Ok, now I know what you mean (and I have the Bra tape). I always
wondered about that little forward motion in Bra's initiation of the
kick. Was it intentional or perhaps, as you suggest, the result of
shifting his weight to the ball of the foot? For the past couple of
years, some USST and Subaru team folks have been pointing to that same
foot motion on tapes of Bente Skari at the Soldier Hollow Olympics. The
thing I noticed is that motion wasn't there the following year, the one
she won all the races. I've played with it this spring, but not from
the thought of pushing off the ball of the foot (a lot of coaches
suggest middle of the foot vs. heel). In looking at tapes, it's easy to
mistake the motions one sees for what is causing them or what the skier
is actually trying to do.

Gene


Douglas Diehl wrote:

Think of setting the kicking foot forward and initiating the kick from
the heel. The coaches were telling us by initiating the kick from the
back of the foot would give the kick zone a longer contact and
eliminate "late kick". Just try experimenting with both ideas on your
roller skiis next time. It's still possible to set the foot forward
and drive off the ball of the foot, which is far more powerful. If you
want I'll send you Oddvar Bra's classic video via the mail. It's
amazing seeing him skiing from the side. His foot and ankle shoot
forward before each kick. In the mean time I'll try to think of where
I read Oddvar Bra comments about how pullling from the heel was all
wrong.
Gene Goldenfeld wrote in message ...
Doug, this sounds interesting, but I don't understand what you're
saying. "Pull from the heel" -- what's that? And what exactly are you
doing relative to the balls of your feet?

Gene

Douglas Diehl wrote:

This discussion of the Kris Freeman Video got me to thinking about the
best info I've heard about Classic Skiing. For years begginning in the
1980's coaches were telling us to pull from the heel when loading the
ski during the kick phase. Their theory was this would elminate slip
and give a better purchase of the kick wax.

A few seasons back during a race on the Tug Hill Plateau I was skiing
behind Matt Belizi a former NCAA standout skier. He was getting
amazing drive forward and his tempo was less than mine. I could never
figure out his power until I read some remarks by Oddvar Bra last
winter. Remember him...he won more Classic Worlds Cups than any other
skier? The guy all the coaches use to tell us was perhaps the best
technician at classic. In his comments he said after classic skiing
the balls of your feet should hurt. He went on to say it is incorrect
to pull from the heel as coaches tell skiers. So I experimented and
surprise there was the power. Moreover, it reduces tightening in my
lower back! I can run the Friends Lake Inn ski trails for hours, but
everyone knows the lower back pain which can come from classic skiing
up hills. My theory is a runner comes of the ball of the foot as he
drives forward on hills not the heel. When pulling from the heel
during skiing there is a slight hang time, in which the lower back
muscles hold the leg high and back bringing on fatigue. I usually
don't jump into these technique discussions at RSN, but I thought
maybe this would help.