Summer Recap

Well, the semester is underway and students have been back on campus for several days, so I guess it's time for me to stop slacking and start updating this blog again. So far the year is off to a great start. Over these last few days, I've talked to most of our skiers, and I've been really impressed by the quality of training that people have done. Some people have been training by the book, while others have been doing less structured stuff, but almost everyone appears to be in great shape. Here are a few of the highlights:

Spencer spent the summer in Truckee training with a group of EISA skiers led by former Bates assistant Martin Benes. He racked up a ton of high-quality training with a good training partners - an ideal situation. He also got quite a bit of on-snow training in June, and he's had a lot of time to do focused technique work.

Erin was on campus for the summer - she did a lot of running, but also mixed it up and took advantage of the college resources by swimming, erging, and lifting quite a bit. I was happy to hear that she incorporated some speed work into every rollerski session she did this summer.

Kaitlynn spent a few weeks at home in VT doing great work with the Craftsbury club. This stint was bookended by a trip to England where she seemingly ran, walked, and hiked all over the country, and then a lengthy backpacking trip to the Sierra Nevadas.

Wilson worked as a raft guide in Glacier National Park. He did a decent amount of hiking and trail running and an incredible amount of paddling. I'm going to have a hard time challenging him with specific strength work this fall.

Chris taught ski lessons at the Snow Farm in New Zealand. He accumulated a massive amount of training through a regular routine of a morning trail run followed by a ski before work, and then another trail run in the afternoon. He did several races, including a great performance at the 30k Kangaroo Hoppet. He also was able to do regular technique work with Alexei Sotskov, coach of Vermont Academy and also the NZ National Team, and he's super excited about the progress he's made.

Steph and Riley both worked on trail crews. Steph was in Idaho - she reports that she carried a 70 pound pack and 20 pounds of tools while hiking several miles a day to and from the work sites. Riley was in New Hampshire. He came back to campus with a mohawk and quite a bit more muscle, so he's actually kind of scary right now - I think I'll be a little nicer to him this year.

One last thing - we revived a tradition I'd hoped would stay dormant when incoming first-year Shelby Aseltine separated her shoulder in a bike crash. That makes 4 first-year arm injuries in the past 4 years, all right at the start of the school year. Fortunately, she's making a quick recovery and should be back to full strength soon.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with how the summer went - I think the team's fitness is higher than it's ever been at this time of year. These guys have gotten me incredibly excited about the season, and I can't wait to start working with them in October!

Phlail Change - Trail Race!

I'm happy to report that the 6th Annual Phil Soule Phlail will be a trail race instead of a road race. For various reasons, we've had to move the race from Whitter Field to the Pickard Field complex. Rather than running through the neighborhoods around Whittier, we'll be using the XC team's 5k race course (2 laps of a 2.5k loop). Although it's always hard to change an established event, I'm actually pretty excited about this. The old course was pretty unexciting - although the new course will be just as flat as ever, it's quite a nice little run, with a pleasant mix of grassy fields and wooded trails, with good footing throughout. Better yet, there's no traffic to worry about and (hopefully) minimal risk of people going off course. Also better parking, better indoor space, and internet access to help with timing. It's too bad to lose the connection to the football field and Phil's rock, but in the end I think that it'll be a better event because of the change. I'm hopeful that our local runners will agree!

Presidential Traverse 2011

The Presidential Traverse is on its way to becoming a team tradition - Alec, Emma, Riley, Kaitlynn, and incoming first-year Tyler DeAngelis completed this massive hike a few weeks ago. Here are some photos from Kaitlynn:

A group photo on top of Madison.

Looking back towards Adams and Madison.

Emma and Me on top of the last peak of the day (Mt. Pierce) with Washington in the background.

Nordic Training Sources

Former Gould Academy coach Dick Taylor has started a new website that explores nordic skiing from a multidisciplinary perspective grounded in sports science. For me, this is an incredibly welcome resource - I think that sports science is somewhat undervalued by the US nordic ski racing community, and consequently there's not a lot of science-based discussion about the sport in this country. This site has some great articles that have challenged me to think critically about my approach to coaching - always a good thing. It's pretty dense stuff, but well worth the time - check it out!

Truckee Sucks - Don't Come to Truckee!

Spencer sends word from Truckee, where he's training with a group of other Eastern college skiers:

This photo pretty much sums it up. Due to a ton of late season snow we've been able to get in a bunch of awesome skiing in. The Auburn Ski Club has done an amazing job grooming, in temperatures that barely get below freezing at night and in the 70's during the day, to give us pretty solid tracks every weekend for over a month now.

When not skiing there are tons of hills to run and roller ski up. A few times a week we work out with the local junior program. It has been a lot of fun to see a bunch of younger kids excited about skiing. They also have a bunch of really good coaches who have made training so far a blast and have helped me with my technique a bunch, especially in avoiding bad habits while roller skiing. Despite being dominated by Bates skiers, who are actually quite nice, it has been a ton of fun to train with a bunch of other skiers from the East . We've definitely benefited from pushing each other during strength sessions and have done a lot of work on improving our bodies' tolerance for questionable but DELICIOUS Mexican food.

Despite training pretty hard there are still a bunch of opportunities to get out and have fun/shred the huge amounts of vertical here. Aside from the skiing there is also a bunch awesome single track mountain biking to be done. Luckily the 4th of July is on an off day so we get to take full advantage of a bunch of alpine areas opening up for the day. If that isn't one of the best opportunities to ski in jorts and a cut-off t-shirt I don't know what would be.

Reunion BBQ!

We hosted a ski team alumni barbecue at the Schwartz Outdoor Leadership Center last Saturday. We had a decent turnout of alumni, ex-coaches, and family members - almost 40 people all told. It was great to reconnect with old friends and meet a few new folks, and it was especially fun to hear people share their experiences with the team. It's actually a bit humbling to learn more about team history - over the years a lot of people have worked really hard to keep the team alive and build the program, and we wouldn't be where we are today without their efforts. As importantly, it's clear that Bowdoin Skiing was an important part of many people's college experience - this event was a chance to rekindle some of that energy. Over the past few years, we've been gradually working to reconnect with ski team alumni, and I think we're off to a good start. In the months and years to come, we'll be looking for more ways to get the alumni together - keep an eye on this blog and the Friends of Bowdoin Skiing Facebook page.

Thanks to all of the folks who turned out for the get-together! Thanks also to Andy and Betsey Shepard for helping to get the ball rolling on the event, to Outing Club Director Mike Woodruff for use of the Schwartz Center, to Alumni Relations for helping get the word out, and to Dining Service for a fine spread.

(photo courtesy of Hannah Shepard)

Finley's New Best Friend

Back before school ended, several skiers generously offered to babysit the kids while Shannon and I went out one evening. The next day, Finley remarked, "Spencer is my best friend." When I asked him why, he said, "He is kind and sweet." So there you have it - Spencer really is a good guy. Thanks to all of the skiers for their thoughtfulness!