Saint Lawrence University Ski Team

final two weekends

2012-02-16T15:04:00.004-05:00

The forecast refuses to get better as we go into the final two weekends. To be honest I don't think this can end soon enough. If all we had to do was go to races then fine as Trapps and Craftsbury should hold snow through the next few weeks just fine. The real hassel is keeping the training going in between without running everyday or driving a lot.

It looks like Caroline has an NCAA spot pretty well locked up after he 7th and 12th place finishes last week. Eric, Adam, Austin and Leah have an outside shot but need to have great races in the last 3 qualifiers. Regardless it will be difficult to find on snow training before heading out to Bozeman.

I am interested to see the conditions at Craftsbury where Williams had to move to this weekend. It sounds like it is better than Trapps which is pretty impressive considering the lack of natural snowfall. It is rather disappointing to have the relay cancelled this week, I think everyone was looking forward to it but so be it, I understand the difficulties and costs in moving races and am glad I just didn't have deal with it this year.

Skiing on campus

2012-02-15T20:26:00.001-05:00

Snow in the North Country has been...nonexistent this year. We've still only skied at Higley once, but thanks to a grant we received earlier this year the team purchased a snowmobile and some equipment for a campus loop on our soccer fields. It proved to be pretty useful yesterday and today. Everything in sight is snowless and bare for miles, but in the far corner of the soccer practice fields is a patch of snow that has sat in the shade all winter and retained some of the white stuff. Yesterday Bob took out the new gear and groomed us up a small but very skiable stretch of fresh corduroy. The perfect amount of snow for some fast relay races and speeds, and it was refreshing to ski right from the equipment room without any van time. It'll be even better when we have enough snow to make a full course on campus.

Impressive breakthroughs for Caroline and Eric

2012-02-08T20:42:00.002-05:00

The UVM races/Eastern cups were once again probably about the largest field of xc ski racers in North America, nearly as many entrants I think as US Nationals, it is an impressive event to be sure. As for our team Caroline demonstrated that she can ski with best in both disciplines and at the shorter distances posting career best 11th place finishes both days and is now solidly in qualification contention for the NCAA championships, Leah also showed some improvement after a rather frustrating day on Saturday to place in the top 25 for Sunday so she still may find the form she had last year. On the men's side the biggest story was Eric's breakthrough race in the 10K classic on Saturday where he finished 15th. While he was not able to repeat this on day two he still fared well in the mid 20s. We are headed back to Trapps tomorrow for Dartmouth carnival which had to be moved. Weather looks interesting with temps in the mid 30s the next two days before plummeting overnight on Friday and staying in the single digits for Saturday. Our skiing has worked out during the week with trips to Paul Smiths to ski on some really great trails, skating only but very fun and challenging. Travel time about 1hr each way. I am starting to give up on seeing much more snow, just glad we have somewhere reasonably nearby to train.

Pictures are up from UVM carnival

2012-02-06T17:07:00.008-05:00

Click HERE to see pictures from both days of the UVM carnival!
http://connorhuntphotography.shutterfly.com/nordicskiingpictures

Delayed thoughts on weekend #2

2012-02-01T20:14:00.002-05:00

I think the UNH weekend was an improvement over Bates for both team results and individual performances. In the sprint races our two men's qualifiers Teo 15th and Eric 19th had career best EISA finishes even though they did not advance. Caroline 22nd was our only female qualifier but a great result for someone who is admittedly not a big fan of sprint racing. Day two was rough on a lot of racers in terms of crashes on very challenging icy conditions. Adam had a career best 16th place finish a very impressive result against a deep men's field rounding out scoring were Eric 27th and Austin Meng 51st, both had crashes but were able to move back up the field late in the race. The women finished 5th, our best team result this season, with Caroline 14th, Leah 20th, and Kelsey 48th.

Getting on snow has remained a challenge. Gatineau was great on Sunday although the drive is rather long for midweek. On Tuesday we had suprising decent conditions at Higley our usual training site but the warmup and rain today pretty much destroyed it. We might check Paul Smith's VIC tomorrow as it is only a 1 drive.

