FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Two hats, two buffs, two gloves….

    div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”itwo race tops, two hand warmers and ….. too many misses in the range.nbsp;/i/divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”br //divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”I just finished up a 3 race Trial series in Canmore and three pretty cold days of racing. Everything got doubled up, and as mentioned, so did my misses on the range. Handwarmers taped to the backs of my hands to keep my precious trigger finger warm and alive worked well, and in addition to the quirky things skiers do to keep warm, racing actually wasn’t that bad./divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”br //divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”Everything about the races felt great, except for many unexplained missed hits. I’ve had a pretty good training season and physically know I am where I need to be starting the year. I’ll continue as planned and be ready to race later again in December at a NorAm in Mt. Itasca, MN for the IBU Cup Team Trials. However, in this next month I’ll be able to take a closer look at my shooting. I have some ideas of how to fine tune my competition shooting and with the help of my staff, we will re-evaluate the mechanics of my rifle (its a bit like a well-loved old car – 13+ years old? – and could use some new parts)./divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”br //divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”

  • Where I’m Going [4]

    Earlier this week, I came up with a draft calendar for the winter. It is (at least to me) very familiar. The first month of the race season is West Yellowstone, followed by BC – this year it’s Silver Star and Rossland. Then US Nationals, which are in Rumford. Having Nationals in Rumford means that the SuperTour will stay in the east for another week and pay a visit to Lake Placid, where it will tag along with SLU Carnival. After that I may go to Minneapolis and check out the new courses in Wirth Park. Come February, I will probably repeat my Boulder (Sun Valley)-Aspen trip and do my best to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. March will hopefully be a trip to Europe – the Engadin and Birke are close to certain, and if things fall into place I might go back to Rogla. If I’m game for more when the end of March rolls around I’ll head back to Sun Valley to wrap up the season with the Tour of the Sawtooths (though I really wish the plural of the Sawtooth Mountains was Sawteeth).

    I bring this up, because I want to discuss the nature of this blog. Over the last five years I’ve chronicled my ski career largely through the places I’ve been, the sites I’ve seen and the races and workouts I’ve done. For the most part, it’s been a successful formula. I’ve certainly posted less over the last few years than I did initially, but I don’t know really know if that’s because this formula has run it’s course, or I’ve just run out of things to say. The reality is probably a combination of the two, but I do think the format has contributed to me feeling like I don’t have much to say. There are only so many ways to describe a gorgeous ski, a hard workout or a bad race (actually, I tend to describe those mostly with silence). I would also say I don’t do a lot of describing of the really good races – on those days a picture usually suffices.

    All this is a way of saying that things are going to change a little here. I mentioned this in September, but I’m saying it again now. One thing that will change is that the posts will get harder for me to write. Without getting too philosophical, I will say that posting about tangible things is relatively easy for me. When I have something to say, I can say it. The words tend to flow quicly and easily, and I don’t do much (if any) editing.

    The photo posts, race reports and epic training sessions may still find a place here, but I’ve written enough of those articles in the last 5 years that I don’t really feel the need to keep cranking them out. Instead, I like to explore a little bit about what ski racing means to me. How it makes me feel. Why I’ve done it for so long. You know, the bigger, harder to answer questions. I also want to write well.

