Fast skis or "courage, stamina and style"??

The race reports are great reading!

I notice that I see lots of discussion of wax and skis here.

But there's nothing about skis or wax in Pete's book. (And only one line
about technique.)

I wonder what the Italians were talking about at the apres-ski party?

As I reported earlier, at the party after the Nokie, several Norwegian
ski gals (I think that's where they were from, but were now US Univ ski
or Factory type people) told me they did the classic 51k because their
coach wanted them to. They basically swept the top spots amongst
themselves. And when I asked if one of their friends standing at the bar
had done the same race, one said "Yes, she classic skied the 51k...with
courage, STAMINA and *STYLE*!" and raised her beer to emphasize her
already big emphasis. I liked hearing that. Is this kind of thing
basically equally part of every top skier's performance? Or are solving
questions and problems involving these factors perhaps far more
important than wax, grind or flex? Just wunnerin.

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of do-it-yourself culture ... bikes, skis, boats & more! ...

... offering Vordenberg's XC ski tales in "Momentum"! ...
... "The Recumbent Bicycle": the only book about these bikes! ...
... Rudloe's "Potluck": true-life story of workingclass smuggling! ...

... with radical novels coming up via LiteraryRevolution.com! ...
... music! ... articles! ... travel forums! ... WOW! 800-763-6923

If they were norwegian then they definately had fast skis as well. They
are very serious with their waxing over there. The norwegian biathlon
team has an entourage of waxers every time then go to a competition.



Jeff Potter wrote:
The race reports are great reading!

I notice that I see lots of discussion of wax and skis here.

But there's nothing about skis or wax in Pete's book. (And only one line
about technique.)

I wonder what the Italians were talking about at the apres-ski party?

As I reported earlier, at the party after the Nokie, several Norwegian
ski gals (I think that's where they were from, but were now US Univ ski
or Factory type people) told me they did the classic 51k because their
coach wanted them to. They basically swept the top spots amongst
themselves. And when I asked if one of their friends standing at the bar
had done the same race, one said "Yes, she classic skied the 51k...with
courage, STAMINA and *STYLE*!" and raised her beer to emphasize her
already big emphasis. I liked hearing that. Is this kind of thing
basically equally part of every top skier's performance? Or are solving
questions and problems involving these factors perhaps far more
important than wax, grind or flex? Just wunnerin.

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of do-it-yourself culture ... bikes, skis, boats & more! ...

... offering Vordenberg's XC ski tales in "Momentum"! ...
... "The Recumbent Bicycle": the only book about these bikes! ...
... Rudloe's "Potluck": true-life story of workingclass smuggling! ...

... with radical novels coming up via LiteraryRevolution.com! ...
... music! ... articles! ... travel forums! ... WOW! 800-763-6923

I notice that I see lots of discussion of wax and skis here.
Yup. Ain't nothin next to bicycle groups tho.


But there's nothing about skis or wax in Pete's book. (And only
one line
about technique.)
And when I asked if one of their friends standing at the bar
had done the same race, one said "Yes, she classic skied the
51k...with
courage, STAMINA and *STYLE*!" and raised her beer to emphasize
her
already big emphasis. I liked hearing that. Is this kind of thing
basically equally part of every top skier's performance?

Equal? Equal to wax obsessing? Stamina and technique are what it's
all about, far more so than waxing, IMHO.


Or are solving
questions and problems involving these factors perhaps far more
important than wax, grind or flex? Just wunnerin.

Wax and grind are things that you can still do after the ski is
purchased, so people talk about it lots. I heard Marty Hall
complaining about this once, and I agree. It's the work you do in the
months and years before the race that really matter. Ain't no real
secrets. It takes a lot of hard work to get fast. Good wax is just
cake icing.

Erik in Seattle, sliding quickly into 'codgerhood'

Maybe things like courage matter more to top skiers who already have the
fast ski and technique problem sorted out.

Mid-packers have so many ways they could improve---I wonder where they
could get the most gains. I suppose that their summer is already gone and
so they won't get much more fit. So maybe whether they hit the wax or not
becomes the only germaine 'make or break' variable.

But perhaps if they were to work more on the 'courage stamina and style'
angle they could make even more gains?

I suppose the 'stamina' angle implies a summer of hardcore work.

And, sure, in Pete's book he talks plenty about heart and
commitment...but as it relates to the willingness to work out ever
harder, ever smarter, ever more riskier.

"Courage stamina and style" is inspiring to me, but I'm not sure how much
I can do with it for my next race coming up in a couple weeks. : )
We'll see! : )

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of do-it-yourself culture ... bikes, skis, boats & more! ...
... offering Vordenberg's XC ski tales in "Momentum"! ...
... "The Recumbent Bicycle": the only book about these bikes! ...
... Rudloe's "Potluck": true-life story of workingclass smuggling! ...
... with radical novels coming up via LiteraryRevolution.com! ...
... music! ... articles! ... travel forums! ... WOW! 800-763-6923

Maybe things like courage matter more to top skiers who already have
the
fast ski and technique problem sorted out.

