First Eastern Cup Weekend

Finals Week, First Eastern Cup at Craftsbury and Winter Break!!

           

Finally after a grueling week of exams about half of the team trekked over to Craftsbury, VT for the Eastern Cup opener. Training during exam week is usually not optimal making racing right after pretty tough. Saturday was a classic race and Sunday was a skate pursuit start race based on Saturday’s finishes. If anyone has pictures of the races, feel free to send them over to us!

But here are some results!!

Find RESULTS for both days here: https://www.nensa.net/results/

Saturday Women 5k Classic
Saturday Men 10k Classic

Sunday 10k Women Skate
Sunday 10k Men Skate

Impressive finishes by all considering the stresses of exam week! Here's what Coach Etown had to say about the weekend:

"I must say the opening Eastern cups gave us much to be excited about especially on the Women’s side.  While it is a little unclear due to confusing results being posted, here is my take.

Lucy finished 8^th  in the pursuit moving up from an already impressive 17^th in classic race, very competitive with the top women in the EISA.

Jackie placed 22^nd! Moving up from 61^st!

Dana had perhaps her best race in a couple of years finishing 43^rd on day one in the classic and moving up a couple places in the freestyle!

Kate, Dani, and Erin also improved their finish dramatically over the first day by about 25-30 places in a very solid field of competitors.

Only Matt and Calvin racing for the men which is fine, both I'm sure would have liked to have done better but it was a reasonable early season result."

For now, everyone will be training on their own for the holidays and getting recovered and fired up for carnival season.

In other news, freshmen Ryan Young just came out with his 2016 SLU SKI Thanksgiving Camp edit: SLU SKIING HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2016

Check it out here!!

Here is another sweet video from Ruben Castren skiing out west!

Be sure to check out previous Assistant Coach's video featuring a few SLU skiers here!

Also, feel free to visit our team website with our new headshots- looking spiffy team!

Next up:

After break in January, some of the team will be going to the NYSSRA JNQ races at Gore, Mt. and then they will be driving up to meet the rest of the team for our winter training camp at Mont Saint Anne!!

--Calvin

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! See you Next Year!!
-SLUSKI

Check back soon...

Check back later for updates from our last week of school, weekend skiing at Mt. VanHovenberg in Lake Placid, and the NYSEF opener race!

We are all very busy finishing up our school work and studying for finals!

Thanks for your patience at this time...

Meanwhile, here's a picture of Lucy '20 edging out Elizabeth Izzo, to win the NYSEF opener race today!

Thanksgiving Camp Continued!

From Emily's Perspective:

Hi All,

            My name is Emily Siegel. I am a freshman on the team this year. I come from a small town in the west called Sun Valley in Idaho and raced for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation since I was in the 2^nd grade.

Skiing up the hill at Foret

Last week we went up to Foret ("4A") near Quebec to ski on snow for the first time this year.  At the venue, there is a 2.5 km trail made up of snow that they have stored underneath wood chips all summer long from last year. Considering the lack of snow on the ground when we got there on Saturday, they had a fantastic trail open and no bare spots on the 2.5 km course. Most of the other teams we race against throughout the year were also training there last week. The other teams that showed up and we raced against were Middlebury, Bates, Colby, UVM and Bowdoin. I was super excited because it was a chance to see friends we haven’t seen in awhile from other teams. Most of the days we would wake up at 6:45am to go for a walk/ run to wake up our bodies. We would then get in the car and drive the 40 minutes to the trail head. We would normally ski for 2 hours in the morning, then break for lunch, and go out again in the afternoon. We also got to do many different things when we weren’t skiing. We did a strength workout where Dana and Lucy were so strong that they broke the medicine ball.  

Our house on the hill (Photo: Dana)

We also got to spend a night in Quebec where we played laser tag. We were put into three teams and then were given 20 minutes to go around and shoot one another with lasers. It was a lot of fun and lots of running around (I think Ethan and Liz were trying to sneak in a third workout of the day)! The winner of the laser tag was Erin "Evin"! 

The next day was Thanksgiving and we got to go skiing in the morning for two hours then away we went, back down the hill to the house, to start cooking the food. While a lot of us were cooking the food, some of the boys decided to join a pickup game that the Middlebury and Bates team started, in order for them to be more American while in Canada.

