Tuesday, December 8

Training/Lifestyle/Competition Journal, Strength Training, General & Ski Specific & Swim Technique

Elite Athlete Training/Lifestyle/Competition Journal. Reasons why we keep a training journal:
#1 = for your information to plan your training for the next year, for yearly total hours and monthly total hours.
#2 = to evaluate your training. If you have an “incredible race performance of your life,” you will have your own personal perfect recipe of your lifestyle and what kind of training you did: the last day before your race (what you ate for supper and breakfast); for the last week leading up to your race; for the 2 weeks before your great race; for the last month before your race; for the last 3 months before your race; and for the last year before your great race.
#3 = to prevent “over-training” and to prevent “under-recovery.”
#4 = to discuss your training with your coach every month.
#5 = to show your training journal and hours of training to potential sponsors.
#6 = to give to your other coaches if you train for other sports, change ski clubs, get a new coach, qualify for provincial or national teams.
***System: buy a simple school scribbler note book x 24 pages or 36 pages. You can give your journal to your coach on Tuesday at practice, and, we will return your journal to you on Thursday at practice. Or Thursday-Saturday, or Saturday-Tuesday. Your coach will make feedback notes in your journal and discuss them with you when returning your journal. Start your Training & Lifestyle Journal in the front of your scribbler. Start your Competition Evaluation in the back of your journal. When your Journal and Evaluations meet, start a new journal.

+Devon Kershaw talked to our Edmonton Nordic Team in Canmore about his personal journal…he writes about his life as an elite athlete and about his life in general = what he is experiencing and how he feels and what he is thinking. This is a personal journal for your self…but, from time to time, if you want to add your comments into your training journal about your life as an elite athlete that you want to share with your coach, that would be appropriate.
You have 2 choices for your journal:
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#1: BASIC TRAINING JOURNAL = one page per week. Example:

mon sep 4: AM = 30min walk zone0. PM = rest day off.

tue sep 5: AM = 30min walk zone0. PM = 90min; team practice x 45min rollerski classic double pole strength zone1; 45min xc run 7 intervals 2min zone3 & 2min zone1.

wed sep 6: AM = 30min walk zone0. PM = 90min; biathlon practice; 45min shooting zone 0 + 45min run zone1.

thu sep 7: AM = 30min walk zone0. PM = 90min; team practice; 45min strength circuit; 45min ski bounding 4 intervals up ski hill; 3min zone3 & 3min zone1.

fri sep 8: AM = 30min walk zone0. PM = rest day off.

sat sep 9: AM = 90min; team practice; 60min rollerski skate zone1; 30min double pole & one arm pole strength zone1.
PM = 120min biathlon shooting zone0.

sun sep 10: AM = rest. PM = 180 min bike zone1 Total Weekly Training Hours = 540min = 9hours
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#2: COMPLETE TRAINING and ELITE ATHLETE LIFESTYLE and COMPETITION JOURNAL = one page per week. Example: Simple Training Journal from above +plus+ key to symbols:

Sleep: BT = 9:00pm, WT = 6:30am; ST = 9hrs30min; Q = great.
BT = bed time; WT = wake time; ST = sleep total time; Q = quality x great, good or poor.

Pulse: P = 44bpm & 52bpm. Morning resting heart rate = beats per minute (bpm). Follow the exact precise identical regime every morning when you wake up, so that your pulse information is accurate. After you wake up, lay in bed to relax for 3 minutes, then take your pulse on your neck or wrist, counting your pulse for 30 seconds x multiply x 2. You can take a second pulse during breakfast “if” you have a very structured rigid daily morning routine that you follow every morning x 7 days a week. The second pulse can be taken after you take your last bite of your breakfast, while you are still sitting at the breakfast table for more than 10 minutes, without standing up and walking around. Over a few months, your pulse data can indicate that when you have a higher pulse…your body may be reacting to fatigue, over-training, under-recovery, the start of an illness virus, stress from family-friends-academics-self; etc.