Gatin-yes

2012-01-31T12:03:00.003-05:00

No snow in Canton when we got back from Jackson, so we took a drive up to Gatineau park where we found more Ks than we could ski in a day, quadruple-set tracks and everything from wide highway trails to narrow singletrack woods loops. All in all a great bluebird day, and now there is enough snow back in Canton to get in some intervals at Higley. Hard to believe its January 31st and we have yet to ski at Higley ONCE this year. Here are some photos:

UNH Pictures

2012-01-29T12:56:00.001-05:00

Check out the pictures from the UNH Carnival skate races!

http://connorhuntphotography.shutterfly.com/nordicskiingpictures

Bates Carnival

2012-01-24T14:35:00.002-05:00

We had a somewhat mediocre start with a few impressive individual performances over our first weekend of Carnival racing at good old Rumford, ME hosted by Bates. The women's team was without Leah who had to sit out due to illness and Amanda who is unfortunately out for the season now with injury. Caroline raced well to lead the team both days with a 28th/19th place finish respectively. It was a rather rough introduction to college ski racing for the rest of the women's team but I am sure we can improve and learn from it.

The first day for the men saw them finish in 8th which was rather dissapointing but they rallied well to take 6th as a team on the second day. Our three scorers on the second day all beat their classic seeding positions by a fair margin which was really encouraging among a very tight men's field. Highlights included a near personal best for Connor as well as a personal best for Eric in the classic race on day 2. I was also very impressed with freshman Austin Meng's very strong finish to lead the men's team in the 10K classic mass start race on day 2.

http://eisaskiing.blogspot.com/

2012-01-23T14:32:00.000-05:00

Check out some pictures from the women's 10k mass start classic race!

http://connorhuntphotography.shutterfly.com/nordicskiingpictures

US Nationals week

2012-01-09T14:41:00.002-05:00

US Nationals went pretty well I think. Eric's win in the junior men's classic sprint was certainly a great note to end on. I am really looking forward now to getting the team together at the end of this week to start our EISA race season which begins with Bates Carnival back in good old Rumford. At the very least I feel confident that we can expect so excellent racing conditions based on what they were able to pull off this week. It would be great however to actually ski some of the rest of the trails so lets hope some natural snow finally starts to accumulate significantly. The plan was to train at Jackson XC on the courses for UNH Carnival and then head over to Rumford. However I think we might end up skiing a bit more at Black Mnt. unless the snow picks up soon in Jackson.

Other highlights from the week include Caroline's 26th place finish in the Women's 20K Classic. She paced this effort exceptionally well moving up I think 3 or 4places in the final 5K of the race. I would say this was probably one of the best races she has put together. Adam has had very consistent and strong results early in this season and should be able to move up significantly within the EISA field. We have a lot of new faces this season, it should be very exciting.

Eric wins!

2012-01-09T08:23:00.001-05:00

Photo by Flyingpointroad
All proceeds go to National Nordic Foundation

Nationals Sprint

2012-01-03T15:55:00.000-05:00

Top honors go to Amanda in the women's field (our top female finisher), Teo in the guys race (our top male finisher), and Eric who made the Junior guys heats. Today was clear, cold and fast. Fast racing and fun spectating for those of us who didn't make heats (that means everyone but Eric..). Here are some pictures of random people in random order.

Nationals Video Update

2012-01-02T09:42:00.000-05:00

Because you thought Rumford was boring last year, when there were actually RACES to go to.

