Camp Wrap-Up

We finished up camp on Sunday with a nice long early morning ski.  A little overnight snow made it look like winter finally - not enough to explore the logging roads, unfortunately, but enough to make for excellent skiing on the loop.  After a peaceful, moose-free drive home, we returned to reality and bare ground.  This was an excellent camp - although we spent five days and countless hours skiing on a 2k loop, the crew never seemed bored.  We accomplished a lot of solid training and good technique work, as well as our first time trial.  As importantly, the skiers got to spend a lot of quality time together and get to know each other better (for example, we all learned that Jackson can't tell the difference between tofu and yoga, and that the coaches are the best fooseball team).  Overall, five good days that should set us up well for the early season races that are coming up fast.

I should also give a quick recap of our last two camp dinners, since all Bowdoin Nordic fans place food right next to skiing in importance.  On Friday night, Babyen Isbjorn made a Thai chicken stir fry with tons of delicious vegetables (and high-class pressed tofu for the vegetarians), with carrot cake for dessert, without which no Bowdoin ski team camp would be complete.  Enano Loco closed out the competition with an impressive presentation:  enchiladas, spinach gorgonzola salad, and fake margaritas (with a nice touch of salt on the glass rims).  Dessert was KEY LIME PIE with homemade graham cracker crust - Jeff Bush would have been proud.  In short, we ate really well during this camp.  Picking a winner will be tough, and undoubtedly controversial.

One last note:  Shelby made a great camp video, which I was sadly unable to post.  We'll try to sort this out shortly.

Time Trial and Camp Photos

This morning we got up extra early for a 6/10k classic time trial with Colby, St. Lawrence, and a few skiers from the Southern Ontario Training Centre.  After some rain last night, wet snow was falling, making the waxing an interesting challenge.  The skiers were in charge of waxing their own skis (with some help from coaches), so this kept everyone hopping right up until start time.  Despite the chaos, everyone did a great job of staying calm and getting their skis taken care of.  The team looked solid in the time trial - people were moving well and working hard to hold technique together at race speed.  Overall, a very good effort, especially for Day 4 on snow.  Here are results:

Women 6k	Name	Time
1	O. Golovkina	17.25.8
2	M. Susla	17.26.1
3	S. Searles	17.32.0
4	S. Brockett	17.39.0
5	C. Cichowicz	17.44.0
6	K. Mulcahy	17.45.0
7	S. Aseltine	18.01.5
8	A. Hotopp	18.08.0
9	E. Donohoe	18.24.5
10	S. Lynn	18.32.4
11	M. Nitschke	18.44.0
12	T. Hamilton	18.46.5
13	C. Ball	19.02.6
14	M. Hitchcock	19.04.0
15	L. Nolan	19.10.0
16	K. Bourne	19.23.8
17	J. Hill	19.24.6
18	E. Spaeh	19.39.7
19	E. James	19.51.2
20	H. Marshall	19.55.0
21	N. Hefner	20.09.0
22	S. Frisbie	20.13.0
23	M. Swick	20.30.0
24	L. Knowlton	21.30.0
25	A. Mahoney	21.47.0

Men 10k	Name	Time
1	J. Barton	23.37.1
2	J. Dixon	24.27.0
3	W. Frielinghaus	24.49.0
4	J. Crimp	25.01.5
5	J. Supple	25.02.5
6	E. Lustgarten	25.06.0
7	P. Defrancis	25.12.4
8	C. Raynor	25.15.7
9	A. Meng	25.19.3
10	J. Tucker	25.19.8
11	J. Bloch	25.35.9
12	E. Odell	25.55.2
13	C. Wight	25.56.0
14	C. Burnham	25.59.6
15	R. Likely	26.09.6
16	C. Regan	26.10.5
17	B. Osorio	26.12.5
18	E. Martell	26.14.3
19	N. Murphy	26.17.4
20	H. Austin	26.37.6
21	A. Hart	26.45.4
22	K. Curry	27.08.5
23	M. Dier	27.12.2
24	J. Belk	27.21.3
25	J. Richmond	27.45.5
26	A. McGovern	28.59.7

Also, here are a few photos of camp so far, courtesy of Shelby:

Thanksgiving Camp 2012 So Far

Day 3 of Thanksgiving Camp is winding down - so far, so good.  There's no natural snow at all here, so we've been skiing on a steadily growing mandmade loop - about 1.5 on Wednesday, 1.75 yesterday, and an even 2k today.  It's a nice little loop with some good climbs and good coverage.  It's been warm, but the nights have been cold enough to keep the loop in good shape, with great classic skiing in the mornings.  Although it would be nice to have more trails to explore, the big benefit to the loop is that it's great for technique work - Mike and I are seeing the athletes constantly, so we can pull people aside for some quick work and then have them rejoin the rest of the crew a few minutes later.  I'm pretty pleased with the technique improvements we're seeing so far - I feel like everyone has made some good progress.  Most people have been skiing 3-4 hours a day so far, so everyone's starting to feel a bit worn, but there's still plenty of energy and enthusiasm to get us through these next 2 days.  Classic time trial tomorrow, so that should be fun.

As always, we've had some good meals.  Pierre Tueurs Froid got us started with chili on Wednesday, supplemented with a tasty spinach salad and an incredibly delicious brownie/peanut butter/cookie concoction (avec whipped cream) - they've set the bar high.  The whole team also pulled off a great Thanksgiving dinner last night.  I was a bit skeptical when I discovered yesterday afternoon that the turkey hadn't been fully thawed, but Tess and Tyler made a heroic effort to get a perfectly cooked bird on the table - with an array of fantastic side dishes, everyone had a great meal.  Another fine Thanksgiving for our team - we truly have a lot to be thankful for.

No pictures yet - I should be able to get some posted in the next couple days.

