It has been a busy few weeks for the Junior team, with a lot of athletes finally reuniting after a long XC running season! The jump in team numbers coinciding with the darkness setting earlier definitely makes for a complicated after school training scene. We’ve broken out the headlamps and reflective vests a lot, and have moved away from the roads and onto the trails more frequently than usual.

Luckily we have a ton of great trails and safe locations to train even in the dark, and when we hit the timing right the sunset moments are pretty epic!

Up on the west side of the hills behind Cochrans

While the sunsets are great, we’re often out beyond that timeframe, and that’s when the headlamps and vests come out. We have a bunch of random headlamps that I keep in a bag in my car, as well as several mini flashlights that I picked up at Dollar Tree. The more visibility, the better (and safer) we are.

This run at Chamberlain ended in total darkness…we still have 30 minutes to go from here!

What is even more appreciated this time of year are morning workouts, when the athletes involved in MNC Academy have a bit of extra availability for daylight training. This means that rollerskiing can happen in the morning, without compromising the consistency of that training mode. Of course, the battle then becomes with the cold temps…but overall we’ve had a pretty unbeatable fall when it comes to comfort.

Early morning upper body work in Williston, and staying hydrated with our new Toko belts

Our days at the Range are extremely numbered until January, meaning we have precious little time to utilize the lights in Jericho. However, we’ve still been making an effort to stay consistent with training on rollerski tracks. This past weekend we visited Craftsbury and joined with some of their Juniors for a skate sprint workout. The rain ended just in time for a really productive and good hard effort.

Getting ready to train with Craftsbury, featuring Coach Anna and Coach Sara

Despite all the efforts to optimize our training and stay safe and productive, some things just can’t be controlled. We’ve got a bit of a hand/wrist injury theme at the moment…Kate is in a cast due to a gym class volleyball incident, and last Thursday Niko and I had to bail out of the Range and make a speedy trip to the Emergency Room after a rollerski crash left him with a thumb that was so dislocated that…well…I won’t put the actual photos up in case anyone is eating dinner while reading this blog. The good news is that Niko handled it like a champ and should be able to get set up with a cast that will allow skiing soon.

Good reminders that even with the best preparation, things don’t always go your way. Rather than just plan on perfection, it’s best to just shoot for consistency in training and know that sometimes incidents arise that just have to be navigated around. While injuries may not happen to everyone, blips in the training and life situations certainly will!

Niko and his good hand…the injured hand stowed safely under an ice blanket awaiting X-ray results

Juniors, it’s time to register for winter programming and trips! We’ve got a lot on the schedule this year, and there are a lot of resources linked below which I hope are helpful in navigating the confusing scene of Nordic racing and training in the winter.

Junior Winter Primer (which includes many of the links below): An outline of frequently asked questions, schedules, licenses, and more which can be important reading before the winter begins.

22/23 Race Calendar (subject to editing as the season goes on): Races at the Eastern Cup and regional (NENSA) level outlined in one document. Note that this does not include VPA high school races.

MNC Juniors Expected Costs: A slightly more detailed (and current-season-specific) version of this page which exists on the Juniors dropdown menu of the MNC homepage.

Link to MNC Registration Pages: The home for program registration, including MNC Membership and other age groups.