Thanksgiving Camp 2012 So Far

Day 3 of Thanksgiving Camp is winding down - so far, so good.  There's no natural snow at all here, so we've been skiing on a steadily growing mandmade loop - about 1.5 on Wednesday, 1.75 yesterday, and an even 2k today.  It's a nice little loop with some good climbs and good coverage.  It's been warm, but the nights have been cold enough to keep the loop in good shape, with great classic skiing in the mornings.  Although it would be nice to have more trails to explore, the big benefit to the loop is that it's great for technique work - Mike and I are seeing the athletes constantly, so we can pull people aside for some quick work and then have them rejoin the rest of the crew a few minutes later.  I'm pretty pleased with the technique improvements we're seeing so far - I feel like everyone has made some good progress.  Most people have been skiing 3-4 hours a day so far, so everyone's starting to feel a bit worn, but there's still plenty of energy and enthusiasm to get us through these next 2 days.  Classic time trial tomorrow, so that should be fun.

As always, we've had some good meals.  Pierre Tueurs Froid got us started with chili on Wednesday, supplemented with a tasty spinach salad and an incredibly delicious brownie/peanut butter/cookie concoction (avec whipped cream) - they've set the bar high.  The whole team also pulled off a great Thanksgiving dinner last night.  I was a bit skeptical when I discovered yesterday afternoon that the turkey hadn't been fully thawed, but Tess and Tyler made a heroic effort to get a perfectly cooked bird on the table - with an array of fantastic side dishes, everyone had a great meal.  Another fine Thanksgiving for our team - we truly have a lot to be thankful for.

No pictures yet - I should be able to get some posted in the next couple days.

Speed & Intensity

Somehow, we've already arrived at Thanksgiving Camp - that was quick.  The last 2 weeks have been pretty busy, with some good, focused training - speed last week and intensity the week prior.  The intensity week was probably the heaviest training load we've had this fall - 3 VO2max workouts and 2 thresholds in 5 days.  The speed work was a bit less taxing, but still very focused - 2 of our usual sprint/agility workouts on rollerskis, timed 200m striding intervals on Doughty Rd, an erg workout supplemented with lots of jumps, and a spenst-type workout with a series of short bounding intervals.  We finished the week with a re-test of our bike path time trial.  Shelby and Tyler once again came out on top.  The team as a whole put up mixed times - some gains, some losses, some flat.  Part of this was probably due to colder temps and slower rollerskis, but I'm also reminded that this is about the time of year when people start wearing down after a hard semester of schoolwork and training.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the team's looking - as long as we keep an eye on everyone, monitor the energy levels, and back off when necessary, we should be in a good place by the time we head into Winter Break.  For now, though, we're only thinking about getting on snow.  First ski tomorrow!

Lobster Roll 2012

We ended our easy week in style with a trip to North Haven for the 6th Annual Lobster Roll.  Once again, we got lucky with the weather - nothing but sunshine, and fairly mild temps for November.  Decent showing by our team - Shelby and Steph rocked it, finishing 4th and 7th, respectively, and most people improved their times from previous years.  A few of our skiers are definitely showing signs of tiredness after several weeks of hard training combined with school - we'll be keeping an eye on people as we get into our final push to the end of the semester.  Overall, though, a very good day, capped off by a gorgeous sunset over the ocean on the ferry ride home.  Thanks to Andy Shepard and Maine Winter Sports Center for putting this event together once again!

Hopefully some pictures will surface soon - for now, here are results:

