Thursday, November 19, 2009

DP Test #2

Yesterday was Round 2 of our double pole sprint test on the bike path. We had a few people make noteworthy improvements, including a new team record by Emma, but the team as a whole was a little off. The timing of the test wasn't great - we're in the middle of our second hard week in a row, and most people don't quite have the edge needed for a sprint test. Next year I'll have to do a better job of fitting the testing into the plan. Overall, though, things are moving along well - we've done some great workouts these past few weeks, and I like what I'm seeing in at workouts. Now we just need some snow in Quebec...

DP Test #2 Results

Men
Spencer 24.1
Niko 24.47
Rainer 25.69
Matt 25.87
Jeff 26.28
Scott 27.13
Will 29.44
Chris 31.69


Women
Emma 29.81
Hannah 31.68
Elissa 32.62
Maren 33.78
Yasmine 42.28

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

SkiErg World Sprints

We participated in the SkiErg World Sprints last weekend - this was an event organized by Concept2 to promote the new erg. Skiers all around the world did a 1k sprint time trial on the erg and sent in their times for comparison. A 1k double pole sprint with no terrain variation or rest is pretty nasty - people were wrecked by the end of the test. Our skiers put up some respectable times, though. Not sure if the current list of times is complete, but right now Emma and Jeff are both in the top 10 overall. Pretty solid considering how many good skiers did the test. Current results at the link.

Niko and Jeff - dueling ergs. Watching a side-by-side erg race is actually pretty cool.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

XC Regionals - Twin Brooks

This morning the team headed down to Twin Brooks in Cumberland to watch the XC teams compete at Regionals. This was a big meet, with all the New England D3 schools in attendance and NCAA berths at stake. Both teams ran well - the men were 5th and the women were 9th. Colman earned a trip to NCAAs with a 1oth place finish. There's a decent chance that the whole men's team will qualify, but team selections won't be announced for a few more days. Congratulations to our runners on a fine season - we'll look forward to cheering on Colman and possibly others at NCAAs!

Full results here.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Bradbury & Bowdoinham

We did a fairly stout bounding workout at Bradbury yesterday and a classic rollerski in Bowdoinham today - I've rediscovered Ridge Rd. as a great rollerski venue.

All of a sudden I'm really into this grass rollerskiing stuff for technique work - Jeff's antics from a couple weeks ago have inspired me.

Wild stallions gotta run free.

A look at the Bradbury landscape. It's hardly a mountain at all, but it's pretty rugged in places.

Part of the trail we used for bounding. I use the word "trail" loosely - it was more of a secret ninja route. There was a fair amount of tree-dodging and improvisation - always good to keep things lively.

A view from the top.

Elissa and Erin. It really wasn't this dark, but there was a nice gloomy forest feel to this part of the mountain.

Emma looking rather possessed.

The boys, route-finding.

This was a hard workout - Sanville might have gotten his lactate above 2 mmols on this one.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Recovery Week

We've had a few pleasant days lately - some mild weather punctuated by a little short-lived snow. After a fairly tough month of training, we took it easy this week with some short and sweet speed work, a threshold session, a few easy workouts, and a beautiful almost-OD out in Bowdoinham today. We're heading into another challenging period that includes some high-intensity weeks and Thanksgiving Camp, so this was a very necessary rest.

Hannah and Maren striding it out on Highland Rd.

Chris and Jeff were moving pretty fast in this workout, but those skid marks were actually caused by a car.

James doing a technique session on the quad. Our campus is great for so many reasons - we're undoubtedly the only people at Bowdoin who appreciate the rollerskiing value of the countless nice smooth walkways.

The ladies wrapping up an OD on Ridge Rd in Bowdoinham on an absolutely perfect day.

A view from the Bowdoinham Fire Station.

Niko loving the hills on Ridge Rd and overachieving. Note the vest-only look - it's November, but you wouldn't know it from the temps. This warm weather won't seem so nice if it's still hanging around in a couple weeks...

