Category: XCFeeds

i”Through sports our children learn about teamwork, goal setting and the pursuit of excellence. It is also how youth learn how to deal with failure and become more determined to do better the next time, not only in sports but in life.”/ibr /br /Read the rest of her blog post on the Let’s Move! website: b

Conventional wisdom holds (so I’m told) that World Cup skiers go faster these days for a variety of reasons: improved grooming technology, improved equipment/waxing, larger athlete pool, better training/diet (on average) etc.  It would be neat if this trend showed up in results data.  Namely, have the top times for races of a set distance been falling over time?

As you can probably guess already, this is not so easy to establish.  Along with the factors I listed above that will generally push race times downward, we have the fact that race courses are being designed to account for this, presumably to make them more challenging.  The combination of all this might mean that we see no net change in times at all.  Or do we?

Since FIS can’t seem to stick to a single race format for more than 2-3 seasons, we’re stuck looking at data from interval start 15k/10k races for men and women.  This is the event that’s been held continuously over the longest time period and so give us the best shot at picking up changes.  Even so, we’ll have to split things up between freestyle and classic, for obvious reasons.

I’m going to focus in on the top ten times in each race, plotted below for men’s 15km interval start races:

As with all skiing data that we’ve seen, there’s a considerable amount of variation.  We’d expect this, of course, since weather and snow conditions can vary drastically from race to race.  Despite all that “noise” though we can make out some signal, and it appears that a “typical” top ten time for a men’s 15km interval start race has declined somewhat over the past 18 years.

At first glance, the drop may seem quite gradual and almost inconsequential.  However, if we look at it in an absolute sense, we see that dropping 2-3 minutes (!!) off of average top ten times is quite a difference.

How about the women?  Here’s a look at the equivalent data for women’s 10km interval start races:

The picture looks about the same here.  Except for the obvious, of course.  Which of these races are not like the others?  Which of these races just do not belong?

So the first Very Slow 10km is this race.  I’m inclined to chalk that one up to bizarre weather/snow conditions, unless someone knows for a fact that FIS has labelled it wrong (i.e. it was actually a 15km).  The more recent Very Slow 10km is this race, from the Tour de Ski, which should set off warning bells.  Sure enough, this should be a “handicap” or pursuit style race, not an interval start.  Sometimes FIS labels them, sometimes you have to dig around in the PDFs.  Fun stuff.  In any case, here’s the same plot with these two “problem races” removed:

Again, a 2-2.5 minutes reduction in the average top ten time is fairly impressive, especially if the courses have indeed been getting harder over the years.

Related posts:

1. <Most Improved: Women’s Distance
2. <How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the F-Factor (Part 1)
3. <EqPB: Test Run

Our new women’s head coach and Lake Placid regional coach, Jonne Kahkonen, was recently interviewed by

WINTER!!!!!

I woke up to the first snowfall of the season this morning! 33 degrees and dumping snow…the wet, mushy kind. In this type of weather the number of activities you can do are fairly limited, meaning you can’t roller ski because conditions are treacherous and you cant ski because there isn’t enough snow. The options are 1) run 2) spin (indoors) or 3) swim . I was quite antsy this morning and felt the urge to be outside in the fresh air, so I chose option 1. The higher I ran, the more snow there was, surprise surprise:) It was such a peaceful and quite run in the snow. I would much rather run in snowfall rather than rainfall! Tomorrow, I quite possibly will get the boards out and head up north to check out the skiing. I’ll let you know how it is.

A look outside the window this morning!

On the running side of things, I have some exciting news…both Cutthroat girls and boys teams qualified for state!!! whahoo! It was definitely a close call, but they did it! Congratulations to all twelve runners on the team. We head to state, which are in Soda Springs Idaho (yes, that’s where Napoleon Dynamite takes place) on Friday. We compete on Saturday, so please send some positive thoughts our way.

The girls at the start-line with their “fighting faces”

WINTER!!!!!

