Pumpkins and Pics

I had a few members of the team over today to carve pumpkins after our TT on River Road. In the true Halloween meets nordic skiing spirit, our pumpkins were ski inspired.

Here's a leftover pic I owe the team from mid-semester break!

Also, here are a few pictures of the Triathlon venue for those interested...
And the start of the swim...

Higley photos

It looks like I didn't really put to much depth into my "most memorable experience" post earlier. Luckily, the skiing we've had the past few days takes the cake as far as memorable experiences go. Here's some shots from Higley, as well as a mini sprint Steve, Kyle, Ben and I set up on the Intramural soccer field Tuesday night.


Snowing buckets in October


Steve in the storm


Midwinter conditions


Nearly-groomed trails


On top of the world


This makes 6:30am practice really feel worthwhile


Exhibition sprints on the soccer field

Higley Digley open for business

This is I am fairly certain the earliest I have ever skied at Higley.  Sorry to not have pictures, forgot the camera, but Sam took some this afternoon that hopefully she can post them soon.  We had over a foot of snow to work with that Knut packed down with the snowmobile to about 4 inches of very firm but rather wet snow.  There were a few trees down that made it so we couldn't get a drag groomer in.  The skiing was good though and should be even better tomorrow morning.  Looking at the weather forecast it may not hold out past Friday but who wants to stop rollerskiing now anyway.  Campus is very wintery looking with about 5 or 6 inches falling in Canton overnight.

It looks like Gatineu even groomed but they got about the same amount as Canton.  You can check it out at www.xcottawa.ca.  If this was on the weekend we might have gone.

Most memorable experience thus far

I neglected to post these a while back, I asked all the first years around the beginning of October to tell me their most memorable experience thus far.   Here were the answers, at least at that point.

Ben Ogden: Pittsfield, MA

So far, I think that a really fun and certainly exciting memory was our hike up St. Regis the other week.  Though the RUN up wasn't necessarily that fun, once we got to the top, I was very satisfied with what we had just accomplished.  There were incredible views of the Adirondacks and the lakes in the valleys in between.  It was an unforgettable site.  I think all hikes are good as long as there is a worthy reward at the top.

Leah Hart: Meredith, NH

There have been many memorable moments, probably too many to count, but there is a certain practice that sticks out in my mind. Some of the girls and I trekked through Canton one oddly warm, humid Sunday morning to classic rollerski on the road of Hell. This is no joke. Never ski on 310, never. First of all, the shoulder was coated with a layer of dead frogs/frog body parts/frog guts. It was a Frogger gone way wrong. Once I got over the gross-ness of the situation it was a remotely fun pastime to dodge them in hopes of taking my mind of the second component of this horrible, terrible, never-to-repeat-again ski. The road was flat. All flat. No hills and no turns. There were fields to the left and fields to the right. (Oh yeah we saw a dead deer and skunk too). So here we are double poling through a flat war zone of decay and destruction. But wait it got worse; here came the third piece of the Perfect Storm. After an hour of double pole we decide to turn home. When Libby, Caroline, and I started the endless pole back to campus we noticed something was different. Yes some of the frogs were gone by this point, but with less frogs had arrived a headwind! Awesome. Taking turns leading and experimenting with aerodynamic formations, we struggle against the headwind (while drafting off the occasional Amish wagon)barely making it back to campus. Yes there was the option to go the way of the frogs, deer, and skunk, but we poled on...and on. We eventually made it home. We try to put that day out of our minds as a way to cope, but unfortunately I think it got the best of us....

Adam Terko: Shelburn, VT

So far one of my favorite experiences here was doing rollerski intervals with little kids standing outside yelling "Go USA! Go USA!" when we skied by.

Kelly Prime: Canajoharie, NY

I would definitely have to say that mine was getting an alpine start (3am) on my Pre-O trip and hiking to the top of Mt. Colden for the sunrise. 

Tri-ing in Arizona

Upon arriving in Arizona, I was no longer nervous, which actually made me more nervous, but I was totally exhausted. Turns out, it takes longer to get to Arizona than I thought, or maybe I had just become soft when it comes to travel. Either way, we arrived, slept and woke up on Saturday around 5:30 a.m. local time.

