First up was the Alumni race last weekend, which featured a bunch of SLU skiers both past and present. This is not a race we put a lot of pressure on, but it is nice to compete and see times change from year to year. There were certainly some impressive finishes from the Nordic team, however, and this may have been our strongest year in some time in terms of competing against the running crew.
Meng and Will led the way for the men, both knocking over a minute off their times from last year...that's a big chunk of time to improve considering they are arguably already the two strongest runners on the men's team. They went neck-and-neck, finishing 1st and 2nd in both the 3k and St. Regis last year, each taking a victory (Will in the 3k and Meng in St. Regis). First-year Blaine Ayotte finished closely behind the two Juniors.
In fact, nearly the entire men's team was faster than last year, despite the rain and soggy conditions experienced last Saturday!
On the women's side Erin took a huge step forward not only in her time (about 2 minutes faster!) but her approach to the race itself. When we sat down last spring we decided to make a major shift in Erin's training and focus, particularly in the area of race mentality and finishing strong. Not only did Erin have her characteristic fast start in this race, she held her spot and was sprinting at full speed at the finish line. It was impressive to see and I knew the time would be faster before I even looked at last year's results.
Some of the guys and gals warming up before the Alumni run. The rain began right as everyone was on the starting line.
On Thursday the team size on campus was depleted due to the ADK 90-miler canoe race, a multi-day boat race through the mountains. SLUSKI was represented by two teams: Will, Reed, Kyle and Middlebury skier Nick Underwood raced in a 4-man boat, and Etown and Jennie in the 2-person category. Overall the weather was great and I bet there will be some sore arms during specific-strength practice tomorrow!
From the front: Nick, Kyle, Reed, Will
Etown and Jenny give chase
While the 90-miler crew was on the water Sunday Kate, Erin and I took a drive down to Lake Placid. Kate and Erin checked out the Fast and Female event, featuring most of the women on the US Ski Team and a bunch of excited junior skiers, while I took part in the USSA Technique clinic hosted by Bryan Fish. Ethan and I were both at this clinic in the fall of 2011 and it's good to know that a lot of what we learned and have been incorporating in training is still used. Plus there were some new drills and concepts which will certainly be applied this year!
Erin and Kate, center in red, at the Fast and Female event
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