Mid-packers have so many ways they could improve---I wonder where
they
could get the most gains.


Over the years I have come to increasingly believe those that say that
mental training is very, very important. Being in the correct frame
of mind does play a strong role in my races - if I come to the line
with less than full confidence, I usually have a sub-par race.

Some good reading on this subject:
- final chapter of John Morton's book "Don't Look Back"
- any number of sport mental training books - the only one I've
actually read and can recommend is "Flow in Sports"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...46326?v=glance

But there are lots of such books, and maybe any one that you can find
locally will be helpful.

Erik Brooks, Seattle

Erik Brooks wrote:

Over the years I have come to increasingly believe those that say that
mental training is very, very important. Being in the correct frame
of mind does play a strong role in my races - if I come to the line
with less than full confidence, I usually have a sub-par race.

One thing I've noticed over the past year is how often I've said to
myself during intervals, or even during the race the other day, "Just
relax into it, Gene" i.e., don't force it. It makes all the difference,
especially early on.

Before the Korte my plan had been to warm up on the Telemark trails
outside the condo I was staying in, but after 5 hrs sleep I had laid
awake for three hours and just didn't feel like the energy was there for
a warmup, let alone a hilly race. Instead, after breakfast I just laid
down and let myself drift in and out of a nap for 15 minutes. After
that, I felt a lot better and was able to jog comfortably in the room
for 10 minutes, with some end to end 'pickups.' Add to that a half mile
walk to the start line, a bit through deep snow, and while not quite
skate ready, I was ready enough to go. Still, confidence in my skating
ability and conditioning was a factor. Previous years I've been a
bottom 30 percent skater. Thus, even though my technique had improved
to the point where I now resembled someone who more than vaguely knew
what they were doing, I lined up toward mid-back of my wave. From back
there, I finished about 30/110. Lesson driven home.

Gene

Erik Brooks wrote:
Over the years I have come to increasingly believe those that say that
mental training is very, very important. Being in the correct frame
of mind does play a strong role in my races - if I come to the line
with less than full confidence, I usually have a sub-par race.

Some good reading on this subject:
- final chapter of John Morton's book "Don't Look Back"
- any number of sport mental training books - the only one I've
actually read and can recommend is "Flow in Sports"

Flow translates directly to 'flyt' in norwegian. Having that on an
orienteering race is what you dream about. :-)

Mitch can confirm that when you've got it, you can do nothing wrong: All
controls just turn up exactly when you expect them, all route choices
are obvious, and hills are just an invitation to up the tempo.

In skiing, the best race ever might well be Thomas Alvsgaard's 30 K
skate win at Lillehammer in 1994.

This was the day when Bjørn Dæhlie had a great day, he knew he was
faster than the field, and when he got split times showing Thomas in
front and pulling away, he simply didn't believe it.

Thomas have told about this race as the day when he could do no wrong:

Maintaining higher speed than all the rest was easy, he spent the race
looking forward to each new climb since he knew that he'd pull further
away each time.

Terje

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

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004, Terje Mathisen wrote:

Flow translates directly to 'flyt' in norwegian. Having that on an
orienteering race is what you dream about. :-)

Mitch can confirm that when you've got it, you can do nothing wrong: All
controls just turn up exactly when you expect them, all route choices
are obvious, and hills are just an invitation to up the tempo.

Sure, I'll confirm it. This is exactly what happens every time Brian
May goes orienteering. :-)

For those who might not know, Brian has run in orienteering world
championships for both the Canadian and United States teams (in different
years).

-Mitch

I second Erik's recommendation of John Morton's book.

Another good mental training book is:
"Mental Toughness Training For Cross Country Skiing"
by Eric Evans (ISBN: 0-8289-0756-0).

Rodney

Erik Brooks wrote:

Maybe things like courage matter more to top skiers who already have

the

fast ski and technique problem sorted out.

Mid-packers have so many ways they could improve---I wonder where

they

could get the most gains.



Over the years I have come to increasingly believe those that say that
mental training is very, very important. Being in the correct frame
of mind does play a strong role in my races - if I come to the line
with less than full confidence, I usually have a sub-par race.

Some good reading on this subject:
- final chapter of John Morton's book "Don't Look Back"
- any number of sport mental training books - the only one I've
actually read and can recommend is "Flow in Sports"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...46326?v=glance

But there are lots of such books, and maybe any one that you can find
locally will be helpful.

Erik Brooks, Seattle

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 23:20:27 GMT, "Rodney/SkiWax.ca"
wrote:

Another good mental training book is:
"Mental Toughness Training For Cross Country Skiing"
by Eric Evans (ISBN: 0-8289-0756-0).

That book is good. I've used it for sports in general -- it's not
skiing specific though it has lots of skiing pictures and examples.
Evans was a teacher (I think) at the Putney School.

If that book is hard to find, there are others by Jim Loehr (sp), who
created the mental toughness approach that Evans describes in book.

JT