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Wilson Plan

Walt isn't the only one taking an experimental training approach this year - Wilson has been up to some secret training in Peru as well:

Little did you know, but all of this "taking a break from skiing" has actually been my secret plan to get back into shape ahead of the curve, and into that NCAA slot Bowdoin has been waiting for.
Here was/is the breakdown of my plan (kinda the same as Walt's, but without the treadmill):

Period 1
Summer: Keep the training sporadic - A weeklong kayak trip (with lots of portaging) here, a four day solo backpacking trip there, couple weeks of being lazy, a couple weeks training with the old ski team.

Period 2
Get realllllly lazy - Arrive in Peru the way you left Salt Lake City, super motivated and active, but quickly descend into a lazy routine of late nights and nonactive days.

Period 3
Then make an immediate shift about a month and a half in (the immediacy is key here). Spend 6 days backpacking in some really tough terrain (Cotahuasi canyon). Then as soon as it seems like you'll settle back into laziness get on your feet once again. This time a trip though the Incan ruins of Choquequirao and onto MachuPicchu. (5.5 days of walking, 150ish K, 20-25Kg packs, 4000+M elevation gain, 40ish hrs walking in total).

Period 4
Rest week.
Travel to La Paz, Bolivia (high altitude training camp). Go and find a big moutain to climb. Huayna Potosi is a great choice (6088M). The idea here is to increase hemoglobin levels above legal FIS levels, and to take some totally awesome pictures with crampons and ice axes.
Three days rest.

Period 5
This is the, as of yet, uncertain part of the training plan.
Probably head off to Condorriri (a set of about 6 prominent peaks), get there, choose two, come back down.
It looks like another trip to Cotahuasi to help out some old folks who live about an 8 hour walk (for me) from the nearest road. Also to explore some side canyons which looked SOOO cool but I just didn't have the time... oh and to eat another head-sized avocado.
Then back to Lima for a few days (let's call that another rest week). And finally back home just in time for the West Yellowstone Ski Festival.
From then on I don't want to make predictions on what I'll be doing (I'll have a bit over a month before coming back to Bowdoin).

Well... we'll see what happens, but with such a specifically designed plan I expect to be putting Walt's 12% to shame. I wish the internet worked well enough that I could attach some pictures, but you'll just have to wait on those. See you all soon!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Pies Results & Photos

Eyes on the Pies Results

Here are results from the BBC running time trial:

Name School Run Split
Wyatt Fereday Colby 15:59
Corey Park Colby 16:02
Brandon Cooper Bates 16:11
Jake Barton Colby 16:34
Jared Supple Colby 16:59
Corey Hill Bates 16:59
Chase Hammond Colby 17:04
Ben Haydock Colby 17:18
Jim Burnham Bates 17:29
Niko Kubota Bowdoin 17:42
Dan Brodhead Bates 18:07
Lucy Garrec Colby 18:26
Jeremy Blazar Colby 18:31
Will McCartney Bowdoin 18:36
Natalie Ruppertsburger Bates 18:47
Danny Kuzio Bates 18:48
Missy Krause Colby 19:16
Nate Fuller Bates 19:33
Rainer Kenney Bowdoin 20:04
Erin Hatton Bowdoin 20:06
Jennie Brentrup Colby 20:13
Hannah Wright Bowdoin 20:18
Jeff Bush Bowdoin 20:39
Sam Forrest Bates 20:42
Emma James Bowdoin 21:48
Kirsten Stray-Gunderson Colby 21:52
Catherine ? Bates 21:58
Melanie Ross Colby 22:00
Dayna Stimson Bates 22:06
Maren Askins Bowdoin 22:38
Kaitlyn Bernard Colby 22:50

And a few photos:

Emma - get those arms out!

Maren

Jeff

Will

Niko

Rainer

Will and Jeff