After picking up my bike (sans one pedal…so I had to buy a whole set to complete the bike) we headed over to the venue. The crowd was actually less intimidating than I thought, or at least, than it could have been. It helped that the race had around 2,000 triathletes in it, so most of the people were Arizona locals doing the quarter or half iron. The rest of Saturday was pretty uneventful. I did a quick little mini-tri, doing the swim course, a quick bike and a really short run. We finished the day with a BoUS informational meeting, dinner and some walking around Tempe, which had been invaded by a sea of mustard-yellow t-shirts as Arizona had a home game that night.

To set the context, the race was taking place at Tempe Town Beach, which is a few blocks from Arizona State, and right next to a large, river-looking pool. The locals actually called it a lake, which blew my mind, because as far as I could tell this cement-lined, run-off filled, life-form-less body of water was far from what I would classify as a lake. We spent much of the race crossing and re-crossing the various bridges along the “lake” many times, and also swam underneath the cement pillars. Success number one of my day: not swimming into a pillar.

Anyway, race morning came and came early. Thankfully, while I don’t think I was still on east coast time, I certainly wasn’t on west coast, so my waking up at 4:30 didn’t seem all that early. Race started at 6:30 and the BoUS athletes had our own wave (the first one). As we entered the water at 6:30 a.m. the sun had not yet risen. It was such a surreal experience to climb down the bleachers into the water, dive in and start a race with a slow glow rising from the horizon and the moon still high in the sky.

The swim was uneventful, except for the fact that I felt like I was all alone, definitely a bad sign, when I got out of the water. It was my first experience with wetsuit “strippers” which made the transition zone an interesting site. No sooner had I turned the corner than I saw bodies on the ground and volunteers tugging the wetsuits from them. I managed to have help getting my shoulder out of my suit, but took it the rest of the way off when I got to my bike.

The bike course was really interesting. We essentially weaved around the water for what was supposed to be a 27-mile course, but actually turned out to be 32 (a little detail they seemed to have forgotten to mention before the ride). The course was interesting with lots of 180 degree turnarounds and sharp corners. The only hills were on-ramps to bridges, which was actually a bummer because a few good climbs probably would have helped me. Regardless, the second lap of the ride was significantly more crowded as the other triathletes who started in the waves after us, joined us on the course. I got passed by A LOT of women on this ride…which was not unexpected, but still unfortunate.

I was pretty happy until the last 15 yards of the bike. Coming into the transition was a series of sharp right hand turns. There was no one in front of me and I was thanking my guardian angel for getting me through the bike without a flat or other malfunctions, UNTIL, a woman from Maine sprinted around me as I was turning into the parking lot. Hearing her, I braked slowly but she took a hard line into the corner and cut me completely off. I slammed on my brakes, attempting to avoid hitting the curb, and then spiraled over the handlebars. There was probably a loud gasp by the crowd and a few choice words from myself. But I said I was fine and slowly pried my feet out of my clips before getting up and running the bike the rest of the way to the transition area. Luckily I was fine, except some minor wrist bruising, and you can bet that I passed that lovely woman from Maine VERY early on in the run.

The run was hot, but dry, and it seemed very long. The course was very exposed, very flat and very boring. I caught a few people slowly, but was caught back by the woman from Texas with about a mile left. I had been chasing the woman from Nevada the whole race, although she apparently got lost because she blew by me at the line, when I thought she was in front of me.

The race in general was a rewarding experience. While it certainly wasn’t my best race, it was a fun race to be a part of. In the future, I now know that 2 months after the “season” is no longer post-season racing, as I certainly would have benefited from some more triathlon training. But considering my lack of preparation, I guess the race was a success as I accomplished both of my goals: to not die and to not finish last.

More on Whiteface

Though Adam has already posted (with utmost detail) on our trek up Whiteface, I thought I would share some more pictures and videos.

