FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Gorgeous Hurt

     
    The stadium today. A balmy +5, beautiful sunshine, amazing snow… Canmore sure is putting on one incredible show!
      Today’s race hurt. It hurt real bad. 10km skate, three laps of a relentless 3.3km loop. Out the stadium, UP, little bit of down, UP some more, UP again, back to the bottom and repeat twice more. Normally I would love this course, it is a climbers dream! But today the legs had different ideas. 
      If you look at the lap splits, you might think “Pate, you silly little man, you just went out way to hard!” I will argue however, that I went out with the podium in mind. It is a fine line between blowing up and keeping it together for the win. I was not close to that line today however. After the first lap I was already in survival mode. Trying to climb smooth, and conserve as much energy as possible to get through another two laps. 
      My legs were pretty toast. They felt like they did last weekend (heavy), even with a week of easy training and very focused recovery, they still hadn’t come around. The mind was rip rarin’ to go, and in a very good spot. I have spend quite a lot of time thinking about this race and mentally preparing. I think that without this prep and focus, I would have been a lot further down the results page. It was a big mental game to push across the finish line. At which point I immediately collapsed, and spent the next 30 min trying to bring my heart rate back down, get my breathing under control, and make it back to the wax room to get some fluids in me. It was not a pretty sight. I was white as a ghost, and not really “there.” 
      I came around after a gel and some very strong sport drink. Enough to go out for a cool down, spend 15 minutes in the ice bath, and head home. I have spend the afternoon horizontal, eating and drinking plenty.
      Overall I am disappointed, I was looking for a podium, and ended up 9th, over a minute back. Respectable, but not where I wanted to be. I know I am in good shape, and have the capacity to reach my goals this week, I just need to get the legs back under me. We have a rest day tomorrow, then Tuesday is the 15km classic, individual start. I am quite looking forward to this race as I feel my classic skiing has come a long way over the last little while.    
    FULL RESULTS HERE
    In other news, there are groomers on Mainstreet!!
      This restored Tucker Sno Cat, mounted with speakers-a-blarin’ is parked on Mainstreet, which also happens to be covered in snow! They have brought down snow from the Nordic Centre, and covered Main street Canmore, from one end of town to the other. There is skiing for all, booths set up, parades and awards presented from each days race on the snow. It was one cool sight, and one of the many reasons I love this little ski town!!
    Amanda Ammar, coming out of retirement to team up with Annika Hicks, to create Canmore 1 in the open womans team sprint yesterday!
     Canmore 1 (Stef Kuhn and Phil Widmer) leading Canmore 2 (Phil Wood and Russell Kennedy) in the open mens team sprint yesterday!

    Russell Kennedy chasing the main pack. Canmore 2 had some bad luck getting tripped up twice and loosing contact with the leaders. They put up a good fight to regain contact, but were never able to do it.

     Yesterday was a good day for Canmore Nordic in the team relays. Canmore 1 came second in the open men, and Annika and Amanda skied to an impressive 2nd place finish as well. Congrats to Annika on a great 5km today as well, coming 4th overall and 1st in the junior woman’s category. Very impressive skiing!
    Until next time! – Pate