Thanksgiving meal! Yum!                 (Photos: Dana)

Thanksgiving Meal all spread out and ready to devour! (Photo: Dana)

Dani '20 and Emily '20 (Me!) in the kitchen! (Photo: Dana)

We skied again on Friday in the morning and went home in the afternoon to rest again before the time trial.  

  

 Dustin '19 smiling his way through a workout (Photo: Dana)

Foret was beautiful! (Photo: Dana)

Jackie '20 cruising around the loop (Photo: Dana)

Ryan '20 GoPro on head (Photo: Dana)

At the end of the week on Saturday, we did two laps of the 2.5 km loop and the boys did 3 laps of the loop for a time trial against all the other teams that were there. Both our girls and guys team looked really strong and it was fun to get a bib on before we actually start racing come December 17^th.  We went home, back to school, that night after the time trial.  It is nice to be back on campus but it made me really excited for all the races and more opportunity we have to ski coming up.

            -Emily

Thanksgiving Camp!

As told by Lucy:

Where can you find people that eat like pigs, sleep like babies (in onesies), and exercise the rest of the hours of the day like they’re insane? Ski camp! That’s right, we just got back from the annual Thanksgiving camp to Forêt Montmorency in Quebec, and it couldn’t have been better.

Picking up from where Dana left off, I’m sure you are all waiting with bated breath to hear of Dustin’s fate after he left his ski bag in Canton. Well, it turns out that ETown is generous and took pity on poor Dustin. So, with skis in tow we all headed to Forêt!

On Sunday, we were able to get in a lot of good skiing despite warm conditions and snow that literally deposited klister on your skis. Erin happened to have better kick on her skate skis than Emily did on her classic. When you tried to clean your skis, the rag came up black. However, after a lackluster winter last year, it felt so good to ski again! There is nothing like the first time on snow after putting in hundreds of hours of rollerskiing, running, hiking, biking, and everything else we do to stay in shape for when the flakes finally do start to fall. It’s a little awkward, makes you a little sore, but most of all it’s sweet to just glide along through the woods.

Monday was even better! After a little new snow things started to look up and gain momentum. Our skiing was smoother and faster, and the views more wintry. I can’t think of anything more beautiful than evergreens covered in snow, so I was a happy camper.

Erin ‘19 and Kate ‘20 might just be more beautiful than the trees

Tuesday was another great day at Forêt, with only one ski but some torturous combination of TRX, med ball work, and core devised by Liz in the afternoon. Thankfully we were strong enough to break the med balls before they could break us. 

Lucy ‘20 and Dana ‘18 happy to have broken the med ball…

No worries though, Liz had another heavier one at the ready. The day was topped off with a LOT of mac and cheese.  I may have told the cooking crew that it was a good idea to make two whole boxes…'

Hard at work in our makeshift gym (aka the garage)

Wednesday had our first intervals in store for us. They were tough, but it was great to remember how to kick some klister. The energy was great, and it was inspiring to watch everyone zip around the loop, looking like pros. Proud day to be a SLUskier. We also went to laser tag! It was an all out battle, perhaps even another workout for Dustin and Blaine who thought ahead and wore their race suits. The real surprise was that Erin pulled off the dramatic upset to win.. After that, we went into the old city, which looked like a Christmas wonderland! (enjoy Dustin’s very touristy picture)

Calvin'17 and Liz disagreeing over how to draw the interval loop

Old Quebec City (Photo: Dustin ‘19)

Thanksgiving! A morning workout followed by an epic feast. The boys played some football somewhere in there too, but mostly we just ate lots of pie, ice cream, and whipped cream. Turkey too. Oh, and green beans, squash, salad, bread, corn, peas, and mashed potatoes. Yay team!

Friday consisted of some easy skiing, running/hiking, and more snow. We tried to keep it easy as some people were starting to come down with something, and we needed some rest after all that skiing.

Saturday was an early morning, as we had a time trial! It was also a late day as we drove back to campus. So, really it was a long day. Anyway, the time trial was a skate race with 2 laps for the women and 3 for the men. Although one can never read too much into early season time trials as there was no race wax (or maybe not even race skis), different reactions to the high volume of the week, and it was just generally a way to give that crazy thing we do called racing a try again. With that in mind, I think we did an awesome job! People were able to focus in on their warm up routine, try out some new pacing tactics in a low stakes time trial, and just generally enjoy being speedy on skis. We even came out of it with some great results.

