FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Biathlon and Cross Country Volatility Trends

    A commenter asked about whether I could take the data from this post and look at trends over time.  The answer, of course, if yes!

    The statistic of interest here is median absolute deviation (MAD), which is a measure of variability.  In this case, we’re calculating a MAD value for each skier and each season on their percent back results.  So each skier get a MAD value for each season they compete in that measures how variable their results were.

    In my previous post, I just compared the distributions of these values for XC and biathlon skiers, showing of course that biathletes’ results are considerably more variable.  My commenter wanted to know if these values have changed much over time.

    What I actually did is to plot some quantiles of each distribution over time, and extended the time frame back to 1992 or so.  What this means is that each line represents the trend for a particular quantile over time.  For instance, the middle line for both XC and biathlon represents the median, or 50% quantile.  The quantiles plotted are 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% (10% is the bottom line, 90% is the top line).

    Graph below the fold:

    Obviously, these values do bounce around a bit from year to year.  However, I’d say that for the most part they’ve remained fairly stable.  It looks to me like the XC men might be seeing a slight decline is variability over the last 4-5 seasons, and conversely the women may be seeing a slight increase.  These changes are very minor, though.

    Related posts:

    1. <Trends In US Skiing Performance: Distance
    2. <Athlete Profile: Tim Burke
    3. <Biathlon Shooting Accuracy


  • Appalachian Gap bike + Appalachian Gap double-pole

    The team is currently in a volume portion of the training cycle, with an increase in rollerskiing, and we are maintaining fairly high intensity this week.br /br /Monday PM: Skate ski , “Valley Loop” backwards = a hilly 20-29km.br /br /Tuesday AM: bike. Hans, Devlin, Jackson and I rode from campus up and over App Gap (Cat 2 climb, 1600′ vert) and down to Bristol. The J1 gals rode the Valley Loop again. Breezy + chilly. But still warm enough for shorts!br /br /Tuesday PM: App Gap Double-Pole. Started on East Warren Road in the sunshine and surrounded by some of the best Maple foliage I’ve seen this Fall. 20-minutes later it the sun was setting and the asphalt was wicked hard — almost too hard to get traction. Girls DP’ed up to Mad River Glen, and then strided. Boys made it the whole way, lead by Ryley Walker Texas Ranger. For Jackson, Devlin and Hans, it was their 2nd time atop App Gap in one day — biking + double-pole. That is one helluva day’s work.br /br /Today we’ll use the Sugarbush ski area for some long L3 ski-walking repeats. Run + strength Thursday, hard running intervals on the track on Friday, and an OD roll on Saturday.br /br /Pictures of the foliage coming soon!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1847564486460994594-4474172828440664503?l=gmvsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Salomon Founder, Georges Salomon Passes Away

  • NY Livin’

    It’s coming in on almost a week now that I’ve been training in Lake Placid with the USST’s last dryland camp of the year.  Things started off big last Friday with the Whiteface Hillclimb, a brutal reminder of how much rollerskiing in general sucks and also 45 minute uphills on bumpy pavement against 50mph headwinds.  All things considered though, this was the third year I’ve done the race and it was the best weather and the best I’ve felt by far.  It was great to be on top of Whiteface and actually get to check out the ‘360 degree panoramic views’ they advertise for the Climb to the Castle.  We had the whole Craftsbury crew over here for that including Mama Pepa, so it was nice to have our whole team get in on a race like this with high national competition.

    Since then, it’s been a speed workout, a day off, and two more days of really hard intervals with the USST and their NEG/NTG squads.  Yesterday we had tough V1 max skate intervals up Schaeffer Rd. in Keene with shuttles bringing 30+ rollerskiers down in between sets of intervals.  It was quite a scene on that hill but fortunately the traffic was low and all the drivers more awed than annoyed with what was going on.

    Tim, Pat and Sylvan just a little tired at the end of the workout.

    Tim, Pat and Sylvan just a little tired at the end of the workout.

    Today was 6×4 minutes of vo2max bounding intervals up Whiteface.  It was a tough workout and everyone here is definitely looking forward to an easy day tomorrow before rolling in to two more days of big speed with a prologue and a sprint time trial.