  • Gorgeous Hurt

     
    The stadium today. A balmy +5, beautiful sunshine, amazing snow… Canmore sure is putting on one incredible show!
      Today’s race hurt. It hurt real bad. 10km skate, three laps of a relentless 3.3km loop. Out the stadium, UP, little bit of down, UP some more, UP again, back to the bottom and repeat twice more. Normally I would love this course, it is a climbers dream! But today the legs had different ideas. 
      If you look at the lap splits, you might think “Pate, you silly little man, you just went out way to hard!” I will argue however, that I went out with the podium in mind. It is a fine line between blowing up and keeping it together for the win. I was not close to that line today however. After the first lap I was already in survival mode. Trying to climb smooth, and conserve as much energy as possible to get through another two laps. 
      My legs were pretty toast. They felt like they did last weekend (heavy), even with a week of easy training and very focused recovery, they still hadn’t come around. The mind was rip rarin’ to go, and in a very good spot. I have spend quite a lot of time thinking about this race and mentally preparing. I think that without this prep and focus, I would have been a lot further down the results page. It was a big mental game to push across the finish line. At which point I immediately collapsed, and spent the next 30 min trying to bring my heart rate back down, get my breathing under control, and make it back to the wax room to get some fluids in me. It was not a pretty sight. I was white as a ghost, and not really “there.” 
      I came around after a gel and some very strong sport drink. Enough to go out for a cool down, spend 15 minutes in the ice bath, and head home. I have spend the afternoon horizontal, eating and drinking plenty.
      Overall I am disappointed, I was looking for a podium, and ended up 9th, over a minute back. Respectable, but not where I wanted to be. I know I am in good shape, and have the capacity to reach my goals this week, I just need to get the legs back under me. We have a rest day tomorrow, then Tuesday is the 15km classic, individual start. I am quite looking forward to this race as I feel my classic skiing has come a long way over the last little while.    
    FULL RESULTS HERE
    In other news, there are groomers on Mainstreet!!
      This restored Tucker Sno Cat, mounted with speakers-a-blarin’ is parked on Mainstreet, which also happens to be covered in snow! They have brought down snow from the Nordic Centre, and covered Main street Canmore, from one end of town to the other. There is skiing for all, booths set up, parades and awards presented from each days race on the snow. It was one cool sight, and one of the many reasons I love this little ski town!!
    Amanda Ammar, coming out of retirement to team up with Annika Hicks, to create Canmore 1 in the open womans team sprint yesterday!
     Canmore 1 (Stef Kuhn and Phil Widmer) leading Canmore 2 (Phil Wood and Russell Kennedy) in the open mens team sprint yesterday!

    Russell Kennedy chasing the main pack. Canmore 2 had some bad luck getting tripped up twice and loosing contact with the leaders. They put up a good fight to regain contact, but were never able to do it.

     Yesterday was a good day for Canmore Nordic in the team relays. Canmore 1 came second in the open men, and Annika and Amanda skied to an impressive 2nd place finish as well. Congrats to Annika on a great 5km today as well, coming 4th overall and 1st in the junior woman’s category. Very impressive skiing!
    Until next time! – Pate

  • Engadin Ski Marathon

    The 2011 Engadin Ski Marathon is in the books.  I’ll post a full race recap once I return home, detailing my breakaway with eventual race winner Remo Fischer, as well as some other stories.  For now, I’ll share some photos and brief commentary of the race day festivities.

    Skis were prepped and powdered the morning before the race.  Surprisingly, there was much less stress about waxing for this race than there seems to be for the Birkie.  By 7pm when I walked past the wax room, everyone was done waxing and in the restaurant enjoying dinner and the company of their companions.

    Race day itself, I felt like everyone was being herded like cattle: onto the bus, to the bag drop, into the start pen, and off on course.  None-the-less, being around 11,000 other skiers from around the world is pretty cool.  I also ran into a number of friends, both American and Swiss, and even made a few out on course.

    Post-race is all about refueling and re-hydrating.  Also, you don’t want to forget to get your Passport stamped.  Here, Worldloppet Master Scott Ackatz gets his Passport stamped for his second tour of the Worldloppet circuit.

    These were two of the friendliest “customs agents” I’ve ever met.  Pretty standard here in Switzerland.

    After the race, we avoided the crowds and walked to the Scaletta (the Engadin equivalent of the Moccasin) in S-chanf for some drinks and pizza.

    Don’s old friend and owner of the Scaletta made sure we were taken care of on all fronts.

    While it ain’t no Ideal Market we enjoyed some post-race brick-oven pizza.  Mamma mia, pizza pie-a!

    From here, the crew is off on a variety of adventures.  Don’s off to Bormio and Aga’s off to Lugano; both are meeting up with friends for a few days before meeting with CXC Masters Oyvind Solvang and Dennis Kruse in Lillehammer for the Norwegian Birkebeiner.  Jim and I are off to Zurich tomorrow, then have to bid adiu to Switzerland and head home to Wisconsin.

    It’s been an eventful and successful, albeit much too brief, week in St Moritz.  Thanks for following our adventures and, to anyone we’ve met this week, don’t hesitate to send an email and say hi: garrottkuzzy @ yahoo.com.  Onward!

