CXC Team Vertical Limit Blog » Social

The Birkie

Maria Stuber — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:07:58 +0000

This past week was Birkie week….one of the greatest weeks of the year! Now it’s over and have the same feeling that I do on December 26th when Christmas is over….359 days until next year’s Birkie.

My Birkie Finish (SkinnySki.com Photo)

The CXC Team Vertical Limit has been away from internet service and totally absorbed in all the wonderful Birkie festivities in Hayward, WI. Most of us headed to Hayward, immediately after the Madison Winter Festival. I stopped in Minocqua, WI to visit the dentist, (Thank you Dr. Kozeluh!) and arrived in Hayward on Tuesday night. On Wednesday Bryan Cook and I did some private lessons for a couple friends in the Hayward area and waxed a lot of skis. On Thursday we competed in the Elite Birkie Sprints and I hung out with some family friends from the Waukesha area. On Friday we tested skis, worked at the expo, waxed a bunch, and got ready for the Big Show on Snow.

My Birkie experience was incredible. I got to stand on the start line with Tami Kochen, had all the highs and lows of a true Birkie bonk, and I was still able to place 4th overall. Thankfully, the bonk happened about 25K later this year than last year. There was a pack of four women for the first 44 K, consisting of Rebecca Dussault (CXC Team Vertical Limit-1st), Tax Mannix (USST-2nd), and Brooke Gosling (Alberta World Cup Academy-3rd), and me (CXC Team Vertical Limit-4th). I sat in this group, not working very hard. The pace felt really comfortable and then all of a sudden, without really pushing harder of increasing the pace, 40K of racing caught up with me and my legs began to burn. I made it a few more K and I did everything I could to hang with the group, so when I fell off the back I really started to struggle. I had 4K to go when I really fell apart, stomping up the hills and twisting like crazy. I started to find it funny when I began cheering for myself in my head. Since skiing up the hills was not going well, I focused on skiing over the tops of the hills. I hit the lake alone, but thankfully was able to pull myself together enough to catch a ride from a passing wave 1 skier that went by me with about 1.5K of lake to go. The cheering on Main Street was the loudest cheering I have ever heard in my life. I loved it.

It would have been very nice to make it onto the podium, but I am 100% certain that I could not have done any better in that race on that day.

I staggered to the finish line, spent a good amount of time laying on the floor of the changing tent nursing my cramping feet, and greeted my female friends and teammates as they trickled in. Then, I went out to the lake to cheer people in.

Right to Play, Beckie Scott, and giving back

audreyweber — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:10:38 +0000

It is not often that you can say that you have simultaneously been in the presence of all of the most dedicated and generous people you have ever met. A few weeks ago I had just that opportunity. On February 2 Gus, Kristina, Karl, and I all had the privilege to attend a Right to Play fundraiser organized by the Madison Winter Fest.

Right to Play, for those unfamiliar, is the leading sport-for-development organization, which uses sport and play to improve the lives of some of the world’s most impoverished children. Programs currently operating in 23 countries use specially designed curriculums impart social skills, safety and health practices, as well as a whole set of values aimed at spawning social change in communities.

The event was attended by representatives of CXC, the American Birkebeiner, the Winter Fest, members of the Madison nordic ski community, as well as others. One very special guest happened to my all-time ski hero and an ambassador of Right to Play, Beckie Scott.

At the event Beckie spoke about her career and how after her great success at the Olympic games she felt a responsibility to use her position to make a difference for others. She described all the support she received from others on her way to Olympic gold, and how she believed that she should in turn play a similar role for others. She found her opportunity to do so in the Right to Play organization, which she became involved with and subsequently became an employee of.

Another special guest was Don Becker of Becker Law in Madison, a man who is endlessly giving of his time and money in order to support local and now international efforts in a variety of areas. Don was so enthusiastic to support Right to Play that he pledged to match all funds raised up to $10 thousand.

Don Becker hands off a check for $10,000 to Beckie Scott of Right to Play.

The evening was highly inspiring between the presentation by Beckie and the demonstrated generosity of the guests. Those in attendance took advantage of the live auction portion of the event to open wide their pocket books in the name of Right to Play.

Auctioneer Dennis Kruse of the American Birkebeiner entices bidders with a one-of-a-kind Right to Play/Beckie Scott banner.