    Tim, Sylvan, Dylan and Pat charging on our 4th interval today.

    Tim, Sylvan, Dylan and Pat charging on our 4th interval today.

  • Race Week Ends Well

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLUCAxm6AzI/AAAAAAAAEw8/cO1pwNdPRKc/s1600/IMG_8765.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 182px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLUCAxm6AzI/AAAAAAAAEw8/cO1pwNdPRKc/s400/IMG_8765.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527326330006930226″ //aWe finished our “race week” with an early morning classic ski (with relay races) and a 5 km running race in Brattleboro. This was the fourth race in 7 days and everyone was feeling tired, but they all got it together for the race and ran very well. Everyone made improvements from their race times on the same course 3 weeks ago so it was a happy van ride home.br /While the runners were racing, Nick, Charlie and Austin did a nice 2 hr bike ride with natural intervals. They biked from Bellows falls to Brattleboro and arrived in time to cheer on the girls.br /Heather and Skyler are at the NEG camp in Lake Placid so we will try to get an update from there soon!br /The only bummer for news is that Bridger has been diagnosed with pneumonia. He came out to cheer everyone on today (his house is next door to the race course) and he should be back in school tomorrow.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLUBkbOZfzI/AAAAAAAAEw0/GBv2HMl2i3k/s1600/IMG_8748.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/TLUBkbOZfzI/AAAAAAAAEw0/GBv2HMl2i3k/s400/IMG_8748.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527325842962218802″ //aRetro?br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLUBFXpVmzI/AAAAAAAAEws/ztRwip8Q8DQ/s1600/IMG_8764.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/TLUBFXpVmzI/AAAAAAAAEws/ztRwip8Q8DQ/s400/IMG_8764.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527325309425523506″ //aTyler (and Mac) held off Rachel (and Paddy) for the win in the no pole relay race.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLUAZPV5rXI/AAAAAAAAEwk/e2xpDQ0-zLc/s1600/IMG_8769.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/TLUAZPV5rXI/AAAAAAAAEwk/e2xpDQ0-zLc/s400/IMG_8769.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527324551282273650″ //aPaddy ran a great race, knocking 27 seconds off of the Brattleboro course record. Jacob Ellis, Brattleboro boy pictured with Paddy, ran even better and won by 1 second. Congratulations to them both!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLT_0CWTHoI/AAAAAAAAEwc/1k-NCQMpwPQ/s1600/IMG_8770.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/TLT_0CWTHoI/AAAAAAAAEwc/1k-NCQMpwPQ/s400/IMG_8770.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527323912139120258″ //aTyler ran his patented race today, starting conservatively and then passing 10 runners on the second lap to finish 12th.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLT-7RrbbDI/AAAAAAAAEwU/1vtrfAliC-U/s1600/IMG_8774.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/TLT-7RrbbDI/AAAAAAAAEwU/1vtrfAliC-U/s400/IMG_8774.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527322937001733170″ //aMac is starting to figure out the racing, he knocked 1:40 off of his time from 3 weeks ago.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLT95g7-SgI/AAAAAAAAEwM/Wwd_sOUGbBQ/s1600/IMG_8798.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/TLT95g7-SgI/AAAAAAAAEwM/Wwd_sOUGbBQ/s400/IMG_8798.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527321807226292738″ //aRachel and Issy were 10,11 after 200 meters, but they reeled everyone in and pulled away from their last competitor on the final climb to finish 1,2. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLT9UiLgpwI/AAAAAAAAEwE/pYApsb6zbrM/s1600/IMG_8803.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/TLT9UiLgpwI/AAAAAAAAEwE/pYApsb6zbrM/s400/IMG_8803.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527321171904734978″ //aCam got nipped at the line, but still raced well and placed 5th.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLT80wMsefI/AAAAAAAAEv8/rJ7VVupgKlY/s1600/IMG_8786.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/TLT80wMsefI/AAAAAAAAEv8/rJ7VVupgKlY/s400/IMG_8786.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527320625911986674″ //aHallie (7th) and Pheobe (10th) ran well and helped the girls team to a comfortable win.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLT8Mb5fS5I/AAAAAAAAEv0/VbaytGrPj1k/s1600/IMG_8797.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/TLT8Mb5fS5I/AAAAAAAAEv0/VbaytGrPj1k/s400/IMG_8797.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527319933267954578″ //abr /Brooke ran well and knocked 1:30 off her course PR.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-548582968064512215?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Fall Camp – The Ski Visits the Birkie Trail

