June 09, 2010 – Here is the latest update from Central Cross Country Ski Association (CXC) about registration and availability for upcoming CXC clinics and training camps. Check out all of the great training opportunities below for all ages.

Nordic Ski Clinic with Garrott Kuzzy
The Rochester Nordic Ski Team, a part of the Rochester Active Sports Club (RASC), will be hosting a ski clinic with US Olympic skier and CXC Team Vertical Limit member Garrott Kuzzy on Sunday June 13th at Essex Park in Rochester. There will be a 2 hour clinic for masters and coaches starting at 1:00pm and a junior clinic starting at 3:30pm for 1 hour. Cost is a $20 donation to the RASC for the masters/ coaches clinic, which will also satisfy the Technique Clinic requirement for USSA Level 100 Coaches Certification. The junior clinic is free and coaches are welcome to attend as well.

For junior skiers, Garrott plans to hold a shorter clinic from 3:30 to 4:30 on the same day (Sunday June 13th). The cost for juniors is $0 – probably the best deal you will ever get for an hour’s coaching from an Olympic skier. No roller skis will be needed for the junior clinic.

If you would like to participate, please send a note to mkoconnor@mayo.edu, walker.henry@mayo.edu, or bmwalk@aol.com by Friday, May 28.

If you are interested in hosting a ski clinic for your club with 2010 Olympian Garrott Kuzzy, please email: garrottkuzzy@yahoo.com.

Question on Training
I am entering my 2nd year of competitive skate skiing. I am 49 yrs old and completed the Kortie in February in wave 10. Time was 2;03 (even with a concussion after a bad fall at the 9K feed). I need to get much more structure to my workouts. I need a plan and just signed up for the free trial with cxcacademy.com. I have been working with a great coach who has me rollerskiing 2X a week and I run the rest of the week with my local running club. Do you think the yearly training plan that CXC offers is enough for me?

The CXC Academy is a wealth of knowledge. The plans are broken down into three different easy-to-understand sections. This could be a limitation for someone who is fit, but wants to get into racing. Problems arise when people start mixing and matching workouts that fit into their daily schedule. So here’s my suggestion/advice: CXC Academy is a platform that you should benefit from. I have said this to a few other people, but do NOT just pull workouts from another plan and sacrifice the distance workouts of the plan that you are following (or forgo intensity work because you have more time on a specific day). Look at the plan you like, determine what percentage of time is spent in each level, and then maintain that ratio if you have to make adjustments based on your schedule. For example, if the plan calls for a time ratio of distance to intensity that is 4:1, you need to maintain that ratio if you have to cut back the total time. Do not change the ratio to become 2:1 because you only had 6 hours to train on a given week.

I hope this makes sense, and you do decide to use CXC Academy.

Justin Easter, CXC Director of Education

REG Camp Registration Closed
The 2010 REG Camp has hit capacity.Thank you for all who have signed up, and we’re looking forward to seeing you on Saturday July 3rd!

Other Camp Registrations Still Open
Jr. Birkie One-Day Camp – The One-Day Birkie Junior Camp will be a camp for age categories J5/J4/J3/J2/J1 (8 years old and up) of junior athletes.This camp will involve many different elements of dryland and sport specific training. Athletes will do agility “games” and technique drills, balance and strength exercises, ski imitation that will improve their technique and training in cross-country skiing.

Register here today.

Jr. Birkie Camp – The Birkie Junior Technique Camp will be a 4 day camp for all ages of junior athletes to train together. If you come to this camp, all of your friends will be jealous. That’s not even a joke (ok, maybe it’s a joke, but the camp will be awesome!). Athletes should plan to do running drills, strength exercises, ski imitation, and rollerskiing during this time together.

Registration is open for this camp here.

Birkie Masters Camp (7/30 to 8/1) – With the weather in the Midwest getting dangerously close to 3-digits winter is looking pretty sweet! Well, this is the perfect way to remind you that the ski season isn’t so far away. Come out and meet other skiers, train hard, and enjoy!

Register for this camp here.

Birkie Women’s Camp – This is, as the name suggests, a camp for women. The main selling point here is that it is a camp for awesome women run by awesome women. Nina Gavrilyuk has three (3!!!!) Olympic gold medals and she’s going to be the coach! We aren’t promising that you’ll be in the running for an Olympic medal of your own after this camp, but we can promise you will leave inspired and more knowledgeable.

Come join the fun by registering here today.

Hayward (WI) Masters Team Chapter – Group Sessions Schedule
Chapter Coach: Igor Badamshin
Read about Masters Team and Masters Team Chapters here.

– June 28th, 29th
– July 28th, 29th
– August 4th and 5th
– September 20th, 21st
– October 18th, 19th
– November 15th, 16th
– December 20th, 21
– January TBD
– February TBD

For exact times and locations please e-mail Igor Badamshin at: igor@cxcskiing.org

U.S. Ski Team Nordic – Dartfish.tv
The USST has posted raw footage of different races, training, and technique sessions on the dartfish.tv site. There is some great video on the Nordic channel here. Some video includes coach’s comments, explanation of what is being worked on, and you can slow down the video to view it frame by frame. This is a great tool to watch the best skiers in the US working on technique, racing, and in the midst of intensity work. Check out this channel, and stay tuned for more video as this World Championships season moves forward!