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Training 8/13 – 8/19 (rollerski week!):

• Monday: 8:30 – 10:30am at the Range. Skate rollerski.
• (Tuesday – tentative Bonus Training [TBD])
• Wednesday: 8:30 – 10:30am at Round Church. Classic rollerski (and DP test make-up).
• Thursday: 4:30 – 6:30pm at Charlotte Beach. Skate rollerski.
• Saturday: 9:00am – ~12:15pm. Underhill State Park. Hike Mt Mansfield via Sunset Ridge Trail.

Yesterday we did our first double-pole test of the year up Greystone Road in Richmond. The course is a steep climb for about 600m. We do this test a few times each year (summer and fall) and the goal is to see improvement over time. Because rollerski speeds vary so much, it isn’t useful to compare times against other athletes.

We started doing this test last fall (2 times), so I only have a bit of historcial data. In spite of that, I can say that the group looked really fast altogether! This double-pole test also demonstrates who has the strength and who needs it (the pictures really show this — technique totally falls apart if there is lacking core strength and upper-body strength).

Name / Time (PR from last year):

1. Destyni Travers, 6:38
2. Lucy Leith, 4:59
3. Kayla Servin, 6:12
4. Leslie Roberts, 5:18
5. Nigel Sarrazin, 4:34
6. Lukas Adamockwicz, 4:10
7. Amy Bruce, 4:58
8. Molly Larson, 4:23
9. Emma Hamilton, 4:17 (4:42)
10. Will Solow, 4:35
11. Casey Silke, 4:38
12. Will Kay, 4:57
13. Jordan Lamay, 3:29
14. Lauren Olson (St Lawrence), 3:56 ** new women’s record
15. Charlie Maitland, 4:18
16. Ethan John, 3:29 (4:03)
17. Bill Harmeyer, 3:02 (4:25)
18. Henry Harmeyer, 2:51 (3:14) ** new men’s record

Coach Eli Enman, Bill, Ethan, Henry, Lauren warming up

Casey is smiling through the pain

Charlie making love to the camera! Bill with a mean face

Destyni getting up the hill

Emma had a PR

Ethan had a big PR as well. Solid form.

Coach Paul Allison leads a train for warmup.

Henry Harmeyer set a PR by over 20 seconds since last fall

Jordan Lamay is a guy to watch out for this year. Really nice form, except for the lack of focus??!!

Lauren Olson (St Lawrence) threw down a wicked fast time

Leslie Roberts and Kayla Servin doing their first-ever Double Pole test.

Lucy Leith makes her way up

Lukas shows good form early in the test (shins / torso / poles all angled forward and mostly parallel)

Molly and Amy getting tired near the top. Sure is pretty!

Nigel making his way up

Will Kay sees the camera

Will Solow hammering. New record for middle-school athletes!

This past weekend we did a group hike up Camel’s Hump mountain. It was one of the hottest days of the year, but we had cool temps and a light breeze on the summit. The boys hiked for about an hour to warmup, then ran the last 0.9 miles to the summit in a hard effort. On the summit we met up with Garrott Kuzzy and Catherine Collins (former MWSC skier and Middlebury), who came up from the Huntington side.

Monday we were back at the Range for classic rollerskiing with a lot of technique work. After skiing without poles, we worked on balance and coordination on the grass, and a few bounding drills up a grassy hill. The main part of the workout were 45″ striders — short intervals at an intensity like a 10 or 15km race pace (not too hard, just good skiing).

On Tuesday, 5 MNC athletes went back to the Range to train with the J2 National Camp (45 of the best 15-16 year olds in the country!). Coaches and athletes are here from AK, MN, ID, MT, CO, etc. Molly, Amy, Casey, Ethan and Craig were able to do a workout that was supervised by US Ski Team coach Bryan Fish and lots of other amazing coaches. Ben Hegman was participating in the camp, so it was nice to see him, too.

Yesterday we did our first double-pole test of the year on Greystone Road in Richmond. I’ll have another post about that with pictures.

Alissa Stone working on the “scooter” drill

Atop Camel’s Hump (8/4)

Charlie Maitland no-poles. (8/6)

Destyni (8/6)

Amy, Emma, Molly & Alice – l to r  (8/6)

Lucy and Claire (8/6)

Awesome views towards Mansfield. Garrott heading down. (8/6)

Henry Harmeyer rocking the tele-turns (8/6)

Amy Bruce and BMA Coach Kate Barton at the J2 camp (8/7)

Ben Hegman at the J2 camp (8/7)

Casey Silke got a great workout along with the best J2’s! (8/7)

Craig Calhoun (r) and Gavin McEwan. J2 camp (8/7)

Ethan John liftoff (8/7)

US Ski Team coach Bryan Fish explains the workout (8/7)

Molly, Amy and other J2 gals listen

Molly (r) running up a steep climb (8/7)

Lukas working the balance (8/6)

Will Solow and Jordan leading a train (8/6)

Ethan, Bill, Henry and Coach Eli Enman (8/6)

Coach Erin Mallory, Amy, Emma and Leslie (8/6)

Claire knew where the camera was! (8/6)

BOunding on skis. Biathlon camp in background. (8/6)

More bounding, with other MNC groups in background (8/6)

Upcoming events for the whole family!