I woke up to the first snowfall of the season this morning! 33 degrees and dumping snow…the wet, mushy kind. In this type of weather the number of activities you can do are fairly limited, meaning you can’t roller ski because conditions are treacherous and you cant ski because there isn’t enough snow. The options are 1) run 2) spin (indoors) or 3) swim . I was quite antsy this morning and felt the urge to be outside in the fresh air, so I chose option 1. The higher I ran, the more snow there was, surprise surprise:) It was such a peaceful and quite run in the snow. I would much rather run in snowfall rather than rainfall! Tomorrow, I quite possibly will get the boards out and head up north to check out the skiing. I’ll let you know how it is.

A look outside the window this morning!

On the running side of things, I have some exciting news…both Cutthroat girls and boys teams qualified for state!!! whahoo! It was definitely a close call, but they did it! Congratulations to all twelve runners on the team. We head to state, which are in Soda Springs Idaho (yes, that’s where Napoleon Dynamite takes place) on Friday. We compete on Saturday, so please send some positive thoughts our way.

The girls at the start-line with their “fighting faces”

WINTER!!!!!

I woke up to the first snowfall of the season this morning! 33 degrees and dumping snow…the wet, mushy kind. In this type of weather the number of activities you can do are fairly limited, meaning you can’t roller ski because conditions are treacherous and you cant ski because there isn’t enough snow. The options are 1) run 2) spin (indoors) or 3) swim . I was quite antsy this morning and felt the urge to be outside in the fresh air, so I chose option 1. The higher I ran, the more snow there was, surprise surprise:) It was such a peaceful and quite run in the snow. I would much rather run in snowfall rather than rainfall! Tomorrow, I quite possibly will get the boards out and head up north to check out the skiing. I’ll let you know how it is.

A look outside the window this morning!

On the running side of things, I have some exciting news…both Cutthroat girls and boys teams qualified for state!!! whahoo! It was definitely a close call, but they did it! Congratulations to all twelve runners on the team. We head to state, which are in Soda Springs Idaho (yes, that’s where Napoleon Dynamite takes place) on Friday. We compete on Saturday, so please send some positive thoughts our way.

The girls at the start-line with their “fighting faces”

WINTER!!!!!

I woke up to the first snowfall of the season this morning! 33 degrees and dumping snow…the wet, mushy kind. In this type of weather the number of activities you can do are fairly limited, meaning you can’t roller ski because conditions are treacherous and you cant ski because there isn’t enough snow. The options are 1) run 2) spin (indoors) or 3) swim . I was quite antsy this morning and felt the urge to be outside in the fresh air, so I chose option 1. The higher I ran, the more snow there was, surprise surprise:) It was such a peaceful and quite run in the snow. I would much rather run in snowfall rather than rainfall! Tomorrow, I quite possibly will get the boards out and head up north to check out the skiing. I’ll let you know how it is.

A look outside the window this morning!

On the running side of things, I have some exciting news…both Cutthroat girls and boys teams qualified for state!!! whahoo! It was definitely a close call, but they did it! Congratulations to all twelve runners on the team. We head to state, which are in Soda Springs Idaho (yes, that’s where Napoleon Dynamite takes place) on Friday. We compete on Saturday, so please send some positive thoughts our way.

The girls at the start-line with their “fighting faces”

