Sean's first Quebec City experience

First-year skier and king of sleeping Sean Delaney sent in a quick write-up of his first SLUSKI trip to Quebec City:

By Sean Delaney '18

Wednesday, more commonly known as hump day, was host to the most important training session of the week: Go kart racing. This session took place far from the snowy trails and frosty pines of Foret...Instead, we traveled to the concrete jungle of Québec city, where Etown may or may not have plowed through a roadblock to get us to the venue. 

Discussing the best Kart to drive...

Racers speeding by on course!

We split up into three groups of six and raced for ten minutes each. Kyle took home the gold with impressive control in the bends.  

SLUSKI Go-Kart footage:

Afterward, we headed to the old city, where we hoped the thick walls might provide us some protection from the raging Ebola epidemic.

We didn’t see any citizens bleed from their eyes, so we went to the pub. Our luck would inevitably run out at some point, so we left after burgers for dinner...but the iconic American McDonalds sign lured us in for McFlurries on our trek back to the bus and van. We realized this to be a slight mistake as an ice-cold gale blew in from the north and threatened to blacken the fingers of our McFlurry-holding hands. Slizzerd was especially vulnerable to the biting cold due to her bold decision to double-fist the McFlurries. 

I should not be relied upon for an account of the night after we returned to the bus, because I saw a golden opportunity for a nap. 

Isaac's report from training camp

By Isaac Wright '18 (photos added by Coach Terko)

The days leading up to Canada Camp 2K14 were a struggle for many. The days were being counted down one by one. However, soon Friday arrived and only a day remained before leaving. In the afternoon we went to Higley for an easy skate ski and a game of speedball on skis: full contact!

Coach Terko groomed out an official Speedball court for practice...good times were had

After the ski we headed to the Cactus Grill in Potsdam for a team dinner. The food was great: lots of hot and spicy Mexican! After a now-annual trip to Wal-Mart on the way for home for funny T-shirts, ninja turtle hats and one-piece zebra suits, the rest of the night involved packing for the days to come.

As holders of the slowest lap-times in the annual Quebec City Go-Kart race, both Dana (pictured) and Isaac had to ski a workout in the ninja turtle hat...Dana rocked it for even longer than the bet lasted for: "it kept me warm!" she said 

The next morning around 8 we departed from school and started the long drive to Stoneham. Half of the team drove in a van, the other half drove in a mini bus, and E-Town drove the trailer with all of our bags and skis. On our way we picked up Morgan Holland, a junior who was abroad in New Zealand.  Most of the ride consisted of sleeping, listening to music, or playing games. 

Around the 5^th or 6^th hour you could tell people were getting pretty desperate and bored when suddenly we came upon the Middlebury ski team caravan along the highway. Lets just leave it at, "many asses were pressed up against windows".

We finally arrived at our house in the late afternoon. After settling in, the team went for a run around the resort to shake everything out. We were staying around the base of Stoneham ski resort. There was tons of snow and the amount of it was very apparent when the van tried driving up the steep drive way. It got stuck, and after numerous attempts of the whole team trying to free it, we decided to let the snow harden up and try to move it later.

The view out the front door (photo by Dana)

The house we were staying in was very spacious, which helped because we had a lot of stuff. The boys slept upstairs, the girls slept downstairs, and the coaches had the neighboring house. There was a nice open dining/living room for team meetings, meals, and down time. We also had a big garage to store all of our skis, wax, and benches, which helped tremendously. In our free time people slept, ate, did school work, watched TV, played Settlers of Catan and chilled out.

Garage/wax room chaos! (photo by Erin)

The night we arrived, the team got right into their 'ritual' of giving haircuts courtesy of Austin. At the end some of them looked pretty solid...others were the "you should probably shave your head before you go back to school" type. 