  • Go-Haug

    Last Saturday, I was amazed by Therese Johaug’s breakaway in the 30km at Holmenkollen. I just could not believe that her audacious move would stick, but of course it did, and paid off in her first-ever elite win – a World Championships, to boot.Yesterday, watching the 5k+5k pursuit at Lahti, I was almost equally amazed to see Johaug pull away from the pack, dragging Justyna Kowalczyk with her.

  • Go-Haug

    Last Saturday, I was amazed by Therese Johaug’s breakaway in the 30km at Holmenkollen. I just could not believe that her audacious move would stick, but of course it did, and paid off in her first-ever elite win – a World Championships, to boot.Yesterday, watching the 5k+5k pursuit at Lahti, I was almost equally amazed to see Johaug pull away from the pack, dragging Justyna Kowalczyk with her.

  • Go-Haug

    Last Saturday, I was amazed by Therese Johaug’s breakaway in the 30km at Holmenkollen. I just could not believe that her audacious move would stick, but of course it did, and paid off in her first-ever elite win – a World Championships, to boot.Yesterday, watching the 5k+5k pursuit at Lahti, I was almost equally amazed to see Johaug pull away from the pack, dragging Justyna Kowalczyk with her.

  • Go-Haug

    Last Saturday, I was amazed by Therese Johaug’s breakaway in the 30km at Holmenkollen. I just could not believe that her audacious move would stick, but of course it did, and paid off in her first-ever elite win – a World Championships, to boot.Yesterday, watching the 5k+5k pursuit at Lahti, I was almost equally amazed to see Johaug pull away from the pack, dragging Justyna Kowalczyk with her.

  • Pretty close to ideal.

    Sod roof, and of course, Norwegian Wood.

    Skiing here in Sjusjoen is everything you’ve heard about skiing in Norway.   Deluxe.    We skied almost 3 hours this morning on VR40, at -5C and lightly falling snow.    There are trails all over the area.    This tiny village is surrounded by 1000km of trails, and I’m pretty certain that I could ski all the way to Stockholm (if I had enough time and energy and places to sleep along the way).

    I’d like to give a big Thank You to Mike Myers for loaning me a nice pair of Rossignol Xium classic skis today.    My skis haven’t arrived here yet, and Mike’s skis were great!     Mike used to live in the USA and was part of the Rossignol ski team; now he lives in Sjusjoen and is part of the family at the Rustad Hotell! 
    A few of my favorite things, all in one place:
    Rode, Maplus, Start, Swix, Toko, Rex.
    We skied a big circle, heading south-east from Sjusjoen, and skiing through the valleys and over high hills, before heading north and looping back, finishing on a few kilometers of the Birkebeiner trail.     It happened that the Half-Birkie was taking place today, so we skied along with the racers for a few km (staying out of the way, which isn’t hard when there are 6 sets of tracks).     It was just the perfect finish to a great morning of skiing, and definitely got a bit of pre-Birkie ski stoke going.
    Skiers are everywhere here.    Young, old.   Teenagers.    Teenagers skiing with other teenagers, with no coaches supervising.    And they seemed to be enjoying it.      When we can get that mojo going in the USA, then we’ll really have succeeded in growing our sport.   
    And they ski well.   Mostly.    But what seemed most striking to me was that everyone simply looks comfortable on skis.
    off track…
    Our clothes and skis have arrived at the Oslo airport, and are supposed to arrive here at the hotel late this afternoon.    With a bit of luck we’ll be on our own skis on Monday afternoon.
    Speaking of Monday…     …We’ll be visiting Per Wiik at Madshus ski company in Biri bright and early on Monday.      
    Okay…   Naturally you can watch the World Cup cross country ski races live on the television here (on two different channels, I might add), but it was in Norsk or German.     Dang, no british eurosport!    If that’s the most that I can complain about, then life is pretty good.

  • Pretty close to ideal.

    Sod roof, and of course, Norwegian Wood.

    Skiing here in Sjusjoen is everything you’ve heard about skiing in Norway.   Deluxe.    We skied almost 3 hours this morning on VR40, at -5C and lightly falling snow.    There are trails all over the area.    This tiny village is surrounded by 1000km of trails, and I’m pretty certain that I could ski all the way to Stockholm (if I had enough time and energy and places to sleep along the way).

