Thanksgiving & Snow!

 Day 3 of camp is complete - so far it's been fantastic.  Right now there are 20-25k groomed - best conditions we've had in 5 or 6 years.  It's been cold and clear, so the tracks are nice and firm - great classic skiing.  We've done a lot of good technique work - a bit harder to manage than in previous years, since the skiers aren't confined to a 2k loop, but that's a trade I'm happy to make.  We're seeing lots of little improvements and even a few breakthroughs.  One example:  James and Tyler have been chipping away improving their striding technique ever since they got to Bowdoin - it's been a long slow grind.  This week it's finally starting to click for both of them.  Super exciting - if I wasn't such an uptight square, I'd be doing a victory dance.

Of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving Camp without a mention of the food.  Les Fromages en Colere cooked up a tasty meal of chili, cornbread, and brownies on Day 1 - definitely a strong contender for the title.  Last night everyone worked hard to pull off a lovely Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce from scratch, and professional grade pies by Ruth.  Delicious, and by far the smoothest Thanksgiving dinner we've ever had - I think we were eating by 6:30, which is an hour or two earlier than usual.

Still 2 days of on-snow adventures left to be had.  Skate time trial tomorrow!

Sand Skiing

I've been wanting to try sand skiing with the team for years - yesterday we were looking to finish the week with a low-key workout that was a little different, so we headed over to Morse Mtn to give it a try.  With skis/poles in hand and boots in backpacks, we jog/hiked over the mountain and down to the beach.  It was a cold day made colder by the howling wind, but still a spectacular day for the beach.  The skiing was pretty cool - it was basically like real skiing with perfect kick up a steep hill on super slow snow.  We ended up doing a lot of walking and easy shuffling, but real glide was possible.  It came at a high cost, though - my heart rate was through the roof after about 30 seconds of good fast skiing (although this might have been because I'm in terrible shape).  The minimal glide forced you to get into a nice forward position, which was nice for those who have been working on this all fall.  I came away feeling like sand skiing could be a great tool for real workouts - it's basically a more specific version of bounding, so it could be great for short VO2max intervals and explosive power development.  I'm thinking we may give this a try sometime in the future - hopefully not until next year, though.  Headed for the real thing tomorrow!

Penny Rd Time Trial

Perfect day for a time trial today - overcast and cool but not cold.  The Penny Rd TT is one of our favorites - a point-to-point 5k classic on rolling uphill terrain.  The team looked great today, and times were really fast compared to previous years.  Tyler was just a few seconds off of Spencer Eusden's men's record, and five women crushed Kaitlynn's old record, led by Kaitlynn herself.  There were some good battles going on out there, which was good to see - Mac skied with Tyler for much of the race, and Alec kept them both in sight despite having slower skis.  Eva kept Kaitlynn close for a while, and Hannah Miller, who had started 40 seconds ahead, was able to hold Kaitlynn off and cross the line first.  Overall, everyone looked really strong.  I was shocked by how little striding they did.  One of the reasons I like this TT so much is because all of the long climbs provide a rare opportunity for sustained striding.  But today people were pushing the double pole and kick DP well into the climbs - Tyler and Mac barely did any striding.  Guess I'll have to find a steeper hill.

Tyler	15:12
Mac	15:41
Alec	15:57
Kaitlynn	17:08
H. Miller	17:36
Eva	17:48
Tess	18:25
Olivia	18:50
H. Marshall	20:33

(photo courtesy of Ruth)

Lobster Roll 2013 & October Recap

A few days ago the team headed over to North Haven for the 2013 Lobster Roll.  The Lobster Roll is always a fun time - it's not every day that you get to do a rollerski race on an island in the Gulf of Maine.  We had a small crew in attendance, along with some enthusiastic parents since it was Family Weekend at Bowdoin.  Eva had the top performance of the day as the 7th women, with Tess not far behind in 10th.  Mac was our top man, finishing 13th - a strong showing for a first-year.  Overall, the team skied pretty well considering that we were finishing up a tough block of training - most people improved their times from previous years (although who knows what that means in a rollerski race).  More importantly, it was a fun experience and a good race effort.  Thanks to Andy Shepard of Maine Winter Sports Center for making this trip happen!

Now we're heading into the dark days of November after a beautiful October.  We were lucky to have lots of mild, sunny days with almost no rain, and we were able to get in a lot of solid workouts with a few adventures here and there.  Aside from Fall Camp and the North Haven trip, (most of) the team took a trip to New Hampshire for a run/hike in the Presidentials - some did the full traverse, while others did a nice loop over Madison and Adams.  The day to day training has been really productive as well.  Since fitness testing concluded, our main focal points have been threshold and specific strength - lots and lots of double poling on rollerskis, quality time on the SkiErgs, and a few laps around the fields while dragging weight plates.  So the team is looking pretty strong right now - some of these guys can double pole up just about anything.  Our new focus for the next few weeks is speed - trying to apply all that strength to our skis and poles in a quick and efficient manner.  This means lots of rollerski and erg sprints, as well as some spenst work.  We'll continue to do regular threshold workouts and probably another time trial or two as we head toward Thanksgiving Camp - just 3 weeks to go until we're on snow!