Pineland Open

Pineland had 3 inches on the ground last week - with another 4 on Friday, they were able to open yesterday. Decent skiing for such a small amount of snow - a bit scratchy, but it won't take much more to bring out the good skis. How many places in New England can have good skiing with 7 inches of snow? With Pineland open, I took the opportunity to get together with the Mt. Ararat HS team yesterday morning for a skate clinic - I had a great time. We had a nice mix of beginners and some more experienced folks. We worked on some fundamentals and a little more advanced stuff as well - everyone was fired up and did a great job of staying focused on a cold morning. They're a great group with lots of talent - I'm excited to see how their season goes this year!

It's blizzarding right now, so we have some great skiing to look forward to, including groomed trails at Farley and some other local areas. Today's the last day of exams, so most of the team won't be around to enjoy it, but the weather bodes well for our chances of good skiing in January. In the meantime, I'll be keeping in touch with the team over break - everyone has some pre-season races planned, so we'll get a early look at their fitness. I'll post updates as we go.

Sugarloaf

We checked out Sugarloaf today - skiing was decent, with 30k groomed and good coverage everywhere. It's been years since I've skied up there - I'd forgotten what a nice trail system it is. Nice rolling terrain, with some easy flat stuff and some long climbs. Lots of winding downhills that are technical enough to challenge you, but not so tough that you can't step turn. Fun stuff. We skied for 3 hours and then headed home - time to get ready for exams.

Pineland Bounding

Gorgeous day for bounding at Pineland this morning. We were hoping for rollerski intervals, but an ice storm on Thursday took that option off the table.

The women looked sharp today. With XC and injuries, we've had small numbers at practice on the women's side, but now we're almost at full strength.


First-year guys - kind of scary when they show up in large numbers, especially when they're chasing you. Coach Ollie was the rabbit for this interval.


Walter getting it done.

A great day to be in the woods.

Tomorrow we'll hit the road in search of good skiing - one more solid OD on snow before we back off for exams.

GG Sprints

First race of the year yesterday - the Atomic Sprints at Great Glen. This is a pretty low-key event - a good way to break back into racing. A good crowd turned out, including Bates and UNH. The snow was nice and fast - pretty good coverage for this time of year. Our team showed pretty well - nothing amazing, but we held our own and looked pretty sharp for this early in the season. Several people won their first round heats, and most of the team advanced as far as the third or fourth rounds. Grace and Colman had the standout performances of the day - both made it to the semifinals.

For some great photos and video by ski team alum Ryan Triffitt '97, click here. For some less great photos by Ollie and me, keep reading.

Spencer cruising through his second round heat. He ended up in a great duel with a UNH guy in the forth round - neither advanced, but it was fun to watch them mix it up.

Colman got away quickly in his second round. Polasky is in third, duking it out with a master skier - they had some near tangles. He got pretty aggressive yesterday for such a mild-mannered guy.

Grace was burning it up in her first heat, headed for a bye to the third round, before crashing on the backstretch. She recovered and won her next heat for a trip to the semifinals.

Olivia and Maren looked solid in their first race effort of the year - they finished 2nd and 3rd in this first round heat.

Nat and Scott got out in front immediately and eased into a second round bye.

Le Monstre de Biscuit. Total domination.

Nick showing good form - nice modeling of the new unis as well. He was loving the one-lap format of the second round and won his heat easily.

Wilson looked pretty good for his first day on snow. He had the misfortune of going out in one of the early heats, before we figured out that the best strategy was to power to the front since there was no room to pass out of the course. He tucked in behind the leader and skied easily until getting squeezed out around the final turn.

Chase Sprints

The bike path is a perfect venue for speed work - good pavement and no cars. The only obstacles are other path users, who are few and far between at this time of year. Today we picked a nice flat section preceded by a small hill for drop-in sprints. We added a competitive aspect, though - people paired up, with the first person getting a short head start and the second person chasing. This added incentive resulted in some nice fast skiing and one sweet crash. Good work today - the team looks ready for the Great Glen Sprints tomorrow. Tomorrow's also the debut of our new unis. Race report and photos to follow. Can you handle the suspense?