    I’d like to give a big Thank You to Mike Myers for loaning me a nice pair of Rossignol Xium classic skis today.    My skis haven’t arrived here yet, and Mike’s skis were great!     Mike used to live in the USA and was part of the Rossignol ski team; now he lives in Sjusjoen and is part of the family at the Rustad Hotell! 
    A few of my favorite things, all in one place:
    Rode, Maplus, Start, Swix, Toko, Rex.
    We skied a big circle, heading south-east from Sjusjoen, and skiing through the valleys and over high hills, before heading north and looping back, finishing on a few kilometers of the Birkebeiner trail.     It happened that the Half-Birkie was taking place today, so we skied along with the racers for a few km (staying out of the way, which isn’t hard when there are 6 sets of tracks).     It was just the perfect finish to a great morning of skiing, and definitely got a bit of pre-Birkie ski stoke going.
    Skiers are everywhere here.    Young, old.   Teenagers.    Teenagers skiing with other teenagers, with no coaches supervising.    And they seemed to be enjoying it.      When we can get that mojo going in the USA, then we’ll really have succeeded in growing our sport.   
    And they ski well.   Mostly.    But what seemed most striking to me was that everyone simply looks comfortable on skis.
    off track…
    Our clothes and skis have arrived at the Oslo airport, and are supposed to arrive here at the hotel late this afternoon.    With a bit of luck we’ll be on our own skis on Monday afternoon.
    Speaking of Monday…     …We’ll be visiting Per Wiik at Madshus ski company in Biri bright and early on Monday.      
    Okay…   Naturally you can watch the World Cup cross country ski races live on the television here (on two different channels, I might add), but it was in Norsk or German.     Dang, no british eurosport!    If that’s the most that I can complain about, then life is pretty good.

  • Pretty close to ideal.

    Sod roof, and of course, Norwegian Wood.

    Skiing here in Sjusjoen is everything you’ve heard about skiing in Norway.   Deluxe.    We skied almost 3 hours this morning on VR40, at -5C and lightly falling snow.    There are trails all over the area.    This tiny village is surrounded by 1000km of trails, and I’m pretty certain that I could ski all the way to Stockholm (if I had enough time and energy and places to sleep along the way).

    I’d like to give a big Thank You to Mike Myers for loaning me a nice pair of Rossignol Xium classic skis today.    My skis haven’t arrived here yet, and Mike’s skis were great!     Mike used to live in the USA and was part of the Rossignol ski team; now he lives in Sjusjoen and is part of the family at the Rustad Hotell! 
    A few of my favorite things, all in one place:
    Rode, Maplus, Start, Swix, Toko, Rex.
    We skied a big circle, heading south-east from Sjusjoen, and skiing through the valleys and over high hills, before heading north and looping back, finishing on a few kilometers of the Birkebeiner trail.     It happened that the Half-Birkie was taking place today, so we skied along with the racers for a few km (staying out of the way, which isn’t hard when there are 6 sets of tracks).     It was just the perfect finish to a great morning of skiing, and definitely got a bit of pre-Birkie ski stoke going.
    Skiers are everywhere here.    Young, old.   Teenagers.    Teenagers skiing with other teenagers, with no coaches supervising.    And they seemed to be enjoying it.      When we can get that mojo going in the USA, then we’ll really have succeeded in growing our sport.   
    And they ski well.   Mostly.    But what seemed most striking to me was that everyone simply looks comfortable on skis.
    off track…
    Our clothes and skis have arrived at the Oslo airport, and are supposed to arrive here at the hotel late this afternoon.    With a bit of luck we’ll be on our own skis on Monday afternoon.
    Speaking of Monday…     …We’ll be visiting Per Wiik at Madshus ski company in Biri bright and early on Monday.      
    Okay…   Naturally you can watch the World Cup cross country ski races live on the television here (on two different channels, I might add), but it was in Norsk or German.     Dang, no british eurosport!    If that’s the most that I can complain about, then life is pretty good.

  • Pretty close to ideal.

    Sod roof, and of course, Norwegian Wood.

