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Five resorts for Cross-Country Skiers

Together with the Birkie, we’re continuing our series of posts dedicated to Nordic skiing. This time we want to share recommendations about five excellent resorts dedicated to cross-country skiing. These resorts offer interesting, diverse trails and stunning landscapes as well as wonderful training opportunities.

Jackson, New Hampshire, USA

The Jackson Ski Touring Foundation is a non-profit organization that builds and maintains fantastic forest trails around the village of Jackson. 150 km of trails, 80 km of which are groomed daily, offer experiences suited to all skill levels and training ambitions. Trails traverse dense forest, wind past traditional white wooden churches and offer stops at many hotels and restaurants where you can warm up and grab a bite to eat.

The easiest way to get to Jackson is from Boston’s Logan Airport in a rental car. The journey takes about 3 hours.

Grand Revard, France

Grand Revard is located 17 km from Chambery, one of the major Alpine ski areas in Northern Europe. There are more than 150 km of runs at altitudes up to 1500 m, and snow is guaranteed throughout the season. Skiing through a pine forest on a high plateau offers stunning views of the valley du Massif des Bauges. Several mountain huts dot the trails, perfect for warming up and refueling. There are four hotels in the area and many apartments, guest houses, and cottages for rent. There is even a Nordic Skier Cross trail that includes hairpin turns, jumps, and obstacles.

Seefeld, Austria

This is the one most famous of the Tyrolian resorts. There are about 300 km of slopes and ski-lifts for those who prefer downhill skiing. The resort has hosted the FIS World Ski Championships twice, most recently in 2019. This cemented its reputation as one of the world's best cross-country skiing destinations.

The trails at Seefeld run along the tree-lined valleys of Tyrol through the communities of Leutasch and Scharnitz. Some tracks are illuminated for night skiing. In typical Austrian fashion, many huts serve hearty mountain food. Between the stunning peaks of the Karwendel Range, you can choose from 125 km of skating and 154 km of classic trails.

Seefeld is 30 minutes from Innsbruck Airport by car.

Nipika, British Columbia, Canada

Nipika Mountain Resort is located in the Kootenay National Park. Nipika is considered to be an eco-resort, using solar energy and wood-burning stoves to heat its buildings. 80 km of well-maintained trails run along frozen rivers through ancient pine forests that rise above the peaks of the Canadian Rockies. You’re in the wilderness, so don't be surprised if you hear wolves howling while sitting by the fire.

Nipika is about 3 hours from Calgary Airport, and you can stop by the Canmore Nordic Center if you feel like skiing the Olympic course.

Lillehammer, Norway

A short bus ride from Lillehammer, home of the 1994 Winter Olympics, is Sjusjoen Ski Centre. It has over 300 km of trails, from fast, groomed trails around the lake to hiking trails from hut to hut in the hills. The number and variety of cross-country ski trails are unmatched. But as Lillehammer is in the far North, many trails are exposed to the elements as they traverse the tundra landscape between Lillehammer, Hafjell, Nordseter, and Shushan.

Lillehammer is about 2 hours from Oslo by car or train.

Have you been to any of these places? What resorts would you add to our list? Please make suggestions in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Zihi Zihi allows endurance athletes and coaches to leverage the strength of AI to improve endurance sports performance and reduce injury risk.

A great way to increase running speed: cadence training

Running seems like it should be a straightforward, technique-free sport. After all, we all know how to walk; how hard can running really be? But in reality, running is challenging and running pace is hampered by poor technique. Furthermore, poor technique and improper loading of the muscles and joints make it easy to get injured and ruin your season.

Each person has physical abilities and features that are important to consider when training. When creating a training plan, the Zihi app considers fatigue factors and your experience to develop a training plan that supports both the achievement of your athletic goals and your well-being. In this post, we want to share a running technique, cadence work, that is complementary to the approach Zihi takes in creating your personalized training plan. Cadence work can increase your running speed without adding to your injury risk.
What is cadence? Cadence is the number of steps you take per minute while running.

Elite runners run at about 180 strides/min. The average runner covers ground at a cadence of about 150-160 steps per minute. While there is no ideal cadence, there are approximate guidelines for cadence toward which you should strive.

A key point when considering cadence is that the correct footfall should be under your center of gravity. This is beneficial both in terms of increasing running efficiency and pace and reducing injury risk. Increased cadence enters in the picture because, with an increase in the number of steps per minute, contact with the ground during each step decreases. This significantly reduces the load on the joints and increases body's work, thus facilitating faster or more comfortable (or both!) running.