Meals: “0-3” Breakfast = B; Lunch = L; Dinner = D.
0 = nothing to eat.
1 = small non-athlete computer geek or TV couch potato meal: 1 thing such as: one fruit or one bowl of cereal or two toasts & jam; Or one sandwich or french fries; Or two pieces of pizza or pasta dish or rice dish.
2 = good healthy meal: 2 or 3 things such as: egg & toast & milk, or cold box cereal & milk & fruit & toast; or, sandwich & vegetables & milk; or, soup & salad & fruit; or pasta & salad & dessert.
3 = elite athlete meal: 4 or 5 things such as: egg & hot cereal & yoghurt & fruit & milk & toast/bagels with peanut butter-jam-honey; sandwiches & fruit & vegetables & milk & juice & dessert; dinner of main course meat & vegetables & fruit & soup & salad & dessert & milk & juice.

Hydration: The colour of your urine = clear or yellow.

“Other:” happy face :) or straight face :l or sad face :( feeling energetic; feeling really tired; feeling really motivated & encouraged; feeling un-motivated & discouraged; feeling like getting sick; sick with cold or congestion or cough or flu; injury; soreness or pain; school exam or assignment stress; family stress; friends stress; great training; bad training; great race; bad race; late night party with friends; long travel fatigue; celebrating personal good news!

Zones: zone 0 = relaxing social touring pace with your grandparents or non-athletic friends; zone 1 = 50% easy effort so you can easily talk-visit while training with perfect technique; zone 2 = 70% relaxed tempo effort with relaxed quick tempo and comfortable controlled breathing, but not quite able to talk-visit; zone 3 = 90% threshold effort with fast-quick tempo and perfect controlled technique but no lactic acid; zone 4 = 100% effort with maximum race pace tempo and perfect technique with maximum pulse, lactic acid and heavy breathing.

mon sep 4: BT = 8:30pm; WT = 6:30am; ST = 10hrs; Q = great; P = 48bpm & 52bpm; B = 2; L = 1; D = 3, Hyd = clear.
AM = 30min walk zone0.
PM = rest day off.

tue sep 5: BT = 8:30pm; WT = 6:30am; ST = 10hrs; Q = great; P = 48bpm & 60bpm; B = 3; L = 3; D = 3, Hyd = yellow; other = school exam stress.
AM = 30min walk zone0.
PM = 90min; team practice x 45min rollerski classic double pole strength zone1; 45min xc run 7 intervals 2min zone3 & 2min zone1.

wed sep 6: BT = 9:30pm; WT = 6:30am; ST = 9hrs good; P = 48bpm & 56bpm; B = 1; L = 2; D = 3, Hyd = clear; other = friends stress.
AM = 30min walk zone0.
PM = 90min; biathlon practice; 45min shooting zone 0 + 45min run zone1.

thu sep 7: BT = 8:30pm; WT = 6:30am; ST = 10hrs; Q = great; P = 48bpm & 52bpm; B = 1; L = 3; D = 3, Hyd = yellow.
AM = 30min walk zone0.
PM = 90min; team practice; 45min strength circuit; 45min ski bounding 4 intervals up ski hill; 3min zone3 & 3min zone1.

fri sep 8: BT= 8:30pm; WT = 6:30am; ST = 10hrs; Q = good; P = 48bpm & 56bpm; B = 1; L = 2; D = 3, Hyd = clear; other = school exam; late night birthday party with friends.
AM = 30min walk zone0.
PM = rest day off.

sat sep 9: BT = 11:30pm; WT = 6:30am; ST = 7hrs; Q = bad; P = 60bpm & 68bpm; B = 2; L = 2; D = 3, Hyd = yellow.
AM = 90min; team practice; 60min rollerski skate zone1; 30min double pole & one arm pole strength zone1.
PM = 120min biathlon shooting zone0.

sun sep 10: BT = 10:30pm; WT = 7:30am; ST = 9hrs; Q = bad; P = 60bpm & 68bpm; B = 1; L = 2; D = 3, Hyd = clear.
AM = rest.
PM = 180min bike zone1.

Total Weekly Sleeping Hours = 67 hours
Total Weekly Meals: Breakfasts = 11/21; Lunches = 15/21; Dinners = 21/21
Total Weekly Training Hours = 540min = 9 hours.

