FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Ski Buddy Sign Up

    Hello APU Devo, Junior skiers, and Parents,The racing season is in full swing and we have APU skiers racing well all over the map! We may be in many different places racing at various levels, however we are ALL part of the same team– doing incredible things in the pursuit of the fabulous sport of skiing.I thought that a great way to stay connected and support each other would be to implement a

  • Ski Buddy Sign Up

    Hello APU Devo, Junior skiers, and Parents,The racing season is in full swing and we have APU skiers racing well all over the map! We may be in many different places racing at various levels, however we are ALL part of the same team– doing incredible things in the pursuit of the fabulous sport of skiing.I thought that a great way to stay connected and support each other would be to implement a

  • Ski Buddy Sign Up

    Hello APU Devo, Junior skiers, and Parents,The racing season is in full swing and we have APU skiers racing well all over the map! We may be in many different places racing at various levels, however we are ALL part of the same team– doing incredible things in the pursuit of the fabulous sport of skiing.I thought that a great way to stay connected and support each other would be to implement a

  • Ski Buddy Sign Up

    Hello APU Devo, Junior skiers, and Parents,The racing season is in full swing and we have APU skiers racing well all over the map! We may be in many different places racing at various levels, however we are ALL part of the same team– doing incredible things in the pursuit of the fabulous sport of skiing.I thought that a great way to stay connected and support each other would be to implement a

  • Race Snapshot: Tour de Ski Handicap Pursuit

    I’ve opted not to adjust the points on these, despite their being a a bit abnormal.  I think the performance comparisons are clear enough without making any alterations.  But, as you can see, there was definitely some concerted skiing in groups today.

    Related posts:

    1. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 1 Men/Women’s Pursuit
    2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 2 Men’s Pursuit
    3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 2 Women’s Pursuit


  • Wedges for NIS?

    Check out the FIS video from the Rossignol wax hut at the Tour de Ski.

    Noteworthy is the presentation of wedges for NIS plates, used with skate skis.     Interesting stuff.

    Of course, as long as someone is making adapters for NIS plates, why not make an adapter/wedge combo for Pilot bindings?        I guess it’s asking too much to think that Salomon and Rottafella would cooperate so that the end user might benefit with a better product for everyone.

    By the way, those Rossignol boots really are awesome.

  • Wedges for NIS?

    Check out the FIS video from the Rossignol wax hut at the Tour de Ski.

    Noteworthy is the presentation of wedges for NIS plates, used with skate skis.     Interesting stuff.

    Of course, as long as someone is making adapters for NIS plates, why not make an adapter/wedge combo for Pilot bindings?        I guess it’s asking too much to think that Salomon and Rottafella would cooperate so that the end user might benefit with a better product for everyone.

    By the way, those Rossignol boots really are awesome.

  • Wedges for NIS?

    Check out the FIS video from the Rossignol wax hut at the Tour de Ski.

    Noteworthy is the presentation of wedges for NIS plates, used with skate skis.     Interesting stuff.

    Of course, as long as someone is making adapters for NIS plates, why not make an adapter/wedge combo for Pilot bindings?        I guess it’s asking too much to think that Salomon and Rottafella would cooperate so that the end user might benefit with a better product for everyone.

    By the way, those Rossignol boots really are awesome.

  • A Couple Of Finns Skiing Fast

    Those Finns are Matti Heikkinen and Krista Lahteenmaki, of course, and I’m mostly referring to distance races:

    I actually made this graph prior to today’s race, so keep that in mind.

    Simply using finishing rank for each athlete paints an interesting picture.  The first thing I want to note is that Heikkinen’s results this year so far are quite consistent with someone skiing into form as the season progresses, although it’s hard to tell from the compressed time scale in this graph.  So far this season he’s finished 82nd, 41st, 12th, 35th, 11th, 7th and 1st, in that order.

    I suppose a naysayer might point out that the latter bit of Heikkinen’s improvement may well be due to the changing tactics that take place during the Tour de Ski, as top skiers (a) become fatigued and (b) focus on maintaining their overall standing rather than trying to win each individual stage.

    Or maybe Heikkinen was just planning on focusing on the Tour all along, so he’s just peaking for this event.

    In a larger sense, I’m intrigued by what happened to Heikkinen between 2008 and 2009.

    Lahteenmaki is young and simply on fire.  With each passing race it seems less likely that this is just a fluke, and more likely that she’s someone to watch out for over the next several years.

