Training Tools

As if two pairs of skis, bindings, poles, and boots weren't enough, competitive skiers can use a few other training tools, including:

1. Road ferrules. The FSC has some roller skis available and our varsity and competitive JV skiers should be using these multiple times per week during dryland training and all of these skiers should have road ferrules. These can be purchased online or at boulder nordic sport for $10-$15 for the pair. Take your skate poles and dip the basket/snow tip into hot water on the stove. The adhesive should loosen up enough to pull the basket/snow tip off. Now just put the road ferrule on and make sure to put it on in the correct orientation relative to the hand grip!

2. roller skis. Roller skis are a big investment but they last forever. The wheels don't but they can be replaced reasonably inexpensively on some skis, not so much on others. As with snow skis, there are skate, classic, and combi roller skis. I would strongly recommend either dedicated skate or classic to start and not the combis. In general, medium slow wheels are good for training. Being the fastest skier on a training day is good for the ego only. A basic pair of roller skis has no way to slow down other than friction on the wheels and skier. This is an issue at intersections and steep hills. Speed reducers can be purchased for some roller skis. Brakes are much less common. Roller skis come up very infrequently on craigslist. People tend to hang on to them. I think these are an awesome value/price: http://www.rollerskishop.com/ecart/proddetail.php?prod=T6004 although there are no speed reducers/brakes.

3. water bottle belt. Overdistance days require water and snacks/gels/gus. Bretton Woods will consist of multiple overdistance skis. Saturdays will generally be overdistance. These won't be needed during weekly (mon-fri) practices.

4. heart rate monitor. We don't train with these but if a skier has one, we can incorporate it. It would be wunderbar if our top varsity skiers had these. Runners don't typically use heart rate monitors and many college/post collegiate runners belittle those of us who use them for "using a gadget to monitor effort instead of our mind". Bah humbug. Skiing is typically on much more rolling terrain than running and a HRM insures that the skier is in the right training (HR) zone. All elite and college skiers use them. I suspect the HS skiers at the ski schools use them.

5. Concept skierg/Ercolina. These are pole (core) training devices. The team is purchasing two thanks to a grant from FEF. If you know anyone on the FEF board, please give them lots of hugs and kisses.