Coastal Adventures

Last week's weather was absolutely foul - dark skies and near-constant rain for several days in a row.  Cold fall rain is never pleasant, but this last round was particularly tough to take - a malaise seemed to hang over everything.  I was pretty proud of the team for powering through with good spirits and positive energy.  Still, we were all ready for some blue skies by the end of the week, so a gorgeous weekend with a couple of unusual workouts was a nice change of pace.  On Saturday, we went out to Morse Mountain for some sand skiing - jog in with gear, change to skis and hammer out some intervals, and jog back out - perfect.

We tested sand skiing once last year and found that it felt surprisingly real, so this time we did a real workout - 6-8x2 min intervals at VO2max pace.  The damp sand allows just enough glide for it to feel like skiing, but it's the kind of slow grind you'd get on a steep hill - not great for easy distance or speed work, but perfect for short, hard intervals to build aerobic fitness.

As usual, a few hardy folks jumped in the ocean after the workout, and a good time was had by all.  A very productive session, and spirits were high - we'll definitely do this again this fall.

The next day we tried something completely new for Bowdoin Nordic - a combination rollerski/paddling workout.  I've always been a big fan of paddling as ski training - the movements are similar to poling, and I've seen a lot of skiers come back to campus with great upper body fitness after a summer of kayaking or canoeing.  So this year we finally decided to give it a try.  After a peaceful ski on the back roads of Brunswick, the crew rolled into the Merepoint boat launch.  Sarah gave some quick advice for maximizing the training value of paddling and the skiers loaded up and headed off into the placid waters of Middle Bay.

 The crew paddled along the shoreline and back for about an hour.  It was a perfect day for exploring the coast - the bay was calm and the sun was out.  The quality of the workout wasn't quite what I'd hoped, due to the constant steering adjustments required in a canoe, but it was a nice, restorative session after a long dark week.  Overall, a great weekend on the coast of Maine!