A few aspects that most impressed me during the course of the evening were the idea of using privilege of position to make a difference for others, as well as the lasting impact that development of the mind can have. Among Don, Beckie, and all the others involved in the event, there was no shortage of examples of those who wanted to share their good fortune among others. It struck me that a person such as myself need neither win a gold medal or be financially well off in order to do the same. Also, I really liked the idea that unlike many other humanitarian organizations that focus on providing material and physical services to those in need, which, of course, are valuable and much-needed, Right to Play provides for children a service that will serve them the rest of their lives, namely, the development of their minds. It is along the lines of giving a person a fish versus teaching that person how to fish. Even when a child is grown, the skills they learned through Right to Play will continue to benefit them and their community. It might seem silly to worry about the ability of starving children to play, but as Beckie said, Right to Play provides children with the gift of humanity, something that is as essential to people as food or water.

O, to be a kid again!

jojowinters — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:21:14 +0000

This winter season I had the pleasure of coaching a slew of youngsters at Pillsbury Elementary in Minneapolis as part of a partnership with the City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation. I met with third, fourth, and fifth graders weekly to bestow upon them my enthusiasm for Nordic skiing. Generous sponsorship from UCare Minnesota, Rossignol, and Solomon, provided the kids with skis, boots, and poles for the winter. Over the course of ten weeks we practiced how to put on ski boots and click them into bindings, how to fall and get up properly (a skill that came in handy), how to handle mass start situations (or rather how to stay upright in a chaotic clump of kids on skis), how to stride, double pole, and herring-bone, and most importantly, how to bomb the downhills. Despite the inevitable collision here and there, the kids improved greatly during the ten week program and enjoyed gaining confidence as skiers.

Besides learning the skiing basics, the course curriculum included weekly nutritional lessons. We discussed different types of food kids and adults should eat to fuel their bodies properly. The smell of hot lunch wafting from the cafeteria doors seemed to mock me, though, as I rambled on about making sensible nutritional choices.

The program culminated with the Minne-Loppet at the City of Lakes Loppet weekend extravaganza. A sea of kids from Minneapolis schools, including my stead of Pillsbury students, embarked on a 1.5k journey onto the Lake of the Isles in Uptown, Minneapolis. It showed that the contingent of Pillsbury skiers had prepared well for the mass start and had worked hard to improve their agility skills on skis. What a rewarding afternoon for skiers and coaches alike!

Refining hill bounding skills in the early season

Mastering the art of tumbling and getting up

Practicing the ever-elusive no-pole stride

Demonstrating proper technique when approaching a descent

Preparing for a future elite wave mass start at the Birkie

Sizing up the competition

Making a calculated move to overtake the leader!

Taking Time for Recovery

kchaudoin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:44:14 +0000

Taking time for recovery is always an important part of a successful training regime. Whether you are taking time off one or two days per week to recover from training blocks or taking an additional amount of time off because of sickness or overtraining, it is all crucial. At the moment, I am exercising the “taking time off because of overtraining” form of recovery. Starting a new program can be tough and it’s almost like you have to consider yourself a “freshman” or “rookie”, even though everyone on our team has been training years and years even before they joined CXC Team Vertical Limit. Generally when joining a professional team you are introduced to much more travel, more intensity, more training hours, new weight lifting programs, new coaches, as well as new teammates (that may be older leading to potentially having a larger training base than you do). Because you are trying and adjusting to so many new elements of the sport, a skier new to the professional ski racing scene may have a standout year, or they may need a year to adjust, as is the case for me.

At Gustavus Adolphus College I was so used to either training the same amount as my teammates or even doing a little more. During the academic year I was never able to put in too much more training than my peers because of academics, so it was much harder to overtrain in school, than it is out. Joining CXC was totally different because I was suddenly the youngest, and my training plans always were a little less than everyone else, whether it was 15-30 minutes shorter in distance workouts, or 1-3 intervals shorter during intensity workouts. Because just a year ago I was so used to doing the same amount of time or intervals as everyone else, if not more, it was really hard for me to be as in tune with my body as I was at Gustavus. It was hard to think I may be doing a little too much, when I was already doing less than others around me. And because I haven’t had the responsibilities of school work and I worked minimally, it was easy to push over the fine line of being in peak physical condition, or overtrained. For me, the overtraining came on pretty slow. I felt great all summer and fall, but after having multiple races that were further and further from expected results this winter, I realized what was going on.

I confirmed that I was overtrained by taking some advice from a fellow teammate and doing an orthostatic heart rate test. This is a great test for monitoring how your body is recovering from training. It is very simple, the first thing you do when you wake up (without getting out of bed) is take your heart rate. As soon as you have found that, you stand up and take it again. The difference of your heart rate lying down, and your heart rate after standing should be no more than 20 beats difference.

To recover from my fatigue I have taken some time off. Now I am at the point in my training where I am going for very easy training sessions, that are also pretty short, 45min-1hr in duration. My current goal is to be rested and recovered in time for the Birkie. I figure all of my extra training this year gave me a great base for a marathon ;). Throughout this whole thing I am trying to be really positive. I am definitely not the only professional skier who has ever overtrained, and even though I have been training for 10 years, I continue to learn more and more about myself as an athlete which will make me even better in the future.

