We enjoyed a pretty beautiful spring week for our first team training sessions of the 24/25 season. Ironically, on Tuesday we had indoor space rented at the Jericho Community Center during what was maybe the nicest weather day of the year so far.
Everyone still got plenty of sunshine as we got in a nice dirt road cruise down Plains Road, and then we went through a brief slideshow before discussing some team goals. Skiers tossed out ideas and goals which we talked through as a group. There is a nice old school blackboard in the community center, which laid the groundwork for some goals…I’ll share the photo below, along with some more details of each as they were discussed:
Stay Motivated: Not every session, race, interval, or training mode is necessarily going to be the greatest ever (or your favorite activity)…but most of the goals below this one on the chart, and especially the goal balancing fun/work along with supportive teammates, can help you stay motivated. Hopefully you can also be a motivator.
Know when to have fun vs when to be serious: This can apply to a lot of situations, and is something we often lose the balance of when the pressure climbs higher and higher. Having fun can apply to races and being serious can apply to training days and not just the other way around.
Kind, constructive feedback: I am often expected to provide feedback as a coach, but I don’t need to (and shouldn’t) be your only resource when you are in a club environment. Kindness is also key, and I think it’s easy in today’s world to mistake kindness for weakness…which is not realistic!
Focus on structure/good listening: If you’ve been with this club for a while, you know that sometimes we struggle to pay attention in the moment/listening to directions/focusing on the task at hand…this is very related to the next goal too.
Organization: Do you have what you need for training? Have you set yourself up physically and mentally to perform? Are you going into the day ready to embrace all of the goals above?
After diligently setting goals, we got back to some more literal work with the creation of several batches of granola bars with a mostly-sticky collection of ingredients. Over the rest of the week we munched on these snacks during our sessions.
On Thursday, we embarked on our first rollerski of the season. Sticking to double poling, we explored our “usual” routes around the unofficial rollerski track of Southridge and the greater suburban Williston area.
With many of us able to ski on snow pretty late into the spring (even just casually) this felt like a nice smooth transition in terms of technique and body position on rollerskis.
Throughout most of May we will be sticking to rollerskiing once, maybe twice per week. Our focus will be on running both easy distance, and hitting some light intensity with a focus on pacing and consistency. We want to be able to complete a lot of big adventures in the summer, and to do so will require good running health and injury prevention! A lot of that actually starts very small: with short and easy runs, hip strengthening band work at each opportunity, and careful picking-and-choosing of when to push a little harder. We’ll also vary our locations, from flatter dirt roads and running tracks, to the steep climbs and technical descents of trails like Cochrans and beyond.
Warming up for some track repeats at CVU, with mini loop bands for hip activation
Off they go!
The summer months are approaching, and our training groups are assembling with more and more participants! Both the MNC University and MNC Junior squads are starting to heat up.
