On day two we were treated to another beautiful blue bird day for the classic sprint, I don't think conditions could have been much better. Our senior men really came through in an event that I know they had been looking forward two. We have not had much success over the years in sprint racing in any form aside from a few individuals here and there. I got to witness what was probably the best relay exchange I have seen when Ben Knowles came around on his first of three sprints to tag off to Eric Wolcott. Ben was just behind 2 or 3 other teams in 6th I think as the others went for the exchange Ben shot through on the inside to tag Eric down farther in the zone (a real smart move on Eric's part). This was key to getting Eric out ahead so he could just lay the hammer down and move solidly into third. Zach had skied a conservative but smart first leg and avoided any tangle ups saving his efforts for his second and third sprint. While I thought that we could possibly win this it was a fantastic 3rd place finish of which I am quite proud and was very exciting to watch, I really can't wait for the freestyle relay at Dartmouth in a few weeks.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Momentum is Building
This past weekend at St. Mikes I think indicates that momentum is building for the team. We had two days that were really close to being some of the best I have had as a coach. Leah Hart is starting to show some impressive form as indicated by a career best 16th place finish in the 10K freestyle just 1 second behind Johannah Ludington who skied a career best freestyle finish of 15th. Before I even hit enter on the split timer at about 4.5K I could tell it was going to be good for Leah. Sometimes you just look fast.
Monday, January 18, 2010
SLU Carnival photos
My family made the long trek over to Lake Placid from Maine this past weekend and my dad came prepared with his camera and has posted photos from both races in a web album. Here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5427787896262534913&authkey=Gv1sRgCPe1-b6Qq_iVXg&feat=email
There is also a web album for the UNH criterium that some of us did the weekend before: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5427802768268025409&authkey=Gv1sRgCOCI3Zr-nc-58wE&feat=email
Eric, Zach, Teo, and myself along with Leah and Hannah on the women's side went over to Jackson NH for this race the weekend before the carnival as a chance to get a little racing tune up. The field was mostly UNH, Williams, and Bates skiers with a few from UVM, Harvard, and of course the SLU crew. The race didnt have a predetermined distance, just the notice that it would be between 25 and 35 minutes long and that we would be told when we had three laps left on Jackson's 1.4km sprint loop. I don't really remember too much about the race since it was over a week ago with a carnival in there as well, so I'm not really sure what to say about it. I thought it was a fun race despite being very hard. I felt strong, especially on the climbs Eric was pretty near the top with Teo not too far back, and without a broken pole Zach would have been up there too. Combined with a 10k classic the next day, it was a good confidence booster and tune up going into the race season, which is now moving into full swing with one carnival already done.
There is also a web album for the UNH criterium that some of us did the weekend before: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5427802768268025409&authkey=Gv1sRgCOCI3Zr-nc-58wE&feat=email
Eric, Zach, Teo, and myself along with Leah and Hannah on the women's side went over to Jackson NH for this race the weekend before the carnival as a chance to get a little racing tune up. The field was mostly UNH, Williams, and Bates skiers with a few from UVM, Harvard, and of course the SLU crew. The race didnt have a predetermined distance, just the notice that it would be between 25 and 35 minutes long and that we would be told when we had three laps left on Jackson's 1.4km sprint loop. I don't really remember too much about the race since it was over a week ago with a carnival in there as well, so I'm not really sure what to say about it. I thought it was a fun race despite being very hard. I felt strong, especially on the climbs Eric was pretty near the top with Teo not too far back, and without a broken pole Zach would have been up there too. Combined with a 10k classic the next day, it was a good confidence booster and tune up going into the race season, which is now moving into full swing with one carnival already done.
The 2010 season begins
I am on the whole relatively pleased with the racing this past weekend. We got through a rather difficult classic day for waxing on Friday (klister, hardwax mix, zeros, the works) with 18 racers as opposed to the normal 12 size and had 3 career best finishes which included a 7th and a 5th. Unfortunately success was not quite as evident on Saturday with only a respectable finish on the women's side and a rather disappointing day for the men.
With that in mind I gave the weekend a great deal of thought before addressing it with the whole team after training Sunday morning. My main point of emphasis is that every race regardless of how well it is going for you offers many opportunities to improve. One very simple example would be when your skis just don't seem to be keeping pace on glide. What a fantastic opportunity to learn how to carry your speed better. Pole breaks in a mass start, an opportunity to work on your passing ability, when is the best time to get around someone, how do I time this?