  • Thoughts from 30,000 feet

    And….. we’re off!!!!
    As I write this I’m currently sitting on the airplane enroute to early season racing in West Yellowstone.  It’s a gorgeous, clear day and 30,000 feet reveals much of Alaskan’s grandeur.  It’s fun to look out the window and see how many familiar features I can name…. Eklutna Lake, looking over the Eklutna Traverse that I completed for the first time with Rob and Toby on skate skis this past spring…. I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane to see Eagle Glacier (our summer training facility.)  As we continued South we flew over Prince William Sound and The Harvard, Columbia, and Yale glaciers.
    Pre-travel is always hectic.  Even though I’ve been keeping a detailed packing list for the last week, it always seems to come down to the last minute.  Last night Rob helped me measure out quantities of vitamins, I completed three loads of laundry (because you never want to pack a fresh bag with stinky clothes!)  I bought a new Kaladi coffee mug for the occasion and the beginning of a brand new season.  Time was spent tying up loose ends: Setting my “out of office” notice at work, paying bills, and triple checking that I have my passport with me.  Early season ski travel is funny because I know that when I return to Alaska, it will basically be Christmas time.
    Rob cutting our last minute Christmas tree last year
    Sitting on a plane always allows an opportunity for reflection.  What was I doing last year at this time? What were my expectations exactly a year ago (Nov 19th) when I took the same flight, Anchorage to Seattle, Seattle to Bozeman.? A lot has changed in the past year including my identity as a ski racer – and my expectations as a ski racer.  Last year I was literally shocked to learn of my fourth place finish in the classic prelim-only sprint and even more ecstatic to win my first Super Tour race (ever) in West Yellowstone. Sandwiched in between last year’s Super Tour opener and this year’s was the Olympics, my first time racing at US Nationals since 2002, my first World Cups and a re-organization of my life and priorities. 

    Photo taken after 2009 10k skate win – West Yellowstone SuperTour

    Sometimes I wonder if my success last year was due to my “I have nothing to loose mentality.”  The pressure that I felt for my racing was mostly internal and whenever I did well, it was a bonus.  My outlook has always been (and will hopefully always be) to find Joy in skiing and to realize that this lifestyle and pursuit is a blessing – one that is supposed to be fun and challenging. That is why last year at most of the big races I wore glitter to set the tone…   This is not to say that I didn’t take racing seriously because I did – and I do.  When the gun goes off get out of my way (!)  I just think it’s detrimental to take yourself too seriously.  If a race doesn’t go your way, move on.  Don’t let the defeat define your day, your week, or your self worth.
    Coaching junior skiers is just another way to remember how FUN skiing really is.  (This past summer we took APU juniors up to Crow Pass with skis on our backs. The first time carrying skis to snow for many!) 

    This year I’ve trained harder, I’ve trained more, I’ve gone from working full time to part time, part of the year.  I’ve given up trips in the mountains with my husband for roller ski workouts in town and summer vacations for glacier training camps.  I’ve spent countless Friday and Saturday nights at home, too tired to go to parties with my friends knowing that I need to get up the next morning and have a productive workout.  After all this, it will be interesting to see if I get any faster.  Theoretically the answer would be yes, further dedication and better training should result in improved performance.  But, I suppose only time will tell. I am fully prepared for anything and know that whether I come in first place, last place, or somewhere in the middle, I ski because I love the sport.   

    APU Teammates training on Eagle Glacier, August – Alaska

    Saw this on the inside of a Forest Service cabin once 🙂 

  • First on snow practice

    The twin cities got a bit of snow last Friday and Saturday, which was very nice. We have had a very mild fall so far, and that has made for some quite enjoyable training conditions (although now that I have a job with an hour commute each way, I am still figuring out how to fit it all in…). Where I live in Red Wing we only got about 3 or 4 inches, but that was still enough to get out to the high school ball fields for some skiing on Saturday and Sunday. It was warm slushy snow, and harries were kicking well on Saturday. Sunday I broke trail on skate skis, which was quite the strength workout. I had to V2 the downhills, and V1 everything else.br /br /This Thursday Vakava had our first practice on snow. We opted to head to the U of MN golfcourse to find some pretty much untouched snow to try our hand at crust skiing. It worked pretty well, although that part of the cities definately got more snow than Red Wing, and the problem was that we would break through pretty often. It was still very enjoyable to be out skiing, and although conditions did not lend themselves to doing intervals, we still got in a good workout chasing each other around the course.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-8010978091568310319?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Ostersund Bound

    Greetings from Canmore.