    Related posts:

    1. <Skiing Performance and Age
    2. <Trends In US Skiing Performance: Distance
    3. <Week In Review: Friday July 23rd


  • US National Championships: Classic Distance

    The classic distance races kicked off here in Rumford, Maine. I can’t help but brag about my teammates, since they took 1st and 2nd in both the mens and women’s races and had many outstanding performances off the podium too.Women’s podium: Morgan Smyth (APU), Sadie Bjornson (APU), Morgan Arritola (US Ski Team/SVSEF).It was Sadie’s first National Championship (Kris Dobie photo). A little known

  • US National Championships: Classic Distance

    The classic distance races kicked off here in Rumford, Maine. I can’t help but brag about my teammates, since they took 1st and 2nd in both the mens and women’s races and had many outstanding performances off the podium too.Women’s podium: Morgan Smyth (APU), Sadie Bjornson (APU), Morgan Arritola (US Ski Team/SVSEF).It was Sadie’s first National Championship (Kris Dobie photo). A little known

  • US National Championships: Classic Distance

    The classic distance races kicked off here in Rumford, Maine. I can’t help but brag about my teammates, since they took 1st and 2nd in both the mens and women’s races and had many outstanding performances off the podium too.Women’s podium: Morgan Smyth (APU), Sadie Bjornson (APU), Morgan Arritola (US Ski Team/SVSEF).It was Sadie’s first National Championship (Kris Dobie photo). A little known

  • US National Championships: Classic Distance

    The classic distance races kicked off here in Rumford, Maine. I can’t help but brag about my teammates, since they took 1st and 2nd in both the mens and women’s races and had many outstanding performances off the podium too.Women’s podium: Morgan Smyth (APU), Sadie Bjornson (APU), Morgan Arritola (US Ski Team/SVSEF).It was Sadie’s first National Championship (Kris Dobie photo). A little known

  • Post-workout snow angel

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  • Sr. Nats Update

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXR9rFFaPI/AAAAAAAAF3M/jOQUSqavf3Y/s1600/IMG_0619.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXR9rFFaPI/AAAAAAAAF3M/jOQUSqavf3Y/s400/IMG_0619.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559080172525021426″ //aWe had another good day yesterday in the 10/15 km classic at Rumford. br /The trail crews put together a challenging 2.7 km loop and the 400 or so competitors had a hammer fest. No one had been allowed on the course until race morning and all sorts of different wax combos were working pretty well, but with variable snow conditions plus a deteriorating track, it was hard finding a great wax. Skiers had to ski smart and make the wax work in different sections of the course.br /Heather and Cambria led our girls team by placing 1,2 for J1 girls and 3,5 for overall Jr girls (with Izzy C 4th). Alums Morgan Smyth and Sophie C placed 2,11 overall. Skyler showed that he is not just a sprinter by placing 8th for Jr boys. Most of the rest of the team skied very solid races and did quite well.br /Racing in these races is different then racing in the Eastern Cups. Here we have the top 350-400 skiers in the US all trying to do their best right now. The difference between a good race and a great race might be 50 spots. But…despite the increased competition, it all comes down to skiing the best that YOU can. It is good to work on that and learn to cope with the added pressures.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXRPEc18iI/AAAAAAAAF3E/iy6RhCqVkKo/s1600/IMG_0638.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXRPEc18iI/AAAAAAAAF3E/iy6RhCqVkKo/s400/IMG_0638.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559079371881706018″ //aCam skied a great race (2nd J1, 5th Jr overall) and Megan gave it her all, but didn’t have a good one.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXQn4t-BOI/AAAAAAAAF28/8BPaygdfSnM/s1600/IMG_0673.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXQn4t-BOI/AAAAAAAAF28/8BPaygdfSnM/s400/IMG_0673.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559078698717414626″ //aBridger and Charlie each skied good solid races.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXPkQzaYmI/AAAAAAAAF20/1qQoZNS3r44/s1600/IMG_0666.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TSXPkQzaYmI/AAAAAAAAF20/1qQoZNS3r44/s400/IMG_0666.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559077536951591522″ //aPaddy had another good day, finishing 7th for J1’s.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-853781701600206398?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Mary Beth’s waxing adventure

    Mary Beth writes:

