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Junior Recap

What an awesome week! In spite of the limited daylight we were blessed to resume training at the Range this past Tuesday. It is incredible what we can accomplish on the beautiful new pavement and lighted trails. This facility is one of < 10 places in NORTH AMERICA with these benefits.

I was really pleased this week with all the athletes rollerskiing at the Range. Many athletes that had never rollerskied before 2013 are now successfully skiing around nearly every loop at the Range — including the Pit and the infamous “Airplane Downhill.” Many of the younger skiers managed to complete nearly 15km of skiing on Tuesday evening, while some of the older athletes did a bounding workout with coach Eli Enman at Sleepy Hollow.

On Friday we returned to Greystone Road for a double-pole test up the ~600m hill. This test gauges strength and power in the upper body and core. We’ve done this 2-3 times per year for a few years now. Although it was a cold and blustery day, almost everyone had PR’s or were within 3 seconds of a PR. I’ll publish times a bit later but to say the least, I was a little surprised by just how well everyone did! A great Friday evening.

While we didn’t have organized MNC training today, several athletes involved with MNC were representing their high school running teams at the New England XC Championships in Manchester, NH. A few notables include:

  • Autumn Eastman, CVU, finishing 3rd overall in a time of 17:48 for 5km (ummm that is faster than I’ve run a 5km since I was in college.
  • Ben Hegman (MMU) throwing down an incredible PR of 16:01 to finish 26th overall.
  • And Nathanael Kuzio (Harwood) — I believe this is his PR as well — running 16:42 to finish 93rd in a field of over 250 of the best runners from across New England.

Amazing job all. Let’s keep up the momentum ’til the snow flies!

Forrest Hamilton demonstrates excellent forward body lean during diagonal stride

Forrest Hamilton demonstrates excellent forward body lean during diagonal stride

Junior Photos and Recap

This past week marked the first week of “pre-season” training now that fall sports have concluded. Our group was therefore a little bigger than normal! It is really exciting to see many of our younger BKL athletes making the transition to the junior program!!  We kicked off the week with some strength, technique, and specific strength (aka, double poling) at Mud Pond. On Thursday we worked on skate technique and finding rhythm in the V2 alternate technique. Yesterday was a nice warm (but windy) afternoon at Essex High School working on some dryland drills and our running heart-rate zone analysis. This workout is meant to take athletes from running at level 1 pace (easy) and progress up to high level 2 or low level 3 (moderate). We run at specific paces and record heart-rate at the end of each mile. Over many weeks or months, we hope to see small improvements demonstrated by lower heart-rate at the same pace. The boys run 1 mile repeats at 9:00, 8:15 then 7:30 with 1 minute breaks (and sometimes a 4th mile repeat again at 7:30). The gals do 10:00 / 9:15 / 8:30. We also play some hackey sack or juggle a soccer ball to work on coordination and agility.

 

the "low walk" drill -- try to keep your hips below your knees. Strength, flexibility, balance, coordination.

the “low walk” drill — try to keep your hips below your knees. Strength, flexibility, balance, coordination.

Hackey sack before practice. Coordination, agility, balance.

Hackey sack before practice. Coordination, agility, balance.

Olivia Cuneo bounding on the grass as coach Eli Enman watches. Technique, balance.

Olivia Cuneo bounding on the grass as coach Eli Enman watches. Technique, balance.

Marika Massey Bierman is making the jump from BKL to Juniors!

Marika Massey Bierman is making the jump from BKL to Juniors!

Chloe Lemmel-Hay, Eliza Thomas and Emily Halporn playing a game during warmup. Balance, agility.

Chloe Lemmel-Hay, Eliza Thomas and Emily Halporn playing a game during warmup. Balance, agility.

Chloe Lemmel Hay working on bounding in the grass.

Chloe Lemmel Hay working on bounding in the grass.

A big group of boys doing some specific strength (10km of double poling in 40 minutes).

A big group of boys doing some specific strength (10km of double poling in 40 minutes).

Strength during our warmup.

Strength during our warmup.

The team photo on tuesday.

The team photo on tuesday.

Junior Training 11/4 – 11/17

We have 2 training opportunities this coming Tuesday (11/5). Continuous bounding intervals at Sleepy Hollow or classic rollerskiing at the Range.
This coming week is a VOLUME week:

  • option 1 Tuesday 11/5 = Bounding intervals at Sleepy Hollow, 4:00-5:45.
  • option 2 Tuesday 11/5 = Classic rollerski at the Range, 4:00-5:45.
  • Thursday 11/7 = Skate rollerski at the Range, 4-6pm.
  • Friday 11/8 = bonus Greystone double-pole test at Round Church, 4:00-5:30. Headlamps, taillights, bright clothes & reflective vests.
  • Sunday 11/10 = Skate rollerski at Mud Pond, 9:30-11:30am.

Followed by an INTENSITY week:

  • Tuesday 11/12 = Skate rollerski at the Range, 4:00-6:00.
  • Thursday 11/14 = Classic rollerski at the Range, 4:00-6:00.
  • Friday 11/15 = bonus Games and running at Colchester HS, 4:00-5:30.
  • Saturday 11/16 = bonus Skate rollerski time trial with GMVS in Waitsfield.
  • Sunday 11/17 = Classic rollerski @ TBA.

Bill Demong rollerskiing with Matt Lauer

Check out 4 time Olympian Billy Demong (USA Nordic Combined) rollerskii with NBC’s Matt Lauer in New York City.  Billy comes from the little town of Vermontville just north of Saranac Lake, NY and recently won another National Championship title as he prepares for what will likely be his last Olympic games.

http://blogs.fasterskier.com/insidetrack/2013/10/30/demong-schools-lauer-on-the-today-show/

MNC/TOKO Hands-on Wax Clinic 11/18

On Nov 18th 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM MNC skier and long time TOKO rep Dave Boucher will join forces with MNC coaches to lead a wax clinic and answer your base prep questions.  We are tentatively scheduled to do this in the Walker Building at the range and are just awaiting approval from the National Guard. Please check the blog for updates.

Dave will do a brief demonstration on the basic techniques of base prep, glide waxing, and kick waxing at 3:45 and then again at 6:00.  We will have benches set up so you can bring a pair of skis to prepare them for early season skiing.  You must bring your own wax.  We will have some irons, scrapers and brushes but if you have your own it would help.  Be sure to put your name on anything you bring.  Some coaches will be available to help and answer questions too.

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