It is the evening before the big meet and you are scrambling around the house looking for that right hand glove that you wore at practice three days ago.  In your search your mind begins to wander and you ask yourself, “How do I know that I have everything I need to be a successful nordic ski racer at tomorrow’s race?”  What a great question to ask.  Let me share with you my strategy for being ready for the next day’s events.  The system that works best for me is the the floor layout.

Here is how it works.  Think of all the different things that you need to accomplish during the day and what is needed to accomplish them.  Then find a clean area on a floor close to your gear.  Layout your stuff as if you were dressing a manikin that is laying on the floor.  Start with the feet and work your way up to your head.  For an away ski meet involving a bus trip I would make three separate clothing figures.  You need clothing for the bus ride there and back, clothing for warm-up and racing and clothing for being out on the trail cheering.

Once all of your gear is laid out you should also think of food and water.  When will you eat?  What should you bring?  What is available at the event?  Prepare that the afternoon or evening before and you can be nice and relaxed in the morning as you take your gear to the bus, confident that you have everything you need to be dressed for success.

For those of you who like lists here is a sample list to get you started:

Warm-up and race clothing
Socks
Ski Boots
Long Underwear Bottoms
Wind Briefs for boys
Race Suit Bottom
Warm-up Pants
Long Underwear Top
Race Suit Top
Fleece Jacket
Ski Jacket
Gloves, Race and Warm-up
Hats
Buff or neck warmer

After Race on the Trail Cheering Clothing (To change into after racing)
Clean Socks
Winter Boots (Super important!!!!)
Clean and dry Long Underwear bottoms
Warm-up Ski Pants
Clean and dry Long Underwear Top
Insulating Layer, fleece
Warm Jacket
Warm Gloves
Warm and dry hat

Bus Clothing
Comfortable yet warm clothes
Warm Jacket for those buses with poor heaters
School work

Food and Drink
2 liters of water
Healthy real food, avoiding anything that is pre-packaged.

Nick on the Erg!

• Afternoon times are now 4-6pm 2 days, 4-7pm 2 days
• There will be 2 afternoon rollerski days each week
• Program is open to skiers ages 12 to 21 – a great way to continue training w/a group if you will continue skiing at college
• Will be more variety in training locations
• Coaching: Andre’ will be back plus we have several highly qualified coaches waiting to find out if we need them or not (depends on how many skiers we end up with). Hint: you’ve already worked with 3 of these guys, and new possibilities include a world team biathlete and a CXC elite team racer.

CXC Training Plan for April

Thanks for a great day Igor!  Link to more pictures of the day

Here is what the CXC Website has to say about Igor’s skiing resume

This year the CXC Junior Development Program will be led by Igor Badamshin. Igor (born 1966) is a former Soviet/Russia cross country ski racer who competed from 1989 to 1997. He won a bronze medal at the 1993 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun and earned his best individual finishes of 5th twice at the World Championships (1989: 50 km, 1993: 30 km). Igor’s best individual finish at the Winter Olympics was 14th in the 50 km event in 1994.

Igor has a very extensive coaching career working with athletes from US Junior to International Elite while winning at every level; US Junior Olympics, World Cups, World Championships and Olympic Winter Games.

Igor has been coaching at Gunstock Ski Association in New Hampshire for the last 5 years and has been our CXC High Performance Advisor for the last 3 years. Many of his ideas were implemented in the CXC Elite Team training plan by Bryan Fish, CXC Elite Team head coach.

“This is a huge addition in expertise, experience and knowledge to our athletic programs. The CXC Junior Development Program has shown positive growth for the last two years. Each year we have had more coaches, clubs and programs interested in partnering with CXC to provide their athletes the best training opportunities. We have several applications submitted even before the program announcement which is a new and very exciting step for CXC” – commented Yuriy Gusev, CXC Executive & Athletic Director.

Registration Form and Parental Waiver

Registration is now open for the 2009 Summer Youth Training program. Coaches Andre Watt, Anders Osthus and Nikolai Anikin, Jr return along with Jenna Dickinson to lead high school aged athletes and recent high school grads in ski-specific strength and endurance, conditioning and rollerskiing. DXC has some rollerskis available to borrow.