Hair extraordinaire Austin Meng worked his magic in the barber chair to shave a SLU shield into Isaac's head

After going to various ski races, like Eastern High Schools, and J2s, I sort of knew what to expect. Sleep, Eat, and Ski are the three key things during camps like these. Sure, there were some things that were new to me and others, but the upperclassmen and coaches helped with that. I think that this camp has definitely not only brought us closer together as a ski team but also helped our relationships as regular college students.

Solid tracks and solid training! (Photo by Erin)

Team photo! (Photo by Kate)

Thanksgiving Camp: Chef's take

A post from Barb Beall on the team training camp:

To the SLUSKI Parents…As a parent, one always wonders what happens at ski camp. Your child is missing from the Thanksgiving Day table…and you are thinking…. is there enough food to eat, is she sleeping enough…has he been run over by a moose… or at a minimum…what do they do all week up there??? You want information, but they are in college, notes don’t get sent home from the teachers or the coaches, and the nearly-adult child does not like to talk.

While there is a little bit of “what happens in Canada stays in Canada…” as a fellow parent who is spending a week up here cooking….this is what I can say…

The team is staying in one house in a lovely ski valley called Stoneham; the coaches are in a house next door. The house is about 40 minutes NW of Quebec City at a downhill resort area and there are views of the mountains and slopes from the windows. The team ski house has a big upstairs and downstairs with bedrooms, and a main floor with a large living room/dining room and pretty big kitchen,

Upon arrival there is the ritualistic shaving/trimming of heads (mostly men...see Isaac on the left the photo) . Typical day involves getting up in time for a 7:00 Run… then a nice hearty breakfast of oatmeal made by Adam Terko, his specialty. Team usually leaves here by 8:30 every morning to travel up to Foret Montmorency, a 40 minute drive up into a national park. This park is so beautiful, especially when there is enough snow to ski the 25K or so of groomed trails . It is mostly a spruce forest, very boreal. Sunday was very crowded, with many Quebec ski clubs, along with the college teams from Bates, Middlebury, St. Michaels, UVM, and others. If the team does a double session, they have down time in between and sleep on the floor in the buildings up at Foret, and get back here by 3 or 4 PM. On horribly rainy days, like today, they ski one session, and then are back for a late lunch with a strength training session inside.

We try to have a nice warm soup for them upon arrival. They then have some down time for studying, computer, a quick run before dinner. Dinner is at 6ish, a team meeting, and then quiet hours at 10:00. There are a number of people that play board games, a lot of computer work.. You know that the hard training is catching up to them when they get quieter and sleepier and the hijinks are fewer between workouts. The Coaches house, where we are staying, is a quiet refuge

.

In September of this year, the coaches asked if I wanted to be team cook (along with my husband Chris). Of course I said yes!!! An exciting challenge to see if I could cook healthy bountiful meals (with a few yummy snacks) for 20 people for a week, including two gluten free and one anti-onion/tomato people …… on a budget. Consider that each skier is expending 5,000 calories a day…x 17 skiers plus four adults… that is upward of 100,000 calories a day to cook. I brought nearly all my kitchen equipment… the car was so full. I think this is like eating an elephant, one meal at a time, with lots of planning. But so far so good, I think. 

 We have had ham and scalloped potatoes (thanks Debbie Mulcahy), carrot ginger soup (perfected by G-Town), pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes, green beans, salad, brownies and ice cream… Tonight is munch-a-bunch of healthy bowl…with birthday cake for my son. And I will promise a homemade Thanksgiving Day dinner with all of the fixings…and the team will say what they are thankful for before they consume massive quantities of calories. 

One of the things I know they will all mention is you…their parents…who they secretly miss very much on that special day. I will hug each and every one of them on your behalf. 

The team enjoying a hearty meal from our great chef! Of special note is Blaine (3rd from left) with his awesome mowhawk, and Isaac (4th from left)...you cannot tell in this picture but that is a SLU shield shaved into the top of his head...

SLUSKI Nordic 2014/2015

Time to meet your 2014/15 Skiing Saints!

