Going into 2020 Winter Break

Hey team, we are heading into a low snow winter break with some necessary restrictions on our gathering in groups. It makes training more stressful than normal. We want training to be a de-stressor, not a stressor. Training should help you clear your head. We’ve got a few ideas for you to think about.

Training Hours. How much should you really be working out? That is a good question for you and your coach to discuss because it is different for everyone. Your training hours are based on your age and your training history. An 8th grader’s training volume is significantly lower than the training hours of a high school senior. Fasterskier has an old but good article about training hours. Coach Moening’s thoughts on planning annual training are here.

Simple guidelines for midwinter weekly training hours for motivated athletes

Grade	Training Hours/Year	Hours/Week in Midwinter
7	175 to 225	5
8	225 to 275	6
9	250 to 350	7
10	300 to 400	9
11	350 to 450	10
12	400 to 500	11

Don’t pick your own hours – talk to a coach

You might recognize a few juniors and seniors here

On Snow Frequency. This is a tough one this year. We don’t have snow, we can’t carpool, and the artificial snow places are crowded. What to do? Recognize that you don’t need to be on snow everyday. You can continue to develop your fitness by running and bounding with poles. I strongly believe that skiers should never get too far away from running. It is the most efficient way to get and stay fit. Bounding with poles is hard, and it makes you strong. In a year like this, don’t worry if you can only get to the snow a few days a week. I really like the article BNS Strategies for Dealing with Slow Snow (scroll past all the wax information to get to the good stuff).

Recognizing FOMO. Lots of us are on social media and can see others as they get out and exercise. It is fun to see and can help us get motivated to get in our work. We should also recognize it might over influence us to do work we don’t need or shouldn’t be doing. Take Strava for example. If you watch someone complete a strong workout at a fast pace, you brain might get jealous and convince you that you should be doing the same thing (when you should probably be doing your plan instead). Be aware, smile at yourself, and work your own plan.

2019 (missing these afternoon sunsets)

Excessive Moderation – as a coach for the last 20 years this may be my most important idea to teach. Consistent regular work is always better than “hero” days. If you are always working harder than you should, you’d deplete your body’s battery. You will not have strength for the days you really need to go fast with good technique. If want to to hear more, Coach Tom “Tinman” explains it well how your running training pace (listen at the 11:00 min mark) Distance/easy paces should be your 5K pace plus 2:30 to 3:00 per mile. The same thing applies to skiing. If there is one thing most high school skiers screw up – it is skiing too fast on their easy days. Level 1 is best described as guilt-producingly easy. Warning – when you watch people on Strava, don’t be captivated by fast paces, ski/run your pace. Make sure you laugh at yourself when you are constantly stopping and starting your stopwatch so your Strava time looks faster. One more thing, Alumni Cole Johnson wrote us a nice little piece about what he has learned about L1 while skiing at Colby College.

Boomer may not understand “excessive moderation”. You should.

What to think of time trials. Our virtual time trials should be looked at with a grain of salt. Don’t get too worked up with results. You have better things to do. Focus on your race day attitude (you should be nervous), your self confidence (keep up positive self talk), and think about technique and effort levels. Ski time trials can present varying results because of changing snow conditions and temperatures, especially on busy courses with artificial snow (mashed potatoes anyone?).

Racing at the January 2020 McKinney Invite

When the Snow Flies: One thing is clear. Winter break in a big snow season is a great time for teenagers to log lots of ski hours. Your brain/body wiring needs experience coordinating balance and movement on challenging terrain. When we get that dump of snow check out some of these places to ski.

Ski Wax Paradigm Shift. Experienced skiers know about expensive waxes called fluoros. They can provide slightly faster skiers in certain circumstances. Fluoros are going away (environmental and health concerns). There are many new options for waxing (both spray and liquid) that don’t require much equipment. The sprays and liquids will also prevent an inexperienced waxer from wrecking their skis and structure with a hot iron. Stay tuned, this is rapidly evolving.

MSHSL Season Updates: still waiting on a decision by SPPS. Once we know more, we’ll start setting some team goals.

