By Chad Giese
Subaru Factory Team

Last summer I was talked into running the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  I have run the distance in training before but I have never run a marathon on a road with a bib on so I decided to give it a try.  At first, my main goal was to just finish and have fun, but at some point during the summer my goal changed to something very ambitious for a non-runner like me.  Having an ambitious goal for my first marathon was not the problem, it was my lack of quality running training and running base, or most likely the combination of the two that would lead to the learning experience I had.

Come marathon morning I felt a little nervous, but confident that I had the fitness to run 26.2miles.  Whether I had the legs to run 26.2miles was the really big unknown.  I felt great through the first half of the race and was thinking this wasn’t going to be too bad.  At mile fourteen and fifteen I was still right on pace and the miles were clipping by rather quickly.  Mile sixteen and seventeen were a little harder but it was really mile eighteen that did me in.  I have never felt anything like it before in all my years of racing.  There was a disconnect between my legs and my lungs and my legs had enough even though my lungs were telling them to go faster.  I have never done anything more painful. 

So what does this have to do with anything related to ski racing?  Well I learned something from this marathon:  Specific training is a necessary part of success.  This is why bikers bike, swimmers swim, skiers ski or rollerski, and runners run.  It is possible to be very good at multiple sports, and Carl Swenson is a good example of this, but these athletes are rare.  For me, I should have run a little more.  I learned that being fit is the easy part, it is being prepared that is more difficult.

I also gained a lot of respect for those people from Fairbanks who run the Boston Marathon each spring and those people from Florida who ski the American Birkebeiner each February.  I don’t know how you do it year after year.

When I start to put my training plan together for next year, I will have my marathon experience in the back of my mind.  Specificity is the best way to get a positive result.

Train on!

The Subaru Factory Team encourages everyone to sign up for the EnjoyWinter.com Sweepstakes. All you have to do is sign up at www.enjoywinter.com and you could win a Yakima Sky Box full of Subaru Factory Team sponsors' gear.

Good luck!

Wake up! It's time to train!
New CXC training DVD released for sale!

Central Cross Country Ski Association is pleased to announce the release of a brand new training DVD "Wake up! It's time to train!"

70 minutes of exclusive interviews with US Ski Team coaches, XC drills and
technique, fitness testing, sports physiology, core strength, training volume,
intensity levels, race footage, and much more. Featuring CXC Ski Team and US Ski Team athletes.

"This video contains invaluable first hand information from the top coaches in the
US and can be helpful to all, coaches, athletes, parents and master skiers. This is
also a first step study guide for the CXC Coach's Education and Certification
Program which will be launched in the spring of 2007" commented Yuriy Gusev, Central Cross Country Ski Association's CEO

This exciting DVD can be purchased on line at www.cxcskiing.org or at the CXC booth during American Birkebeiner Expo. All proceeds from the DVD sales will directly support youth, junior, senior and master's programs in the Central Region.

also

Central Cross Country Ski Association is pleased to announce the new USST
technique CD-ROM Cross-Country Technique Fundamentals is available for
sale at http://www.cxcskiing.org/

Developed by US Ski Team coaches, this revolutionary teaching tool features
Olympic and National Team members Andy Newell, Kikkan Randall, Chris Cook, Andrew Johnson, Kris Freeman and more. This CD lays the foundation for both Classic and Freestyle techniques on which we can build a consistent
technique program that will continue to develop great cross-country skiers
for years to come. For use by coaches and skiers of all ages and abilities,
this highly interactive CD-ROM features:

- How mastering these skills will improve your athletes skiing
- Detailed explanations and videos of 20 new cutting-edge drills
demonstrated by members of the USST and top junior racers
- World Cup footage of these skills used in races.
- Templates for designing customized lesson plans
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NOTE: If you have an event you would like to have in SkiPost please send emails to weanswer@skipost.com

For more information on Subaru's technically advanced all-wheel drive vehicles check out www.subaru.com

"It's What Makes A Subaru, A Subaru."