Women's Results

Men's Results

Dana '18 powering up the hill

Dani '20 looking focused

Emily '20 being a trooper for classic skiing

Matt '19 crushing the hill

Calvin '17 heading up the climb

Blaine '17 and Ryan '20 working it out

Kate '20 nearing the top of the climb

Lucy '20 battling her way through the climb

Madi '20 hammering

Dustin '19 V2ing speedily up the hill

Brendan '20 catching the pack

I think everyone would say that this camp was a great success! We got in some great skiing, did a lot of productive video review, got in our first time trial on snow, and got to spend some time together to get a taste of what race season will be like.

Thank you to all of you for supporting us! Thank you to Forêt for the excellent skiing; thank you to all the other teams for skiing with us, and thank you to our own team for making this camp so wonderful and funny. Because how could we be skiers if we weren’t just a little out of the ordinary?

-Lucy ‘20

Thanksgiving Camp Photos

Camp Photos 

What a successful week!

Back L-R: Dani, Madi, Erin, Calvin, Ryan, Blaine, Lucy, and Matt
Front L-R: Kate, Emily, Jackie, Dana, Dustin and Brendan

Van Ride to Canada

Ski Loop

Ryan

Blaine

Madi

Lunch Break

Our two seniors- Calvin and Blaine

Leisure time in the lodge

Brendan

Emily

Ryan

Nap time

Lucy

Foret looking like a winter wonderland

We made it to Canada!!

Before I get into the details of the road trip we had today, let me catch everyone up on the past week.

We had two interval days: one solid classic rollerski interval session at Higley Flow and the other was another double pole time trial!! Yes, another double pole test from the fall.  Everyone did really well once again, some really improved..and the hardest part was after the double pole time trial, we had to do it all again, but skate ski no pole! Let's just say...leggg burrnner!

Here are the results:

Double Pole                                                                                           No Pole

Men                                      Women                                                     Men                                      Women

Ruben 7:47                         Lucy 9:06                                                   Ruben 8:26                          Lucy 10:03

Dustin 7:50                         Dana 10:14                                                Calvin 8:35                          Jackie 10:16

Brendan 8:10                     Emily 10:23                                                Dustin 8:57                         Madi 10:36

Matt 8:17                            Kate 10:32                                                 Blaine 9:21                         Kate 10:56

Ryan 8:30                            Jordan 10:38                                             Ryan 9:25  Emily 11:00 (classic)     

Calvin 8:36                           Waters 10:53                                           Brendan 9:54                     Dana 11:50

Blaine 9:07                          Jackie 10:57                                               Matt 11:06                          Jordan 11:53

                                                Madi 11:05                                                                                            Dani 12:07

                                                Dani 12:00                                                                            Waters 12:33

Friday, we had our annual water polo game in the pool! It was a battle of epic water splashing and out of breath skiers who should probably stick to skiing..we also did some laps in the pool after. After, we all headed to Cactus Grill and Cantina in Potsdam for dinner, where we were joined with Alum and Clarkson Asst. Coach Kyle Curry. It was a delicious Mexican meal. We couldn't forget our annual trip to Wally's World (Walmart) for some last minute purchases before our trip to Canada. 

This morning (Sat 11/19) we all met at the ski room at 8am and loaded up the trailer with our skis and bags! It went fairly smooth and we left Canton at 8:30, right on time.  ETown drove the truck, Liz drove the transit full of the girls team, and Calvin drove the van with all of the guys.  

We made our usual stops along the way, one right before the border and the second at the dinosaur rest stop..if you remember the pictures from last year of us in our onesies. Yeah, those who had our onesies wore them again for the ride. The trip was pretty uneventful, which is good. Girls partied it up with our great music playlist and some pretty interesting 20 questions.  Dana is really good; she blew the other girls minds. They were all very stumped with what Dana was thinking of. 

Arrival time was about 3:30pm to our house. The team is staying in the same house as the past 2 years. Upon arrival, Dustin had some bad news....let's just say he might be rollerskiing all week and without poles. Everyone can applaud Dustin...poor Dustin. We unloaded and got ready for our run on some trails around here. 

We are in the midst of cooking dinner right now, 6:30pm- salad and lasagna . We have some french pandora playing and are chilling out in the living room.  We're fueling and gearing up for the big volume week ahead of us! We are all in good moods and excited for our thanksgiving break!

-Dana and SLUSki

What do you mean we're doing a second time trial?

