When the going gets tough, the tough get going

By Gabby Wangler '21

Hello all! 

Eliza '21 contemplating the next set of intervals on Tuesday

Jumping for joy on completion of the TT at the top of St. Regis on Friday
(Jordan '21, Eliza '21, and Gabby' 21)

Coach K. Curry stopped the van on the way back for a great photo opportunity!

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Truer words have never been more appropriate for this week of training for the Saints ski team! This week concluded the last of our fall time trials as well as morning circuits.

On Tuesday, we tried out a new course by Higley State Park on Little John Road with classic intervals. The pavement was really nice, and the beautiful fall evening made the work fun! Coach Townsend and Kyle set out cones along the road to mark L4 intervals zones where we got our stride on.

We ran near Stone Valley on Wednesday evening along some nice mountain bike trails. The trails weren’t that explicitly marked, so we rocked climbed and bushwhacked for a little bit before finding the right trail which was pretty adventurous! At one point we had to cross a stream by stepping on these rocks, which was more of a challenge to some people (cough, Tim, cough) rather than others but we all survived with scrapes and smiles. Sophie (Coach Townsend’s pupper) was more than happy to join us for the run, too!

Thursday was an easy day of skate skiing with mixed in specific strength. We mostly focused on one pole intervals up Taylor Road and kept everything L3 for the last time trial to follow the next day.

And Friday was time trial day!! We loaded into the vans and drove around 1.5 hours down to the base of St. Regis. The weather was much cooler and windy, so Kyle and Coach Townsend carried up an extra layer in their backpacks for the summit.  

After a good warm up, we were off! The first 2 miles was a good sized uphill, a downhill, but the last mile was straight uphill. The mud and leaves made the trail slicker than I thought, but I was amped to get in “race mode” again and really go after it. Everyone pushed his or her limits and we got to see a great view at the top. (Kudos to Lucy who crushed the women’s record!)

Here are the results:

Women

Lucy- 34:53

Jackie- 37:05

Kate- 38:36

Gabby- 39:04

Eliza- 39:20

Dana- 40:00

Dani- 42:30

Jordan S- 43:10

Emily- 45:16

Women's Avg: 39:59

2016 Women's Avg:  42:02

Men

Tim 30:59

George 32:25

Nathaniel 33:00

Matt M 33:19

Brendan 33:46

GH 34:26

Ben 35:17

Ryland 40:52

Men's Avg 34:15

2016 Men's Avg: 36:19

On Saturday we applied more specific strength with some classic skiing and really hammered away with single stick and double pole up this one hill with video analysis to follow. 

And Sunday was a fun skate ski in the pouring rain!! But not as much fun for others, as it did not stop for the duration of the ski, and it was chilly, but like I said.. the tough got going this week! Next week should be an easy week, stay tuned!

Until next time,

Gabby Wangler

Crushing the River Road TT and other things!

Hi all,

Haven’t done one of the blog posts in a while. In case you forgot or haven’t read my introduction blog, I am Emily Siegel from Sun Valley, Idaho, and I am a sophomore. This week was a busy week for the Saints Ski Team with regular training and a skate time trial up River Road. On Tuesday morning, we did circuits with some new stations mixed in with some old favorites. The two new ones that were probably the most brutal were the L-pull-ups, where we used TRX straps, kept our legs at a 90 degree angle, and did a pull up (inverted rows were an option too since these were so hard). The next brutal thing was repeats of three burpees and a 5 second sprint. That afternoon, we did a classic ski up River Road to view the course for Friday’s time trial. We did some technique work with practicing weight shift while no poling. I also learned that my ski wheels were falling apart, so it made for a fun time on the downhills.

Rollerskiing perfection (w/ George, photo from GH)

On Wednesday, we did a run around SUNY Canton and also a focused classic stride up one of the hills, followed by our new favorite thing after a run, a yoga session lead by a computer created woman. Thursday morning we were back doing circuits in Leithead Fieldhouse and finished the day with a skate ski from campus with some ramp ups to get ready for the time trial on Friday.

Pre TT Poses w/ Jordan S. and Eliza! (photo from Gabby)

On Friday, we did the 7.5k and 10k skate time trial up River Road. I wasn’t feeling so great, so I opted to do an easy classic ski, help Etown and Kyle, and of course my favorite thing, cheering on my teammates!! The course is a fun one and the best part of the time trial this year was the nice tail wind. The time trial went really well for the team as a whole with Jackie Garso getting the new course record with a time of 21:21 for the girls. Tim Cunningham took the win for the guys team with a time of 24:27. Full results below. 

