May 25, 2011 – National Team Sizes – these past couple of years, whenever I have written anything about the US and Canadian National Teams, I have referenced just how fragile I feel that they are, and you can really get a sense of this when they are at the “big games” like the Nordic World Championships and the Olympics. If Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw get sick at the same time, or Kikkan Randall and Kris Freeman are not on peak at the same time, as examples, both of these teams have no chance for podium or top 6 results.

To get an idea of what they are up against, take a look at the “big three” national teams from Scandinavia compared to the NAs. We are not only talking team size, but the criteria for selecting these people is quite close in all the countries. Most of the NAs skiers would make these other National Teams and the development teams are just about the same in the differences in size. Money could be a factor, but it’s the selection criteria that is responsible for picking these teams.

There is still a long way to go (when you see these differences) and for you people in the trenches (divisional and provincial levels) organizing, coaching, volunteering, running clubs, doing anything below the National Teams, there is still a ton of work more to be done. The skiers at the top level need more help – fast.

WORLD CUP TEAMS
Norway(22)	Sweden(19)	Finland(18)	USA(4)	Canada(7)
Bjorgen Johaug Kristoffsen Steria Skofterud Jacobsen Brun-Lie Flugstad Casperson Bjellanes Gjerdalen Northug Ronning Sundby Eliasson Rennemo Hattestad Kjolstad Bransdal Petterson Gloersen Dahl	Sodergren Olsson Eriksson Jonnsson Modin Peterson Bryntesson Halfvarsson Hellner Richardsson Ingemarsdotter Rydqvist Falk Brodin Lindborg Pajala Oberg Kall Haag	Sarasoja Niskanen Kyllonen Saarinen Roponen Lahteenmaki Ahervo Heikkinen Simila Nousiainen Jauhojarvi Lehtonen Lallukka Jylha Pakkonen Colliander Strandvall Pentsinen	Freeman Newell Stephen Randall	Babikov Harvey Kershaw Valjas Crawford Gaiazova

Those Norwegian Gold Jackets – the Norwegian Team jackets that members were given to walk around in, attend medal and formal presentations, and march in the opening and closing ceremonies was a nice “gold medal” color – did you notice? How was this gold color related to their national colors – red, white and blue? Nope, nada, no way Jose – me thinks they were sending a message – these are our podium jackets and we plan on making a lot of visits to the podium-14 in all for X-C. The next best was Sweden with 5. Psyche job #1 goes to NORWAY – another first – WOW!!

Do You Know This? A fit runner can pump 30 liters of blood/ minute. That’s better than 6 gallons! Add This To Your Early Morning Regimen – this is a wakeup call – for sure – click HERE.

Roller Skiing Start-up Reading – yes, we are into roller skiing big time now that our full time training program is in full swing. Here is a paper that I hope if you follow the message will keep you safer this summer – click HERE.

Double Poling Is The Way of The Future – yes, how does this picture (see below) of Kikkan receiving her USSA XC Skier of the Year Award have anything to do with double poling. Well, we can thank her for wearing her sleeveless dress and giving us a preview of a set of arms that have been developed through special considerations for double poling. She has, I’m surmising, spent considerable time in the weight room making this happen and doing some very long double pole sessions on snow and on her roller skis – with lots of good terrain thrown into the mix. When I say long sessions – I’m talking 10, 15 and 20km workouts – not 3 minutes here and 3 minutes there – that won’t get it done. Yes, the short stuff for intervals and assorted intensities, but the long stuff and that terrain mix I mentioned earlier are a big part of this. To speed up the process get in the weight room and start lifting big steel – yes, heavy weights and low reps. Are you worried about bulking up – take another look at Kikkan’s arms. You want to bulk up – the RSing and snow workouts will keep you long in movements. You are what you train!

If you have been in the tracks this past winter racing against Kikkan these “upper body” drivers of hers are what you have been up against, as have all the international skiers on WC, WSC and TdS circuit. Kikkan, has gone from a good skier three years ago to a top-ten skier this year and these babies are a big part of that! – read more on the USSA Awards HERE.

Here is more HELP.
GET GOING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO FALL FARTHER BEHIND!!!

Resting Heart Rate Monitoring – I talk to a lot of skiers and coaches’ and I can’t believe the lack of focus towards everyday monitoring of a person’s resting fitness or taking one’s daily resting HR. It’s a 5-10 minute obligation to ensuring that you have recovered from the previous day’s work out. This is not an every other day responsibility or if you are using the Finnish physiologist’s Rusko’s system (http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2828788) just 2-3 times a week. It has to be every day – yes, every day.

When just doing RHR – wake up in the morning and using the exact same protocol – take your RHR and record it. Over time you will establish a base line and variation up or down and that will let you learn about your recovery . If you start to trend up – you need a break – if you trend down – good… you are getting more fit or you are peaking depending on how you are trying to manage the system.

The secret here is that most athletes’, who think they have over trained, have more than likely under-recovered. If you are going for it – this is a must do every day.

Talk to you soon.
misterxc@aol.com