Category: XCFeeds

Quiz: how many times since 2000 has the regular World Cup season included a mass start race over 30km and 50km?The answer: zero.Actually – and leaving aside the traditional March races at Holmenkollen, which have always been run as individual starts, just as Thor intended – there have been three longer mass-start classic races this decade – all Marathon Cup/Worldloppet races being run for World

Well tomorrow sees yet another mass-start distance race. It’ll be 30km for the ladies and 50km for the gents. This is the last race where the athletes can grab full points. The races in Falun will have points cut in half due to its “mini-tour” idea. A new change to the 50km, “For the first time in Cross-Country history, intermediate sprint points will be distributed during a long distance competition, where the top three racers crossing these points will be awarded World Cup points (15 -10 -5 points). The ladies will have 3 times the chance to win World Cup points at intermediate sprints during the race while for the men it will be 5 times. At the end of the race, the winners will be awarded the normal 100 World Cup points. It will surely become an interesting fight for the World Cup points in which also team tactics can help to be successful.” br /br /Basically the same concept we saw in the Tour de Ski, but they are using World Cup points now instead of seconds. This is a great time for those chasing Majdic and Cologna to try to close the gap or even overtake (in the case of Northug and Cologna) the Overall Title. Unless something strange occurs tomorrow I see Northug taking another victory in the only way he knows how; out sprinting the other athletes with less than a kilometer left.br /br /I’m guessing the women’s race will start to string out after 10km and a group of 10-15 will ski the last 20km dropping a skier here and there. The mens race will probably be 30 athletes in the pack with 5km. Even with Sodo’s valiant effort to break the group they will stay together because nobody else is willing to share the grunt work. Ultimately, Sodo’s lack of sprinting capabilities will be his weakness and fall out of model contention. br /br /Here are my predictions for the races tomorrow.br /br /

The Knitters Niche in Marquette, MI has offered to help the XC Ski Alliance for the 2009/2010 season.  This gem of a local yarn shop is doing their part by selling yarns produced in the Midwest and supporting local fiber mills.  Now, they are also reaching out to help local athletes reach their goals.  Please show them your support by checking out their yarn selection.  If you make a purchase from their on-line store, you can use the promo code, “ski” to receive a 10% discount.

Please pass this message on to anyone you know that knits or crochets.  I know that yarns are difficult to pick out over the internet, so here are some of my locally made favorites:

On Line Store Selections:

1.  Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepard’s Wool- This is a great all-around worsted weight yarn that you can use to make anything.  It is made in 100% soft merino top wool and made in Michigan.  It comes in vibrant, beautiful colors.  You are actually getting 30 more yards here than the normal 220 yard skein.  You can easily knit 2 hats from one skein of this yarn and it ends up being a real bargain.  This is my favorite yarn for color, versitality, texture, and price.  Buy one skein in your favorite color and you will never buy another brands worsted weight yarn again.

2. Triple “R” Ranch Shetland Wool – This is another Michigan yarn.  It is unique because the Triple “R” Ranch does not use any dye!  They have several different natural colors, due to sheep wool variation only.  This is a very raw product that knits beautifully.  My favorite color right now is the black.  The website is often out of stock, but you can usually buy this yarn if you call (906-228-9276). 

Marquette Store Selections:

1.  Winter Sky Shetland’s (not on website yet, but available by phone 906-228-9276)-Read about this U.P. company HERE.  Winter Sky makes beautiful bulky yarns that are hand spun and hand died.

2.  Honeypot Yarns (not on website yet, but available by phone 906-228-9276)-Read about this Madison, WI company HERE.  Honeypot makes yarns of all different shapes and sizes.  What is unique about this company is the beautiful colors.  All yarns are hand painted by a young artist named Jolene Hollenberger.

I didn’t watch the sprints today but I bet it was a great race for the spectators. The gap is getting tighter and tighter between Northug and Cologna who both had excellent races today. Dahl was the top qualifer with Northug only 0.01 seconds behind him and Cologna only 0.05 seconds behind Northug. All three made it to the A-final with Onda, Hattestad, and Lassila. Hattestad set made true to

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This particular piece of analysis isn’t especially timely, but after observing the most painful 24 minutes of elite skiing I’ve ever watched, I feel compelled to rant anyway.Germany — and in particular, Axel Teichmann — seems not to have gotten the memo that things have changed. There was a time when Norway was the whiny traditionalist country that hated the mass start, there was a time when

We had *four* APU women in the top 10 in yesterday’s 10k classic race here at Canadian Nationals. Ky and Fitz rockin the pink hats AND the ski trails.Valaas put the stomp down and came home with the WIN! Kate Fitz was jaw dropping 6th, Taz was an encouraging 9th, and I finished in a “whoop” worthy 7th! Ky gave an outstanding effort on a challenging day and is fired up for the upcoming sprint

Friday the 13th.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow I will be having surgery on my right leg.  Then, 2 weeks later (on Friday March 27th) I will have surgery on my left leg.

