Skiing with Tommy

Hi all,

I had a pretty exciting time in West Yellowstone, and now I'm back in
windy, snowless, Reading MA. I wrote up an article about my
experiences. I've included the LONG version below. I hope you all
enjoy. I'll write up all the new wax secrets I learned in a day or
two.

Rob

West Yellowstone Report

Every November Americas ski family gathers in West Yellowstone Montana
for a Thanksgiving holiday of skiing and socializing. My wife and I
had the feeling we were coming home. First, I turned around on the
plane and found Bates skier Kyle Rogers in the seat behind me.
Arriving in Bozeman we met a large group of skiers from the Holderness
School. The next day on the trails we saw the Stratton Mountain
School contingent, former New England skiers like Andy Newell and
Andrew Johnson leading the U.S. Ski Team through interval training, and
racers from college teams Middlebury, UVM, and Bates. There were
other skiers from all over the country as well as The Factory Team, The
Rossignol Team, and the Toko Tech Team. And this year we had a very
special guest for the holidays. At the invitation of Toko (poles and
gloves) and Madshus skis, Thomas Alsgaard, the fastest skier in the
world and a multiple Olympic and World Championship gold medallist,
flew in from Oslo to spend a few days skiing and hanging out with
Americas skiers.

I first met Thomas when he strolled into breakfast at the Stagecoach
Inn escorted by Ian Harvey, Toko Brand Manager, and Peter Hale of
Madshus. Thomas looked tired, but perked up after a hearty meal of
scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. After eating Ian said, Who would
like to take Thomas for a ski?. Jim Levins, NENSA Board of Directors
member, and I jumped at the chance. A half hour later Jim, Thomas, and
I were dressed in our bright yellow Toko warm-ups striding quickly
toward the trails. Alsgaard is a tall man, but what really sets him
apart are his broad shoulders. We had to march quick-step to keep up
with his long, rapid strides. Ski conditions were ideal with fresh,
cold, packed powder on the trails and bright sun painting the
snow-laden pines with yellow light. We asked Middlebury skier Kate
Whitcomb to join us, and we started up the Rendezvous trail. Before
beginning our ski in earnest we had to pass through the brightly
colored gauntlet of ski product tents lining both sides of the trail.
Thomas created quite a stir as we passed. He stopped and chatted
politely while skiers asked questions and gushed. He was anxious to
get skiing so after a few hellos we skied off into the trees. When we
reached the Dead Dog trail, Thomas was really enjoying the day and
wanted to cruise. I suggested he take the lead, but he said, No, you
set the pace. Try to imagine the pressure of having the worlds best
skier clicking your ski tails as you struggle to maintain some
semblance of good form on the uphills and to not fall headfirst into
the soft snow on the downhills. I snuck a glance at my heart rate
monitor at the top of a hill and saw that I was enjoying a good level
5, maximal effort. Thomas was not breaking a sweat, skiing relaxed,
and enjoying the scenery. To give myself a break I would ask him
questions. He told me that he never uses a heart rate monitor, but
just skis hard when he feels good and it is fun to go fast, and skis
slow when he is tired. It was his first day of classic skiing since
March and the best conditions he had seen this year. It was clear that
above all he loved to be out in nature enjoying a good ski. We
discussed Alaska and he admitted that he dreamed of going there, but
the demands of elite level training left him no time for such a trip.
As you may have gathered, his English is excellent.

After 90 minutes we had skied almost all the open trails, so we
returned, me gasping, Thomas smiling, to the tent area. We headed out
again with Middlebury skier Clare ??? so Thomas could give some her
some technique advice. This gave me a chance to ski behind him and
observe his smooth and powerful technique. He never slipped kicking up
the steep hills and double-poled with long, crisp thrusts. At the end
of our short tour he gave Clare some good suggestions for improving. I
asked if he had any tips for the old man. He smiled impishly at me,
No, it is too late for you. But, then he followed his joke with some
good pointers for me too.

Ian asked Thomas when he arrived what he expected to do on his trip.
Work was his simple answer. And work he did, spending the rest of
the days working with various groups out on the trails and the evenings
signing autographs and answering questions. He is a shy man in a
crowd, but with a group of juniors on the trails he was open, humorous,
and fully at ease. St. Lawrence skier Amy Laverack gathered lots of
good information. His biggest training week was 35 hours, and he
trained about 800 hours per year. However, as a junior he trained 420
to 460 hours per year and enjoyed playing many sports including soccer
and cycling. Amys former teammate on the Holderness team, Todd
Nordbloom, asked Thomas if he would autograph his chest. Well, maybe
if you were a girl replied Thomas. The next day on the trail Thomas
spotted Todd and just shook his head. And dismaying news for we
coaches, he told the juniors to not listen too closely to their
coaches, but to listen to their own instincts about what works for
them. He told the story of the time before the Olympics in Lillehammer
in 1994. He would do no-pole skate workouts for over an hour. The
older members of the Norwegian team derided these workouts. After
Thomas crushed the field for a decisive win in the 30K skate the rest
of the team decided that no-pole skate workouts were not a bad idea.