    divDave writes:br /br /We took The Ski up to the Birkie trail recently as part of Vakava’s annual fall training camp – we figured that it deserved a trip to the Holy Land after being liberated from the dark clutches of Peter’s Cheaters. (For those of you who aren’t quite up to date on this, The Ski is the trophy from the team competition of the Minnesota Skinnyski Series – it’s been going back and forth between Vakava and Peter’s collection of mercenaries, and the 2010 competition saw The Ski come back to its rightful owners, namely us.)br //divimg style=”TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 201px; CURSOR: hand” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527355491656614178″ border=”0″ alt=”” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hvZteNu0E40/TLUciNN_QSI/AAAAAAAAAKs/onzSlO2oGYg/s320/2010VakavaFallCamp.JPG” /br /Vakava has been doing a fall camp in the Hayward area since 2004, and we’ve done it in the sun, the rain, and even a dusting of snow, with weather ranging from lousy to beautiful. This one would have to be rated spectacular – gorgeous fall foliage, sunny, no wind, and perfect roller ski temperatures. The cold weather can hold off for another month – I’m still enjoying the Indian summer.br /br /We pole-hiked the Birkie trail Friday afternoon, roller skied (classic intervals and video-recording) near OO Saturday morning, roller skied some more (including a bunch of specific strength and sprints) Saturday afternoon, and then did our 50K skate (with fast pickups) Sunday morning. The 50K in particular was under perfect conditions – roller skiing from Cable to Drummond and back on beautiful, winding, rolling roads through the north woods – kind of like the Birkie trail but on roller skis.br /br /Then after the hard work, it was time to relax, watch ski videos, eat great food (thanks again, Michele), drink great beer (including home-brew from Angie and Kevin), and, of course, enjoy great company with the Vakava Team. All together, a big, excellent weekend, with lots of good training and lots of fun.br /br /Now, we have our next set of roller ski time trials this coming week; we’re gradually bumping up the intensity and specificity of our training; and it won’t be long before the snow flies and we’re out skiing on the real stuff.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-3168774299430413038?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • The Pyramid

    Brought back from Afghanistan a simple full body punishing workout.

    Currently I am doing this one time per week to remind myself of Afghanistan.
    Unfortunately although it still is done mostly at O’Dark hundred the 80degree heat and wafting acrid fumes from the open pit burning are missing.
    In Afghanistan I started doing this with a very tough Navy Seal Captain and his cadre. we would do a short 6 mile warm up then drag some rubber mats outside of the workout tent. We had three stations Pull-Up Bar, Push-Up Mat, And 95lb Bar.
    The Workout is simple do a pyramid in a ratio of Clean/press or Snatch 95lb;pull ups;push ups of 1:1:2 start at 1 rep go to 10 and back down to 1.
    One ends up with 100 Snatches and Pull ups 200 push ups.
    Then you have to do the Master Set of Pull Ups if you don’t do 20 your are deficient.

  • The Pyramid

    Brought back from Afghanistan a simple full body punishing workout.

    Currently I am doing this one time per week to remind myself of Afghanistan.
    Unfortunately although it still is done mostly at O’Dark hundred the 80degree heat and wafting acrid fumes from the open pit burning are missing.
    In Afghanistan I started doing this with a very tough Navy Seal Captain and his cadre. we would do a short 6 mile warm up then drag some rubber mats outside of the workout tent. We had three stations Pull-Up Bar, Push-Up Mat, And 95lb Bar.
    The Workout is simple do a pyramid in a ratio of Clean/press or Snatch 95lb;pull ups;push ups of 1:1:2 start at 1 rep go to 10 and back down to 1.
    One ends up with 100 Snatches and Pull ups 200 push ups.
    Then you have to do the Master Set of Pull Ups if you don’t do 20 your are deficient.