A very short anatomy lesson… The popliteal artery and vein run down the leg behind the knee, and thats how blood gets to and from the lower legs.  Behind the knee is where the calf muscles attach.  When muscles get bigger and stronger, the attachments for the muscles also become bigger and stronger.  So as they get bigger, there is less room for the artery and vein to fit between.  When the muscles are working out and contracting they are getting even bigger and they squeeze down on the artery and vein.  So the lower legs are getting starved of oxygen (causing immediate pain and numbness!), and the blood that is down there can not get back out.  So it pools and that causes swelling and aching that lasts all day. 

The surgery involves cutting the connective tissure (like little strings) that hold the artery and vein in place, so the blood vessles can move around and don’t get trapped.  And a small portion of the muscle attachment is shaved off so that there is a larger opening for the blood vessles to fit though. 

I have been doing some research on popliteal entrapment the last week or so, and it seems like there is some sort of link between compartment syndrome and popeliteal entrapment…  For how uncommon both of these syndromes are I have found quite a few cases of people who have had their compartments released, and then when they heal and their muscles get bigger and stronger they get popliteal entrapment.  Both are caused by over-developed muscles.  With compartment syndrome the muscle won’t fit into its home… With popliteal entrapment the muscles get greedy and hog all the space.

Tomorrow sees the traditional Drammen sprint moved to Trondhiem in what should be a men’s race totally dominated by Norwegians and a women’s race in which the usual top 10 sprinters will vye for supremecy. There are a couple

img src=”http://9.media.tumblr.com/COiZNt422kyct0so4x6J8XbVo1_500.jpg”/br/br/Some people thought the Hole-ski was going to be the next big innovation from Fischer.  Not so: Chris Hall demonstrates the aero-hat (with clean classic technique.)

The legendarily ski-mad city of Trondheim – which hosted Worlds in 1997, attended by crowds that are still mentioned with awe – is doing double duty by replacing both the traditional city sprints in Drammen and the traditional distance races at Holmenkollen. Drammen has been dominated by Norwegian men for the past three years (2008: 12 of the top 15 places), so the only question is which

After going into a fund raising relay on Sunday, I skied 100km in just over 8hrs and essentially burnt the candle at both ends. I’ve taken a couple days off but I’ve finally mustered the time to watch the Sunday races and recap them. If only the weather was as nice where I was as it was in Lahti, I would’ve been a happier camper.br /br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”Women/spanbr /br /A quick 10km course saw Kowalczyk extend her lead for the distance title and close in on Majdic (who was 19th) for the overall title. It is now only 71 points between the two. Kalla had a great race today picking up a deserved second place. At the age of 21, one would think she would’ve been the youngest to be on the podium today, that was not to be. The young and promising Marthe Kristoffersen grabbed her first ever World Cup podium coming in third.br /br /I must say Kristoffersen could potentially be the complete package. That’s putting a lot of pressure on a 19-year old but I believe she will be the best skier in the world in 3-4 years time, much like Bjørgen a couple years back. Kristoffersen can sprint and she can deal with the distances. br /br /Like Steira and Johaug, she has a very slight frame and rapid turnover, but has more power technically speaking; something both Steira and Johaug lack. Not many knew of her at the beginning of the season, but that has all changed now.br /br /

Do yourself a favor and watch the second half of the nordic combined large hill Gunderson event from Liberec. Great race, not only because Bill “Demons” Demong won but because of the fight behind him for the other places.

I am back home now after successfully completing the 2009 Iditarod Trail Invitational race to McGrath. It was an incredible race, and I am still in slight disbelief that it played out the way that it did. Somehow I managed to finish, despite broken equipment, faulty race strategy, nagging injuries, and the worst […]

The ultrasound test this morning confirmed what the doctors believed.

I definately have Popeliteal Entrapment Syndrome.
Up next, Surgery.

According to the flight attendant it was 19 degrees when I arrived in Toronto on Friday…and that was in Celsius! Translation: 67 degrees F, t-shirts, and green grass. But by the time Don Ellis drove Laura and I through the rolling hills toward his childhood turf in Collingwood, ON, we began to see some snow. The heat blast has made it challenging for the volunteers and race organizers, but so

The scene around the Engadin start made every other race I’ve ever been to seem poorly attended. As we drove by the starting pen (it’s on a lake, so we could see it from the road above) an hour and a half before the start there were already 4-5 rows of skis lined up in the Elite A and Elite B waves. We had a parking pass, but weren’t quite sure in which lot it entitled us to park, so we ended up at least half a k from the staging area in a public lot. I’d been warned that it was a long walk from bag drop to the start, and I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect of warming up, taking off all my warmups and then freezing for half an hour before the gun went off. So Marshall and I came up with a better plan. We would jog our skis down to the start, jog back, drop our clothes bags in the truck and then jog back down. Seemed like it would work pretty. With 35 minutes to go we took off down towards the start. We happened to run in to Kevin Hochtl and told him what we were doing. He said “that’s a great idea if you want to miss your start. Take your clothes off, put them in the bag, then go to the start.” So we did, except it was not as simple as it sounds.