FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Training 8/6 – 8/12 = recovery week!

    Our current week of training (7/30 – 8/5) is focused on high-volume training to build endurance.  After a big week of training, we will follow-up with a recovery week. The recovery week allows the body to ‘absorb’ or super-compensate for the prior training load. If we keep training and training and training, eventually the body just gets tired and breaks down. But if we pair a training stimulus with a period of recovery, the body will get stronger.

    Training 8/6 – 8/12:

    • Monday 8:30 – 10:30am at the Range. Classic roll with striders.
    • Wednesday 8:30 – 10:30am at the Round Church (Richmond). Classic roll with double-pole test. The double-pole test is approximately 3-7 minutes of max effort going up a big hill. It is mostly a test of specific-strength.
    • Thursday 5:00 – 7:00pm at the Range. Skate rollerski with technique work.
    • Saturday 9:00 – 11:00am at Bear Trap Road in Milton. Long classic rollerski. We’ll have a BBQ and swim afterwards!

  • Strength Day

    Today was our last day in Ramsau. Tomorrow we drive to Oberhof, Germany for 6 days of skiing in the tunnel.

    This morning I did two hours of double pole only on the glacier. It was a tough workout and my abdominal muscles were a bit tired at the end. I don’t have any photos from this morning.

    This afternoon I had an hour run then strength. Doing strength in different gyms can be challenging because they don’t always have the equipment I need to do my program. Today I had to make my own speed ladder:

    And here I am using it:

    Lastly, here’s some video from the bounding workout yesterday.

  • Summertime in Craftsbury

    I’m sitting in the Burlington terminal waiting to start my trans-Atlantic trip to Sweden but currently looking out over the Green Mountains and reflecting on the summer in Vermont.  This has been my longest block of training in Craftsbury in quite some time and it was awesome!  While I love being on the road there is definitely something to be said for the quality of training at home.  And with all the new GRP team members we’ve had a great training group.  Here are some highlights of Craftsbury summertime.

    It has been a hot summer! If the heat and humidity from the past couple months haven't been enough evidence for the deleterious effects of climate change, read this: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719. Luckily there is plenty of water around Craftsbury and I can think of only a few days when I didn't swim. On one particularly hot afternoon I planned my afternoon distance run to hit three different swimming stops. Here is Big Hosmer from the Hosmer Point waterfront

    It has been a hot summer! If the heat and humidity from the past couple months haven't been enough evidence for the deleterious effects of climate change, read this: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719. Luckily there is plenty of water around Craftsbury and I can think of only a few days when I didn't swim. On one particularly hot afternoon I planned my afternoon distance run to hit three different swimming stops. Here is Big Hosmer from the Hosmer Point waterfront

    The start of the Black River Beatdown 15km. With lots of single track, swamp sections where I sunk in almost to my waist, and wasp nests, the race lived up to its name!

    The start of the Black River Beatdown 15km. With lots of single track, swamp sections where I sunk in almost to my waist, and wasp nests, the race lived up to its name!

    4th of July biathlon training?

    4th of July biathlon training?

    We have been doing lots of rollerskiing! This is the end of a particular 4 hour and 43 mile rollerski from Craftsbury to Willoughby Lake.

    We have been doing lots of rollerskiing! This is the end of a particular 4 hour and 43 mile rollerski from Craftsbury to Willoughby Lake.

    I left the Kingdom for a weekend backpacking trip in the Whites. Here's the view from Bond Cliff

    I left the Kingdom for a weekend backpacking trip in the Whites. Here's the view from Bond Cliff

    Our garden is loving the hot weather and we are barely keeping up with all the produce (and the weeds). It's exciting to harvest veggies and then eat them later in the day as part of the Center's delicious meals.

    Our garden is loving the hot weather and we are barely keeping up with all the produce (and the weeds). It's exciting to harvest veggies and then eat them later in the day as part of the Center's delicious meals.

    Blueberry season is also in full swing. Last week we picked 82 lbs one day and close to 60 another day.

    Blueberry season is also in full swing. Last week we picked 82 lbs one day and close to 60 another day.

    Off to women's team camp. Can you tell? I'm super excited for the opportunity to train with my USST teammates and the Swedish National team!

    Off to women's team camp. Can you tell? I'm super excited for the opportunity to train with my USST teammates and the Swedish National team!

  • How Did Kikkan Randall’s 2012 Sprint Season Compare?