First day on Snow! by Adam Terko

I'm not assertive. Neither is Ben, really, so it was up to Steve to ask. Inside the Whiteface base lodge everything was dark and quiet except for hushed voices from a ?STAFF ONLY? room down the hall. Without hesitation Steve went in. Ben and I stood down the hall, but we could imagine the startled faces of the workers, operators, owners, or whoever was in the meeting room. Steve just walked in and got to the point. ?So, uh, we were wondering if we could get up and ski today-Nordic ski, I mean-on the mountain. Can we just drive up the toll road?? I didn't expect the Alpine resort to have too much sympathy for a couple of be-spandexed college skiers, so I wasn't surprised to get that idea shot down. It looked like we were hiking. Not that it mattered too much; this is the time of the year when skiers are hungriest, and we were about to be fed an early helping of winter pie. This is when I (and I'm sure plenty of others) watch webcams and weather reports for any inclination of snow and jump on it. Tuesday it was Kyle who brought up Whiteface. We were standing in Augsbury ready for a depressing run in the cold, pouring rain when he arrived. ?Snow in the High Peaks tonight!? he said. All of a sudden the mood changed, and all we talked about the entire run was skiing adventures, and who was going to try and get out of what class the next day. Sadly Kyle couldn't make it, but by Wednesday afternoon the webcams were still showing a good amount of winter, and like a spoiled toddler I ran to Ben's room as soon as my last class ended. ?Snow, it's there, lets go!? Some phone tag ensued, and Steve was on board too. So with rock skis in tow (and rollerskis, just in case) we headed out. The energy level skyrocketed when we drove through a mini blizzard just outside of Canton, and like driving through time fast-forward the trees suddenly began to be coated with white. When we pulled into the Whiteface parking lot we were stared up in awe at the massive climb in front of us, and thinking there might be a chance to drive up the road until we reached  the snow line. After that idea was denied the only other plan was simple. I've hiked Stowe the past few years, so this was basically be the same scenario. Skis strapped on backpacks, poles in hand, we began the ironic hike under the chairlift. Maybe I'd have more respect for Alpine skiers if they had to actually climb the mountain to get to their fun. Maybe they'd have more respect for us, too. As we ascended we entered a different world. Fog surrounded us and it became impossible to see how high we had gone, and how much further we had to go. We ran into some construction midway up the mountain, but after that the rest of humanity was as distant as summer felt. After exploring a few good spots, we finally found a worthwhile stretch of (basically) skiable snow. The kind of snow where every once in a while your forward motion is completely stopped by a rock that rips away at your ski base like a potato skinner. In the end we worked with a hundred meter stretch of slightly uphill terrain. It's hard to explain that first feeling back on snow. Its kind of like getting a test back and realizing that all the studying paid off in a big way. It wasn't the skiing that makes good technique easy (or possible), but we were so enthralled with the idea of what we were doing and where we were that it didn't make a difference. We hiked back down in the dark, stopped for pizza in Lake Placid and made it back in time to brag to all our friends before bed. ?Hey guess what? I just went f*%#ing skiing! Yeah, real skiing!? I announced to my floor. Now I had some assertiveness. First day of the 08/09 snow season? In the bank. 

Kristen Bednar heading to best of the US Amateur Triathlon

Kristen will be competing this Sunday October 26th in the best of the US amatuer triathlon championship being held in Tempe, AZ.  We spent a sunday afternoon applying copious amounts of packing tape to a bike box and carefully shoving her bike into it we then sent it on its way and it is now waiting to race down the streets of Tempe, or we hope it is.  Kristen is heading off this friday.  The race website is www.bestoftheustriathletes.com.  This race bring together state amatuer champions who represent their state to compete at this national event.

Maybe Kristen can find time to give us a report over the weekend.  I will try to put up a post when the results come in.