Back row (L-R) Austin Meng, Phil Marshall, Blaine Ayotte, Drew Houx, Kyle Curry, Will Frielinghaus, Isaac Wright, Sean Delaney, Calvin Swomlay

Front row (L-R) Adam Terko, Erin Perryman, Kate Mulcahy, Taren McGray, Lizzy "Slizzerd" Landry, Dana Hatton, Emma Greenough, Ethan Townsend

Chasing the first ski with Kyle Curry

By Kyle Curry '16

The end of October and early November is one of my favorite times of year. The major physical tests are complete, workouts get more focused, and intensity sessions get harder. Besides that Thanksgiving camp, a time I look forward to the most, appears on the horizon. In a little over a week we will be in Forét skiing. However, what makes the end of fall (a time usually filled with wet, cold, and dark workouts) the most exciting is that first ski of the season after spending 6 months pounding away on the pavement. Myself and coach Terko have a lot of fun trying to locate that first skiable snow. I thought I would share a few of the ‘techniques’ we use to hunt out the snow. 

Certainly a good indication of when and where it might snow are general weather sites such as AccuWeather and Weather Underground. In addition to that there are a number of other smaller, more local weather sites, blogs, and Facebook pages. Some of our favorites include ILSnow, Upstate Snow, and The Single Chair Weather Blog (Although there has not been much activity there this year). There are also a number of alternate methods we use to search out the snow such as webcams and physically calling various places around the North Country [Editors note: Coach Terko has the Star Lake gas station on speed-dial]. 

By Wednesday of last week there was talk throughout the internet that we may be seeing our first measurable and skiable snow of the year by that Friday. However, come Friday morning things looked bleak. The grass on campus and the 25+ webcams we looked at all looked the same— It was not white. 

Friday afternoon on our way back from practice things changed, and looked much better for skiing that weekend. 

White Face Toll Rd. Friday Evening (Adirondack Powder Skier Association)

When I saw this picture posted on Adirondack Powder Skier Associations Facebook page of the White Face Toll Rd. I knew it was game on, we would be skiing the following day. 

Saturday morning a bus load of us left the ski room at 7 a.m. ready to ski. We packed beater classic and waxless skis. Some even brought skate gear. 

Conditions started out thin and icy by the toll house, but those coming down the road said conditions improved dramatically around the 1 mile mark-- We kept going. As we climbed the the iced covering the road gave way to powder, and pole tips tapping the pavement became quite. We were skiing! You cannot beat the Extra Blue conditions we were having for the first ski of the season! 

The crew at the first over look. 

Although it was cloudy the views were still pretty spectacular. 

Phil and Calvin leading the group mid-way up. 

We eventually skied above the clouds, and were greeted with sunshine.... it felt like mid December not November 8th. 

Will and Isaac look over edge through the clouds at the White Face ski trails below.

The group at the White Face castle

After taking our picture at the castle it was time for the 5 mile decent back to the van. Isaac took some nice footage. It was fast, fun, and pretty sketchy towards the bottom with all the ice. 

Overall, it was a great first ski of the season. It gave everyone a good taste of the many more SLU Ski adventures to come this winter. Unfortunately with warmer temps today and tomorrow it looks like we will be off snow for the next couple of days, but there is a chance we will be on snow again by the weeks end.  

Raining Training

By Coach Terko

Usually it takes until after Thanksgiving camp for the dark, foreboding rain and cold temps to arrive in Canton. We've gotten a taste of it these past two weeks, however, so now it won't be such a surprise when we return from endless Ks of skiing in Quebec to wet dirty roads and sleet from the sky...I mean, there's always the chance we'll keep skiing after Thanksgiving week but I know enough from experience to say that is about a 2-in-7 chance. 

We had a 2-hour run from campus scheduled during last a volume week last Thursday, and to change it up Ethan and I set up a scavenger hunt around town...different routes for the men's and women's teams that had them crisscrossing paths all over Canton. Everyone embraced the weather!