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNKnlB77GI/AAAAAAAAE8g/o7qerGskKJI/s1600/DSC_0016.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNKnlB77GI/AAAAAAAAE8g/o7qerGskKJI/s400/DSC_0016.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531346811156687970″ //aHere are a bunch of pictures from our combi skate/run OD this morning. We invited our summer Devo group to join us and everyone had a good time. We started with 20 minutes of 1 on 1 with SMS kids helping the Devo kids, then the SMS kids skated another hour and ran for 1-1.5 hours, while the devo kids did drills and then ran for 1/2 hour.br /Thanks to Lilly for taking the pictures.br /Click on any picture to enlarge it.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNKLZ0_OoI/AAAAAAAAE8Y/ghzSfA0UUbo/s1600/DSC_0020.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNKLZ0_OoI/AAAAAAAAE8Y/ghzSfA0UUbo/s400/DSC_0020.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531346327113251458″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNJzoWe1VI/AAAAAAAAE8Q/Js-Z9ZlkO68/s1600/DSC_0027.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 320px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNJzoWe1VI/AAAAAAAAE8Q/Js-Z9ZlkO68/s400/DSC_0027.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531345918694970706″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNJeNWzPVI/AAAAAAAAE8I/RWv4b4VyV_w/s1600/DSC_0032.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNJeNWzPVI/AAAAAAAAE8I/RWv4b4VyV_w/s400/DSC_0032.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531345550671297874″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNI-Ds71yI/AAAAAAAAE8A/GNzGPeVWb7w/s1600/DSC_0038.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNI-Ds71yI/AAAAAAAAE8A/GNzGPeVWb7w/s400/DSC_0038.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531344998323967778″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNIkbd-c5I/AAAAAAAAE74/sNYoOhbE3Ec/s1600/DSC_0052.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNIkbd-c5I/AAAAAAAAE74/sNYoOhbE3Ec/s400/DSC_0052.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531344558027076498″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNIH8Be9gI/AAAAAAAAE7w/iC4GAMxPvvM/s1600/DSC_0058.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNIH8Be9gI/AAAAAAAAE7w/iC4GAMxPvvM/s400/DSC_0058.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531344068549735938″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNHuS8OxdI/AAAAAAAAE7o/iGV0fEeQhGI/s1600/DSC_0060.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNHuS8OxdI/AAAAAAAAE7o/iGV0fEeQhGI/s400/DSC_0060.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531343628025120210″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNHThv0mXI/AAAAAAAAE7g/_mpsT0KMH6A/s1600/DSC_0062.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNHThv0mXI/AAAAAAAAE7g/_mpsT0KMH6A/s400/DSC_0062.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531343168143137138″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNG3BF0opI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/tzjaXk9V5rU/s1600/DSC_0069.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNG3BF0opI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/tzjaXk9V5rU/s400/DSC_0069.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531342678340706962″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNGaorh3rI/AAAAAAAAE7Q/ppd7iz03DeY/s1600/DSC_0070.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNGaorh3rI/AAAAAAAAE7Q/ppd7iz03DeY/s400/DSC_0070.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531342190751637170″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNF-dk6_QI/AAAAAAAAE7I/LNXinNXSXWk/s1600/DSC_0077.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 358px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNF-dk6_QI/AAAAAAAAE7I/LNXinNXSXWk/s400/DSC_0077.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531341706734796034″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNFjwbMG3I/AAAAAAAAE7A/-M7kKp-Vr84/s1600/DSC_0083.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNFjwbMG3I/AAAAAAAAE7A/-M7kKp-Vr84/s400/DSC_0083.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531341247937780594″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNFHht3X2I/AAAAAAAAE64/QzWzRefQml8/s1600/DSC_0090.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNFHht3X2I/AAAAAAAAE64/QzWzRefQml8/s400/DSC_0090.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531340762953244514″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNEucvXWCI/AAAAAAAAE6w/qOBwhQUgSAo/s1600/DSC_0093.