    You may think that I’m trying to flip you off in this picture, but I’m actually showing off my latest battle wound. I was helping my niece wax her skis about three weeks ago. I did the final run your finger along the side of the base to check for the extra wax thing, when my middle right finger caught a frayed piece of the edge of the ski. At first, I thought I had just got a small sliver of it in my hand, but with more in depth exploration, I realized it was quite a large piece which extended through the entire width of my finger. I could actually put my fingers on each edge and and move it back and forth between my fingers like a poker. I was a little amused by this, as I showed my niece, but she thought this was quite gross and told me to stop. After spending around 30 min. trying to get it out myself, my hand was quickly becoming more painful and swollen, so I headed to urgent care at 10:30 at night. They confirmed to me that they had never seen anything else like this before. After about 20 min of working on it and threatening that I may have to see a hand surgeon the next day, the doc was successful, or so I thought. She pulled out about an 1 inch of fine ski base.
    Boy, did I need a beer or something much stiffer, but unfortunately the next day was a work day. Everything seemed to be healing well, until about a week later I had this nagging feeling that there was a little more base left in my finger. After several unsuccessful attempts to try to find the base myself during the next few weeks and trying to convince my husband and my mom to give it a “college try”, I made an appointment with a hand surgeon. He was a little skeptical about it, but since he is a family friend, I think he felt obligated to try to pacify me. He injected my finger with the usual pain numbing med’s and some epinephren to cause vasoconstriction and slow the bleeding process. He dug for about 10 min, before he placed a tourniquet on my finger to further stop the bleeding. He suddenly saw it, but had to work for several more minutes before he was able to get it out. He finally got it out! Hurray, no more digging! I will definitely think twice before I do a quick finger sweep along the side of my ski to check for extra wax. I hope you will too!

  • Mary Beth’s waxing adventure

    Mary Beth writes:

    You may think that I’m trying to flip you off in this picture, but I’m actually showing off my latest battle wound. I was helping my niece wax her skis about three weeks ago. I did the final run your finger along the side of the base to check for the extra wax thing, when my middle right finger caught a frayed piece of the edge of the ski. At first, I thought I had just got a small sliver of it in my hand, but with more in depth exploration, I realized it was quite a large piece which extended through the entire width of my finger. I could actually put my fingers on each edge and and move it back and forth between my fingers like a poker. I was a little amused by this, as I showed my niece, but she thought this was quite gross and told me to stop. After spending around 30 min. trying to get it out myself, my hand was quickly becoming more painful and swollen, so I headed to urgent care at 10:30 at night. They confirmed to me that they had never seen anything else like this before. After about 20 min of working on it and threatening that I may have to see a hand surgeon the next day, the doc was successful, or so I thought. She pulled out about an 1 inch of fine ski base.
    Boy, did I need a beer or something much stiffer, but unfortunately the next day was a work day. Everything seemed to be healing well, until about a week later I had this nagging feeling that there was a little more base left in my finger. After several unsuccessful attempts to try to find the base myself during the next few weeks and trying to convince my husband and my mom to give it a “college try”, I made an appointment with a hand surgeon. He was a little skeptical about it, but since he is a family friend, I think he felt obligated to try to pacify me. He injected my finger with the usual pain numbing med’s and some epinephren to cause vasoconstriction and slow the bleeding process. He dug for about 10 min, before he placed a tourniquet on my finger to further stop the bleeding. He suddenly saw it, but had to work for several more minutes before he was able to get it out. He finally got it out! Hurray, no more digging! I will definitely think twice before I do a quick finger sweep along the side of my ski to check for extra wax. I hope you will too!

  • Mary Beth’s waxing adventure

    Mary Beth writes:

    You may think that I’m trying to flip you off in this picture, but I’m actually showing off my latest battle wound. I was helping my niece wax her skis about three weeks ago. I did the final run your finger along the side of the base to check for the extra wax thing, when my middle right finger caught a frayed piece of the edge of the ski. At first, I thought I had just got a small sliver of it in my hand, but with more in depth exploration, I realized it was quite a large piece which extended through the entire width of my finger. I could actually put my fingers on each edge and and move it back and forth between my fingers like a poker. I was a little amused by this, as I showed my niece, but she thought this was quite gross and told me to stop. After spending around 30 min. trying to get it out myself, my hand was quickly becoming more painful and swollen, so I headed to urgent care at 10:30 at night. They confirmed to me that they had never seen anything else like this before. After about 20 min of working on it and threatening that I may have to see a hand surgeon the next day, the doc was successful, or so I thought. She pulled out about an 1 inch of fine ski base.
    Boy, did I need a beer or something much stiffer, but unfortunately the next day was a work day. Everything seemed to be healing well, until about a week later I had this nagging feeling that there was a little more base left in my finger. After several unsuccessful attempts to try to find the base myself during the next few weeks and trying to convince my husband and my mom to give it a “college try”, I made an appointment with a hand surgeon. He was a little skeptical about it, but since he is a family friend, I think he felt obligated to try to pacify me. He injected my finger with the usual pain numbing med’s and some epinephren to cause vasoconstriction and slow the bleeding process. He dug for about 10 min, before he placed a tourniquet on my finger to further stop the bleeding. He suddenly saw it, but had to work for several more minutes before he was able to get it out. He finally got it out! Hurray, no more digging! I will definitely think twice before I do a quick finger sweep along the side of my ski to check for extra wax. I hope you will too!