    Kikkan Randall, the reigning women’s World Cup sprint champion, obviously had a pretty darn good season last year. How does it stack up against some of the best sprint seasons put together since 2005-2006?

    The first thing that stood out to me is that if you rank the best women’s sprint seasons, Randall participated in more races that is typical. If you rank the seasons by the proportion times the athlete wins, reaches the podium, reaches the finals, etc. It turns out that of the 50 best women’s seasons, the average number of sprint races done is about 9. Kikkan raced in 13 World Cup sprints last season. If you can hack it that’s a good strategy, of course, since the World Cup title is based on total points accumulated.

    But it also explains why by some measures, Randall’s 2012 season wasn’t as good as her 2011 season. (Which is kind of crazy, I know, but bear with me…)

    She won a slightly smaller proportion of the sprint races she entered (0.154 vs 0.2) and she reached the podium in a slightly smaller proportion as well (0.385 vs. 0.4). So doing more races hurt her in this particular measure by “increasing the denominator”, but on the other hand, she reached the semifinals in all 13 races she entered, which helps to rack of the points.

    In fact, only three other women with at least 8 sprint races in a season have managed to reach the semifinals each time: Virpi Kuitunen (2006-2007), Patre Majdic (2008-2009) and of course Marit Bjoergen (2009-2010, 2010-2011). Interestingly, Randall’s season was noticeably less dominant than the ones I just listed; they typically involved double or even triple the proportion of wins or podiums. That sort of reinforces to me that the key element in Randall’s ability to win the World Cup sprint title was her ability to do more races and do well enough in each one.

    Interestingly, this pattern holds even when you look only at the freestyle races. Once again, her 2010-2011 campaign was very slightly better, when you measure the number of results as a proportion of freestyle sprints done. She did 7 freestyle sprints last year, and 6 the year before, so the difference in proportions here is really only the result of one race. For my money, the best single season freestyle sprinting campaign for women would be a toss-up between Petra Majdic and Arianna Follis, both in 2008-2009 ironically. They both did 8 freestyle sprints and the two of them won nearly all of them. Both were always in the semis, Follis reached the finals in all 8 while Majdic had more overall wins.

    Related posts:

    1. <How’d We Do? USA/CAN Season Review 4
    2. <Career Retrospective: Petra Majdic
    3. <Can Kikkan Randall Win The Sprint WC Title?


  • Cross Training

    6-31-12
    Mary Beth reports:
    Had an amazing day of cross training yesterday! My son, Will and I climbed half dome in Yosemite. We started by moonlight and finished about 9 1/2 hours later. I think we’ll take an easy day today.

  • Fun Video From Andy and Jessie’s NYC Visit

    To see a cool video that our title sponsor T2 put out on the YMCA clinic that Andy and Jessie gave, click HERE.

  • Der Dachstein – Report from Eric

    Andy and I have been in Ramsau, Austria for the past few days representing SMS T2 at the USST men’s training camp. The skiing has been remarkably good with great spring skiing conditions.  The first few days were overcast, but yesterday the clouds began to clear and today we got some great skiing in the sun.  Here are a bunch of photos from the past two days.

    The nordic track up on the Dachstein Glacier at 8500 feet.
    Group skiing yesterday above some amazing scenery.  From left to right: Noah, Andy, Eric, and Simi  (Grover photo).
    Noah. Two hours in on a three hour ski.
    Andy, Noah, and Simi stride it out  (Grover photo).
    The glacier today.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.
    Because of the high altitude, the focus on the glacier has been easy distance (Grover photo).
    Teamwork on a two hour skate.

    Andy representing with his SMS T2 suit.
    Great spring skiing conditions.

    The glacier is accessed via tram.  Skiing in toward the lodge/tram building  (Grover photo).   

    Andy and tram.

    Trying to keep the hips high and forward.

    Perfect synchronicity  (Grover photo).

    This afternoon we went out for a one-hour continuous L3-L4 bounding workout down in town.  Noah found an incredibly hilly 6-minute loop at the ski jump complex.  We did 10 laps.
    The group early on.  (Grover photo).

    Lap 8 or 9.  (Grover photo).

    Simi swimming in the pond to cool down after the workout.

     Tomorrow is our last day on the glacier before heading to the ski tunnel in Oberhof.  Thanks for reading!

