What is the secret for uphill

I have been skiing for 2 seasons. I get around quite well I find, however, I
find the need to stop quiete often going up hill while a douzen of skiiers
would pass me and never seems to stop all the way.
What is the secret of going uphill without stopping? I am in fairly good
shape and my instructor told me that my technic was good. In spite of that,
I do not seem to be able to climb even medium hills without the need to
rest.

Could it be my offset technic is too fast? or ineficient?
My lower legs sometimes also hurt a little- but not usualy.

Please help or please suggest site with info. Thanks for sharing your
knownledge.

"the duke" wrote in message
...
I have been skiing for 2 seasons. I get around quite well I find, however,
I
find the need to stop quiete often going up hill while a douzen of skiiers
would pass me and never seems to stop all the way.
What is the secret of going uphill without stopping? I am in fairly good
shape and my instructor told me that my technic was good. In spite of
that,
I do not seem to be able to climb even medium hills without the need to
rest.

Could it be my offset technic is too fast? or ineficient?
My lower legs sometimes also hurt a little- but not usualy.

Please help or please suggest site with info. Thanks for sharing your
knownledge.


Ok, first question, skating or classic?

Are you doing the herringbone up the hill(what the skate technique loks
like) or are you climbing up the hill with ur skiis together?

I think the only suggestion i could give is glide. Gliding should make you
work less, hence get less tired

Micheal

the duke wrote:

I have been skiing for 2 seasons. I get around quite well I find, however, I
find the need to stop quiete often going up hill while a douzen of skiiers
would pass me and never seems to stop all the way.
What is the secret of going uphill without stopping? I am in fairly good
shape and my instructor told me that my technic was good. In spite of that,
I do not seem to be able to climb even medium hills without the need to
rest.

Could it be my offset technic is too fast? or ineficient?
My lower legs sometimes also hurt a little- but not usualy.

Please help or please suggest site with info. Thanks for sharing your
knownledge.


I will assume you are talking about steep type hills, not gentler ones
(which you can get some glide on)
I have had this problem in the past (which I refer to as being passed on
the hills by the 75 yr old Norwegian ladies), but in my case it is from
only liking to ski, and not doing much exercise in the summer, so having
little endurance come ski time.
I found that if I try to run I have the same problem after a few
hundred yards, but after running for several weeks it gets lots better,
then I can hit the ski season a lot better.
I also just noticed that in running, it is much less tiring going up the
hills if I take smaller steps instead of my usual long stride. (Even
though I may move my feet faster for the short step). I think this would
work on skis also.
gr

A common problem is poles pushing backward while you ski is going
sideways ; The more steep, the more open your skis are. So make sure
that your poles push in the glide direction. i.e. : sideways, not
backward.


Try to be as fluid as possible. Do not fight with snow or the hill.
Just glide from one side to another.

Herringbone is not a shame and can be very fluid and efficient.

I'd have to say that I'd disagree with a previous poster, who, assuming
it's skating we're talking about, suggested poling to the side, parallel
to the gliding ski, and not straight back. You have to more-or-less do
that with the pole which plants further down the hill (opposite the
glide ski) in offset (V1), but, without wanting to sound dogmatic,
the pole on the glide ski on the side of the glide ski, which plants a bit higher up the hill, should push straight back, according to just about all
the advice I've seen recently. And make the other pole push as straight
back as possible, modulo not getting tangled up.

Whether it's skate or classic, my suggestion would be to make sure you
start every hill at a pace which is much slower than you really think
you can do. It's very easy to start up a hill way too fast. If classic,
get out of the track and herringbone if necessary to keep the pace
down. If skating, this advice can be a problem, since below a certain
speed, it becomes very hard to ski with good technique. I understand
that's one of the main reasons for the advice to do mostly classic in
early season training on snow.

If skating, maybe try to find some flatter trails to get the conditioning
up by doing some easier intervals, then gradually harder, before
tackling the trails with big hills again.

Best, Peter

"the duke" wrote in message . ..
I have been skiing for 2 seasons. I get around quite well I find, however, I
find the need to stop quiete often going up hill while a douzen of skiiers
would pass me and never seems to stop all the way.
What is the secret of going uphill without stopping? I am in fairly good
shape and my instructor told me that my technic was good. In spite of that,
I do not seem to be able to climb even medium hills without the need to
rest.