    The races in Canmore are over and it looks like I’ve been chosen for the fifth and final spot for the December world cups. Congrats to Russell Courrier for his world cup qualification, and an impressive sweep of all three trials here. I hope to move forward from here and build on the momentum of a season’s worth of training and preparation… And, oh yeah, it’s nice to get the coldest races of the year out of the way in November! It hasn’t gotten above -16C here for the past four days… The temp at racetime this morning was -19C… just a degree shy of the international cutoff!

    Best,
    Lowell

  • Time to ride

    Skis are waxed, laundry is clean, and snow is falling.  Life’s good in West Yellowstone.

    Now that winter is here, it’s time to start dreaming about summer.  Check this out for a little inspiration. . .

  • Week In Review: Friday Nov 19th

    Statistical Skier’s Week In Review has it’s first sponsor, Skadi Nordic!  If removing the snow and ice from the bottom of your boots is your least favorite part of skiing, I’d head over to their site and check them out, cause they’ve solved that problem.

    World Cup racing finally gets underway this weekend in G&aumlllivare, Sweden<1.  Accordingly, it’s been a busy week here at Statistical Skier:

    1. By the end of this winter I am to have memorized a good chunk of the HTML character codes. <↩

    Related posts:

    1. <Week In Review: Friday, June 11th
    2. <Week In Review: Friday August 27th
    3. <Week In Review: Friday Sep 3rd


  • Classic Tracks at Washington Pass

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  • Canadian National Team Preview: Ivan Babikov George Grey

    I’m squeezing in the last preview post for the Canadian ski team just under the wire!

    For both Ivan Babikov and George Grey I’m going to focus in on the distance events.  They both certainly do sprints in stage events like the Tour de Ski, but I think it’s fair to say they both have had somewhat more success in distance events.

    I’ve made a few potentially strange decisions in making this graph.  First, I omitted the trend line for Babikov.  I did this because his racing history is a bit “odd”, in that he raced for Russia until 2008-2009 when he became a Canadian citizen.  So for a while there, I think, he was kind of in “limbo” waiting for his nationality to switch over.  Second, the trend line for George Grey I fit only through the 2007-2008 season, in order to highlight the significant jump he’s made over the last two seasons.

    Let’s take a closer look but without using FIS points:

    The up-and-down in Babikov’s trend line is largely an artifact of the lack of data in the middle seasons there.  I’d call that trend largely flat, although his best results have gotten slightly better it seems.

    Grey shows a steady improvement up to where his median result is around 30th or so.  Babikov has been quite solid, with numerous top 20 performances.  I’d look for Grey to hold steady about where he was last season, about half the time in the top 30, half not.  Babikov might be able to put things together enough on occasion to hit to podium, which leads me to my last graph:

    This is the same graph as before, but now the points are colored by technique, and remember than FC refers to pursuits, which generally speaking favor people who are good skaters.  Grey seems mostly even, but Babikov’s best results are nearly always skating or pursuits.  There aren’t a ton of 15km freestyle races on the schedule this season, so I think Babikov will be a bigger threat in the pursuits this year.

    Related posts:

    1. <Canadian Men’s Olympic Performance
    2. <USST Preview: Kikkan Randall
    3. <USST Preview: Andrew Newell


