New Snow

Last night's forecast called for 6-8 inches of snow at Foret, with several more falling during the day. Very exciting, but I should know by now to never trust predicted snowfall amounts - turns out that they got only about 3 or 4 inches. In spite of this, the skiing on the loop got worse, not better, because the temps dropped and the packed slush/snow mix became fairly squirrely. Eventually, most of us decided to venture out into the woods to see if the main trails were skiable - turns out that they were. Coverage was pretty thin, and we scraped up our skis a bit, but that's what rock skis are for. The skiing was quite pleasant for a while before we started running into lengthy wind-scoured sections of trail where we had to walk. Still, it was great to get off the loop and onto something different for a change. Sanville liked it so much that he skied deep into the woods by himself with no watch and ended up coming back almost an hour after everyone else, causing much consternation. Ironically, he was rewarded with a delicious cake made by the women's team, since today happened to be his birthday. Scott also got a cake in honor of his birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday to Scott and Chris both, and thanks to the women's team for their outstanding cake-making skills!

Foret Day 3

This the toughest snow I've ever met. Another night above freezing, another morning filled with dozens of skiers doing countless laps, and yet the snow is still hanging on. The Foret crew did some shoveling on a few thin patches and we were good to go.


Polasky has been resting an injured shoulder with some no- and one-pole skiing. Good for technique as well - nice how that works out.

Erin and Rainer working on forward body position - it's coming along.

Hannah and Maren. The team has stayed remarkably upbeat during this damp week on the gerbil wheel.

We finished today's workout with some games, including a round of Polasky Ball. Polasky Ball is basically Ultimate on skis, except instead of a disc you use a balled-up hat wrapped in plastic - works great.

Gobel Gobel (Updated w/ Photos)

Another fine day of skiing. Amazingly, the snow held up through last night's rain and the absurdly warm temps that won't go away. We were reserved for 2 hours, but we were able to do a good solid 3+ hours of skiing since no one showed up for the afternoon. The endless loop has ceased to be exciting, but we're skiing in November and that's enough for now. I'm actually really liking the mini-loop format, because it gives me lots of opportunities to see the athletes and work with them on technique. Also, since we have no variation whatsoever the athletes are eager for drills and cues to give focus to the workout, so they're absorbing the technique work more readily than ever. I feel like we've made a lot of progress in just the last two days - very encouraging. Nice to have a very positive result arising from an otherwise challenging situation.

The rest of the day was very pleasant. The team put forth a heroic effort to pull off a nice Thanksgiving dinner - I was impressed by how well everyone worked together. I have to note Jeff's contributions once again. He's basically the Michael Jordan of Thanksgiving dinner preparation - you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him. He took charge of cooking both turkeys, led the gravy-making crew, and put together a phenomenal key lime pie (random) in his spare time. With his cooking, language skills, and occasional driving contributions, he's pretty much a lock for Skier of the Week (an award that didn't exist until a couple hours ago). Overall, a wonderful meal and a nice chance for the team to come together - we all have a lot of reasons to be thankful.

Emma and Maren were clutch - they rescued the meal with a late-game effort to triple the gravy volume.


Scary to see this crowd wielding large knives.

A fine spread.


Tim tried to keep up with Polasky and got dropped. Picture me in a fight with Dangerous Dana Rosenblatt. That's what happened to Tim at dinner. Here he is struggling through the last of the green bean casserole. Speaking of Polasky, we had no leftovers in large part due to his insatiable appetite. The man is a freak.

On Foot & On Snow

Thanksgiving Camp at last. We drove up last night - a painless drive since there's no snow anywhere in the East to mess up the roads. Almost no snow, that is - Foret has a 1km loop of manmade snow, and yes, we came all this way just to ski on it. We almost got shut out this morning - they're limiting access to reduce the crowding, and at first it sounded like we'd be out of luck. Fortunately, we were able to get a reservation for the afternoon, which made our morning hiking session much more enjoyable. We hiked/bushwhacked up the side of the downhill ski area - the base was shrouded in fog, but as we hiked up we broke out into bright sunshine and found ourselves looking down on the fog bank - pretty amazing view. At the top we discovered a great trail and did some running before heading back down to get ready for our ski.



