Mini-Camp in more ways than one, you could say! This past weekend a few of our Juniors braved the cold Adirondack mountains for a training camp in Lake Placid. The goal was simple: after a stretch of holiday time that put lots of different people in different places and with different travel schedules, the thought was to get the gang back together to re-focus for the onslaught of Eastern Cup racing coming up.
Some teams traveled to US Nationals, and some to Mont Sainte Anne, but I tried to keep this relatively inexpensive (compared to those first two options) and relatively close-to-home, in order to keep everyone healthy and travel-free.
Unfortunately the HS racing schedule was not very forgiving, and the cold and some team sickness going around didn’t help either. We ended up having a small but hearty crew for this camp. I still feel the benefits were just as I had intended (low stress, good focus, and a solid race start at the Crosscut Classic despite the originally-intended Mid-A JNQ cancellation). Magda, Dakota and I made the most of a good weekend in the mountains!
On Friday night we got super bundled-up and went for a ski around Mirror Lake. They plot a skating track around the lake each winter, and new snow blew into the track making it a perfect ski lane
Headlamps helped on the East side of the lake, but by the other shore near town, twinkling lights of shops and restaurants lit the way!
Several hotels have artsy displays and even pond hockey rinks out on the lake
Oh, and with the recent snowstorm, skiing on the street wasn’t bad either 😉
Making some pizza for dinner. On Saturday night we had the now infamous “MNC Room Pasta”…even though we cooked it in a real kitchen it still brought back images of our favorite hotel room hotplate Eastern Cup meal…
On Saturday, the temps were at their lowest yet. With the outside world a brisk -16F (not counting the wind chill) we opted inside for our sessions. In the morning, we went to the local gym and did a solid warmup, some hip activation, and then some really quality pre-race intervals on the spin bikes. We got in a little upper body work, core work, and then used the recovery items to help us stretch and roll out a bit.
That afternoon, we took a trip down the road to Saranac Lake to hone our skate technique…ICE skating technique, more specifically. Magda had done some figure skating in the past and was the most graceful, even showing her skills and mastery at the Snapchatting-While-Skating technique:
I don’t usually condone the use of phones while training, but I liked Magda’s natural millennial ability to multitask with social media so I let her get away with it for a little bit
Kind of a weird phenomenon to go into the ice skating rink to warm up from the outside, but when the temps on the ice rink are about 40 degrees warmer than the parking lot you’re not doing too bad. I don’t ice skate that much, but I had a lot of fun thanks to my sweet “Turbo” skate circa 1985 that I picked up at the thrift store for $5 earlier in the day. Hey, it was cheaper than renting a pair! Dakota, meanwhile, worked on his chair-skating skills as he built up to the workout itself:
Just like skiing, you gotta start with the basics!
Hot cocoa stop on the way back from the rink
On Sunday morning we checked out of the house and drove straight over to Stowe for the Crosscut Classic race, which was a lot of fun and, at about 3 degrees (that’s 3 degrees ABOVE zero!) things were feeling like a regular heat wave. With everyone back in business this week there’s a lot to be excited about, as we head south to Ripton for the second Eastern Cup. We’re going to have BIG BIG crew for this one…I have to crunch the numbers and check some historical posts but, including athletes we are doing race waxing service for this could be the biggest roster MNC has EVER had for Juniors at an Eastern Cup. Get ready for a busy weekend!