  • The Pyramid

    Brought back from Afghanistan a simple full body punishing workout.

    Currently I am doing this one time per week to remind myself of Afghanistan.
    Unfortunately although it still is done mostly at O’Dark hundred the 80degree heat and wafting acrid fumes from the open pit burning are missing.
    In Afghanistan I started doing this with a very tough Navy Seal Captain and his cadre. we would do a short 6 mile warm up then drag some rubber mats outside of the workout tent. We had three stations Pull-Up Bar, Push-Up Mat, And 95lb Bar.
    The Workout is simple do a pyramid in a ratio of Clean/press or Snatch 95lb;pull ups;push ups of 1:1:2 start at 1 rep go to 10 and back down to 1.
    One ends up with 100 Snatches and Pull ups 200 push ups.
    Then you have to do the Master Set of Pull Ups if you don’t do 20 your are deficient.

  • The Pyramid

    Brought back from Afghanistan a simple full body punishing workout.

    Currently I am doing this one time per week to remind myself of Afghanistan.
    Unfortunately although it still is done mostly at O’Dark hundred the 80degree heat and wafting acrid fumes from the open pit burning are missing.
    In Afghanistan I started doing this with a very tough Navy Seal Captain and his cadre. we would do a short 6 mile warm up then drag some rubber mats outside of the workout tent. We had three stations Pull-Up Bar, Push-Up Mat, And 95lb Bar.
    The Workout is simple do a pyramid in a ratio of Clean/press or Snatch 95lb;pull ups;push ups of 1:1:2 start at 1 rep go to 10 and back down to 1.
    One ends up with 100 Snatches and Pull ups 200 push ups.
    Then you have to do the Master Set of Pull Ups if you don’t do 20 your are deficient.

  • The Pyramid

    Brought back from Afghanistan a simple full body punishing workout.

    Currently I am doing this one time per week to remind myself of Afghanistan.
    Unfortunately although it still is done mostly at O’Dark hundred the 80degree heat and wafting acrid fumes from the open pit burning are missing.
    In Afghanistan I started doing this with a very tough Navy Seal Captain and his cadre. we would do a short 6 mile warm up then drag some rubber mats outside of the workout tent. We had three stations Pull-Up Bar, Push-Up Mat, And 95lb Bar.
    The Workout is simple do a pyramid in a ratio of Clean/press or Snatch 95lb;pull ups;push ups of 1:1:2 start at 1 rep go to 10 and back down to 1.
    One ends up with 100 Snatches and Pull ups 200 push ups.
    Then you have to do the Master Set of Pull Ups if you don’t do 20 your are deficient.

  • When Vakava Women Take Time Off from Ski Training

  • Road Work on My Roller Ski Trail!

  • 350!

    Yesterday was 10/10/10, and the date of a “global work party” for climate change, organized by 350.org. The idea was for people all over the world to do something productive to help negate climate change, while at the same time raising further awareness of the idea of 350–that is that 350 parts per million is the safe amount of carbon dioxide for us to have in the atmosphere, a number which we have already surpassed.  Yesterday those of us who were in Craftsbury joined up with a Sterling College work party and helped rake and move LOTS of leaves to the common, where we shaped them into a giant 350, before moving them to be mulch on their gardens.  We got to pay in the huge pile of leaves first though, which was lots of fun!!  This is what it looked like:

    Sterling College photo

    Sterling College photo

  • Snow ON THE WAY!