  • Winning

    Teaching US to Winbr /br /The race season began last weekend for many of the Worlds top skiers and the USST had some great results. Kris Freeman posted a 1st and a 2nd , Kikkan won a sprint, Andy qualified 2nd without feeling great and Ida, Noah, Liz, Morgan, Leif and Glen all had solid results in some very competitive FIS races in Munio, Finland. br /Meanwhile, in Norway, Theresa won a 5 km convincingly and Marit demolished the field in the 10 km.br /br /So….what do we bloggers report and say? It’s pretty consistent… “watch out for Marit, she looks ready to rumble!” “Theresa is fit and flying.” And, “I hope the USST skiers aren’t peaking.”br /br /Does this seem odd to anyone else? br /Maybe we need to learn how to win.br /As a coach, I like to start the season on a strong note. It helps the athletes’ confidence to know that they prepared well in the off- season. After the early season races, we evaluate where we are and make plans to adjust training as necessary to try to ski our best at the biggest races. This is an expectation, not a worry. Does this mean that we expect to win every race? Of course not, but it is nice to know that you belong and that you can train through some less important races with the goal of doing your best at “show time”. br /br /I can pretty much guarantee that these US skiers are not trying to peak right now. They want to ski fast, but the goal is kicking ass at World Championships. If I were their personal coach, I would be psyched. They are in a good place. Does this mean that they will podium in every World Cup? Of course not, but they have showed that they are competitive. The rest of us should be energized by their results, not worried. br /br /Maybe we need to learn how to win. I would think it is a relatively straightforward process. First work your butt off and train really well. Second, show that you can win. Third, time it correctly so that everything comes together for your biggest races.br /We should feel good that we have skiers who have accomplished the first two steps and hope that they accomplish the third!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2351269514945577663?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • More Recaps: Maria Rydqvist

    Since I’ve been making some graphs now and then for the folks at skidpepp.se, I’ve been paying more attention to the Swedish skiers.  I noticed that one performance last weekend that turned some heads was Maria Rydqvist’s second place finish in the distance race in Bruksvallarna, behind Charlotte Kalla.  Of course, everyone was quite some distance behind Kalla, but still, it attracted some attention.

    This result seemed to surprise a few people (although that could also be Google Translate misleading me…) and led to her being selected to join the Swedish National Team at the World Cup races this weekend, so I thought I’d look a little more closely at her results.

    From what I can gather, Rydqvist just recently had a child (as recently as four months, if Google translate isn’t tricking me) and so she didn’t race much last season, as we’ll see in a bit.  At least, I’m assuming it was because of her pregnancy; feel free to correct me in the comments!

    Let’s start by looking at just her performance in this one distance race against this particular field.  Using the same style of graph from earlier this week, we get this:

    Recall that each point here represents an instance where Rydqvist raced against one of the top 40 finishers at the race in Bruksvallarna.  We’ve calculated the difference in their respective percent back in each case, so positive values mean Rydqvist was beaten by that person in that race and vice versa.  The blue are from the Bruksvallarna race and the red line represents the median performance against this field over time.

    This would suggest that Rydqvist had a somewhat better than average race, but not one that is wildly out of of line with the past.  In fact, her performance against this particular group of skiers has remained generally flat over time.

    Just for comparison, let’s see how this stacks up against using FIS points:

    By this measure, we see roughly the same sort of trend: generally consistent performances in the 45-90 FIS points range, with perhaps a slight downward (improving) trend.  Her latest race this past weekend (red dot all the way to the right) is good, but right in line with her best performances, generally speaking.  The unusually good race in 2007 was a late season WC pursuit in which she finished 14th.  Note the absence of much racing in 2009-10, presumably due to her pregnancy.

    2006-07 seems a bit odd, actually, with most of her results slipping a bit, with the exception of that one excellent 14th.

    Now, when it comes to selecting people to ski in WCs, these measures may not provide all the relevant information.  Ultimately, we’re usually more focused on things like scoring WC points (i.e. top 30) or podiums (top 3).  So let’s look at what Ryqvist’s results have been like measured simply by her finishing place on the WC:

    Obviously, there’s a lot less data here, and it stops in 2009, since Rydqvist appears to have essentially missed the last season.  But from the perspective of someone (say, a coach) looking for skiers to score WC points, this looks promising, right?  She’s been gone a year, but when she left she was definitely on the right track it seems.  In particular, it seemed like she was transitioning from occasionally popping one great race every season to consistently putting herself in the top 30.

    In that context, her result this weekendin Bruksvallarna might seem particularly promising: she’s shown that she came back from her year off skiing roughly as fast or faster than when she left, and she was trending in the right direction when she left.  A legitimate question mark, of course, is whether she has the fitness, after her pregnancy, to perform at this level consistently for an entire season.  Ultimately, I guess we’ll find out when she races!