Could it be my offset technic is too fast? or ineficient?
My lower legs sometimes also hurt a little- but not usualy.

Please help or please suggest site with info. Thanks for sharing your
knownledge.

Duke,

Classic or skating, the solution is simple, perhaps not easy; Do hill
repeats.

Go to a steep hill that takes 90 seconds to 3 minutes to ascend,
non-stop. Start out with 3 repeats. That is, ski up it fairly hard (or
at least non-stop), then ski around for 3 minutes or so to recover,
and repeat the cycle. Do a warmup of 10 to 15 minutes of easy skiing,
and a similar cooldown. Try this once per week during the season. Try
to add one repeat untill you can do 10. It works well during the early
season to go to an alpine ski area (they have machine made snow before
the ski trails get nature's own) which maybe offers ski trails too. Do
hill repeats up the ski hills. This is quite a spectacle ! Great
workout. Shoot for 20 repeats once you think you have it.

In the off season, roller ski. Don't avoid hills. Also, do hill
repeats on dry land alpine ski area hills (or similar hills) with ski
poles in your hands, mimicing a classic stride. This helps too. It all
helps. All the drills you can think of. Go to skipost.com & find more
material on this subject. You'll get it, and maybe look forward to
hills next winter. Then you can be the guy who drops the 75 year old
ladies. (isnt THAT embarrassing !)

Dell

For my two bits, I'll assume he was talking about skating, coz skating is what makes me come closest to
stopping the most often. : )

I find that skating is a very easy style to 'bog down' in. It's like riding a bike in a big gear up a hill.
You have to really finesse it or you'll bog down...and have to stop (sometimes).

My solution this season---or getting closer to a solution anyway---was to use correct technique first (I was
really helped by Pete Vordenberg's 'press knee into ski tip' drill) then secondly (and still majorly!) to go
easy, light and gentle.

Here's some ideas about doing this essential part two the equation: Don't use 'pedal.' Don't hurry or panic.
Make sure you keep the ball rolling but don't worry much about slowing down. Ski in a way where you're not
straining. --At least until you're totally buffed and dialed in with many miles of successful hill-skiing
under your belt. Til then go light'n'easy. Shorter strides, too, are fine. With no sharp motions or jerks
anywhere. You have to be relaxed throughout the motion, or shorten and lighten your moves til you CAN be
relaxed. Work on posture, too. Jaw tension, head posture (try looking down, between ski tips). Whatever it
takes. (This also applies to classic herringbone.) I found that finesse and a light touch was so important
that I often actually went faster that way in the end than by way of the 'going hard' approach. Going good
uphill in skating can be a delicate, fragile thing, like keeping a new little life alive. At least that's
how it feels to someone like me who greatly enjoys blasting and attacking. : )

--

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

Thanks Jeff, it worked - I just return from 1 hour skiing - perhaps the
last of the season if I beleive the forecasts - and I used your technic to
slow down and relax and I made it a very significant hill - where I had
needed to stopped 2-3 times before today.

Now, I think it makes sens, I was trying to get the hill over with so I
pushed harder to maintained my speed- it drove my heart rate way up to the
point where I needed to stop - then I restarted with the same results.
By maintaining a slower pace on the way up, I was not as exhausted so I
could continue all the way up and relaxed further on the flat then regained
my speed. It was great.
If we have more snow this season, I will try this technic on Pink Lake hill
(2 km hill) in Gatineau Park.
Thanks to all for your help.




"Jeff Potter" wrote in message
.. .
For my two bits, I'll assume he was talking about skating, coz skating is
what makes me come closest to
stopping the most often. : )

I find that skating is a very easy style to 'bog down' in. It's like
riding a bike in a big gear up a hill.
You have to really finesse it or you'll bog down...and have to stop
(sometimes).

My solution this season---or getting closer to a solution anyway---was to
use correct technique first (I was
really helped by Pete Vordenberg's 'press knee into ski tip' drill) then
secondly (and still majorly!) to go
easy, light and gentle.

