TAC Board: The Alaska Club Blog

Mt Marathon record-holder and local Alaskan David Norris talks about why he loves the steep incline treadmills, and how he feels comfortable training at The Alaska Club even during this summer of 2020.

We’ve all heard how big Alaska is. The jokes about Texas and the lower 48 are pretty well versed by every proud 49th state resident. The mountains are big. The rivers are big. The king salmon, the moose, the grizzly and polar bears… yep, you know it. Large and in charge.

Summertime in Alaska is crazy. We all go into overdrive, and it seems like for most of us, the level of activity ramps up with the increase in sunlight. As a professional cross-country ski racer, summertime is actually the part of the year when I have to train the most. In our sport, it takes so long to make improvements that we need every workout, every day we can get, in order to get faster by next season. We train May through November, then compete almost every weekend December-March while training every day to prepare for the big events. After the Olympics in Korea in 2018, where I finished a career best 6th place in the Team Sprint event, I am more motivated than ever to train as hard as possible. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this means I somehow have to find a way to mesh the demands of training two or even three times a day with the summertime Alaskan lifestyle.

Believe it or not, spring is my favorite time of year to train. Despite coming off a long and fatiguing ski racing season, I am always excited to get back to springtime in Alaska. The weather is generally pretty amazing at this time of year- lots of bluebird days that make for great crust skiing in the morning, awesome trail running in the afternoon, and even better corn skiing in the evenings. With such perfect conditions its easy to get carried away recreating and neglect the body- especially when it comes to running. As someone who has struggled with countless overuse injuries throughout the duration of my career, its really important for me to build into my running progression. I’ve found that if I’m not careful about gradually increasing both distance and pace, my minor springtime tweaks turn into long-term injuries that prevent me from training/racing later in the summer. Picking out the right pair shoes from Skinny Raven also helps avoid injuries further down the road.

From local ski hills to the PyeongChang Olympics, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) encompasses all athletes that share a passion for skiing and snowboarding. We explore what makes each skier and rider a champion with stories from the U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing, next to kids winning a NASTAR medal, landing their first cork 7 or joining a club team. Alongside USSA’s mascot Champ, take a look at how all of these athletes strive to be Best in the World. As we continue to explore what makes USSA athletes champions, we’re learning more than we ever expected.