FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • DRYland training on the first snowy day!

  • DRYland training on the first snowy day!

  • USST Preview: Andrew Newell

    This is part four in a short series of season preview posts on USST athletes in which I’ll review each skier’s results to date and make some guesses about how they’ll fare in the upcoming season.  I don’t have any special insight into the future beyond my database of past race results, and I certainly am not using some fancy predictive model.  While I’ll likely support a fair bit of my guesses with data of some form, I obviously wouldn’t take any of my predictions to Vegas with you.  And of course, my guesses are just me being a cynical realist, not necessarily an expression of what I’d like to happen.

    Andrew Newell is easily the USA’s best male sprinter, and he has been for several years now.  Along with Kikkan Randall, he has been the most reliable source for top international results year in and year out.  I’ve plotted his results (just the WC, OWG and WSC ones) below.  I’ve used rank (finishing place) rather than FIS points since that’s a more natural thing to look at with sprinting, and I wanted the two panels to have the same scales.

    You can see that Newell started doing distance events more frequently last season.  A good portion of those are from the Tour de Ski, so in some sense he was “forced” into them in order to do the TDS sprints.<1  It might also be a result of the lengthening of sprint races of late, making distance events a bit more relevant for training purposes.

    In any case, back to sprinting.  Unlike Kikkan Randall, Newell has been quite even between classic and skating.  He also has rarely had difficult qualifying for the elimination rounds.  All sorts of random misfortune can befall you once you’ve made the heats, so it’s tough to predict how someone’s going to fair exactly.

    In general, I don’t see any noticeable trends in Newell’s sprint performance over the last several years.  His best year (so far, overall) was probably 2006-2007, which also coincided with the shorter sprint race era.  So he may have really had those shorter distances really dialed in back then, and has had to adjust (along with everyone else).

    I’m betting he’ll pretty much continue what he’s done so far.  Namely, consistent top ten finishes in sprint events of both techniques with the occasional podium.  Interestingly, all three of his podium finishes so far have come in the month of March, near the end of the season.  I wouldn’t make much of that, statistically speaking (sample size, and all that).  Mostly it’s just a curiosity.  But maybe he’ll mix things up this year and pop a great race early.

    1. As a side note, I haven’t really dug into the method used in the Tour de Ski for tracking the overall place.  I know that they apply some sort of time bonuses to the top thirty in the sprint events, but I seriously doubt that places sprinting on an even footing with the distance events.  Basically, it seems like that gives sprinters the possibility of making up ~1-1.5 minutes in the sprint events.  But then there’s at least 50-60km of distance racing.  That hardly seems fair.  I might have to look into this more carefully… <↩

    Related posts:

    1. <Most Improved: Men’s Sprint
    2. <Most Unimproved: Women’s Sprint
    3. <USST Preview: Liz Stephen & Morgan Arritola


  • NEW Hyland Ski Jump Lodge

  • Specific Strength

    We had an upper body specific strength workout today. 1 hr of d-pole, 1 hr of single pole with some 6-8 sec. sprints thrown in every now and then. We are working on bringing everything up and forward together. Some of the kids are getting it, some of them let it slide….. It was nicer than yesterday, cool and grey without the snow/rain mix.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnsM6E5VJI/AAAAAAAAFKw/85Hn4Wx33Fs/s1600/IMG_9301.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/TNnsM6E5VJI/AAAAAAAAFKw/85Hn4Wx33Fs/s400/IMG_9301.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537716923321111698″ //aHeather looks like she is getting after it here.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnrqF3BOCI/AAAAAAAAFKo/fdwEPfM3KJg/s1600/IMG_9302.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/TNnrqF3BOCI/AAAAAAAAFKo/fdwEPfM3KJg/s400/IMG_9302.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537716325188712482″ //aBrooke is getting all the way up, but we would like to see her further forward (more ankle flex).br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnrK9Krd0I/AAAAAAAAFKg/eu4YPwtMsjs/s1600/IMG_9304.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/TNnrK9Krd0I/AAAAAAAAFKg/eu4YPwtMsjs/s400/IMG_9304.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537715790279309122″ //aRachel, looking good, and Cam, who is up, but not forward.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnqoRv2-xI/AAAAAAAAFKY/ehKrUoAgGWQ/s1600/IMG_9309.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/TNnqoRv2-xI/AAAAAAAAFKY/ehKrUoAgGWQ/s400/IMG_9309.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537715194508540690″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnqMzsSKbI/AAAAAAAAFKQ/16NJ1twbKuQ/s1600/IMG_9310.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/TNnqMzsSKbI/AAAAAAAAFKQ/16NJ1twbKuQ/s400/IMG_9310.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537714722584013234″ //aSingle pole sprint.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnp3Xez-mI/AAAAAAAAFKI/ZmFE5dxq2Bg/s1600/IMG_9316.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/TNnp3Xez-mI/AAAAAAAAFKI/ZmFE5dxq2Bg/s400/IMG_9316.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537714354234063458″ //aPapa Coach shows off his balance.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnpX_9_7KI/AAAAAAAAFKA/hxwKkaaZVco/s1600/IMG_9318.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/TNnpX_9_7KI/AAAAAAAAFKA/hxwKkaaZVco/s400/IMG_9318.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537713815346474146″ //aThe boys throw in a pick up.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNno7f9UjZI/AAAAAAAAFJ4/GWwPaXXw5Jk/s1600/IMG_9321.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/TNno7f9UjZI/AAAAAAAAFJ4/GWwPaXXw5Jk/s400/IMG_9321.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537713325717360018″ //aTess is getting it.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnofh6cMzI/AAAAAAAAFJw/tytDl4dPTuI/s1600/IMG_9334.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/TNnofh6cMzI/AAAAAAAAFJw/tytDl4dPTuI/s400/IMG_9334.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537712845205812018″ //aThe cousins.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnn9qsDdtI/AAAAAAAAFJo/MJ5BSy4ttR0/s1600/IMG_9338.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TNnn9qsDdtI/AAAAAAAAFJo/MJ5BSy4ttR0/s400/IMG_9338.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537712263445837522″ //aAll done. Time for classes and an afternoon strength session.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-6998890220580061060?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • The cliche before the storm