Got to love Canton! (w/ Emily, Eliza, Dottie, and Dana, photo from Kyle/Emily)

On Saturday, some of the team did a run around Colton while the rest did a roller ski where the double pole time trial was conducted. I ended up doing the classic roller ski, because I am trying to not run too much on my knees. It was a fun ski, but I confess we had to use google maps maybe once or twice to find our way back to the vans. On Sunday we did an over distance classic on nice new pavement to Higley where we could either run or continue to ski to finish up the total time. The best part about the ski was that ETown’s wife, Jenny, made us zucchini chocolate chip muffins for us to consume when we finished. Monday is our rest day, which will be good to give at least me the time to recover from doing classic most of the weekend.

-Emily

Men's 10k River Road TT 2017

Tim Cunningham '21 - 24:29

Matt Young '19 - 25:50

GH Werowinski '21 - 26:20

George Jarvinen '21 - 26:36

Ryland Belisle '21 - 27:00

Ben Carnahan '21 - 27:20

Nathaniel Perkins '21 - 27:40

Matt Manwaring '21 - 31:54

Women's 7.5k River Road TT 2017

Jackie Garso '20 - 21:12

Lucy Hochschartner '20 - 21:35

Dottie Anderson '21 - 22:20

Kate Andy '20 - 22:45

Dani Laird '20 - 22:59

Gabby Wangler '21 - 23:35

Eliza Thomas '21 - 23:41

Dana Hatton '18 - 23:58

Aliya Brown '21 - 24:04

Jordan Schuster '21 - 24:20

TT pictures from Emily

GH cruising to the line

Matt Y. coming in strong

Ben bringing it in

Tim reaching for the finish

Gabby looking good

Jackie hammering for the course record!

Lucy looking for the finish

Eliza sending it

Captain Dana bringing it home

Thank you MNC!

Fall is coming!

This weekend, Jackie, Tim, and I decided to venture to Vermont and try out being biathletes! We all went to our respective houses on Wednesday to get in some time with our families, but headed to former Adam Terko's house on Friday. He is a former SLU coach and current head coach of the Mansfield Nordic Club. 

            Thank you so much to Adam and his roommate, Liam, for hosting us all weekend. Being Mansfield Nordic athletes in residence was truly a pleasure. They have everything you could possibly need as a skier! Adam's homemade bread was especially great. Jackie and I ate an entire loaf in one meal... Thank you so much for making our weekend possible.

            On Saturday, Jackie and I got to do our first real biathlon race ever! We’ve done some paintball biathlon, and I have done a running biathlon race, but this was the first real experience, or as close to the real experience as rollerskiing can get. It is pretty crazy to have your first real biathlon race be World Cup trials, but we made the best of it. It was really fun and a great experience. Biathlon is great, because it can remind you of things that we often forget in skiing:

1)   Try things, even if you get last! Jackie and I were last (part of her rear sight fell off) and second to last, but we got to toe the line with some of the best in the world, and that is always an honor.

2)   It is all about the process. 

3)   Anything can happen in a race. I find that in skiing it is easy to get caught up in your own expectations of where you should be, but really we need to remember that anything can happen in a race and someone you beat one day can come back to beat you the next. With shooting (or your sight falling off) as an added factor, things can change quickly in biathlon. 

It was a relief to have our first biathlon race down, with our two goals accomplished! 1) Don’t get DQ’d. 2) Hit a target. Keeping it simple.

Moosin' it (photo from Liam)

It was also a relief to get back to Adam’s where there was more bread! (And good company, showers, and plenty of other food too). After a homework-filled afternoon, we had an awesome dinner with Adam and Liam’s friends who are also really amazing biathletes. It was great to meet new people and remember just how friendly and helpful everyone is in the biathlon/ski community. 

On Sunday, Tim, Jackie, and I all raced. Tim won his race (YAY!), and Jackie and I were last again in the senior trials race. However, we were last by less, and let me tell you, this felt like a huge accomplishment. 

We are halfway through October and starting to think about Thanksgiving camp and getting our race speed back! This weekend was a blast and a great way to ease into the racing scene in a new and different way. Now, we're ready to get back to working with the team toward carnival season. Good things are to come.

Thank you to all the friends, coaches, hosts that made this weekend possible, especially Adam and Liam (go Pugs)! Thanks for reading and check back soon J

-Lucy
Day 1 Results
Day 2 Results
Tim's Race Results