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.