We had another grey, cold day at Higley for some specific strength. We are doing a lot of classic specific strength this fall: all prep for the long classic races this season, which we haven't seen in a while. Triceps, triceps, triceps! Here's frosh phenoms Dana Hatton and Sliz Landry putting the muscles to work

The rain and cold reached its zenith on the day of the St. Regis uphill running test...of course. The trail was a waterlogged stream bed with stone sections turned into zen waterfalls of cascading slop. I've never competed in one, but it seemed like a "Tough Mudder" course for sure. Last year featured perfect conditions and broken records everywhere, so I think we were all a little leery on expecting good times. Turns out we underestimated the fitness levels here...Blaine put up the 4th fastest time ever, Meng the 7th and Kyle the 11th, with freshman Drew Houx having a great race to crack the top-15 historically. That's out of 103 total finishes for this test over the course of 10+ years! 

Blaine and Meng both broke the 30 minute barrier despite the gruesome conditions: before last year's test, only Tom Lepesquer had done so in 2006...now in the past 2 years 6 more sub-30s have been recorded! 

Coach Terko demonstrating trail conditions on St. Regis

On the women's side both Kate and Erin went down an older section of trail (heat of the moment, clouded judgement, you know...) but were both racing fast and furious, with Kate posting the 11th overall time historically in the crummy rain. Taren was out with a sprained ankle but the freshmen girls definitely held their own for their first summit of the "Reg"...what a day to have a first experience on this mountain!

While the weather has been a little doom-and-gloom, the team spirit has not been. Before St. Regis the Townsend family invited the team over for the now-annual cookie decorating event. Hot cider, sweet treats and a warm family kitchen made for a great escape from campus for many. While competition was tight, the vote for best cookie went to Calvin Swomley's masterpiece "Jorts Cat"

Chumley's magnum-opus "Jorts Cat"

The weather is warm today but trending cooler as the week goes on. With the loop at Foret Montmorency being spread out we are eagerly awaiting our first taste of real skiing...the forecast for Star Lake might hold some potential this weekend, and it even snowed on our rollerski the other day! If you can call some hail-ish ice pellets snow, which I do in this case:

The first snowflake of the North Country! 

As always, for more photos and tales, be sure to visit and 'like' the team Facebook page! 

SLUSKI takes Lake Placid

By Drew Houx '18

The forecast predicted rain, cold temperatures, and numbing wind… but SLUSKI packed the vans anyway. With high hopes for a great training weekend in Lake Placid, nothing was going to deter us from getting in two really good workouts to top of another big week of training.  We were planning on going to Mount Van Hoevenberg (site of the upcoming 2015 NCAA Championships) for bounding intervals, then back down into the village for lunch, and then out towards Whiteface to do a grueling double pole work out. With a great day of training on the schedule, the team was ready to make the absolute most of the trip.

For many freshmen this was our first trip to the historic Olympic site of Mount Van Hoevengerg, and we were excited to see the trails that we would be racing and training on this winter.  With the rain and wind picking up and the temperatures dropping, the team got ready for our bounding intervals on the Ladies 5k course. Those of you who know the Ladies 5k know about the abundance of hills, which made for a perfect bounding work out. We completed three rounds through the 5k loop bounding each of the up hills and resting the down hills. This was a really great workout for the team not only because we got on the Mount Van Ho trails, but also because of the great interval session. After getting thoroughly acquainted with these trails, we cannot wait to see them again with snow. Cold and wet, we finished up the work out and were ready to head to town for some lunch.

Isaac Wright ’18 and Calvin Swomley ’17 kill it in a bounding interval on the Ladies 5k

We decided to get lunch at a nice restaurant called 46 Sandwiches. This might have been the highlight of the day for the team; whether because of the great food or the fact that it was dry and warm, we may never know. Lake Placid was a great town to stop in for a few hours to get some good food, warm drinks, and just relax.

