Category: XCFeeds

pIn the early morning hours at a bar, in West Yellowstone, in November, laying out your training plan / goals for the following season bon a napkin /bis the surest path to success in cross country skiing.  (Name withheld.)/p

img src=”http://1.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ktxayzZmcq1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pStrong work./p

Hello! The races in West Yellowstone have concluded! To me, this is a sigh of relief…the first races are always nerve racking and it is nice to have them DONE!!!br /br /Since the qualifier on Wednesday, I competed in the 10k skate race on Friday and the 5k classic race on Saturday. The skate race went alright. I skied smooth and maintained a good pace the entire way, but I was lacking making that shift to the next level. Instead I felt like i was out for a cruise in second gear the entire way. I ended up 14th overall (11th American), a result I was not completely happy with.br /br /I woke up Saturday morning feeling tired and sore. I did not sleep well the night before, due to the infamous “skier cough” and my entire body felt sore from the skate race the day before. I did my best to loosen up my body with a light morning run and stretching. I went into the race relaxed and had little expectations for myself, other than going out and skiing as hard as i could. My goal was to ski relaxed and smooth and not to start to fast! After the first 2k, I received a split that I was in 5th, eight seconds out of 2nd. In a 5k race, every second counts…I kept reminding myself of this as I hammered up the last big hill and skied the final kilometer to the finish. I kept my 5th place position, but a few girls who started behind me, finished with a faster time, thus bumping my position back to 8th (4th American).br /br /Overall, I am happy with my results. There is some room for improvement, but I am confident it will come as the racing progresses! Our team is headed to Bozeman on Thursday for the next races of the season. Keep you posted!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SxQDhDkeCvI/AAAAAAAAAgc/iYXZVKt8oh8/s1600/nic+west.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 223px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SxQDhDkeCvI/AAAAAAAAAgc/iYXZVKt8oh8/s320/nic+west.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409952918807644914″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”A not-so-flattering picture of me racing/spanbr //divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-6008673545210911489?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SxNTup40kBI/AAAAAAAAC6k/Okfz9LHPM5Y/s1600/13866_189199223617_181279858617_2910805_2192088_n.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/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SxNTup40kBI/AAAAAAAAC6k/Okfz9LHPM5Y/s400/13866_189199223617_181279858617_2910805_2192088_n.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409759638385365010″ //aPhoto Credits: National Guard Biathlon Pictures form 10km Sprint Saturday November 29thbr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SxNTuVDoV2I/AAAAAAAAC6c/hKm0whItCdU/s1600/13866_189199213617_181279858617_2910803_6946136_n-1.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/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SxNTuVDoV2I/AAAAAAAAC6c/hKm0whItCdU/s400/13866_189199213617_181279858617_2910803_6946136_n-1.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409759632793556834″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”Finished with first official races of the season. The hellatious downhill was all that got me to go around the course at times after the mental and physical batterings that were received on the shooting range. It was a sort of S-turn that if you tried to turn you would slide due to all the ice in the trail from all the snow plowing going down. It would have made a great video of the youth competitors coming down that hill that while warming down Bill Bowler, Russell Courrier and I stopped for some time to watch them biff and boff through the hill sometimes there were 2 or more lying on the trail in the middle of the turn in some sort of contortionists pose. Luckily nobody was getting bashed up to badly. /divdiv style=”text-align: center;”The turn was so bad assed that it even took out our Specials Forces Biathlete right before his standing shooting. Filling his barrel and sight with snow./divdiv style=”text-align: center;”br //divdiv style=”text-align: center;”Doug Bernard successfully negotiating the Hellatious Ice Riddled S-Curve/diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SxNWV51U0UI/AAAAAAAAC6s/gR41Ini9-Pg/s1600/13866_189199218617_181279858617_2910804_5433276_n.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/_n7a3IKFYbqU/SxNWV51U0UI/AAAAAAAAC6s/gR41Ini9-Pg/s400/13866_189199218617_181279858617_2910804_5433276_n.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409762511703822658″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6647112093689702615-5526188036839744010?l=www.jackedupoldman.com’ alt=” //div

“I love how you only have to warm up once.”br/br/ – emAndy Newell on his transitioning to distance racing. (via Fasterskier)/em

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxML3lLzfiI/AAAAAAAABoY/i7pPxLeZ9Ak/s1600/IMG_1255.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 289px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxML3lLzfiI/AAAAAAAABoY/i7pPxLeZ9Ak/s400/IMG_1255.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409680626904432162″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxMLno8NeYI/AAAAAAAABoQ/qtkaJkbemUo/s1600/IMG_1263.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/SxMLno8NeYI/AAAAAAAABoQ/qtkaJkbemUo/s400/IMG_1263.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409680353034860930″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxMLZBIZ1-I/AAAAAAAABoI/Y2d2OZj-DHI/s1600/IMG_1270.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/SxMLZBIZ1-I/AAAAAAAABoI/Y2d2OZj-DHI/s400/IMG_1270.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409680101830416354″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxMLFc6EUyI/AAAAAAAABoA/e9eVTNR14r8/s1600/IMG_1278.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/SxMLFc6EUyI/AAAAAAAABoA/e9eVTNR14r8/s400/IMG_1278.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409679765689094946″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxLnNi5qAJI/AAAAAAAABn4/Xt4A0aDwaQ4/s1600/100_5719.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/SxLnNi5qAJI/AAAAAAAABn4/Xt4A0aDwaQ4/s400/100_5719.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409640322318336146″ //aWe took an easy Thanksgiving week and are getting geared up to head north to Quebec in the middle of this week. The abnormally warm November weather has delayed our trip for 5 days, but we’re not panicking. The kids skied a little yesterday and this morning on Mad Tom Notch( top pictures) and Stratton.br / It is always fun to get on snow and everyone is very excited with the WC results from Kris, Andy and Kikkan. Kris was only 10 seconds out of first and Andy was just over a minute out and placed 48th (after coming in 7th in the sprint). I guess that it’s time to get after it! Those times also show how tight it is at the World Cup level.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxLmklxe5zI/AAAAAAAABnw/RtvR04-ffiw/s1600/100_5728.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/SxLmklxe5zI/AAAAAAAABnw/RtvR04-ffiw/s400/100_5728.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409639618714724146″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SxLl8ko6TOI/AAAAAAAABno/ZtUg6x1daGw/s1600/100_5732.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/SxLl8ko6TOI/AAAAAAAABno/ZtUg6x1daGw/s400/100_5732.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409638931215568098″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-5004409578743879782?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

object width=”400″ height=”336″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/d2yFzxYf-yIrel=0egm=0showinfo=0fs=1″/paramparam name=”wmode” value=”transparent”/paramparam name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/paramembed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/d2yFzxYf-yIrel=0egm=0showinfo=0fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”400″ height=”336″ allowFullScreen=”true” wmode=”transparent”/embed/objectbr/br/pSteinbock down. (via Downtown)/p

A very good result.And Kikkan Randall was featured on National Public Radio this morning…