Fall Semester Wrap

Exams are winding down and campus is emptying out - time for break!  As always, the last couple weeks of the semester kept us on our toes.  We had a pretty good run for the first several days after Thanksgiving Camp - a nice storm set us up for great skiing at Pineland.  It's rare that we're on snow in December (not counting an occasional Quarry Road trip), so this was a wonderful gift.  We took it easy for a few days after camp and then came back strong with a couple good speed/intensity sessions.  After that it was time for another pre-season test at the Quarry Road Opener.  The team looked pretty solid despite the mounting academic load weighing everyone down.  Elliot took the men's win, with Christian 3rd and Peter 4th.  Gabby was 4th for women and Lily was 5th.  So great to get another early season race under our belts!

Sadly, the weather turned on us a couple days later - two downpours in one week wiped out all of our beautiful snow.  Refusing to come back to rollerskiing, we patched together a solid training week with a mix of run, erg, and strength - it was actually kind of nice to get back to a little dryland after weeks of skiing.  We made one more trip up to Quarry Road for a 15/20k threshold workout, a workout that's become a Bowdoin Nordic staple.  It's a dry run for the upcoming 15/20k races, but it's not a race - just a chance to get a feel for the pacing and duration of the long races.  Conditions were a bit dodgy after all the rain, and we had some impressive crashes and some ragged skiing as wax wore off, but grinding it out is always a good experience.  I'm confident that we'll be ready when the time comes to go long in carnivals.

For the last few days the skiers have been on their own - easy workouts and lots of studying.  Everyone's going home with an individual plan to make the most of the break and patch up any areas of need.  Overall, it's been a fun and productive semester, and the team looks strong - don't want to get carried away, but if we can stay on this trajectory we're going to have a really good year.  We'll be starting up again in just a couple weeks - can't wait!

Lost Jumpers and Egg Failures: Thanksgiving Camp 2019

What a great camp!  This year's Thanksgiving trip to Foret Montmorency went about as well as we could have possibly hoped - good food, good roads, good energy, and great skiing.  Lots of great skiing.  Our first group arrived in time to steal a quick ski before sunset, and things only got better from there.  The next morning we settled into our usual routine - long morning classic, double lunch with napping and homework in between, afternoon skate, and a fine dinner before evening downtime.  We also broke in the team playlist - this odd little song quickly became the theme for camp.  The first cook group got us off to a hot start with a lovely curry with homemade naan and chocolate lava cake.  We only set off the smoke alarm twice all day, so that was good.

Next morning was more of the same (minus the smoke alarms, thankfully).  Although we'd already had a few days of skating on snow, this camp was our first on-snow classic action, so we spent a good amount of time on drills and filming to get our technique dialed in.  As the day went on, we had an ever-increasing parade of people in and out of the kitchen working on Thanksgiving dishes.  Elliot and Russell took on turkey duty, as they've done for the last few years, so the meat eaters were in good hands.  By the time evening rolled around, we had a great spread:  mashed potatoes, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, homemade bread, stuffing, pies, pumpkin cheesecake, cranberry sauce, and probably all kinds of other stuff I'm forgetting.  Our team has much to be thankful for, and this dinner is always a great way to acknowledge and celebrate that.

By Friday some new trails had opened up, and people started scattering in all directions to explore far off places.  We lost about half the team to a long adventure ski, but fortunately they found their way back after a few hours.  It's amazing that after all these years at Foret we're still finding previously unexplored places (or at least places that very few people on the team have ever been).  That afternoon we previewed the time trial course with an eye on tactics.  Our dinner group capped off the day with a hearty and healthful meal of bibimbap, accompanied by a gargantuan cabbage salad and an exquisite baclava for dessert.

Next morning was a 10k skate time trial.  The first on-snow time trial of the year is always a mixed bag, and we try not to get too high or too low about whatever results we get - it's more about the process than the outcome.  That said, we had some unusually good outcomes from this one!  The men looked remarkably sharp considering the high training load of the week, with three in the top 11.  The women had a more typical Bowdoin Nordic Thanksgiving showing - strong but tired.  Overall, good solid prep for race season.  That afternoon we got the whole team together for a long easy classic ski that stretched into the evening - we finished up with a beautiful crescent moon overhead.  Our last camp dinner was burritos with homemade guacamole, capped off with an elegant cinnamon cake.  Outstanding entries in this year's cooking competition - judging will be tough!

After a final long ski on a gorgeous sunny morning, we packed up and closed the book on another great Thanksgiving Camp.  This year we probably skied more than we ever have before - so much snow and so many good places to explore that people just didn't want to stop.  Good problem to have.  The only real disappointment from camp was the vastly overhyped egg consumption - this team has had a weird egg fetish for the last few years (I blame Mac Groves '17), but despite talking a big game, this year's team didn't come close to eating all the eggs they'd demanded.  Hopefully this means that the fever has broken and they're back to eating a more balanced diet - guess we'll find out next year.  For now, time to blast through a few more days of quality training before exams!