    Racing season starts in earnest this weekend.  With that in mind, I’d like to share a series of my favorite awesomely bad race-related cliches:

    – Pin it

    – Hammer down

    – Get after it

    – All in

    – All out

    That’s all for now.  Really I just wanted to post a blog before Dylan posted his blog.

  • From Trees to Lumber

    Starting with a tree...

    Starting with a tree…

    A year’s worth of trail work and clearing projects around the Craftsbury Outdoor Center have added up to one giant log pile, towering over Elinor’s field.  Will Strong, a colorful Craftsbury native and current Wolcot resident  brought in his portable saw-mill to turn our log pile into some lumba’ and a big pile of sawdust for various COC projects. Will made quick work of the pile, milling about 30 logs or about 1000 board feet per day as he said his goal was to “get outa he’ya befo’ah the snow flies”. He may have jinxed himself, as almost everyday he spent at Elinors there were flurries, but Will didn’t let this slow him down. Logs were mostly milled for optimal utilization, but some of the cedar logs were milled in half for use in the up coming nature trail through Craftsbury’s scenic swamp. The rest of the lumber will be stacked at the center. Feel free to stop by and watch the exciting lumber drying process!

    The finshed product

    The finshed product

  • #3 – Sverige!

    A

  • Comparing Variability In Men’s Women’s Sprinting

    I was listening to FasterSkier’s podcast the other day and was a bit startled to here one of the participants mention me by name!<1

    The topic was whether we tend to see the same few skiers at the top in women’s sprint races more than in men’s races.  In other words, are we more likely to see “random” skiers make the A-final or even the top three in a men’s sprint race?  I actually posted something related to this a while back that was more geared towards the question of competitiveness.  I did some fancy math and concocted something to measure this idea that I called “churn”.  Basically it measures the degree to which we see the same group of people in the top 3, or top 5 or whichever group we’d like to look at.  But the graph in that post isn’t very useful for comparing men and women directly.

    Let’s start really simple.  For sprinting, I’d say we’re most interested in the top 3 (podium) and the top 6 (the A-final).  Last season we saw 15 different women on the podium versus 19 for the men.  There were 32 different women women reached the A-final (top 6) at least once, versus 34 for the men.  On a basic level, this supports the notion that there’s more “churn” in men’s sprinting, while we’re more likely to see the same women in the top 3 or 6 in sprint races.

    But the differences are pretty small, of course.  So keep in mind that often we’re talking about an extra 3-4 skiers rotating into the podium spots or the A-final.

    I’m not going to rehash my derivation of how I defined churn.  You can go reread the above link if you’d like.  Let’s just say that the result is a number between 0 and 1.  A churn of 0 would mean that the exact same set of skiers is on the podium (in a possibly different oder) every single race.  A churn of 1 would mean that every race we get a totally new set of skiers on the podium.  Here’s two bar charts comparing men and women for several seasons:

    Generally speaking, the men experience more “churn”, both on the podium and in the top six.  But again, keep in mind that these differences are often being driven by the addition of as few as 3-5 skiers reaching the podium or top six.  On the one hand, that’s not a lot of skiers in an absolute sense.  On the other hand, compared to the number of skiers we’re talking about (1-2 dozen usually) that’s a fairly significant percentage of the total.  Whether that’s a meaningful difference of not, I’ll leave up to you.

