Category: XCFeeds

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

Heidi at Lake Placid

Look for the black shirt and pink helmet. Go Heid Go!

September 15, 2012
GMVS Returns to Italy!

I have to run down to the Sportsplatz to play baseball with our gang and the biathlon team from Mals, so I am afraid that this post will be a photoblog more than anything, with an opportunity for you to fill in the blanks! What I can tell you quickly is that we have had an unbelievable start to our trip to Mals, Italy, and have met with the usual gracious welcome from our hosts, the amazing scenery, and the incredible variety of training that this region affords. There are pictures from our van trip from the Zurich airport, from the hotel deck, from training days with the Italian Nordic and Biathlon teams (hiking and roller skiing out of the valley into the mountains), and from the Sport Oberschule’s classrooms. Not pictured are lunches and dinners at the Iris Hotel, helping out with a 5th-form English class at the school, playing basketball with the whole gang, and many other sweet things that have already happened. Hopefully a more coherent blog post will follow early next week, but we are cut off from the internet as the school closes this weekend. Hope all is well back home and we will be in touch soon!

September 14, 2012
Windy Long Ski

Kris Freeman and I did a 5 hour skate workout this morning. The trails weren’t re-groomed and the strong winds from yesterday continued all last night and today. Here’s a little progression of what some of the trails looked like. First, there were just small wind drifts:

Then the drifts got bigger:

And then the trail was gone:

I had a good workout anyways with good energy for the entire ski. Kris was complaining the entire session (about the wind, the drifts, the snow being slow, and everything else he could think of that was not perfect.)

September 14, 2012
Minor Leagues
OPA Cup races (also known as Alpen Cup) and Scandinavian Cup races have acquired an informal reputation as a sort of “minor league” racing circuit, relative to the World Cup. One question this leads me to ask is exactly how much movement is there between these two circuits?

To answer this question I took data from skiers who had started in at least one World Cup and at least one OPA or Scandinavian Cup race since the 2004-2005 season. This yielded 543 men and 352 women. This is a rather wide net, since I’m including skiers who may have done one WC race in 2005 and then only OPA Cups, or vice versa.

Here is a graph that shows the number of starts of each type for men and women:

Each dot represents a different skier. The number of starts is the total (distance and sprint) over 6 seasons (04-05 to 09-10) and the points have been plotted with some alpha blending since many are directly on top of each other. Darker areas correspond to more points being plotted.

As you can see, the overwhelming majority of skiers who have done both types of races have done fewer than 15 of each type. Much of that racing is spread over 6 seasons. The skiers who’ve done a ton of WC’s tend not to have done many OPA or Scandinavian Cups, which isn’t terribly surprising.

As we move away from each axis, we get the skiers who’ve come the closest to splitting their time between these two racing circuits. As you can see, they exist, but not in huge numbers. Most of the OPA Cup skiers are probably getting their WC starts as part of Nation’s Group starts, rather than being rotated back and forth within or between seasons.

Related posts:
September 13, 2012
Frustration

This morning’s intensity session was not very confidence inspiring. Kris Freeman and I did 3 by 5 kilometer classic intervals. This is a workout Kris has done several times. Today was my first time doing this session. The first interval is at threshold (a sustainable pace for at least an hour, 3-4mmol of lactate.) The second interval is at a normal pace for the middle of a race (7-8mmol of lactate.) The last interval is max, the last 5 kilometers of a race.

Today, Kris led the first interval, and I had no problem staying with him. It was a good pace for threshold for me. I led the second interval. We went 10 seconds faster and I felt quite good. The third interval was awful. I repeated a mistake I have made several times before: I was frantic from the start. Because I was frantic, I wasn’t skiing very fast. Kris dropped me almost immediately. When I got dropped, I got more frantic and skied even slower. In total, Kris skied almost a minute faster than me. I skied more than 20 seconds slower than we had skied, with me leading, on the second interval.

At the first World Cup last season in Sjusjoen, Norway, I did this same thing (although it was a skate race.) No surprise, I had a terrible result in the race. The next day, I went back out and did the same race as a time trial by myself. This time I skied smooth and relaxed. I skied almost a minute faster the day after the World Cup than I had in the real race. It is extremely frustrating to make the same mistake today.