Working on cadence is essential, but the main thing to remember is that training should be varied, and you should take a comprehensive, wholistic approach to improving running technique.

So what is cadence training?

First, you need to measure your cadence. Depending on the speed at which you’re running, the rhythm will be different. When you focus on cadence, it’s important that you measure it carefully. Some of the more sophisticated GPS-enabled running watches measure cadence for you but in the absence of a watch, you can count the frequency of your footfalls for 30 seconds and then double this figure to arrive at your cadence per minute. . If you’re measuring your cadence manually, it’s important to measure it several times to arrive at the correct number.

Afer you you figure out your cadence, you can increase it through intervals: increase the frequency for 1-2 minutes, then recover at what feels like normal cadence for 5-10 minutes. Repeat the increased cadence interval, targeting a number that is 5-10% faster than your standard cadence. Ultimately, shoot for a figure of somewhere around 180 footfalls per minute.

On average, it will take about three months to improve your cadence by 5-10%. This improvement will support faster running and also be an effective means to prevent injury. Especially pay attention to your rhythm when running when you are tired and trying to recover. If you can maintain a higher cadence when you are fatigued or running more slowly to facilitate recovery, you will protect your joints and decrease injury risk.
Another way you can increase your cadence is a quick run down a gentle hill of about 150-200 meters in length. This interval should be repeated 5-8 times per workoout. Single leg jumps (jumping while balanced on one leg) of up to 30 times can also help increase running cadence.

Remember, the longer you run with an incorrect cadence, the longer it will take you to correct it. But as you increase your cadence, you will notice how your performance increases, and it becomes easier to run.

It can be easy to focus on performance improvement at the expense of injury risk. This is the essence of overreaching and overtraining. Cadence work is unique in that it enhances performance – faster running speed – while simultaneously reducing risk of injury. It’s the essence of the phrase, “Train smarter, not harder.”

How to learn the Skiing technique?

Winter is here, so it's time to get your skis out. Zihi's Adaptive Workout Plan, backed by partner American Birkebeiner, is launching a series of helpful posts for athletes.

American Birkebeiner is the largest organizer of cross-country skiing, cross-country, and cycling marathons in the United States. More than 10,000 sportsmen take part in them every year. With their help, Zihi's application has improved and become more progressive. On their site, you will find something useful for yourself. Shall we start?

Skiing technique is a progressive, modern, speedy, and beautiful style of skiing. There are three moves of skating:
Simultaneous one-step skiing
Lifting simultaneous double-skate skiing
Flat simultaneous two-step skiing

The skiing style is mostly single-legged. There are moments when the skier is in a two-point position, but these are fractions of a second. Because it is necessary to reduce the friction force as much as possible. The leg on which the body's weight is concentrated is called the supporting leg. The leg that swings is the swing leg. The leg that takes off is called the push leg.

Let's start. To move forward need to push off. The skier pushes from the inner edge of the ski. In the skating repulsion cycle, two tasks must be solved sequentially. The first is to accelerate the supporting ski. The second is to use this speed, promptly switching to the fly leg, giving it an impulse of movement.

To perform a repulsion, bending the supporting leg with the knee down is necessary. This bend of the supporting leg is called the squat. When squatting, there is a charging stretching of the muscle before the subsequent abduction of the hip. At the same time, there is an increase in the impulse of the lateral repulsion by the leg. During the squat, the supporting foot moves sideways, creating favorable angles of the transverse inclination of the body. Repulsion is performed by abduction with a subsequent hip extension until the ski ultimately leaves.

We recommend starting training with a two-step lift. From putting the ski on the inside edge. The main thing is to understand how the push occurs and from which part of the ski it is done.

Basic exercises that will help any cyclist increase their speed and endurance.

With our partner American Birkebeiner, we continue a series of helpful posts for athletes. This time will benefit those who participate in the bike race. You can see the upcoming bike race and register on their website. The next one will take place in March and includes the following:
The Big Fat 47K Race
The Half Fat 21K Race
The Fun Fat 10K Tour

Plank.
Abs are essential for injury prevention and endurance:
Lie down belly. Move into a push-up position on your elbows, resting on the floor only with your forearms and toes. Pull in the stomach, and tighten the gluteal and abdominal muscles. Your body should stretch into a string. Stand in the bar for 30-60 seconds, and repeat the approach 3-5 times. Gradually increase your plank time.