Snowhunting

2011-12-20T19:45:00.003-05:00

Craftsbury put on a snow-production clinic last weekend at the Eastern Cup, giving racers great tracks and snow. Unfortunately, Craftsbury is the only ski area in Vermont with real skiing being offered, and it's kind of a haul for me to get there. Every blog on the interwebs is focused on searching for snow and skiing wherever and whenever possible. A run on the roads and a lift just didn't seem fair for December 20th, so today I decided there was more to do with my morning hours than drinking coffee and refreshing the fasterskier homepage. I packed a bunch of old skis in the car and spent almost 2 hours driving to wherever I thought skiable snow might be found. It was a nice adventure that took me from Bolton Valley to Cochran's ski hill in Richmond, over the notch to Harwood High in Duxbury, and down into the Mad River Valley and Sugarbush. I later found out that Stowe's Smugglers Notch Road (the road at the base of Stowe Mountain Resort that goes over Smuggler's Notch and is closed to cars in winter) has great skiing, but my journey took me the other direction. I headed South on Route 100, Vermont's legendary "Skier's Highway". When I pulled up, Sugarbush looked like a real winter scene. While the mountain didn't really look like they'd be keen on having me rip around on skinny skis, I took a note from Star Lake and headed to the mountain's golf course. The half-snow, half-grass surface provided surprisingly great classic skiing on a pair of old beater waxless skis. I got in a nice scenic hour of skiing on a beautiful day, and I still got in a lift that afternoon for good measure.

Cochran's had snow, it just wasn't really spread yet
Sugarbush, meanwhile, actually looked like winter
Barely enough snow, but nice scenery
Gotta have a pair of old beater waxless boards!
Looking down a fairway
Getting some striding in. Half grass, half snow
Panorama of the golf course, with Sugarbush in the background

TerkTech self-groomer

2011-12-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

Skied at Star Lake on a few inches this morning. I kind of wished it was a little more packed out there, so when we got back to school I went back to the dump behind the SLU facilities plant and built a little device to test out tomorrow morning...

Happy Holidays!
-Adam

On a roll

2011-12-06T21:45:00.002-05:00

Yeah the snow situation is rather bleak but two bright spots over the past week.

The team won the Mt. Borah gear for a year design contest which is pretty cool. I didn't really do anything myself other than pass on the info to the team and the guys really got into it. I think we submitted like 6 designs which I thought were all pretty cool looking although I do like our current suit design.

http://fasterskier.com/2011/12/mt-borah-announces-gear-for-a-year-contest-winners/

We will see how they look this winter and maybe it will be time for a change or perhaps these will just be a collectors item for years to come.

On another note we also won a small grant which will allow us to groom some trails right on campus. More on this when the official announcement comes out.

Looks like a small snow event over the next 24-36hours, although it could all be rain. We will see.

SLUSKI Movember

2011-12-06T10:38:00.005-05:00

The most important pictures from Canada are surely the shots that capture our team's feeble attempts at facial hair growth. We were definitely outdone by UVM, but our Movember (a campaign to grow mustaches and raise awareness for men's health) was still entertaining. I didn't get a photo of everyone's complete mustached transformation (maybe Connor can put up his collection as well) but here is a sampling. Some were barely noticeable, while others were downright scary. I myself am a double-edged sword. My facial hair comes in blond and light, yet thanks to my dad's genetics I have quite a thick and rich mustache. As soon as camp ended though, I made sure to get rid of it quick before returning to real civilization. The look definitely isn't for everyone. Brace yourself before you scroll down:

5k TT

2011-11-28T19:46:00.002-05:00

A few pics from the 5k TT on Saturday, more to come soon(ish)...

pics from foret TT

2011-11-28T13:24:00.001-05:00

some photos my father took of the foret tt on Saturday.

Camp recap, from Zach

2011-11-28T13:18:00.001-05:00

This year we once again made the trek north to Foret Montmorency in search of snow. Where we were staying throughout the week, in Stoneham, Quebec, there was no snow, save for some man-made on the alpine runs of the resort. That, however, did not deter us from getting on snow.

Saturday, upon our arrival, we went for an easy 1 hr jog around the ski village. After finishing up, we returned to the boys’ house for dinner–Ethan’s parents heated up some delicious lasagna which the team made quick work of.

Sunday made for an epic run. We drove about 15 minutes north to Jaques Cartier Parc where most of us were going to trail run, while about four others would rollerski. Due to falling wet, heavy snow, and slush covered pavement, those planning on rollerskiing had a quick change of plans. We set out on our trail run through timber cuts, slush and some pretty gnarly terrain. The trail took us all the way back to the top of the alpine mountain, and after 2 hours and 45 minutes of running, we never hit pavement once, and arrived back to our houses muddied and tired with appetites like no other.