Since late July, my energy and training have felt very good but I have had several disappointing intensity sessions and tests. I am struggling to stay confident in my skiing. This trip to New Zealand in particular has been tough for me. I used a lot of resources and put a lot of energy into making this trip happen. All along, this was my trip; Kris was just tagging along for the ride. I was hoping to come down here, make a lot of progress in my technique and leave feeling ready for the coming season. Instead, the trip is winding down, my on-snow training days before the start of the season are numbered, and I feel that I’m not ready to compete at a world class level. However, my coaches, John Callahan and Zach Caldwell, continue to show confidence in my progress and where I am in preparation for the coming season. I hope they know what they’re talking about.

On a separate note, Kris and I had an incredibly windy afternoon session.

We did a two hour skate. At times, the wind stopped us in our tracks. There were also some huge wind-drifts.

Lastly, I took a picture of some of the Snow Farm’s snow pads for car testing:

The Snow Farm is located adjacent to the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds (SHPG). The lodge where we stay is actually owned and operated by SHPG. SHPG is a car testing center used by many of the biggest car manufacturers to do winter car and tire testing during the northern hemisphere’s summer months (including Audi and Porsche to name a few.) They have several snow pads, ice pads, winter driving courses, and an underground ice tunnel among other amenities. We are lucky they are here, as the Snow Farm wouldn’t be here without them.

September 13, 2012
SMST2 Lake Placid Update

Some of the SMSers made the journey Monday over to Lake Placid, NY to partake in a USST camp. So far we’ve done an easy distance day and a L4 bounding session on Whiteface Mtn. Below are some pictures:

The men out on a distance double pole

Paddy Caldwell shadowing Andy early in a hard bounding workout

Andy looked strong all day

Didn’t get any pictures of the women today, next time!

September 12, 2012
Thetford Race

Our girls headed up to Thetford for a race yesterday. Thetford hosts the Vt State meet every year so we thought it would be a good idea to check out the venue. The course is challenging, but fair. Over the last several years it has been rainy and muddy for their races, yesterday was beautiful and it was nice to see the campus under sunny skies.

The girls from Woodstock and Lebanon flew out of the start.

But at 2km, Mollie had the lead (she finished 2nd) :).

Katharine and Tegan slowly worked their way up through the pack and finished 4th and 5th.

Mackenzie had some stomache issues, but ran through them and had a good race.

Pip..too fast for the camera….

… and near the finish. She had a good race and took a big step toward learning how to go hard, but controlled for the whole race.

It was Kate’s birthday! She and Tess had bad stomach aches, but could still muster up smiles. Tess skipped the race and Kate “gutted” her way around the course and ran a good solid race.

After the race and the warm down, we all went to the Hoopes house for a great dinner. Thanks Vicki and Jack for giving us a feast!

September 12, 2012
Beautiful Off Day

Today was possibly the best day of skiing we’ll see all year, including all winter.

I didn’t take advantage of it, as it was my day off. I heard all about it from Kris Freeman though. I got to pay him back for the bragging by beating him in chess.

I also did some much needed laundry. One of the great amenities of the Snow Farm is readily available washing machines.

There was a controlled burn happening down the hill that made for an interesting smoke cloud.

Overall it was a beautiful day.

But I was grateful for, and needed, the day off.

Lastly, http://johnnyklister.com/ did a fun post playing fun at me today: http://johnnyklister.com/2012/09/us-ski-team-budget-expanded-to-include-individual-transportation-for-noah-hoffman/

September 12, 2012
Haka Universal

Chris and Mary Osgood found this tin of wax behind the cabin at Mary’s parents’ house that Martha Rockwell used to rent. They asked me if I’d ever seen it or heard of it before. I had to confess that I hadn’t. But, let’s see… It’s old and it’s ski wax. I know a guy who might have an idea.

September 11, 2012
Updated West River Trail TT

This afternoon, with the girls team away at their second cross country race of the year, the boys team plus the SMS T2 women did a running intensity workout of their own and time-trialed the West River Trail. Girls + J2 boys ran from Ball Mountain Dam to South Londonderry (8.5 miles) and older boys ran from Jamaica State Park to South Londonderry (11 miles).

