Alpine training-Elm Street

Alpine Athletes Train, Alpine Coaches Inflict Pain


Dry land training is an important part of our race program at NSA. With out the tools we develop during dry land our athletes wouldn’t be able to make the arcs, hit the speeds and walk away from the crashes we do every day on snow.

At NSA we spend the time we are not skiing doing all sorts of activities to train our bodies to be strong flexible and fast.

In the fall we train in the morning for about 2-3 hours each weekday. The alpine team’s program is very diverse and well developed. There are days that every athlete looks forward too and days that we dread. The most dread full day of the year is Elm Street.

Elm Street is a large hill that is off of hillcrest in Lake Placid.

One of my best friend lives at the bottom of it, he has had to hike up with hill whenever he wanted to go anywhere since ha has lived in Lake Placid. He truly hates the hill. But his hate for the hill seems like love if you compare it to the hate that any single alpine athlete has developed for the hill after one day of training on it with Smitty.

The ski team has gone to the hill at least once a year since I started at NSA 5 years ago.

From my first year of training I still remember the reactions from the vetern athletes when Smitty announced that we would be going to the hill the next day for training, They all just went “oh crap” and looked pail in the face.

I learned why they had the reaction that very next day and have also adopted that same reaction.

Training on Elm Street starts off with a light jog to the hill. Then Smitty sends every one to the steepest part of the hill and makes us run up at whatever past, distance and way he wants us too.

He usually starts off with some short jogs at 50% up the hill and quickly works up to running the whole length at 100%.  We usually get ten or twelve up hill sprints in before one or two kids are on the side of the hill bent over, enjoying their eggs and pancakes a second time.

 A few more and nearly all athletes look like they are ready to join the kids on the side.

Once everyone can barley get halfway up the hill. Smitty moves onto the next part of the elm street work out in which consist of a combination of hops, skips, jumps, fireman walks, lunges and crabwalks.

Although these may not be the hardest exercises in the word, when you have to do them on a 60-degree slop they truly hurt, especially with smitty standing over you making sure you do them just right.

Although Elm Street is a painful day of training, it is possibly one of the most important days of dry land we do. We learn what it’s like to really work hard; have developed a better attitude towards training and working hard. When training gets tough I tell my self, life could be worse; I could be on Elm Street right now.