(Forward) Fall Training, Apples, and Intervals

When I was reflecting on the mid-semester camp, I started to think more broadly about the training up to this point. Foremost, it’s hard to believe that mid-semester has already come and gone. Although official training has only been going for a few weeks, we’re already in the most important training period of the year. While summer training provides a necessary foundation, it’s the increased intensity and specificity of the fall that leads to capacity gains. In the end, the quality of fall training determines success in the winter.
This may also be the period when it’s most difficult to stay motivated. Particularly for college students, it’s easy to get worn down and lose focus. And this doesn’t just apply to practice; success is facilitated by what you do outside of training. As academic demands ratchet up, sleep is shortchanged and stress accumulates. The racing season may seem a long way off, but the first races are little more than a month away. That’s why I was so pleased with the mid-semester camp. If I had to sum it up in one word: “productive.”
Mid-semester break is a fantastic chance to focus on training. Thus, when Ethan and I were planning this fall, we saw this vacation as an opportunity. A key to success is periodization, and a camp would provide a culmination to the first training cycle. The decision was sealed when the generosity of alumni Ruth and Joe McWilliams made the Catamount Lodge available for our use. Not only did this give us the flexibility to schedule the workouts at the ideal times (i.e. not 6:30am!), but it ensured a degree of focus.
Focus is one of the implicit benefits of camps. When the daily schedule is limited to training, eating, homework, and sleeping, it suddenly becomes possible to absorb a much greater training load. It is my opinion that people underestimate the stress associated with the little stuff at school; walking to the dining halls; heading to the library; rushing to class, et cetera. The many stresses of being a student-athlete do add up. Each of the tasks may be small, but the total effect can undermine training. One way this often manifests itself is chronic illness.
As coaches we try to balance training with the everyday stress of college. It might be possible to schedule 15 hours of practice during a normal week, but very few athletes would benefit. In contrast, a 15-20 hour week is totally possible at training camp. Furthermore, despite the physical exhaustion of camp, the simplicity provides a mental reprieve. Unlike school, where you’re pulled in a hundred different directions, at camp there is time for reflection and relaxation. After the recovery week, I hope that the team will return to training both physically and mentally refreshed.
But enough of training philosophy!
I really started to get excited about camp during the day on Wednesday. Ethan and I went shopping for food, hitting up the Freihofer’s and the P&C, and it felt like the season was finally getting underway. The obscene amount of food reminded me of past training camps and I got downright motivated. Dryland training has its rewards, but at times it can feel unconnected to the racing season. Camps serve as a reminder of both why we are training and what it takes to be successful. The training lifestyle can also have a salubrious effect on the mental state, and I was looking forward to that as well. Returning to campus loaded down with shopping bags, things already seemed quieter. Everything was aligned for a successful camp.
After doing a short workout on Thursday morning, camp really got underway when we loaded up the vans at 1:30pm. One of the interesting characteristics of this camp was that most of the boysopted to go home and train on their own. While it would have been great to have the whole team together, it was interesting to see how the underclassmen dealt with a new challenge. I believe that a bit of trepidation can be healthy, and the nervous energy may actually have helped to focus the group. Stopping at the apple orchard before heading to the Catamount Lodge was also a nice diversion. The huge bag of apples (to which, I admit, I did not contribute) ended up providing a lot of cheap deliciousness. Not only did we have great apples (made more delicious by the liberal application of caramel), but the team produced a nuanced applesauce (surprisingly good in oatmeal, btw) and a delicious cobbler. This type of industry appeals to my sensibility; it reminds me of the slightly less delicious Norwegian potato rotation (boiled, scalloped, fried, mashed).