Hi all,

Here's a short update from the past weekend.

This Saturday, we journeyed back to River Road for a second 7.5k time trial, but this time..a mass start with Clarkson skiers! This was new this year, for every year I've been on the team we have not done a follow up test to the first test. It makes a lot of sense to see our improvements, and will ultimately help us in the long term. 

Everyone PR’d from the early fall and huge jumps were made by some of us.  These times won’t be going into the composite testing results. However, it's nice to see we are all improving and building race day confidence, as we continue to practice our routines. It was a blue sky day, which added to all of our positive moods! In addition, we were joined by alum, Erin Perryman for the weekend and past skier, Lizzy Landry during the time trial. It was awesome to have them come out and cheer us on! 

Results:

Men                                                    Women

SLU-Ruben 25:20                              SLU-Lucy 23:24

SLU-Dustin 25:29                              SLU-Madi 24:33

SLU-Calvin 26:18                               CU-Ana 24:52

SLU-Brendan 27:29                          SLU-Jordan 25:10

CU-Tim 30:36                                     SLU-Kate 25:13

CU-Ben 31:04                                     SLU-Waters 25:45

CU-Adam 31:19                                 SLU-Dana 26:20

CU-Mike 31:20                                  SLU-Dani 26:45

                                                              CU-Kaitlin 26:48

                                                            SLU-Emily 30:50 (classic style)

We finished the day off with a lift in the afternoon. Sunday was a typical OD kind of day.  It consisted of a 2 hour classic ski and a 1 hour run at Higley Flow State Park. 

This week is our last week until Thanksgiving break. We've got a lot to accomplish before we head out! We leave Saturday and are sooo pumped to get on snow! We're all doing our snow dances here.. Be on the lookout for posts from camp in Canada! 

Until next time,

SLUski

Up and Up to St. Regis

Greetings blog followers! Happy November 1st! Where has the time gone?! We hope you all had a festive, but scary halloween!

Last Friday, October 28th, was our infamous hill climb up St. Regis!  It is a pretty long drive, and so the girl’s van was happily entertained by ETown’s dog, Sophie.  She was happy to jump over seats, crawl under them, or sit in your lap - as long as you were willing to pet her.  Other than that, most of the car ride was uneventful, until we started seeing snow as we got nearer to the trailhead.  That was our first clue as to the kind of afternoon we were in for.

Jordan and Sophie

Start of St. Regis uphill race!

After a quick warm up that gave ETown time to get to the top before the speedy guys, Liz started us off.  Right away we knew it would not be a year for breaking records.  On the flatter sections down below, there were numerous fallen trees that you had to run around, under, or through.  That was in addition to negotiating the slippery leaves, snow, and mud.  It only got harder as you went up.  By the top, the snow was up to our ankles.  The running conditions did not make for fast times!  However, even though the snow may have slowed us down, it didn’t diminish our energy!  

Dana'18 powering to the finish!

Ryan'20 led by Sophie to the top!

Kate'20 fighting 'till the end!

Water's'19 happy to have made it to the top,
despite not racing due to a battle with an everlasting cold!

There were a lot of great performances considering the conditions.  It was cool to see people leave it all out there and race up a mountain despite the conditions.  Everyone was beat by the time they reached the top.  I personally have never been that happy to see a fire tower.  Of course, Ruben and Dustin would never be so tired as to miss out on sliding down a mountain while imitating monkey screeches….

Top of St. Regis Mtn.

We may have missed out on a view, but as Dana said, “It was like a winter wonderland!” I think that’s even better.  Not only did we run up a mountain, but we ran into an entirely different season.  It was awesome.  There’s definitely no way to make running up a mountain easy, but I think we can at least say we made it kind of fun.  Thanks to Jackie for all the pictures!

Here are the results, if you wish to see how we all did~ 

Men:
Swomley'17  -30:46
Ramsay'19    -32:23
Castren'19     -32:27
Cyr'20           -34:57
R. Young'20  -40:18
M. Young'19 -45:03

Avg: 36:19

Women:
Hochschartner'20  -37:37
Hatton'18              -41:30
Andy'20                -43:24
Tanguay'20           -44:57
Waters'19              -finished
Schriefer'20          -finished
Garso'20               -finished
Laird'20                -DNS
Siegel'20               -DNS

Avg: 42:02

-Lucy’20, edited by Dana'18