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COMPETITION JOURNAL RACE DEBRIEFING: after each competition of cross country running races, cross country ski races, bike races, triathlon races, rowing races, etc, write your Competition Journal Race Debriefing in back of your journal. Start with the date of your race, the location, the distance and the technique.
Competition Journal Information: “the Finish Line of this race = the Start Line for your next race.”

Three seconds after you cross the finish line, ask yourself: “What are more tired? …the muscles in my legs and arms, or, my breathing and cardio-vascular system?” “What kept me from racing faster, my muscles or my breathing?” This information is really important for our coaches, to know what you need to concentrate on in your training: either more muscular short speed intervals of steep climbing and double poling sprints, or, more long distance aerobic hill cardiovascular intervals.

During your cool down, evaluate your race. Start with your race preparation; warm up; race strategy; race self talk; race effort. Give yourself a percentage score out of 100% for your race effort. You must evaluate your race before you know your race result! Your evaluation of your race and your personal best effort are much more important than your race result!

While you eat your race recovery meal, take five minutes to write down your race evaluation in your journal, and, write down the things you want to change for your next race. Do this before you see your results, because your evaluation of your performance is more important than your result. You need to focus on your feelings and your thoughts about your effort in your race.

Answer the three questions that Beckie shared.

#1: What went well?
#2: What did not go well?

#3: What do I have to do next time to improve?
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GENERAL STRENGTH TRAINING CIRCUIT. This is your general strength training circuit that you will do at home for self training when you are not able to attend team practices. For motivation = invite your family, parents or school friends to do your strength circuit with you. The best place in a park - playground with equipment and picnic benches, or in your yard or basement.

*print this circuit on paper to use while training.
*perform this 10 minute warm up circuit 3 times x 15 seconds of each exercise: 5 minutes of barefoot jogging with a focus on running technique, push-pull arm extensions with your palms-fingers while your feet are against a post-fence, cat crawl forward, jumping jacks, crab crawl backward, trunk twists, cat crawl backward, jiving jacks, crab crawl forward.
*complete the circuit of exercise from #1 to #11 in order. This structure allows muscle groups to recover as we change from arms to core-back-abdominals to legs.
*perform eachmovement exercise with very slow motion: one second contraction & one second extension, to recruit more muscle fibers.
*move quickly to change exercises with 10 seconds between exercise.
Midgets = repeat each exercise for 30 seconds.
Juveniles = repeat each exercise for 40 seconds.
Juniors = repeat each exercise for 50 seconds.
Seniors = repeat each exercise for 60 seconds.

#1: Pull Up Slow = palms forward, use your home pull up bar; pull up with your feet on the ground doing a diagonal pull on a low hanging bar; OR pull up with your feet on a chair and body completely horizontal; OR pull up with the assistance of one leg with your foot on a bench-chair on a high hanging bar; OR jump up with a double leg push off and slowly come back down with a reverse pull up; slow motion and never stop up-down movement.
#2: Left Bridge Plank = left elbow; straight body from head to toe; rigid tight flexion of abdominal and bum muscles; straight arm reaching to knee along on top of body.
#3: Leg Press Extension Slow = stand on a picnic bench; all weight on one leg; lower leg to 90 degree bend in knee; return high; slow motion; never stop up-down movement; focus eyes on something infront of you for balance.
#4: Other Leg Extension Slow = left & right.
#5: Push Ups Slow = start with hands beneath shoulder; rigid straight body from head to knees or head to feet; come down all the way until your chin and belly button touch the ground; slow motion and never stop up-down movement.
#6: Right Bridge Plank = right elbow & same as Left #3 above.
#7: Hanging Abdominals Slow = hang on bar palms forward; start with knees 90 degrees in front of body and knees bent at 90 degrees; lift knees up to touch chest & return knees to front; slow motion and never stop movement.
#8: Skipping Rope Fast = spin as fast as you can with your feet close to the ground; do not jump high; skip on a soft surface.
#9: Dips Slow = back close to a picnic bench; thumbs pointing at each other; legs straight out in front of you; lower your body until your elbows bend to 90 degrees; slow motion and never stop up-down movement.
#10: Sit Ups Double Poling Slow = on back with knees bent; touch hands shoulder width apart above head; slowly swing hands forward to touch chest to knees and to touch hands to feet; slow motion and never stop up-down movement.
#11: Front Bridge Plank = weight on both elbows and same as #3 above; chin up.