It was a tough workout for everyone. Results are below, but it should be noted that we had several people run a little bit off course and others experimenting with various things like pacing, mid-race fueling, and unanticipated bathroom breaks that caused some odd lapses in time. : ) Regardless, congrats to Sophie & Jordan for setting the pace with some speedy times.

Sophie 56:03

Erika 1:04:26

Annie 1:10:10

Scott 1:11:35

Koby 1:14:16

Jordan 1:09:52

Gino 1:14:24

Jack 1:18:20

Calvin 1:20:53

Hamish 1:22:10

Gatorade feeds on the Winhall Campground bridge.

Sophie comes through the campground with a little over 3 miles to go.

Jordan laying down a fast time for the guys.

Gino and Erika.

Erika.

Annie.

Calvin & Jack.

Feed time.

Koby (above) and Scott (below) got a little off course and pop out of the woods from an unexpected direction! : )

Hamish.

Syd the dog checks on Sophie after finishing her TT.

Erika & Gino sprinting for the line.

Jack.

Annie.

Calvin.

Scott.

Hamish.

Koby.

Guys team refueling.

Parent-chauffeurs extraordinaire! Jim Mooney (dad to Scott & Brooke) and Elaine Gordon (mom to Koby) catch up while waiting for the boys to finish cooling down.

Earlier today we celebrated senior Kate Kerin’s 17th birthday with a lunch trip to the Partridge up in the village. Happy Birthday Kate!

Yesterday morning we worked on our agility and balance in Lot 1 and were lucky enough to have Bryan Fish and Jason Cork from the USST work with our team. Bryan worked with the girls (with Pippin above) and Jason worked with the guys and then after lunch they both took off for the USST Camp in Lake Placid.

Bungee work with partners!

Ahhh – no bungees!

Erika showing nice striding form.

Tegan working on her balance.

Ana giggling. : )

Ladies team!

September 11, 2012
Mola

In Italy there’s a specific word for “grinding stone”.    It’s “mola”.     In Italy (and much of Europe) the history of the past couple thousand years has had a need for terminology for milling and grinding equipment, mostly mills for grains and olives.

A new 350mm diameter grinding wheel.

A new grinding stone and diamond cutting tips arrived this week from Val di Fiemme.     It’s the same version of grinding wheel I’ve used for the past couple seasons, and really it will be placed in line for use (I try to keep at least 2 “very good” stones in the queue).      The diamond cutting heads are of two types, and the recent shipment includes a couple of additional new style cutters to try out.

Grinding work has really picked up since early August. Even though “official shop hours” don’t begin until the start of October, grinding work is being done for any client skis that are shipped in.    Work continues!

Hearing protection in “goofball position”.

The grinding schedule is more relaxed and service work gets done as a decent size group of skis accumulate – typically every other week instead of weekly. FedEx and UPS continue to make normal deliveries every day, so no worries about shipping skis to Ultratune — they’ll get here.

So if you’d like to get your skis serviced now, so that you’ll have your skis ready and fast when the snow arrives in the fall, you can send skis any time.

Okay, here’s a picture of Mark in a lighter moment in the shop this summer (hearing protection in “goofball position”).    My 52nd birthday is this week!

September 11, 2012
Trends In Race Times: Biathlon
I haven’t posted anything looking at biathlon for a while, so…

Since biathlon has had much more consistent race formats over the years and since we don’t need to split up the data by technique, we should be able to get a clearer picture of any trends on the gun-happy side of things.

The graph below is too small to see. You’ll have to click through for the full version, which ought to be fairly self-explanatory.

These are the top 10 times in each major race. We can clearly see that race times have been falling. In fact, if you look closely you’ll see that times have dropped quite a lot in some cases.

Some other things we can note: the mass start races, true to form, seem a bit slow for the distance, particularly for the women. It’s so strange that people find it so hard (psychologically) to press the pace in a mass start race…

You can’t really see it in the sprint races, but the rest display a leveling of the time trends followed by an second dip. The individual races seemed to plateau a bit between 1998-2003 while the mass start races appear to exhibit a similar trend between 2003-2007. It could just be a fluke, I suppose. In any case, I can’t think of any explanation for it at all.

Related posts:
September 11, 2012
Long Sessions

Today was made tougher by the fact that they didn’t start grooming until 11:40a.m. I had a three hour classic (double pole/kick double pole only) session this morning and a two hour skate with 10 10-second speeds in the afternoon. I procrastinated the morning session as long as I could but finally had to start or I wasn’t going to finish both sessions before dark. I spent the first hour tromping around in the powder.