    Related posts:

    1. <Most Improved: Women’s Distance
    2. <Most Unimproved Men: Distance
    3. <Most Improved: Men’s Sprint


  • Yay Yay Yay for Gällivare

  • Wiping Out on Roller Skis!

  • Bounding

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWdAztP50I/AAAAAAAAFWI/YnfBHcARXpU/s1600/IMG_9683.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWdAztP50I/AAAAAAAAFWI/YnfBHcARXpU/s400/IMG_9683.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541007553754818370″ //aHere are some pictures from this morning’s hill bounding workout. We had 3 kids roller skiing, 3 taking an easy day and the rest hammering on each other with 4 minute bounding intervals. br /The girls, above, were all smiles after their L3 warm-up. Then they got down to business.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWc17MRJbI/AAAAAAAAFWA/TF30LXEzM8g/s1600/IMG_9686.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWc17MRJbI/AAAAAAAAFWA/TF30LXEzM8g/s400/IMG_9686.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541007366785410482″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcsJQmwMI/AAAAAAAAFV4/PR–6ipS1ZQ/s1600/IMG_9693.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcsJQmwMI/AAAAAAAAFV4/PR–6ipS1ZQ/s400/IMG_9693.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541007198763008194″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcfh0sw5I/AAAAAAAAFVw/wOminbcoOc0/s1600/IMG_9695.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcfh0sw5I/AAAAAAAAFVw/wOminbcoOc0/s400/IMG_9695.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541006982018548626″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcUnhUZsI/AAAAAAAAFVo/mHIG79TX-YI/s1600/IMG_9696.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 255px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcUnhUZsI/AAAAAAAAFVo/mHIG79TX-YI/s400/IMG_9696.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541006794569311938″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcNKHSMmI/AAAAAAAAFVg/8rdIUHpUxAg/s1600/IMG_9698.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcNKHSMmI/AAAAAAAAFVg/8rdIUHpUxAg/s400/IMG_9698.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541006666416403042″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcDK72m2I/AAAAAAAAFVY/V1EepQ9AzzA/s1600/IMG_9701.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWcDK72m2I/AAAAAAAAFVY/V1EepQ9AzzA/s400/IMG_9701.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541006494838201186″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWb23EScrI/AAAAAAAAFVQ/9r7_loL7af0/s1600/IMG_9703.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/TOWb23EScrI/AAAAAAAAFVQ/9r7_loL7af0/s400/IMG_9703.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541006283346440882″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWbqKSDmnI/AAAAAAAAFVI/cV1PwrMWepQ/s1600/IMG_9704.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/TOWbqKSDmnI/AAAAAAAAFVI/cV1PwrMWepQ/s400/IMG_9704.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541006065166162546″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWbbmgL9gI/AAAAAAAAFVA/6SeUsaaMFBQ/s1600/IMG_9705.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/TOWbbmgL9gI/AAAAAAAAFVA/6SeUsaaMFBQ/s400/IMG_9705.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541005815043585538″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWbNzlJddI/AAAAAAAAFU4/ABUNx6LPa6Y/s1600/IMG_9707.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWbNzlJddI/AAAAAAAAFU4/ABUNx6LPa6Y/s400/IMG_9707.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541005578035885522″ //a3:45 and counting.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWbEIXWIHI/AAAAAAAAFUw/YJkwGZ7J4k8/s1600/IMG_9708.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWbEIXWIHI/AAAAAAAAFUw/YJkwGZ7J4k8/s400/IMG_9708.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541005411816448114″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWawARNapI/AAAAAAAAFUo/80xuWMqDLKQ/s1600/IMG_9709.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/TOWawARNapI/AAAAAAAAFUo/80xuWMqDLKQ/s400/IMG_9709.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541005066045844114″ //aThose were hard!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWaTscBOpI/AAAAAAAAFUg/OrnydX_te_Q/s1600/IMG_9719.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/TOWaTscBOpI/AAAAAAAAFUg/OrnydX_te_Q/s400/IMG_9719.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541004579686136466″ //aLast hill, last interval.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWaDH-69PI/AAAAAAAAFUY/lwkarOoFrBE/s1600/IMG_9724.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOWaDH-69PI/AAAAAAAAFUY/lwkarOoFrBE/s400/IMG_9724.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541004295022507250″ //aAll done! Time for a jog and spin.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-8389264802966024705?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Canadian National Team Preview: Chandra Crawford Daria Gaiazova

