Kikkan in the World Cup race in which she took 5th last season.  Photo Phil Bowen at www.competitiveimage.us

USST May Camp

Athletes in attendance:

Andy Newell

Kikkan Randall

Torin Koos

Kris Freeman

Andrew Johnson

Chris Cook

Liz Stephen

Morgan Smyth

Matt Gelso

Morgan Arritola

Lindsay Weier

Tazlina Mannix

Leif Zimmermann

(Lindsay Williams – at home with a small fracture in her arm)

Staff in attendance:

            Coaches -

Pete Vordenberg

Chris Grover

Justin Wadsworth

Matt Whitcomb

Pat Casey

            Sports Science -

Zach Weatherford (strength, velocity, organization)

Susie Simmons (nutrition, treadmill testing)

Leslie Shooter (treadmill testing)

Troy Taylor (treadmill testing)

H.C. Holmberg (guest physiologist)

(Sue Robson – working from home, head physiologist)

(Luke Bodensteiner – FIS congress, director of Nordic)

(Jon Hammermeister – working from home, psychology)

Torin Koos on the treadmill (2005).  Same test we did this year too. (Vordenberg Image)

Camp Goals:

Fitness – in a sport where the top athletes are widely accepted to be the fittest athletes in the world it stands that if we are to win we must become the fittest people in the world.

The goal for this camp was to gain a baseline understanding of each of our athlete’s fitness level.  Toward this end we conducted a variety of tests including a treadmill test, a velocity (sprint test), a force/velocity/power test, a battery of health tests as well as functional screening (body imbalances, specific weaknesses).

Team building – was our second goal.  There is no doubt that a cohesive group can accomplish far more than a group of individuals and by far more than a poorly functioning group.  Toward this end we got a start deciding what kind of environment we wanted to build through a series of meetings and social gatherings.

Psychology – our final goal was to begin to build a psychology training plan for the group.  Toward this end we worked (again) on the team aspect, relaxation and visualization and goal setting.

Testing methods:

Our testing was quite successful.  We have gained a better understanding of each of our athletes physiology which over time will become an accurate picture by which we can better create training programs.

The treadmill test was not a true max VO2 test.  It was aimed at creating a full image of the athlete through all the zones – we have a good lactate profile of each athlete through threshold and a good picture of their current ability beyond threshold.

We will use these results to set training zones, training goals for this period and a baseline upon which each athlete can improve.

The strength test is a non-ski-like test.  We measure force (how strong the skier is), velocity (how quickly a skier applies their strength) and thus get an image of how our skiers are producing power.  Again, the goal is to understand our athletes better, design programs for them and be able to measure improvement.

The velocity test is a timed 120meter rollerski sprint in the indoor Olympic skating oval.  We measure acceleration and peak velocity.  We can draw some conclusions on how effective the strength training is, as well as determine better ways to train pure speed.

The medical and functional screening tests are to help us avoid illness and injury.

In addition to this testing we did several workouts, which were primarily aimed at education in technique and pacing.

Torin Koos velocity testing (2005).  Same test we did this year as well. (Vordenberg Image)

More reports and such to come... been rather busy, and then the website quit on us... but we're back on so keep checking in.