All About Ski Preparation

Nancy Fiddler came late to elite ski racing having had started skiing in college. Her world cup career started when she was 31 years old. Despite this Nancy won 14 US National Championship titles. She participated in both the 1988 and 1992 Olympic games. At the 1991 World Championships she finished 15^th place. Nancy also coached and worked in the ski industry at Mammoth Mountain. Recently Nancy in a collaboration with others finished the book Trail to Gold which tells the story of the US Female Olympic Nordic ski racers.

The interview exposes how things were in the US and elite ski scene in the late 80s and early 90s. Nancy also gives her thoughts on many topics and some really valuable advice at the end. I think this is an important interview with an amazing athlete and person. I hope you think so too.

Stefan Jung started working for Toko as the head chemist in January 2021. He is an avid telemark skier and also participates in other outdoor sports such as skiing, hiking, and mountain biking. The purpose of this interview is to introduce Stefan and give him the opportunity to explain about new Toko High Performance, Performance, and Natural Waxes. My opinion is that Stefan is the most important person in the company and I think that any passionate skier and anyone who waxes skis or snowboards will find this interview enlightening and highly interesting.

We discussed the new wax ingredients, a bit about application process, ECO friendliness vs Peformance, and also the currently developing fluorine free topcoats which are coming soon.

Sydney Palmer-Leger won both races at the 2021 NCAA championships as a freshman in college. Sydney is on the US Ski Team B Team and is the 6^th ranked US distance skier. She is also a 5 time US Mountain Bike National Champion. Sydney is just 19 years old and skis for the University of Utah and Sun Valley SEF. 

We talked about a wide range of topics. I'm sure listeners will find this an important and interesting interview.

Ben Odgen has 5 individual top 10 finishes at World Juniors as well as 2^nd, 1^st, and 1^st in the Junior relay. Also 11^th in 2021 U23 Classic sprint after finishing 3^rd in the qualifier. Ben finished 17^th in the 2021 World Championship Classic sprint. Clearly this is one of the most talented and capable young racers we have ever had. Ben is John Ogden’s son against whom I used to race and is the brother of Katharine who skis World Cups and Charlotte who is a promising young skier. Ben, 21, skis for Stratton and is a senior in college also skiing for UVM.

This interview has a lot of wisdom in it ranging from focusing on a total approach rather than a ski only approach and also how to keep things fun and light while in the pursuit of excellence.

JC Schoonmaker finished 26^th in last winter’s World Championship Classic Sprint in Oberstdorf, Germany. His top World Cup results are 14^th, 18^th, and 18^th. He was also 13^th in World Juniors the Classic Sprint in 2020. JC is a US Ski Team A Team member and is from Tahoe City, CA and is just 21 years old.

Gus Schumacher is the 3^rd ranked U23 skier in the world and a US Ski Team A Team member. In an interview a few months ago, Gus brought up how excited he was to have gotten a new treadmill and all of the training possibilities that it will afford him. I asked him if we could do an interview to flush this out once he had a chance to get to know the treadmill and how to best take advantage of it. This is that interview.

Laura McCabe got a late start to Nordic ski racing having had started Nordic track skiing and then racing in her early 20s. However, despite her late start, she made the 1994 and 1998 Olympic teams. Laura was on the Factory Team for 11 years and during that time dominated the US ski marathon racing circuit including the American Birkebeiner. Laura has coached for the Methow Valley Nordic Ski Education Foundation for 25 years and continues to. Laura has multiple medals at World Masters Championships both individually and in the relay and continues to be a world leading skier in her age group. In this interview Laura gives her perspectives on a variety of topics such as coaching juniors, team dynamics, being present, and being grateful. 

Gus Schumacher is the 3^rd ranked U23 skier in the world and a US Ski Team A Team member. This interview is to simply catch up and get his thoughts on how his summer training is going and some ideas he might have.

Caitlin Gregg has 5 American Birkebeiner wins, more than anyone in history. Additionally she is a bronze medalist from the 2015 World Championships. This 40 year old mother just competed in both the Birkie skate and classic last weekend and finished an amazing 3^rd and 4^th place. This podcast is to hear about her coaching and racing from this season as well as to see how husband Brian and daughter Heidi are doing.

There is a lot to learn from this podcast. We discussed training and nutritional principles in preparing for a double Birkie weekend including how to become fat burning while also keeping glycogen in the muscles. We also talked about recovery. Of course there was the race tactics and action rundown from both days.

Reid Pletcher is one of the most talented fun adventuresome guys you will ever meet or hear of. Despite adversity Reid squeezes as much juice out of life as possible which I love. A few highlights include racing Nordic ski World Cups, Racing road bikes as a professional U23, winning Nordic ski NCAA championships, falling when rock climbing and incurring a severe long term brain injury including losing much of his ability to speak English, winning SuperTour races, returning to World Cup racing, river rafting guiding, ParaOlympic athlete guiding, rollerblading through Europe, climbing Peru’s monster peaks, making the national finals on American Ninja Warrior, speed skating on the US national development team, and becoming a professional custom van building worker. If you want to be entertained, if you want to be inspired, or if you want your heart touched, check this out and get to know Reid better.

This episode speaks a lot about mental health and also tells an incredible story of loss and then amazing adventure while living the "new" normal. I find Reid is an inspiring example of triumph over the most difficult adversity where his strong spirit and will overcomes the weakness of the body (or in Reid's case an extreme traumatic brain injury). I hope this episode inspires others to live more courageously and to "seize the day".