    div style=”text-align: center;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNThyDypQI/AAAAAAAAAb8/di7vJrGN0XQ/s1600/DSC06001.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNThyDypQI/AAAAAAAAAb8/di7vJrGN0XQ/s320/DSC06001.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526853007552193794″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Hiking above Anchorage/span/divFor the past couple of weeks we have been in our transition stage here in Anchorage, where its cold enough to snow, but it just isn’t quite ready yet. We have made bets on our team when there is going to be enough snow to ski up at Hatchers Pass, and I have my money on Saturday. The precipitation is coming, and the temperatures are low enough… so its on its way! divdivbr //divdiva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNVhpQOeBI/AAAAAAAAAck/sIWgyAQH8sU/s1600/DSC06017.JPG”img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNVhpQOeBI/AAAAAAAAAck/sIWgyAQH8sU/s320/DSC06017.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526855204211685394″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 177px; ” //a/divdivI suffered from a knee injury all summer that stuck around and continued to cause problems throughout the early part of the fall. Skate skiing is finally back to 100%, so I have been putting in some hard uphill skate intervals, trying to get the legs back in the grove of skating. I haven’t felt the skating butt burn in a while, so I have been loving every minute of the intervals lately.! Running was also causing lots of issues, so one day when I was super excited I started mindlessly skipping down the road. After a couple of minutes, I started thinking and realized it wasn’t hurting my knee. So the past month and a half I have taken up skipping… which gets lots of funny reactions when I am passing people.! Especially when I am out on the trails, because not only am I skipping, but I am also singing to warn the bears I am coming. Let me tell you, it is a sight to see. Fortunately, I have been able to shift back to running- so I am not making such a scene trekking through the woods./divdivbr //divdiva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUn0KuvhI/AAAAAAAAAcU/CANWu-XrblU/s1600/DSC06015.JPG”img src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUn0KuvhI/AAAAAAAAAcU/CANWu-XrblU/s320/DSC06015.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526854210709011986″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //a/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Sweet view of Anchorage- Ky Eiben has MAD hops!/span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”br //span/divdivAPU has this weekly workout that we run/ski-bound 1 hour uphill from a ski area down in town up to the mountains. The gas line trail cuts right through “bear country” central, so every 1 hr. pass up this trail I am counting my blessings for making it up without being chomped. As I get over my bear fears, this has become one of my favorite training workouts of the year. You just turn you engine on, and brain off- similar to racing./divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNT5ZPjTkI/AAAAAAAAAcE/zJAr_eFdNms/s1600/DSC06009.JPG”img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNT5ZPjTkI/AAAAAAAAAcE/zJAr_eFdNms/s320/DSC06009.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526853413207494210″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Making it to snow yesterday!/span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”br //span/diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUI1WzWGI/AAAAAAAAAcM/CxfzwLMiAP0/s1600/DSC06010.JPG”img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUI1WzWGI/AAAAAAAAAcM/CxfzwLMiAP0/s320/DSC06010.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526853678452136034″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold; “Powerline Pass snowed in!!/span/divdiv style=”text-align: left;”School has been consuming all of my hours that I am not out training. I have managed to make friends with the library again- I did actually miss that last year! The schooling here at APU is great, I now understand what “active” learning really is. Each of my classes has between 4-8 people in it, so there is lots of focus on the students as well as real world application, rather than just learning the text book. There is no lack of challenge, but a much different focus then UAA for example. I much prefer this over public, state universities!br //divdivbr //divdiv6 more weeks until we take off for our first racing series in West Yellowstone, the focus is on! Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!/div/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2018521813175454198-2894504036712055577?l=sadiebjornsen.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Snow ON THE WAY!