Now, my initial expectations for the Catamount Lodge were pretty low. I had expected the place to be a drafty cabin, so I when we arrived I was blown away. As it turns out, it’s a beautiful building, comfortably furnished. Apart from the lack of high speed internet, it provided all the comforts of home (and, at least in my case, a few comforts that home doesn’t provide). The team even managed to tune in to, …ahem, Grey’s anatomy. It’s a tough life sometimes!
There are a series of trails at the Catamount Lodge and this was the location of our first workout. After unloading, we headed out and, perhaps not surprisingly, followed the signs that were simply labeled “Mountain .” We had planned a long ski-walking session at medium intensity, but this workout probably ended up being closer to a race effort; the combination of fallen trees and mud made it difficult to keep the intensity down. As the workout progressed the trail deteriorated, getting more and more slippery. It was pretty much impossible to ski-walk by the end. However, I thought that the adversity added a dimension to the workout. Becoming a good skier involves learning to be successful in poor conditions. Training in soft conditions also helps develop a powerful kick. At the end of the workout, people were pretty exhausted. I think everyone was relieved that we didn’t need to get back into the van.
Friday morning we had another intensity session on the schedule: bounding and ski-walking at the Snowbowl. Most of the time we don’t have back-to-back hard sessions, but it’s important to start getting used to carnival style racing efforts. After a short warm-up, we started with some short (15 sec) ski-walking and worked into 10 second all-out bounding. Ethan demonstrated ski-walking and emphasized the importance of “forward fall.” It may seem pedantic, but this is probably the area where everyone can make significant gains. The hope is that by emphasizing this immediately prior to intensity the specificity will improve. And specificity will pay dividends when the snow flies. Even though this is my third year as a coach, I still feel like this area of my technique is improving.
The heart of the session was a set of five ski-walking intervals. We used a 5-6 minute loop that had a number of distinct sections. People seemed to put in a really solid effort. The icing on the cake was 2x7x15seconds bounding, with 15 seconds rest. These “over-threshold” workouts develop the ability to recover and are a great way to prepare for mass-start racing.
After a few hours of downtime, the team headed out for an easy skate. This was a chance for us coaches to violate some traffic rules and get some video footage. Although tricky to accomplish, it is helpful to capture several “technique cycles” from the same perspective (in this case, the profile). After dinner, we plugged into the TV and did some technique analysis. While it can be difficult to use video in a productive fashion, I was pleased with the footage that we got. The ability to look at technique in slow motion can isolate problem areas. (Again) We emphasized forward fall and skiing dynamically. Even though some people are struggling, the fact that everyone is trying new things is encouraging. It’s only by getting out of the comfort zone that one can improve.
Saturday morning we mounted up and headed to Ampersand, a mountain on the edge of the Adirondacks. The hike only took a little over an hour and the view was absolutely spectacular. I am hard pressed to think of a hike that has a similar effort to reward ratio. This was a bit shorter than originally planned, but ended up being about the right length. In the afternoon, we did specific strength, with an emphasis on double poling. Again, people really seemed to try to push the limits in terms of comfort. Despite being tired, the focus in this workout was really excellent.
The culmination of the camp was Sunday’s overdistance ski. The weather was magnificent, and there wasn’t much traffic. This is one of the few times we’ll train 3+ hours and everyone pushed their limits. Kyle and Kristen, who both managed to make it all the way back to campus, deserve special recognition. This was a memorable workout and I hope everyone realized their “Dana fantasies” when they got back.
Overall, I was exceedingly happy with the mid-semester camp. Each workout had a clear purpose, and everyone executed. The group stayed focused and I firmly believe that everyone will see meaningful gains if they keep it up. In each area—technique, capacity, endurance, explosiveness—the group achieved the objectives I had privately set. The camp was also a reminder of what it takes to be successful; that’s the kind of dedication and determination that high level skiers possess.
If people can preserve the momentum of the mid-semester training, the ski season will almost certainly be a success. If you need any motivation, just check the forecast: There’s snow in the air!