    1. By the way, Christopher, it’s pronounced JOR-an; like “Jordan” but with no “d”.  My parents gave me the Scandinavian name, but not the Scandinavian pronunciation.  And shame on you, Colin, for not correcting him.  You know how to say my name! <↩

    Related posts:

    1. <Most Improved: Women’s Distance
    2. <Canadian Men’s Olympic Performance
    3. <Most Improved: Men’s Sprint


  • It’s beginning to look a lot like…

  • Lake Placid elev. 1,801ft, Canmore elev. 4,430 ft.

    div class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-align: center;”div style=”text-align: left;”Friday visit to the 4th and 5th grade classes at the Lake Placid Elementary School:/div/divdiv class=”MsoNormal”br //divdiv class=”MsoNormal”Because I didn’t think that talking about altitude training would be interesting for a bunch of 8 to 11 year olds, I decided to respond to the request in a different way: elevation and who’s conquered it. To start things off I figured I’d speak of elevation most relative to them: the Adirondacks Mts. around us./divdiv class=”MsoNormal”br //divdiv class=”MsoNormal”div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”

  • Race Pace, Cold Face

    muonio 1

    Ida leading her quarterfinal heat up the second hill. In the next shot, she turns around to check on the size of her lead…

    Did you hear? We had our first race on Sunday, a classic sprint here in Muonio! It was a pretty interesting experience. We’re used to having bizarre sprints to start the season off after last year’s 6-minute, point-to-point extravaganza in West Yellowstone, but Muonio took things in the opposite direction. The races were only 780 meters long for women and 1110 meters for men, and indeed started and ended in different places. They also included some sharp corners (in the men’s race, I think they skied around a branch in the snow at the far point on the course) and a sharp downhill turn leading into the finishing stretch.

    Personally, I think I forgot how to race, because I really didn’t go fast in the sprint! I also put my pole between my skis going around one of the sharp corners and struggled not to fall down… always a good feeling when the course is lined with European coaches watching you. I didn’t make a good name for America, I’m afraid.

    munio 2

    Ollie cheering for Ida.

    Luckily, not everyone was as silly or clumsy as me. Ida killed it in the qualifier, finishing second, and Hannah and Pat would have been in the heats too if they had run a full schedule. But because of the cold and the narrowness of the course, the organizers opted to do 4 heats of 4 instead of 5 heats of 6, so Hannah and Pat got to sit the afternoon out after all.

    Which meant we all got to cheer for Ida as she cruised through the heats. Yay Ida!

    muonio 3

    Ida outsprinting a Kazakh girl in her semifinal heat.

    It was fun to watch all the heats – there were some really good skiers, and the women’s final came down to a toe-slide. But it was cold. Really cold. I decided to take portraits of my teammates defending themselves against the cold. Here’s the series.

    Lauren

    Lauren

    Hannah

    Hannah

    Ollie

    Ollie

    Moni!

    Moni!

    Big Dilly

    Big Dilly

  • On the road in October

    With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

    October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

    Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

    Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

    This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
    This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

  • On the road in October

    With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

    October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

    Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

    Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

    This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
    This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

  • On the road in October

    With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

    October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

    Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

    Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

    This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
    This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

  • On the road in October

    With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

    October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

    Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

    Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

    This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
    This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

  • On the road in October

    With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

    October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

    Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

    Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

    This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
    This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

  • On the road in October

    With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

    October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

    Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

    Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

    This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
    This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

  • Days are shorter, nights are colder, these snakes strike like a cobra

    Team V2 dance.
    1-legged slalom, touching hands to the small orange cones.
    Bounding, with increasing distance between cones.
    Devlin warming up for the 3km. Slush and standing water on the track.
    1-legged sideways hop.

    I don’t have any special words to report…the crew is working hard. It is cold and dark. Justin and I are trying to help everybody individually. We’ve been doing more individualized training plans and workouts than ever. 2 weeks til snow. 5 weeks til Eastern Cups. 8 weeks til Nationals.

    We did host an awesome BKL day last Friday afternoon. It was replete with ski-specific drills, orienteering, grass-skiing/rollerskiing, and an awesome introduction to rollerskiing in a safe and fun manner: in our gym on the race track we devised. Over 20 local BKL kids were here, and we’ll have a few more this coming Friday.

    Today the crew did an afternoon agility workout. The focus of the workout was plain and simple: “hop”. Light and quick, easy, and using momentum to the fullest extent. We had a cool course set up on the soccer field including V2 drills, sideways hopping, a 1-legged slalom, shuffle, and bounding.