First Snow and More

Snow!  We got a nice little ice and snow squall early this week, which left us just barely able to slide around the athletic fields on skis.  It was pretty bare bones - one step above skiing on frosted grass - but surprisingly legit, and we got a couple good workouts in.  I'm pretty sure this is the earliest real skiing ever for Bowdoin Nordic in my time here - a very welcome change of pace at a dark and cold time of year.  With warming temps we're back to dryland today, but I think/hope the real thing is coming soon!

Prior to our little snow break, we had lots of the usual good dryland stuff going on.  Three highlights of the last couple weeks:  1) A ski to Fiona's house in Freeport, where we had an amazing brunch hosted by Fiona's and Lily's parents; 2) A skate time trial with Bates and Colby on Lewis Hill Rd - great to put on bibs, go fast, and get past some of those early season nerves; and 3) A ski to Reid State Park capped off by a nice run on the beach.  Good solid training and good fun - snow or dryland, we're moving right along.  Thanks to Jim, Lucy, Rosita, and Will for their wonderful hospitality!

Maine Event 2019

It's been a beautiful fall, but yesterday was a throwback to last year - cold and rainy!  That didn't stop seven dauntless Bowdoin nordies from tackling the Maine Event agility challenge at Pineland.  After a smooth qualifying round, we were poised to crush the head-to-head heats.  Sadly, the cold and wet played havoc with the timing equipment, so instead we ended up throwing out the first round and doing a second individual round to determine the final standings.  Our folks held their own in a good strong field of college skiers and juniors - Christian took the men's win with a blazing run, while Greta tied for 2nd and Lily was right behind in 4th.  Greta's sister Elsa was in town for Family Weekend - she jumped into the race and won!  Pretty good day for the Bolinger family.  Overall a good solid dose of skill building and fun times.  Thanks to NENSA for putting this event together!

Fall Camp & More

We started up with official practices a couple weeks ago - so much going on!  Here's a quick recap:

First order of business was tryouts.  We started off gradually with some basic workouts and an agility test; Gabby led the women and Christian blew up the men's test - a real jump for a skier who started his college career as more of a distance/grinder type guy and is now looking like a pretty legit all-arounder.  After a little recovery/intro to pool running, we hit the second half of the week hard:  first a good batch of skate intervals where the group looked sharp and competitive, and then double fitness tests with the 2000m erg test in the morning and the Morse Mountain uphill run in the afternoon.  Zach set a new combined run/erg record, edging out the old standard set by Mac Groves '17 - pretty impressive showing for a first-year - while Gabby and Lily both broke Renae's team record.  Lily also shattered Hannah Miller '17's old erg record.  The whole group put up remarkable numbers - fitness-wise, this group is far ahead of any previous Bowdoin Nordic team.  Exciting way to start the season!

We kept the momentum going with a trip up to Carrabassett Valley for Fall Camp.  About half the team jumped into the Sugarloaf Uphill Climb while the others did a bounding workout up the mountain and cheered them on.  Again, they showed great fitness, this time against outside competition - Christian and Gabby were both second overall and Lily was fourth.  Zach and Meredith were the top juniors, and James was third for junior men.  After an evening recovery jog we settled in for a nice dinner orchestrated by Russell and some quality team time.

Next day was the iconic Bigelow Traverse - an 18-mile run/hike of the Bigelow Range.  The older skiers ran the entire 18 miles and five peaks; we played it safe with the younger skiers and sent them down Horns Pond Trail, cutting off Cranberry Peak.  We had some pretty tired folks that night, but not too tired to rally for a long classic roll on the Long Falls Dam Road - another ski team favorite.  By the time we got back to campus, everyone was exhausted but happy - great training, great team time, perfect weather, and some of the most gorgeous fall colors any of us had ever seen.  One other great thing about camp - we ran into lots of Bowdoin Nordic alumni!  James Crimp '13 and Tyler DeAngelis '15 raced the Uphill Climb, Jackson Bloch '15 was there coaching with Colby, and Tess Hamilton '16 crossed paths with us while leading an Outing Club trip in the Bigelows and later ran the traverse, met us at Long Falls Dam Road, and rode along with us while the team skied.  Thanks to Tess for several of these great photos.  Also, many thanks to our hosts, Ronn Gifford and Mary Denison, and Linda and Marty Kenniston, for providing us with comfortable lodging.  This camp would not have been possible without their help!

Since then, we've settled into our regular fall training routine, and we've been hitting up our favorite training venues, including our first beach skiing workout of the year.  A nice hard workout on a wide open beach under blue skies - couldn't ask for better fall training.  One more big week of training and then it's time for a well-earned rest!