Remember to ask your parents to help build you a safe pull up bar = 30" inches long round wooden dowling with two holes drilled through the ends so you can hang your bar safely with two very strong ropes to secure it to something stable in your home-basement ceiling or outside on a strong tree or outdoor beam, with long adjustable rope lengths, so that you can lower the bar to different heights off of the ground to build up your progression for chin ups: 3 feet off of the ground to do horizontal chin ups with your feet on a chair; 4 feet off of the ground to do angular chin ups; 4.5 feet to 5 feet off of the ground to do one leg squat assisted chin ups with one foot on the floor; 6 feet off of the ground to do one leg squat assisted chin ups with one foot on a chair; 7 feet off of the ground to do real chin ups with leg jump assisted push offs; 8 feet off of the ground to do real chin ups AND do hanging abdominal exercises.
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SKI SPECIFIC POLING STRENGTH TRAINING x 2 options:
#1: Classic Rollerskiing Poling
#2: Ski Walking-Skipping Poling
The goal of ski specific poling strength training is to develop your upper body ski specific strength during the spring months of September and October, before we start our on snow skiing in November. We encourage you to do your ski specific poling strength training twice per week following a schedule something like below = by doing 15 minutes of each technique once per week: Classic Rollerski Poling OR Ski Walking-Skipping Poling training on two of the four days we are not doing strength at team practice. Ideally, it would be best to separate the ski specific strength training by 3 days. First Choice #1 = Wednesdays and Sundays; Second Choice #2 = Mondays and Fridays. Check the weather forecast for the week; dry weather day = rollerskiing; wet weather day = ski walking-poling.
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First Choice #1:
Mon =
Tue = team practice strength
Wed = 15 minutes ski specific poling strength training
Thu = team practice strength
Fri =
Sat = team practice strength
Sun = 15 minutes ski specific poling strength training
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Second Choice #2:
Mon = 15 minutes ski specific poling strength training
Tue = team practice strength
Wed =
Thu = team practice strength
Fri = 15 minutes ski specific poling strength training
Sat = team practice strength
Sun =
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#1: Classic Rollerski Poling Strength Training:
*for safety visibility wear bright white clothing and reflective vest; helmet; gloves
*find a safe pavement asphaldt bicycle path or road close to your home; that has few cyclists or vehicles; with slow traffic; all you need is a short route of 100 meters or 250 meters
*the best rollerski site is flat terrain; or a very slight uphill-downhill grade of 1% or 2%
*15-30 minutes total: 5 minutes of double poling for warm up; 10 minutes of alternating back and forth on your short route between double poling and single arm poling; double poling with more resistance up the slight hill or into the wind; AND one arm poling with less resistance down the slight hill or with the wind; young athletes 15 minutes and older athletes 30 minutes.
*key technique words for double poling = swing elbows forward with bent arms; belly button forward; head forward; weight off of heels; "click-abs" wait for the click of the ski tips on the ground before you fire your abdominal muscles; "abs-arm" start poling with abdominals sit up by dropping head toward your ski tips; hands do not follow through...hands stop at the hips; recover head and elbows forward quickly to keep the sound of the wheels spinning fast.
*key technique words for one arm poling = swing elbow forward with bent arm; rotate shoulders forward; belly button forward; head high; "click-abs"; "abs-arm"; finish pole push with shoulder swing and follow through

#2: Ski Walking-Skipping Poling:
*all you need are skate poles; gloves and a grass park; if you have a hill that gives you more options
*15 minutes total:
*1 minute; ski skipping diagonal stride; key technique words = swing elbow forward and finish pole push with shoulder swing
*1 minute; 3 step double pole walking; key technique words = lazy small leg step to force arms to double pole; swing elbows forward with bent arm; belly button forward; head forward; "click-abs" wait for the click of the ski tips on the ground before you fire your abdominal muscles; "abs-arm" start poling with abdominals and finish poling with arms
*if you have no hill; repeat above both exercises above for 15 minutes total
*if you have a hill;
*1 minute ski skipping double poling left foot up hill; same key words as three step double pole
*1 minute 3 step double pole walking up hill; same key words
*1 minute ski skipping double poling right foot up hill; same key words
*1 minute 3 step double pole walking up hill; same key words
*repeat last 4 exercises circuit a total of three times for 15 minutes total



