Well first off, I am psyched to be a part of the blogroll on FasterSkier! I aim to entertain and keep those interested apprised of the current events on the Nordic Combined circuit, and especially give everyone an idea of how we train for our multifarious disciplines.

Being an NCer in the summer is a difficult balance of power and technical training on the ski jumping side and an appropriate volume and specificity of endurance training for cross-country. On the US team we have adopted a philosophy of “cross country skiers who jump” prioritizing the development of our engines over the long term meanwhile continually seeking to improve our jumping prowess. I personally spend a ton of time on the bike in the earlier part of the summer getting long hours and quality intensity in the form of races. But in general we run, roller ski, hike, bike, double pole and lift like cross country skiers. On top of that we spend 2-3 days a week doing plyometric exercises aimed at developing the neuromuscular snap requisite of good ski jumping, and another 3-4 sessions jumping on the plastic. Much like cross country skiing summer is the time to make technical changes and hone them into habits.

We have a unique way of getting some intensity training in the summer which is to have Grand Prix events which are basically world cups held on plastic for jumping and inlines for the XC. Weird. Every year we get together with 50 other NCers and hold a weeks worth of comps on a tough multi-town circuit, and every year we go “why inlines?!” But the bottom line is these events offer everyone (especially those of us from a different continent) a chance to touch base and see the level to help focus our training through the fall. They also draw great crowds as the races are held downtown similar to a cycling criterium format, the courses being short laps of 1.5km with steep power climbs to make the utilization of poles necessary.

Which brings us to where I am now… in the Thurner Wirtshaus im Hinterzarten, DE. I’ve finally got a morning off to recoup before some jumping this afternoon. Our first event is on Saturday in coop with the Ski Jumping Sommer Grand Prix. After the comp which is a one jump 15km event, we will drive to Oberstdorf for a comp on Tuesday, and finally to Einsiedeln, CH for the final comp on Saturday. We’ve got an eager crew here with Johnny Spillane, Eric Camerota, Alex Glueck, and myself and will hopefully have some exciting updates for you as soon as I can get back online!

Tags: combined, demong

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 11:13 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.