Monday was our first day on snow. We made the 40 minute drive north to Foret where they had about 10 cm of crusty white stuff. We parked the vans and began skiing up a trail/logging road header. The going was slow and hard, as breaking trail through the crusty snow proved to be extremely taxing. Eventually we came to a point where we skied in a 1km stretch due to the efforts of everyone on the team. There, we did some no-pole drills and ended up with a solid 2 hours on snow. During our training session, some of the girls saw a cow moose pop out on the trail in front of them, and about 30 minutes later, the guys’ team saw another cow on the trail in front of them. Certainly some wild country and a unique place to ski! We used the afternoon to go for about a 30 minute jog and stretch out some tired legs. Total for the day was 2.5 hours.

Tuesday we drove back up to Foret to get on the 1km loop that had been groomed. We classic skied on some rock-solid tracks and made for a morning total of 2 hours. The afterno0n’s workout made for a 15 minute warm up jog and cool down, while we made up a strength session in between. With a couple medicine balls benches, staircases, and playground equipment, the team engaged in a strength routine that was anything but a walk in the park.

Wednesday made for a double session at Foret. Classic ski in the morning on the 1km loop, followed by skate skiing in the afternoon on a 3km groomed stretch in which rock skis were a must. We hammered out some intervals, 5x6min, all the while weaving in and out of on-coming ski traffic. While we all skied for at least 3 hours, there were some that closed in on 3.5 and 3.75 hours.

Thursday’s workout made for skate skiing in the morning, then an immediate switch to classic skiing on the 1km loop. We got in a total of 2.5 hours before coming back for Thanksgiving dinner, go-karts, and a relaxing evening in Quebec City.

Friday we embarked on another epic journey through the wilds of Foret. We skate skied un-groomed trails and log-roads, never knowing exactly where we were going, just hoping that we’d eventually circle around to the vans. After skiing through un-broken trail and seeing copious moose and wolf tracks and skiing an unforgettable downhill run of upwards of 2.5 minutes, we eventually made our way back to the vans, starved, beat up, and all smiles. The afternoon consisted of a half-hour jog and stretch.

Saturday was a time trial between SLU, UMPI, Colby and Bowdoin. Results can be found here: Foret 5K TT Results 2011 Definitely some impressive times by some SLU-Skiers. Those unhappy with their finishes shouldn’t be too concerned, as we have had a huge week in volume, and those arms and legs should have been a bit tired anyway.

Sunday morning we went for a trail run up a hiking trail that brought us to the top of the ski mountain and back down. Some continued on for an extra half hour, while most of us ended at 1 hour. After a quick breakfast, we packed, cleaned, and took off for Canton, New York.

All in all, we had a big week in volume, putting up 22 hours of training, while some pushed it to 24. Certainly an unforgettable week with an awesome crew.

camp update

2011-11-25T14:26:00.002-05:00

So Thanksgiving day went well, after skiing we came back and got ready for the traditional go karting at Karting Extreme in Quebec. An excellent outing once again. Unfortunately no result sheets were produced, not sure why this time. It appears Connor took the day but we also raced in two groups so I am sure this could be contested.

We returned to a massive feast thanks in large part to my mother and Barb (Will's mom). Lots of hands pitched in though. Afterward an outing to Old Quebec for a couple hours.

Today we headed up the hill yet again. We decided to take a break from the manmade loop and 3K out and back that starts at the dormatory for another go on the road we skied on Monday. With the snow deflated and packing rather easily now it was pretty good for skating.

I am not sure if they got any pictures but most of the team went on a rather epic ski today, highlighted by a 3-4minute downhill in the wilderness of Foret Montmorency.

There has been some talk of a 5K classic time trial on the manmade loop for tomorrow with the other college teams who are interested. Although at this point we haven't made any firm plans.

Foret Forays

2011-11-22T18:28:00.006-05:00

We found snow. It took a few prayers, poems and inside-out pajamas, but Foret delivered this year. In the last two days we've put about 5 hours on snow, from rock-solid classic tracks to powder to crust skiing. The pictures can do the talking.

Ready for TNT - ValleyCitizen - Teton Valley's Local News Source

2011-11-21T13:18:00.001-05:00

Here is great story about Kyle Marvinney '11 now coaching the Teton XC team.