Luckily, I have been able to keep myself busy during my time off and recovery period. Our coach, Bryan Fish, wanted me to take up knitting so that I could knit him an afghan or a scarf in my spare time, but fortunately I never became that bored. I’m just kidding, I like knitting, I’m just not very good at it. Anyways, here are a couple pictures of activities I have taken part in during my time off:

See you at the Birkie, rested and recovered!

A snow sculpture in the park during Ely's Winter Festival. The sculpture is a troll skiing!

My fish tank I just set up a few days ago full of guppies! Most people give me a hard time for liking guppies, but I think they are awesome.

Banff

lieb0088 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:49:09 +0000

This morning I went up to the World Cup Venue for a ski. The trails were great and I am super psyched to be here with all these athletes. I am feeling good and ready to race Friday. After my ski Marybeth and I headed up to Banff for some sightseeing. It is only about a fifteen minute drive and we didn’t want to miss seeing the splendor of Banff for the first time. While we were there we looked around the Fairmont Banff Springs, it was an amazing sight to see. Then, we took a Gondola to see the mountaintop of the Canadian Rockies. The Gondola climbed 2292 ft (698M, we are in Canada) at an incline of 51%. I love this kind of adventure, and I was very proud of Marybeth for going on the Gondola with me and leaving her comfort zone. We then toured downtown Banff and did some window shopping. I am feeling great this week and I am so thankful for this amazing experience. Soon it will be time to race the world’s best…I couldn’t be more stoked.

Gregg and I at the venue

Fairmont Banff Springs

Banff

at the top of the Canadian Rockies

Downtown Banff

A little too real safety reminder

nygrenk — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:37:15 +0000

I know people are always saying to be safe but this week really got the point across to me. I came ripping down a hill at Murphy, a great park near my house, earlier this week and passed a guy sitting on the ground slightly off the trail. I yelled back asking if he was okay and received an odd beckoning wave. I skied back to him and found that he was on the phone. This seemed a little odd until I realized he was talking to a 911 operator and trying to describe where he was. I was immediate extremely glad I had stopped, since I had only seen one other car in the parking lot, and started to try to figure out what I could do to help. He appeared mostly okay and described how he had caught his edge coming down the hill and slammed his leg into a tree. The 911 operators wanted to talk to me so I got on the phone to describe the man’s condition. Apparently with the adrenaline fading and a little pressure off the man knowing things were going to be taken care of his eyes rolled back and he promptly passed out. I was yelling the man’s name and receiving absolutely no response. I knew there was a house through the woods about a half-kilometer back so I tried to convince the operator this would be the best way to get to us since we were 25 min out on a 50 min loop. Unfortunately, she had no idea what house that might be or where we were and did not what me to leave the man to get the address. This meant the paramedic would have to navigate the long ski trail and would be a while. Luckily the man regained consciousness after a long minute and said he thought he had just gone into shock. He seemed stable enough now that the 911 operator let me go and find the house I had seen. A confused lady open the door at the second house I tried, wrote down her address and then called 911 herself at my suggestion. After returning to check on the man I returned to the house and lead some firefighter and a paramedic a ways through the woods and then down the ski trails. I have to admit they seemed a little out of their element tromping through the woods in deep snow. The man had to be carried on a board all the way out of the woods and it took us a while given the snow, brush and what not. The paramedic seemed confident that he would be okay so I returned to my skis to complete my ski with a drastically altered perspective on safety.

I have learned a few very important lessons.
1. It is possible to get seriously hurt cross-country skiing.
2. Always stop and ask people if they are okay.
3. Carry a cell phone. Luckily he had one because I definitely did not.

CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Garrott Kuzzy Named to 2010 Olympic Team!

Maria Stuber — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:57:31 +0000

Today, the US earned 2 additional Olympic spots. Garrott Kuzzy of the CXC Team Vertical Limit and Holly Brooks of Alaska Pacific University will deservingly fill these spots and represent our country at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

You can read more about the news HERE.

We are so very proud of you Kuzzy!

Garrott Kuzzy (teamtoday.org photo)

On the Podium at Theodore Wirth

audreyweber — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:38:03 +0000

The women's 5k podium Maria Stuber, Rebecca Dussault, Aurelia Courthauer

Bringin' home the bacon: Brian Gregg, Matt Liebsch, Bryan Cook

Minneapolis SuperTour Day 1

Maria Stuber — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:06:53 +0000

The CXC team had an excellent time out at Theodore Wirth Park this morning at the 5/10K Freestyle SuperTour races. It was raining and sloppy all day, but that didn’t stop people from moving fast.