Technique Key Words for Ski Walking-Skipping-Striding-Bounding Exercises:

"Exercises for Long Skate Poles about chin height:"

3-Step Double Pole Walking: walking with normal strides; the less you use your leg muslces - the more you can demand of your arms; every third step you double pole plant both of your poles which contact the ground at exactly the same time as your front foot step; "left-2-3 right-2-3 left-2-3 right-2-3"; your focus is to use your arms to do a double pole crunch with your abdominals; and finish with your triceps to follow through; bring your belly button forward with your hands during recovery; do this on flat terrain or up a hill.

3-Step Double Pole Running: the same as walking above, except you run slowly with lazy leg strides so that your arms are required to do more work; you need to swing your arms forward more quickly; do this on flat terrain or up a hill.

Ski Skipping Diagonal Stride: simply start skipping along like a kid in a playground; use your arms exactly like in diagonal stride to pole yourself forward; skip slowly with lazy leg strides so that your arms are required to do more work; use the full range of muscles in your shoulders to reach forward with your elbows and bent arms AND to follow through with your triceps; do this on flat terrain or up a hill.

Ski Skipping Double Pole Right Side: simply start skipping along like a kid in a playground; use your arms exactly like in double poling to push yourself forward; every second skip you double pole plant both of your poles which contact the ground at exactly the same time as your first right skip step; "right-skip right-skip"; your focus is to use your arms to do a double pole crunch with your abdominals; finish with your triceps to follow through; bring your belly button forward with your hands during recovery; skip with lazy leg strides so that your arms are required to do more work; do this up a hill.

Ski Skipping Double Pole Left Side: same as above, except the poles contact the ground at exactly the same time as your first left skip step; "left-skip left skip"; do this up a hill.

Exercises for Short Classic Poles below armpit height:

Ski Walking: walk up a hill, using your poles like diagonal stride to help push your body up the hill.

Ski Striding: walk-stride with long strides up a hill; your legs should push off the ground to kick your imaginary kick wax straight down; keep your push off foot close to the ground as you swing it forward - just like you had a ski attached to that foot; swing your recovery leg up the hill; swing your shoulder and swing your elbows forward up the hill to plant your poles; push through with your triceps to follow through; try to simulate the same feeling as diagonal stride skiing

Ski Bounding: the same as ski striding up a hill; but add an explosive kick-hop to swing your recovery leg forward up the hill with maximum bounds; and add an aggressive arm poling action to each stride.

