European WC meltdown ???

I hadn't checked fasterskier.com for a while. I'm pro-USA skiing and
wish all US Teamers the best. But WTF !! In Pregelato USSTers filled
in DFL and 2nd to DFL in BOTH mens and womens races. I think this has
got to be a US all-time World Cup racing record LOW. I could believe
this with the women, but the guys?!?!? And Freeman, a guy that was too
good to race Sr. Nationals - out of 1st by 7 minutes. I sure hope
things turn around for the USST crew !!!

Vordenberg's summary on teamtoday.org explains that they missed the wax
very badly. Freeman went from 18th to 55th place in just one long
downhill due to poor glide.

See teamtoday.org for the explanation. The wax techs BLEW the wax.
Pete said Freeman went from 17th to 55th on the first downhill. As a
sometimes wax technician I feel for those guys, but it is kinda sad
that we were that far off. So, the skiers are okay and still on track
for Worlds.

Rob Bradlee

--- Tim Kelley wrote:

I hadn't checked fasterskier.com for a while. I'm pro-USA skiing and
wish all US Teamers the best. But WTF !! In Pregelato USSTers
filled
in DFL and 2nd to DFL in BOTH mens and womens races. I think this
has
got to be a US all-time World Cup racing record LOW. I could believe
this with the women, but the guys?!?!? And Freeman, a guy that was
too
good to race Sr. Nationals - out of 1st by 7 minutes. I sure hope
things turn around for the USST crew !!!








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

Do they miss Wendy Wagner's wax all the time? She has yet to crack out
of the back of the pack. I noticed that Carl Swenson didn't have a
particularly great nationals. Not sure what's going on there or if jet
lag is still a factor (amazingly, Becky Scott did well within the first
couple of days after arriving). The Canadian men are doing much better.

GG

Jim Kelley wrote:

Vordenberg's summary on teamtoday.org explains that they missed the wax
very badly. Freeman went from 18th to 55th place in just one long
downhill due to poor glide.

On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, Rob Bradlee wrote:

See teamtoday.org for the explanation. The wax techs BLEW the wax.
Pete said Freeman went from 17th to 55th on the first downhill. As a
sometimes wax technician I feel for those guys, but it is kinda sad
that we were that far off. So, the skiers are okay and still on track
for Worlds.

Do you suppose it was really wrong wax and not wrong structure?
After all we're talking about a glide problem not a kick problem.
Unless maybe it was due to klister drag...

oh well, too much speculation I suppose.

-Mitch

Well the wax team may have missed the wax and II think we can cut them
some slack on this one. But I some ho wdoubt that hitting the wax would
have put anyone with the exception of Freeman in the Red group. The
fact is, as a group the USST is just not skiing as well this year. The
results at nationals clearly demonstrate this. We can have some hope
that Freeman can turn it around at Wordls and maybe crack a top ten.

Unfortunatly this year may go down as one of those years where we need
to suck it up and go back to the drawing board. I am certain there are
many opinions to what we needto do differntly but I can say many things
in our national ski programs need to change if we are going to expect
consistent top results.

I'm not an expert on different training plans, so I'm not about to
question the U.S. coaches... but I have to admit - I was a little
surprised to see the U.S. team all of a sudden adopt the multiple
consecutive day interval session approach this summer. I wonder if
they will take the same approach next summer.

"Rob Bradlee" wrote in message
. yahoo.com...
See teamtoday.org for the explanation. The wax techs BLEW the wax.
Pete said Freeman went from 17th to 55th on the first downhill. As a
sometimes wax technician I feel for those guys, but it is kinda sad
that we were that far off. So, the skiers are okay and still on track
for Worlds.
Rob Bradlee

The other nations have raced at this level continuously since the
start of the season on courses similar to Pragelato.
Your team have appeared just in time for the World Champs.

Their team management covers all the nordic disciplines and their
waxing teams do the same, you can see this with Germany and
Austria for an example.
Your nation doesnt seem to do that. I once saw Todd Lodwick at
an event and posted here that he could be a winner but appeared to
be alone out there and was struggling for that reason.
This season you have had jumpers and nordic combi guys getting
places, they are performing well, and their waxers have proved their
worth.
I can support these guys because I'm a Brit (with no National Team
to shout for) so I can shout for them in the English language.
Mike

The Norwegian women's team employ interval blocks, and they've been
very good this year - better than the men. Perhaps it takes time for
new methods to bear fruit. Things rarely happen overnight in this
sport.

Jim Kelley wrote:
I'm not an expert on different training plans, so I'm not about to
question the U.S. coaches... but I have to admit - I was a little
surprised to see the U.S. team all of a sudden adopt the multiple
consecutive day interval session approach this summer. I wonder if
they will take the same approach next summer.

It is not a question of wether the new system of training the USST used
this past season worked or not. The question is did the athletes
improve their level of performance with the training. I for one do not
believe it is developmentally sound to train so hard that performance
is eroded or comprimised for a whole year becuase of a new training
system. If the system is working there are periods where performance
should or will be surpressed but then performance should compensate and
return to a higher level.

While it is true after a perid of over training or reduced performance
some athletes have returned to an even high level. This is not the
desired response to a good training plan. If training is correct there
should always be some signs of increased performance potential.

One only has to look at reality of performance the performance of our
top skiers has been in decline, with the possible exception of Freeman,
since the Val Di Femme World Championships in 2003. There are more
factors in play here than changes to the system in the last year and
those are the factors that must be addressed.