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNEucvXWCI/AAAAAAAAE6w/qOBwhQUgSAo/s400/DSC_0093.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531340332120627234″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNETgW5JmI/AAAAAAAAE6o/7GrDciPKLGU/s1600/DSC_0104.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNETgW5JmI/AAAAAAAAE6o/7GrDciPKLGU/s400/DSC_0104.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531339869235258978″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMND6KH9cqI/AAAAAAAAE6g/4i5sJoH3OpE/s1600/DSC_0106.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMND6KH9cqI/AAAAAAAAE6g/4i5sJoH3OpE/s400/DSC_0106.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531339433770316450″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNDeU5t9cI/AAAAAAAAE6Y/y5bUaInEJvU/s1600/DSC_0117.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNDeU5t9cI/AAAAAAAAE6Y/y5bUaInEJvU/s400/DSC_0117.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531338955627034050″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNDAVfdoPI/AAAAAAAAE6Q/-TjlUrkxl1s/s1600/DSC_0118.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNDAVfdoPI/AAAAAAAAE6Q/-TjlUrkxl1s/s400/DSC_0118.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531338440389271794″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNChO26bwI/AAAAAAAAE6I/ZxeYahLvT4k/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 218px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNChO26bwI/AAAAAAAAE6I/ZxeYahLvT4k/s400/DSC_0119.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531337906032635650″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNCBoe8_qI/AAAAAAAAE6A/rae3Jj-s11c/s1600/DSC_0125.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 328px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNCBoe8_qI/AAAAAAAAE6A/rae3Jj-s11c/s400/DSC_0125.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531337363155648162″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNBr2D_yNI/AAAAAAAAE54/b22gyY2j6mQ/s1600/DSC_0134.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 383px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNBr2D_yNI/AAAAAAAAE54/b22gyY2j6mQ/s400/DSC_0134.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531336988843559122″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNBTfNeZwI/AAAAAAAAE5w/8ObMHXBaBS4/s1600/DSC_0147.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNBTfNeZwI/AAAAAAAAE5w/8ObMHXBaBS4/s400/DSC_0147.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531336570392438530″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNAv3S_aNI/AAAAAAAAE5o/Z1BrUA6vTAc/s1600/DSC_0151.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNAv3S_aNI/AAAAAAAAE5o/Z1BrUA6vTAc/s400/DSC_0151.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531335958382733522″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNAMDeXncI/AAAAAAAAE5g/H0KF5shbazs/s1600/DSC_0152.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 306px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMNAMDeXncI/AAAAAAAAE5g/H0KF5shbazs/s400/DSC_0152.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531335343176392130″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM_ulogO7I/AAAAAAAAE5Y/iBGdwFTZOo0/s1600/DSC_0156.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM_ulogO7I/AAAAAAAAE5Y/iBGdwFTZOo0/s400/DSC_0156.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531334836949629874″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM_VdRhwZI/AAAAAAAAE5Q/ahTVaE58bPw/s1600/DSC_0160.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM_VdRhwZI/AAAAAAAAE5Q/ahTVaE58bPw/s400/DSC_0160.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531334405209047442″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM-1NXHSQI/AAAAAAAAE5I/WM5XJesx7mY/s1600/DSC_0162.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM-1NXHSQI/AAAAAAAAE5I/WM5XJesx7mY/s400/DSC_0162.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531333851181697282″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM-YqkCyOI/AAAAAAAAE5A/Asu7sLLnMd4/s1600/DSC_0163.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/TMM-YqkCyOI/AAAAAAAAE5A/Asu7sLLnMd4/s400/DSC_0163.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531333360804350178″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM-Au6ul7I/AAAAAAAAE44/ye6b2smgccI/s1600/DSC_0166.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMM-Au6ul7I/AAAAAAAAE44/ye6b2smgccI/s400/DSC_0166.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531332949656377266″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2185611313908395757?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