Murray Banks, World Masters Champion from Vermont, told me of seeing
Thomas skiing back from the trails to our hotel. West Yellowstone
lightly plows and packs the snow on its streets and uses no sand or
salt. Thomas took a flying leap off the snow bank into the street,
weaved in and around two on-coming cars, and dashed down the road
around the corner. As one young skier said, He gave me five tips
about skiing, but the only one I remember is to have fun.




=====
Rob Bradlee
Java, C++, Perl, XML, OOAD, Linux, and Unix Training

Rob Bradlee wrote:
reached the Dead Dog trail, Thomas was really enjoying the day and
wanted to cruise. I suggested he take the lead, but he said, No, you
set the pace. Try to imagine the pressure of having the worlds best

You were lucky! The current norwegian team have admitted that it might
even be an advantage for them that Thomas has left, since he tended to
'cruise' along on long-distance training days at a tempo that overtaxed
nearly all of the rest of the team. This year it's become a bit easier
to 'listen to your body' and stay within the proper envelope. :-)

skier clicking your ski tails as you struggle to maintain some
semblance of good form on the uphills and to not fall headfirst into
the soft snow on the downhills. I snuck a glance at my heart rate
monitor at the top of a hill and saw that I was enjoying a good level
5, maximal effort. Thomas was not breaking a sweat, skiing relaxed,
and enjoying the scenery.

See?
:-)

Terje
--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

Just think what Alsgaard could have accomplished if only he'd used modern
training techniques -- like heart monitor zones, and being sure to go slow
enough on easy days.

Thanks for the great story, Rob.

Ken

Dahelie was the same way as Alsgaard. He didn't use a pulse monitor
but went on how he felt. I think those guys knew their training so
well that they could tell you what their heart rate was at any given
moment within a few beats. As for modern training techniques, the
Norwegians invented them. Check out the "Joy of Skiing " video leading
up to the Lillehammer Olympics. Those guys are getting stuck with
needles by the team doctors etc. Lactic Acid, Oxygen Uptake, Altitude
training, you name it, they knew it.

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT

"Ken Roberts" wrote in message ...
Just think what Alsgaard could have accomplished if only he'd used modern
training techniques -- like heart monitor zones, and being sure to go slow
enough on easy days.

Thanks for the great story, Rob.

Ken

On 1 Dec 2003 16:06:53 -0800, (Jay Tegeder) wrote:

Dahelie was the same way as Alsgaard. He didn't use a pulse monitor
but went on how he felt. I think those guys knew their training so
well that they could tell you what their heart rate was at any given
moment within a few beats. As for modern training techniques, the
Norwegians invented them. Check out the "Joy of Skiing " video leading
up to the Lillehammer Olympics. Those guys are getting stuck with
needles by the team doctors etc. Lactic Acid, Oxygen Uptake, Altitude
training, you name it, they knew it.

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT

"Ken Roberts" wrote in message ...
Just think what Alsgaard could have accomplished if only he'd used modern
training techniques -- like heart monitor zones, and being sure to go slow
enough on easy days.

Thanks for the great story, Rob.

Ken
It is so hard to believe its been 10 years since Lillehammer. :^(



g.c.

"Rob Bradlee" wrote in message
o.com...
When we
reached the Dead Dog trail, Thomas was really enjoying the day and
wanted to cruise. I suggested he take the lead, but he said, No, you
set the pace.


You think he would have learned his lesson in Lillihammer at the '94 Olympic
relay race.
I'm surprised he offered you this after it backfired when he tried it with
Silvio Fauner.

Great post. Brought a big smile to my face. What a thrill it must have been.

What'd you learn about waxing and ski prtep?

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY

George Cleveland wrote:

It is so hard to believe its been 10 years since Lillehammer. :^(

Yeah, I know!

Last year, when visiting my Utah friends, they had to remind me that
'the Olympics (unspecified year) was the one in Utah, not Lillehammer!'

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message ...

You think he would have learned his lesson in Lillihammer at the '94 Olympic
relay race.
I'm surprised he offered you this after it backfired when he tried it with
Silvio Fauner.

umm...that was bjorn that got kicked down by fauner.

phil