  • Ramsau Life

    We had an hour and forty five minute skate ski on the glacier this morning. It was another gorgeous day. After the ski we did a little photo shoot. We all tried to ski in synch. It took a couple of tries but we finally got it.

    From front to back: Andy Newell, Noah Hoffman, Tad Elliott, Eric Packer, and Simi Hamilton.

    This afternoon we did a hard bounding (skiing imitation, more or less running with poles) workout. We had a 6 minute loop with three hills. The first hill is 1:40, the second hill is 35 seconds, and the last hill takes 45 seconds. We bound the hills and run the flats and downs. We did 10 laps.

    It was great to have the whole team doing intensity together with me (in white), Eric (next to me), Newell (next to Eric), Tad (in blue), and Simi.

    Here is Sim bounding:

    This camp has been the best we’ve ever done in training together as a group. It’s been great and I think it’s really beneficial.

    Also, today, August 1st, is my 23rd birthday. Monique made me an incredible Oreo cake.

    And the restaurant here at the Kobaldhof made me a huge chocolate cake.

    U.S. Ski Team coach Jason Cork (left) and Simi were impressed with the cake and the sparkler on top.

    Thanks to my teammates and friends for making it a great birthday!

  • Kobaldhof

    Eric Packer took this really nice picture of me on the glacier today:

    The hotel we are staying at this camp is incredible. It makes our lives fun and easy, and it allows us to focus on training.

    Tad Elliott and I are staying in a comfortable room with a bed and living area.

    Simi Hamilton and Eric chose to separate their beds because they didn’t want to sleep next to each other.

    There are some great views from our deck.

    And in the other direction:

    And the 10 holes of golf make for a great middle-of-the-day activity.

     

  • 7/31 DP Test

    Alex Cobb leads the team as the first starter this morning in the DP test.  
    This morning we did the double pole test for the first time in a month and a half.  As you can see from the pictures, it was a little misty out this morning, but quickly warming up and clearing as the morning went on.   As always, all rollerskis are different and ski speeds can vary greatly.  Don’t put too much stock into comparing athlete to athlete – it’s best to compare each athlete against their previous times, providing they’re using the same skis.  Nice job to everyone on a solid test!

    Results:
    Austin – 4:03
    Magnus – 4:12
    Paddy – 4:12
    Koby – 4:15
    Gino – 4:16
    Calvin – 4:22
    Sophie – 4:31
    Liz – 4:44
    Erika – 4:47
    Megan – 4:54
    Anya – 4:57
    Keely- 4:58
    Kenzie – 5:13
    Chloe – 5:25
    Pip – 6:07
    Tess – 6:15
    Alex – 6:16
    Helena – 6:19

    June ’12 test results
    November ’11 test results
    October ’11 and earlier test results

     Helena.
     Pip.
     Mackenzie.
     Tess.
     Liz.
     Chloe.
     Keely.
     Megan.
     Anya.
     Erika.
     Sophie.  [Apologies to Koby – I missed you right after Sophie, too fast for the camera!]
     Calvin.
     Gino.
     Magnus.
     Austin.
     Paddy.
     Cooling down with some chit chat. 
     A few minutes later, Mama Bear headed across the road towards school…
    …followed by her two cubs!  
     Time for some specific strength!  Austin, Anya, Paddy, & Calvin single stick the DP test course.
     Gino & Koby.
     Erika.
     Liz.
     Megan & Sophie.
     Alex & Helena, getting TOUGH! 
     A few uphill speeds – Keely, Megan, & Sophie.
     Erika.
     Liz.
     Chloe & Kenz.

    Megan & Sophie.
    Paddy, Austin, & Magnus. 
    Gino, Koby, & Calvin.
     Tess & Pip.
     The boys go at it in one big wave…
     Whew!  Last uphill sprint.  
    Gus helped time the DP test and & worked with Jessie and Gordon Vermeer (Craftsbury GRP).

  • Tour de France: Average Stage Speed

    A few notes about this data. The website that I scrape these results from isn’t, shall we say, the most consistent when it comes to the spelling of athlete names, or even their teams. That can make it difficult to slice the data along those dimensions, since it requires a fair bit of work adjusting and fixing things by hand.

    I think I tracked down all the abnormalities, but you never know…

    In any case, here’s a look at the average speed for each stage for recent Tours. The blue line is the average speed of the median rider, and the shaded region represents the (approximate) range of average speeds for the entire peloton.