Ready for TNT - ValleyCitizen - Teton Valley's Local News Source

Foret/Stoneham trip day 2

2011-11-20T16:32:00.001-05:00

Yesterdays drive was rather uneventful. Freshmen got taste of my typical missed turns and getting turned around but never really lost. I have been lost before and while I missed a couple turns toward the end of the trip I wouldn't consider it being lost at any point.

This morning we possibly could have done some ungroomed skiing at Foret but decided to go with the long trail run from Jaques Cartier Park. It is pretty sweet 2.5-3hr run point to point that finishes at Stoneham. This afternoon I took a drive up to Foret to see for myself and it certainly looks like we can ski a bit there. Yeah its not going to be like Yellowstone is but so be it, I enjoy seeing the freshmen figure out how to get milk out of a 1 liter plastic bag and into a small pitcher without making a mess.

At Foret they currently have about 4-5inches of somewhat wet snow that should dry and freeze up a bit tonight. They could probably roll some of their trails but havn't yet. Anyway tomorrow we will try skiing on some of the roads and if they groom then all the better.

Photos from the week

2011-11-13T18:38:00.001-05:00

Here's a bunch of photos from this week. XC Regionals, Classic ski/run OD, practice, etc.

Unfortunately John Johnston from SLU didn't take the win (he was 2nd) but this kid was fast and led clean from start to finish. The team gets some fuel before switching from classic gear to running on Sunday's OD. The team (in full cheering attire) at the Regionals XC meet Saturday. Redman and Brownman (Connor and Austin) cheer at the XC meet. Nera, the Redbone Hound! Meng keeping it classy at the XC meet. XC member Andrew "Goody" Goodwin cheers on his teammates at the XC meet. Bogden rollerskis under the mysterious Canton clouds on Miner St. The crowd cheers on Amy at the XC meet.

SluSkiErg

2011-11-07T17:47:00.004-05:00

Thanks to team alumni donations SLUSKI acquired a new Concept 2 SkiErg last spring. The other day the whole team did a 1k test on the erg while in the gym on a rainy day. The 1k test seems to be somewhat of a standard competition distance for these things, and there are some other times on the Concept 2 "world records" page we could compare to. I made a quick video of the action below. I was also completing the lifting workout as this was taking place and was unfortunately wasn't able to get video of everyone, but here's a little sampling of the hammerfest.

Higley Trail Day

2011-11-05T14:42:00.001-04:00

It was a beautiful morning for our annual 'Higley Trail Day' down in Colton today. The team spent a few hours working on trails for this winter. Most of the effort was spent leveling-out, widening and digging out stumps on the new trail we made last fall. Last year we essentially chopped out a brand new technical trail for uphill intervals, complete with a banked switchback turn and long sections of unbroken climbing. Unfortunately last winter it wasn't in a condition that allowed for much grooming or skiing (aside from some backcountry powder days), but with lots of shoveling, uprooting and grade leveling we should be able to really make use of it this year.
The technical switchback
Leveling the top rise for easy groomer access

Midsem Bolton Ski

2011-10-17T08:53:00.006-04:00

After two weeks of tough testing it seemed like everyone was ready for a breather going into Midsemester Break. I personally gave my body a chance to fully recover and took two (!) days off in a row, spending more time watching ski movie trailers and searching mountain webcams for snow than actually training for it. I didn't lay low for long, though. Whenever I'm home in the Green Mountains I try to take advantage of as many big hills as possible. I called up Eric on Friday and met him and Austin Meng (who was staying at Eric's house, getting a taste of real East Coast VT life in Burly-town) at the base of the Bolton Valley ski area access road. Skating up this steep 4-mile monster might just be my favorite workout, and I do it numerous times in the summer. It's a pretty gnarly climb with only one small section of downhill, the rest being 8-11% grade of switchbacks, curves and grinding V1 climbing.
The view looking down one section of the climb

After a warmup down on Rt. 2 Eric, Austin and I started off. Though we weren't racing, it takes a good deal of effort to maintain good technique throughout the climb, and keeping your movements sharp and powerful up a long climb like this is one of the main goals I always have. I've never actually raced or done a max effort here, but I always time myself for this workout. I am usually bent over to exhaustion after reaching the top, but I was surprised to find that Friday, after reaching the top and still feeling strong, I'd finished the climb over 4 minutes faster than I ever had before. Eric and Austin weren't far behind, and all three of us were well under the previous "record" for the hill. Looks like all the testing and training, not to mention the resting, is paying off! We took a few photos during our cooldown near the top (the only way to ski more is to just go back down a ways and ski back up); the leaves were starting to fall but there's still a bit of fall color left.

