First Week

Our first week has seen some beautiful weather and quality training sessions.
Wednesday: specific strength on the scenic Androscoggin River Bike Path - double pole and single stick sprints uphill.
Thursday: treadmill testing. We increased the grade and speed every 3 minutes and recorded heart rate at the end of each stage. The goal here was to establish baseline heart rates for each stage - in a few weeks, we'll repeat the testing - if our training has been effective, the athletes should be able to complete each workload with less effort (ie, lower heart rates). Most people did a submax test, stopping one stage after we estimated that they'd passed their lactate threshold. A few lucky folks kept going to max in order to determine their max heart rates. It's no fun to run on a treadmill on a beautiful autumn day in Maine, but we got some useful data as well as a decent workout.
Today: a long easy classic ski out toward Pleasant Hill - stellar colors in the afternoon light along Highland Road. Perfect.

Fall Break is now underway - tomorrow we'll do a long rollerski/trail run at Pineland. After that, we're off for our mini camp in western Maine: Sugaloaf Hill Climb on Sunday, a run/hike along the Bigelow Range on Monday, and a long rollerski down Long Falls Dam Road on Tuesday. Weather looks good and we're excited.