    Continuing with my previews (gotta get them out before Saturday!), we’ll move on to the Canadian women, or at least two of them.

    As has been noted elsewhere, since the retirement of both Beckie Scott and more recently, Sara Renner, the Canadian women haven’t had as much success as the men.  Let’s look at two of their top women:

    Once again, the “Domestic” category is not strictly domestic, it’s just a catch-all for “everything else”.

    Nothing to write home about perhaps, but at least last season seemed to be an improvement for both women.  Crawford missed most of the 2008-2009 season due to compartment syndrome surgery, if I recall correctly, so it’s good to see her come back with some stronger results.  Still, both women will have to step things up quite a bit if they are going to want to make an impact on the World Cup in distance events this season.

    In case your wondering, Gaiazova’s strong distance race this past weekend earned her 60 FIS points, which is right at where her best results were last season.

    On the other hand, I think we have more reason to be optimistic about their sprint results:

    There are many fewer races in this case, since I’ve omitted the “Domestic” category (you can’t fairly compare one’s finishing place in a WC sprint race to a SuperTour sprint race).  So we should be a little cautious about the reliability of these trend lines.

    Crawford quite famously had some spectacular sprint results a while back but has had some difficulty replicating them consistently.  Coming back from her injuries last season she had some mixed results, with a few rough races back in the 50′s, but also managed to qualify for the heats several times, including at the Olympics in Vancouver.  Even if she just returns to her 2007-2008 form (consistently in the top 20), that would constitute a huge improvement, I think, and would be significant victory for the Canadian women.

    Daria Gaiazova seems to have stepped up her sprinting ability over the past two seasons, which is also encouraging.  After mostly hovering around the qualification round cutoff in 2008-2009, she stepped things up a bit in the heats last year to advance a few times up near 10th.  Again, if she can consistently qualify for the elimination rounds and advance into the semis every now and then, I think that would be a major step forward.

    Related posts:

    1. <USST Preview: Liz Stephen & Morgan Arritola
    2. <USST Preview: Simi Hamilton & Noah Hoffman
    3. <USST Preview: Kikkan Randall


  • Issy P Reports on NE Champs.

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOUhSNfKrPI/AAAAAAAAFUQ/CmfG_4pjjE0/s1600/Issy_NEChamps_2010.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TOUhSNfKrPI/AAAAAAAAFUQ/CmfG_4pjjE0/s400/Issy_NEChamps_2010.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540871513291009266″ //abr / Last weekend was another beautiful fall weekend in Vermont and it also happened to be the weekend of New England Cross Country Championships. 255 girls and 264 boys showed up to race the 5k course. The race was different from any other I have run at Thetford. For one, the field of girls I ran with in the mass-start was much larger then ever before, not to mention faster. Recalling my feelings on the starting line: on one hand I was excited for the race, but on the other, I was having second thoughts about whether coming to this event had been a good idea. My starting lane number was 19, which was the lane reserved for the “ independent” runners from VT…a.k.a. the lane for the loners who were there without a team. The start of the race was unlike the VT State Meet and “Woods Run” (the two other races SMS ran at Thetford this year). The difference was that this was a race that you had to qualify for in order to run, and as a result, everyone running it was fast. So… instead of the crowd of runners thinning as the race progressed, it was a race that you had to work your way up through in order to improve your place. The course was challenging, as always at Thetford. However, on the brighter side of things, it was one of my least muddy Thetford encounters. Although I did not set a personal course record, I had a good experience racing against some fast, seasoned runners from throughout New England.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2753616464077032868?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • First Pancake Throwaway

    The Rendezvous ski trails in West are groomed and ready to go.  We got out for the first skate of the season (well, in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) this morning and I went for a chill classic ski in freshly groomed tracks this evening.  Even though the trails are in good shape, there are hardly any other skiers in the neighborhood. . .this will surely change soon.