    I’m still suspicious of how large the range of speeds is for a handful of stages. In particular the prologue in 2010 and Stage 2 in 2011, but I’d have to spend a lot more time pouring over the data to be sure.

    Related posts:

    1. <Tour de France Bump Plot: Stage 12
    2. <Tour de France Bumps Chart: Stage 14
    3. <Tour de France Charts: Stage 17


  • "Save the Baby King" and more biathlon

    This past Friday, Coach Erin Mallory lead a bonus workout called “Save the Baby King Adventure Race”. This workout comes from the coaches out at Sun Valley SEF. Fifteen athletes showed up to Colchester high school for an event that is part brains and part brawn! The event included building shelter, searching for food, and a tractor-tire rolling component. From the reviews I heard, everyone had a great time.

    Today we were back at the Range for a skate rollerski and more shooting with Algis Shalna, John Madigon, and Lanny and Tracy Barnes. It was a hot day so everybody was happy to take a few minutes respite to shoot. Feedback from our all-star biathlon coaches was that the girls once again out-shot the boys in terms of accuracy! We must have some Annie Oakleys. Thanks to the biathlon coaches for the opportunity. Tracy and Lanny Barnes have been two of the top biathletes in the country for the past 6-8 years. They’ve both raced in World Cups, finishing as high as 15th place! So we are lucky to have that kind of exposure to high-level athletes.

    Tomorrow we have another bonus training up in Jeffersonville along Route 109 and Hogback Road. One of the most important factors in ski training (as in life) is consistency. We’ve had a group of 15-20 athletes that are training 3-4 days/week this summer. Now we’re adding some bonus training and the athletes are able to get together as much as 5 days/wk. It is plain to see the forward progress of many of these athletes. While we still have road rash to clean nearly every day, the crew keeps pushing their comfort zone and improving.

    On the horizon, we’ve got a big Camel’s Hump hike planned for this coming Saturday, and we are going to have a rollerski and BBQ up in Milton the following Saturday! Stay tuned for more info about the BBQ.

    And now, the pictures:

    Preparing to save the King

    Foraging for food

    Louis, Jordan and Leslie on the trails

    Griffin and Ethan making shelter

    Nordic ski training = the original crossFit !!

    That thing looks heavy!

    Ethan John assisting Charlie Cobb as he swings across the moat

    Emma narrowly escapes the fire-breathing dragons

    Charlie, Ethan and Tatum all smiles. Long live the baby King Arthur Flour!

    The eventual winners: Sam, Liam and Sienna. Liam is heading to St. Olaf and Sienna is heading to St Lawrence this fall.

    And pictures from today:

    Abby Grab from the BKL showing good form!
    Looking south towards Smugg’s

    John and Algis give the safety instructions

    Claire working on skate technique

    Destyni practicing V2

    Alice leads Leslie and Molly

    Sienna, Emma, Amy, Autumn and Lucy

    Gals get the safety briefing

    No-pole skate warmup

    Kayla demonstrates great progress in just 6 weeks of rollerskiing

    Nathanael and Patrick goofing around, while climbing a big hill

    BKL member Olivia Cuneo getting great ankle flex

    Coach Paul Allison demonstrates a drill

    Lanny Barnes oversees Bill Harmeyer shooting

    Nice swimming hole

    Will Kay working on his cornering

  • Speed Workout BMD

    This was a great session.  We had the entire pipeline from little J4’s all the way to a Caldwell, Diggins, Mooney, Newell, Davis, Packer, Hamilton, (plus tons of junior and college top dogs) sprint final!

    vid footage below, high quailty version and more vids: HERE

  • It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll !

    Summer has been trucking along ! It seems like just the other day that we started our summer session and now it is almost over…….. We have been working hard and have been traveling to camps near and far. Most of the group is back in town and we had a hard session last week.  Here is a short video of our session.

    Also here: http://youtu.be/o7rWV6msL94
    We have about 3 weeks until fall sports start practicing and our college skiers head back to campus. Time to really put the hammer down !

  • Training

    Foggy day on the glacier. There was maybe 15 or 20 feet of visibility for the whole ski. Simi, Tad, and I skied together for a 2 hour skate.

    Here is Simi getting a lactate test in the middle of the ski. For distance sessions, we like our lactates to be around 1mmol. However, it’s hard to keep it that low on the glacier. Yesterday I was at 1.8mmol and today I was at 1.1mmol.

