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Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
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The Season Begins
Finally I am in the home stretch to the beginning of my race season. The truth is our training season never really ends but skiing and racing on snow is always a fun new beginning. The CXC Team and I arrived last week here in West Yellowstone, MT. West Yellowstone is a sleepy little western town this time of year, which lies directly at the western access road to Yellowstone National Park. When we first arrived there was a little snow on the sidewalks, but our hopes were a little diminished when we saw the mud pit at the entrance to the ski trails. Amazingly, once we moved to a different trail head, there was enough snow for us to actually ski! There were bits of grass sticking through but the skiing was great!
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The Season Begins
Finally I am in the home stretch to the beginning of my race season. The truth is our training season never really ends but skiing and racing on snow is always a fun new beginning. The CXC Team and I arrived last week here in West Yellowstone, MT. West Yellowstone is a sleepy little western town this time of year, which lies directly at the western access road to Yellowstone National Park. When we first arrived there was a little snow on the sidewalks, but our hopes were a little diminished when we saw the mud pit at the entrance to the ski trails. Amazingly, once we moved to a different trail head, there was enough snow for us to actually ski! There were bits of grass sticking through but the skiing was great! -
The Season Begins
Finally I am in the home stretch to the beginning of my race season. The truth is our training season never really ends but skiing and racing on snow is always a fun new beginning. The CXC Team and I arrived last week here in West Yellowstone, MT. West Yellowstone is a sleepy little western town this time of year, which lies directly at the western access road to Yellowstone National Park. When we first arrived there was a little snow on the sidewalks, but our hopes were a little diminished when we saw the mud pit at the entrance to the ski trails. Amazingly, once we moved to a different trail head, there was enough snow for us to actually ski! There were bits of grass sticking through but the skiing was great! -
The Season Begins
Finally I am in the home stretch to the beginning of my race season. The truth is our training season never really ends but skiing and racing on snow is always a fun new beginning. The CXC Team and I arrived last week here in West Yellowstone, MT. West Yellowstone is a sleepy little western town this time of year, which lies directly at the western access road to Yellowstone National Park. When we first arrived there was a little snow on the sidewalks, but our hopes were a little diminished when we saw the mud pit at the entrance to the ski trails. Amazingly, once we moved to a different trail head, there was enough snow for us to actually ski! There were bits of grass sticking through but the skiing was great! -
Grit ~ Equal Parts Passion + Perseverance
Last three years I’ve traveled to Europe for the early World Cup season. Every year I pack up on Zicam, Cold-Eeze zinc lozenges and the like. A certain type of insurance; a precautionary measure to combat any unforeseen, unplanned, strength-sapping ailments picked up on the road. The nasal mist is like the glass on the front of the fire alarm that reads, “Break only in case of emergency.” The zinc lozenges are tucked away in the back of the toiletry kit, just in case something bad happens. Every year, for the last three years, I’ve ripped into the plastic pouch of zinc-laden lozenges, unfurled the safety seal on the gelatinous nasal spray. Not because I want to. Because I have to. br /br /The World Cup opens this weekend. Unfortunately, my goals have changed. This weekend the odds are stacked against me sliding into a race bib. This week’s personal competition does not include competing against the Germans or Estonians or Russians. It’s all about regaining the ability to breathe in oxygen deeply without restriction. It’s about getting my strength and snap back. It’s about lying low in my classic little red Swedish cabin in the woods and resting and reading and relaxing. And not going stir crazy. br /br /Next week is another chance. Next week I head to Kuusamo, Finland. I’ve been in the game long enough to know the pursuit to the top will be fraught with a little turbulence. Now I’ve got to show a little perseverance, a little resilience. Now is hardly the time to become brittle in the face of adversity. Until the next time.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2691525267872963085-8505310661223100025?l=in-the-arena-torin.blogspot.com’//div
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Solid Start
Kris was 20th today in the World Cup opener in Gallivare. It is (by his calculation) his best-ever points race in a 15K individual start skate. He started 30 seconds ahead of Marcus Hellner who turned out to be a (big) surprise winner. Marcus caught Kris at about 4K and Kris followed him to about 1K from the end when Marcus put down a huge move to pick-up about five seconds on Piller Cotrer for the win.
Following Hellner was comfortable for Kris, but it had him about at the limit. Kris has focused on energy management and health, and not on building his top-gear for the early season. The ability to find the last few gears is something he’ll have to pick-up with some more racing. As it is he skied right with the guys who beat him by over a minute last weekend in Muonio. As a first World Cup this is the best we could have hoped for. My take prior to the race was that a top-30 was the expectation, and a top-20 would be stellar. Kris was 15 (or so) seconds ahead of Angerer in 30th. 15 seconds in the other direction (the amount he lost to Hellner in the last K) would have put him in a tight race for 10th. The field is tight!
Kris definitely had the perfect ride out there, and that undoubtedly helped his race quite a lot. The good news is that he had the capacity to use the ride. His pla was to start conservatively and build into the race. He certainly did that. He was in 77th place, 29 seconds out at 2.3K. Incidentally, the leader at that point was Alexander Legkov who finished 22ns. Kris moved up to 40th place at 6.7 K and then 19th at 12.3K. In the last 2.7K he lost places to two guys – Matti Heikkinen and (you could have guessed) Axel Teichmann. In those same 2.7K he picked up one place on Legkov who faded (died) from 11th to 22nd.
Insulin dosing and blood sugar management was the best it’s ever been. Kris made some minor modifications to the strategy he used in Muonio, and finished the race at 157 – an excellent place to be. Skis were excellent – he felt that he had better skis than anybody he saw on the course, including Hellner. Health is good – he raced at his limit for about nine or ten K, held up well, didn’t fade badly, and recovered quickly and well afterwards. Things look good for the coming weeks.
