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Happy holidays from the Start Haus crew! We've been dreaming of a white Christmas and it looks like we've got it! If you haven't been here before, this is our weekly Tahoe Ski News blog post, where we tell you about ski conditions, racing, events, wax calls and ski deals every Friday.

The fall season is upon us in Tahoe and at Start Haus - that means it’s almost ski race season. While most ski racers won’t be on snow until at least the early camps at Copper, everyone is thinking right now about their race gear for the upcoming year.

So after a hard week of training with 4 to 5 days at the gym, and 5 days of intense bike rides/sprints, my Saturdays are the days where I can relax a bit and do some of the easier but long cardio workouts that are actually some of the more important workouts of the summer!  Its really important to really work your "lower end" cardio early in the training period so that you build a strong cardio base, so that when you do those sprints and intervals all week you can work at a higher intensity level.  We call these workouts "Slow Long Distance" workouts, and I usually like going on a fun adventure by going on a hike in the mountains!  During these SLD workouts I try to keep my heart rate between 135 and 155 so it is pretty chill and I have to go slow on some of the uphills.  However there is a huge payoff to doing these workouts outside on a hike rather than on a spin bike in the gym; you get to see some pretty amazing places and it is super fun! Believe it or not, some of the other

This photo gives me motivation to get in the gym! (Looking out of the start hut at Kitzbuhel)

Ski season is officially over, and for many ski racers like myself, vacation season (time off) is also sadly winding to and end.  This only means one thing; it is time to get back in the gym and start getting strong again for next ski season!  Being on the US Ski Team for the last 7 years, I have learned a lot about how important it is to be strong in order to push the limits in our sport and in order to prevent injuries.  Injury prevention might actually be the most important thing.  The stronger, fitter, and more flexible I am, the faster I am able to bounce back from a crash.  In the last training run at Kitzbuhel this year I crashed on the bottom side hill, and bruised myself up pretty good, but since I had worked the entire summer before on getting strong and on my flexibility, I was about to bounce back and have the best race of my career the very next day getting 12^th!  

Spring is the time of the season that we begin testing skis and boots for the following season. Here are some key reasons why we stress testing now opposed to the summer time:

Snow: When testing products you should test it on a condition that is most similar to what you will be racing on during the season.  This all revolves around the feel of the ski or boot.  Depending on the condition you will find that there can be differences that will/can eventually add up to a time difference in the course and that can be the separation between you winning or losing.

Tune:  Having the ability to test multiple different brands of products with the exact same Start Haus tune.  This will result in you being eliminate the tune as being a variable in the test and making it easier for you to feel exactly how the ski feels.

Product:  Ultimately you are testing skis or boots to see if you are faster than other brands.  When you have the ability to test multiple different skis or boots in one

Dry skies have stamped a slow start to the 2011-2012 season.  But with a lot of help from the lakes of Mammoth, cold temps blasted a base strong enough to hold eight slalom sets at Mammoth Mountain for the season opener.   Steep pitches, fast flats, quick combos, and a slick surface made for an exciting opening series.

The weekend was packed with great results from many of our Far West athletes- and even some athletes from the East Coast, as Killington Mountain School joined in on Day One.  Morganne Murphy took back-to-back wins, with Sierra Nevada College skiers and first year J2s, Julia Cashell and Dianna Abbott, fast on her tails.  On the men’s side, Sierra Nevada dominated the podium, setting a great example for all our athletes and inspiring thrilling skiing out of some young guns, like Garrett Driller, Pieter Weemaes, and Jordan Cashman.  For the youngest athletes on the hill, it was a weekend of hard fought battles on a steep, slick hill, competing against skiers twice

Parents often wonder what their role becomes when preparation for the race season is over and the competition season begins.  New research published in the Journal of Applied Sports Psychology, investigates the athletes perspective on their parents behavior during competition.  Competitive youth (age 12-15) tennis players were studied and although different from ski racing, the information has validity due to the ever present parent/athlete relationship in all youth sports. The findings are described below in order to guide parents to better understand what they can do help their child during the competition season.

1. Parents should focus on supporting the athlete's involvement in the sport rather than the outcome of the competition.  You want to give them support not put pressure on them .  By focusing on the outcome(aka winning)  the athlete may become nervous and their performance may decrease.  In turn, this could make it even harder for them to focus on their next run or

What a great way to start the race season, with two World Cup wins for USA!

You have spent a couple of seasons racing Tahoe League and are ready to make the transition to Far West/USSA races. Or, you are a first time Far West racer this season.
Here are six items to help you get started.

1. 1.        You will need a USSA and Far West membership, required to participate in a Far West race.
   1. Go to the USSA website, www.ussa.org .
   2. Find the drop down menu on the right hand side of the screen, “membership tools” and then choose “become a member.” You can choose to do an online registration (the fastest way to complete a membership) or you can download an application, fill it out and mail it in.
   3. Please note that after October 15^th any returning Far West and USSA membership is assessed a late fee. The first time you become a member there is no late involved.
   4. 2.        Far West Skiing website, www.fwskiing.org. This is our local division’s website and is where you will find all of the information you need regarding race schedules, scholarships, upcoming events and

When I first heard the phrase “atomic push-up” at the Sugar Bowl Academy Performance Training Center, I thought,

“No big deal.”

I was standing with a group of students during their first physical test day of the year.  They were likely thinking the same thing I was thinking,

“I can do a push-up, no matter what adjective bomb you drop in front of those two words.”

Then Douglas Brooks and Candice Brooks, world-renowned fitness trainers and Directors of Athlete Conditioning at SBA, slid their feet into the handles of the yellow and black apparatus’ hanging from the squat racks.  They moved into a plank-like push-up position, with their feet suspended in the air.  They dropped down, pushed up, and curled their knees into their chest.  Back to plank.

In a single, fluid movement of balance and strength, the atomic push-up wasn’t just a fancy way of saying push-up; it was a test only a handful of the kids would pass.

Arms trembling at three—whole bodies were dropping at ten.  Sweat

Milliseconds, Milliliters

Megan McJames and Chelsea Marshall aren’t just World Cup skiers, they’re world-class quantifiers.  They became Olympians by sifting seconds down to deci-seconds, down to centi-seconds, down to milli-seconds.   With their knives, they leveled off the top, and carved a recipe for success.

But this isn’t exactly a story about ski racing.

Megan McJames and Chelsea Marshall, in a perfect metric-systematized world, know that milli’s matter in more ways than just holding a tight tuck across the flats.  Measure a milliliter too much of milk, and the frosting won’t spread.  Use too many grams of flour, and the dough sticks.

Physics 101          

Newton’s third law of motion states: “For every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction.”

Born in the mid-eighties, raised by ski instructors and taught by the mountains, US Ski Team members by their mid-teens, and first-time Olympians at Vancouver by their early twenties, these two are sisters by symmetry.