There was a recent study that shows that readers mistake the tone of
50% of emails. To wit, Joseph, I think you better read again: the word
or idea of irrelevance of LT in x-c skiing, relative or absolute, was
not used by Seiler. His point was that it doesn't set the speed limit
for elite/WC x-c athletes, as it does in other sports. But note that he
is not talking about you or me. His one reference to one existant study
of the latter group notes that lactate levels of untrained competitors
were not measured during the race.

That said, another article on his site about Norwegian endurance
training methods - http://home.hia.no/~stephens/skiing.htm - proposes a
training method that deemphasizes level 4 in favor of 1 and 5 (L5=10%
of all training). Other recent documents from the Norwegian Olympic
Committee (distributed thru fasterskier.com's sub) suggest that this is
not the accepted approach or breakdown of training zones anymore.

Gene

wrote:


That was very informative. Particularly the part about LT and it's
relative irrelevance to XC compared to other endurance sports. This
seems to make sense to me based on my observations of my own stomping
up hills. The part about efficiency not being decisive is also
interesting. I guess a certain amount of "wheel-spin" is ok as long as
you have the power to put down.

Here is a link that discusses the scaling issue a bit mo

http://www.cranklength.info/scaling.htm

All in all, all this info and people's observations are getting me
excited about my prospects as a skier. I had essentially written
myself off, and was only thinking of skiing as a way to stay in shape
for cycling. I thought my size was insurmountable. Due to my size, my
cycling is very specialized, but perhaps I can be a much better
all-round skier than cyclist. It may just be that "getting the pin" at
races like Birkebeiner are a possibility, while the same level of
performance on a bike is a distant dream.

This last week has been an eye-opener for me. New, proper equipment
has made me realize I was going much slower than I should have been.
And I did a short club race on Wednsday (my first ever) and found out
I am not as slow as I thought. With the new gear I have noticed that I
rarely get passed by folks anymore too! This mixed with the
realization that my size isn't a show-stopper is a real invitation to
give it my all.

Joseph