nordic walking

Anybody pursue this as off-season or all-season exercise / training? I'm a
complete newbie as to the technique. I saw that Katrin Apel (biathlon) has
a video out, except I don't speak German... but I may get the jest of it
just by watching.

My university racing team uses ski hiking (aka ski striding, nordic
walking, but different from ski bounding) both as one of our LSD
activities and as one of our intensity activities. I have encountered
several different philosophies about ski hiking, but here is my take:

The basic intent of ski hiking is to mimic diagonal stride as much as
possible. You want to have a preload and a weight shift. One of my
coaches likes to describe the weight shift and preload as feeling
similar to the "Joe Cool" gangsta swagger. When running, you kick your
foot up at the end of your stride. When ski hiking, you want to reduce
this up/down motion and use a motion similar to the final portion of a
diagonal stride kick. Try to minimize the bouncing motion
characteristic of running. Concentrate on pulling your body forwards
with your front leg rather than pushing it forward with your back leg.
Remember to use the same arm motion and upper body rotation as in
diagonal stride, although you might have to cut the end of the push
short. One thing that sometimes helps is to find an open area, close
your eyes, visualize yourself doing diagonal stride, and then try to
mimic it as much as possible while walking. Start slowly and then work
up to a regular walking pace.

We use this technique for 2-3hr LSD sessions as well as for long hill
workouts. I find that using ski hiking for intensity workes more on
teaching your legs to move quickly while maintaining technique than
working on max energy output.

We also occasionally use ski bounding for hill sessions, which is a lot
more tiring. Our version of ski bounding uses a lot of these same
principles, except that we focus on a quick, very powerful push and
maximum air-time (when neither foot is on the ground).

I use poles that are about 10cm below my arm pits for ski hiking. My
club team before I came to university used much shorter poles (about
elbow height) for bounding only, but I prefer the longer poles because
they allow me to include upper body rotation and use my arms more.

Hope my thoughts have been useful. I'm keen to know what other skiers'
philosophies on ski hiking / nordic walking are.

Colin

The post from Colin is correct (especially for a competitive skier) and
has a lot of useful information. Pole hiking is used in other ways as
well.
You can choose to make it simple or to make it technical; either way
you get benefits. The simple way is to just go hiking with ski poles
for 1-3 hours at an average heart rate (HR) of around 60-70% of maximum
- you can talk comfortably at that pace and the perceived level of
exertion should be "this is easy." You're HR will naturally climb some
on the hills and, if you want, you can throw in some higher intensity
climbing as your fitness level dictates.
The physiological benefits are straightforward: you improve the number
of mitochondria (the intracellular powerhouses) in your muscles and the
mitochondrial enzymes needed for their functioning; there will be a
proliferation of the aterioles supplying blood to the muscles, thereby
delivering more oxygen to them; the muscles will be strengthened.
These workouts are widely used to build endurance and, in shorter
lengths, as recovery workouts in between more intense workouts.
The fundamental value of the simple approach to pole hiking is to
develop the peripheral system: blood supply, mitochondria, muscle
strength. Colin's post shows that in addition to those benefits you
can also use pole hiking to develop your striding technique.
Enjoy your hiking,
Russ

wrote in message
oups.com...
My university racing team uses ski hiking (aka ski striding, nordic
walking, but different from ski bounding) both as one of our LSD
activities and as one of our intensity activities. I have encountered
several different philosophies about ski hiking, but here is my take:

The basic intent of ski hiking is to mimic diagonal stride as much as
possible. You want to have a preload and a weight shift. One of my
coaches likes to describe the weight shift and preload as feeling
similar to the "Joe Cool" gangsta swagger. When running, you kick your
foot up at the end of your stride. When ski hiking, you want to reduce
this up/down motion and use a motion similar to the final portion of a
diagonal stride kick. Try to minimize the bouncing motion
characteristic of running. Concentrate on pulling your body forwards
with your front leg rather than pushing it forward with your back leg.
Remember to use the same arm motion and upper body rotation as in
diagonal stride, although you might have to cut the end of the push
short. One thing that sometimes helps is to find an open area, close
your eyes, visualize yourself doing diagonal stride, and then try to
mimic it as much as possible while walking. Start slowly and then work
up to a regular walking pace.

We use this technique for 2-3hr LSD sessions as well as for long hill
workouts. I find that using ski hiking for intensity workes more on
teaching your legs to move quickly while maintaining technique than
working on max energy output.

We also occasionally use ski bounding for hill sessions, which is a lot
more tiring. Our version of ski bounding uses a lot of these same
principles, except that we focus on a quick, very powerful push and
maximum air-time (when neither foot is on the ground).

I use poles that are about 10cm below my arm pits for ski hiking. My
club team before I came to university used much shorter poles (about
elbow height) for bounding only, but I prefer the longer poles because
they allow me to include upper body rotation and use my arms more.

Hope my thoughts have been useful. I'm keen to know what other skiers'
philosophies on ski hiking / nordic walking are.

Colin

Hi, thanks. This is extremely helpful.

I'd been meaning to ask about this for weeks, but the ski gods
preempted me. I appreciate the information. Regarding poles, though:
what should you use? Cheap touring-grade sticks, expecting to nick or
break them? Sticks more akin to what you'd actually ski with, so the
arms don't get to expect one thing, then get another when you're on
snow? Do you leave the baskets and snow ferrules on, or replace them
with rollerski ferrules?

Thanks.

I would definately not recomend using expensive poles. Do not plan to
use your baskets on snow after using them for ski hiking - they will
quickly get broken. I like to use poles that are shorter than my
regular classic poles to compensate for the lack of glide when ski
hiking (see my prev post for details on length).

Don't worry about the feel of different poles - this is insignificant
compared to the variation in technique. The same-poles argument has
some validity for rollerskiing, but I dont think it does for ski
hiking.

One good way to get a pair of ski hiking poles is to go to a ski swap
and pick up a cheap pair of poles that have reasonably comfortable
straps or use an old set of poles kicking around in the basement. This
is by far the most popular choice on my racing team. Make sure you cut
them down to a reasonable length for hiking. You could put a pair of
rollerski tips (aka ferrules I guess) on just to protect the poles, but
it is up to you whether the cost is worth it. I wouldnt bother since
you shouldn't spend more than twice the cost of tips on ski hiking
poles (unless you are frequently hiking on roads).

I ended up buying a cheap pair of aluminum cross country ski poles and
cut them down specifically for ski hiking. The advantage of this
strategy is that you never have to worry about breaking your ski hiking
poles.

If you really want to spend a lot of money, you could buy those fancy
telescoping hiking poles with special tips, but if you do, make sure
you get a nordic ski pole handles so that you can have a reasonable
skiing simulation.

If you have any more questions, just let me know and I'll be glad to
give my 2 cents.
Colin