First Day of Virtual Practice Highland Park Nordic

I think we were making lemonade today. No team practice allowed. We get it. Might not be excited about it, but going to make the best of it. Today we started “virtual” practice. A few folks wanted to know what it looked it, here you go.

We’ve got four pods of skiers. Each pod has a coach or two and 25 to 35 skiers. Each pod has a Strava Club and a workout plan for the week. The skiers get the work done on their own (unless your dad is your coach and you don’t hide his rollerskis). Twice a week we have virtual strength and do a Klaebo 30 min bodyweight workout.

Tuesday is technique day, watch a few technique videos and maybe even take a quiz (can’t get enough of online schooling). On Wednesday we’ll do a virtual team trial on the Strava segment “Hidden Falls Delight“. The skiers, parents, siblings and maybe a few random strangers will run the course between 6:00 am and 5:00 pm and submit their times. Thursday is our bounding day this week. This workout is usually a killer.

Right now it is mostly running and roller skiing. We should be on snow in a week or two. If you get out to River Road in the afternoon it is pretty easy to spot a roller skier. Lots of them out this time of year.

https://sites.google.com/view/highland-park-nordic-ski/home

Alumni Update – Grant Palas

Grant Palas – Class of 2015

Grant is serving with the US Coast Guard and is stationed in Homer, Alaska aboard the USCGC Hickory.  Here is a little run down on his work.

Aboard the Hickory I currently work as leading seaman for deck department. My primary duty is as a buoy deck rigger and aids to navigation tech; I work as part of the team that launches, maintains and recovers channel marking buoys in the state of Alaska.  As part of this job, I am in charge of maintaining each buoy’s electronics and ensuring the solar charging system is functioning.  

In addition to this while underway I serve as a Bosun’s mate of the watch, where I act as the helmsman, bridge lookout, and hopefully, soon I will start breaking in as one of the small boat crewmen.

Last week we returned from a month long patrol in the bearing sea and Aleutian islands where we launched over 100 buoys, monitored critical wildlife habitat and conducted numerous law enforcement boardings. Next week we are getting underway to train on the ships oil spill recovery system.  

Here is a link to some video that I took on our last trip,

2018 Conference Championship: Tricky Snow

We knew it’d be an interesting conference championship at Baker on Friday. The Tuesday snowstorm dumped lots of fresh snow and the weather forecast for Friday was warm. It turned out to be much more complicated than we had imagined.

The first indicator was noticed on the bus ride. In St. Paul it was 28F, in Long Lake it was 36F. Normally the temperatures are reversed, the weather was changing quickly. The snow had been above freezing since midnight. It was warm snow that hadn’t yet transformed. We figured the quick warm-up would make it easier. It is harder to wax at 32F and it is at 36F (normally).

When we arrived at Baker the sun was out and the wind was really blowing (helping to warm the snow up quickly). When we know waxing is going to be tricky we’ll usually set up a few different combinations of wax so we can test on-site right after we roll off the bus. We had a few things to try:

1. universal klister
2. universal klister covered with yellow hard wax
3. purple klister
4. Swix VR62
5. Rode Rossa

Waxing in the Shade

Maeve and I hopped on the test skis and quickly figured out the problem. We had kick in the sunny spots and major icing in the colder shade. Major icing meant once it started to ice the ski would quickly gather inches of snowball-like snow in the kick snow. The snow would get so thick you couldn’t even walk on the ski. The hard wax only skis did very little in the kicking department. We went back to the tent and tried a few different cover waxes and tried Guru Extreme klister (figuring it might not be prone to icing). The Guru provided little to no kick. As it warmed it seemed we had a somewhat decent combo if we covered the universal klister with layers of red (has a silver additive that reduces icing) and yellow hard wax (for grip). It kicked in the track and if the klister was thin it wasn’t icing up too much.

The highlight of the morning occurred when Jandro went to the coaches meeting. Our favorite (and we mean this) race director told her that only coaches were allowed at the coaches meeting. Jandro is a ten-year veteran. We giggled about that one for awhile with klister on our fingers.