The 8 week program begins June 8th and will meet from 5-7pm Monday through Thursday evenings in addition to at least 2 morning sessions per week (to be determined by registration numbers and requests). Participants are welcome to attend as many of the sessions as they’d like. Workouts will take place at various Duluth parks and trails including Chester Bowl, Park Point, Spirit Mountain, Lakewalk, Rock Pond and the Superior Hiking Trail.

The Duluth XC Ski Club is able to offer this high quality program at a very low rate, in part, thanks to proceeds from the Banff Mountain Film Festival hosted in November. The summer program fee is $90. Scholarships are available.

Register early to help us determine our schedule and staffing needs.

Remember, skiers are made in the summer! June…July….August!

More on the Summer Youth Training Program
Link to photosets from the Summer Training Program
Registration form for the 2009 program

     I hear my coaches say it time and time again, “ski racing is about fitness.”  “We need to be the fittest people in the world,” and they’re right.  Our sport is one of the most cardiovascularly and muscularly demanding endeavors possible, and there’s no doubt in my mind that fitness is the key to world class performance.  We need strength, endurance, speed, coordination, and physical awareness.  We race short distances and long, classic and skate, and on varying terrain and cannot reach the podium without an extremely high level of fitness.

This physical challenge does not deter me in the slightest, but is rather a long-range goal, a lifestyle that I adopted many years back.  And, while I understand that this is the main component of success in ski racing, I also know that the little, less significant aspects of being a cross-country ski racer are also critically important.

I came to realize this about two months back.  With fall training in high gear, I was experiencing the aches and pains of a demanding workout schedule.  I was sore after bounding intervals and tight after long double poles, and then one day it clicked that I could be doing a better job of addressing recovery.  I was wholeheartedly pursuing training, yet I didn’t follow a stretching routine, seldom attended a yoga class, and never got a massage.  As a child I did gymnastics and dance and would do endless acrobatic routines on my parent’s lawn in the summer.  Now just the thought of a backbend made me cringe.  In fact, my tight hamstrings would yell at me walking up the stairs.

This got me to thinking, no matter how much I worked to develop a high level of fitness, if my body was inhibited by a limited range of motion I would not be able to reach my full potential.  Physical capacity was a necessity if I wanted to stand on the podium, and conversely tight, inflexible muscles could keep me from getting there.  In the scheme of things, flexibility is not a huge part of ski racing.  We need to be able to work well within a certain range of motion.  At the same time, the movement patterns we practice endlessly shouldn’t become more and more restrictive.

It was then that I decided to do something about my hamstrings, lower back, shoulders, neck, lats, and calves.  Perhaps their tightness wouldn’t bother me this season or next, but I knew that some day it would catch up to me, and I didn’t want to take the chance.  If I was to say that I was doing everything I could to succeed, this was as important a task as the workouts in my training plan.

After some research I made an appointment at a sports clinic and met with a doctor.  We fully agreed that the training I was doing was further limiting my range of motion and was concerned that it was generally unhealthy and could increase my risk of injury.  I was fit for sure, but my fitness was not balanced with an acceptable degree flexibility.  I started a daily stretching program, simple and effective, and scheduled one massage a week until I left for racing.

Today I had my last massage before leaving for the SuperTour.  I met with the doctor and he was pleased by the marked improvement.  More importantly, though, I have seen a positive trend in training.  My hamstrings don’t yell at me when I stride or V1 uphill and my shoulders and back complain less from double poling.  My aches and pains are not gone, and I don’t expect them to be.  Training is hard, and stressing the body makes us faster and stronger.  Jackie Joyner-Kersee put it best when she said, “Ask any athlete: We all hurt at times.  I’m asking my body to go through seven different tasks.  To ask it not to ache would be too much.”  What she didn’t say is that we can relieve some of the stress we put on our bodies by simply paying attention to the smaller details.  Whether it’s hydrating better, getting an extra hour sleep, taking a vitamin, or stretching, it’s important to notice the little things.

Imagery and visualization…some thoughts for a stronger you.

