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Happy 4th/upcoming Reverse Stowe Derby

By Adam Terko on 6 July, 2015 in Uncategorized

Happy 4th of July everyone! Charlie and Ethan joined me for some ski walking at Bolton on America’s birthday, and I’m sure everyone else was out training hard in between hotdogs and fireworks! Here are some photos from this past week:

Magda had never skied before a few weeks ago. Now she only falls down when she is rollerskiing backwards through a slalom course. And she is okay with that!

Coach Sara leads Magda and Summer up the big hill on Pit Loop. Out of the picture is Jared, who had also never rollerskied but has now conquered the whole loop!

Skiers with more experience are always learning, too! Here Elliot follows guest athlete Ben Ogden during some skate pickups

This week we have another collection of rollerski and foot sessions, and a lot of opportunity to expand the scope of our group! 2 big chances for that in particular:

Wednesday will feature the second MNC Open Session of the summer! Running and bounding at Shelburne Farms, 10-11:30am. Should be fun, and spread the word so we can get a big crew out training together! See more HERE

Saturday will be the first (annual?) Reverse Stowe Derby! This is a joint workout with Craftsbury and VTXC. We will be joined by Craftsbury coach Anna Schultz (hey, she sounds familiar!) and Rick Costanza (hey, he sounds familiar!) for a skate rollerski from downtown Stowe up the bike path to the base of the Toll Rd. From there we will switch to running gear en route to the top of Mt Mansfield! On the run down we can jump in the Bingham Falls swimming hole before a picnic along the park-side bike path!

Any MNC summer participants (both 2- and 5-day members), BKL skiers and Masters are welcome and encouraged to join in – for those that have not rollerskied yet there will be a ‘hike-only’ group. The plan right now is to gather at the Stowe Community Church at 8:30am for rollerski group, and the base of the Toll Rd at 9:30am for the hike-only group. We hope participants can bring a dish to share at the picnic afterward!

The Reverse Stowe Derby caps off 2 volume weeks in a row, a big push for great summer training!

The route of the Reverse Stowe Derby…starting at the lowest point, of course!

Practice cancelled Tues morning 6/23

By Adam Terko on 23 June, 2015 in Junior Blog, Uncategorized

Due to heavy rain and more thunderstorms predicted through the morning, training has been cancelled. Please spread the word and stay safe.

Adding training variety

By Adam Terko on 31 May, 2015 in Junior Blog, Uncategorized

Every 4-6 weeks training gets altered and modified in order to help the body grow and stay challenged. Our very first practice was at Mud Pond 6 weeks ago, and for many it was a tough ordeal to get through a distance run…not uncommon after a long season on snow and a spring break. Last week we returned and went farther with way less effort: many commented on how much better that session felt compared to day #1.

That’s what is so great about training at a high level for sport. You see these small gains in a short amount of time, even within an hour-long run. You also see greater progression from season-to-season and year-to-year. When you start measuring your improvement in 4-year Olympic cycles, you know you’ve really arrived!

We’ve added in new twists in many areas this week. For strength we upped our basic circuit routine to a workout I’ve always known as the “Steamboat Session” since it originates from the Nordic Combined training at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. This tough but functional strength is great when you have no gym available. Luckily, when the summer program starts we will have just such a gym! Through a partnership with Dee PT in South Burlington (see Summer Training info) we will have the option for high-quality strength training and supervision throughout the summer. Until then, we will keep building basic strength skills to be ready for the iron-pumping.

We’ve also added some bounding in the past few weeks. At this point repeats have been short and ‘light’ bounding, as opposed to the gut-busting plyometric leaps of late summer and fall. The focus is on learning to float, have snappy movements and good body position. Check out some clips from Saxon Hill below:

The other ingredient added to our training has been rollerskiing. We are starting simple and building in one session per week, at this point mostly all double poling. Last week we did some basic drills, and this week we added in a touch of specific strength with single-stick repeats up some gradual inclines and along the flats of Richmond.

On Saturday we capped our week of training off with a long and low-intensity hike at Bolton. The typical training session at this alpine area usually involves skiing up the access road, hiking the center slope to the wind turbine, or some combination of those two activities. For this session I thought we would start at the lower base lodge and try to do a big loop around the whole area. It worked out as well as I could’ve hoped for. Everyone kept the intensity low, the route was easy to follow (wide ski trails are hard to get lost on) and we made it to each of the three summits and back to the cars in just under 2 hours.

Training week 10, June 1
Week Type: Intensity
Additional workout suggestions:
-Colchester Causeway Races (see Google Doc for registration info)
-Strength session (in addition to Thursday) incorporating pullups, dips, pushups, planks, tucks, step-ups
-1 medium-length easy run (65-75 min)
Notes: This is the first “Intensity” week, but it doesn’t mean race-mode at all. The goal is to introduce some higher workloads, but in a controlled manner. Tuesday we will do some threshold running intervals that are a bit shorter and faster paced than the 2-mile efforts we have been doing, but the focus will still be on pacing work. Expect some tough efforts on Sunday’s bike ride if you plan to summit App Gap, and good luck to those racing the Causeway events in Colchester!

