FasterSkier

Tag: Flashbacks to the Past

  • Do You Want To Go Canoeing?

    f you are in Northern Finland around June and someone asks you this definitely go run and hide.divbr //divdivI started skiing at the tender age of 21 while I a was attending St Lawrence University in Canton, NY. It is a great small liberal arts college located in northern NY State with a Division I ski team./divdivI only skied there 1 year then withdrew in the spring in order to focus my efforts on becoming an Olympic skier.  /divdivThat early summer destiny took me to a small Country in Northern Europe, Finland.  Once in Finland after some time in southern Finland I ended up in Rovaniemi.  It was there I found a Biathlon Coach, and had the opportunity to train and live with some really extraordinary people. /divdivbr //divdivOne day a very good Finnish skier, Eero asked me I would go for some canoe training in the early evening.  I of course said yes.  I borrowed a friend’s car and met Eero and his Wife at the designated time.  You have to take into account that at this time in his life Eero did not speak english fluently or I Finnish.   I got into their car and we proceeded to drive approximately 1 1/2 hours to a cottage on a hill above a scenic lake. There we had a snack then went down to a boathouse got into a canoe and started to paddle.  We only paddled for a little bit and all of a sudden we were at a boat launch.  His Wife was waiting for us we got out of the canoe and proceeded to put it onto his car got into the car and started to drive for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours. We arrived at a boat launch on an obscure river in Northern Finland with mosquiito’s as large as birds. It was around 10 pm also. Still light since it was around midsummer. It was light 24 hours a day. Great if you want to train three times a day with a nap in between each training./divdivbr //divdivThen Eero and I got into the canoe and started paddling down this river.   After over 2 hours of paddling we stopped and Eero got a snack out and we were sitting on the riverbank eating and drinking for a short time and I said that I will not return the car to my friend at 

  • 2 Hour Run

    span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Times; “div style=”border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; width: auto; font: normal normal normal 100%/normal Georgia, serif; text-align: left; “Back in the late 80’s there was a Real Psychopath from the Finnish National Ski Team who was training in the good old USA.  Well any way this individual had absolutely no filter between  his thought process and his verbal cortex. An example would be while driving through the quaint little village of Lake Placid I had to keep the windows closed and locked because he was screaming out what he wanted to do to every man and woman we drove by.  Even I was aghast.divAnyway one midday this Madman who stayed at my house at times and did lots of insane training. He actually helped by showing and  “learning” me how hard and intense one had to go./divdivThen I taught him./divdivSo Psycho Skier Man shows up for my second workout of the day and says I want to go for a 2 hour trail run!!  No longer!!  I say ok!  Off we go starting right from my old house near the beginning of theNorthville-Placid trail.  We went at a good level1-2 pace for 2 hours. At this point we were at the shores of Moose Pond. He smiles at me and asks “Where’s the house??”/divdivIt was awesome the look on his face as I just pointed back down the trail and with utterly no mercy.  /divdivIt was awesome watching him implode on the way home. It was only a 4 hour run with no food or water.  /divdivEi Armoa!!!/div/div/spandiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6647112093689702615-869280703948275931?l=www.jackedupoldman.com’//div

  • The Psycho and the Loon

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SkCr831SZ6I/AAAAAAAACKM/yhl6_HlVk5M/s1600-h/mail.jpeg”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350465419584104354″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 226px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 148px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SkCr831SZ6I/AAAAAAAACKM/yhl6_HlVk5M/s400/mail.jpeg” border=”0″ //aBack in the late 80’s there was a Real Psychopath from the Finnish National Ski Team who was training in the good old USA. I had the opportunity to train many hours with him.br /span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family:Times;”div style=”BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 100% Georgia, serif; WIDTH: auto; PADDING-TOP: 3px; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px”On an occasion of training with the Psycho from Finland we went for some kind of running combination training at Mt Van span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″ style=”BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,0)”Hovenburgh/span in Lake Placid. The night prior there was span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″ style=”BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,0)”a huge /spanthunderstorm. When we arrived at the Biathlon range and set up some targets at thspan class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_2″ style=”BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,0)”e/span beginning of the range and I preceded to zero my rifle. Well at span class=”blsp-spelling-corrected” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_3″the far/span end of the range there was some sort of bird. The Psycho somehow got it in his head that that there bird at span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_4″ style=”BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,0)”the/span end of the range was public enemy #1. Basically a pest, menace and threat to society. So he first tells me to “Shoot It” then “Shoot It, Shoot It, Shoot It. ” divI patiently explain to him that in America one cannot just go and off some seemingly innocent bird. Furthermore some environmentalist would consider it a crime worse than outright murder. Then we would be locked up for life./divdivOnce I finished zeroing the rifle we started off for our first running loop. As we span class=”blsp-spelling-corrected” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_5″approached/span the said bird. It then became apparent that it was a huge Loon. This loon, when it saw us coming started hopping down the field in the direction we were running. Do not know if you have ever seen a loon hop, but a hopping Loon is one of the funniest sights that I’ve ever seen./divdivAs the field tapered into a trail the Loon turned around stood up on its haunches, spread its wings. Then started to span class=”blsp-spelling-corrected” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_6″whippoorwill/span loudly as Loons do. span class=”blsp-spelling-corrected” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_7″Then/span it deployed its long sharp pointed beak that was actually more akin to a Tibial Bone Biopsy Needle at this point and charged us. /divdivI was terrified. afraid for life and limb. Luckily we got away unscathed. /divdivThe Loon must have landed on the range span class=”blsp-spelling-corrected” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_8″the/span night prior during the thunderstorm thinking it was a lake. We called the DEC but it had gone onto hiding when they came./divdivFrom now on I still get Post Traumatic Loon Syndrome every time I paddle by span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_9″ style=”BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,0)”a Loon/span on a peaceful serene lake./div/div/spandiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6647112093689702615-2369300694936037426?l=www.jackedupoldman.com’//div