    We took a grocery run to town in the middle of the day and saw this sweet BMW. The body was 100% carbon fiber:

    My U.S. Ski Team teammate Andy Newell arrived today. Here is Newell during our afternoon strength session doing a little max bench press, being spotted by Eric Packer (He had more than just the 25kg plates on the bar):

    And here I am doing a much less impressive glute exercise:

  • Adventure Camp

    Enjoyed a fun and action packed week helping coach at Loppet Adventure Camp.  Thanks to the Loppet Foundation for making it possible for 12 Boys and Girls Club kids to enjoy the experiences of mountain biking, roller skiing, capture the flag, hiking, canoeing, orientierin, ultimate frisbeee, and more.  

    Eric and Kendal visiting Nesse the monster in Wirth Lake

    Working on the basics with just one ski.  It is amazing to watch these young athletes learn.  The first day on skis was pretty ugly but by the end of the week the kids were full on skiing.  We had some impressive times in our roller ski race.

    Concept 2 Ski Erg contest turned a rainy day into a fun one.

  • Adventure Camp

    One of the highlights of my summer has been taking a van full of kids from the Boys and Girls Club to Wirth Park for Loppet Adventure Camp.  The City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation made this partnership possible.  The logistics weren’t easy but with a bike, running shoes, and one van we were able to make it all happen.

    Adventure Camp is a full and active day.  With temperatures in the 90s we enjoyed visiting the well for a nice cold drink.

    Eric and Kendal visiting Nesse the (friendly) monster in Wirth Lake.

    Working on the basics on Day 1 of roller skiing.
    It is incredible to watch how fast these young athletes learn.  The first day was pretty ugly and frustrating for most, but by the end of the week the kids were full on skiing.  Fun to watch the struggle and triumph.  At the end of the week we held a roller ski race and some impressive times were posted. Competition is even more fun when we can compare ourselves to the best athletes in the world contesting in London.

    The Concept 2 Ski Erg turned a rainy day into a fun day.  Plus it was fun to see how much power your arms can generate, yes they aren’t just for balance.

    Getting the hang of things and able to ski down the big hill, but taking a quick break before heading back up.

  • Tour Of Southern VT (stage 3)

    After a 2 day break for weather and the 5 km running race, we finished our Tour with a very hilly 50 mile bike ride this morning.
    We started by biking from school out through the town of Stratton.
    Heading up the hill into town.
    The Levins girls.
    The boys took off at a good pace and we broke into smaller groups for the ride.
    From Stratton, we headed down through Wardsboro and to rte 30. The smart groups took a feed here before the big climb up Windham hill.
    All smiles after the 10 mile downhill :).
    The lead group poses on top of Windham Hill.
    Mollie (aka hammerhead) storms over the hill.
    Are we there yet?
    We made some good gains in learning about drafting.
    Liz, Pip and Alex on their way up the access road.
    Austin, Cam and David get ready for their final sprint.
    Ahhhh..the cookout!

    Liz flips some burgers before giving way to grillmaster, Jim Levins.
    No flats, no crashes…a good way to finish up a big week of training!
    Thanks to Lilly for driving the van and taking pictures.

  • USST Camp Starts

    Some of my U.S. Ski Team (USST) teammates, Tad Elliott and Simi Hamilton arrived here in Ramsau yesterday afternoon. Also here are Stratton Mountain School skier Eric Packer and USST coaches Chris Grover and Jason Cork. It’s good to have everybody here.

    Packer is psyched to be here!

    And Tad is as well.

    Cool light on the glacier today with all sorts of different weather during our ski.

    This afternoon we played a little golf here at our hotel.

    Tad plays quite a bit and is pretty good.

    Simi, Monique and I need a little more practice. Luckily, we played best ball so it didn’t take us all day to make it around the course.

    Here’s one more cool shot of the mountains around Ramsau:

    Lastly, Jason took some video of the skiing this morning.

  • Foster Fest

    Ethan and Kelly got married on Friday and they had a party to celebrate yesterday. There were 4-5 bands, a pig roast and some great dancers (above).
    Special guest, Andy Newell, started the afternoon off on a good note.
    Bride and groom.

    Ethan was at SMS with Andy and Gus. They were part of an awesome team that had 3 different skiers place in the top 6 at World Jr. Championships.
    Congratulations to Ethan and Kelly!