"Sly D. Skeez" wrote
Is the goal here to ski with technique that looks good, or to ski fast
regardless of how it looks?

Jay Wenner

First, not directed at all to Jay's comment, at all... I'd just like to
chime in to thank Pete for the wonderful post and to repeat what others have
said about not being taken aback by what anyone has posted in "debating"
some of the principles he conveyed.

I'm of the camp that techniques, drills and philosophies by on the snow
experts are worth more (to me) than theoretical musings, no matter how smart
or theoretically knowledgeable the person is. I'd sooner read one post a
year from the likes of Pete than daily posts by an intelligent person who is
just theorizing, but not skiing or coaching at an expert level. It's just
not of interest to me when it doesn't come from an on the snow expert.

Being from a medical background, there's biochemistry, physiology, anatomy,
biophysics, etc, and then there's the human body which defies the rules in
every *individual* case. Science, applied to the human body is in generally
in terms of ranges - not rules. That's why a medical professional gets
better after he/she learns all the exceptions and adaptations and why an
experienced coach who approaches his profession intelligently and
knowledgably, with an understanding of theory, is the expert, not the
scientist. However much theoretical musings will challenge and forward the
sport in the right context; they're just not interesting to me. Also, learn
to pick your battles, don't do it in the face of a real expert who only
posts to be friendly and helpful. He's not looking for a debate and will be
driven off whether you intend this or not. I've seen it in so many
newsgroups.

Second, as to what Jay just said: for a racer, I think the only criterion
is speed, but for some of us the goal can only be to look good. We all know
"really ugly" skiers who are strong, fit and fast and we just wish we could
keep up. When I see Ken's videos I think I probably "look" a lot better but
then hear how $%&ing fast he is (compared to me!). I just think, I wish I
could ski as fast as him regardless of how I look. But, it is also my
opinion, is that world class skiers don't go fast without looking pretty
damn good at least to my semi-educated eye. Maybe not PERFECT from the
theoretician's or even coach's point of view, but man they're within a
gnat's ass of awfully good technique by any standard. There are no truly
ugly world class skiers, in my opinion.

But some of us can't go fast and take a lot of pleasure in at least looking
(and feeling) good on skis - good technique is fun! Case in point: I'm a
pretty old guy (50) who didn't really start skiing for fitness until 3-4
years ago. I'm not a fat couch potato, but I am not really a naturally
strong or fast guy, never have been, and didn't ever do any serious training
during my youth or middle age. Before that I skied, hiked, biked some, but
it was strictly hit and miss, very casual. I bought my first non three-pin
gear (used, second or third tier) striding and skating skis about 6-7 years
ago, and my first top shelf stuff this winter. I entered my first race of
any sort 3 years ago. I did my first 50 k the same year. I do ski as much
as I can now (say 5 hours per week average for 5 months in the winter, which
is a lot for me and really as much as I can possibly squeeze in) and
actually try to follow a informal "program" to properly mix proper LSD and
one day a week of proper intensity. I still creep up "personal bests" in
terms of minutes/km every year and do a 50 k marathon every year, but I'm
SLOW (in the neighborhood of +50% compared to the winners!). What I've
noticed is that my friends who at one time were serious endurance athletes,
given the same state of condition and minutes/km times in the early winter,
improve their times MUCH more quickly given the less time and effort as me
(I pay attention to it and don't think I "overtrain"). I don't know if this
is residual base or genetics (probably both). They also have better
technique than me (especially striding) and so I thank my lucky stars I can
ski with them for a while in the early season - it's really great to ski
with and behind a better skier. Most of the people my speed are very crummy
skiers.

Realistically, with 5 hours per week, at age 50, with the lack of historical
base and genetics, can I continue to increase my fitness, yes. Can I
continually improve technique, yes. Can I enjoy skiing and take pride in my
technique - absolutely yes. Can I be fast (in terms of competing in age
group) regardless of pretty or ugly technique? - no. So it's technique or
nothing as far as being top level at something.

But I really will have modest improvements over time. For example, my goal
is to get another 10+% knocked off my 50K time, over the next couple of
years (I'm at 3:45 and would like to be between 3:15 and 3:30). I don't
expect be competitive with the national-masters level skiers who are in my
age group locally. But EVERY TIME I ski, I ENJOY working on good
technique - not from any theoretical basis, but just trying to emulate what
I _see_ from video clips, and integrate what I read, and occasional lesson
or pointers from people who have real life experience as teachers or
coaches. The theoretical stuff I read here (or used to), doesn't do one bit
of good.

So I guess my point is: for some of us, we really do like looking good in
our skiing (I mean feeling efficient and really feeling the flow, not
dressing snappy -although that's part of it as well) since we don't have a
reasonable expectation to be fast anyway.

Grissy.