I was so psyched to finally see the cat fire up!

It was windy and snowy and the tracks were getting blown in almost as fast as they were getting set, but it was better than no tracks. The middle of the day was short with only two hours between sessions (just enough time for a big lunch and short nap.) The afternoon session was good as the new snow was blowing off the skate section.

This evening Kris Freeman and I both got massages from a local masseurs who was willing to drive up here to the Snow Farm. It was a great massage and great for recovery, but I feel like I god beat up.

September 11, 2012
Two weeks in Craftsbury

I haven’t written a blog post in a long time…and I know that the last one I wrote was probably about our garden. So probably I should have written a blog about training or something in between then and now…but I didn’t, so instead this is mostly just going to be a fall garden update, in pictures. But I swear that there are pictures of other things besides vegetables too!

Ida and I planted lots of garlic this year–and we had a bumper crop! Now we can all stay healthy and have stinky breath all winter.

Dylan and Nils scavenged tons of apples from roadside trees, plus some from around our house, and we had a cider pressing.

We made almost 15 gallons of cider–and a good bit of it is now "aging to perfection" in our basement.

One day a few weeks ago Amy and I volunteered to glean for the Vermont Food Bank at Hazendale Farm in Greensboro. We picked some of the coolest eggplants ever!

The boys have a hop-picking party. I was in a rush, so I just pulled down the whole vines, and we picked the hops off later. Everyone was quite hop-happy!

Pretty chard from our house garden.

Caitlin and Ida show off our HUGE beet (not very many others even came up, and they're all much smaller) and our HUGEST carrot (we had a lot of big carrots this year!)

We took the GRP rowers for rollerski practice. For a few of them, it was their very first practice of any kind in Craftsbury. I think that they mostly had fun! And now they have some practicing to do for the 2nd annual Roll Run Row triathlon that we plan to hold sometime soon.

And since I also have a habit of posting pictures of the view from our house, I figured I’d throw this one in too! The cool fall weather has been giving us lots of nice foggy sunrises during breakfast.

I was psyched to have some time at home in Craftsbury for the last couple of weeks–as you can see its been a great few weeks! Now our whole team heads to Lake Placid for a training camp with the U.S. Ski Team and Biathlon team, the Stratton elite training group, NENSA athletes, and other skiers from around the country. It should be good training, and definitely less harvesting.

September 10, 2012
New Beginnings with ITA

Just as my summer schooling and Canada training camp came to an end, the first days of hopping in Mr. Peck’s classroom and a little running with the Kodiaks of Cascade commenced.

Probably few things are better for a high schooler than overnighting with your teammates. I joined the Kodiaks for their first annual team training camp along the shores of Lake Wenatchee. A family opened up their turn-of-the-century homestead for the team to call home. It was a sweet location, with fireroads and dirt trails around to run on, the lake nearby to cool off and relax besides. The team even had its own guest yogi, Tonja Renee Hall, who works with both the MLS Seattle Sounders and Seahawks of the National Football League.

Inside the classroom, my ITA mentor (and former 5th grade teacher, and running coach) Greg Peck is in his final year of teaching in the Cascade School District. I’ve bounced around a bit with where I’ve done all my In The Arena work – from Bend to the Methow Valley to running with Park City High last fall – but I’ve always put in several weeks a year with Mr. Peck, both in his 5th grade classroom, along with the teams he’s coaching as the seasons change.

Already this year, the class has started on a couple sweet side projects. Every year I bring in a big duffel bag full of ski team and Olympic jackets for the kids to put on for an afternoon, and pose with their friends in class. Pictures are taken and developed, and the kids get a small momento. Every year, the class is totally into it.

Last year, a Seattle Seahawk gave the class a signed game jersey. Every Friday, a kid from class earns the right to wear the jersey. I can’t believe I never thought of this myself. For this year, I gave the class my opening ceremonies wear from the Vancouver Olympics. Every Friday, the “Inspired Performance of the Week” puts the Ralph Lauren clothing that was gathering dust in the attic to use.

