AMax Kluck (Bridger Ski Foundation) Recaps National Training Group (NTG) Camp in Park City Utah
Hi all, this is Max Kluck checking in after just wrapping up a great camp in Park City, Utah.
June NTG camp is always a fun way to kick off summer training with a fun group of people in a cool place. This year we had the camp in Park City again, after being in Whistler last year. This worked out great as we had many great facilities to utilize throughout the week such as the US Ski and Snowboard Center of Excellence (COE) gym, the new roller ski treadmill, and the Soldier Hollow roller ski track.
The week started off with an easy ski on the valley loop, a mellow loop which wraps around Park City, where we usually start off the camp. The next two days of the camp were slightly different for me than the rest of the camp. As a new member of the USST D-team for the coming season, I attended Rookie Camp, which was also being held at the COE at the same time. While rookie camp may not have been as fun and exciting as many of the nordic camps I have been to, it was a great opportunity to get familiar with the COE, as well as getting to meet many of the amazing support staff available to US Ski Team members. Another cool part of the camp was getting to meet members from all the other disciplines of US Ski and Snowboard, and getting to hear about their sports.
After the Conclusion of Rookie Camp, the real fun for the week began as I returned to NTG. We drove out to Soldier Hollow (Soho) for a classic intensity session. The focus of the day was speeds. For the second time this week we had one of the USST High Performance directors, Brian Neff, leading us through a pre-ski warmup. This consisted of many plyometric jumps and skips, as well as a really fun competition where we went head to head chasing down a tennis ball. For the main workout most of the team did the same workout which they had done earlier in the week on skate skis, which was 8×90 seconds, focusing on quick and decisive movements. I ended up doing a less intense speed workout of 10x 15-20 second speeds. In these short speeds my main focus was a fast turnover, and efficient transitions.
During many of the afternoons, athletes from the camp got to use the new roller ski treadmill at the COE. This fancy piece of equipment allows athletes to work on technique in a controlled environment, while receiving live feedback from our amazing coaches. While I’m sure it was very tiring for the coaches, all the athletes were very grateful to get at least two sessions in throughout the week.
My final session of the week with the team was a skate roller ski at Soho. We started off the workout with an easy warmup, followed by about an hour of technique stations at Soho. Bryan Fish (USSS), Greta Anderson (USSS), and Reitler Hodgert (Mt. Bachelor) all had their own stations and were focused on V2, V1, and V2 alt. respectively. These stations were very productive, but also very tiring because there are so many things to think about. Next we all grabbed some snacks from the cars before heading up Cascade Springs Dr, a Scenic newly paved road directly behind Soho. With the sun finally shining today, we all had a great time just talking and skiing as we made our way to the top.
Although I didn’t get the chance to make every session this week, it was still an extremely fun and productive week in Park City. I want to give a huge thanks to NNF, because this wouldn’t be possible without them!
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