North American Ski Training Center – Tahoe, CA

Tag: ski conditioning

  • BIKE TO SKI – DRYLAND TRAINING CAMP May 1, 2015

    BIKE TO SKI – DRYLAND TRAINING CAMP May 1, 2015

    BIKE TO SKI – DRYLAND TRAINING CAMP
    DATE: May 1, 2015
    Location: Tahoe Donner – Bikeworks
    Directions: 15275 Alder Crk. Rd.Truckee, CA 96161
    Time: 9am – 4pm
    Clinic Description: Kick start your summer like a world class athlete with Chris Fellows and Kristen Martin del Campo at Tahoe Donner’s – Bikeworks. Don’t miss this opportunity to transition from skiing to biking with crossover skills like reading the terrain and powerful cornering techniques that translate to improved skiing performance.
    Participants will also learn valuable tips on summer cross-training programs to facilitate agility and flexibility. This event is open to all disciplines. Participants must provide their own mountain or cross bike. All ability levels welcome.
    What to Bring:
    • mountain bike suitable for climbing and descending trails
    • bike should be checked over for any maintenance issues
    • flat pedals highly recommended
    • quick-release to lower and raise seat
    • spare tube
    • water, snacks, and lunch
    • helmet, gloves, and eye protection
    • knee and elbow pads optional

    Tahoe Donner Bikeworks offers bike rentals and guided rides during the summer season on its extensive trail system, with a home base at the Tahoe Donner Equestrian Center offering easy access into the pristine Euer Valley. The bike fleet is stocked with a variety of Giant brand bikes from road bikes, comfort bikes and hard tails to full-suspension mountain bikes. We also offer a full array of family options, including kids bikes, trail-a-bikes and trailers for little ones. Our experienced bike mechanics are also on hand and willing to help get your own personal bike tuned up and ready for your next ride.

  • What is NASTC

  • This is how the Men’s US Ski Team Gets it Done!

    This is how the Men’s US Ski Team Gets it Done!

    Men’s speed group charged through Napa on bikes

    by Hank McKee
    Published by Ski Racing

    Get a bunch of large athletic men together, put them in a competitive environment and you got yourself a testosterone fueled freight train. That train, consisting of the men’s speed group of the US Ski Team, recently ravaged the roads of Napa, California on bikes, riding between 60 and 100 miles day, sleeping on the beach and eating an incredible amount of food.

    “It was a chance to kind of shed the winter coat and get working so that we can train harder and have more power when it gets closer to race time,” said Marco Sullivan. “In five days we covered 400 miles on road bikes, camping on the coast on the beach every night. It was simple living for sure” Get up, put the shorts on and start riding. Ride all day, stop for lunch, get into camp at night and set up tents and each as much as we could.”

    Speed coach Tommy Eckfeldt was the trip organizer said the “Tour d’Cali” originated as a way to drive the conditioning program in the preparation period and to simply travel it was tacked on to the end of an on-snow camp at Mammoth.

    “It was great fun once we were able to start riding as a group. The last day heading into Napa from the coast they averaged around 28 to 30 mph. These are back roads with a 50mph speed limit. Cars were having trouble passing us on the downhills.”

    Eckfeldt said the narrow roads necessitated a lot of single file riding, but outside from the expected flat tires and a broken derailleur, there weren’t many problems. “We were pretty well prepared for the minor stuff,” he said, and they simply sought out a bike shop when they ran into more complex problems.

    They ran into one day of poor weather and had the opportunity to cool down (recovery) in the ocean. “You couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” he said.

    “The whole idea was great,” said Andrew Weibrecht. “It gave us something to focus on and train for, and then the actual trip was really good, basically hammering Napa and up and down the coast. There were no stragglers. It definitely schooled the competitive vibe in a good way. It was a great way to really kick off the summer training, shocking the system like that.”

    Weibrecht said the bulk of his riding before this trip had been shorter rides, ones, he said, he had been able to complete essentially using his quad muscles. The longer rides of the Tour d’ Cali meant using a whole new set of muscles. “I pulled in ways I never pulled before,” he said. “It was cool to know you can do something like that, meet a challenge like that.”

    “We put together some decent rides,” said Eckfeldt. “camped at national park sites, set up tents, had bonfires and made good time.”

    About the only thing that slowed the train up was a work zone woman holding a stop sign.
    “Yeah we were on a 101mile leg, coming down a hill and it turned into a construction lane,” said Eckfeldt. We waited about 20 minutes and we had been averaging 27mph up to that point.”

    Eckfeldt said Steven Nyman was at the front of the pack more often than not. “An incredible motor and horsepower,” adding that Weibrecht spent plenty of time among the leaders and that Travis Ganong was right up there as well.

    “It was hard work for sure,” said Sullivan, “but having all the guys there made a team bonding thing as well. Nyman was our workhorse, he was at the head of the pack a lot, but we got into some good biking strategy, taking turns at the lead. We thought we were pretty cool.”