Phil Soule Phlail 2019

Yesterday's 14th Annual Phil Soule Phlail 5k was a big success!  It was a fine fall day for a race, and over 100 runners and walkers turned out to honor Phil Soule's legacy and celebrate Homecoming.  Since we had a big group of skiers to work the race this year, for the first time ever some of our people were able to run, and a good time was had by all.  Bowdoin student John Auer '23 won the men's race in a blistering 16:24, and Anh Nguyen of South Portland was the women's winner in 22:49, closely followed by Bowdoin Nordic alum Rachel Zafren '18.  Stephen Lento was the top alumni lineman in 23:44.  We were thrilled to see a few others Bowdoin Nordic folks show up:  Brent Jepson '74, former captain Grace Hyndman '11, and former assistant coach Zach Stegeman.  Overall, a great day at the races.  Complete results here.

Now we're on to the season - tryouts start today!

What We've Learned - 2019

Once things settle down in the spring, I always like to spend a lot of time talking with skiers and reflecting on the season to figure out how we can keep getting faster.  Plenty of good stuff to think about, and plenty of time to ponder now that the skiers have all scattered for the summer.  Here are a few things we learned this past year:

Intensity:  Threshold training is a staple of nordic ski training, and that’s certainly always been true for us.  But these last couple years we’ve been edging away from threshold in the fall, and replacing it with lots of mid-length intervals just above threshold.  There’s been some interesting research over the past few years arguing that threshold isn’t a particularly productive way to train - I don’t completely agree with this, but I’m starting to feel that we don’t need to do quite as much of it as we’ve done in the past.  This past year we ramped up the intensity earlier than ever – starting in September, we did lots of threshold plus training, lots of faster race pace work, and not a lot of threshold.  We’ve always had our best results in longer races, but these days we’re equally competitive in the 5/10k races.  It’s hard to nail down the exact reasons for a whole team’s performance changes, but it’s doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to think that this is driven by more training at 5-10k speeds and intensities.  We’re still doing fine in the 15-20k races, so for now it looks like a worthwhile change.

Peaking:  One of the reasons I’ve been conservative with higher intensity training is because I’m super paranoid about peaking the team early.  We’re pretty good at peaking on time – we’re generally on an upward trend for Regionals and NCAAs, to the point where I’m feeling like we’re actually a bit too cautious.  Our NCAA qualifiers seem to have plenty in the tank even into late March (we do have some people who are pretty exhausted by the end of Regionals every year, but this seems to be distinctly about school and travel rather than training).  So we were a bit more aggressive about peaking this year – less focus on maintaining fitness and more focus on getting fast and rested earlier in the season.  Starting in late January we cut back volume more than usual and focused only on short fast intervals for the rest of the way.  Seemed to work out fine – our last two carnivals were our best, and we had our best NCAA showing ever.  Probably will continue to experiment with this approach going forward.

Good skis are good skis:  Everyone knows that ski characteristics are way more important than wax or structure for determining if a ski is going to be fast on a given day.  But I don’t think most people understand how vast the gap is between the importance of good skis and the importance of good wax.  These last couple winters I’ve been borrowing a lot of athlete skis for testing while I slowly upgrade our old and sad test fleet.  This has been pretty eye-opening.  We have some great pairs of skis on our team!  We also have some not great pairs.  Wax can nudge things in one direction or another, but only within a narrow window.  On a 1-10 scale, a fast pair is always going to be at least an 8 or 9 even if flex and/or grind aren’t perfect for the conditions, and even if we don’t have the best wax.  You will always at least be competitive if you’re on a good pair of skis (I know this isn’t true at the World Cup level, where every pair is a good pair and differences are measured by fractions of a percent, but I strongly believe it’s true for college skiing).  The inverse is true for a mediocre pair – you’re never going to get to 9 or 10, even if your coaches nail the wax.  Again, this is nothing new, but it’s really hit home for me after experiencing first-hand the wide range of quality present in our quivers.  We’re going to have to be more proactive about getting our people on good skis – sharing good pairs and ensuring that any new pairs are bought from a reliable source.

Communication:  Although we had a pretty successful season competitively, the team didn’t have quite the same easy and joyful feel that we always strive for – for lots of different reasons, a few of our people really struggled with their enjoyment of the sport this year.  I’m not foolish enough to think that we can overcome all the challenges that people are experiencing in their lives outside of skiing, but one thing we can do is be more proactive about communicating with people – recognizing earlier when people are starting to get burned out and working with them to rekindle the fire a bit.  This is tricky – college skiing is pretty consuming, and it’s not for everyone.  Even so, more communication is always a good thing – sometimes we can help turn things around and sometimes we can’t, but knowing how people are feeling is an important starting point in either case.  I’ll be working hard this coming year to keep improving here.