From Steve Thatcher...

Only two classes left, Then the Pizza Party. More info on the Party next week

COLL: The Club Championship is this weekend. A little competition we run with prizes going to the best finishing, non-coach, in the women's and men's classic and skate events. The winners get the coveted R&G personalized scraper and the admiration of all members. Good luck to all. Be sure to let me know what event you participate in (Volunteer or competitor) I scan the listings but don't recognize everyone. We usually get 40-50 members participating. And they wonder why R&G is the best club in the area. Come out and watch. Check out the start on Sunday morning at Wirth Park or the Finish on the Mall in Uptown. Or the Sprints on the Mall on Saturday or the Skijoring on Saturday or the Luminary Loppet Saturday night (A spectacle to see much less participate in). See all the events on www.cityoflakesloppet.com Should be nice weather for a change. If you go and take pictures send me some of the good ones. I can always use good skiing pictures for the website.

Mora Carpooling: Next weekend is the Mora Vasaloppet. We usually try to carpool/caravan up to Mora on Sunday morning. We meet at the Moore Lake Lifetime Fitness parking lot (694 and Central) at 7:15 am and form carpools and head to Mora. We need some extra drivers to shuttle skiers to the start from Mora and then drive the cars back to the finish line, stopping to view and cheer on the way (Jyneen will organize things). If you've got a van or large vehicle that can carry people and would like to come up and watch and cheer come on along. Skiers bring your S.O. or friends to help with the cars. RSVP so we know who to expect and who wants to drive or ride. We usually get 10 people or so. These times are scheduled around the Freestyle race that starts at 10AM. If you're doing the Classic race, that starts at 9AM, you'll need to plan accordingly and form your own groups.

Video Taping: Video Taping Session at Como Feb 7 Noon. Come and get video taped. This especially useful for intermediates and advanced skiers, both classic and skate. At your levels it's the only way to see what you really are doing and what we need to change. But everyone is welcome. We'll try to do some analysis and you can take your video home with you if you bring a USB memory stick. RSVP.

Powerbar Products: If you're racing and need gels and drink mixes I've got them. I'll have gels with me on Tuesday night and if you want drink mixes I'll break up some of the big canisters into small bags and hand them out. Let me know what you want. I've got Recovery and Endurance PB mixes. If you aren't carrying energy drinks with you on events lasting more than an hour you're short changing yourself performance wise. Remember don't rely on the food stops only. They might be out and you always need more than you can get from the stops alone.

Clothing: The clothing should arrive soon. I will send out a bill of what you owe and you can pay upon delivery or mail it to me.

After regrouping from the Race Start Simulation we talked about what happened and made suggestions. Then we headed out to ski the course stopping at transition locations and talking about how to ski certain parts of the course. We worked specifically on corners, including downhill corners, Birke Shuffle and sidehills. Then we tried a rotating paceline with limited success. The idea was to ski slowly in a single line and have the skier in the back pass the entire line and take the position at the front and then the next skier do the same thing. People passed fine but then they kept going and didn't slow down so the drill didn't work. I wasn't all that clear about the instructions so we'll try it again next week. The goal is for you to experience continuous skiing in close quarters and passing while skiing narrow (V2). Something very common in races. Next week we'll get it down. See you then for Lo-Test racing Part II.

- Steve Thatcher

Jon Kosbab and I skied with four intermediate skaters and alternated between skiing to keep warm and covering topics brought up by the skiers. We worked on reviewing and refining the V2-alternate technique by starting with the basic rhythm (launch-pole-skate) but also pointed out that in many ways it is similar to V1 but with a delayed landing of the dominant-side ski. Next topic was handling steeper hills, particular ones with a "lip" or sharper incline at the end. Jon showed how to switch from V1 to the Birkie shuffle. The Birkie shuffle is a lot like the herringbone but you try to glide a foot or so on each ski while poling the alternate side (both left and right sides).

We also covered transitions, say shifting from V2 to V1 as a hill steepens, or even shifting back as a hill flattens out. This was a little tricky due to that fact that wherever we went it seemed like some other Ride and Gliders were there! When did the club get so big?

Another topic was the "bonk" -- someone asked why they couldn't ski more than about 1-1/2 hours without running out of gas. We all agreed that developing a more efficient skating motion is the most important part. But in this case, it might have been something basic: fuel. For longer workouts or races, don't hesitate to eat a PowerBar or down a Gel just before the start. Take a 2 minute break in the middle to do it again. Anything you eat in the last half doesn't help with bonking, although it may help you with recovering from the effort over the next day or so.

Last but not least we tried some upper-body strengthening drills in the classic track, poling with short crunches, double-stick poling, and deep double-poling. The key is to do these with a very quick rhythm and make it more or less a speed drill with strength overtones. This idea was brashly stolen from Ben Popp's Endurance Athlete training program, but as a participant in Ben's program for the coaches, I think it has helped me a lot!

- Kurt Ware

Advanced went round and round. We spent the night working on cornering.

- Ben Popp

Classic conditions were phenomenal on Tuesday night and we were fortunate enough to have a group of 8 skaters who wanted to classic ski. We started off with a review of basic classic technique. Standard stuff like opposite hand/opposite foot, driving forward with the knee, and how to double pole. To learn more about basic classic read the classic coach reports from the old newsletters.