    The bonfire sessions, after dinner, didn’t usually last very long.

    “We camped pretty much on the cliffs,” said Weibrecht, “rode up the coast, looped through the Redwoods. We were definitely blitzed by the end of the day. About 8pm guys started nodding off. The biggest obstacle was falling asleep when it was totally sunny.”

    With a couple of chase vehicles, conditioning personnel and a nutritionist on hand, the team had little to worry about but keeping the train running over the rolling hills of Napa. – Hank McKee

    Photos by Steven Nyman

  • Nutrition & Skiing

    We talk alot about physical training and how it is necessary for performance and longetivity in our sport and the important role it plays in injury prevention.  Another aspect of training that we tend to overlook is nutrition.  Nutrition has an equally important role in increasing performance, longevity and injury prevention.  With skiing our dietary habits change fwhether we are in Pre-season or Post-season and In-season.  We need to keep in mind how to fuel our body adequately to maximize the benefits.  One of the beliefs that works for me is “Clean Food,” this is my own title that I have given to minimizing processed foods out of my diet.  This has helped with monitoring my sugar and fat intake, if it is not naturally occurring sugar (like fruit or honey) then I don’t eat it.  Likewise with carbohydrates, if the grain is not in its natural state then I try to avoid it.  Thanks to spending the summer in Portillo last year, I now have a new appreciation for quinoa. Quinoa is an indigenous grain to Chile and they eat quite a lot of it.  When I am working out I try to increase my protein intake to help fuel muscle recovery, I try really hard to make sure that there is some source of protein in every meal that I eat.  Off-season nutrition is the easiest to manage – for me.  In-season nutrition I find is the hardest to manage.  As the temperatures drop we tend to crave those high in fat comfort foods.  The resort dining selections do not offer much in terms of healthy options.  I think the biggest mistake we make nutritionally during the season is the quantity and quality of how much we eat and how little we hydrate.  It’s easy to walk in to the resort’s cafeteria at lunch time, and grab a slice of pizza “because it’s quick,” or a burrito or a cheeseburger and fries – because your stomach is growling and these are the options that are put infront of you.  After wolfing down your food and soda, it’s hard to even think about going outside and skiing much less ask your body to perform optimally.  We don’t need to eat that much at lunch and we very likely need to double our intake of fluids (the hydrating kind).  The point is, we have to pay better attention to what we eat in season and off-season to solicit the best performance from our bodies, reduce our risk for injury and increase our longevity in the sport.  Consult a local nutritionist to put together a plan that is best for your body and needs.

    By Kim Mann – NASTC Trainer & Western Regional Team Member

  • What do you do when your ski day is rained out?

    You wanna go skiing but it is raining so miserably out, it is not even worth putting on your thermals.  Plan B?  Hit the gym!!
    How your ski season next year pans out is dependent on what you do in the off-season, which starts in the spring and runs through the fall.  This is the time to start working on the bottom level of the performance pyramid that Chris Fellows describes in his book Total Skiing.  Functional Movement takes place in multi-planes of motion with the use of multiple joints. These movements require the firing of multiple muscle groups in various positions, ranges of motion and varying intensity to achieve a common goal. They are both everyday activities/movements and sport specific movements.  By developing and training these movement patterns we not only gain greater stability and range of motion, we also gain longetivity.  Longevity is key for skiers, we want to survive our weeklong ski trips, make it through the season injury free,  be able to ski season to season as pain free as possible and continue to avidly particpate in the sport that we love even as we age. 

    Here are a couple of exercises to incorporate:
    World’s Greatest Lunge – move into a lunge position, place both hands to the inside of the forward foot and rotate your spine once to each side.
    Backwards Lunge – reverse lunge while raising the arm that is opposite to the leg you are stepping back
    Hand walks – reach down and touch the ground with your hands or fingertips, slowly walk your hands out till you are in a plank position, then begin walking your feet towards your hands
    Lateral lunge
    Iron cross     – begin by standing with both feet side by side, out stretch your arms to either side with thumbs pointing to the ceiling, next extend one leg behind you until your hips are parallel to the floor and maintain a flat back position.
    Knee hugs – take one step forward, and you swing through with your other leg bring it up to your chest, maintaining an erect spine and toes pulled up toward the knee, grasp your knee with both hands and maintain your planted leg straight and fire the glute to aid in stability. 
    Hip/knee rotations – raise one knee up and rotate it outwards, as if you were drawing a letter “C” in the air with your knee, repeat with the other leg and then reverse the rotation so that it is going inwards.
    90/90 stretch – lay on the floor on your side, take the upper leg and bend it at a 90 degree angle, keeping the other leg outstretched, hold your arms out in front of you then sweep your upper arm to the other side of your body so your arms form a “T” (follow the path of your hand with your head, depending on how much thoracic mobility you have you may not be able to touch your hand to the ground, though this is the goal).  Repeat with the opposite leg and arm.

    If you are starting out, it is best to start with lower reps and work into doing more.  5-7 reps is a good starting point.