After lunch we headed to down to the town of Jay to start our Double Pole workout. Just as we were beginning our warm-up, the skies cleared and we saw some much-needed sunshine for the remainder of the workout. We double poled from the center of Jay to the tolls of the access road on Whiteface. This was a great, grueling, work out to round off the great day of training. As Coach Terko would say, “this is a workout that you're going to be telling your grandchildren about from your rocking chair!”

Dana Hatton ’18 crushes it up to the tolls

After successfully making it to the top, a few members of the team decided to celebrate the long day with jumping in the freezing pond at the tolls (pictured below). Moments after getting in to vans, the clouds came back and within minutes the rain started up again; like always, time is everything and we had it down.

Here, Austin Meng ‘15 takes the leap of faith in to the body-numbing pond at the tolls

This picture was is the mapping of our DP workout. The shorter line, on the map, is our warm-up, and the longer one is our route up to the tolls. Above the map, the green line represents our elevation gain over the course of the workout, while the red one represents my heart rate.

Overall, it was a great day in Lake Placid and we cannot wait to get back and train there again soon!

Editors note: for many more photos of this trip visit the Team Facebook Page's LP Album!

Report from Morgan in New Zealand

By Morgan Holland '16

Hello all! While the rest of the team was busy training back in the states I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to study abroad in New Zealand. Before leaving I did some research into the skiing in NZ and made plans to bring all of my gear with me, buy a car, and get some hours in on snow. At the time I did not know any other Nordic skiers who were going, so I was quite surprised to learn that I would be flatting (sharing an apartment) with Josh Harrington of Williams. When I found out that two Middlebury skiers, Nick Underwood and Jack Steele, were also studying at the same University, I knew it would be a good semester.

Plenty of training, adventures, and shenanigans have ensued as we have worked our way around the south island, making for a truly epic semester. On a more serious note I broke a metacarpal while sampling the mountain bike trails in Dunedin. After being out for four weeks I finally got the cast off and have begun seriously training again. One good thing about getting injured in New Zealand is Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), which means that I won’t have to pay for any of my hospital or physiotherapy visits.

For this post I though that I would give some tips to other Nordic skiers considering studying abroad. If it seems as though some of them are a bit biased towards New Zealand that’s because they are...

Morgan presents: 

How to Make the Most Out of Your Study Abroad Experience

1) Pack right

They will definitely have clothes where you go, but probably not Triacs

2) Go somewhere with good training locations

Being stuck in a gym sucks; running on beaches is awesome

3) Go somewhere with good training partners

Training alone gets old fast: training with a group is much better

4) Buy a car

How else are you getting to the mountains?

5) Don't enroll in any Friday classes

No class = more time for training. Where would you rather be, outside or in a lecture hall?

6) Eat well

You can't complain about the food if you make it yourself!

7) Remember to switch up the training

You might as well while you're there

8) Have fun!

Not hard to do when you're skiing in July and August!

I’ll finish up with two of my own videos and three from Jack Steele (Middlebury)

https://vimeo.com/103405030

https://vimeo.com/105832025

https://vimeo.com/102917528

https://vimeo.com/105503433

https://vimeo.com/108316941

Cheers,

Morgan

Also...

This is not what you're hand should look like after mountain biking...

Video evidence

Just a few films of the training we have been up to. For the most part these are for the athletes and coaches to review, but I thought the greater public might enjoy seeing some of what we've been up to this fall IN MOTION.

V1 drills, Plains Road

Some easy repeats up a long hill focusing on smooth glide and good body position while climbing. We warmed up with some no-pole skating before going up the hill three times; twice with only one pole, and a third time with both

L3 Skate Intervals, Brown's Bridge

A warm-up of skating drills followed by some level 3/Theshold intervals. Focus was on smooth skiing, good transitions and appropriate pacing

3k Test

Some exciting and sometimes humorous footage from the 3k running test. Individual champs were Blaine Ayotte and Erin Perryman.