Once the girls headed out we felt pretty good. We had positive reports during their last minute ski warmup and we started waxing up the boys. The clock ticked away and we were looking for Rayna. She was in the 5th bib and we figured she’d be the first finisher. We started to get nervous when the clock went past 18 minutes. It was a relief when we saw her come around the corner first.

Happy to see Rayna with bib trouble and not wax trouble.

As the girls started streaming in there was lots of chatter. Whenever the girls stopped striding the skis would start to ice. The biggest trouble spot was on “The Wall” (an overly dramatic name for a medium size hill). The Wall faces north and all that fresh snow was cool in the shade and all chopped up from herringboning. At the top of the wall almost all the girls had to stop and knock the icing snow off their skis. Once they strode away the snow would mostly get knocked off of their skis, although some still had intermittent icing problems.

Briefing the boys

It seemed to us that using kick for the boys wasn’t worth the risk of icing (even though we had just klistered and covered ten pairs of skis). We told them they should double pole the course on their skate skis. It was a pretty easy call when we considered how much time the boys have spent in the weight room. A few were quite happy when we made the call. A few boys seemed to have good skis with little to no icing and went ahead with classic skis.

Corking

Rilling

Polishing

We then focused our attention on applying structure and hard fluros to the skis. Adding structure (we often call it rilling) marks the base of the ski with thin grooves to allow the water a path to flow and to break suction. Applying the hard fluoro keeps the skis cleaner longer. A clean ski is a faster ski. Taco and Jando finished up most of the boy’s skis.

Eli – 2nd Year Skier and Monster Double Pole Machine

The boys came back from the classic 5K quickly. The HP boys were moving along and seven placed in the top ten after the classic race. Ben had a tremendous race and earned a 40 second lead over his teammate Otto. Reports on the course indicated the snow was so slow that many skiers with kick wax were striding down the hills.

Maeve and Hammer looking relaxed at halftime.

We had a happy bunch at the break. Celeste and Ben were both confidently in the hot seat leading the races. The remainder of the day was a lot simpler for the coaches. Just rill, fluoro and polish. The skiers seemed confident.

Celeste out front

Ben to the lead

Hidden behind the scene was Atmore running our start line. She made sure everyone was on time with a bib, smile, and confidence. Emmett and Theo were stationed at the Barn giving the skiers crucial splits. Ellie S was running the backup timing sheet for the coaches. Taco was waxing skis. Having this crew allowed the coaches time to figure out the wax (if you saw us sitting in lawn chairs please keep it to yourself).

Atmore – the Nordic Ski Whisperer

When the girl’s freestyle pursuit race began it was about 45F and everything was turning to slush. Many areas of the course looked brown. The girls skied through it and raced well. They finished with five in the top ten, and all ten in the top twenty. Celeste won her first conference championship.

Conference Champs!

As the boys took off the finish line crew was rapidly shoveling snow onto the asphalt. It was melting about as fast as they were shoveling. The path to the lake looked brown and slushy. We expected Ben to finish first and he pulled it off. We all did a double take as Nat pulled himself from the ninth spot to second place! Most of us didn’t figure it out until he crossed the finish line. The boys finished strong and were pumped.

Not exactly sure what is going on here.

Both the boys and the girls won conference titles and hope to get in a good week of training prior to the February 6 Section Meet at Wirth Park.

2018 Twin Cities Nordic Ski Conference Champions!

Winter Break and Cold Weather Skiing

A couple thoughts about winter break.  For high school skiers, the winter break is a great time to log on snow hours.  Time on skis is the most important part of winter break skiing. Unlike running you can log lots of hours without worrying about overuse injuries.  Many of our skiers will log about 14 hours a week skiing over break.  Developing all the fine motor control muscles that will make them more efficient in early February.  In a perfect world, you’d get to try a bunch of different places to ski.  If we get lucky with some snow – check out this list.

 

The girls find Jan (Gear West).

