Christmas: There will be no formal class on Christmas day. If you have off the day before or after Christmas and want to ski somewhere use the e-mail list. I may plan something for Wednesday somewhere. Watch the e-mails.

News Years: We typically do some sort of ski outing on New Years Day. This year New Years is a class day. I propose a class during daylight hours. Also let's give the Westerners in the club a break. How about skiing at Elm Creek. Everyone meet in the Ski Center. Then we'll head out on the trails for some real skiing with instruction thrown in. Maybe even some video.

Road Trip: The road trip is full. You can still join us for Thursday and/or Friday if you want. Take a day off and come over to Blue Hills on Thursday or Birke Trail (OO) on Friday. Drop me an e-mail for logistics on how you can meet up with us.

Lake Elmo Clinic: Several of the Club instructors will be teaching at the Lake Elmo Ski Festival on Jan 19th. Do you have any friends who you couldn't get to join Ride and Glide? Want to get a friend interested in skiing? Tell them about the free lessons and free rental equipment being offered at Lake Elmo. See the link on our web site.

Forum: A couple of new posts about Asthma on the forum. Some very interesting information. Thanks to our resident expert Coach Ed. Ride & Glide Forum

Important Notice: Buy those ski passes!!

Remember to get your Minnesota Ski Trail Pass! Other than 3-Rivers Parks (such as Elm Creek), and St Paul Parks (like Como) most Minnesota Trail systems require the passes. Some offer daily passes for sale on site, but year-passes can be purchased at sporting goods stores, license centers, some parks, and some gas stations. Tickets are expensive, and embarrassing. Just ask long-time club members. According to this week's DNR Enforcement report:

On 12/16:

CO Jason Jensen (Forest Lake) reports ice conditions improving and confusion with the new fish shelter laws. Most shelters were found to have a license on them with no ID. Jensen also spent time checking cross-country ski passes at O'Brien State Park. One skier decided it was too much trouble to stop for a ski pass check when requested. Fellow skiers were vigilant in finding the suspect. Snowmobile trails are getting worn down with use.

CO Alex Gutierrez (Metro Officer) patrolled local snowmobile trails and road ditches for snowmobile enforcement. CO Gutierrez also worked at William O'Brien State Park checking cross-country skiers for ski passes. Cross-country skiers are required to purchase a day, a season or 3-season pass. All cross-country skiers on public ski trails who are aged 16 and above must have a Minnesota Ski Pass. You are required to sign your ski pass and carry it with you when skiing.

Coaches Corner:

Steve's Rant on Getting Better

Everybody wants "Instant Gratification" these days. Quick weight loss, flat abs with no exercise, or quick profits in the stock market. The problem is there's no way to get rich, thin, fast or strong quickly. It's takes work. That goes for cross country skiing as well. Sure you can quickly get to a point were you can move along on skis without too much difficulty. But getting really fast or efficient on skis takes some effort. If you want to get fast or just look like your fast it takes some work. If you've been skiing for many years without any instruction or feedback, basically self taught, you've probably developed some bad habits. Some of these habits will be very hard to break. You may have to go all the way back to feeling like a beginner and relearn how to ski. It's easy to just fall back to the comfort zone of the way you've been skiing for years. You know it well, you can do it without thinking but you've most likely reached a plateau which will be hard to rise above. This also applies to those of you who have had instruction and it just hasn't taken. Maybe the instructors aren't getting their point across or you just don't grasp what they are trying to say. What usually happens is you just keep skiing the way that is comfortable and never really get any better. Everyone learns differently. Every instructor teaches differently. We will do what we can to move you around to other instructors so you can get another point of view. But you must also be willing to move out of your comfort zone and try something new. Give up you pre-conceptions on how to ski. That may mean starting over and going back to the basics. World class skiers go back to the basics every year and review them. What were are learning is that skiing can be made very simple. There are just a few basic moves and positions that if learned and mastered will make you better skier. So don't hesitate to push yourself or to start over. Ask questions of your instructors. Don't let your ego get in the way. Be willing to admit that maybe you aren't as good as you thought. If you're having trouble getting over the hump try skiing without poles.  That goes for skaters and striders.  It works magic with your technique.  Maybe a little boring, but necessary.  If you develop a good technique foundation your skiing will automatically improve. Don't spend all your time on drills, practice a few things while you're warming up, think about your technique while you ski. Then go out and have a good time. We need to enjoy skiing for what it is. The best sport in the world and an activity you can do for life.

