Text by Teemu Virtanen
Race performance data by Polar
Cascata Hill climb analysis by Tyler Cruickshank
Before we set our sights on the next event, Toblach-Cortina in Italy, we can look back on Sunday and evaluate some interesting data from Marcialonga collected by Polar and Tyler Cruickshank.
Our sponsor Polar has equipped some skiers with heart rate monitors and we get valuable information about a skier’s performance in a particular race. This time, we can take a look at the third fastest skier in Marcialonga Astrid Øyre Slind’s, Team Koteng, performance throughout the race.
Astrid’s average speed was 21 km per hour, maximum speed 49,4 km, average heart rate 154, maximum heart rate 168, minimum 82 and the total distance covered 68,36 km. She spent 9 % of her time, 18:37 min, skiing between her max heart rate and 164, 43 %, 1:27:20, between 155-164, 43 %, 1:27:11, between 136-155 and 6%, 11:28 min, below 136 beats.
If we compare her performance to an amateur skier, Morten Dyrberg in this case, we can see that he spent a little more time, 14%, in the area where his heart rate was between 158 and his maximum 165 (Astrid 9%). His average heart rate was 148 (his minimum 105), and he spent more than five hours on the track (5:10:51).
An intriguing fact is that he spent much more time skiing with his heart rate between 139 and 158 than Astrid, 70 % vs. 43 %, and only 15% with his heart rate below 139 while Astrid spent 43% of her racing time in that zone. It goes without saying that pro athletes are quicker in recovery and their heartbeat goes down very quickly. For all weight watchers, it is interesting to know that Morten burned 4656 kcal during the race while Astrid managed to burn 2678 kcal because her racing time was much shorter. So, long workouts can really make a difference.
Now, let’s take a look at some Cascata Hill climbing results over the years provided to us by Mr. Cruickshank. Here is his analysis, and thank you Tyler for this great input:
“After Eliassen's performance on Sunday I did some investigation into climb times for the last ~2 km of the Marcialonga. I used the TV coverage running race time at the point that skiers crossed the bridge over the river and calculated how long it took them to reach the finish line. I would not treat this as an extremely precise methodology, but it does provide some interesting data.
It's worth noting a couple of items that effect climb time. 1) Sometimes the skiers coast across the finish line producing a marginally slower time. 2) Sometimes there are a pack of skiers together that may increase skier speed due to competition between the skiers. Sometimes there is a lone skier by himself, like Eliassen, which may lead to a slower time. 3) Snow conditions obviously. For example, the temperature in Cavalese in 2016 was forecast to be very warm.”
Cascata Hill climbing results 2013-2019:
2013: Jørgen Aukland less than 10 minutes
2014: Simen Østensen, a bit over 9:30 minutes
2015: Tord Asle Gjerdalen, less than 9:30 minutes
2016: Tord Asle Gjerdalen, about 10:15 minutes
2017: Tord Asle Gjerdalen, about 9 minutes
2018: Ilya Chernousov, a little over 9 minutes
2019: Petter Eliassen, about 9:15 minutes