 

Cold weather:  when the wind chill is less than -20F it gets tricky to stay warm.  You can do it but you’ll need to be prepared.  A face mask is a must.  The best way to get out on the cold days is to ski at mid-day in an area with lots of trees (to slow down the wind).  Don’t get caught up in the media hype about how cold it is outside.  You can be comfortable skiing at temperatures that would scare off most people.  When it gets below 5F it is almost always better to classic ski.  Skate skiing becomes squeaky slow and less fun.  You’ll also stay warmer classic skiing and the kick waxing is easy (go green).

 

Somehow the girls get Matt (former Birkie champ) to stop.

 

Man-Made Snow:  Obviously, we spend a lot of time at Hyland and Wirth.  For classic kick on man-made snow go one color warmer with your regular kick wax and apply 3 to 4 thin layers.  Ideally, you’d have a  kick wax binder underneath.  For your top layer – use Oslo Blue or Violet, or REX 1814.  The Oslo wax seems to be a stickier, the REX 1814 seems to have a bigger temperature range and you can go into the lower colder temps.

 

Celeste one-ups everyone with a picture of her and Jessie Diggins

 

Running:  yes you should.  Maybe you can’t get out and ski twice in one day.  Throw on your shoes and get in a little more time working out.  If you run CC or track you need to keep your legs used to the idea of running.

 

Jack and our favorite former Olympic Skier (Kevin).

 

Getting in Workouts:  This can be a challenge by yourself.  A typical winter break L4 workout looks like 6 x 3 min or maybe 10 x 1 min.  Good recovery between the repeats.  If you do it with a buddy you’ll be more likely to do quality work and will be more likely to finish the workout.  Commit to the workout before you arrive at the venue.  Make sure everyone know the plan and you’ll get it done.

 

Taco finds Highland’s first state meet qualifier (Scott)

 

 

 

 

 

Highland Nordic Camp at Maplelag

The Highland Park Nordic Ski team is making our 15th annual trip to Maplelag.  This is a highlight of the season for many of us.  We’ve done the trip with tons of snow and also with no snow.  The main focus is team bonding with heavy bouts of exercise.  The low snow years are almost more fun. It turns into summer camp and we end up playing games on the lake and in the woods (orienteering, nerf gun biathlon, ultimate, bounding and more).  We seem to work the kids harder in the low snow years.  Big snow years we tend to log lots of K. The kids tend to prefer the games.

Friday:  7:30 am departure.  Every seat on the bus is full.  We’ve got a Highland Graduate and a Saint Paul Firefighter for a driver.  After a stop for lunch in Detroit Lakes (coaches found Jimmy Johns first #win) we arrive at 1:15.

2:00 pm.  First workout.  We skied the Skater’s Waltz trail a few times to shake out our legs. The trail is plenty good enough for B skis.  The kids are enjoying the rolling hills and bumpy trail.   We then headed in for a quick kick wax job and a couple cookies.

3:10  Classic Ski.  Sukkerbusk.  The temps are mild and the blue kick wax is working.  Nice to ski on real snow with regular wax.  The kids ski until 4:00.  We are relearning how to kick.  The technique needs some work. 

4:00  Relay Races on the lake.  We ski 8 x 200 meters and the Little Snowflake Division (varsity and JV boys) appears to have swept the Elite Division (coaches).  A rough game of Pom Pom Pullaway followed and nobody was hurt (that bad).  We get off the lake at 5:30 and head in to eat.

7:30  The most anticipated event of the evening.  The annual square dance.

8:00  pm:  An intrepid few head out for the night ski.  All of them return.

10:00 pm to 2:30 am:   Coach Abby and our parent chaperone (Rebecca) earning their coach of the year and parent of the year award for tending to a sick skier.  We let Coach Abby sleep in on Saturday until 7:30 am.  With 60 skiers one is bound to get sick.  Luckily it wasn’t a repeat of the infamous 2015 trip when our boys ate lunch at an unnamed pizza joint and spent much of the weekend in gastronomic distress.  Many of us still can’t shake that smelly memory.

Saturday:  we start the day at 7:30 am with a  half-hour shake out run.  The concept of an easy run is foreign to many of the varsity boys (we are talking to you Eli and Boone) and it quickly turns into an L3 workout.