-Adam

Testing, training, testing, rest

2011-10-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

We just finished up two weeks of testing and training. It is always exciting to see who has made improvements and how the numbers look comparatively to years past. For me some of the highlights include new individual records in the womens no pole skate (Leah Hart), double pole (Amanda Moreland), and men's double pole (Adam Terko & Eric Lustgarten). Freshman Austin Meng nearly broke the 10year old men's 3K record missing it by 1 second (9:42 set by Angus McCusker in 2001). I missed seeing the always popular and grueling St. Regis TT due to illness. No new record this year but some excellent times posted by Freshmen Austin Meng and Will Frielinghaus (top 10 historically).
However the most impressive result of testing this year was Caroline Carpenter breaking the women's record up St. Regis by 1minute, that's crushing it, sorry Kalie.
On a rest week now with most of the team getting away from campus for the midsemester break.

Climb to the Castle (and more photos)

2011-09-18T08:19:00.007-04:00

A small crew of SLUSKIers headed down to Lake Placid on Friday for the annual Climb to the Castle, a rollerski race up the Whiteface toll road. Myself, sophomore Eric Lustgarten and first-years Adam Swayze and Reed Likly all hit the road after practice for the race. Big thanks to SLU alums (how weird is it to say that?!) Steve Vargo and Lanky for letting us crash on the floor in their apartment in downtown Placid. The weather on race day was incredible, with chilly morning frost giving way to blinding sunshine and views at the top of the castle all the way from the Green Mountains to the cityscape of Montreal, to the massive wind turbines near Malone. There was a pretty competitive crowd including the entire US Ski Team and US Biathlon Team, plus several other top racers from around the country. It's hard to judge rollerski races as a level playing field for competition, but it's not hard to see the benefits of this type of race. Not only are you pulling on a bib and racing head to head in a ski-specific environment, you're going straight uphill for five miles. More than any other race situation, technique comes into play as a limiting factor. I'm sure everyone that raced can think back to that one unfortunate moment where their technique and fatigue level, always teetering in a delicate balance, tipped too far in the wrong direction. Poles begin to slip, body position begins to get less aggressive, core begins to rotate, feet begin to step rather than glide, and so on. It happened to everyone who wasn't racing for the win, and even probably happened to some of those who were. Unrelenting races like this emphasize that breaking point. And in lots of ways, going past that point is the fun part. How much more can you keep hurting? Why not try to find out? When you fall apart, there's no hiding it in this race, so you better just keep going. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal. CLICK HERE for men's results. I don't have any photos, though there may be some online eventually. In the meantime, here's some photos of more great training closer to home: some threshold skate intervals and head-to-head sprint starts in the sunset at Brown's Bridge.

Captain's Practice begins

2011-09-04T15:49:00.009-04:00

After a few days of settling into school and life in the North Country, everyone got into gear for the first week of fall practice. An XC running race last week kicked off the SLU training season for many, and this first full week was a busy schedule packed with ski bounding at Seven Springs, rollerskiing at Browns Bridge, circuit strength and SUNY Canton intervals amongst other workouts. Though all we saw from Hurricane Irene was a day of drizzling rain, the whole week has been hot and humid, with haze thick enough to punch a pole tip through. It's a good thing we know where all the local swimming spots are, as we hit up about 4 different ones after training sessions throughout the week. Here are some pictures from the running race, rollerskiing and bounding at Seven Springs.

