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Early season bonus snow!

It has been great to get on some early season snow this year…and by early, we mean REALLY early. It’s rare to find groomed snow before Thanksgiving, much less natural groomed snow! But thanks to generous local groomers like Peter and Tom, spots like Tomasi Meadow (in Underhill) and Dac Rowe Field (Waterbury) are viable options. Of course the Notch has seen a lot of skiers, and places like Sleepy Hollow, Rikert, and Craftsbury are hard at work making and pushing out skiable terrain.

It’s going to be a mixed-bag for us with regard to the Range in December, as we have limited access until the calendar year turns over in January. However, with a few days of accessible Range skiing, combined with options for other great areas and early cold temps, we can look forward to some fun group days among BKL, Masters, and Juniors alike.

Last weekend the Juniors got in two great days at Craftsbury, where we even got to reunite with some alumni up skiing with their college teams. We’ll do even more of that at Thanksgiving Camp, which starts tomorrow (Tues).

And of course, there’s some video content as evidence of the great skiing and fun times!

 

BKL Fall THURSDAY- On Snow Adventure!!

We are going for an early snow ski adventure!  Peter Davis is rolling Tomasi’s Field which is next to Casey’s Hill in Underhill. The grass has been mowed very short so the 3-4 inches of snow we got on Wednesday should be enough to ski on. It will be fun to get on skis and check out Tomasi’s!

Time: 3:45 to 4:45 pm (come early and/or stay as long as you want)

Location: Tomasi Field/Casey’s Hill. 16 Mountain Rd., Underhill, VT 05489.

Parking: There is small lot for a few cars at the 16 Mountain Rd address by Casey’s Hill. If the lot fills up, drop off your kid(s) and go back and park at Underhill Central School. I have been told that it’s possible to ski through the school fields and then some other fields across the road to link up with Tomasi’s. We might be able to shuttle as well.

What to bring:  Any skis are fine for today, but if you have a choice, bring some no-wax classic skis. I will bring some TOKO yellow for anyone who has waxables and needs wax.  I am also going to throw my rock skate skis in the car just in case the skating is doable.  Feel free to bring extra skis- it will be a good day to try things out!

BRING YOUR HEADLAMP!!  It will definitely be dark when we finish.

See you there!

Early snow training notes

Cold temps, snowmaking guns, and hopefully snow itself are all in our near future. Many of us will be looking forward to Craftsbury and Sleepy Hollow providing some of the first early season grooming soon, and there’s a lot to take into account when it comes to the transition away from purely dryland training.

The two articles below are informative reads on the topic. One is from Andy Newell, and the other is from legendary Norwegian coach Erik Braten. The article from Braten is translated from Langrenn.com and parts can be difficult (and/or humorous) to read, but I think the important points are easy enough to understand. I’ve also gone through and highlighted elements specific to MNC and our Juniors.

If interested, check them out below!

Erik Braten: Three Blunders on Early Snow (translated)

Andy Newell’s back on snow training tips

Season off to a good start!

Eventful Fall weeks

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

BKL Fall Friday #2 : Cancelled :(

It looks like we are in for a downpour and lots of rain between 3:45 and 4:45 tomorrow.  We will set our sights on next week, when we will meet on Thursday!

Next Week:

BKL Fun THURSDAY.

3:45-4:45 pm

Mills River Park, Rte. 15, Jericho

Bring your headlamp and wear your sneakers!

Obstacle courses, agility, soccer and more!

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