• Saturday (8/4) = Camel’s Hump hike. Bring a friend / bring the family. We will begin at 9am from the Duxbury side (Monroe Trail).  Younger kids and parents can start ahead of the group and we’ll get a huge photo at the summit!
• Saturday (8/11) = Barbecue / potluck and swimming in Lake Champlain at Ethan/Liam John’s camp in Milton. The athletes will do a rollerski and parents can run or ride bikes. After the workout, the Johns have graciously offered to host a BBQ at their place (Everest Road, Milton VT).  Please RSVP to Monica John (vtjohns [at] comcast [dot] net). Training is from 9-11am, so the BBQ will start around 11:30am.

Pictures from the past several days:

Swimming after the bonus training in Jeffersonville

Amy, Coach Erin Mallory and Mollie Larson finishing at 1:50 rollerski

Mollie with the mountains in the background

Long trail run at Sleepy Hollow on Wednesday. Nathanael and Henry.

Cookies and blondies from my Mom!!!  Mmmmmm

Sienna and Callie discussing college

Halfway through a long run – still a few smiles

Sam Longenbach got a nice 30km rollerski on Tuesday! View towards Smugg’s.

Our current week of training (7/30 – 8/5) is focused on high-volume training to build endurance.  After a big week of training, we will follow-up with a recovery week. The recovery week allows the body to ‘absorb’ or super-compensate for the prior training load. If we keep training and training and training, eventually the body just gets tired and breaks down. But if we pair a training stimulus with a period of recovery, the body will get stronger.

Training 8/6 – 8/12:

• Monday 8:30 – 10:30am at the Range. Classic roll with striders.
• Wednesday 8:30 – 10:30am at the Round Church (Richmond). Classic roll with double-pole test. The double-pole test is approximately 3-7 minutes of max effort going up a big hill. It is mostly a test of specific-strength.
• Thursday 5:00 – 7:00pm at the Range. Skate rollerski with technique work.
• Saturday 9:00 – 11:00am at Bear Trap Road in Milton. Long classic rollerski. We’ll have a BBQ and swim afterwards!

This past Friday, Coach Erin Mallory lead a bonus workout called “Save the Baby King Adventure Race”. This workout comes from the coaches out at Sun Valley SEF. Fifteen athletes showed up to Colchester high school for an event that is part brains and part brawn! The event included building shelter, searching for food, and a tractor-tire rolling component. From the reviews I heard, everyone had a great time.

Today we were back at the Range for a skate rollerski and more shooting with Algis Shalna, John Madigon, and Lanny and Tracy Barnes. It was a hot day so everybody was happy to take a few minutes respite to shoot. Feedback from our all-star biathlon coaches was that the girls once again out-shot the boys in terms of accuracy! We must have some Annie Oakleys. Thanks to the biathlon coaches for the opportunity. Tracy and Lanny Barnes have been two of the top biathletes in the country for the past 6-8 years. They’ve both raced in World Cups, finishing as high as 15th place! So we are lucky to have that kind of exposure to high-level athletes.

Tomorrow we have another bonus training up in Jeffersonville along Route 109 and Hogback Road. One of the most important factors in ski training (as in life) is consistency. We’ve had a group of 15-20 athletes that are training 3-4 days/week this summer. Now we’re adding some bonus training and the athletes are able to get together as much as 5 days/wk. It is plain to see the forward progress of many of these athletes. While we still have road rash to clean nearly every day, the crew keeps pushing their comfort zone and improving.

On the horizon, we’ve got a big Camel’s Hump hike planned for this coming Saturday, and we are going to have a rollerski and BBQ up in Milton the following Saturday! Stay tuned for more info about the BBQ.

And now, the pictures:

Preparing to save the King

Foraging for food

Louis, Jordan and Leslie on the trails

Griffin and Ethan making shelter

Nordic ski training = the original crossFit !!

That thing looks heavy!

Ethan John assisting Charlie Cobb as he swings across the moat

Emma narrowly escapes the fire-breathing dragons

Charlie, Ethan and Tatum all smiles. Long live the baby King Arthur Flour!

The eventual winners: Sam, Liam and Sienna. Liam is heading to St. Olaf and Sienna is heading to St Lawrence this fall.

And pictures from today:

Abby Grab from the BKL showing good form!

Looking south towards Smugg’s

John and Algis give the safety instructions

Claire working on skate technique

Destyni practicing V2

Alice leads Leslie and Molly

Sienna, Emma, Amy, Autumn and Lucy

Gals get the safety briefing

No-pole skate warmup

Kayla demonstrates great progress in just 6 weeks of rollerskiing

Nathanael and Patrick goofing around, while climbing a big hill

BKL member Olivia Cuneo getting great ankle flex

Coach Paul Allison demonstrates a drill

Lanny Barnes oversees Bill Harmeyer shooting

Nice swimming hole

Will Kay working on his cornering