I was especially excited for today’s race because I love 5K races and I don’t get to do them as often now that I’m out of college. The Women’s race started at 9AM. Minutes before the first skiers went out on course, it started to pour. When I set my warm up jacket down on the snow, a puddle of water immediately formed in the middle. Fortunately, it did not pour all day, it mostly sprinkled and the courses held up as well as possible. The ups were mushy and the downs were sloppy making transitions extra important.

CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Rebecca Dusualt and I (Maria) took the top two places, followed by Aurelia Korthauer of UAF, Christina Gillis of NMU, and Melissa Schwartz (formerly Oram) one of NMU’s super star alumni. JoJo Winters of the CXC Team Vertical Limit was next in 6th place.

Women's Podium

The CXC Team Vertical Limit Men’s Team was able to do a 1, 2, 3 sweep of the podium with Matt Liebsch taking first place, followed by Brian Gregg and Bryan Cook. Bryan’s brother, Chris Cook of Steinbock Racing was just a few seconds off the podium, followed closely by Sylvan Ellefson of Fischer/SSCV Homegrown.

Men's Podium

Tomorrow we will be doing a mass start 10/15K classic race. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather cooperates.

Full results can be found at http://www.pttiming.com.

How to avoid Compartment Syndrome

ceptor9860 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:53:04 +0000

By Gus Kaeding
Compartment syndrome cases have been on the rise in North America. I am in a unique position to be able to help others avoid cs. I was diagnosed with cs last fall and have gone through a fast and complete recovery. Fast recovery is great but the real trick is avoiding cs completely. Admittedly, my hindsight is not perfect 20/20 but I do have a few thoughts on what I would have done differently to avoid cs.
To begin, why is cs in North America so increasingly common? I have given this issue lots of thought and I blame global warming. Seriously though, that is not my focus here. It is very much a related issue but an issue for another day nonetheless. I can only speak to why I think I got cs and what I would have done differently if I could go back in time.
My skate technique (or lack thereof) was a major contributor to the development of my cs. “Ankle flexion” or “shin angle” are common terms in technique these days. Although modern skate technique has become somewhat unnatural, there should be no danger if it is done right. My pitfall was my mental cue. I was trying to increase my ankle angle without worrying about how, so I though about pulling my toes up towards my knee. Doing this increased my ankle angle but I unknowingly was skiing with my shins tight. My shins were flexed without a contract and release period when I was skiing. Ankle flexion is important but, it should be just that, flexion. Muscles are not meant to be held static rather, they should contract and relax. If you are skiing and your muscles aren’t relaxed and loose at some point in your stride, something is wrong. Legs are meant to work in a specific fashion, correct mechanics bring not only strength but health. Try and envision a leg pushing off the ground with a correct power application, then incorporate that image into your skiing. Incorrect technique is definitely the largest contributor to cs but there are a few other factors that are worth noting.
Make sure your shoes are big enough. I used to wear my ski boots and running shoes tight. After some time I began to notice my toes were curled up, not stretched out like they should have been. This puts unnecessary stress on the shins and doesn’t allow proper relaxation. Since my surgery I have switched to bigger shoes and boots and eventually my toes flattened back out. Weird, I know.
Next, watch for large training increases in terms of volume and intensity. My problems started shortly after I left college and started training full time with CXC. It was considerable more training than I had done in the past and I may have simply stepped it up too fast.
The shins are very hard muscles to stretch. Sometimes I sit on my foot on a couch to lengthen the the shin as much as possible. But the best way I’ve found is investing in one of those roller sticks. You can roll it up and down and determine which parts are tight and which are loose.
Some ideas are obvious, like stretching. I asked Morgan Smyth for some input, as she had the same surgery this past summer and she emphasized stretching the calves. Are those legs or small cows? I can never remember. Either way, I agree and having loose calves allows the shins to in turn, reeellax.
My last ideas centers around leg strength. Skiing is mostly a straight forward and back sport. There is obviously lateral movement involved in skating but it is done to propel yourself forward. Lateral movement in other sports is meant to move horizontally strengthening the smaller perimeter muscles of the legs. Soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee, etc are all sports that involved a lot of “cutting” and moving in somewhat unpredictable directions.
To sum this up, if your legs are tight or flexed for too long at a time, that is bad. Your muscles should have a relaxation period in whatever your activity. If there is further interest in this topic, I could certainly write more. Also, I would be happy to answer any questions as there was a time when I certainly had quite a few. Either post a comment or hit me up at akaeding9860@yahoo.com.

Skiing with the boyz pre surgery summer '08