The Mounds View/White Bear Lake rivalry plays out once again.


Walt vs. Wilson. The old man's still got it.

DP Test

We tried out a new double pole test today - sort of a pilot test. The test was an uphill sprint on the bike path, probably around 150m or so. Short sprint-type double pole tests are just as good as longer tests when it comes to predicting race performance, and they're easier to administrate and less disruptive to training. This fall, we acquired 2 pairs of brand new V2 920s that are specifically dedicated for testing, so theoretically they're the same speed or at least very close - this allows us to compare test results between athletes. Here are the results of today's test:

Women
Grace - 32.62
Olivia - 33.44
Erin - 39.1
Maren - 39.22

Men
Nat - 23.68 (added 0.5 seconds due to jumping the gun)
Spencer - 26.28
Colman - 26.29
Wilson - 27.72
Chris - 33.32

These results are like the uphill time trial results - they don't necessarily tell us who'll finish where in the races, but they help shed light on an individual's strengths and weaknesses, and repeated testing allows us to measure improvements. More information is usually a good thing. We probably won't be doing any more of this testing this season, but today was useful as a learning experience - we'll have a better sense of how to run this test next time, and we've established baselines for the skiers who did the test.

More Camp Photos

Grace and Maren working on the pies (super good).

A partial view of the spread.

Polasky's plate.

Old Town Quebec City.

Sunday morning - clean.

Last Day of Camp

Another beautiful day at Foret. We got up super early this morning to fit in an OD before the long drive home. It was sunny and cold - the snow was dry and sharp and perfect for classic skiing. We tried to close out the camp with some games, but both of the open fields were swarming with skiers from the local clubs - Team Subway has taken over Foret these last couple days. I envy them - their winter is fully underway, while ours is back on hold (although we did get a dusting in Brunswick this evening). It's been a great camp - we couldn't have asked for better conditions, and we accomplished our goal of a big volume week on snow along with our first on snow time trial. Some good technique changes are moving along as well. I like what I saw from the team this week, and I'm excited to start the winter in earnest - hopefully soon.

Cold mornings - perfect for ice beards.

Ollie leading a group of guys on the OD after a technique session.

Not messing around. That's a triple decker sandwich on some of the thickest slices of bread I've ever seen.

Foret Time Trial

Today was a beautiful day for a time trial - cold dry snow and sunny skies (at least for a while). The course was about 9k, point-to-point partway around the main loop at Foret - some good climbing followed by a couple long descents and then a gradual rolling climb for the rest of the way. Our team got after it pretty hard and gave a good effort. Chris was our big star today, finishing 8th behind some really outstanding skiers. Full results will apparently be posted on NENSA at some point - for now, here are our finishes:

Women
21 - Grace - 29:20

Men
8 - Chris - 21:54
13 - Spencer - 22:37
14 - Scott - 22:38
22 - Colman - 23:30
23 - Tom - 23:31
30 - Woody - 24:31
31 - Dan - 24:36
32 - Nick - 24:45
32 - Shem - 24:45

I'm happy with this showing - there's work to be done, but this is a decent start.

This evening we drove into Quebec City to wander around the Old Town. Ollie and I had a bit of an adventure finding parking - old European style cities aren't built for big vans, especially not on a Saturday night - but we managed. The skiers found some chocolat chaud but no crepes, much to Maren's disappointment. The big toboggan ride was closed, sadly - in spite of this crushing setback, a good time was had by all. The most fun part for me was driving around the city taking random turns trying to find Rt. 175 Nord (which was not to be found by driving the opposite direction on Rt. 175 Sud, for some reason). After considerable help from Nick's instincts, we drove through several more narrow streets and almost ended up on some kind of cargo ship. Eventually, Nat rescued us with some French-speaking skills (he's a baller) and we found our way home. Photos may or may not be forthcoming.

Camp Day 3 - Birthdays

More snow at Foret today - there were a couple fresh inches on the ground this morning, and it snowed lightly throughout the day. The men did some leapfrog sprints on classic skis and the women had a productive technique session.


