December 04, 2012 – Why Aren’t You Sprinting Today – Yes, that’s you I’m talking to!  I find it hard to believe the number of skiers that are on the DNS list in just about every sprint, national or international. Are there that many people sick? Are there that many people who think they aren’t fast enough and can’t sprint? Or are there just a bunch of skiers that are saving themselves for the distance race? Whatever the reason, get over it, do not pass up the chance to sprint, it will help you in all of your racing – be it sprints or distance.

There will be sometime in every race that you will need to come up to sprinting speed, especially with all the mass start races there are now – to pass, to break away, sprint to the finish – whatever it may be? Sprinting is a lot natural abilities of course, but in XC skiing it is also a learned process. Learning to sprint on skis is a lot harder than on foot. Why? Because you don’t have the impediments on foot that you have when sprinting in xc skiing – poles and skis really become part of the formula. You have to learn how to use them and that only comes from practice, lots of sprinting and of course sprint racing. Remember there is no time that you will go as fast as you do when racing – that bib has magical powers. Also, if you think you’re saving yourself for the big distance race, you most likely aren’t going to qualify for the heats – and it isn’t such a long day. Listen up 3-4 minutes of “balls to wall” sprinting will sharpen up that sprint you’re gonna need to get those two skiers just in front of you headed to the finish line.

I believe that learning to properly use your skis and poles in sync is a learned process, especially in sprinting, and they provide hurdles to get over. That only comes from sprinting practice at shorter distances, so you can go faster than the sprinting pace. Work on technique and teach yourself the focus to extract the maximum speed from yourself. There can be no compromising of the effort to go fast – 50-60 seconds is your limit on time, as after that you will start to produce lactic acid and slow the effort down.

Also, remember that the arms are the controlling factor here, fast arms fast pace, long arms long strides and visa versa slow arms slow pace, short arm short strides. When running if I immobilize your arms, can you run as fast as you can when you have the use of your arms – point made.

Just think about this past weekend and the first race in Kuusamo in the mini-series – the first event is the sprint and you have to do it if you want to be in all three races. Therese Johaug is not a sprinter but did she get a surprise when she qualified, the TV announcers definitely gave her effort some talking time – you never know.

REMEMBER, ALL SPORT COMES DOWN TO SPEED – SO GET OUT THERE AND LEARN HOW TO GO FAST NOW – YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT WILL HELP YOU MAKE A TEAM, THE PODIUM OR WIN THE RACE.

Kikkan’s Weekend in Kuusamo – a cool $9,300 US won.

US Men’s Program – Are we seeing a changing of the guard here with the coming of Noah Hoffman? He is starting to put up some pretty good finish numbers. He is learning how hard you have to go to get those results. Just thinking… a young guy was due to come along sooner or later.

Do You Know Jeff Ellis? – First off he’s from Alaska, was a pretty good xc ski racer, is married to Kikkan Randall and is now working for FIS, in a new position as Marketing Support Cross-Country Skiing. If you are visiting FIS XC Ski Viessemann site you will see him first hand doing all kinds of promotional work. HURRAY to FIS for finally hiring a NA for one of these promotional positions.

Canadian Women – are doing the disappearing act again. One starter in Sunday’s race and she was a DNF. It always amazed me how few races the Euros missed and it’s still that way. We are always saving ourselves – just can’t get out of that rut. It shows me that you have not done the training or you would have more confidence to do what you have been training for – RACE! You will not make it doing it this way – there are even coaches playing this game.

Wild Thought – There could be an awful big penalty to pay for all those hotshot Euros who are passing up the five (5) races here in Canada these next two weekends. There is a heavy load of sprints – 3 of them and 2 distance races. Just for instance, lets say Kikkan Randall was to win all five (5) races – that is 500 points and that shoots her to the top of the overall World Cup standings by a huge amount that might just be insurmountable with the way Randall is skiing now in both the sprints and distance races. Is it possible that she could win the WC this early ?????? This could be fun to watch.

Northug’s Thinking – In last Saturday’s 10km free technique WC race in Kuusamo he was seeded #115, which meant most of the course before he started was skied on by literally hundreds of other men racers who would have mushed up the herringbone hills, scrapped off the corners and essentially slowed the whole course down. He finished in 2nd place, losing by just 7 seconds – was it a mistake to be that far back in the seeding? I’d have to say yes. It was 13th place before you saw another racer in the hundred numbers – Lukas Bauer. I think Northug and his coaches slipped up. No big deal as he only lost a couple of thousand dollars… but he does have a gambling habit.

Don’t forget the races start on Friday in Quebec.
 
Talk to You Next Time.
misterxc@aol.com