Then we jumped into the similarities between skate and classic. They are numerous.

• When skiing a V1 or striding you do a very small ab crunch, more of a catch than a crunch. Your abs engage to stabilize the upper body, but that's about it. You do not do a full crunch/sit-up when skiing V1 or striding.
• In both techniques you rotate your hip to the outside. In classic this is often called skiing with a "high hip". Rotating the hip helps shift weight over the gliding ski making you more balanced and stable. This is a very important technique refinement for both skiing styles.
• In both styles, for maximum efficiency you pole with your poles pointed behind the direction of the gliding ski, not at an angle (it's a physics vector thing.)
• In both styles you bend your arms more and shorten your pole strokes as you head up an incline.
• In both styles you release your grip on the pole at the end of the pole stroke.
• In both styles you push off with a full foot - yes I know it looks like classic skiers ski off the toe, but they actually initiate the kick with the full foot.
• In both styles you have a lot of fun.

We did some exploratory skiing of these similarities in the warm up area and then went out to ski the course. At various points in the course we worked on hill technique, turning, stepping into and out of the track, the step glide method (sort of like a marathon skate) to still get some forward slide while half herring-boning up a hill, and basically had a lot of fun.

If you only skate or only classic, try the other one. Doing both styles of skiing will make you a better skier overall.

- Hank Carbone

Well, it was warmer than last week anyway. It was a great night to just get out and ski, with the hard tracks that still gave good kick. After the mass confusion of the simulated race start, the classic skiers gathered in rather fractured groups. The four skiers I wound up working with focused on transitions - adjusting to terrain and other skiers. We worked on switching tracks, transition from flats to hills, hills back to flats and on turns.

To go around another skier, either they need to get out of the way or you need to move over. Generally, it's more polite to move yourself over than to shout "track!" at someone. To move left, for example, skate onto your outside ski (the left one) to get clear of the track, then skate onto the right ski to redirect yourself parallel to the tracks, and finally do one more skate stride to bring your skis back parallel to each other. Double pole or stride until you're past the person you're passing, leaving enough room to get back into the tracks without running into them. To move back into the tracks, skate onto the right ski and ski over the tracks. Then skate onto your left ski, dropping it into the left track and finally do one more skate stride to bring the right ski back into the right track. And of course if you're moving right to get out of the tracks, the directions are reversed. Those who know how to skate can think of this as doing three V2 strides.

I'll talk a little about hill transitions next week.

- Ken Tobacman

Hank led a group of 8 skiers on an advanced classical lesson. All but one were from intermediate and advanced skate skiers (the odd ball out from the intermediate classical group), who sought a refresher on classical technique.

After the mass start race simulation, we gathered to the southeast of the warm-up area to be reminded of basic classical technique and similarities to skate (weight transfer, forward lean from ankles, hip forward). We were also reminded of differences (right stride with left pole plant, drive the striding knee forward). We then worked on the basic technique up and down some set tracks under the lights.

Then we headed out to the north and east parts of Como, working on different techniques as the course demanded.

Up the hill out of the south and west sides of the park, we worked on climbing with short and sharp strides. Around the curves on the northeast side of the park, we worked on good cornering technique (outside ski getting longer glide, short glide and kick from inside ski). We worked on down hill up-speed cornering, both in-track and out-track (in-track lean the skis, outside ski slightly forward; out-track step turn with double poling technique similar to skating corners).

We worked on skills of getting out of track (to avoid obstacles, slower skiers) and getting smoothly back into track.

We also worked on climbing technique, with one ski in-track, the other ski half of a herringbone pushing (simulate striding but get longer glide for the in-track ski with kick from the in-track ski, get stronger kick from out of track ski but no glide--useful for steeper climb where you cannot stride up in-track, but not so steep you need to herringbone the entire climb--use on short steep ramps).

Remember when you are an advanced classical skier out with friends who are shufflers, just go out and have fun with them. Use those days for your "recovery" days. Invite them to join R&G next fall.

- Eric Snider

Marine-OBrien Nordic Races 25km Classical - Eric Snider

I competed in the Marine-OBrien Nordic Races 25Km Classical on 1/25/2009, my first ski race ever. My official time was 1:49:04 (a 7:01/mile, 4:22/km pace), 26th out of 41 finishers, 24th out of 39 men, 2nd out of 5 in the 50 - 54 (men) age group.

About 100 classical skiers started at 10:30 am, at -3 degrees, sunny, west wind about 5 mph (the freestyle race, with about 120 finishers, started 30 minutes later). Half did one 12.5 km lap, the other half the full two lap 25 km race. Tracks seemed quite fast for the cold. The overall Classical winner finished in 1:22:36. The 25km Freestyle winner finished in 1:11:10.

For glide I used Fast Wax SlickPro Blue paste wax. For kick, on top of base binder I had a couple of thin layers of Swix V05 Polar. I had good grip, able to stride up almost every hill (only a few short ramps required herringbone). The super cold kick wax did not "seem" to slow my glide, and I was glad to be able to stride most hills.