Final Position	Bib Number	Last Name	First Name	Group	Total Elapsed Time
1	82	Supple	Jared	Men	36:42.0
2	87	Goessling	Raleigh	Men	36:58.6
3	86	Barton	Jake	Men	37:17.0
4	85	Danger Buetow	Jordan	Men	37:30.0
5	69	Belk	Jonah	Men	37:58.4
6	76	Bard	Joey	Men	38:10.0
7	79	Fosnaes	Eirik	Men	38:30.5
8	78	Woods	Sean	Men	38:47.4
9	75	Hamilton	Alex	Men	39:01.0
10	81	Michaud	Nick	Men	39:53.1
11	67	Nesbitt	Andrew	Men	39:59.0
12	77	Tucker	Jeff	Men	40:09.3
13	83	Milliken	Lucas	Men	40:34.7
14	63	Dermody	Daniel	Men	40:37.0
15	71	Harrer	Corky	Men	40:45.6
16	84	Dixon	John	Men	40:48.4
17	25	Howe	Katrina	Women	41:17.4
18	66	Cowan	Pete	Men	41:21.2
19	61	Bloch	Jackson	Men	41:24.1
20	59	Burke	Ethan	Men	41:25.9
21	60	Regan	Cam	Men	41:39.1
22	55	Murphy	Nick	Men	41:44.9
23	80	Burnham	Chris	Men	42:01.9
24	62	Regan	Connor	Men	42:19.3
25	74	DeAngelis	Tyler	Men	42:37.4
26	65	Crimp	James	Men	42:37.9
27	72	Fereshetian	Justin	Men	42:44.7
28	64	Wight	Calvin	Men	43:22.4
29	56	Richmond	Jordan	Men	43:44.3
30	31	Grossman	Hallie	Women	43:46.9
31	24	Pope	Margaret	Women	43:57.2
32	70	Austin	Henry	Men	44:48.2
33	51	Deluca	Marcello	Men	45:49.0
34	73	Defrancis	Paco	Men	45:51.6
35	30	Aseltine	Shelby	Women	46:19.9
36	19	Donohoe	Emma	Women	47:11.5
37	21	Clark	Britta	Women	47:29.9
38	27	Lynn	Stephanie	Women	47:33.5
39	29	Golovkina	Olga	Women	47:34.5
40	13	Hill	Jenna	Women	47:38.2
41	58	Kuzio	Dan	Men	47:45.7
42	26	Susla	Molly	Women	47:53.0
43	57	Kane	Sam	Men	48:08.8
44	5	Fitzgerald	Kaitlin	Women	48:17.6
45	68	Turner	Lauren	Men	48:23.2
46	10	Bourne	Kim	Women	48:28.7
47	22	Brockett	Sarah	Women	48:42.1
48	28	Sellegren	Gretchen	Women	49:22.4
49	20	Spaeh	Eva	Women	49:25.0
50	1	James	Sadie	Women	49:35.8
51	23	Tuttle	Catherine	Women	49:58.0
52	52	Cushman	Ashton	Men	50:36.8
53	18	Ryerson	Sally	Women	50:46.4
54	15	Daniels	Caroline	Women	51:12.9
55	16	Hotopp	Alice	Women	51:33.7
56	7	Sudkamp-walker	Helen	Women	52:11.7
57	17	Marshall	Hannah	Women	52:45.4
58	12	Wright	Grace	Women	52:49.5
59	8	Saucy	Hilary	Women	53:39.3
60	11	Knowlton	Lucy	Women	54:14.1
61	3	Algeo	Lucy	Women	54:27.1
62	14	Frisbie	Sierra	Women	56:47.4
63	6	Mahoney	Abigail	Women	1:01:15.0
64	2	Lindsey	Molly	Women	1:01:34.4
65	54	McPherson	Grant	Men	1:13:46.7
66	9	Dufresne-dixon	Marie	Women	1:30:11.3
67	4	Ranucci	Emily	Women	1:31:26.3

Last of the Fall

It's been a beautiful fall here in Brunswick - mild temps, not much rain, and surprisingly long-lasting colors.  Last week we made the most of it with some high-volume training - we spent a lot of quality time outside doing a series of long workouts with some specific strength and threshold mixed in.  We finished the weekend with an OD rollerski/run - here are the women post-workout on the Pineland trails (photo courtesy of Shelby):

I'm really happy with how everything has gone so far - the skiers have done a great job of executing the workouts and staying focused, and I think the overall fitness is very good at this point.  Now we're taking a big rest week before we head into the "early darkness" phase of the season.  Time trials, lots of intensity, and Thanksgiving Camp are right around the corner, but for now we're taking it easy.

2012 Phil Soule Phlail

On Sunday we hosted the 7th Annual Phil Soule 5k Phlail, our annual Homecoming race in honor of the legendary Bowdoin coach Phil Soule.  After a rainy week, we were lucky to get a beautiful sunny day for the race.  We had a great turnout, with 131 finishers - a good mix of alumni, students, and community members.  Our numbers were no doubt boosted by the Dri-Fit t-shirts that we gave to the racers, courtesy of a generous anonymous donor.  Eric Sofen '07 of Seattle won the men's race, with Morgan Lake-Adams of Portland winning the women's event.  Michael Costello '04 of New York City was the top alumni lineman.  Overall, a great day and a very successful event.  Thanks to all who participated!

