Most grueling Olympic sport? Marathon or cross country skiing

oh no, not that again wrote:

^that VO2max list is a load of made up numbers.

Yeah, how is it that every athlete on the list is a white male of European descent? Are there no East African distance runners with high VO2max?

carmine9 wrote:

Freestyle wrestling.

Greco Roman Wrestling:

Running? Rowing? XC Skiing? Pleeze.

If you really want to man up, try your hand at Cornhole, punks. /s

I think the comparison of XC skiing to cycling as more similar in effort than marathon running is correct.

I'd say both xc skiing and cycling are more grueling despite the ability to rest on the downhills. Because they are low impact compared to running, you can (and therefore have to in a race) push your cardiovascular system much harder because you are not limited by the pounding on your legs.

Honestly I'm glad that I run and therefore I don't have to push myself to the point where it feels like my lungs are going to explode on a regular basis

CarlyRaeJepsensMalort wrote:

I've never tried to ski at the same effort as running

And that is why you think the answer is running lol

As others have said, they are different. As a former XC skier, I have definitely had worse experiences in running marathons than ski marathons (partly because of the heat and lack of training). On the other hand, skiing makes you tired in a way that running and cycling don't-- you use more of your body and so there is more aerobic and physical fatigue. Also, skating uphill will spike your heartrate if you are doing anything faster than a crawl-- so a long hilly ski naturally alternates between level 3 and level one.

My experience with XC Skiing is limited.  My form is terrible, so that limits my exertion and allows me to ski long distances at a leisurely pace.  I will always remember the day I XC skied 20K in Jackson New Hampshire. There's something uplifting about being in the snow in the woods.

I can't imagine doing a 50K XC Ski marathon.

Oh, and in terms of races, if you break down in a ski race you really fall apart and you feel a lactic burn in your legs that is much stronger than in running. On the other hand, in a running race you can push closer to your limit without falling apart. I would say that high school 5k running was the most difficult part of my racing career

It's all relative.

Any endurance sport can be grueling enough if you push yourself to, or beyond, your limits. Marathons feel tougher on my body than cross country skiing. On the other hand, I've pushed myself harder and raced more in running than XC skiing, so it's probably not a fair comparison, in my case. I'm sure if I went hard enough at XC skiing, I could make it feel as grueling as marathoning.

GettingFasterDude wrote:

It's all relative.

Any endurance sport can be grueling enough if you push yourself to, or beyond, your limits. Marathons feel tougher on my body than cross country skiing. On the other hand, I've pushed myself harder and raced more in running than XC skiing, so it's probably not a fair comparison, in my case. I'm sure if I went hard enough at XC skiing, I could make it feel as grueling as marathoning.

Wouldnt it be the same? You are emptying the tank all in, does it matter that it was on skis vs foot vs pedals. Long term consequences aside, red lining hurts the same whether its the marathon, 10000 or XC? I will say however, I see more dudes and gals on the "floor" face down after XC final than in marathoning. Maybe that's just the culture. Lactic acid is lactic acid. Cycling can sometimes come down to cat and mouse with one burst at the finish. Sometimes not. You dont see cyclists crash to the ground after every finish. Not sure why XC skiers have to.

End of a 5000 in running, time trial in cycling, XC skiing seem about the same to me. You are fried or you are not.

The harshness depends on the level of competition.

The competition is way higher in distance running since the barrier to entry is very low, and it's a way to go out of poverty for millions of people in East Africa. You combine the two, and you basically have the best talent for the sport, making it extremely hard to really perform at the highest level.

Whereas cross country skiing is too niche to have the best talent possible for the sport.

This is like cycling. The Giro (tour of Italy) in itself is the hardest of the 3 GT, yet everyone says the Tour de France is the hardest because the level of the competitors is the highest.

I think that this is not fully convincing. By the same token soccer would be a far more competitive sport than American Football or even basketball because it has the largest following worldwide.

But american football is large enough (and sufficiently equipped with money) to be very competitive.

Similarly, I think that at least some of swimming, cycling, nordic ski etc. have enough athletes worldwide so that on a global scale the difference to running is not that great.

Just think of running in the 1970s and 80s before East Africans were really included in larger numbers. It might not have been quite as competitive as today but the difference was not enough to really change much compared to 30-40 years later.

I may be wrong, but I do recall a new event last Olympics was the 10K open water swim and that seemed really tough to me.

Not even close, it is definitely the marathon. No pounding on the body from X-country skiing. A X-country skier can do multiple events in one games. Once you race a marathon most elites can't compete at even a mediocre level for a month plus.

oh no, not that again wrote:

^that VO2max list is a load of made up numbers.

Also Vo2max is not static. Your Vo2max while cycling will not be your Vo2max while running nor will it be your Vo2max while nordic skiing. Obviously if an activity used more muscle mass then more O2 is required.

Hence all the top numbers are always XC skiiers.

Alan

density wrote:

oh no, not that again wrote:

^that VO2max list is a load of made up numbers.

Yeah, how is it that every athlete on the list is a white male of European descent? Are there no East African distance runners with high VO2max?

It's an old list...decades old?....that has been pushed around a lot. White males of European descent are more likely to be near universities that conduct these types of tests.

Alan

Primo Numero Uno wrote:

Not even close, it is definitely the marathon. No pounding on the body from X-country skiing. A X-country skier can do multiple events in one games. Once you race a marathon most elites can't compete at even a mediocre level for a month plus.

Yes. Many XC skiers have done the equivalent programs of Zatopek 1952 or Nurmi in the 1920s , i.e. three distance events or more, and even in several Olympics over a decade or so. This was rare in Zatopek's time and impossible nowadays, especially if the Marathon is included.

Olympic Triathletes probably burn more calories.

Alan

bigmig19 wrote:

I will say however, I see more dudes and gals on the "floor" face down after XC final than in marathoning. Maybe that's just the culture. Lactic acid is lactic acid. Cycling can sometimes come down to cat and mouse with one burst at the finish. Sometimes not. You dont see cyclists crash to the ground after every finish. Not sure why XC skiers have to.

It's easier on your body to fall down on snow than on asphalt. I once fell down to the ground right after crossing the line in a marathon which ended inside a football field. I am not sure if I had done the same if the surface had been asphalt instead of grass. In case of cycling, you also have to consider the danger of incoming cyclists colliding into bodies on the ground.