After the adult races, there were kids races, with about 100 kids participating. The 8-13 year olds did two laps of about a 2 km loop. There were some fast kids using very solid skate technique. The 2-7 year olds did one 1.5 km loop. I was impressed with some of their classical technique (one small girl, maybe 5 years old, doing good diagonal striding carrying no poles at all). After the kids races, the temps had warmed to about +2, and the kids were served ice cream cones outside.

You know you're in Minnesota when ... 100 kids show up to a ski race in 0 degree temps, and get ice cream cones outdoors after they cross the finish line!

A couple of pictures of Eric obtained from SkinnySki.com...

Pepsi Challenge and Noquemanon Ski Marathon Race Report - Jennifer Grant

Pepsi Challenge (52k skate)

The chill of the Pepsi Challenge this year has stayed with me. I did the 52k skate race and was one layer too short on the core which made for a difficult race. I was pretty cold and spent the first half of the race trying to decide if it would be prudent to keep going or drop out. I was enjoying skiing, though, and hate to quit a race. My temperature was cold but not completely miserable. Still I wished for one more layer. The wind was blustery and harsh and even the downhill seemed to bring an ominous chill. Fortunately, the volunteers applied a thick skin of vasoline on my face for protection. I felt relatively strong the entire race and kept the same pace throughout. The hardest part was the last 1 km with whipping wind crossing the front of the steep face we traversed to the finish causing even the most obstinate of snowboarders to yield in empathy. Removing my boots revealed purple toes and a purple index finger. The toes warmed up quickly. Unfortunately, my middle finger on my dominant hand really got frostbite and will take some time to recover.

Noquemanon Ski Marathon (52k skate)

Knowing the pain of underdressing, I was determined to get it right for this race. Temps at the start were cold but warmer weather was possible later in the race. I dressed more conservatively and was happy I did. I got a decent start mid-pack of wave 1 and enjoyed navigating the beautiful, wooded course which was streaming with sunshine. The Noque steep hills offered a good challenge and fun, curvy downhills. I felt great at the half and was happy to make my goal of arriving before the half marathoners start. In good spirits, I pressed on and, since "it's all downhill" from that point, decided to turn it up a notch. I was able to make a negative split from 2:18 the first half to 1:41 the second half although I will say at 15k to go I was definitely ready for the race to be done which I attribute to not having my typical oatmeal breakfast and an extra gel on the course. It was fun to finish sub-4 on a cold, slow snow day. Definitely a great race!

Governor's Cup - mara larson

I barely beat a pregnant chick who had to ski back to the start to get another pole.......but I finished!

The Tibialis Anterior Won’t Win Races; or, How I Learned to Love Falling. - Martha Hotchkiss

It was a Hollywood snow day: big, fluffy flakes that they try to reproduce for Christmas specials filmed out in the California desert. But I was, thankfully, far from there, at the Woodlands Trails in Elk River, enjoying a spectacularly snowy day during the holidays. There was a good three inches of new snow on the trails with more coming down, and fast. Five weeks into my lessons with Ride and Glide, but 20 years into my education as a skate skier, I was overworking that muscle in the front portion of the shin known as the tibialis anterior. “For the love of pete,” I whined to myself, “is this ever going to get easier?” I have a decent aerobic base, having been an endurance athlete for good portions of my life, but the large muscles in my legs and core were going largely unused…what was the mantra that coaches Ed, Todd and Hank were constantly intoning?

"Skiing is controlled falling"

My work was cut out for me, and made even more obvious by this experience in the beautiful hushed woods, as those three inches of fluff amplified every error in technique. My shins were screaming for mercy, and it was an experience I was repeating for the umpteenth time. Now, thanks to thoroughly professional teaching from the R & G coaches, I had a much clearer understanding of what I needed to do to make this more fun. Mind you, I love to ski as much as I love to eat, so I was having more fun than should be legal, despite my stressed out balancing muscles.

Fall, Martha, fall

So, I brought myself back to the dryland positioning drills on every uphill: 3-point landing for the V-1, small but mighty abdominal crunch, ski out over the other side after the hands pass the hips. “How do they make it look so effortless?” Frustrated, I tried to conjure up images of the coaches slipping serenely up hills, “What’s all this ‘Quick and light’ business that Ed’s always hollering at us?” And yet, when concentrating on those basic positions, the top of the hills came in view much sooner, and I wasn’t wheezing from the effort. While V-2ing on the flats I willed myself to bring my hips forward over the gliding ski and then catch the momentum with my poles. After years of skiing in between my skis, I’ve more than a few bad habits to unlearn, and paying attention to my body position and shifting my weight efficiently has helped immensely.

Chart for Prerace Nutrition - Susan Richardson

Click to view Prerace Nutrition Chart

Words from the editor - Shad Holland

Keep it up people! This is awesome! The last two newsletters have had a lot of good submissions from club members. Kind of makes being a Newsletter editor a bit more....well....like being a Newsletter editor.

I will be at all the COLL events this weekend volunteering for med support. If you see a guy riding around on a bicycle with huge tires (Surly Pugsley)....that will likely be me. I hope to see some of you out there!