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Rodriguez/Kendall Recap

The timetrials are over, and the season is here! Craftsbury hosted the first official races of the season for many in our club (Juniors and Masters alike).

On Saturday, the Rodriguez Sprints were a great showdown with the “Royal Court” format meaning every athlete not only raced the qualifying round, but three additional heats. If it weren’t for Bullitt Timing and their amazing electronic wizardry, there’s no way this could’ve gone as smoothly as it did.

Anders and Lorenzo with the Mansfield M sign

Making it all the way to the A-Final (for 4th and 5th overall) were Anders and Lorenzo, seen here starting off their round with the Mansfield “M” hand sign: someday, maybe this will be on the World Cup when the camera pans onto one of our skiers..?

Throughout a very long day of heat-after-heat, it was fun to see the matchups across clubs and age groups. What other race would feature MNC Alum Emma Page (skiing for UVM), versus current MNC skier Virginia Cobb, versus Tom Thurston?? And our club had several heats with multiple MNC suits, such as this one with Astrid and Paige:

Astrid and Paige putting some time into the competition!

On Sunday, the snow got wet but the air (thankfully) stayed dry until after the races had concluded. We had a busy schedule with 4 different mass start skate races. The men’s 10km was up first, with the women shortly after. 2 laps of the North 5km course is definitely a real wake-up call after shorter timetrials and a lot of skiing on flat manmade loops at practice.

Stella turns up to the steepest part of the course, right toward coaches corner.

The MNC crew raced well, although we identified a few takeaways that should help us next weekend in Waterville for the first Eastern Cup.

Racing a single lap of the 5km course were the U16s, who closed-out the weekend. Despite the shorter distances, both races came down to tight finishes for the top three!

Jonah taking it out hot! You can also spot Henry in the background!

Lea and Kate charging up the Screamin’ Mimi climb!

With a snow day for the school districts today, it’s safe to say everyone was thankful to have a nice recovery day without classes OR training (many of the HS teams train on Monday, so it’s hard to get that time off after racing weekends). Of course, having snow itself is a plus, as we should be able to enjoy skiing on some longer trails. We can NEVER thank the snowmaking and grooming heroes out there enough, but the real thing is always appreciated too!

Next up: the first Eastern Cup in Waterville, ME. Ironically, coastal Maine is not getting any snow from this storm, so all of our manmade lap training should really pay off in a few days time.

Tired and happy skiers!

 

Masters’ Strength Session Workout

We did a strength session on Thursday to help us build strength for skiing. A strength session is great to include in your weekly exercise or training plan and will help your skiing immensely.  Strength usually peaks somewhere between your late 20’s and early 30’s and after that, it’s a gradual decline unless you do something to keep your muscles strong.  “Use it or loose it!” definitely applies here!  You can get stronger at almost any age by doing a strength program regularly, however, it just takes longer to build strength the older you get (but it’s totally doable!).

The Core Set: start at 30 seconds, build up to 1 min.  2- 3 sets:

  1.  Front plank-
  2.  Side Planks L- (keep chest open and everything aligned)
  3. Side Plank R -(keep chest open and everything aligned)
  4. Bridge (push up legs w/shoulders on ground)
  5. Bird dogs- (opposite arm & leg lift off floor)
  6. Bent knee leg lifts with back flattened to floor- (Right leg lift, left leg lift, both legs lift together, repeat)

Hip Bands: Do 10-15 reps 2x:

  1. Band on ankles, step to side down & back
  2. Band just above knees, step sideways down & back

*Use a resistance exercise band like Thera Bands

Circuit Set: set a timer for 30 -60 sec. and do the set 1-2 or 3 times (build up). Add and change it up to suit you and what you need.

