Camp Day 3

Good training today - skate sprints in the morning and an easy classic ski in the afternoon. A pure speed workout is always fun - in this case, we did timed "drop in" sprints. For drop in sprints, the skier starts at the top of a short hill, double poles once or twice, and then drops into a tuck. As the hill flattens out, the skier crosses the start line, rises up out of the tuck, and starts sprinting at full speed. The downhill allows the skier to start the sprint at a fairly high speed rather than using a lot of energy to accelerate from zero. It's a less taxing and more efficient way to learn the coordination needed to ski at high speeds, and it's fun. Skiing fast is always fun.

We also got Sarah back today - she stayed home for a few extra days to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. With Nick and Maresa back from studying abroad, our whole team is together for the first time all year. Great.

Oh yeah - time trial tomorrow. 5k classic & 5k skate, pursuit style. Old school pursuit - none of that silly duathlon stuff. Finally, a time trial! Aside from Great Glen, we've had no opportunities to go head to head on snow - this will be good race prep for next week, and we'll learn a few things as well.