Mid semester break team training camp

Mid semester break offered a great opportunity to get away from campus and focus on some high quality training.   We had use of the Catamount lodge for the long weekend, a formely SLU owned property and now alumni owned by Joe and Ruth McWilliams.  This provided us a great location for getting to some of our best dryland training sites within minutes and also put us within the Adirondack park while only having to travel 45 minutes from campus.  Knut was planning to write a longer post so I will leave at that and just put up some photos.

October Break (very original title I know)

Here’s a recap of my mini October break camp:

Thursday morning I awoke to a steady driving rain, it was a little hard to motivate myself to get out of my warm comfortable bed. Eventually I worked my way up to Prospect where I did 4 x 7 min. ski walking intervals with 15 15 30 second bounds before and after. After the workout I was soaked, but it was nice to talk to Steve (the owner of Prospect) he’s done quite a bit of work on the trails this summer. In addition, they are apparently getting a really expensive groomer so there should be some sweet skiing there over Christmas break. In the afternoon it was back out into the rain for an hour of double pole. That night my mom made Swedish meatballs, kind of like Dana’s Larson’s meatballs, just two times as good.

Friday the weather was much nicer I awoke to the news that the Red Sox won. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have shut off the game when they were loosing 7-0, I couldn’t stand it anymore. Regardless it was some pretty exciting news to wake up to. I was out the door shortly after for a run on one of my favorite loops that winds through the back roads of Shaftsbury. It was really nice, 45 degrees, sunny, leaves turning, very pretty. Thursday afternoon I did an hour skate roll with 30 minutes of no pole, I was a little tired but it was still a good workout.

Saturday I was supposed to meet Colin, a high school friend/skier, for a roller ski up Woodford Mountain. Unfortunately, my alarm on my phone either didn’t go off or didn’t wake me up and I woke up at 7:05, 5 minutes after I was supposed him to start skiing. After rushing over there I began the accent up the mountain. I went out a little too fast trying to catch up to Colin as I felt bad for being late. The steep part of the climb was difficult after the fast start, but the view at the top was pretty sweet. The sun was just coming over the top of the frosted mountain and it was a brisk 27 degrees. Saturday afternoon I did some strength but more importantly it was time for apple cider making. A bunch of friends and I have been doing this for the past few years. We fill the back of my truck full of apples (my old ski coach owns an orchard) and then we spend most of the day pressing the apples. We ended up with about 30 gallons of sweet apple cider.

Sunday I was out for a 3 hour skate roller ski. Colin came with me for some of it and I finished it by myself. It was another nice day, cold when I started, warm and sunny by the end. Anyway I should be doing work rather than doing this. But I'm also watching the Red Sox get back to the World Series so we'll see how the work goes... Go Sox!

St. Regis Time Trial 2008

Well we still need to go through the results and check the record books but I think this was probably one of the best time trials up St. Regis in recent years.  The weather didn't hurt.

Caroline Carpenter '12 won the womens race and either set a new record or was really close.  Zach Wetherell '10 won the guys race and I am fairly certain took some time off what he posted previous years.  I tried to take a lot of photos and also tried to get one of the whole team on top.  Unfortunately there must have been some operator error by the woman who kindly used my camera to take the photo as it doesn't appear to be on my camera even though it did after she took.

Sophie Allen Among Skiers who Conquered Mt. Allen For SLU's Peak Weekend

Sixteen miles, six-and-a-half hours, three falls, two ankle rolls and one High Peak later, Libby, Sophie and I had successfully hiked Mt. Allen as part of Peak Weekend.
We only had to visit the trailhead twice before finding the right one, but once we found our trail we took off with a vengeance. We ran most of the way up, until reaching the slowly-freezing river bed of the summit trail, were we slowed to a cautious climb. We started to see remnants of snow (YAY!) and we also had an impromptu general strength session as we pulled, pushed, and otherwise forced ourselves up the rock face. The view from the top was actually quite nice, but we were thankful for the forested peak because as it was, we were completely frozen after our ten minute break.

I had hoped for the sun at the top, but even without it the foliage was beautiful. A few of the peaks had quite a bit of snow on them, and even at the top of Allen, I tasted my first mouthful of the season.

The way down held all of our falls, a few more food breaks, and a significantly slower pace on the last part of the hike. I found that I could keep up with Libby and Sophie while running and hiking, but when we were walking I was like a dog on a short leash. Every five minutes or so I’d fall behind, jog a little to catch up, fall back again, jog a little... I’m blaming this on short legs, not on lack of leg strength… By the time we were attempting to finish our last few miles we were beat.

We got back to campus around 5:30 and pried our destroyed bodies out of the warm, comfy car. It was a great OD despite, or possibly because of, the fact that I felt as though I had been hit by a truck.
Turns out it is possible to do Mt. Allen as a day trip.