  • Mary Beth’s waxing adventure

    Mary Beth writes:

    You may think that I’m trying to flip you off in this picture, but I’m actually showing off my latest battle wound. I was helping my niece wax her skis about three weeks ago. I did the final run your finger along the side of the base to check for the extra wax thing, when my middle right finger caught a frayed piece of the edge of the ski. At first, I thought I had just got a small sliver of it in my hand, but with more in depth exploration, I realized it was quite a large piece which extended through the entire width of my finger. I could actually put my fingers on each edge and and move it back and forth between my fingers like a poker. I was a little amused by this, as I showed my niece, but she thought this was quite gross and told me to stop. After spending around 30 min. trying to get it out myself, my hand was quickly becoming more painful and swollen, so I headed to urgent care at 10:30 at night. They confirmed to me that they had never seen anything else like this before. After about 20 min of working on it and threatening that I may have to see a hand surgeon the next day, the doc was successful, or so I thought. She pulled out about an 1 inch of fine ski base.
    Boy, did I need a beer or something much stiffer, but unfortunately the next day was a work day. Everything seemed to be healing well, until about a week later I had this nagging feeling that there was a little more base left in my finger. After several unsuccessful attempts to try to find the base myself during the next few weeks and trying to convince my husband and my mom to give it a “college try”, I made an appointment with a hand surgeon. He was a little skeptical about it, but since he is a family friend, I think he felt obligated to try to pacify me. He injected my finger with the usual pain numbing med’s and some epinephren to cause vasoconstriction and slow the bleeding process. He dug for about 10 min, before he placed a tourniquet on my finger to further stop the bleeding. He suddenly saw it, but had to work for several more minutes before he was able to get it out. He finally got it out! Hurray, no more digging! I will definitely think twice before I do a quick finger sweep along the side of my ski to check for extra wax. I hope you will too!

  • Tough decisions

    My time at US Nationals has come to a rather unexpected close. It was a tough call, but after today’s debacle of a 15k I decided that further racing would just set me back.  The smarter choice was to head back to Craftsbury for some rest and recovery.

    Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. Headed into Nationals was the fittest I’ve seen the GRP men this season. Both intensity sessions were good and everyone was healthy. Things were looking solid. But after traveling to Rumford, illness hit and I woke up the first morning with a sore throat.  I was not alone – Pat too was fighting something off.

    Thinking I could get in front of the bug and salvage the week, I sat out the sprint in favor of rest. By yesterday my sore throat was gone and things were looking up. But, as Pepa was quick to tell me, fighting off illness takes its toll on the body.  The immune system engages and saps far more energy than one might expect.  I had high hopes for the 15k, but it was obvious soon after starting that I was not operating at full capacity. Each time I “went to the well” or tried to push up a hill I fell further and further back. By the end I was resigned to skiing at threshold pace just to make it to the finish.

    I have mixed feelings on finishing the race. On the one hand, I’ve only dropped out of one race in my career and it still bothers me to this day. On the other, it’s not smart to thrash yourself by completing a race that has taken too much out of you. No doubt, it’s a fine line.   Had I dropped out, I probably would have stayed in Rumford and raced tomorrow’s 30k.  Not a smart move given that I have nearly 3 months of racing left.  At some point during the race I must have made the semi-conscious decision that I was done racing for the week, so finishing was the least I could do.

    Now that I’m home, I feel a bit better. I’ve been looking forward to the 30k skate all season, but as Will O’Brien (Pat’s dad) told me on the ride home, it’s a long season and there’s no use getting bent out of shape about one race.  I just have to wait until the Lake Placid SuperTour to race again.

    Good luck to everyone tomorrow and Saturday. I wish I were there alongside you.

    Early on in the 15k

    Early on in the 15k