Lots of photos to get to here and great training to recap. As always, keep up with the latest and greatest MNC internet buzz on our official Instagram Page!
First off, big news: Fall Registration is now LIVE! Check it out by following these links to Registration and Information
The past two weeks have been some of the biggest of the summer, both in terms of overall training volume and tough workouts. I’d say everyone is feeling it, but that’s kind of the goal as we are now ready for a big break to transition into the fall season. One recent highlight at the Range was the North American Summer Biathlon Championships. Racers from both the US and Canadian National teams were in town for the whole week leading up to the weekend races, so as we skied each day we got to share the rollerski loop with athletes like Tim Burke, Susan Dunklee and Nathan Smith. Along with the National teams were a bunch of Junior and Development groups…the Range was quite busy for a summer week!
The races proved pretty exciting, and although Kai was the only member to check out some of the action live with me, it was a fun experience to watch the top athletes duke it out. We even got to cheer on MNC athletes Marika and Eliza in their junior races.
The men’s mass start gets underway!
Kai doing some technique analysis of the top biathletes
MNC racer and EA biathlete Eliza leaves the shooting mat after hitting 4 of 5 targets!
Since not many took up my offer to watch the races (I even brought bagels, but Kai and I made short work of them) I brought the races to the masses. I took a bunch of videos and uploaded them to Youtube:
One of the most striking aspects of each race was the ways in which the top athletes were always finding speed, especially on the gradual downhills we take for granted on the Range loops. The section from Stadium loop to Pit loop is often where athletes chat it up and lazily drift down the trail. Not so for the racers! After watching the race footage, we did some speeds at the exact same spot and tried to learn how to best carry our momentum. Here’s a clip of a few athletes from the morning crew trying it out, with footage of top racers Leif Nordgren and Susan Dunklee up first for examples:
Another big deal has been some racing of our own, with the second edition of the Bolton Uphill Run test. There was a thick coat of oppressive humidity both days we ran the test. We raced the originally-scheduled event, plus a “make-up” day because nobody gets out of this one! Despite the tough weather and a hard intensity week leading up to the race, there were many PR efforts and even a new women’s record by UNH skier (former MNC athlete) Annavitte Rand! All results (with tabs at the bottom for more details) can be found at the BOLTON HISTORICAL RECORD
With a new PR effort of 15:45 Conor officially joins the “15 Minute Club”
Along with these bigger events, summer sessions have continued to bring together some of the best skiers in VT for awesome training. Next week everyone is looking forward to a breather as the transition back to school becomes reality. Believe it or not, the days of summer are melting away faster than the delicious mint-flavored creemees Coach Sara and I had after practice last Thursday.
We’ll watch a lot more video and have some group discussions and worksheets (no homework, I promise) in order to keep the training aspect of practice more low-key this week and absorb some of the hard work we’ve put in. Here’s some more photos from the past few weeks to close it out:
Sam L busting out some pullups at Dee PT. He’s now off for another year of college at St. Olaf!
Finishing up an easy ski with some short double pole and single-stick relays around the stadium area
BKL speedsters Sammie and Magda going all rock-and-roll before…
…perfecting their double handstands! I think they needed Ali for guidance!
Ford Sayre skier and famous skiing Instagram personality @real_nordic_skier aka Adam Glueck joined us to train and became an honorary MNC member this past week
We also took a mini-trip to Lake Placid for a ski with the NYSEF crew and coach Marge also became an honorary MNC member!
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