By: Lars Flora
Subaru Factory Team

My favorite intensity session, speed session, or distance training at this time of the year is ski bounding/walking. This type of training is a sure way of getting ready for the upcoming season. No matter what the weather is rain or shine, ski bounding/walking can always fit into the schedule.

A skier might ask himself or herself, “What is ski bounding/walking?” Many coaches have a different explanation of the exercise and how it fits into training. I have used a variety of ski bounding/walking throughout my career and have refined my technique down to a few key points.

Basic Ski Bounding/Walking: A dry land activity used to prepare cross-country skiers for the up and coming ski season. It is used to increase fitness and to create a fast kick for on snow training. Preferred terrain is ski trails, a long up hill, or a step-up series of up hills. Step-up up hills are a series of up hills that are broken up with flatter terrain and ending at a higher elevation. The equipment needed is running shoes, shorts or tights, t-shirt or race top, and classic or bounding/walking poles. Bounding/walking poles are the preferred choice. Normally they are 2-3 cm shorter than your classic poles.

Basic Ski Bounding: The human motion is a combination of a skip and run with poles. Imagine yourself with a pair of skis on, running/skipping up a hill with your ski poles. Ski bounding can vary between a powerful bound to a high tempo bound. As skiers become stronger, the bound will become more powerful. In addition the amount of power used will be dependant on the intensity of the workout and the goal of the workout.

Basic Ski Walking: The human motion is a walk with ski poles. The walk is exaggerated and each stride is longer than a normal walk. Ski walking can vary from a slow tempo walk to a high tempo walk. As the workout intensity becomes higher, the tempo increases. Ski walking is the easier of the two.

Ski Bounding/Walking Workouts: A variety of ski bounding/walking workouts can be chosen from below or one can create their own specific workout. Listed below are my favorite ski bounding/walking workouts in Anchorage and can be easily replicated in a different area. Remember to have a specific goal for the workout and tailor your technique to the goal.

“Ski Walking” can be used for recovery and distance training. A variety of terrain can be used. I prefer a ski trail or a tall mountain. Throughout the workout ski walking can be used on the up hills. This allows the legs a rest from the constant pounding of running and stresses them at the same time. These workouts can range from 30 minutes to 3 hours.

“Leikish Pace Workout” is an intensity session used earlier in the season to prepare for the harder bounding workouts later in the intensity period. The workout is done on the 7.5 km loop of the Andrew Leikish Trail at Kincaid Park. This is one of the cities most difficult racecourses and is ideal for continuous bounding. The terrain is rolling with 2-3 min climbs max. The workout can last 30 min to one hour in total duration. The up hills are bounded at a high speed and the down hills and flats at level 2. Effort of bound-Medium power and high tempo.

“Gas line” is the most popular of my bounding workouts and is used though out the training period. The terrain is an up hill step up series and the preferred workout is 5 x 4 min intervals with 2-5 min active rest. Effort of bound-medium power and high tempo. Pay specific attention to the work effort. If the skier cannot sustain a bound for 4-5 minutes, the bound is too powerful. This workout can also be done on a sustain uphill. The overall pace will be slower due to continuous work.

“Speed Play” is a great workout to add to distance workouts or do as individual workouts. The speed can vary from 6 – 15 seconds in duration done multiple times in the workout. For example: 5x15 seconds in a 1:30 run or 12X10 seconds in an individual sprint workout. A skier can vary between high tempo bounds (move the arms as fast as possible) to powerful bounds (jump as far as possible each bound).

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The Yellowstone Ski Festival
November 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, 2006
West Yellowstone, Montana

It’s snowing in West Yellowstone today and it’s getting hard to think about anything except skiing! The Yellowstone Ski Festival is only a few weeks away and will take place during Thanksgiving Week on November 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, 2006 in West Yellowstone, Montana. The event’s highlights include a series of one, three and five day Nordic skiing clinics, SuperTour races, the Try It and Buy It Equipment Demo and an Indoor Ski Show.

Here’s an update on the latest Ski Festival developments:

A Word About Lodging: Rumors that all the hotels in West Yellowstone are booked for the Ski Festival are just that: rumors! I have personally contacted the Holiday Inn, the Days Inn, Yellowstone Lodge, the Brandin’ Iron Inn, the Three Bear Lodge and the Bar N Ranch and all of these hotels have rooms available during the Ski Festival. All of these properties can be contacted through their advertisements on the right side of the Yellowstone Ski Festival homepage: www.yellowstoneskifestival.com . For additional recommendations, please email me at the address below.

Try It and Buy It Gear Demo: At this point, all of the manufacturers that you have come to expect to see at the Yellowstone Ski Festival are planning to return this year. This year we also look forward to welcoming a few new exhibitors, and their exciting product lines. There is no better place to demo the latest in Nordic gear than at the Yellowstone Ski Festival.