I am very confident that we are ready physically to be competitive, there should be no excuses. Skiing is still pretty good at Higley, some new snow would be great though.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Race Updates: A 2-Part Post
By Steve and Adam. Steve's account didn't work so he emailed me his post.
STEVE
Well it's snowing out. It's been snowing here since last Friday night, I'm not exactly sure how much snow we've gotten but it's a lot. Anyway I'm stuck inside watching football and I thought that I would write a post just for Adam since he has been telling me to since October. So the plan this weekend was to go and do a classic race in Craftsbury, but Mother Nature had other plans. I still wanted to get in the hard effort so I went up to Prospect to do a time trial by myself, not exactly the most fun thing. Anyway after warming up I skied a 10k on the Williams course. The skiing was pretty slow and soft with all the new snow, and a few trails weren't completely groomed. Although Prospect's skiing has been pretty good this break (Prospect is notorious for its bad grooming and high prices. Matt Briggs recently posted his senior thesis on fasterskier which had to do with ski area pricing. It's pretty interesting if you have time to check it out, I would post a link but I don't feel like finding it) (editors note: You can find the article HERE). I started off at a good pace but in order to push myself harder I wanted to negative split the race. I tried to ski long and smooth for the first lap and I think I did a pretty job doing that. I checked my watch at the 5k mark, 19:05, and started my second lap focused on finishing under 38:10. I tried to make up time in some places where I held back during the first lap, and I was pretty sure I was. After the final climb and sprint to the finished my watch read 37:43. While it wasn't as much fun as the Craftsbury race would've been I got my negative split and more importantly the race effort.
Since being home the trainings been going well. I did the Bolton Opener a few weeks ago and had a solid race then. I did a pretty big week this week and will continue that into early next week before taking it easy before camp. I haven't been sick which is also very important. I also skied with Knut a few times over break; he said he's doing well, working hard in school in Norway. It also sounded like some people had some decent results this weekend. Adam also did a time trial by himself after not making it to Craftsbury either and sounded happy with the effort. Wolcott, Connor, and Hollis made it to Craftsbury, Wolcott sent me a text saying he lead for most of the race but didn't have the pop to take the W. Teo also looked like he had a solid race yesterday at the Mount Hor Hop. So hopefully everyone else is doing well, I'm looking forward to seeing and training with people again at camp! Keep up the good work everyone.
ADAM
Like Steve mentioned I had planned on racing the Craftsbury Classic. I woke up at 6:30 and gave myself 3 hours to get to the race, despite the Mapquest directions estimating 1:30. I wasn't gonna let the snow get in my way. Unfortunately when I looked out the window the plow was just going by. Just looking out into the darkness you would never guess it was snowing, but the headlights of the plow illuminated a huge storm as it blasted through about a foot and a half of fresh snow. I wouldn't even be able to shovel out of my driveway in time to make it, and my parents would have none of this business of me driving in these conditions. Too bad I had already paid the $17 race fee online. So after the morning workout (a fierce 2 hour shovelfest) I headed up to Sleepy Hollow for a 10k classic solo timetrial. Again like Steve mentioned, tons of fun. Conditions were soft and slow, and new snow was coming on faster than Petter Northug's sprint finishes. My skied kicked for nothing, and though it was a little colder than 32 it was a perfect chance to test out my Zero's. Though I've never raced on them, I lent them to Bednar last year and she raced to 7th and 11th place finishes. Today was the perfect test for them. My friend and UVM Biathlete Danika made it up to Sleepy and was able to take some video footage. I raced what I think was about 10k. The high school race earlier in the week was two laps of a 2.5k loop. I raced the loop four times, and just like Steve, I decided ahead of time that I wanted to negative split the laps. Each time I went by Danika I shouted out times, and we compiled them at the end. I was really pleased with the effort. Obviously pacing is much easier when you're by yourself: no other racers, no pressure so to speak, no distractions, etc...but I found I was able to just go harder and harder. It was a really reassuring feeling to be able to demand more of your body and then make it happen. In the end I did almost negative split every loop, and my plan to bring the pain for a big last lap played out to textbook perfection. My times for each loop:
9:20
9:25
9:05
8:48
Again it was pretty slow conditions, as the video shows, but when you're having a good day you know it, and I was glad that the effort went so well. Here's some short clips.