November 20

Meisinger yoga day

 Imagery can relieve pain, speed healing and help the body subdue hundreds of ailments, including depression, impotence, allergies and asthma.

Images aren’t necessarily limited to visual but can be sounds, tastes, smells or a combination of sensations. A certain smell, for example, may invoke either pleasant or bad memories in you.

Think, for example, of holding a fresh, juicy lemon in your hand. Perhaps you can feel its texture or see the vividness of its yellow skin. As you slice it open, you see the juice squirt out of it. The lemon’s tart aroma is overwhelming. Finally, you stick it in your mouth, suck on it and taste the sour flavor as the juices roll over your tongue.

More than likely, your body reacted in some way to that image. For example, you may have begun to salivate. Or maybe you’ll run home and put lemons on the shopping list!

Imagery is the language that the mind uses to communicate with the body. You can’t really talk to a wart and say ‘Hey, go away,’ because that’s not the language that the brain uses to communicate with the body. You need to imagine that wart and see it shrinking. Imagery is the biological connection between the mind and body. As we will see, this is extremely useful in mind body healing.

It is estimated that an average person has 10,000 thoughts or images flashing through his mind each day. At least half of those thoughts are negative, such as anxiety of meeting a quota, a coming speech, job related anxiety, etc. Unharnessed, a steady dose of worry and other negative images can alter your physiology and make you more susceptible to a variety of ailments, ranging from acne to arthritis, headaches to heart disease, and ulcers to urinary tract infections.

Your thoughts have a direct influence on the way you feel and behave. If you tend to dwell on sad or negative thoughts, you most likely are not a very happy person. Likewise, if you think that your schooling is enough to give you a headache, you probably will come home with throbbing temples each day. This is just another clear example of the power the mind exerts over the body.

But if you can learn to direct and control the images in your head, you can help your body heal itself. Our imagination is like a spirited, powerful horse. If it’s untamed, it can be dangerous and run you over. But if you learn to use your imagination in a way that is purposeful and directed, it can be a tremendously powerful vehicle to get you where you want to go, including to better health.

Visualization and imagery has applications in sports, leadership training, possibility thinking and others…affirmations and visualizations are used by athletes everyday. A golfer may form a mental map of the fairway, imagining precisely where he will place the ball on each shot; a high jumper may visualize every split second of his approach to and leap over the bar; a baseball pitcher may run a mental film of the ball from the time it leaves his hand until it lands in the catcher’s glove. Think about the possibilities for your Nordic skiing season. I am a strong advocate of these ideas; especially on long cold ski’s- I strengthen my self with positive reaffirmation and visualizations!

More from Linda Mackenzie:

Visualization puts your intention of what you want to work. The more specific the intention, the more specific the results. Remember: whatever you believe is what your body will do. So when you are thinking of your intention make sure it is:

Clear

Specific

Achievable

You feel, know and trust it is being accomplished.

Visualization exercises can be done once in the morning and before bedtime. Some people do see or feel results the very first time but remember everyone’s body and mind are different and so is the way they process information so have patience.

Responsibility is:

Be accountable to and for yourself

Make a commitment

Do visualization regularly

Be persistent and patient

Keep positive

Get Mentally Relaxed

A relaxed state puts allows you direct access to your subconscious mind. Here are some steps to help you relax:

Find a quiet place. Relax in a favorite chair or lie down.  

Get comfortable and loosen clothing

Uncross your arms and legs

Get centered by focusing on the breath and breathing (this activates the vagus nerve which is the major quieting nerve in the body)

Totally relax your body and mind

Visualize

Things we did today:

Breathing: cleansing, settling, mountain.

Strike a Pose: invoking your space, rooting, pyramid, mountain and corpse.

Mind Work/Discussion: Visualization: “the Path”

Thoughts to consider for the week:

Drink more water! Cleanse and purify your body & mind.

Know yourself. Focusing on energy sources within you (don’t forget about your chakra system; we will get back to more chakra work next time.) and strengthening your mind through visualization techniques that you create will empower you and help you learn to focus your force to specificity. (spes-i-fisity)

Consider choice. Think about choosing love over fear, and asking yourself what it is you fear. Why do you fear? Make moves in your life to empower yourself with choice. Always hold close to your heart that you make choices for yourself emotionally; take power over these choice opportunities! Be responsible for your emotional health and wash a lot of dishes….until next time, you are a super star- live it! Shine!!

