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Technique Comparisons: Nordic Combined & You
We all try to emulate the creme de la creme. Watching videos of Bjorn
Daehlie, Ulvang, Alsgaard, etc. This is probably a good thing, just to know where we should be headed. However, most runners don't break down the technique of the Kenyans & try to run like them ! Most runners realize that these athletes are really on a higher plane, and have such capabilities that make it very difficult for the citizen athletes to emulate stride, pace, even workouts to some degree. We learn what we can from the Kenyans, but mostly we can't relate to a stride like that. Not without a frame like theirs. And genes. And talent. And... Is skiing different ? Can guy who trains only 450 hours per year, works fulltime & has a family, and has no Olympics in his resume emulate a guy who has been to the Games & WC, has no kids & his job is to ski, and he trains 800 hours per year, as he has since he was 17 ? Frankly after the Aalberg clinic, none of us will ever look like John Aalberg, but some of us are a lot closer. I like to look at videos of the Nordic Combined & the Biathlon skiers. These skiers are actually teaching me more about where I should take my skiing. I have no idea how much time Johnny Spillane gives up to Carl Swenson on a SoHo 10k on snow skis, but I can see myself more in Spillane & Lodwick. Sure, I want to be Kris Freeman too. I also want to be Tiger Woods. But I will have to go Hindu & be reincarnated in order to do so. It isn't going to happen in this lifetime. I will never have the power that a Swenson or a Freeman or an Aalberg have in their kicks. When I see the Combined skiers stroking a V2, they look like they are developing less max power than the Nordic Teamers but they look smooth & fast. I think I can do smoother & fast, in due time. I also notice that Freeman likes Ole Einar Bjorndaelen. I do too. I realize he is a past champ on the Nordic circuit, but he is one SMOOTH Biathlete. Poetic to watch. Does not appear to be making much power, and yet, he is smokin'. |
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Technique Comparisons: Nordic Combined & You
It seems like the best skiers, and our role models, and those we want to
look like, are mostly the SMOOTHEST and easiest and most relaxed skiers. They look like they're not working. When I see guys even on the local circuit who I want to ski like it's because they're smooth and easy as well. When I see the frothing, attacking hammerheads, maybe their fitness would be cool to have but there's nothing about their skiing that I'm after or want to imitate. So maybe there's more to this skiing perfectly stuff than I tend to think. Maybe I should spend more time going slow---maybe I should at least start out every workout going way slow. Maybe I should spend more time doing balance and relaxation drills. Well, I think I'll start out workouts this way from now on. When I've gone faster in the past I know that I use what appears to others to be an easy style. And I know that as I dial in my technique on snow and in races that my main goal is to find a stable platform to rest off of as I ski. So relaxation and the stability that lets us relax is already a big part of my skiing. I need to add it better to my training. -- Jeff Potter **** *Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com publisher of outdoor/indoor do-it-yourself culture... ...offering "small world" views on bikes, bows, books, movies... ...rare books on ski, bike, boat culture, plus a Gulf Coast thriller about smalltown smuggling ... more radical novels coming up! ...original downloadable music ... and articles galore! plus national "Off the Beaten Path" travel forums! HOLY SMOKES! |
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