sure that it does not come through, when waxing in the kick layers.

Be sure to examine and determine where is the wax pocket after a long ski or race. ONLY your skis will tell you, with your technique, where the wax pocket really is. The wax pocket will change depending if you have gained weight, wearing a pack, or you now have better technique. 

Do a better job of waxing in the first place.

Try not to snow plow as much, but do step or skate turns instead. That way the wax will not wear off as quickly.

Remembered to determine where the fastest snow is on any part of the track.

Do lots of double poling wherever you can, as long as you are going at least at the same speed as the next person.

Dates and almonds do not freeze in the cold.
Not a good idea to ski long with a hangover.

It only takes around 15 seconds to switch your skis left to right, etc.

It takes about 2-3 minutes to slap on a couple of layers of wax, which may still be of much benefit, if there is a while before the long ski or race is over.

Nordic Skiing and Pain

Well this winter season has brought many forms of pain.

A simple fall, either because of leaves or white tissue paper, has brought at times, tears to the eyes. Cracked ribs are no fun. Some days are a bit more bearable then other times, but no matter, you can not escape the annoyance of hurting. No matter if you are sitting still and sneeze, working, or try doing a bit of skiing the pain is always there. Sometimes the pain spreads into 3 or 4 places in the rib and back area, grrr. Using your core when skiing, sure shows you how much the rib cage is stabilized. Suck in your belly button and that rib will tell you in a hurry, that it does not like it.

Another form of pain is racing. You push so hard, that you feel you cannot take another breath. Your body says back off, and your mind says go harder, go faster, and all the while the technique must not fall apart. Your mind says stay focused, do not be a chicken, as tears come to your eyes, ha! If you back-off, then you live with the pain in your mind, that you did not push hard enough.

Another form of pain is not racing. A friend the other day said she wanted to race this season. Due to family obligations and a new baby, she realized with tears of sadness in the eyes, that she could not devote the time needed, to do as well as she would like. With a mind to next season, she will go for long walks with her hubby and the little one. Many squats and pulls-ups, will be squeezed in, wherever there is a spare moment, at home.

Pain can sometimes come from the economics side. Perhaps it is some ski boots that should be replaced because they bang up your toe nails. Purple toes and pain, is more common then you would think. The longing of perhaps wanting a new pair of skis is always present. Maybe you want some of the latest clothing, waxes, and gizmo's from the Nordic world, that will have to wait.
That is reality.

Another form of pain that has come about this winter Nordic season, is the death of a dear friend. One that you have spent time with, skiing and cycling, among many other activities, that shall remain nameless. His love of being a professional photographer, has been passed unto this amateur, as well as countless others, including some of my children. Tears, once again comes to the eyes.

Pain is a teacher of life. Either we embrace it, learn from it, or try and run from it, but one way or the other, you will have to deal with it.

Go ski, with a friend or be a friend. Be at peace, in the wonderful winter-land this season.

Nordic Skiing and Injuries/Sickness

Well the Christmas break is over, and many of you were very diligent at training.
 As most of you know, I was able to spot who had improved, and who had not, very quickly as you starting skiing lessons, after the break.
However, some of us have some various nagging injuries. Twisted ankles, ribs hurt from falling, hurts in the middle of the back, hip, or overuse of the rotator cuff muscles are just a few of the hurts, that I am aware of.
Common treatments like wrapping the ankle or knee, using physio or the chiropractor, drugs like Advil, and ice are in use. I have encouraged you all, to use the whirlpool.
Try to think of movements that you can do on skis, that will not stress the injured part. Double poling on the flats should not hurt the ankle much. Ski with no poles if you have back hurts. If you must stay off the skis, hit the water.
If you are hurting, I might also suggest that you use slower skis as your reflexes are not as fast, and you do not want to be injured even more.
As I mentioned before, hurts try to work through, pain you should go and see a professional .

If you get a common cold, sleep, drink lots of water, eat healthy foods, and breathe in fresh air.
Twenty minutes of a HR just over 120, for 20 minutes, every 4th day, will have you not losing much fitness either. Do not panic but rest, and get some other things done that you have put off, due to training.
Hang in there. as the racing season has descended upon us.

                                                       
                                              The ski trails are waiting, for you!

Nordic skis are taken for a ski!

When you have nagging injuries and the trails and weather are awesome, it is hard not to get out of the city and go for a ski.

Nordic Skiing and Leaves.

If you are out x-c skiing, be careful. All that wind has put a lot of leaves in the ski tracks, and it can grab your wax and take you down, hard. Use wax with silver or carbon in it, if you have some of that kind of wax. That kind of wax will slide over leaves and dirt a bit better then a hydro carbon wax.
If the snow conditions are -2C or warmer with firm tracks, then use good wax-less skis if you have some.