October Photos

October's been good to us. The training has been high-quality, and the team is fitter and more focused than any group I've worked with in a long while. Here are some photos from the last few weeks:

Spencer on the scenic Androscoggin Bike Path. I swear that this would be one of the nicest rollerski training venues around if it weren't situated right next to Route 1. Even so, it's a great resource.


Emma working on getting her arms up in the double pole - got to take advantage of that farm girl strength.

Rare photo of Matty B - international man of mystery.

Skiers in the mist.

Jeff powering through a specific strength workout.

Jess working on balance - one-legged gliding downhill is always a tough challenge.

Will has made some nice technique gains this month. Polasky and James no-pole striding in the background - founding members of the Shoulder Injury Club.

The ladies in front of Waterman's on North Haven.

Maquoit Bay, the backdrop for much of our fall rollerskiing - nice to have the Atlantic Ocean right around the corner.

A couple weeks ago we were treated to the most gorgeous double rainbow I've ever seen. We started a classic workout at the tail end of a torrential downpour - 2o minutes later the rain stopped, and soon afterward the clouds opened up and this happened. My lame camera and lamer photo skills can't possibly do it justice, but it was pretty special. A good omen, perhaps. We're off to a great start.

Walt Update - Soldier Hollow Time Trials

Walt did a pair of important time trials at Soldier Hollow on Monday and Wednesday. These were used to determine the skiers who'd be attending the early season World Cup races with the National Team - a nice head start to the qualifying process. Every Olympic hopeful was there (minus two National team guys with nothing at stake), and all but two skiers raced on matched rollerskis, so theoretically everyone was on equal footing. Monday's 10k sprint was a mess - for whatever reason, Walt just didn't have it. Wednesday's 20k was a different story. Walt finished 3rd overall and posted the 2nd fastest ski time of those on matched skis, with only Tim Burke skiing faster - this in spite of a wrong turn that cost him about 20 seconds (what's up with that, anyway?). This is very encouraging. Walt has always relied on his shooting to keep him in contention, but this race showed that he can ski with any of the other guys on the Olympic bubble - there are a lot of fast guys in this group, so beating them is quite an achievement.

The qualifying scene is pretty quiet for the next few weeks until a series of December races in Minnesota. These events will be used to choose 4 athletes to join the 5 who'll already be competing on the World Cup - from this group of 9, the 5 Olympians will be chosen after some January World Cups in Germany. We'll keep you posted.

LR Results

3rd Annual Lobster Roll results here.

4th Annual Phil Soule Phlail

Lobster Roll on Saturday and the 5k Phlail on Sunday - busy weekend! Today's event went well - it was cold, but the rain held off until afternoon. We had a decent turnout - roughly 115 registered racers (and a few pirates - who pirates a small-time fundraiser race, anyway?). Paul Johnson of Windham won the men's race for the second year in a row, while Bowdoin XC runner Anna Ackerman took the top spot for women. The team handled their duties nicely, and I got nothing but positive comments from the racers. Full results here.

New Haven Lobster Roll

We drove up to Rockland and took the ferry out to New Haven today for the 3rd Annual Lobster Roll. This event is always a great time - great rollerskiing in a beautiful setting. Colby, UMPI, and several other Maine athletes joined us (Bates couldn't make it due to swine flu concerns, unfortunately). I was pretty pleased with how the team looked - it's clear that our returning skiers have made a big jump in fitness and technique, and our first-years are getting better every week. Not sure what the results will show, but we skied well today - another step in the right direction. Post-race was nice too - lobster for lunch and a presentation about sustainable energy production on the island, followed by an afternoon recovery ski before the ferry back to the mainland. Thanks to Andy Shepard and Maine Winter Sports Center for making this day happen!

On another note, congratulations to Colman for winning the Maine State Cross-Country Championship today! He's been on fire lately - the next few weeks will be exciting. The men won the team title, and the women finished second - full results here.

Acadia Camp

Fall Camp in Acadia was a rousing success - 3 days of hard training in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We left campus on Saturday morning - sadly, we were missing 3 ailing seniors, which left a big hole in our team. Nonetheless, the group rallied for a tough bounding workout on the Witch Hole Pond carriage roads that afternoon - 4x4 minutes of moosehoofing, our first "real" VO2max work of the fall. Chili, cornbread, and cookies for dinner - served on time and in large quantities.