At Foret, we skated the loop for 2+ hours - it was outstanding. The snow is pretty beat up, but it felt great just to be out on skis again. We did some productive technique work - I was pretty pleased with how the team looked in their first day on snow. In spite of the repetition, no one's bored yet - if the next 4 days are similar, I'll be thrilled. Unfortunately, it's raining right now and the forecast is ominous - we'll hope for the best tomorrow.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Jeff's stellar performance today. He's the best (only?) French speaker in our group, and he helped things go smoothly this afternoon by handling communications with the staff at Foret. I was grateful and impressed - obviously he brought more than malaria home from his Madagascar trip.

Ski to Hallowell & Morse Mtn TT (Updated w/ Pictures)

Busy weekend for us - the second Morse Mountain time trial yesterday and our annual ski to Naomi's house in Hallowell today. Today's ski was one of the nicest OD workouts we've ever had - the weather, the novelty of a point-to-point rollerski, and Naomi's fine food and hospitality made this a great day. We were fortunate to have the Cookie Monster join us to help the guys stay on the right route - he kept up quite nicely in spite of the fact that today's workout doubled his yearly total rollerskiing time. We had a couple minor equipment troubles - a broken pole and a broken binding - but otherwise the workout was problem-free. The team looked smooth and strong - we've seen real progress in fitness and technique over the past couple months, and I'm pretty happy about that. Delicious homemade chili and whoopie pies capped off a great day. Sadly, Nat wasn't able to make it home for the weekend - he was sorely missed. Thanks to Naomi for a wonderful day!

It was a peaceful morning on Lewis Hill Rd - nice.

Donuts gleaming in the early morning sunlight - what's better than that?

Men taking a much needed donut feed. This brilliant idea was Elissa's - that's why she's captain, folks.

An impromptu shrine to Nat on Naomi's front porch.

We also had great weather for yesterday's time trial - very pleasant. The team gave a great effort, and the times were quite solid considering how heavy the training load has been these last few weeks. Niko and Will in particular made huge gains, and Yasmine set a new women's team record. We finished the day with some quality beach time, including a brief swim by certain foolhardy members of the men's team. How many college ski teams get to go straight from an uphill time trial to the beach? Pretty sweet.

We love our safety vests - we wear them even when we're not rollerskiing.

Scott and Chris warming up.

Women
Yasmine - 6:59
Erin - 7:12
Maren - 8:12
Elissa - 8:23
Sarah - 9:25

Men
Scott - 5:43
Chris - 5:45
Spencer - 6:02
Niko - 6:08
Matt - 6:11
Dan - 6:21
Will - 6:44
Jeff - 6:55

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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!

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

Parents Weekend/Eyes on the Pies

It's been a busy weekend for our team. Yesterday we did an OD combo workout (a classic rollerski around Runaround Pond followed by a trail run at Bradbury) and then had brunch at Thorne with the team parents visiting for Parents Weekend. Today we took about half the team to Pineland for the Eyes on the Pies skate rollerski race. We were joined by Colby and Bates, among others. After the race, the college teams headed over to Oak Hill for a running pursuit. It was a beautiful day and a nice workout opportunity against some good competition. No results right now - hopefully I can get ahold of them soon. Photos coming soon - for now, here's a great one from Steve Fuller:

I have no idea what Jeff is doing in this photo.

Lots of people had other things going on this weekend. Elissa was perhaps the most hardcore - she ran from Orr's Island to campus on the way to brunch, about 15 miles. A few others competed in a Parents Weekend 5k fun run - from what I hear, Chris dominated, crushing the egos of countless parents. Lastly, the XC teams raced at NESCACs today - men 5th, women 6th. Full results here.