We had a mini birthday celebration tonight - Chris turned 19 today, and Scott turns 19 tomorrow. We made a couple of cakes on the sly - a nice feat considering that both guys were part of the dinner crew.

Tomorrow we'll do a skate time trial with a few of the other folks training up here - pretty low key, but it'll be nice to find out where we stand at this point of the season.

Thanksgiving Skiing

More good skiing today - two sessions this time. There are several other teams here - Colby, St. Lawrence, UMPI and others - but the trails don't feel crowded. It's hard to imagine anything feeling crowded up here - so great. I forgot how much I love Canada until yesterday.

Nat shredding the gnar.

Just a fraction of our huge men's team.

People are in good spirits right now - what's not to like about being on snow at Thanksgiving?

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a magnificent dinner tonight - stellar effort by the team. Parents would have been proud. No photos, but suffice it to say that the spread was impressive. Even Polasky got enough to eat.

Camp, Day 1

We're finally in Canada and finally on snow. It's been a challenging couple of days, but all's well now. Due to some nasty weather yesterday, we postponed our trip until this morning - we left Bowdoin really early and still had to scramble to get some skiing in before dark, thanks to an extended border stop and hassles with the condos. It was all worth it, though - lots of new snow at Foret and 10k of surprisingly good skiing. We skated today and loved it - looking forward to 4 more good days.

PS - New race suits were shipped on Monday - pictures will be forthcoming!

Morse Mtn Time Trial

Yesterday was round 2 of the Morse Mountain time trial. This is a new fitness test for us this year - approximately 1 mile, almost all uphill, on the access road that runs over Morse Mountain to Seawall Beach. I like this test better than the traditional 3000m run on a track, because uphill running is more about aerobic fitness and less about leg speed and running economy. The team did a self-test earlier in the fall to set a baseline, and yesterday was our chance to see what kind of improvements we've made. We weren't expecting a big jump, since so much of our training is on rollerskis, but we were hoping to see some progress, and we did. Most of our skiers shaved off a few seconds, with Chris and Grace making huge gains. Here are the results:

Men
Chris - 5:40
Walt - 5:58
Spencer - 5:58
Nat - 6:17
Woody - 6:40
Tom - 6:52
Nick - 7:19

Women
Erin - 7:27
Grace - 8:25

Hopefully this is some of the last dryland training we do this year - we're headed up to Stoneham, Quebec tomorrow for Thanksgiving Camp. If we're lucky, we'll get on snow at Foret Montmorency - conditions are still marginal at the moment, but apparently some teams skied over the weekend, so hopefully the snow will hold out. If we're really lucky, we'll have skiable snow at Pineland shortly after we return, but that's almost too much to ask - probably bad luck even to type these words. In any case, we have a fun week ahead of us!

Bridge Troubles

Yesterday we tried a new workout - a running warmup with some spenst exercises, followed by sprints on classic rollerskis. The concept is the same as our current strength phase - the rollerski work leaves the muscles with a ski-specific imprint that helps translate general strength/power gains into speed on skis. Things didn't go quite as smoothly as planned, however. Ollie and I dropped the team off east of Wolfe's Neck Farm - they were supposed to run west past the farm and meet us at the state park for rollerski sprints. Unfortunately, the bridge across the mouth of the Little River was out, and they had to backtrack and take the long way around. By the time we figured out what was going on and drove out to pick them up, the running warmup had stretched far beyond its designated time - Walter was sad. Nonetheless, we squeezed in some decent sprints in the waning daylight.

Daniel Blue Polasky. He's tall.

It looks like Nat's standing in front of an oncoming car, oblivious to the danger - however, although this is a very feasible scenario, I don't think that's what's happening here.

Either Wilson and Maren are both moving fast or my hands are unsteady. Probably both - my nerves are shot from watching Nat drift in and out of the middle of the road with no reflective vest.

Long skate rollerski at Runaround Pond today - cold and windy. The ice has come out in a hurry these last few days.

Courtney forcing Grace to stay in L1.

