What I noticed from Janne's latest tapes...

I just watched some Beitostolen relay mpegs.

Five things stuck out for me:

1*Seemingly slow classic tempo---they seemed to use moderate but
strong-pulse arm and leg action. Tempo seemed the same or even slower
than for skating.

2*How long the heel stays down in skating and how much nice swing/rhythm
they seem to have.

3*I noticed some of the lead skate men using V2 and others using V1 on
uphills at the same speed. --So far for me I've noticed this fall that
my 1/2 km speed trials up moderate hills give the same times for V1, V2
and V2A. I suppose I should do some longer timed runs to see what's
really going on.

4*They sure don't bring the feet very far back in to the center. --Not
the winners anyway. I noticed that the women who finished farther back
often had the 'knock knees' look and also brought their V2 foot way back
in to their centerline. The winners didn't!

5*How closely the men's pack stayed together and how strung out the
women got. Maybe it shows that for elite men the speeds are so high that
drafting is a major factor or that aerobic fitness is basically on par
at the top. Either way (or both ways) the result might be that the men
use POWER for their tactical moves. Nobody can really drop the others so
they wait for tactical moments to use explosive bursts. The women's
relay finished this way as well between the top two. (The rest were
quite strung out.) The winner didn't drop the other skier she just
exploded a jump and got a gap at the end. Her jump was quite longlasting
and seemed to involve several attacks within the one overall attack and
didn't seem aerobic in style but pure power. Their motors seemed to be
on par, but the winner did seem to have bigger musclesize. Of course the
winner also drafted most of the way: so maybe it was just a case of a
sprinter mooching til the end. Actually, I didn't finish the men's
relay--my mpeg feed got an error I couldn't sort out.

Maybe elite observations don't really apply to us mortals. But these
vid's are cool to see what's going on at the top and how it might shake
out for them and maybe we can get a few hints as well. Maybe they teach
a lesson like for instance we should mostly hope that our U.S. guys have
the POWER this season. I suppose we mortals simply have to do what is
fastest for us then try to keep doing it. : ) Seeing different elite
skiers using different modes on the same terrain to go the same speed
might also encourage us to just use what works.

--

Jeff Potter
****
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