DP Test

Clips from the uphill double pole test at Brown's Bridge. This is about 3/4 of the way into the test so everyone is pretty tired...good for figuring out where your weaknesses are and what breaks down when fatigue sets in!

Irish Settlement Classic Intervals

A mix of classic and doublepole intervals at Irish Settlement Road, a really nice stretch of hilly terrain in the nearby town of Pierrepont.

Deep reflections from Will!

By Will Frielinghaus '15 

The colors are reaching their peak in the North Country as official practice & testing have started.  I have seen many seasons pass and go at St. Lawrence University, but this fall is symbolic of the change many St. Lawrence skiers have undergone this summer. For those who do not know me, my name is William Frielinghaus. I have skied at St. Lawrence for three, soon to be four years and it has been a rewarding experience with many victories and some letdowns.  After last year, which didn’t live up to the goals of many on the team, many of the skiers decided to focus on higher quality summer training.  Blaine, Calvin, Erin and Kate went to Truckee California where they skied with other EISA athletes, elite skiers and juniors from the area. Meng was also out there with them after his fun-filled trip to Switzerland. 

Will (yellow shirt, on right) during a training session on the Birkie trail this summer

This summer I went to Cable, Wisconsin to train with the CXC summer collegiate program.  The daily sessions were coached by head CXC coach Bill Pierce and assistant coach Andy Keller.  Train by day, make drinks by night: I bartended in the evenings at a family golf/lake resort to make a little money on the side for college. It was gratifying work because I learned to interact with people of all age groups and enjoy the perks of working at a large resort (free swim, discounts on boat rentals).  I strongly recommend aspiring Nordic skiers see what a solid summer of training with a full time coach can do for them. I learned a lot about my weaknesses, whether they be emotional or physical, which often held me back during certain races or training.  The summer program allowed me and many other skiers to become more independent and also focus on what we want out of the 2014-2015 season. 

A fall classic: the Brown's Bridge double pole test! Great weather!

The yearly slew of freshman are training well also…reflecting back on my three years at St. Lawrence, I have seen how the upperclassman are a source of information and friendship in a very busy setting with academics, sports and social life. In the process of making the freshman and the returners feel at home while they are on the team I realize how much I have matured as well as the other members of the ski team. 

Excited teammates make for productive training!

Testing has been fun as well. It’s interesting to see how much depth our team has this year.  This team is biding its time while making improvements.  I can tell just by the newfound enthusiasm that the St. Lawrence University ski team will be a strong competitor in the various carnivals this year.  Till then I’ll be on the trails with my friends and home.

7 Springs trail work

This past week was a recovery week, and in order to change it up and get some different muscles involved in the training game, the team volunteered I volunteered the team for some trail building work at Seven Springs.

Heading into the trails, led by master trail crafter Ben Yandeau!

The Saint Lawrence Mountain Biking Association [SLMBA] has been doing a ton of great work for mountain biking (which for us often equals trail running) in the area, and two new trails are nearly complete at one of our favorite training venues in Parishville. 

The trailhead for Kenny's Climax..err...Climb Ax, that is

Branching off from the top of the old Clarkson ski hill are two singletrack trails, Charly's Run and Kenny's Climb Ax. Although based on the names one would assume more excitement happens on the Climb Ax trail, we were actually over on Charly's Run doing a lot of sweating as we grabbed stones and laid pipe...literally. 

Chumley was intent on proving the size and quality of his stones...

...which were used to create a bridge over some drainage pipe

Meanwhile, another group built a banked corner and transformed this fern grove into the start of a trail

Look for a post from a team member in the next few days as we are head into a big volume week culminating with the Ski Team Cookout during parent's weekend this Saturday...after that it's on to the start of official training with some of our favorite fall tests and workouts!