Teaching insight by Jyneen  (Alternative analysis, maybe this one will resonate with you better)

The hardest part of our coaching (and your learning) is breaking bad habits or form. Our task is to recognize that your technique is not correct and then explain the correction in a way that you can understand. Your task is to comprehend the correction and implement it. Many times a "never-ever" with a good athletic background can be our star student while we work all season to nudge someone out of the "terminal intermediate" status. This past weekend at the Blue Hills Trail Association fund-raiser, my student was a young man who was coerced by his peers to get off his snowmobile and experience a real sport. Within the 2 hour class, he learned a good classic kick and glide, with great body position and weight transfer, and a wonderful pole plant. Still needs work on double poling and downhills. He did so well, his peers (who were part of the skating class) asked about getting a session for their own classic technique. So one of the recognized coaching tricks is to take you back to the very basics. Pretend you know nothing about the sport, just ignore what you already think you know. Then as we go through the session, you can reinforce the bits you are doing correctly, and discard the erroneous skills. Each of our instructors has a slightly different approach. Some of us focus on pointing out when you're off; others work on reinforcement of what you are doing right. And of course, when you lose focus or get tired, your body may revert to old muscle memory. That is why we spend lots of time on drills that will convert the exercise to muscle memory, so that your body can continue to ski on auto-pilot while you are daydreaming about the finish-line refreshments.

So don't be surprised if your coach takes you back to "beginner" exercises in order to correct a fundamental technique flaw, regardless of what technique or experience level your are working on.

Sue's Nutrition Corner:

Let’s talk about the difference in carbohydrates. I am sure you are all aware of the importance of carbohydrates and that they are needed for energy. Most skiers can last about 30 minutes using the already stored muscle glycogen but after that, be prepared for a tough ski back to the car if you “hit the wall’!

Carbohydrates are given a "speed rating" of fast or slow that is generally referred to as a glycemic index. Some examples of a fast carb will be anything that is simple carb like sport drink or gel, pop tarts (for the younger generation), potatoes and corn, fruit juice, candy, etc. A slow carb will be anything with protein as part of the structure, ie. Spaghetti with meat or meatless sauce, turkey sandwich, oatmeal, etc.

Consider your activity when deciding what type of carbohydrate to eat. If you about to ski or race, keep the fast carbs to a minimum so your blood sugar does not spike and you begin the activity with low blood sugar. Within 30 minutes after training, consume fast carbs so the process of glycogen building can begin as soon as possible. Remember, if you delay in replacing carbs, it will take that much longer to rebuild muscle glycogen.

Next week we’ll discuss protein...

Another excellent night for learning to skate. Coaches Ed, Todd, Hank, and Jon had about 30 skiers in the "not so" beginner skate group. This group is progressing faster than any beginner group I have worked with. We are out rounding the course, doing hills, picking techniques that match the terrain, having fun! big smiles!!

Ok Lets review. Keep in mind Skate Skiing is a series of weight transfers that build momentum and propel us forward.

1. Skiing is a controlled fall. –(we had a few uncontrolled falls as wellJ) We are standing in the ski position: lose knee, weight forward (look down can you see you feet? Your not there yet), heal on the ski. Timber!!! While in the “position” we get cut off at the ankles and our body falls forward as a unit. NO SITTING,SWATTING,BUTT BACK STUFF!!! When we catch ourselves with our poles hips need to be in front of the binding. If you are having problems with this practice the Kick double pole. When we kick it pushes the ski back, hips are now forward in front of the binding–prefect position to transfer weight to the pole.
2. Catch your self with the power of your core, do just a wee bit of a crunch.
3. Pole in the direction the ski is pointing.
4. You must “Follow your ski” –young grasshopper.
5. Always center your self when you ski.
6. Push to a flat ski ---little toe first drill.

V1: Three point landing!

1. We fall to our poles with ski and poles (3 point landing)---- landing the same time. Catch yourself with your poles, feel the Abds work as you do a wee bit of a crunch. (upper body work).
2. When our hands reach the midline (waist) Then Push (leg work).
3. Remember 3rd position? Complete the poling motion until you are in #3 position.
4. Repeat ---Always work both sides.

V2 Alternate (Open Field):

1. Swing out over your ski
2. Glide
3. Now fall to your poles, poling in the direction the skis is pointing (pole in the direction you are swinging to). The poling adds to the acceleration we gained in the swing.
4. When the poling motion reaches about half way (arms are near your waste) we push (leg work) to the other side. ---the push (legs) and poling motion finish (climax J) together. Don’t be in a hurry to switch sides. If you do, your greatest potential for forward motion (i.e. your poling stroke) will be lost in rotational energy.