Burpee.
This combo of squatting, jumping, and pushing up strengthens the muscles in your legs and arms and will allow you to accelerate quickly: Squat down with your hands touching the floor. Jump back into a push-up position. You can push back. Pull your legs back, returning to the starting squatting position. Jump up by clapping your hands above your head. Return to the starting position. This combination is performed as a single movement. Do several sets of 2 minutes.

Lunges with dumbbells.
This exercise works the quadriceps and glutes.
Take dumbbells, place your feet shoulder-width apart, and lower your arms at your sides. Keeping your back straight, take a comprehensive step forward so that your front leg is bent at the knee at 90 degrees. The back leg should be extended into a string, and the knee should not touch the floor. Keep your body straight, do not lean to the sides. Return to a standing position and lunge with the other leg. Repeat 10 times

Hammer with dumbbells.
Trained hands will not let the cyclist down at a crucial moment. Grab the dumbbells as if you were holding a hammer. The palms should face each other. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and lower your arms at your sides relaxedly. Press your elbow towards you and lift one of the dumbbells up until your arm is bent at the elbow at a 90-degree angle. Slowly lower the dumbbell and repeat with the other arm. Repeat 10 times

Climbing the toes.
When cycling, strong calf muscles are essential for smooth pedaling. Place your feet shoulder-width apart. Grab a dumbbell in each hand.
Slowly lift your heels off the floor until you are on your toes. Stay like this for 2 minutes. Slowly lower your heels to the starting position. Repeat 3-5 sets of 15 times.

What exercises do you do regularly?

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10,000-hours of training and marathon victory is guaranteed🥇Truth or fiction?

We have prepared a post for you that reveals this topic. Is it true that there is a certain period for mastering skills? Have scientists really come up with such a rule?

In 2008, journalist Malcolm Gladwell published his famous book, "Outliers,". Gladwell evaluated a rule of thumb establishedin a study, of the growing skill of international cellists. The heuristic observed by this study was the 10,000-hour rule. It states that to achieve an expert level in any discipline, you must devote ten thousand hours of practice in your chosen field. This view gained wide popularity,but often the problem analysis showed that the reality is more complicated!

Does it usually work or not? Read the post on our website

Zihi Does the 10,000-hour rule work? There is a theory that if you spend that much time mastering a skill, you will become a pro at it. Can anyone master what they want or need, not only perseverance but also talent? We will discuss this in the article.

Bjorn Dahlie - Norwegian who became a world legend

We continue our series of posts about legendary sportsmen.

Bjorn Dahlie is the most titled skier in history: 12 Olympic medals (8 gold) and 17 World Championship awards (9 gold). Unsurprisingly, he is called the best skier of the twentieth century.

Dahlie attributes much of him success in sports to him upbringing and hard work. “My mother and father never kicked me out to train. I went there myself,” Bjorn recalled.

To succeed, Dahlie walked gradually. He finished fourth in the 30 km race at the World Youth Championships. But he was taken as part of the Norwegian team for the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary. He never entered the track, but he won the World Cup for the first time the following year. In 1991, Bjorn became the world champion for the first time, beating the legendary Swede Gunde Svan at a distance of 15 km. In his future career, there will be 8 more such victories.

Regarding the total number of medals of various denominations, the Norwegian is second only to biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Only he and Swedish skier Eddy Sixten Jernberg have twice won the prestigious 50 km race at the Olympics.

Bjorn planned to participate in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (Salt Lake City), but he was not allowed - due to an accident on ski rollers in August 1999. A back injury prevented Delhi from continuing to add to his extensive medal collection. After numerous surgical interventions and rehabilitation attempts, the athlete was forced to end his career in March 2011.

The famous Norwegian skier, after the sport, became a successful businessman. The multiple Olympic champions produce sportswear under his brand, invest in real estate, and promote high-quality sports equipment. He also hosted a television show called Gutta på tur. Daly remains in good shape, regularly trains, and participates in cross-country ski races among sports veterans and demonstrations.

Inspired by Bjorn Dahlie? Who is your favorite skier?

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Zihi Zihi allows endurance athletes and coaches to leverage the strength of AI to improve endurance sports performance and reduce injury risk.

Koichi Nakano - 10 times World Champion.

The Zihi appl team believes that the stories of athletes inspire victory. Therefore, we are launching a series of posts about outstanding athletes.

Koichi is a former professional racing cyclist and a ten-time world champion track sprinter. He is one of the best runners of our time. From 1977 to 1986, he won an unprecedented ten consecutive gold medals in professional sprint events at the UCI World Championships in Athletics.