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EQUIPMENT TO BUY or SELL: Click on our edmontonnordic.ca website to buy or sell used equipment. We have added a page for listings of cross-country ski equipment either for sale or being sought by our members. If you would like to add items, please send an email to "website at edmontonnordic.ca."Biathlon Bears Begins Now! New young athletes ages 9-14, and any youth ages 15 & older, or any Adults and Parents are welcome to join our Edmonton Nordic Biathlon Bears Air Rifle Program. Biathlon Bears is just like Jackrabbits, combining cross country skiing and shooting air rifles...our club provides the rifles!Our goals will be to have fun, introduce athletes to the exciting sport of biathlon, become proficient at shooting to a level to compete in a biathlon air rifle race, and learn/improve skiing technique. Although the web site says biathlon bears is for ages 9 -13...it is open to all ages including adults. Parents are welcome to take part or encouraged to stay and help out.You can choose to register for either session: during the fall before the snow arrives Wednesdays from 6:00-7:00pm (7:30pm with snow) or Saturdays from 12:00-1:00pm (1:30pm with snow). The sessions will be 1 hour in length until we have enough snow to ski, then will move to 1.5 hour sessions when we add in xc ski training coaching instruction. The cost is $60 for one day from now until Christmas, and another $60 for the session from January until the snow melts in March-April. IF you have taken the introductory biathlon course before, you can register to train both days if you like. If you chose to attend practices twice a week on both Saturdays and Wednesdays, the cost would be $120 from now until Christmas, and $120 from January to March-April. There will be some days when training may be cancelled if the weather is colder than -15 (the air rifles don't work well at that temp) or if our coaches and team athletes are way at Alberta Biathlon Races...fun races which you are welcome and encouraged to attend.You can register by following the links on our website: http://www.edmontonnordic.ca/ You are welcome to take part in the first session even if you have not yet registered, to see if you will like biathlon. The lessons/training sessions will include both new athletes, and those who have been involved in air rifles over the summer or Jackrabbits last winter.For young athletes and who are really interested in biathlon but have never skied before, we encourage you to register for our Jackrabbit Children's Learn to Ski Program on Saturdays or Sundays from 1:30-3:00pm, information posted at http://www.edmontonnordic.ca/IF you have any questions, please attend one of our biathlon sessions to give it a try for experience, and talk to our coaches to learn more. For more information, feel free to contact our Biathlon Coordinator Monika Paterson: 780-460-8235 dprunningwild@shaw.caMUST READ: Eating To Train: Sports Dietician Interview. Click on http://www.fasterskier.com/ and scroll down to September 3o. One of the best articles I have ever read about sports nutrition...ever. Period.Cross Country Canada Racing Licenses = if you are planning to compete in Alberta Cup Races or the Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships in Canmore in March (experienced 2nd year midget skiers and older may consider this event), you will need to buy a Cross Country Canada Racing License. This information can be found on the Cross Country Canada website: http://www.cccski.com/ On the form, you can complete the appropriate blanks with:Club Official: Doris Saurette Program DirectorCoach: Les ParsonsNCCP Level: 3NCCP #: 35295And, if you are buying your first license and need to mail the form in, I do hereby give you permission to sign my signature, because it is not an important binding document.Track Attack Team: for skiers ages 8-12, who are graduates of Jackrabbits and Lynx. Our team is now practicing each Tuesday evening from 6:30-8:00pm and Saturday morning from 9:30-11:00am. Our new coaches for Track Attack are Michael Kennedy (who was the youth coach of two Edmonton Nordic Olympians...Madeleine Williams and Amanda Ammar) and Ellen Hosford, who has been our awesome enthusiastic excellent coach of our Lynx program from the past 4 years. If you have any questions about joining Track Attack, please contact Michael: kennedy@ualberta.ca or Ellen ellen.hosford@gmail.com***Athletes, including current athletes and new athletes: our coach blog is written for YOU, all athletes ages 12 and older, so do not expect your busy parents to read the blog for you and tell you what you need to know. This blog is our only system of coach-athlete team information and communication. We expect each athlete to take personal responsibility to check our blog three times each week, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, to keep up to date with changes to practices and team information. Include our blog on your favorites list on your computer. Make a note of the most important things to share with your parents, regarding practice times and practice locations.***Athletes: when you (not your parents) see three stars, please respond to my request for you to email me information or my request for action.*Parents are also encouraged to check our blog, which is also our only system of coach-parent team information and communication, to make note of important dates that our coaches and team will require your parental support. Our goal is to develop young athletes to take as much responsibility as they can for their personal organization, so tell them they are responsible to communicate directly with our coaches, rather than having parents do it for them.