CXC Team finishes two week training camp

Wed, Sep  24, 2008 - By CXC Skiing

Thirteen CXC Team athletes recently completed their 2 week September training camp at Cresthill Resort in Hayward, WI. The weather threw everything at them and was basically spectacular. The efforts put forth by the athletes mimicked what Mother Nature offered. Following are the weekly reports on the activities:

Hey Sports fans!

A comfortably cold cloudy fall morning greets us for the first of many time trials this week. The weather was to continue in the same ominous vein for the rest of the week as we worked away. It wouldn’t bother us a smidgen though we performed plyometrics in the cool rain and threw muddy medicine balls to each other.

Hard weeks always seem to bring out the best in us and several PR’s were set during this camp. Our running and bounding time trial was done on a hilly section of the Birkie trail rising to Cty Rd OO. There were some stellar performances by our team, with Matt Liebsch just pinching the time trial from Garrott Kuzzy. As the week progressed the team was beginning to feel the strain (or at least I was) with the intensity finally beginning to take its toll. Our final skate time trial would prove to be tough. Matt Liebsch continued his winning performance championing all three time trials for the camp. With the end of the time trials, we went to the strength room for an absolute strength session. Some funny faces and big BIG weights later and we were set. Not to mention the good old team van push! Good times.

 

Our team dinners cooked by the athletes at Cresthill were great fun with food from all over the globe! Homemade pizza from Italy, delicious enchiladas from México (made from scratch) and an awesome chicken curry from India were just some of the dishes our team put together.

Our hard week ended with a relaxing long distance ski Tour de Hayward on our classic rollers. Even though the weather was great for ducks there was a friendly supportive atmosphere with plenty of banter. It was a great session to end the week with. Bring on the next camp!

-- Alastair Duncan

  

 

The second week of the CXC Elite team camp in Hayward started with quite the off day. Instead of our usual day of rest and relaxation on Monday, we took to the Birkie trail to clear rocks and whatever else we could find that was in our way. This was a great project in that we were able to clear a couple kilometers worth of the newly cut and graded classic trail around the OO trailhead. We basically walked the classic trail sections and threw the rocks off the trail that we felt would damage skis and get in the way. It was a great couple of hours working with Terry Penman from the ABSF Board of Directors and Executive Director of the Birkie Ned Zuelsdorf.

Tuesday brought us back to the usual training routine of isometric strength at 7 a.m. and some skate speeds at 9 a.m. After throwing a ton of rocks on Monday we hammered our three sets of 6x30 second uphill skating sprints. We then hit up the steep hills of County Road OO for some intense specific strength. This workout is always brutal because of the steepness of the climb we use on OO. I think our coach Bryan Fish loves watching us suffer on this particular workout, but I always try to put on a tough face to not let him get the satisfaction of killing me.

Wednesday was the last day of our training camp and started off right with a filmmaking session. You will have to check out the CXC Academy to see what I am talking about. We took some time to film the strength routine we have been using. The footage will be posted at www.cxcacademy.com for your viewing pleasure. We then had an easy classic distance workout planned and it was a good way to end the camp.

That was the end of the training camp but not the end of our team adventures.

We all headed over to the Twin Cities for the big tent sales at Gear West, Finn Sisu, and Hoigaard’s. It was great to help spread the word about our sport and give back to these shops who have supported Nordic skiing in the Midwest for so many years. The team was split between the three stores. We had the chance to talk to the customers and help fit and sell various products to them. We were supported by Andy Gerlach and Kevin Johnson from Salomon. Everyone involved; industry reps, store owners and personnel, the CXC Team and staff, and literally hundreds of customers enjoyed the weekend and walked away totally fired up for another great ski season.

--Bryan Cook

 

The CXC Team has just arrived at the US Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY after a direct drive road trip to participate in a 10 day camp with athletes and staff of the National Ski Team and various other top level training programs. The first chance that most of the team will have to compare notes and preparation period progress.