Matt fitting Caitlin for skis

There are only a few things that will make me change my training plans for the day.  On Monday Cork sent out an email that the new Salomon skis had arrived.  Within minutes Matt Liebsch called about coming to check test and fit them.  I rescheduled my appointment with the mechanic in Duluth and postponed my strength workout to after dinner.  Thanks Matt for picking out what I believe are going to be some sweet new boards.

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIhXWCX_JI/AAAAAAAAE4w/CABJXlIYs8Q/s1600/IMG_8973.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 284px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIhXWCX_JI/AAAAAAAAE4w/CABJXlIYs8Q/s400/IMG_8973.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531019977300638866″ //aAfter our early morning skate ski on a somewhat icy parking lot, it warmed into the high 30’s for our afternoon classic intervals.br /Everyone had a good warm up ski and then hammered 30-40 minutes of hilly terrain. The goal was simple, ski to the top of these 4 hills with good technique and a strong effort; start in L3 and then ramp it up.br /It was a good workout and the group skied well.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIg8X6fIzI/AAAAAAAAE4o/KLL3Wvssx4Q/s1600/IMG_8975.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIg8X6fIzI/AAAAAAAAE4o/KLL3Wvssx4Q/s400/IMG_8975.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531019513947956018″ //aTyler, Mac and Charlie looking good 8 minutes into their first interval.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIgrPwblWI/AAAAAAAAE4g/31E1oPHmmBc/s1600/IMG_8976.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 232px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIgrPwblWI/AAAAAAAAE4g/31E1oPHmmBc/s400/IMG_8976.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531019219700520290″ //aThe Mooney sandwhich.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIgQ-T7cgI/AAAAAAAAE4Y/fBZQy2rg2hU/s1600/IMG_8981.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/TMIgQ-T7cgI/AAAAAAAAE4Y/fBZQy2rg2hU/s400/IMG_8981.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531018768340972034″ //aPaddy nears the top of the 3 km uphill which was the second interval.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIf4vZbT6I/AAAAAAAAE4Q/GtpaOys3vh8/s1600/IMG_8982.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/TMIf4vZbT6I/AAAAAAAAE4Q/GtpaOys3vh8/s400/IMG_8982.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531018352020639650″ //aTyler hangs tough.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIfZm5ia_I/AAAAAAAAE4I/1arm7MZh9TM/s1600/IMG_8984.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/TMIfZm5ia_I/AAAAAAAAE4I/1arm7MZh9TM/s400/IMG_8984.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531017817163459570″ //aCam was fast today.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIe870pOtI/AAAAAAAAE4A/99Jp6zjf6s0/s1600/IMG_8987.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/TMIe870pOtI/AAAAAAAAE4A/99Jp6zjf6s0/s400/IMG_8987.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531017324563872466″ //aBrooke had an excellent day and mixed it up with the big girls.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIem5_CSBI/AAAAAAAAE34/qx6pmuIoU0E/s1600/IMG_8989.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/TMIem5_CSBI/AAAAAAAAE34/qx6pmuIoU0E/s400/IMG_8989.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531016946113464338″ //aHeather finishes up her third interval. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIeR3bLkII/AAAAAAAAE3w/ZuphdMwwJ1s/s1600/IMG_8991.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 316px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TMIeR3bLkII/AAAAAAAAE3w/ZuphdMwwJ1s/s400/IMG_8991.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531016584648953986″ //aIssy P strides over the crest of the hill.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2146137875764046292?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

Only a few more weeks until ski season kicks off!

• We took a look at some of better younger skiers from last season.
• I posted a rundown on some data from the Dartmouth Ski Team’s Moosilauke time trial.
• We got a quick look at the ages of World Cup skiers, which included the hint of a trend towards older skiers lately.
• Fasterskier ran an exceptionally cool article on Tuesday looking at how World Cup sprint courses have become longer in recent years.  Ok, so part of the reason I think it’s so cool is that the article featured some graphs by yours truly.
• Statistical Skier was also noticed this week by the folks at skidpepp.se, a popular Swedish skiing blog.  I agreed to make some graphs focusing on Swedish skiers for them, so that should be fun!

Have a great weekend!

Related posts:

1. <Week In Review: Friday, June 11th
2. <Week In Review: Friday July 30th
3. <Week In Review: Friday August 27th

Sometimes it’s a good thing to ask basic questions that everyone thinks they know the answer to.  Sometimes you get surprising answers, sometimes not.

So, how old are World Cup skiers?

In general, World Cup skier ages tend to center around 25-26.  These distributions all have a slight right skew, which just means there tend to be some more unusually large values (i.e. older skiers).

So far, this isn’t surprising at all, it’s about what we’d expect.  The one interesting thing that does pop up is the slight trend toward older skiers in recent seasons.  As we move forward through time, the distributions move (slightly) to the right, and you can notice that the darker colored curves (recent) tend to be above the lighter curves (less recent) for the older skiers.

So it would appear that (within this time frame, at least) World Cup skiers have become slightly older.

Related posts:

1. <How Well Prepared Are World Cup Rookies? (Part 1a: Distance)
2. <How Well Prepared Are World Cup Rookies? (Part 1b: Distance)
3. <How Well Prepared Are World Cup Rookies? (Part 2a: Sprint)

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