Additional notes and news:

-Summer training registration will be open very soon. For info on what to expect and some new additions to programming, please see the ‘Summer’ section of the Junior pages: SUMMER PROGRAMS

-This upcoming weekend is big for club events. Saturday is the MNC Family Yardsale: please spread the word, find out how you can help out, and sort through some old items for spring cleaning! Donations of all kinds are accepted: ski- or sport-specific and otherwise. Find info on the event, volunteer sign-ups and more on the calendar page: MNC FAMILY YARDSALE

-This Sunday is the summer kick-off bike ride and BBQ at the Solow/Henry residence! A great chance for all involved with MNC to get together and celebrate the start of a big season for skiers! More info on the calendar pages: SUMMER KICK-OFF BBQ

Call for rollerskis!

By Adam Terko on 5 May, 2015 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Coaches’ Education, Equipment Swap, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

All,

The warm spring weather is here and we are gearing up for another great season of rollerskiing. Some love it, some hate it, but everyone agrees that it is a darn good way to ski your best come winter!

There are a number of skis that were rented last summer, many of which are still floating around the MNC community. Before our summer training programs start we’d like to get a handle on all of the pairs in order to take inventory and possibly make some improvements (new wheels where needed, for example).

If you have a pair of MNC rollerskis in your garage, closet, wax room or car, please contact coach Adam to work out a time/place to meet and return them for inventory.

Even better, if you have a pair (or even spare parts) that you would like to donate to the club, please also let me know!

adamRterko@gmail.com

Thanks…we will be hitting the pavement soon!

Adam’s introduction

By Adam Terko on 5 April, 2015 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

Hello to all the athletes, parents, friends, family and supporters of Mansfield Nordic!

I wanted to take some time to introduce myself and share a little about who I am and where I’ve come from. Skiing is a small world but there are many in MNC who may not know much about me!

I grew up in Woodstock, Vermont, and first started skiing competitively with the Woodstock Nordic Runners early in elementary school. I wasn’t a competitive racer at that age but I made some great friends, learned a lot and started to really love the sport. I competed in BKL races throughout each winter, including my first BKL Festival in Waterville Valley, NH in 1999…I still have the info packet and race results!

Pre-race talk with my dad at the 1999 BKL festival

Pre-race talk with my dad at the BKL festival. I think this is 2000 at Notchview, the year we moved to Shelburne (hence the NWVT jacket)

In 5th grade my family moved to Shelburne, and I continued to race each winter in my older BKL years (there are some great awkward middle-school photos of me in the basement of Sleepy Hollow if you know where to look). At CVU I continued to love the racing aspect of the sport more, really committing to training year-round in my Junior year. The proof of my new level of dedication came in 2007, when I rollerskied the entire length of VT for my “Grad Challenge” project. That’s also when I became involved with Mansfield Nordic, as my teammate John Dixon and I would bang heads with our big MMU rivals Pete Hegman and Jared Supple at the Range on hot summer afternoons.

Training with MNC in the summer...some familiar faces here! I am 3rd from left, working on my heart rate monitor tan of course!

Training with MNC in the summer… I am 3rd from left, working on my heart rate monitor tan of course! (L-R Dave Bernstein, Max Ebenstein, Adam Terko, Jared Supple, Pete Hegman, John Dixon, Hunter Karnedy, Evan Martell)

Despite never achieving my goal of winning States, I squeaked onto the New England JN team my senior year at CVU in the last spot. One expensive plane flight to Anchorage, Alaska and back and I knew I wanted to stay in the ski world a long time.

I skied on the EISA circuit for St. Lawrence for 4 years, captaining the team in my Senior year. I got interested in coaching my Junior year there, and was lucky to see the SLU assistant position open up upon my graduation. I jumped on the opportunity and got to spend an additional 3 years with the program!

Racing at Trapps during my senior year at SLU…those 2006 Fischers are still the best skis I own!

In addition to completing a Masters degree during those coaching years at SLU, I was also able to be a coach with the Mid-Atlantic team at JNs, wax for the NY team at Easterns, and help out at numerous summer camps. The goal was (and still is) to involve myself in all aspects of the sport whenever possible.

Outside of skiing I enjoy lots of other outdoor adventures (trail running and mountain biking are at the top of the list) and I like to get out flyfishing whenever possible…I rarely catch anything, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. I was an English major and I love both reading and writing, and although it’s been a long time since I’ve had a television I will still always recommend The Wire for anybody who has not watched it yet!

I am incredibly excited to become a part of Mansfield Nordic. The options for training, racing, learning and engaging in skiing are more plentiful here than anywhere else in the country. I was fortunate be supported by so many great coaches and role models at all levels of my skiing career, and I’m excited to contribute everything I can to help others experience the same love for the sport.

See you on the trails, the roads the snow!

-Adam