30/30s

Yesterday was our first VO2max workout of the year. We've been focused on threshold and volume throughout the summer and fall - aside from an occasional race effort, we haven't done anything above threshold. The skiers have been patiently waiting for the chance to go hard - now the time is finally here.

VO2max (the maximal amount of O2 your muscles can consume) is largely determined by your heart's stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped in one beat). To increase stroke volume, you need to work your heart at near-maximal levels - 90-95% of max HR. The traditional way to do this is to do moderately long intervals (3-5+ minutes), usually on a hill, with plenty of rest between intervals. We'll be doing our share of this in the coming weeks; however, hill repeats aren't the only tool in our bag. Yesterday, we did short intervals on rollerskis - 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard, for 25 minutes total. If done properly, the skier's HR will gradually reach 90+% of max throughout the first several minutes of the workout. Because the easy periods are so short, HR won't drop significantly between hard efforts, and , for the last several minutes of the workout, the heart will be pumping near max regardless of whether the skier is going hard or easy. This allows the skier to rack up a lot of time near max HR, but without the high lactic acid buildup (and subsequent long post-workout recovery time) of a longer interval. Also, the frequent rest periods allow the skier to practice skiing at high speeds, as opposed to sustained hill intervals, where the pace is usually fairly slow. Nonetheless, 30/30s (or 60/30s, or whatever work/rest combination you choose) are a very hard workout, and our team is feeling it today. It's a good feeling - feels like race season. Lots more to come.

Speed Work

We're into a new phase of our strength training these days - I'm calling it a "speed complex" for lack of a more technical term. The first phase of the workout, the complex training, the skiers alternate moderately heavy lifting with explosive plyometric-type exercises to form a complex (some people define "complex training" differently, and would call this "contrast" training instead). The point is to stimulate the fast twitch fibers with the lifts to allow more of these fibers to be recruited for the plyos, thus training the muscles to contract quicker and with greater force. We've been doing variations of complex training for a couple months, and now we've added another layer. After the complexes, the skiers head outside for a series of short sprints on rollerskis. The goal here is to leave the freshly stimulated muscles with a ski-specific imprint - theoretically, this will help turn weight room gains into actual improvements in speed on skis. Track and field athletes have been using this method for years, so why not us? Here's a very brief clip of Walt sprinting past Appleton:

National Champions!

The runners weren't the only Bowdoin teams competing in the NCAA Championships last weekend: our field hockey team beat Middlebury to win the national championship on Saturday. The victory caps off a great fall for Bowdoin teams; almost all of our teams had great seasons, and several went deep into the postseason. Four qualified for the NCAA Championships (women's soccer was the forth). It's a good time to be part of Bowdoin Athletics - from what I've seen and heard, the support for our programs is as high as it's ever been, and our teams keep getting better. The future is bright for all of us.

XC Championships

Our runners competed in the NCAA Championships in Northfield, MN on Saturday. The men finished 20th and the women were 27th. John ended his college career in fine form, finishing 57th (7th New Englander), with Colman 207th. Courtney was 201st for women. It's hard to grasp the significance of the placings since the race was so big, so here's some perspective: there are over 430 D3 colleges in the US, and virtually every one of these schools has an XC program. Only the absolute best teams and individuals qualified for the championships - 280 of the best D3 runners in the country were packed into each race, and our runners held their own. Bottom line: our runners are fast, and we're proud of them. Can't wait to have them back with the ski team.

Ski team alum Jacob Scheckman '06 was at the race - he's in grad school in Minneapolis. Thanks to Jacob for the photos.

Colman - moving too fast for a clear shot.

A Good Week

It's been a good week of training. We're in the middle of a mini spike in volume, trying to take advantage of the upcoming Thanksgiving break by squeezing in a couple big weeks before we cut the hours back in December. Big hours and small daylight don't mix well, so it's been a challenge trying to fit it all in. The team's been great, though - people are showing up on time and executing the training well, and everything's gone according to plan.

We capped off this good week with a great OD rollerski, starting with one of our usual routes in Bowdoin (the town) and skiing to Nat's house in Hallowell. It's always nice to check out some new roads, and it's even better to have a destination in mind for a long workout instead of just skiing a loop or an out-and-back. People were surprisingly perky after 3+ hours - a sign that the base fitness is solid. Or maybe it was the chili. Naomi Schalit, Nat's mom, made us an amazing lunch, including some chili that people will be talking about for a while. This is a crowd that's used to eating the best college food in the country, so that tells you how high-class this chili was. I have a feeling that they'll be calling for another round next chance they get - consider yourself warned, Naomi. Thanks for the warm hospitality.

Morse Mountain

Morse Mountain is actually more of a largish hill, but it's about the closest thing to a mountain that we have on the southern coast of Maine. There's a nice rolling road that runs over the mountain and down to one of the most beautiful beaches in the state, if not the world. Both the mountain and the beach are part of a conservation area managed by Bates, but the property is open to the public for hiking, or, in our case, running. We did some long threshold intervals out at Morse today - the beach was deserted as we ran down from the mountain. It was a bright, windy day, with sand swirling along the shoreline - beautiful. The plan was to take advantage of the hills on the road, but some people were so thrilled to be next to the ocean that they just ran on the beach for the whole workout. I ran 2x20 minute intervals with Matt and hung in for a while before eventually fading. That's OK - getting dropped is always a good sign for a coach, or so I tell myself. A fine day and a fine workout. Wish I'd brought a camera.

Fun With Tires

Flat tire on the way home from practice today. It was cold and dark - perfect conditions for tire-changing. Fortunately, Forrest had changed a tire on a 12-passenger van not too long ago, so he knew the drill - he and Ezra seized the moment and started assembling the tools and whatnot. I helped by standing around with a frown of manly concern on my face. The rest of the team huddled off to the side while Elissa taught them a bizarre dance involving hopping on one foot and giggling - at least they were staying warm. Kind of a strange scene - "a bunch of kids in spandex changing a tire," as one of our skiers put it. Fortunately, we have people with skills on our team, and the new tire was in place soon enough. Walt came through with some muscle in the clutch, loosening some nasty lug nuts that wouldn't budge - the man is huge. We made it home just a little behind schedule - not so bad. I was impressed by how little this incident bothered the team - no complaining, just people hanging out by the roadside enjoying each other's company. As I later told them, if we handle every tough situation this well, it's going to be a great season.