~ ms.meisinger ~

Editors note: This article used by permission. First published in the August 11, 2008 Issue of SkiPost Volume 8 Number 28

You’ve heard it before, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. But if you are like many athletes breakfast is a mere afterthought if even a thought at all. But you are different than most people; you are an athlete and that makes breakfast not just important but essential for success in sport, work and/or school. Skipping breakfast slows your body’s ability to burn calories (metabolism) and brain function, and you set yourself up to raid the school vending machine by midmorning.

When your blood sugar crashes you’re not likely to make nutritionally wise choices and it’s easy to go for a quick “fix” that will send you crashing again later in the day. This “crash” will cause your training and sports performance to suffer because you won’t have the energy necessary to keep up with your well-nourished teammates and competitors. To train and compete optimally you must eat optimally from start to finish everyday. Lots of research has shown that people who eat breakfast score better on tests, perform better at work, weigh less, and have less body fat than people who don’t normally consume breakfast.

As a doctoral student in exercise physiology and nutrition and an Olympic cross-country skier, I know how hard it can be to make time for breakfast. However, without good nutritional habits I never would have had the energy to train all the hours required to make the 2006 US Olympic Cross Country Ski Team.

It’s easy to overlook breakfast when you are rushing from training to work/class, or trying to get a few extra minutes of sleep. But this bad habit can have lots of negative consequences; you will probably make poorer food choices later in the day when you get overly hungry. Also, recovery from morning training sessions is much slower without good nutrition and hydration and you risk becoming glycogen depleted (low carbohydrate stores). All this leads to less energy for training later in the day. From personal experience, I’ve found that with a little planning I can have a quick and nutritious breakfast that will kick-start my day and prepare me for my next workout.

What and how much you eat for breakfast are also important. Highly refined convenience foods such as Poptarts, sugared cereals, and Nutrigrain bars are not adequate or wholesome fuel for athletes! Every morning you should treat your body to the fuel it needs to support all the hard training you have done and will be doing later in the day. A healthy breakfast consists of a good balance among sources of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. This includes fresh fruit, whole grains, and a serving of dairy, soy, or eggs. Whole wheat bread, oatmeal, raisin bran, low-fat milk, yogurt, soy milk, and scrambled eggs can all be part of a healthy breakfast. A balance of these ingredients will ensure adequate intake of vitamins, minerals, and help you to feel full and energized throughout the morning.

It’s best to eat at least 2 hours before practice or working out. This is because after you eat, blood pools to the stomach to help you digest but when you exercise, your working muscles need that blood too. To get the most out of your workouts you want to be able to supply your muscles with the blood and oxygen they need. If you only have an hour before practice, grab something light, such as a banana, and eat your main meal within an hour of finishing your workout. Your main breakfast meal after training should be adequate to replenish muscle carbohydrate stores and help to repair muscle tissue that may have been damaged. Muscle protein breakdown often happens with resistance and intense training; this breakdown is decreased if you eat a combination of protein and carbohydrate after training. The exact amount of carbohydrate and protein needed depends on the amount of training you do and your body size.

A Few of Abby’s Breakfast Options

Abby’s Power Breakfast (also my pre-race breakfast!)

½ cup whole oats
½ cup 1% milk (or soy milk)
1 egg
½ banana, ½ cup frozen berries or ¼ cup dried fruit
Walnuts or other nuts as topping
Brown sugar or honey (optional)

Place the oats, milk, egg, and any frozen fruit in a microwave-safe bowl and mix well. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir and microwave for an additional minute. Let sit for one minute, top with dried fruit, nuts, and add additional milk or sweetener if desired.

Abby’s Crunch-Time Breakfast (also great for post-workouts)

1 cup 1% milk, soy milk, or yogurt
1 scoop protein powder (I use soy or whey protein)
1 frozen banana and/or ½ cup frozen berries
1-2 Tbs wheat germ
3-4 ice cubes