Online school is winding down, and you can tell the hunger for summer is here when morning sessions are just as well-attended as afternoon ones. Luckily I think this is one of the most comprehensive and available (for obvious reasons) coaching staffs we have ever been working with! Our crew of leaders is able to spread-out and cover a wide range of abilities, with the added benefit of keeping group sizes down.
Although VT guidelines permit outdoor recreation in groups of 25 we are generally sticking to the 10-12 range as our group is mostly split among age group every session.
Last week we got out for some really cool workouts, and I’m excited to report that whether it’s running, biking, or rollerskiing, we’re really reaching levels of fitness and preparedness to take on most any challenge this summer.
Finnegan’s first time at the prayer flags in Richmond. It was a little drizzly on this day but that’s actually a great type of weather for trail running
We switched-up the usual track/trail running intervals on Tues/Wed and opted instead for a longer continuous effort on the Cochrans trails. Since we were planning some rollerski intensity Thursday and the Bolton Test on Saturday we took it a bit easier to start the week. The parking lot at Cochrans was PACKED on Tuesday afternoon though. We counted 95 cars in the lot. Hopefully nobody beats my friend Ben and I to our idea of starting a food truck there for weekday after-work hours…
Rose, Isabelle and Lily finish up the run on the River Trail (Tuesday’s group had a bit more sun than the Wednesday group)
Thursday and Friday were back to the sunny, humid stuff we’ve seen a lot of this spring. We had some double pole intervals where the U16 group stuck to one side of the Southridge Neighborhood while the older crew had a set loop in the other side of the development. However, both Perry and I got some bike-cam footage and I was able to compile it together so it at least feels a little bit more like a big, usual summer group!
Saturday was the one-and-only Bolton Uphill Run Test! We usually do this in early may but thanks to the virus (and some late snowfall) we held off for a bit. It was also divided into groups rather than the big mass start we have typically held. Oh, and some lingering fog made it all the more distant-seeming! Our work to run more consistently this spring has definitely paid dividends already…we had a lot of boys doing the test for the first time and we had a girls conglomerate that absolutely demolished the clock! Congrats to Ava on a new athlete record and to everyone who got their first test under them. Personal-bests were set by Julia Oliver, Virginia, Silas, Lydia, and Niko!
Julia en route to a new PR
Ava receives her pint of Ben and Jerry’s for breaking the current-athlete record…oh, and Julia gets a bag of chips too by request
We finished the Saturday off with a mountain bike ride at Saxon Hill. Now, I used to have the hardest time convincing anyone on this team to come out for a second training session in a single day, let alone after the uphill run test. But how the times have changed! We had 12 kids out on bikes and a great time was had. The U16s rode one section while the U18+ rode another, and then we swapped places. Fun times and a great way to get in some active recovery. This group is ready for some bigger riding for sure.
Some very capable U16 riders
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