Sunday was our big traverse of the eastern part of the island - Tim led the women from west to east, while I tagged along with the men in the opposite direction. The mountains of Acadia are small but rugged - classic Maine hiking, with lots of roots, rocks, and steep grades - which made for a challenging mix of running and hiking. The women covered Cadillac, Dorr, and Champlain - they would have hit Gorham as well, but a minor navigational error put them at Sand Beach instead. Beaches, mountains - easy to confuse the two. The men did their best to get lost as well - they took off when I stopped for a donut break and promptly made a wrong turn. Only dumb luck and my superior tracking skills averted a catastrophe (Polasky's size 27 footprints are easy to follow). In four hours, we crossed Gorham, Champlain, Dorr, Cadillac, Pemetic, and both Bubbles. We wrapped up the day with mini golf in arctic temps, a burrito dinner, and the best carrot cake I've ever had, courtesy of Jessica and Emma.

Before leaving on Monday, we took to the carriage roads for a sweet run on the Around the Mountains loop - 12 miles of rugged terrain and gorgeous views, interspersed with some strength work. I can't remember when I've enjoyed a run more. To sum up the weekend, I'd say that there's nowhere I'd rather be in October than Acadia.

Back on campus, we finished out the break with a 3 1/2 hour rollerski/run combo - four long and hard days of training. The team handled it as well as I could have ever hoped, especially the first-years - most of them haven't trained at anywhere near this level before, but they tackled it all with no complaints. Serious tenacity. I'm really proud of everyone - this is one tough group.

Fall Camp in Acadia would not have been possible without the gracious hospitality of Joanne and Greg Askins, who invited us to stay in their cottage in Trenton (ironically, Maren couldn't be there due to a wedding). My original plan was to have the team camp out in the park - that probably would not have ended well. This was better. Thanks for everything, Greg and Joanne!

We didn't get many photos, unfortunately - we were trying to travel light on the OD days. These few hardly do justice to the scenery.

The carriage roads are surprisingly hilly in places.


Niko is sleepy - he's a senior, so he's heard all my ramblings before anyway.

Men at work. No poles for James - shoulder injury.

Tim's view from a tree.

Poles only near Runaround Pond. Rainer representing Otter Valley High.

DP Sprint Test

Today was our double pole sprint test on the bike path. The sprint is about 150m long and uphill - a good test of upper body power output. We use a couple pairs of V2 920 rollerskis that are dedicated specifically for testing, which allows us to compare results from test to test with some level of confidence. Like Sunday, we saw some very encouraging results - overall the times were faster than last year. But even without looking at the times it's clear that people are skiing faster - more springy, explosive movements and better technique. Lots of reasons to be excited after these first couple tests.

Here are the times:

Men
Niko - 23.75
Spencer - 23.84
Dan - 24.37
Jeff - 25.06
Rainer - 25.59
Matt - 26.22
Will - 30.04
Chris - 30.28

Women
Hannah - 30.32
Emma - 30.71
Elissa - 31.41
Jessica - 36.14
Erin - 36.84

PS - Big thanks to the Cookie Monster for helping out with timing!

Morse Mtn TT

Once again we're at the start of a new season - today was an official fitness testing day prior to the start of practices on Tuesday. We drove out to Morse Mtn for the uphill time trial that we established last year. It was a wet, misty day, and the fall colors were brilliant against the overcast sky. Perfect time trial weather. The team gave a great effort, and the times were strong:

Men
Chris - 5:44
Spencer - 5:58
Matt - 6:09
Dan - 6:21
Niko - 6:33
Jeff - 7:00
Will - 7:09
Rainer - 7:40

Women
Hannah - 7:01
Yasmine - 7:03
Erin - 7:14
Jessica - 7:43
Emma - 8:02
Elissa - 8:37

I'm particularly happy about the women's showing - we had 3 women well under last year's fastest time (true, one of them runs XC, but whatever). The overall depth of the team has really improved, and it's just gratifying to have a good-sized group of women training together instead of the low numbers we've had the past couple years. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how we looked today - a good start to the year. Looking forward to coming back before Thanksgiving to do this test again. In the meantime, we've got lots of good stuff planned: Fall Camp in Acadia, the Lobster Roll, and all sorts of hard and fun training. Day off tomorrow, and then we'll jump right in.