    I don’t like subjective data, and right now I don’t have much objective data to talk about. We’ll have a time-trial tomorrow (if the roads aren’t totally covered with black-ice), and we’ll make a return to L3 ski-walking at Sugarbush on Wednesday. That mean objective data!

  • Life away from Finland

    Two weeks ago, the rest of the Green Team piled onto a plane for Finland with a bunch of ski bags that weighed exactly 50 pounds.  I waved to them as they drove away from Elinor’s and I felt a little lonely not to be joining them.  I decided to go to biathlon trials races instead, and was  eagerly awaiting my trip to Canmore, Alberta for those races.  However, I had 2 long weeks ahead of me first, and a very empty house.

    Little did I realize how much I could cram into those two weeks…

    I started off by driving to Lake Placid, where I trained with the national biathlon team.  During the few days I was there, I worked a lot on my V1 technique and I made some big improvements in a few days.  Now I’ve got to transfer that to snow.

    The OTC was very busy with a lot of bobsled, skeleton and luge athletes in town.

    At night at the OTC: Bobsled athletes sand their sled runners in preparation for National Team Trials Competitions. My roommate when I stay in Lake Placid, Jamie, is on the left.

    A night at the OTC: Bobsled athletes snag a bite of pizza and sand their sled runners in preparation for the next day's trials competitions. They were up past 1 in the morning. My roommate when I stay in Lake Placid, Jamie, is on the left.

    Rather than linger in Lake Placid for Halloween, I wanted to return to Vermont and take advantage of the NEK’s last weekend of fall turkey season.  I hunted on both Saturday and Sunday morning in the pastures of East Albany.  Watching turkeys awkwardly fly out of their roosting trees at sunrise on a snowy fall morning is a magical experience.  On Halloween, I shot my first turkey and it now awaits Thanksgiving dinner from the back of my freezer.

    turkey!

    Halloween evening was pretty chill.  I figured dressing up in full camo in the morning was costume enough this year.  The Hanson’s had a great get-together down in the village with lots of yummy food and treats.  Anders generously shared some of his trick-0-treating loot with me.  Thanks buddy!

    CNSC practices have been a lot of fun, and everyone is looking forward to snow.  Last week we had a obstacle course biathlon practice, which lasted well longer than the typical hour.  I saw a lot of awesome shooting that afternoon.  We tried some prone shooting with the new cuffs, and the group handled this challenge very well.  We also practiced evaluating wind flags on the range and taking off our poles quickly.   If any of the kids want to help design the next biathlon obstacle course let me know.

    CNSC kids on the range

    CNSC kids on the range…

    ...and at the scope

    …and at the scope

    Last week’s other big project was wintering the house.  Anna had the wonderful idea of hosting a workshop open to the community to teach energy saving winterizing techniques.  The basic ideas were to reduce drafts in the house and increase insulation.  Warm air produced by the heating system needs to get to living areas as efficiently as possible and be kept there.  We plugged up holes in the foundation with spray foam, covered the windows with a plastic layer, plugged drafty doorways, and inspected the oil burning system, among other things.  We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to, but I learned a lot in the process.

    In the basement, we found a pipe coming out of the heat exchanger that needlessly spewed hot air. We blocked it off with duct tape.

    In the basement, we found a pipe coming out of the heat exchanger that needlessly spewed hot air. We blocked it off with duct tape.

    An extra layer of plastic over the windows creates an insulating layer of air.

    An extra layer of plastic over the windows creates an insulating layer of air.

    Anna making some yummy homemade doughnuts

    Anna making some yummy doughnuts to share at the winterizing workshop

    Suddenly I realized that those 2 weeks had flow by.  And they were hardly lonely or boring.  I barely had enough time to pack my bags before I was on a plane to Canmore.

    Canmore is a most beautiful place.  It has two of my favorite things: sunshine and mountains.  I am psyched to be here, even if it doesn’t have much of another favorite thing: snow.  Like Munio, Finland, Canmore stockpiled snow from last season, but they rolled it out almost 3 weeks ago.  The weather warmed up, and it melted.  I missed the memo- I expected them to still have snow.  Everybody else packed rollerskis, and I didn’t.  At least there are enough around to borrow.  We have cold weather in the forecast, so they should be able to make more snow soon.

    The sad remains of Canmore's Frozen Thunder (aka, stockpiled snow). I hear there was great skiing here 2 weeks ago.

    The sad remains of Canmore's Frozen Thunder (aka, stockpiled snow). I hear there was great skiing here 2 weeks ago.

    Coach Jonne at the scope

    Coach Jonne at the scope

    It's still a paradise, even without snow.

    It's still a paradise, even without snow.