Season plans and racing preparation with David Norris
David Norris is a Team Birkie ambassador and over the years he has accumulated so much knowledge about his own racing that he is also bringing to the athletes he is coaching as well as sharing it with us. We look forward to hearing about David’s plans and will of course be cheering him on to his first races, US nationals this January!
David has won numerous SuperTours, the Birkie, and skied world championships, olympics and World Cups. He is a very experienced skier and we are excited to learn something from him.
Enjoy the read.
What does your tentative race schedule look like this year?
My tentative race schedule:
US Nationals in Soldier Hollow Jan 2-7
Alley Loop 42km Skate - Crested Butte, CO Feb 3
Canmore & Minneapolis Distance World Cups (If I qualify from US Nationals) Feb 9,10, & 17
American Birkie Feb 24
Tour of Anchorage March 3
Spring Nationals March 20-26
Grand Traverse March 30
Spring Series thing in Jackson/Sun Valley at the end of March
Steamboat has a Skimo night race series, and I will try to do as many as I can- roughly 4-6 skimo races. US Nationals, Spring Nationals, & Spring Series I will be doing a coach/athlete combo like I did last year. Josh Smullin and the other coaches we partnered with for waxing at races last season were super cool to let me dip out from ski service to get my warm-up in. This unique situation of coaching and racing is really only possible because the other staff members are so supportive.
That is awesome, we take it you are probably coaching?
Outside of 'training' my most visible job is coaching the U18/U16 team at SSWSC. Additionally, I provide online accounting and bookkeeping for several clients, partnered with Skiplukkern this fall to bring their premium ski picking to North America, and along with Jessica we run an online coaching business.
With all this going on, what is your plan to prepare for big races like US nationals like for example during Christmas break?
For Christmas break...This December will differ a bit from previous seasons because my first race of the season will be US Nationals. On World Cup I would often spend mid December recovering from Period one racing and trying to build back some base volume with the goal of carrying my fitness through April. This December I will train as many hours as I have time for until mid December. With winter fully hitting Steamboat this weekend my hours will start to be primarily cross-country skiing and skinning. First half of December I'll do an equal balance of threshold and Level 4 intensity; in the second half of December my intensity will shift towards a higher focus in Level 4. Leading into Christmas I will take several days very easy so that I come into Nationals rested. I like to start my taper far enough away from target races so that I can feel rested beforehand and still have a few days to build back into normal training rhythm leading into Nationals.
Thank you so much David.
We look forward to cheering our athletes on at US Nationals in Soldier Hollow and good luck to everyone in their preparation.