Here's some ideas about doing this essential part two the equation: Don't
use 'pedal.' Don't hurry or panic.
Make sure you keep the ball rolling but don't worry much about slowing
down. Ski in a way where you're not
straining. --At least until you're totally buffed and dialed in with many
miles of successful hill-skiing
under your belt. Til then go light'n'easy. Shorter strides, too, are fine.
With no sharp motions or jerks
anywhere. You have to be relaxed throughout the motion, or shorten and
lighten your moves til you CAN be
relaxed. Work on posture, too. Jaw tension, head posture (try looking
down, between ski tips). Whatever it
takes. (This also applies to classic herringbone.) I found that finesse
and a light touch was so important
that I often actually went faster that way in the end than by way of the
'going hard' approach. Going good
uphill in skating can be a delicate, fragile thing, like keeping a new
little life alive. At least that's
how it feels to someone like me who greatly enjoys blasting and attacking.
: )

--

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

Some tips that helped my fiance whom I tought how to skate (again,
skating is assumed to be the problem here).

- try to put as less effort into ea individual step as possible,
while increasing the frequency of the steps (just transfer your weight
from one ski to another);

- don't look up the hill - look at the point somwhere between your ski
tips;

- don't be embarrased to skate herringbone if the hill is very steep.

My fiance is not fast, but she now can skate up any hill w/o stopping
- as she just demonstrated yesterday by skating the Porter Mntn trails
at Van Hoevenberg in Lk Plcd (people here will know what I am talking
about).

My cross country (running) coach in high school had a really good way
of explaining this. He taught us to learn what the "effort" felt like
to run a certain pace. If you maintain this constant effort level,
you will naturally go at different speeds on different sections of a
cross country course. Slower up hill and faster down hill. Over the
course of a race it all evens out when adding to your total time. So
if you wanted to run a 20 minute 5k, you learned what the effort felt
like to run at this pace.

Kind of like what the tortoise said when racing the hare "Slow and
steady wins the race", but in aerobic sports not too slow...

Jonathan Scheuch

"the duke" wrote in message ...
Thanks Jeff, it worked - I just return from 1 hour skiing - perhaps the
last of the season if I beleive the forecasts - and I used your technic to
slow down and relax and I made it a very significant hill - where I had
needed to stopped 2-3 times before today.

Now, I think it makes sens, I was trying to get the hill over with so I
pushed harder to maintained my speed- it drove my heart rate way up to the
point where I needed to stop - then I restarted with the same results.
By maintaining a slower pace on the way up, I was not as exhausted so I
could continue all the way up and relaxed further on the flat then regained
my speed. It was great.
If we have more snow this season, I will try this technic on Pink Lake hill
(2 km hill) in Gatineau Park.
Thanks to all for your help.




"Jeff Potter" wrote in message
.. .
For my two bits, I'll assume he was talking about skating, coz skating is
what makes me come closest to
stopping the most often. : )

I find that skating is a very easy style to 'bog down' in. It's like
riding a bike in a big gear up a hill.
You have to really finesse it or you'll bog down...and have to stop
(sometimes).

My solution this season---or getting closer to a solution anyway---was to
use correct technique first (I was
really helped by Pete Vordenberg's 'press knee into ski tip' drill) then
secondly (and still majorly!) to go
easy, light and gentle.

Here's some ideas about doing this essential part two the equation: Don't
use 'pedal.' Don't hurry or panic.
Make sure you keep the ball rolling but don't worry much about slowing
down. Ski in a way where you're not
straining. --At least until you're totally buffed and dialed in with many
miles of successful hill-skiing
under your belt. Til then go light'n'easy. Shorter strides, too, are fine.
With no sharp motions or jerks
anywhere. You have to be relaxed throughout the motion, or shorten and
lighten your moves til you CAN be
relaxed. Work on posture, too. Jaw tension, head posture (try looking
down, between ski tips). Whatever it
takes. (This also applies to classic herringbone.) I found that finesse
and a light touch was so important
that I often actually went faster that way in the end than by way of the
'going hard' approach. Going good
uphill in skating can be a delicate, fragile thing, like keeping a new
little life alive. At least that's
how it feels to someone like me who greatly enjoys blasting and attacking.
: )

--

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