    div style=”text-align: center;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNThyDypQI/AAAAAAAAAb8/di7vJrGN0XQ/s1600/DSC06001.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNThyDypQI/AAAAAAAAAb8/di7vJrGN0XQ/s320/DSC06001.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526853007552193794″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Hiking above Anchorage/span/divFor the past couple of weeks we have been in our transition stage here in Anchorage, where its cold enough to snow, but it just isn’t quite ready yet. We have made bets on our team when there is going to be enough snow to ski up at Hatchers Pass, and I have my money on Saturday. The precipitation is coming, and the temperatures are low enough… so its on its way! divdivbr //divdiva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNVhpQOeBI/AAAAAAAAAck/sIWgyAQH8sU/s1600/DSC06017.JPG”img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNVhpQOeBI/AAAAAAAAAck/sIWgyAQH8sU/s320/DSC06017.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526855204211685394″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 177px; ” //a/divdivI suffered from a knee injury all summer that stuck around and continued to cause problems throughout the early part of the fall. Skate skiing is finally back to 100%, so I have been putting in some hard uphill skate intervals, trying to get the legs back in the grove of skating. I haven’t felt the skating butt burn in a while, so I have been loving every minute of the intervals lately.! Running was also causing lots of issues, so one day when I was super excited I started mindlessly skipping down the road. After a couple of minutes, I started thinking and realized it wasn’t hurting my knee. So the past month and a half I have taken up skipping… which gets lots of funny reactions when I am passing people.! Especially when I am out on the trails, because not only am I skipping, but I am also singing to warn the bears I am coming. Let me tell you, it is a sight to see. Fortunately, I have been able to shift back to running- so I am not making such a scene trekking through the woods./divdivbr //divdiva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUn0KuvhI/AAAAAAAAAcU/CANWu-XrblU/s1600/DSC06015.JPG”img src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUn0KuvhI/AAAAAAAAAcU/CANWu-XrblU/s320/DSC06015.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526854210709011986″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //a/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Sweet view of Anchorage- Ky Eiben has MAD hops!/span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”br //span/divdivAPU has this weekly workout that we run/ski-bound 1 hour uphill from a ski area down in town up to the mountains. The gas line trail cuts right through “bear country” central, so every 1 hr. pass up this trail I am counting my blessings for making it up without being chomped. As I get over my bear fears, this has become one of my favorite training workouts of the year. You just turn you engine on, and brain off- similar to racing./divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNT5ZPjTkI/AAAAAAAAAcE/zJAr_eFdNms/s1600/DSC06009.JPG”img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNT5ZPjTkI/AAAAAAAAAcE/zJAr_eFdNms/s320/DSC06009.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526853413207494210″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Making it to snow yesterday!/span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”br //span/diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUI1WzWGI/AAAAAAAAAcM/CxfzwLMiAP0/s1600/DSC06010.JPG”img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/TLNUI1WzWGI/AAAAAAAAAcM/CxfzwLMiAP0/s320/DSC06010.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526853678452136034″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold; “Powerline Pass snowed in!!/span/divdiv style=”text-align: left;”School has been consuming all of my hours that I am not out training. I have managed to make friends with the library again- I did actually miss that last year! The schooling here at APU is great, I now understand what “active” learning really is. Each of my classes has between 4-8 people in it, so there is lots of focus on the students as well as real world application, rather than just learning the text book. There is no lack of challenge, but a much different focus then UAA for example. I much prefer this over public, state universities!br //divdivbr //divdiv6 more weeks until we take off for our first racing series in West Yellowstone, the focus is on! Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!/div/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2018521813175454198-2894504036712055577?l=sadiebjornsen.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Guess The Medalists!

    Another guessing game, this one based on a misunderstanding of a previous one.  This time, I’ve graphed FIS points vs. date for five skiers up to an Olympic race where they will all race against each other and finish in the top five.  Your job is to identify the medalists and for bonus points the order of finish for all five.

    And here’s a version that’s zoomed in to only the 30 races just before the Olympic race in question:

    The only other hint I’ll give you is that it’s a women’s race and that given the limitations of my data sources, you can assume it’s an Olympic race no earlier than 1992.

    Leave your guesses in the comments!

    Related posts:

    1. <Victims & Nemeses: Marit and Justyna Edition
    2. <Podium Heartbreak
    3. <Prediction Game: Who’s Gonna Podium In Their Very Next Race?


  • Go and Get Yourself Some Classical Roller Skis!

  • From Lake Placid, New York. . .

    . . .to Placid Lake, Wisconsin.

    Great to be back home after a solid 3 week training camp.  After 22 hours in the van, it felt good to wake up at home this morning to a spectacular sunrise.

  • Whiteface Photos

    Clear and windy day for the Whiteface time trial.  5 miles, all uphill.  Oh, yeah.

    The women’s field was much smaller than the men’s, but still included the fastest women in the country.

    Things were a pretty tight in the men’s pack, especially off the start.

    Tad Elliott (two l’s, two t’s — gotta love the double letters), took top honors for the CXC crew.  Men’s results here. Women’s results here.  Ski speed plays the biggest role in a time trial like this and the results don’t necessarily correlate to speed on snow.  In any case, it’s one heck of a workout!

    Newell leads Gregg and Liebsch up one of the flatter (seriously!) parts of the climb.

    Yee-ha.