*Parents: the first thing you need to do is register your family to join our Edmonton Nordic Ski Club. Click on http://www.edmontonnordic.ca/ and simply register your family membership right away, so that we have legal liability coverage for your children at practices until we decide which training group best meets your needs, which we will discuss at our Team Information Meetings on Saturday.If you athletes or your parents have any questions, please read through the entire blog first, to look for the answers. If you cannot find the answers to your questions in our blog, the best way to contact me is by email: lesparsonsgreen@yahoo.ca When I see your question regarding team information, I will make changes to my blog to respond to your questions and then reply to you to check my blog update.The second best way to contact me is by phone: 780-691-6912. This is my cell phone, so please feel comfortable to call me anytime between 6am and 9pm seven days a week including weekends, because my role as coach includes early mornings, evenings and weekends. If I do not answer your call, I may be talking on my phone, coaching or driving. Please leave a short message with your name, phone number and the best 2 or 3 times for me to call you back, and I will try my best to return your call as soon as possible. I go to sleep at 9pm, but please leave a message late at night and I will call you back first thing in the morning after 6:00am.-------------------------------------------------------------------------WELCOME to new athletes who been recruited from other sports to join our team; new athletes who have been invited by our team mates to join our team; and new young athletes who have graduated from our Jackrabbit and Lynx programs onto our Track Attack Team; and to your parents who are joining our team! We hope you enjoy our team spirit and team experience. If you have any questions about how our team functions, please don't be shy...just ask any friendly athletes or parents on our team.November Training Programs = our coaches are having Individual Athlete-Coach Meetings with each athlete to discuss your Dreams, Goals and Training & Competition Plans. We will use this information to individualize your personal training program.Cross Country Running Race Season Preparation: we will be focusing on cross country running in November, until the snow flies. Cross country running is the #1 best sport for cross training for cross country skiing...better and more beneficial than rollerskiing...so running is the most important part of our dryland training this fall. The most important priority training you can do this fall to prepare for winter ski racing is to be sure that you run 3 or 4 days per week, every other alternate day.Cold Weather? IF you are attending practices in cold weather, like tonight, it is your responsibility to dress warm. We seldom cancel practices due to cold weather. We can ski at temperatures from -20 to -30 celsius, IF you dress warm & cover your mouth with a neck tube or buff to prevent cold air from damaging your lungs, and, IF we stay in the wind cover of the forest trails in the trees. It is your decision between yourselves as an athlete and your parents to decide if you will attend practice. IF the driving conditions are not safe, do not feel under any obligation to attend practice and ask your parents to drive. Stay at home and ski on a grass soccer field or park or golf course near your home (do NOT ski on the golf greens nor the Tee-Off Boxes...ski only on the fairways).We will have all of our team training practices outdoors, even in the rain or cold, so dress in appropriate clothing. In case of rain: wear older running shoes to prevent damage to your new running shoes and the internal cardboard base of your running shoes (check beneath your insoles); wear polypropylene and warm-when-wet thin layers of sport clothing; wear a thin fleece toque or headband and Buff neck tube; wear thin polypropylene gloves that are warm when wet; wear a cheap thin cycling rain jacket.Before Team Training Practice Preparation? Our team of coaches and athletes start training at 6:30pm and 9:30am sharp, so please plan to arrive 5-10 minutes early to get ready to start at 6:30pm & 9:30am. Eat as soon as you can after you get home from school, so that you have an hour to digest before practices, because we will be doing intensity training at each practice. Pack everything you need for practice in a day pack that you can bring to training, including: full water bottle to drink while driving to practice; second water bottle to carry with you during practice in your waist water bottle carrier; extra warm clothing you may need for practice; a change of dry clothing for after practice including a dry shirt, toque, sweater, pants; sandals to change into after practice; towel on rainy days; chocolate milk as our olympic recovery drink (most sport recovery drinks are not beneficial) and a peanut butter and jam sandwich on whole wheat bread-bagels-bun as our olympic recovery food (many sport energy bars are not beneficial); a small thermos of hot chocolate or soup or herbal tea on cold and wet days; your training journal; and the equipment we need for that practice including: skis with warmer than weather kick wax to ensure you have kick grip at practice; kick waxes and cork in your water bottle or pocket; boots; ski poles; gloves; etc.Self Training on Non-Team Training Practice Days: The self training that you do on the days that we do not have team training practices will have the greatest impact on your physical training development. Most of your self training will be building your aerobic energy base, by doing easy effort long distance aerobic exercise, or, strength training. The most important factor in your ski self training is to complement the training you have been doing in the past two or three days. Your goal is to choose the training that will utilize your energy system and muscle groups that you have not utilized in the past 2 or 3 days. For example, if you did upper body training = strength or swimming or poling on day 1, then do legs on day 2 = running or cycling. IF you are tired, do not to any intensity, and instead do zone 1 technique training.option #1 = running easy effort zone 1 distance running on cross country running trails on a soft grass surfaces or running paths, with a focus on technique; midgets x 40 minutes; juveniles x 5o minutes; juniors x 60 minutes.option #2 = strength training circuit; see blog Strength Training Circuit.option #3 = ski specific strength training; see blog Ski Specific Strength Training.