    Compton cruising the Rendezvous Trails. Photo: Jay Richards

    Jake Richards joined us for our skate this morning.  Jake’s a high school junior, Minnesota mountain bike phenom, and  rippin’ Nordic skier.  He recently won the Short & Fat at Chequamegon, but more impressive was his win the next day in the bunny hop competition. . .

    Jake Richards. Photo: skinnyski.com

    Those are some ups!  Needless to say, it was awesome to have Jake join us on the ski today.

    Jake & Kuz – photo: Jay Richards

    My classic ski at the end of the day went longer than expected and I ended up on the trail well after dark.  While I was out there I briefly ran into another skier, rockin’ wool knickers and big beard, cruising through the woods with a headlamp.

    Going in opposite directions, I commented:

    “Pretty sweet night for a ski.”

    He responded:

    “Not bad for the first pancake throwaway ski of the year!”

    He was gone before I had the chance to inquire what that even meant, but somehow I have to agree with him.

    Not bad for the first pancake throwaway ski of the year.

  • Assessing The Weekend’s Races: Sprint

    So on Monday I posted some graphs that were intended to provide some context for some of the distance race results over the weekend.  Sprinting wasn’t left out in the cold because I dislike it (although, to be fair, I’m sort of a traditionalist in this respect; I will always love distance racing more, sorry!), but because it’s much harder to do meaningful analyses on sprint races.

    But it’s just not fair for me to ignore sprinting, so even if it’s not ideal, I should at least try.  What follows is essentially the same analysis I did for the distance events, but for the qualification round of the sprint races only.  So all of this only applies to one’s ability to qualify, relative to the other competitors.  An important aspect of sprinting, to be sure, but only part of the story.

    Since the qualification round is really just a mini-interval start race, we can treat it that way and make graphs just like I did on Monday.  I’m going to focus on three people whose performances I found particularly interesting: Kikkan Randall, Ida Sargent and Torin Koos.

    First up, the most clear cut case of Kikkan Randall’s sprint qualification result in Muonio:

    Recall that I’m taking the top 40 or so from the qualifying round and then looking at every instance of Kikkan Randall competing against one of these people in a sprint qualification event.  Each dot represents the difference in percent back (from the fastest qualifier).  Negative values mean Randall was faster than that person on that day in qualification and vice versa.  It’s important to note that this does not mean anything about whether Randall actually made the heats in any of these races!  Again, we’re essentially treating the qualification round like a mini-interval start distance race.

    Also, I added a red line marking the median for each season, to help us track trends.

    Obviously, this was a fast qualification round for Kikkan, and represents a considerable improvement against the field in Muonio, compared to her past encounters with these racers.  Prior to 2005, the data get a bit thin and things bounce around a lot, so we should probably not pay too much attention to that part of the graph.

    Interpreting these graphs can get a little tricky for sprinting.  For instance, the overall trend for Randall against this group of skiers appears mostly flat between 2007-2010.  But remember that that might be just fine, if those performances are putting her in the top 30 consistently.  It’s possible for me to label or color the points according to whether she made the heats, but it would require some more tinkering with the code, and I wanted to get a version of these out the door.  I’ll work on that for future additions…

    How about Torin Koos?