V2: We pole every step. No Swing! No 3 point landing!

1. We step off to one ski and glide 123.
2. While we are gliding (counting) the arms recover getting ready to fall to our poles.
3. Fall to the poles, --we pole in the direction the ski is pointing…we are still moving in the direction we stepped off.
4. Just as in the V2 alternate(open field) --- We fall to the poles, pole in the direction the gliding ski is pointing, when our arms reach the half way point, we push (leg work) to the other side.
5. The push (legs) and poling motion finish (climax J) together. Balance 123 Balance 123 Balance 123.

Diagonal Skate, Single Stick, Birkie Waltz, Flying Herringbone, Crab walk……. Most people are getting this. We use a single pole plant with each step similar to diagonal stride. Pole in the direction the ski is pointing. Pole and push (leg push) at the same time. Start slow and work on increasing your cadence. The advantage of this technique during hill climbing is that we can have high cadence. Think quick and light. Don’t force it, don’t power it. Practice light, quick motions.

Speed skate (skiing without your poles) Swing your arm over the opposing ski to facilitate getting your weight (and hips) out over your skis.

Get out and practice—the snow is perfect. Practice all the techniques each time you ski. Match the terrain to the stroke.

The coaches can teach you techniques, but we can’t give you balance, motor memory or endurance--- this all takes time being on your skis.

Ski ya later! Coach Ed

Steve's comments...

Another huge group. Excellent conditions at Como. Skate doesn't get much better than we had on Tuesday night. We split into two groups as usual. Kurt and I took a group to work on fine tuning V1 hill climbing techniques. Tom and John took last week's V1 introductory group to introduce Field Skate and V2. So we asked for everyone who thought they were pretty good at V1 and wanted to work on some details. A lot of people thought they were good. So we made them prove it by doing V1 up the hill at the south end of the practice area. I was very impressed. Everyone looked really good. Just the type of people I wanted for introducing some new ideas for V1 hill climbing. We worked on skiing the hill slowly, very slowly and concentrating on big hard leg pushes. The we skied it fast with quick light steps. All the while maintaining good form. Also tried to get people to skate up the hill, not just walk up. By that I mean to propel yourself from ski to ski by stepping onto a gliding ski as apposed to just stomping it straight down on the snow. Everyone picked up a lot of things to think about. To finish out the night we did some V2 drills and practice. We introduced the Russian V2. Two double poles on each side. This is a drill to teach you to stay on the glide ski longer. It's a common problem in V2 that people start skating off too soon to the other side. Don't go until your hands reach your waist. Try the Russian V2 (V4?) you'll hate it ;-).

Tom and John's comments...

After reviewing V1 and V2 (see previous weeks' newsletters), we did some work on field skate. Field skate is the fastest long-term gear in skating although V2 can afford higher short bursts of speed. Field skate is similar to V1 in that we pole over one ski only. The difference is the pole timing. In field skate, we let the strong-side ski glide before plating the poles.The pole push is straight back with parallel poles, not offset like V1.The faster we are going, the more we try to glide before planting the poles. We use teeter-totter skating in this technique allowing our bodies to fall from side-to-side. This gives us thorough weight transfer to each gliding ski.

Jyneen, Arvid and I broke our classical skiers into two groups. Arvid and I worked with the group that was more ready for touring around the course, and Jyneen worked with the group that could benefit from more drills and attention to mechanics

The group Arvid and I worked with still spent a significant amount of time on drills before we "went out to play." We emphasized the same points as last week regarding diagonal stride and double poling. For diagonal stride, we looked for forward lean, weight over the hip above the ski you're currently gliding on and a good weight transfer from one ski to the other. We continued to emphasize driving the ski forward, rather than shuffling from ski to ski. To be efficient, diagonal striding requires you to balance on one ski at a time.

For double poling, we again emphsized forward lean and stressed utilizing the abdominal and latissimus muscles of the upper body, rather than the arms. The forward lean allows you to fall over your skis, rather than having to pull yourself forward with your arms. There is also a "crunch" motion as you come over your poles, where you begin to push yourself past your poles.

Arvid also spent time drilling everyone in the group on step turns, which is a quick and effective way to corner when the turn is too sharp to just follow the track. With this technique, it’s important to keep yourself from standing too stiff and straight, and to push into the turn with your outside ski.

After repeating this drill untill everyone started to get a little dizzy, we went skiing. Conditions were great last night. The tracks were a little shallow or washed out in places, but overall, you couldn't ask for better snow.

Happy hollidays and happy skiing to everyone. See you all after New Years!