SuperTour Registration: A race schedule and online registration are now available on the SuperTour page of www.yellowstoneskifestival.com. The Men's and Women's Sprint races will take place on Friday, November 24th. The Men's 15K and Women’s 10K Classic races will take place on Saturday, November 25th.

Kid’s Clinics by the Montana Outdoor Science School: The folks at MOSS have put together another amazing lineup of children’s clinics during the Ski Festival. Offerings include new clinics on Tuesday and Wednesday; Wonders of Winter Clinics for grades K – 2 on Friday and Saturday; and Adventures in Winter Ecology Clinics for grades 3 – 6 also on Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit the MOSS website

For over 25 years, West Yellowstone, Montana has played host to cross country skiers during the month of November. There is no better place to start your ski season! It’s not too early to start making plans for the upcoming season. Look for future articles and for more information, visit www.yellowstoneskifestival.com or contact:

Jamie Greene, Yellowstone Ski Festival Coordinator
The West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 458
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-9427
info@yellowstoneskifestival.com

Start your ski season in West Yellowstone, Montana!
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Paid Coaching Internship.
Nordic Coach. Green Mountain Valley School. Waitsfield, VT

Coach with one of the country’s premier high school Nordic programs and one of the leading high school coaches in the US, former Norwegian National Team member and world champion, Jon Arne Enevoldsen. The GMVS team is growing and your assistance is needed in development of younger junior skiers. When it comes to racing and in-season training, this will be a great learning environment for any coach. Must be an accomplished skier, knowledge of both classic and skate skiing technique, dryland training, waxing and competing a necessity. Practices to be designed to work with coach's schedule. Target of 10-20 hours per week December 1-April 1. Excellent pay package commensurate with experience , food / meals covered at school. Great parental and school support.

If interested, please contact Jon Arne Enevoldsen at (802) 583-7836 or via email at jenevoldsen@gmvs.org.
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The Methow Valley Cross Country Ski Camp
December 14-17, 2006 at
Sun Mountain Lodge
Registration opens Sept 1st MVN members
Sept 15th for non-members

Visit Methow Valley Ski Club's website for more information
http://www.mvnordic.com/mvnordic/cccamp.html ____________________________________________________
***SNOW OR NOT***
Nordic Pole Pedal Pant Fall Triathlon at Rainbow Resort
Is Yours To Race And Have Fun
Nov. 18, 2006 (kids - age 12 and under); Nov. 19, 2006 (age 13 and up)
Visit http://www.rainbowresort.com for more details or email info@rainbowresort.com
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Christmas - New Years XC Ski Camp
Tuesday December 26th thru Thursday December 28th
This xc ski festival will be held at Rainbow Resort, west of Itasca State Park and east of Waubun, WI. The festival will include on-snow cross country ski camp for both skate and classic, seminars, food, video, time trials, and more.
For more information contact Amy Xu at 612-991-4912 or info@rainbowresort.com
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Free "Get your Nordic on" Clinic
Wausau, WI area - DC Everest High School
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Saturday, October 14th

Central Cross Country Ski Association ("CXC Skiing") is pleased to announce a free clinic to all level skiers (juniors, seniors, masters, citizen) conducted by Garrott Kuzzy and Bryan Cook, CXC Team athletes. Bryan Fish, CXC Team Head Coach, and Scott Wilson, CXC Chief Operating Officer will also be helping. Bring roller skis and helmets if you have them and running shoes for dryland drills. See below for details and directions.

Schedule:
Saturday:
2:00pm - Introduction
2:10pm - Dry land drills (classic and skate)
2:40pm - Rollerski drills (focus on skate)

Directions:
From Hwy 51. Take Hwy 29 east (exit 187) toward Green Bay - 1.9 miles
Take the US-51-BR exit 171 to Schofield/ Rothschild - 0.4 miles
Take right @ E Grand Ave - 0.6 miles
Take right @ Jelinek Ave - 0.7 miles.
Take right @ Alderson St - 0.2 miles
DC Everest High School - Greenheck field house on the right (6500 Alderson St Schofield, WI 54476)
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NOTE: If you have an event you would like to have in SkiPost please send emails to weanswer@skipost.com

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

SkiPost is a cross-country skiing informational, educational and motivational service, brought to you through a partnership with the Subaru Factory Team and the Salomon Athlete & Event Force.

The goal of SkiPost is to make the sport of cross-country skiing easier and more enjoyable for all who choose to participate. If you have questions on Cross-country Skiing see www.SkiPost.com or email us at mailto:weanswer@skipost.com

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Enjoy Winter,
Justin Easter

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