    His qualification effort in Beitostoelen doesn’t appear (by this measure) to mark much of an improvement over the past, against this particular group of skiers (nearly all of whom were Norwegian).  Not bad, but just no different from his qualification speed over the past 4-5 years.  Again, the flatness of this trend is a little tough to interpret without knowing how often he was qualifying in these races.  But at the very least these data suggest (as with Kikkan) a period where his performance against this particular group of skiers in the qualification round hasn’t changed much, relatively speaking.

    The last skier I wanted to look at was Ida Sargent.  She’s a bit of a challenge, since she’s so young, I have very little data on her.  I had to widen the data collection net considerably for her graph (going deeper down the qualification results list) and even then, the data are thin.  So this one should be interpreted with extreme caution.  Here there be dragons, and all that.

    The blue here actually represents both of her sprint races in Muonio; I included skiers from either race in her comparison to increase the sample size.  And even then, as you can see, there’s not much data.  Still, it certainly matches out general impression that those were darn good qualification efforts on her part.

    Luckily, I really only needed to use the qualification round results for this, because there is something seriously awry with the women’s sprint results from Muonio from Nov. 7th.  Check it out for yourself: qualification results and final results.  The top eight look ok, and from 35th down looks ok.  But man, in between there’s a whole lot of nonsense going on.  For instance, consider the case of Ms. Knap.  So I’m assuming the qualification round results from FIS are correct.  Who knows, though.

    Related posts:

    1. <How Well Prepared Are World Cup Rookies? (Part 2a: Sprint)
    2. <Distributed Sprint Points
    3. <USST Preview: Kikkan Randall


  • Canadian National Team Preview: Alex Harvey Devon Kershaw

    I thought it only fair that I give our good neighbors to the north the same treatment as I did with the USST previews.  These will be a bit shorter on the gab, though.  We’ll start things off with Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw.

    Both of these guys are probably more of a threat in distance events, so we’ll start there.

    A “domestic” race in this instance is just a catch-all category referring to everything else: FIS races, national championships, Nor-Ams, etc.

    Harvey, as you can see, made a big jump in the last two seasons.  Kershaw has been steadily improving for a number of years.  Both have managed to become regulars in the top thirty over the last few seasons.  Even better, they both seem fairly well balanced between classic and skating (although Kershaw’s classic skiing have a bit of an edge on his skating).

    The big question with these two is whether they’ll be able to step up from finishing in the teens and twenties in WC races, with an occasional top five, to being a more consistent presence in the top ten or top five.  That kind of jump would make them regular podium threats, but it’s a bigger jump than you might think.

    In keeping with my general caution, I’m going to predict that both Harvey and Kershaw follow up good seasons with another good season.  Seeing either of them consistently in the top ten would be pretty awesome, but that kind of jump is a long shot, I think.  More likely is a modest improvement: consistently in the teens, occasional threats for the podium.

    We might not think of either Harvey or Kershaw are primarily sprint races, but Kershaw at least has had some success in these events:

    It doesn’t make much sense to compare domestic and international sprint races (statistically speaking) so I’ve omitted them here.  Harvey’s main goal ought to be qualifying consistently, as he’s mostly been right on the bubble.  Kershaw has had several top ten finishes in WC sprint races over the years, although he hasn’t been terribly consistent, sometimes being quite a ways from qualifying for the elimination rounds.

    More worrying is that Kershaw’s best sprint results in each season have been slipping a little over the last few season.  Some of that could just be getting unlucky in the elimination rounds, which can make sprinting pretty unpredictable.  In this light, it’s a promising sign that Kershaw had a strong showing in the sprint race in Bruksvallarna this past weekend.

    I’m not sure what’s in store for these guys in sprinting this year.  I’d like think that Harvey will step things up and that Kershaw will return to the occasional top ten, but I don’t know.  I think it’s more likely we’ll see more of the same, or modest improvements, from each of them.

    Related posts:

    1. <Canadian Men’s Olympic Performance
    2. <USST Preview: Kikkan Randall
    3. <USST Preview: Andrew Newell


  • Bruks training

     Harvey looking good in our new team parka.
    Here are a couple training pictures from Bruksvallarna.