My car Big Red is under there somewhere...The tally as of 6:00 tonight is 33 inches with more still falling!
STEVE
Well it's snowing out. It's been snowing here since last Friday night, I'm not exactly sure how much snow we've gotten but it's a lot. Anyway I'm stuck inside watching football and I thought that I would write a post just for Adam since he has been telling me to since October. So the plan this weekend was to go and do a classic race in Craftsbury, but Mother Nature had other plans. I still wanted to get in the hard effort so I went up to Prospect to do a time trial by myself, not exactly the most fun thing. Anyway after warming up I skied a 10k on the Williams course. The skiing was pretty slow and soft with all the new snow, and a few trails weren't completely groomed. Although Prospect's skiing has been pretty good this break (Prospect is notorious for its bad grooming and high prices. Matt Briggs recently posted his senior thesis on fasterskier which had to do with ski area pricing. It's pretty interesting if you have time to check it out, I would post a link but I don't feel like finding it) (editors note: You can find the article HERE). I started off at a good pace but in order to push myself harder I wanted to negative split the race. I tried to ski long and smooth for the first lap and I think I did a pretty job doing that. I checked my watch at the 5k mark, 19:05, and started my second lap focused on finishing under 38:10. I tried to make up time in some places where I held back during the first lap, and I was pretty sure I was. After the final climb and sprint to the finished my watch read 37:43. While it wasn't as much fun as the Craftsbury race would've been I got my negative split and more importantly the race effort.
Since being home the trainings been going well. I did the Bolton Opener a few weeks ago and had a solid race then. I did a pretty big week this week and will continue that into early next week before taking it easy before camp. I haven't been sick which is also very important. I also skied with Knut a few times over break; he said he's doing well, working hard in school in Norway. It also sounded like some people had some decent results this weekend. Adam also did a time trial by himself after not making it to Craftsbury either and sounded happy with the effort. Wolcott, Connor, and Hollis made it to Craftsbury, Wolcott sent me a text saying he lead for most of the race but didn't have the pop to take the W. Teo also looked like he had a solid race yesterday at the Mount Hor Hop. So hopefully everyone else is doing well, I'm looking forward to seeing and training with people again at camp! Keep up the good work everyone.
ADAM
Like Steve mentioned I had planned on racing the Craftsbury Classic. I woke up at 6:30 and gave myself 3 hours to get to the race, despite the Mapquest directions estimating 1:30. I wasn't gonna let the snow get in my way. Unfortunately when I looked out the window the plow was just going by. Just looking out into the darkness you would never guess it was snowing, but the headlights of the plow illuminated a huge storm as it blasted through about a foot and a half of fresh snow. I wouldn't even be able to shovel out of my driveway in time to make it, and my parents would have none of this business of me driving in these conditions. Too bad I had already paid the $17 race fee online. So after the morning workout (a fierce 2 hour shovelfest) I headed up to Sleepy Hollow for a 10k classic solo timetrial. Again like Steve mentioned, tons of fun. Conditions were soft and slow, and new snow was coming on faster than Petter Northug's sprint finishes. My skied kicked for nothing, and though it was a little colder than 32 it was a perfect chance to test out my Zero's. Though I've never raced on them, I lent them to Bednar last year and she raced to 7th and 11th place finishes. Today was the perfect test for them. My friend and UVM Biathlete Danika made it up to Sleepy and was able to take some video footage. I raced what I think was about 10k. The high school race earlier in the week was two laps of a 2.5k loop. I raced the loop four times, and just like Steve, I decided ahead of time that I wanted to negative split the laps. Each time I went by Danika I shouted out times, and we compiled them at the end. I was really pleased with the effort. Obviously pacing is much easier when you're by yourself: no other racers, no pressure so to speak, no distractions, etc...but I found I was able to just go harder and harder. It was a really reassuring feeling to be able to demand more of your body and then make it happen. In the end I did almost negative split every loop, and my plan to bring the pain for a big last lap played out to textbook perfection. My times for each loop:
9:20
9:25
9:05
8:48
Again it was pretty slow conditions, as the video shows, but when you're having a good day you know it, and I was glad that the effort went so well. Here's some short clips.
My car Big Red is under there somewhere...The tally as of 6:00 tonight is 33 inches with more still falling!
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