He got on a bicycle at 18 and started with keirin, a type of track racing where several laps precede the final sprint at a set speed. At first, keirin was a gambling game in Japan, but one day it was included in the program of the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

For Koichi Nakano, this was a dream, and he is sure that it came true in many ways, thanks to him. He tried to become not one of the best, but the best, worked hard and hard, and learned to follow his rivals, studying them. And ten years in a row won one world championship after another!

His recipe for success: physical strength and fortitude, self-confidence, and the ability to think and come up with something new to understand how to act in a given situation with any particular opponent. Remember that victories can be different. For some, this is an excellent result in a marathon, and for someone - training.

Appreciate all your wins, and Zihi app will help you make them more often.

Get a trial workout plan and a lot of useful content now at

Zihi Zihi allows endurance athletes and coaches to leverage the strength of AI to improve endurance sports performance and reduce injury risk.

What to do if there is no energy for training?

Every athlete faces this from time to time. Let's take a look at the possible reasons.

1. A busy schedule of classes and the wrong load. To avoid overwork, it is essential to correctly distribute the load and intensity of training. This is one of the critical indicators that the Zihi app pays attention to.

2. Improper nutrition. The cause of stable fatigue and drowsiness can be a lack of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in the body. Watch your diet and eat in a balanced way. Add grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and oils to your diet.

3. Big workload. If you have a stressful and challenging job and even had a hard day, after which you go to train exhausted, training should consider this factor. Otherwise, fatigue will only accumulate.

4. Bad sleep. Try to put away your smartphone before bed and allocate enough time to rest. This is the basis of energy for the whole day.

Overwork is always stressful, so it is essential to train rationally, alternating load. Moderate training allows you to maintain strength for everyday life.

Do you feel that you are about to give up, that there is no strength to occupy the account, and this is not because you are just too lazy? Stop, devote a day to yourself, help your body recover, gain strength, and only then return to classes.

Our Zihi app adapts to you with the help of AI. Zihi is an app for athletes planning a marathon, running, or just wanting to get in shape. Skiers, triathletes, runners, and cyclists choose us!

Note that you have decided to cancel the workout, and the plan will be adjusted. Didn't get enough sleep? Bad mood? Zihi will take this into account when planning classes.

Learn to feel and understand your body and its needs. Distinguish between a feeling of weakness that should be overcome and a complete breakdown or exhaustion. Listen to yourself and your body. And zihi will help with this. Download our app and try creating a custom plan for absolutely free.
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How to get back in shape after a break?

Returning to training after a long break is always tricky. Laziness and poor body condition make it difficult and challenging to return to shape. Today we'll talk about how to resume classes correctly and without harm to the body.

For those who are too lazy to read this post and come up with a training plan on their own - just download the Zihi app. It will do everything for you! Who is not one of these - continue👇🏻

If your break is only a few weeks (holidays or vacations), a couple of light workouts will be enough to recover. After that, you will be back in shape.

But what if you haven't exercised for several months / a year, or more? We'll have to significantly reduce the intensity. Start with long walks. After that, you can switch to interval running with walking breaks or running at a low pace. The distance, in this case, does not matter.

The main rule - during a break from training, do not give up physical activity altogether. Let it be walks or light workouts for 10-15 minutes daily, but they must be in your schedule!

If, after two months, you have not returned to your previous form, then you need to revise the training program. And even better - find a good coach who will make it for you based on your physical condition and capabilities.

And if there is no money and time for a personal trainer? In this case, the Zihi app will help you - AI trained by more than 1000 athletes and professional coaches. Zihi:
⁃ Takes into account all the features of your body
⁃ Prevents injury
⁃ Avoids uneven loads
⁃ Will bring your body to the desired shape in a specified time

Would you like to try and get a personalized training program for free today? Join Zihi 💪🏻

Zihi Zihi allows endurance athletes and coaches to leverage the strength of AI to improve endurance sports performance and reduce injury risk.

Five watts stronger or one kilogram lighter -what is more beneficial?
This can be a tricky question but in fact has one right answer: both! But let's look at details that will help you find the best way to get faster.

Physics says that on the flat, a bike that is one kilogram lighter will gain you just a single second over a 15 minutes course while five watts will make you 10-15 seconds faster

And what about hills?
On a 4 km climb with a 7% grade, you would be around 20 seconds faster if you went from 250 to 255 watts. And going from and 400 to 405 watts would gain you 10 seconds (if you are a pro, that’s it's nice to know), just because you’ll have less time to gain time: it will take 13 minutes, not 19, to complete the climb.
And being 1 kg lighter will make you just 10 seconds faster!