    Skiing here in Sjusjoen is everything you’ve heard about skiing in Norway.   Deluxe.    We skied almost 3 hours this morning on VR40, at -5C and lightly falling snow.    There are trails all over the area.    This tiny village is surrounded by 1000km of trails, and I’m pretty certain that I could ski all the way to Stockholm (if I had enough time and energy and places to sleep along the way).

    I’d like to give a big Thank You to Mike Myers for loaning me a nice pair of Rossignol Xium classic skis today.    My skis haven’t arrived here yet, and Mike’s skis were great!     Mike used to live in the USA and was part of the Rossignol ski team; now he lives in Sjusjoen and is part of the family at the Rustad Hotell! 
    A few of my favorite things, all in one place:
    Rode, Maplus, Start, Swix, Toko, Rex.
    We skied a big circle, heading south-east from Sjusjoen, and skiing through the valleys and over high hills, before heading north and looping back, finishing on a few kilometers of the Birkebeiner trail.     It happened that the Half-Birkie was taking place today, so we skied along with the racers for a few km (staying out of the way, which isn’t hard when there are 6 sets of tracks).     It was just the perfect finish to a great morning of skiing, and definitely got a bit of pre-Birkie ski stoke going.
    Skiers are everywhere here.    Young, old.   Teenagers.    Teenagers skiing with other teenagers, with no coaches supervising.    And they seemed to be enjoying it.      When we can get that mojo going in the USA, then we’ll really have succeeded in growing our sport.   
    And they ski well.   Mostly.    But what seemed most striking to me was that everyone simply looks comfortable on skis.
    off track…
    Our clothes and skis have arrived at the Oslo airport, and are supposed to arrive here at the hotel late this afternoon.    With a bit of luck we’ll be on our own skis on Monday afternoon.
    Speaking of Monday…     …We’ll be visiting Per Wiik at Madshus ski company in Biri bright and early on Monday.      
    Okay…   Naturally you can watch the World Cup cross country ski races live on the television here (on two different channels, I might add), but it was in Norsk or German.     Dang, no british eurosport!    If that’s the most that I can complain about, then life is pretty good.

  • JN’s Concludes with Relays and Awards

    There was a great morning of relay racing for the nations top Jrs in Minneapolis today. Each relay was shortened to a 3X3.3 km distance so competition was especially tight and very exciting. At the end of the day, teams from 4 different divisions had won races. It was an exciting way to end the week.

    Our Stratton skiers and alums had another strong day. Skyler, Heather and Cambria were all on winning teams, Austin Cobb, Bridger, Brooke and Tyler were on silver medal teams, Izzy was on a bronze medal team and Hallie and Rachel were on a 4th place team.
    To top it all off, SMS won the trophies for the best boys high school, the best girls high school and the top boys, girls and overall club!
    Team New England won the Alaska Cup awarded to the top division.
    Wow.
    Thanks to all of the volunteers who put on a great event and to everyone who was at the races cheering all week. The event was a spectacular success.
    Pictures to follow 🙂

  • Schlitteln in St Moritz

    We spent our pre-race rest day expanding our recreational horizons, testing wax, and setting the World Land Speed record on the sledding hill in St Moritz.  No time for words, so I leave you with a story in photos. . .

    My secret to a fast sled!

    Don’s four-wheel drift.

    Kuz, Jim, Aga, and Don.  CXC Varsity Sled Team.  Interested?  Sign up here.

  • Race Snapshot: WBC Mass Start

    Looks like it was some tough shooting, particularly for the women’s race. The percent back values look a little odd, even for a mass start race.

    Related posts:

    1. <Race Snapshot: TdS Classic Mass Start
    2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 4 Mass Start
    3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 6 Men’s Mass Start


  • Engadin – Night Sprints

    Every Worldloppet has some sort of sprint event with big crowds and big prize money.  Last night, the village of Sils Maria hosted the Engadin Night Sprints: knock-out rounds of racers on an icy, fast sprint course under the lights.  This year’s event featured the likes of Olympic Gold Medalists Bjorn Lind and Christian Zorzi, World Champion Martin Koukal, and Birkie Champion Fabio Santus.

    St Moitz by night or by day, both are pretty darn cool!

    The Hotel Sonne has been our home away from home this week.  A big thanks to Gus for finding a booking us the best hotel in town.  There’s no Rolls Royce to pick us up from the airport like some other hotels in town, but we can walk anywhere we want, including 200m to the ski trail.

