We’ve had the double pole test on the schedule for a little while now. The other day on the way back from Lake Placid I said to Greg, “you know, the only problem with setting a fast time early in the summer means it’ll take more effort and require more improvement to beat it now”.
The same sentiment held true for most of the group, who either set a PR or were close to it back in June before we’d even begun much specific strength work. We’ve been increasing our double pole work both on flatter terrain and hills, but my anticipation was high for today’s staging of the test.
In the end, the crew one-upped themselves today with EVERY SINGLE participant (13 racers) setting PRs! We had some new test-takers as well (Olivia and Coach Sara) so welcome to the record books! The biggest improvements came from Andre Eastman, Aidan Burt and Ben Carnahan who knocked 38, 37 and 26 seconds off their previous best times, respectively. Pretty serious chunks of time for a 3-6 minute race! Amy Bruce also set a new MNC athlete record of 4:21!
Coach Sara and Coach Adam have also added some “Masters” times to the record books this summer, so any other coaches that want to tackle the test should try and make it out to the next event (we’re looking at you, Rick and Rosemary!)
You can see the historical archive by clicking HERE
Below is some video…thanks to Summer for heading out on course to get these clips!
From Fasterskier on 8/23:
“Double pole strength and technique is something USST Head Coach Chris Grover had a feeling the team could use some work on coming into the week, and the race series showed that to be true.
“‘We knew double pole strength and technique was an issue for many of the USA skiers and indeed we saw the deficiencies up close the past 3 days,” Grover explained in an email. “The Norwegians have so many athletes with excellent double pole technique, power, and endurance. As a nation, we need to work harder to close the gap.’”
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