  1. Step ups on picnic tables (you can do this on a box or use two stairs)
  2. Ankle/Arm weights in hands: hold in hands and lift out to side, down, then up in front, then down, repeat. Use 2-8 lb arm weights.
  3. push-ups
  4. burpee push-ups
  5. medicine ball lunges- can use any kind of weights
  6. dips- can do them between two chairs
  7. balance on one foot- can try to touch floor each time
  8. Russian twist or wood choppers w/medicine ball (or heavy log)
  9. calf lifts on steps right
  10. calf lifts on steps left

Masters First Week: Dryland, Strength, Skating & Racing

Masters Classic Warm-up

Masters’ Practices kicked off this past Tuesday with a fun classic warm-up and a hill bounding session. On Thursday, we time-shared the limited snow loop with BKL & Juniors and warmed up our no-pole skating, balance & V1 and then spent half the practice doing strength indoors. Some of our Masters kicked off their racing season too by skiing in the Kendall Memorial Skate Race on Sunday at Craftsbury. Congratulations to Steve Crafts, Daniel Schmidt and Sara Katz for getting out there and skiing hard on that very hilly North Course!

Sara Katz looking smooth as she heads towards the finish hill.

 

Steve Crafts hammering V-1 up Screamin’ Mimi.

 

BKL Info Dec 11-17

With this new snow we are planning to be skiing both Tues and Thurs this week!  Please label all equipment (masking tape and sharpie work great) and show your child how to recognize their own equipment. This Saturday, December 16,  we are hosting a little BKL race at Craftsbury and you can register to race through Saturday morning. We are also looking for some more volunteers. Race Info Flyer 

If you are interested in volunteering at practice this is the signup sheet

BKL Sub-Groups

Tuesday: Penguins, Jack Rabbits, Arctic Foxes, Racers
Location: The Range
Classic skiing for everyone
If you have waxable classic skis you can either wax at home or meet at the wax bench outside in front of the Walker Building a few minutes before practice. It looks like it will be new snow about 32 degrees. A warm hard wax or klister.
Devos: with the Juniors, check the Junior training plan

Thursday: Jack Rabbits, Arctic Foxes, Racers and Devos
Location: The Range
Skate skiing for everyone

Saturday: The race will be our weekend ski for Racers and Devos. Registration through the Race Info Flyer to let us know you are coming.

MNC BKL Season Opener Race
We’re hosting a BKL race at Craftsbury on Saturday, December 16th, for any BKL kids interested in racing. The race is not just for Racers. There are catgories for all ages.  We are also looking for more parent volunteers. Race Info Flyer 

Rodriguez Sprints/Kendall Memorial Wax Tip

For racers competing this weekend:

Craftsbury has a manmade snow base on the upper/lower fields and around the cabins, much of which is stored snow from last year. Other trails have fully natural snow that has been through several grooming cycles, without much precip expected before the races on Sat/Sun.

Cold nights and average days (mid-20s, low 30s) will be the pattern until Saturday, when things will warm up. It will still be below 30 for the qualifier, and expect snow to be fast! Things will warm up during the heats.

Saturday night temps do not drop below freezing overnight into Sunday, and there is a high of 47 with rain in the mix.

FOR SATURDAY (SPRINT) SKIS

Brush skis thoroughly with a metal brush. If you have a glide zone cleaner, use this to clean the bases.

Apply a colder glide wax such as Toko Blue, Swix 6, or Rode R20 or R30. Scrape and brush.

Apply a mid-to-warm glide wax such as Toko Red, Swix 8, or Rode R50 (Rode R50 is a yellow wax that can run cold). Scrape and brush.

Check-in with Coach Adam at the community wax room! Please try to bring skis at least an hour before your start. We will be testing spray and wool-applied waxes, as well as structure, and will put our winning combo onto all skis.

FOR SUNDAY (MASS START) SKIS

Brush skis thoroughly with a metal brush. If you have a glide zone cleaner, use this to clean the bases.

Apply a colder glide wax such as Toko Blue, Swix 6, or Rode R20 or R30. Scrape and brush.

Apply a warm glide wax such as Toko Yellow, Swix 10, or Rode R50. Scrape and brush.

This can all be done on-site at the Craftsbury community wax room, as Coach Adam will have tools and some wax on-site.

Check-in with Coach Adam at the community wax room on race day! Please try to bring skis at least an hour before your start. We will be testing spray and wool-applied waxes, as well as structure, and will put our winning combo onto all skis.

WHAT SKIS SHOULD I USE?

Universal skis or warm base/warm grind black base skis are probably best for Saturday’s qualifier. You can also bring and test dedicated clear base skis, which are more likely to be in play for the heats, if at all.

For Sunday, universal or warm base skis are in play. If you have clear bases, you can bring them to test against traditional bases.

 

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