Did you ever notice how sounds get muffled when it's cold. 30 skiers did 30 reps (30/30) (sounds like thuddy) in the cold [17 degrees], calm air. I was gauging effort by watching the water vapor clouds everyone put out against the uphill light. Cool. Despite a protracted warm-up caused by the cold, things heated up quite nicely and we advanced the physical side of the workout by quite a lot. The light desiccated snow on the ground appeared like dust under the bright lights and provided a modicum of "glide" for our flat sliding feet. Rope work was very solid as folks are getting the hang of work/recovery cycles (I hope).
 
Strong points:
 
  • Physical effort was good. Very solid output.
  • Technique was 90% improved over early season.
  • Ski-ciphic flexibility is vastly improved.
  • Specific strength seems stronger with greater fluidity.
Weak links:
 
  • Arm control is both creative and still soft. Much more work need on PPP (proper pole posture)
  • Not "rushing" the stroke. Take advantage of long glide.
  • Breath training can be enhanced. Skiing is much easier when you breathe (imagine that)
The light snow and forecasted cold with more snow may put next week, our last scheduled session in jeopardy. The amount of snow we had last night was about as much as we can handle. I will send out a go/no go email next week Monday or call here Monday/Tue for updates. I checked the ice at Barkhausen this morning and it was mostly solid. The water levels are very low making the "channel" more clearly defined and large sections of exposed bottom. The shallow water will probably freeze to the bottom in places making it safe to ski as soon as we get some snow on it. As always with ice: Never go out deeper than you are willing to fall in! I will keep an eye on it.  Well done this week. Cold crummy weather makes training hard so get a pal to motivate you and get out there in this critical lead-up to the on snow season. I,m thinking Saturday morning speed work if we can get on snow soon. Stay tuned for updates on that.
 
THINK SNOW