Training for skiing can sometimes be complicated…heart rate zones, anaerobic thresholds, progressive overload, super-compensation…there’s a lot of research you can do.
But sometimes training for skiing can be simple. For example, it doesn’t hurt to ski a lot if you want to become a better skier.
That’s what we do at the end of most summers, for at least 4 years now, with the Rollathon. This “event” started in 2021 to cap off a summer of training. Actually, it began in the spring of 2021 at Craftsbury with an on-snow version that finished-off a Covid-stricken year of isolated racing and training.
The premise is really simple…we park in Ferrisburgh and set up the tent with lots of snacks and chairs. There’s a 20km loop from that spot, on pretty gentle terrain. You can ski a lap or two, and come back to the tent for a break or fuel. Or, you can take a shortcut that divides the bigger loop in half. It’s really the perfect spot!
We’ve tried to emphasize that just because 100 kilometers was the original goal way back when, this doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone HAS to ski that far. Hence the name “Rollathon” as opposed to the distance being in the title. There are a lot of distances under 60+ miles that are still quite lengthy for anyone to ski!
This year, the event also took place a bit later in the season. We have done this in the past with the MNC University group and before some of our college-bound athletes leave, but this year we skied a bit further into the school year. I had envisioned this making for cooler weather, but I was wrong! With no clouds and temps warming fast, we all set out together at 9AM for what would be, for some, an affair that went until the sun was setting.
Juniors rolling out, while some MNC Masters get ready to begin their ski in the background!
With fall sports underway, the group size was definitely smaller than past iterations of this ski. But several had competed in running races and soccer games just the day before, and were more than eager to click into skis for a different type of endeavor.
It was also really nice to see a lot of the team together in one place, reinforcing some of the aspects that last week’s blog post put into the conversation. Turns out when you put a lot of people in one place and challenge them to do something difficult, all sorts of great things happen. Conversations pop up between skiers who don’t connect typically. Skiers match the technique (for many kilometers) of skiers they usually only get to ski for seconds at a time with on a rollerski track.
In the end some skiers headed home around lunch, while others stayed longer and took a few more balanced breaks while still rolling through the kilometers. As I referenced in a follow-up email, this ski is not necessarily all about the physical challenge…it takes a special willpower to finish a 20km loop, know how far you’ve done, take a metaphorical (or literal) gulp, and decide to push off and head out for another lap. That kind of thing is important in life sometimes, and skiers seem uniquely up to the challenge more often than not.