More Polasky - he's very photogenic. Chris in the background - Minnesotans tend to stick together in strange new places.

XC New Englands

The XC team wrapped up the season with a great showing at New Englands last weekend. The women finished 7th, with Courtney in 36th - she was just 0.4 seconds from All-New England honors. The men were 5th and just missed an at-large bid to NCAAs. Colman finished 19th, one place away from qualifying individually, and Scott ended a solid first season in 88th (14th for first-years). Great work, runners! We're looking forward to having these guys back at ski practice - the team is gradually starting to feel whole again.

Ski to Hallowell

The forecast this morning said "100% chance of rain."
The forecast was right.
A perfect day for our annual ski to Nat's house in Hallowell - 26 miles.
Fortunately, there was a vast spread waiting for us, courtesy of Naomi Schalit (Nat's mom) - a massive pot of chili, rice, salad, and a high class lentil dish for the vegetarians. Nice warmup for post-race tailgating this winter.
What a great way to end a week of training - thanks Naomi!

Skiing in the Rain

We're not building arks here in Brunswick, but we're getting close. A little rain never hurt anyone, though, so today we did a long pace workout on the Woodside/Bunganuc loop (by "we" I mean "the team and Ollie" - someone had to take pictures). No frowns, no whining - everyone jumped right in.

Here's Shem, burning it up - at least, I think this is Shem.

At least one of the coaches still has some street cred.

Nick and Wilson - easy cooldown rolling.

A half-drowned team wrapping it up at Maquoit Bay.

Elissa's Fall Break

Elissa just came back from her fall break abroad:

I spent most of my time in Switzerland in the mountains, and I am happy to say that I have now been on snow twice! I mean, running through snow is not as exciting as skiing on it but at least snow is involved. I went running on back roads and into small villages and even got stuck in a few cow herds! I went running in the evenings, so generally I would find myself on the same roads as the dairy cows being brought in to the barn at night. Pretty cool, especially because Swiss cows have really, really, big cowbells on them and you can hear a group approaching at a distance. I also got to go hiking near a glacier, but sadly I could not see the glacier because it was super foggy and rainy that day.

As far as training goes back here in Italy, I'm up to about 6.5 to 7 miles a day running and I exergenie most nights and do core when I can. Although I am taking five courses, I don't have a ton of homework (excluding studio time, there is always lots of studio work to do) so I am free in the evenings to do core work (even if my roommate laughs at me from time to time). Niko visited me two weeks ago, and we got to go running all the days he was here. It was really nice to see a familiar face and to have a training partner. He seems to be doing really well and is weight lifting a lot back in Copenhagen. I'm sure he is going to be fast this year. Anyway, I took him on my usual morning route, running through the city and up to Piazza Michelangelo and around the Arno (about 5 miles) and suddenly, because I was showing it to Niko, I remembered how beautiful it all really is...running across the bridges over the Arno as the sun is rising and then standing in Piazza Michelangelo under the copy of the David certainly doesn't suck.

I can't wait to hear about Thanksgiving Camp, and I hope that everything goes well!

First Month

We've been training as a team for just over a month now - it's been a good month. I'm thrilled with how the team looks - they've done a great job of executing the training and everything else. If things continue the way they're going, it's going to be a great season.

We wrapped up this week with a long classic rollerski that included some specific strength work. Today was a perfect day for working on little technique adjustments, and Ollie and I kept up a steady nagging for most of the workout. The changes are coming along - we'll be a much sharper team by the time we're on snow. People showed remarkably little fatigue from yesterday's bounding intervals at Pineland - we tested out a new workout, a hybrid session with several minutes of moosehoofing at threshold before finishing with a kick up to VO2max pace. It was a surprisingly hard workout, and the wet weather we've had made it tougher, but everyone handled it really well.

Speaking of Pineland, here are some photos from last week's XC race, courtesy of Nick:

Colman ran through the background and ruined this perfectly good shot of me.

Scott's had a great season - he's had some breakthrough races and is running fast enough to make the top 7, which extends his season by another 2 weeks. This is both good and bad.

The last hundred meters of Maren's season - good to have her back with us.