Mr. Peck’s class this year has already wanted to know quite a bit about goal setting. From many years ago Mr. Peck remembers how I would write in my training log every day, logging how many laps around ski hill I’d put on the cross-country skis, or times I ran around the neighborhood on a Tuesday. Today, the notebook has been replaced by an Excel spreadsheet, but the process is the same.

The kids are doing their own outcome and goal setting, then hanging them from a young pear tree in class. I look forward to getting back there and seeing how this – and the year – are progressing.

For now, though, I just hopped a plane for Switzerland. This weekend, I headed up the Sertig Valley in Davos, then traded in the rollerskis for running shoes and ran to the top of Jakobshorn. It was a sweet little tour of the terrain outside the little city in the Alps. And if you were wondering, scenes like the one below exist beyond the marketing literature on Switzerland. If I could only get some of the orchard fruits in harvest I left behind…

Until the next time.

September 10, 2012
Whiteout

My toe felt way better today after being a big problem yesterday afternoon. I skated for three and a half hours this morning on my own. At times during the session it was the worst visibility I’ve ever skied in, a combination of snow, fog, ice pellets, and lack of trees. I crashed several times from skiing off the side of the trail. The last hour and a half were a struggle.

In the middle of the day I listened to the Broncos game, first game with Peyton Manning at quarterback! They won and it was fantastic. I have to throw this pirated picture in:

Then this afternoon Kris Freeman and I drove down to Wanaka. I went for an hour run then did strength in a real gym. (The gym up at the Snow Farm is not very well stocked.) It was a good workout and kind of nice to do something other than ski for the first time in 11 days.

September 10, 2012
CXC Man Camp September

September Camp at Telemark started with a huge bowl of fresh blueberries, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, coffee, juice and just the boys.

Eric, Karl and Adam and I haven been enjoying a small camp here at Telemark Lodge this week with Igor, Andy, and Kyle (Team Physio). We have had some pretty large camps this year which have been great, but it is nice to have a small group. It is also great to have almost a 1:1 coach to athlete ratio.

Cool weather has allowed for great training and recovery.

Classic Speed Session– few skiers in the country have the double pole finishing speed of Karl and it was great to try and hang on to him during our classic speed session. Igor had us do the majority of the speeds with weights on our write. They didn’t feel like much when you put them on, but you felt like a rockstar when you took them off for the final few of the set.

note: Video plays on Eric’s new blog www.BootsSkisPoles.com

Skate Intervals- I have logged a lot of time climbing up OO in the past 6 years. I would even wager that I have gone up and down it on roller skis more than anyone else (although I believe the Team FAST skiers should hold that honor soon). The pavement was getting pretty bad and this summer the county repaved it. Sadly the shoulder is even smaller than before, but it is one smooth ride which is nice. The pavement made a one minute difference in interval speed according to my training logs.

Mt. Telemark Bounding Intervals- Igor mowed out a loop on Mt. Telemark which makes you wonder if you really are in the Midwest. With a wonderful mix of steep and gradual ups you are either climbing or descending the entire 20 minute loop.

My Roomate is pretty chill, although he needs to pick up his boots and helmet. (yeah he is a boy dog so he can come to Man Camp).

Video Review

Man Camp has been fun and we have two more days to go. I enjoy hanging with the boys but I am looking forward to seeing the Mrs. on Wednesday.

September 10, 2012
CXC September Man Camp

September Camp at Telemark started with a huge bowl of fresh blueberries, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, coffee, juice and just the boys.

Eric, Karl and Adam and I haven been enjoying a small camp here at Telemark Lodge this week with Igor, Andy, and Kyle (Team Physio). We have had some pretty large camps this year which have been great, but it is nice to have a small group. It is also great to have almost a 1:1 coach to athlete ratio.

Cool weather has allowed for great training and recovery.

Classic Speed Session– few skiers in the country have the double pole finishing speed of Karl and it was great to try and hang on to him during our classic speed session. Igor had us do the majority of the speeds with weights on our write. They didn’t feel like much when you put them on, but you felt like a rockstar when you took them off for the final few of the set.

note: Video plays on Eric’s new blog www.BootsSkisPoles.com

Skate Intervals- I have logged a lot of time climbing up OO in the past 6 years. I would even wager that I have gone up and down it on roller skis more than anyone else (although I believe the Team FAST skiers should hold that honor soon). The pavement was getting pretty bad and this summer the county repaved it. Sadly the shoulder is even smaller than before, but it is one smooth ride which is nice. The pavement made a one minute difference in interval speed according to my training logs.