Results and Photo Gallery

Pineland Sprint

After coming back from Acadia, we jumped right into an intensity week, with three VO2max workouts in a 4 day span:  classic intervals up Gloucester Hill, double pole intervals on Highland, and bounding intervals at Bradbury.  We finished the week with a skate sprint time trial with Colby (and one Bates skier) at Pineland.  We used the same format as we did for our sprint TT with Bates last year - prelim, then heats with the skiers matched up against others of similar speed (ie, 1-4, 5-8, 9-12).  In the ensuing 3 heats, the top skier moved up and the bottom skier dropped down, which gave everyone something to race for.  Despite coming off of several days of hard training, our skiers gave a good account of themselves.  Shelby won the prelim by a wide margin and dominated all 3 of her heats, and Tyler quickly worked his way up to the top heat and stayed there, finishing 3rd in the final round.  Overall, I was pleasantly surprised - we're looking much sharper than usual at this time of year.  So far, so good!

Here are results for the prelim:

Nick	Michaud	Bates	2:54
John	Dixon	Colby	3:02
Henry	Austin	Bowdoin	3:05
Tyler	DeAngelis	Bowdoin	3:08
Chris	Burnham	Colby	3:08
Jake	Barton	Colby	3:11
Jordan	Richmond	Bowdoin	3:11
Jared	Supple	Colby	3:13
James	Crimp	Bowdoin	3:14
Calvin	Wight	Colby	3:20
Jackson	Bloch	Bowdoin	3:22
Jonah	Belk	Colby	3:32
Shelby	Aseltine	Bowdoin	3:30
Sarah	Brockett	Colby	3:40
Jenna	Hill	Colby	3:42
Emma	Donohoe	Colby	3:44
Hannah	Marshall	Bowdoin	3:48
Olia	Golovkina	Colby	3:49
Kim	Bourne	Colby	3:49
Stephanie	Lynn	Bowdoin	3:51
Tess	Hamilton	Bowdoin	3:52
Molly	Susla	Colby	3:57
Sierra	Frisbie	Bowdoin	4:01
Alice	Hotopp	Colby	4:11
Abigail	Mahoney	Bowdoin	4:52

Acadia 2012

 Last weekend was Fall Camp in Acadia.  For the third time in the past 4 years, we headed up to Trenton to stay at the Askins family camp.  Our first stop was Bald Mountain in Dedham, where we did a tough bounding workout - 30 seconds bounding up alternating with 30 seconds of an easy walk/jog down.  After a joyous reunion with Maren (just back from New Zealand), we did an easy recovery run around Witch Hole Pond in the park and then enjoyed a fantastic pasta dinner prepared by Joanna and Greg.

The next day was our big run/hike over several peaks - Gorham, Champlain, Dorr, Cadillac, and Pemetic, with some adding on both Bubbles at the end.

 The mountains of Acadia are small - Cadillac is just over 1500 feet - but they're rugged, with lots of roots, rocks, and steep slopes.

We also enjoyed some stellar views - nothing better than an October hike overlooking the ocean.

We wrapped up the day with a mini golf game featuring 5 holes-in-one (4 by Tyler and 1 by Hannah Marshall) and another delicious dinner cooked by our hosts.  Thus fortified, the team was able to rally for another long workout on Monday - a run on the Around the Mountain loop.  This is a roughly 11-mile loop on the Acadia carriage road, with some very long, steady climbs.  Not content with this level of challenge, the team added on some extra distance - the boys intentionally, the girls by accident.  Nonetheless, everyone finished the workout looking fresh, putting a nice cap on the weekend.  Overall, a great camp - three long days of quality training with lots of positive energy.  Thanks so much to the Askins family for making it possible once again!

 Descent from Dorr Mountain.

 Happy hands on Gorham Mountain.

 Girls at the peak of Pemetic(?)

This little pond between Gorham and Champlain was one of the most gorgeous spots of the trip.

The boys and Steph hiked east-west, while the girls and Mike hiked west-east.  We ran into each other on the side of Dorr Mountain for this charming photo op.

A mysterious group of hikers atop an unknown peak.