Speed & Intensity

Somehow, we've already arrived at Thanksgiving Camp - that was quick.  The last 2 weeks have been pretty busy, with some good, focused training - speed last week and intensity the week prior.  The intensity week was probably the heaviest training load we've had this fall - 3 VO2max workouts and 2 thresholds in 5 days.  The speed work was a bit less taxing, but still very focused - 2 of our usual sprint/agility workouts on rollerskis, timed 200m striding intervals on Doughty Rd, an erg workout supplemented with lots of jumps, and a spenst-type workout with a series of short bounding intervals.  We finished the week with a re-test of our bike path time trial.  Shelby and Tyler once again came out on top.  The team as a whole put up mixed times - some gains, some losses, some flat.  Part of this was probably due to colder temps and slower rollerskis, but I'm also reminded that this is about the time of year when people start wearing down after a hard semester of schoolwork and training.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the team's looking - as long as we keep an eye on everyone, monitor the energy levels, and back off when necessary, we should be in a good place by the time we head into Winter Break.  For now, though, we're only thinking about getting on snow.  First ski tomorrow!

Lobster Roll 2012

We ended our easy week in style with a trip to North Haven for the 6th Annual Lobster Roll.  Once again, we got lucky with the weather - nothing but sunshine, and fairly mild temps for November.  Decent showing by our team - Shelby and Steph rocked it, finishing 4th and 7th, respectively, and most people improved their times from previous years.  A few of our skiers are definitely showing signs of tiredness after several weeks of hard training combined with school - we'll be keeping an eye on people as we get into our final push to the end of the semester.  Overall, though, a very good day, capped off by a gorgeous sunset over the ocean on the ferry ride home.  Thanks to Andy Shepard and Maine Winter Sports Center for putting this event together once again!

Hopefully some pictures will surface soon - for now, here are results:

Final Position	Bib Number	Last Name	First Name	Group	Total Elapsed Time
1	82	Supple	Jared	Men	36:42.0
2	87	Goessling	Raleigh	Men	36:58.6
3	86	Barton	Jake	Men	37:17.0
4	85	Danger Buetow	Jordan	Men	37:30.0
5	69	Belk	Jonah	Men	37:58.4
6	76	Bard	Joey	Men	38:10.0
7	79	Fosnaes	Eirik	Men	38:30.5
8	78	Woods	Sean	Men	38:47.4
9	75	Hamilton	Alex	Men	39:01.0
10	81	Michaud	Nick	Men	39:53.1
11	67	Nesbitt	Andrew	Men	39:59.0
12	77	Tucker	Jeff	Men	40:09.3
13	83	Milliken	Lucas	Men	40:34.7
14	63	Dermody	Daniel	Men	40:37.0
15	71	Harrer	Corky	Men	40:45.6
16	84	Dixon	John	Men	40:48.4
17	25	Howe	Katrina	Women	41:17.4
18	66	Cowan	Pete	Men	41:21.2
19	61	Bloch	Jackson	Men	41:24.1
20	59	Burke	Ethan	Men	41:25.9
21	60	Regan	Cam	Men	41:39.1
22	55	Murphy	Nick	Men	41:44.9
23	80	Burnham	Chris	Men	42:01.9
24	62	Regan	Connor	Men	42:19.3
25	74	DeAngelis	Tyler	Men	42:37.4
26	65	Crimp	James	Men	42:37.9
27	72	Fereshetian	Justin	Men	42:44.7
28	64	Wight	Calvin	Men	43:22.4
29	56	Richmond	Jordan	Men	43:44.3
30	31	Grossman	Hallie	Women	43:46.9
31	24	Pope	Margaret	Women	43:57.2
32	70	Austin	Henry	Men	44:48.2
33	51	Deluca	Marcello	Men	45:49.0
34	73	Defrancis	Paco	Men	45:51.6
35	30	Aseltine	Shelby	Women	46:19.9
36	19	Donohoe	Emma	Women	47:11.5
37	21	Clark	Britta	Women	47:29.9
38	27	Lynn	Stephanie	Women	47:33.5
39	29	Golovkina	Olga	Women	47:34.5
40	13	Hill	Jenna	Women	47:38.2
41	58	Kuzio	Dan	Men	47:45.7
42	26	Susla	Molly	Women	47:53.0
43	57	Kane	Sam	Men	48:08.8
44	5	Fitzgerald	Kaitlin	Women	48:17.6
45	68	Turner	Lauren	Men	48:23.2
46	10	Bourne	Kim	Women	48:28.7
47	22	Brockett	Sarah	Women	48:42.1
48	28	Sellegren	Gretchen	Women	49:22.4
49	20	Spaeh	Eva	Women	49:25.0
50	1	James	Sadie	Women	49:35.8
51	23	Tuttle	Catherine	Women	49:58.0
52	52	Cushman	Ashton	Men	50:36.8
53	18	Ryerson	Sally	Women	50:46.4
54	15	Daniels	Caroline	Women	51:12.9
55	16	Hotopp	Alice	Women	51:33.7
56	7	Sudkamp-walker	Helen	Women	52:11.7
57	17	Marshall	Hannah	Women	52:45.4
58	12	Wright	Grace	Women	52:49.5
59	8	Saucy	Hilary	Women	53:39.3
60	11	Knowlton	Lucy	Women	54:14.1
61	3	Algeo	Lucy	Women	54:27.1
62	14	Frisbie	Sierra	Women	56:47.4
63	6	Mahoney	Abigail	Women	1:01:15.0
64	2	Lindsey	Molly	Women	1:01:34.4
65	54	McPherson	Grant	Men	1:13:46.7
66	9	Dufresne-dixon	Marie	Women	1:30:11.3
67	4	Ranucci	Emily	Women	1:31:26.3