Conclusions:

- A one-kg weight drop could come from a bike, but this would cost a significant amount of cash. Alternatively, you could lose one kg, but that isn’t so easy for many of us!

- You might get five extra watts not only from cranking our more average power on the climb via a higher FTP, but also if you are able to brake and coast less where it's not needed! Plus you can ensure your drivetrain (clean and lubed chain); tires (low rolling resistance through better tires and latex tubes); and aerodynamic (aero socks, kit, helmet) efficiency can bring an extra five watts from small changes

If you’re an amateur rider, think about investing $9 per month in an adaptive, sports science-based training plan from Zihi. We can almost guarantee that you’ll pick up those five watts, and who knows? Maybe you’ll also lose a kilo or two!

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Zihi Zihi allows endurance athletes and coaches to leverage the strength of AI to improve endurance sports performance and reduce injury risk.

Dan Bingham just set the hour record. Here’s how!
Fact: Dan Bigham is not a pro athlete. He is lucky to make his passion for cycling a full time job working with a pro team as a performance engineer.
- It’s possible to spend more time on your favorite sport by finding those who are as passionate about it as you. There’s no doubt a community that has formed around your sport – whether in person or virtually. Finding it can help you live your passion.

Fact: Aero is almost everything. Even at 76-kg Dan was pushing an impressive 350 watts for an hour, but this is still low relative to professional cyclists who are capable of 400+ watts. And yet Dan has out performed many pros. How could he do this? Dan focused on aerodynamics, and took an exhaustive approach experimenting with body position and equipment to find the best possible setup, one that lowered his drag coefficient (CDA) down to a value of 0.15 – about 20% lower air drag compared to the previous record holder!
- Think of marginal gains in every possible aspect of your performance. They add up, making you significantly more efficient.

Fact: It took Dan seven attempts in the past eight years to become the fastest in the world. In pursuit of that we was fully focused on riding a track bike on the velodrome.
- Don't hurry, take your time to become a master of a specific discipline that you like. With the right approach you will progress every season.
🔥 Zihi AI Coach for example can make a plan for the next season with predictable performance gains and adjust it for you as you train. In cycling, running and XC skiing

Fact: Thermal acclimatization is critical. The velodrome where Dan set the record was heated to 27C (81 degrees Fahrenheit) for optimal air density but that also won't overheat the athlete. Even with these moderate air temperatures, Dan lost 2.1 liters of fluid.. It took a lot of research and training under special conditions to be prepared for this fluid loss. .
- If you know that your goal race will be in hot and/or humid conditions, take special steps to prepare! Not only in terms of nutrition and clothing, but also how to train your body to acclimatize. Indoor training sessions and the use of a sauna protocol are great ideas.
Fact: Negative splits are another key to performance! Dan is the only hour record holder whose first 15 minutes split was slower than the final 15 minutes. It’s nearly impossible to ride at the exact same pace for an hour, so it’s better to keep a tiny reserve and empty the tank in your final effort.
- Don't go full gas from the start. It's important to keep extra reserve throughout the race.

Fun fact: Dan's bike was equipped with clincher tires with tubes. He is the first hour record holder not on tubular tires because they are not as efficient as clinicers anymore.

🔥 Zihi can help you meet your cycling goals, whether they are the hour record or just dropping your friends on your local Wednesday Night Worlds.

Zihi Zihi allows endurance athletes and coaches to leverage the strength of AI to improve endurance sports performance and reduce injury risk.

Studies shows that sleep deprivation can: decrease time-to-exhaustion by 11%; impair muscle coordination and reaction time, leading to a poor pedal stroke and less ability to avoid obstacles. And also hamper glycogen restoration after exercise, limiting recovery

Increasing sleep time from 7 to 8 hours produces not only a better mood and motivation to train but also an ability for the body to absorb more training with better quality.

Here are some tips how to get a little extra from your sleep:
- Regularity is key - go to bed and wake up at the same time no matter if it’s weekday or weekend. Our brain has a master 24-hour clock so it expects and works better under consistent conditions;
- Take advantage of darkness. We need darkness in the evening to trigger the release of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin helps regulate the healthy timing of our sleep. An hour before sleep turn off phone, tablet or TV screens and dim half the lights in your house;
- Keep it cool. Your brain and body need to drop their core temperature by about 1°C to fall and stay asleep. A chill 65℉ (18℃) bedroom temperature is optimal!

With Zihi, if you had bad sleep last night you can include this in your self-estimated parameters and update your training plan. Zihi will make the necessary adjustments to your training plan so that you don’t have to!

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