Mansfield Nordic Club

With the ending of the school year, the weeks for our Junior team have shifted into summer mode. Early morning rollerskiing at the Range, overly-sweaty humid afternoons in the woods, and weekend adventures around Vermont and beyond.

An awesome crew has formed this summer: nearly 40 Juniors (and counting!) plus 15 collegiate skiers in MNC University means a LOT of poles clacking across the pavement.

The first week of our training brought sunny skies and a good mix of skiing, games, and focused work. For some of our skiers, the first few training sessions are all about getting used to the rollerski track…in this case, it only took just over a day for everyone to be solid on “Sprint Loop” which means more doors are open to larger groups able to train together within the same session.

We took a few minutes after training on Thursday to set out some goals and intentions for the summer group/season specifically. Skiers who have been with MNC for a while are familiar with the goal pyramids we use to guide our processes, although those pyramids often apply to one skier over the course of a season.

In this case, we wanted to work on goals and targets for the summer group specifically. While always the biggest season for us in terms of numbers, is season often brings together skiers from more different backgrounds, and with a wide range of skiing goals. Therefore setting goals with this group meant taking a really big-picture look at what the summer program is, and what we can work toward between now and late-August.

The pyramid, and the first few days this summer, looked something like this:

Fun relays with the college and juniors skiers together

Rolling and warming up in Williston

The all-important dynamic warmup

Nothing like a little towing to get the technique firing

And on tap for the upcoming week(s)…lots of camps and trips! We’ve got a big slate of adventures coming up and underway…The MNC University group is currently at a training camp in Bethel, ME, while 8 MNC athletes qualified for the NENSA REG (Regional Elite Group) camp that just began in southern VT.

Next week, more of our crew will participate in the NENSE RDG (Regional Development Group) camp in Craftsbury. Then it’s onto the Lost Nation Rollerski race, Mountain Camp, Mini Mountain Camp…phew, summer is busy!

We have data on the Bolton test going back many years. It’s one of the tests I “inherited” when I started coaching at MNC, so in the record books you’ll see times from 2013, with names that have long since gone to college, and even started and retired from professional ski careers!

So yes, this September will mark the 10th year of this test if the archives are accurate.

Often, I’m making claims about how much faster athletes are getting, and indeed the top times have consistently plummeted in the past 3-4 years. The times are decreasing for a few reasons. In part, it’s from us only getting faster as a club. But there has also been a marked increase in skiers taking on this test. The sample size has gotten huge, and with more skiers come more chances to throw down fast times. Skiers from other clubs give it a go, as do collegiate skiers and adults in our sport.

But individual progress has always been a key marker, and having a tab on our archive that follows evert skier over the years is super valuable.

And on Saturday, a new record fell! No, not the speed up the mountain (although Keelan Durham and Hattie Barker were close to some record times). This was a record in the number of racers in a single Bolton test day with a total of 30 competitors.

Philosophical club question: is this record more important than the record for time and speed?

My answer would be yes, because this record signifies growth in participation, excitement, and willingness to compete. Our MNC University group brought many new racers to the table, and friends-of-the-club made appearances too. 14 results were added to the men’s recordbook, and 16 results were added to the women’s record. That’s some great parity as well.

The speed records are likely to be broken again, and the likelihood it happens sooner is higher when we’ve got more competitors. So it’s really a wholistic process: more athletes and a broader range of racers means more chances for the record to fall, and a wider range of times in each test (meaning no matter what speed you’re going, you likely have someone racing near you for good competition).

That’s a much stronger barometer of ski club testing results than simply relying on “super talent” skiers or runners to keep lowering the course record!

Although some had to jet for graduation or work, we still had a pretty big group shot at the top of the lift!

Aerobic capacity, specific strength, agility, performance mindset, “killer instinct”, teamwork, motivation…there are a lot of puzzle pieces to successful cross country skiing. But often, we can overlook one of the most fundamental components of what we do…movement itself!

Our movement competency forms the foundation for all physical aspects of sport, and luckily for us there is a wealth of knowledge, scholarly work, science, and research on the topic. Is it as dynamic as brutal intervals up a steep mountain road, or as heroic as a lunge across the finish line in February? Certainly not. But we can improve both of those moments (and many more) with a better understanding of how our bodies move in space, how balanced we are, and how strong some fundamental muscle groups are.

We were fortunate to be joined over the last two weeks by Sharon Henry, PT, Ph.D, ATC as well as Coach Sara (now through her 2nd year of PT school) for some athlete screenings. We rented the classroom space of the Jericho Community Center, and had ourselves a miniature clinic. Individual athletes went through several tests, which are detailed below by US Ski and Snowboard. Sharon and Sara made notes and took down some scores, and athletes were able to get some feedback and exercises that targeted weak areas.

As a coach, it was really great for me to see both individual tests as well as overall themes. We’ve already added a few new exercises to the short warmups we do before each ski or run session, and can now make changes to our strength training plan based off info from these sessions.

Here is a link to a video detailing the US Ski and Snowboard assessment, for those interested.

US Ski and Snowboard Movement Screen