Even though it’s the holiday season, skier’s don’t just get to take a break! Well, maybe some downtime here and there which is well-deserved…but at the same time, this is when we need to start preparing for the busiest stretch of race season.
Holiday tour at Trapps. Also reunited with some friends like Olivia, Conor, and Greg!
It all kicks off with US Nationals this coming week in Craftsbury.
On Thursday we have a 10- and 15-kilometer classic…this one is not divided into Junior or Senior categories, so our Juniors in the race will be going head-to-head with US Ski Team and pro athletes alike. For some, it’ll even be their first on-snow race over 5km!
On Friday we have classic sprints. There is a top-30 cutoff for the “open” heats, much like an Eastern Cup, and also a separate selection of heats for Junior athletes (U20, U18, U16) who are not in the open rounds. So this is a great chance for some of our gang to get head-to-head racing in with skiers from all over the country.
Saturday is a welcome rest day…
Sunday is a freestyle mass start day. The older athletes will be racing 20- and 30-km, but our Juniors will compete in 7.5km (women) and 10km (men) mass starts with all other Juniors from Alaska to Minnesota and more.
On Tuesday, things wrap up with a Skate sprint. Most of our group is sitting this one out (and will be back in school) but there will be some Pugs representing the club here!
To prepare for the classic races, of which these will be our first for the year, we broke out the klister for some tough 4-minute intervals on Saturday, followed by a short skate ski adventure after lunch as this will be our last significant volume training for at least 2 weeks or so! Of course, we have some video footage:
Now it’s off to the US National Championships!
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