Mt. Telemark Bounding Intervals- Igor mowed out a loop on Mt. Telemark which makes you wonder if you really are in the Midwest. With a wonderful mix of steep and gradual ups you are either climbing or descending the entire 20 minute loop.

My Roomate is pretty chill, although he needs to pick up his boots and helmet. (yeah he is a boy dog so he can come to Man Camp).

Video Review

Man Camp has been fun and we have two more days to go. I enjoy hanging with the boys but I am looking forward to seeing the Mrs. on Wednesday.

September 9, 2012
Level 3 Intervals w/ SMS T2 Team

This morning we did L3 skate intervals at Ball Mountain Dam. We’ve done this workout many times in the last few months, but today was extra special as we had a whole crew of coaches spectating as part of the NENSA Coaches Symposium. Gus & Sverre gave a presentation at the symposium in the morning and then everyone headed to BMD to watch how our team works together at practice.

The intervals are between 10-14 minutes depending on where you start on the course and the athlete. The goal for the SMS high school skiers is to time the start of their intervals so they are able to hop in and ski with the SMS T2 skiers for a chunk of time.

For some athletes this means starting with the elite team athletes… for others this means starting part way through and catching a ride as they pass by. Everyone works with their individual coach to fine tune the plan for the workout and figure out how many intervals to do.

It was a perfect day for practice: beautiful, cloudless blue sky – it’s always like this in Southern Vermont. : ) More photos from the day here.

Above, Alex Cobb gets rolling on her first inteval.

The SMS T2 girls – Jessie, Sophie, Annie Hart (training with us for the fall while on her term off from Dartmouth), and Erika make the hill look easy.

Packer.

Koby.

Paddy leads a pack of guys.

Scott Mooney catches a ride with the SMS T2 ladies.

Brooke.

Mollie.

Sverre gets ready to get times and average heart rates from a big pack of guys finishing up their interval.

The J2 girls (left) head out on the interval course’s gradual downhill as the SMS T2 women ski through.

Mackenzie – working on keeping her hands high!

September 9, 2012
Skiers @ Essex Invite; Training 9/10 – 9/16
Nice job to all the skiers that raced yesterday at the Essex Invite. Full results are found here. MNC skiers were all over the place, including something like 9 of the top-30 boys D1. I was glad to see a lot of folks out there! Coach Paul Allison threw down a great time of 17:15 in the citizen’s race, and I’m happy to report that most of the boys are now fitter/faster than I am — as I ran a 19:24 or so. That is a great sign for the athletes and a not great sign for me.

Training 9/10 – 9/16: This coming week is our first of the fall! I hope everybody is into the swing of school and excited to get back together. MMU has a race Friday and CVU is at the Burlington Invite on Saturday. Thursday will focus more on technique and strength to keep some energy in everyone’s legs.
- Tuesday 9/11: 4-6pm at the Range. Strength test + classical rollerskiing/technique.
- Thursday 9/13: 4-6pm at the Range. Skate “striders” and strength.
- Sunday 9/16: 9-11am at Round Church. Classic roll with L3 specific strength up Greystone Dr.
Training 9/17 – 9/23: “Speed Week” with Tuesday and Saturday races for most runners.
- Tuesday 9/18: 4-6pm at the Range. Classic + speeds and short sprint test (under 30 seconds); and strength. PLEASE BRING BOTH SKATE & CLASSIC EQUIPMENT for the sprint tests.
- Thursday 9/20: 4-6pm at the Range. Skate + speeds and strength.
- Sunday 9/23: 9-11am at Round Church. Classic roll with long L2/L3 intervals on flat/fast terrain.
Training 9/24 – 9/30: “Volume Week” with 0-2 running races dependent on athlete & team.
- Tuesday 9/25: 4-6pm at the Range. Continuous skate skiing with focus on technique + strength.
- Thursday 9/27: 4-6pm at the Range. Continuous classic skiing with focus on technique + strength.
- Sunday 9/30: 9-11am at Mud Pond. Classic ski with technique and specific strength.
September 9, 2012