Fall 2020

Fall 2020 was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before.  The college looked very different this semester – only first-years and a handful of older students on campus, everyone living in a single and attending classes remotely, take-out meals from the dining hall, and of course masks and distancing.  So we had only 9 skiers on campus:  8 first-years plus Gabby.  We weren’t able to use vans, so we couldn’t get to all of our favorite training venues – everything was based from Farley.  And of course no camps.  Quite a different scenario from usual, and one that sounds pretty sad when you write it all down.  But it wasn’t – we had a great semester!  Fall 2020 was all about being resourceful and making the most of what we could do instead of dwelling on what we couldn’t do.  The skiers were fantastic – positive and energetic every day, and ready to focus on building fitness, technique, and relationships.  We ended up doing a lot of super productive training and having a lot of fun together – really a great experience.  Here are some highlights:

Intrasquad racing:  With winter racing looking more and more dubious every week, we did a lot of time trials to stay in touch with competition.  Since we couldn’t drive to Morse Mountain or other exciting destinations, we brought back some of the classics:  the 3000m run on the track, the bike path skate time trial, and an agility test.  We also did a 5k run with the XC team and an 8k classic on Highland Road.  All good competitive events – fun to try some new stuff and bring some old stuff back into the mix.  Aggie emerged as our top rollerskier - winning at Highland, tying Shelby Aseltine 15’s record on the bike path, and absolutely dominating the agility test.  On the men’s side, Carson posted the top times for Highland and agility, and Marcus edged him out on the bike path.  Morgan scorched the 3k run in a time of 10:16 - wow!  We haven’t done a 3k test since 2007, my first fall at Bowdoin, so not a lot of team history for reference.  But it’s safe to say that not too many college skiers can run that fast.  The group as a whole put up some solid times, with several PRs and 3 other women under 12 minutes.  In the 5k, we were surprisingly competitive with the runners – Morgan, Gabby, and Ellie took the top 3 spots for women, and Carson was 3^rd for men.  Super fun to get together with another Bowdoin team for some friendly competition!

 

Mad skillz:  One of our best rollerski options this fall was rolling laps around Farley/Watson or Pine St.  So we spent a LOT of time working on skills this fall – lots of drills, speeds, agility, and one-on-one technique feedback.  The skiers made a ton of progress – it was remarkable to see how much people improved over the course of a few weeks.  Even better, everyone has a bunch of drills and technique cues to help continue the progress throughout the winter.

Alternative transportation:  Without vans, we were pretty limited in the training venues we could access, so we had to get creative.  We rode our bikes to the bike path (for rollerski workouts, ironically) and to Mt. Ararat for bounding.  We also were able to do a few of our usual roll/run combo ODs by rollerskiing out to a trailhead, doing a nice trail run, and then running or rolling home.  This took us not just to our usual places (ie, Wolfe’s Neck) but also places we’d never been before – Freeport Conservation Trust trails, Kate Furbish Preserve, and some semi-abandoned roads on the old naval air station.  All of this was possible thanks to Leslie’s gear shuttling with her minivan.

(photo courtesy of Steve Fuller)

Game time:  Between shrinking daylight and then the late fall campus lockdown, we were pretty limited for the last couple weeks of the semester, so we added more games to the mix:  soccer, football, ultimate, and lots of knock-out, of course.  By nordie standards, this group is half-decent at ball sports – Silas (aka, the King of Fun) was almost unstoppable in knock-out.  Will this hold up when the older skiers come back?  We’ll have to wait until next fall to find out.

Making the most of campus:  In addition to the skills courses and games, we did made good use of the rest of campus:  running with poles around the XC course, spenst/elasticity in the gully, track work, strength/stability/ski imitation on the turf fields, and of course some pool running.  Two highlights:  a scavenger hunt type workout that sent the skiers running back and forth all over campus, and a Sunday morning rollerski around just about every paved surface on campus.

Overall, this semester was fantastic - the team trained hard, had fun, improved a lot, and became really close-knit.  Can’t ask for much more than that, and I wouldn’t trade this bizarre and unique experience for anything.  That being said, I’m hoping for a return to our usual routine next fall – even these amazingly positive first-years are likely to have a hard time getting fired up for another three years of Pickard Field loops.  For now, we’re all settling in for some time away from campus.  Next semester won’t start until early February – no early return like we normally would do.  Bowdoin is flipping the script for next semester – first-years remote, and only upperclass students on campus.  Almost all of our upperclass skiers are taking a gap year, so we’ll only have two or three skiers on campus.  At least everyone will get a lot of individual attention!  Who knows if we’ll be able to train at Pineland or attend races – with COVID cases exploding all across the country, there might not even be races to attend, although the league is hoping to hold some single-day carnivals.  We’ll have to wait and see how things develop.  No matter what happens, we’re going to make the most of the winter and look forward to better times ahead.