Written by: Christer Norström at Racefox
A thin layer of fresh snow in the tracks and windy conditions made this year’s Nordenskiöldsloppet significantly tougher than the 2016 race. Still, the majority of all starters fought their way to the finish! Those who were out there skiing for 20 hours and more accomplished the most impressing performances. When we spoke to an Englishman the day after the big race, his body was still stressed and he had difficulties coming to rest. Those 20 hours-skiers are the real heroes in my eyes. Congratulations to all of you for a fantastic effort!
Now let’s take a closer look at the elite. They completed the race in around 12 hours. Erik Wickström (SWE) was skiing with his Racefox on so his performance is interesting to study. He added up approximately 32000 pole strokes and came on an 11th place in 12 hours and 8 minutes!
But what was his pace like compared to a normal long-distance race?
When looking at Erik’s data, it becomes obvious that he kept a frequency of 48 strokes/minute compared to 53 during a normal race. Also both his values for attack (10,2 vs. 11,7) and core power (17,7 vs. 21) were slightly lower. His time equals a Vasaloppet in around 5,2 hours! This is pretty much in line with a frequency of 90% and an attack of 85% as less frequency and pressure in every pole stroke result in slower pace. Hence, the 30% longer time for a Vasaloppet, which I assume Erik would do in around 4 hours (do the math ;-).
When looking at Erik’s heart rate, one can continuously see it going down after half of the race until the sprint at the end. There’s nothing strange with that as the heart gets tired. I find it an interesting fact that it actually can become tired. A couple of years back, I spoke to a cardiologist about this and she said that even a Vasaloppet is an extreme stress moment for an amateur’s heart muscle. And that’s still a short distance compared to Nordenskiöldsloppet!
Congratulations to a fantastic event!
Christer