We grab a quick breakfast and head out for a classic workout to dial in our striding.  We start on the lake with 25F and have an excellent platform to no pole stride.  After some technique work, we head into the woods and stride Sukkerbusk and Twin Lakes.  The fresh snow freshened things up a bit.  Maplelag grooming is top notch.  Jay lightly etched a classic track in the deeper snow.

11:00 am – The team time trial.  Jay Richards (Maplelag) marked us a 4Kish course around Skater’s Waltz.  The kids went out in groups of two.  The team competition was fairly cutthroat.  We were unable to test for fluoros, there might have been a violation. Ed and Molly enjoyed their first wins of the season.

The kids knock off a couple laps around skater’s waltz before lunch.  They might be a little tired but the lunch was hearty.  A few cookies recharged the batteries.   One of our mathematicians estimates that the team ate 3,000 cookies from Maplelag’s bottomless cookie jar over the weekend.  We are waiting for confirmation.  The weekend game of Nerf Gun Gotcha is winding down to a few survivors.    Nerf guns are everywhere (but not the lodge unless concealed).  Sadly Theo is taken down by Lauren through a little skullduggery.

1:30 – The skiers are ready to log some K.  We start back on the lake for some double poling work and then out again into the woods.  The weather is perfect:  25F and no wind.  The Twin Lake Trail is a blast.  We swing into the lodge at 2:30 for a quick break.

3:00  Back on the lake for a spin.  Working on our V2.  The crust skiing is a dream.  Long glides and good ski control.  We drift over to the woods and start doing laps on Skater’s Waltz until 4:15 when we muster at Suicide Hill. The skiers do a number of climbs before the final sprint showdown.

5:00 pm  Time for relays in the dark on the lake.  8 x 200-meter legs only skate.  We held off on Pom Pom as last night’s game was a bit rough (although no one broke bindings).  After a couple of old-fashioned MYSL drills, we break out the challenging left-right ski drill.  The skiers have to put their left ski on their right foot and vice versa.  Many of the new skiers are a bit confused but the older skiers help them through with minor technique tips to make it work.  The penultimate event is backward skiing with the skis on the wrong feet.  It seems to even everything out.  Emmett dominates.  

We eat a nice dinner and head down to the Ping Pong Tournament.  Joey goes down in the semi-finals.  It seems fishy but the event organizer (Nat) wins the tourney.

7:30 pm.  One last ski.  A few brave skiers do a lap around the lake while others ski Skater’s Waltz and Sukkerbusk.

10:00 pm.  Tired kids.  Coaches find enough caffeine to chase the kids to bed.

11:00 pm – lights out.  Whew – a somewhat quiet night (except for those giggling middle school girls).

Sunday 7:30 am:  A bunch of kids get up early and run or ski.  Some hitting the lake for an easy 5K.

9:30 am:  We hold muster and all are accounted for.  The kids head out for one last ski.  Twin Lakes and Island Lake are popular choices for a classic ski.  The trees are covered with hoar frost and every view looks like a postcard.

 

12:30 pm:  Lunch and a bus ride home.  We’ll practice next week.  It is always surprising how much the kids progress after a weekend up at Maplelag.  They get so much time on their skis and the improvement is obvious.  Another successful trip.  Thanks to the Richard’s family for another great Maplelag Ski Camp.  See you next year.

5:00 pm Arrive at school.  The Moening car is missing – dang.

The First Few Weeks – Snowmaking

The first couple of weeks of practice started with rollerskiing, running, bounding and water polo.  We have a killer new hill for rollerskiing that can challenge the strongest skiers when we skate it.  We’ll just call it HF hill.

We got lucky with a few one-inch snowfalls and a strong wind that drifted snow along a few fence lines on the ballfields.  We spent a couple days at practice shoveling snow (with 90 shovers you can move some snow).  We have a 1.2 K loop with a hill.  All of the kids are now skiing and learning the basics.    We’ve mixed in a few days of rollerskiing and water polo to keep it fun.