    One of the highlights of the night sprints was seeing so many familiar faces.  Here, Don catches up with former US SuperTour Champions Martina Strusova from Czech and Karin Caminsich from Switzerland.

    The food and drinks at the Night Sprints can’t be beat.  Gluhwein from an ice bar is obligatory to wash down a classic Swiss rindkabob.  Here, Beat pours hot oil onto the kabob before lighting it on fire!

    Oh yeah, there were some ski races too.  Torin Koos ended up getting taken out on a corner in the Semi’s, but put in a valiant effort none-the-less.

    Here, the Midwest crew of Jim Michler, Adam Swank, Tyler Kjorstad, Kuz, Paul Belknap, Aga Bednarz, and Don Becker get together for a group shot to cap off an exciting evening of racing and food.

    Engadin Marathon starts at 8:20 tomorrow morning!  Stay tuned for the full race report. . .

  • Arrival in Sjusjoen

    We flew from Seattle on Friday morning, and arrived in Sjusjoen on Saturday afternoon.

    It was over 24 hours of traveling and Margaret & I are both excited and tired.

    The bad news is that the skis and one clothing bag did not arrive with us.   Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. There will be plenty to do for one day without the skis if necessary.

    Sjusjoen is a small village about 15km from Lillehammer, and it is absolutely packed with cross country skiers!

    Being further north, it immediately struck me that the sky looks like our home in the middle of January, even though it’s mid-March here now.    The sun still seems pretty low in the sky.

    The snow is terrific here – cold hardwax conditions – Rode blue multigrade, I’d guess.

    More later, and photos, too.

  • Arrival in Sjusjoen

    We flew from Seattle on Friday morning, and arrived in Sjusjoen on Saturday afternoon.

    It was over 24 hours of traveling and Margaret & I are both excited and tired.

    The bad news is that the skis and one clothing bag did not arrive with us.   Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. There will be plenty to do for one day without the skis if necessary.

    Sjusjoen is a small village about 15km from Lillehammer, and it is absolutely packed with cross country skiers!

    Being further north, it immediately struck me that the sky looks like our home in the middle of January, even though it’s mid-March here now.    The sun still seems pretty low in the sky.

    The snow is terrific here – cold hardwax conditions – Rode blue multigrade, I’d guess.

    More later, and photos, too.

  • Arrival in Sjusjoen

    We flew from Seattle on Friday morning, and arrived in Sjusjoen on Saturday afternoon.

    It was over 24 hours of traveling and Margaret & I are both excited and tired.

    The bad news is that the skis and one clothing bag did not arrive with us.   Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. There will be plenty to do for one day without the skis if necessary.

    Sjusjoen is a small village about 15km from Lillehammer, and it is absolutely packed with cross country skiers!

    Being further north, it immediately struck me that the sky looks like our home in the middle of January, even though it’s mid-March here now.    The sun still seems pretty low in the sky.

    The snow is terrific here – cold hardwax conditions – Rode blue multigrade, I’d guess.

    More later, and photos, too.

  • Arrival in Sjusjoen

    We flew from Seattle on Friday morning, and arrived in Sjusjoen on Saturday afternoon.

    It was over 24 hours of traveling and Margaret & I are both excited and tired.

    The bad news is that the skis and one clothing bag did not arrive with us.   Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. There will be plenty to do for one day without the skis if necessary.

    Sjusjoen is a small village about 15km from Lillehammer, and it is absolutely packed with cross country skiers!

    Being further north, it immediately struck me that the sky looks like our home in the middle of January, even though it’s mid-March here now.    The sun still seems pretty low in the sky.

    The snow is terrific here – cold hardwax conditions – Rode blue multigrade, I’d guess.

    More later, and photos, too.

  • Race Snapshot: Lahti WC Pursuits

    Marit Bjørgen is beaten again! And I’m going to have to go back and check on this, but I have this funny feeling that the French men tend to ski faster late in the season. Probably some misleading points for the women again.

    Related posts:

    1. <Marit Bjoergen’s Best Freestyle Race
    2. <Odds and Ends after Otepää
    3. <Race Snapshot: Drammen 10/15km Classic