First-year Austin Meng (Truckee, CA) had a great XC race and probably turned a few heads when he smoked a few members of the cross country team. Those of us who weren't racing for one reason or another cheered, took pictures and threw water at people we knew. Like Eric. Teo and Eric hit the last field into the finish stride for stride. Smooth hilly roads with little traffic made Browns Bridge a nice spot for a ski. Not to mention the cold river running right alongside the road. Teo (in orange) has near-perfect bounding technique puts on a clinic with every ski-walking workout. We end every ski-walking/bounding workout with some sets of all-out sprints with poles. From L-R: Adam, Teo, Reed, Austin.

Look forward to some more updates as fall training gets into motion, and maybe a post or two from some new skiers on the team. Train well-

2011-05-31T18:22:00.001-04:00

Some photos from the shed from the UVM carnival this year.

2011-05-29T21:11:00.000-04:00

I took this while hiking. Cheers,

-Connor

Rapids and trail running

2011-05-08T09:48:00.001-04:00

The combination of warmer weather, lots of rainfall and crazy Adirondack snowmelt has left the rivers and lakes in New York flooding, raging and churning. Yesterday Ben, George and I set out to do some mountain biking at Seven Springs, but we stopped first to take some pictures of the massive rapids on the Raquette River in Colton. We ended up spending a few hours there just taking pictures and making a little video to show the cool trails along the river. We usually do longer trail runs here in the fall, but the water definitely makes it a cool spring visit.

Second Annual Alpine vs Nordic Softball game

2011-05-04T15:17:00.003-04:00

In decisive fashion the Alpine team took game two of the annual Softball game to even the series at 1 all. It stayed even through the 4th inning at 1-1 and then Nordic fell apart defensively in the top of the 5th allowing the Piners to score 6 runs.

"Mental errors in the 5th really cost us big time, and the Alpine team capitalized, however we have some solid players on the team and I think we will be hungrier next spring," said Coach Townsend.

Coach Steinrotter and Flinn were talking revenge all week leading up to the game. "The Alpine team was rather surprised last year at the skill level of the Nordic team, we just weren't expecting it and the shellacking we took didn't sit well with the team," said Coach Steinrotter.

Awards for the season:

Alpine Women's MVP: Ashley Durham '13

Nordic Women's MVP: Leah Hart '12

Alpine Men's MVP: Dustin Martin '14 & Ben DeFlavio '14

Nordic Men's MVP: Zach Wetherell '10 (in 1st year of grad school at SLU)

Fritz Sample Award (Alpine): Kelly Skinner '11

Axtell Award (Nordic): Leah Hart '11 & Steve Vargo '11

Farming

2011-04-22T10:31:00.005-04:00

Some photos of the team doing some spring planting at Bob (asst. coach) and Flips farm, Little Grasse Food Works http://littlegrasse.blogspot.com/.

War at 7 Springs

2011-04-20T12:48:00.008-04:00

The other weekend (when the sun was out for once) I took a trip to Seven Springs with friend-of-the-ski-team George Flynn. Seven Springs was at one time the Clarkson Snowbowl where carnivals were held, jumps were thrown and XC ski races were contested. These days SLUSKI uses the alpine slope and hilly roads nearby for uphill running and bounding workouts, but there's also a network of mountain bike trails running through the woods. George and I went to check on the snowmelt and see if biking was even possible. When we flew around the bend and into the old (and always empty) parking lot we were met by rows of backpacks, firearms, tents and giant military vehicles. A man in uniform came over and warned us that the ROTC from Rochester was up doing exercises and shooting paintball guns in the woods. We could bike around, but we had to be wary of getting caught in the crossfire. We could see snow littering the alpine slope, but decided to bike up anyway since we had driven all the way out. We looked closer at the hill and noticed Humvees driving straight up the steep, rocky incline. As we were dreaming of rallying George's old '92 Corolla over the hill a Hummer pulled right up next to us. "You guys want a lift up to the top?" asked the Marine inside. "Hell yeah!" we replied. But it turned out that no matter how we tried, we couldn't fit our bikes in the back of the Hummer. It was already packed with gear, so we just rode up to the top and watched the Marines speed up the mud and rocks. We could hear paintballs popping in the distance, and at the trail intersection we even ran into the target, a marine dressed head to toe in robes and turban. Likely the only "terrorist" to ever set foot in Pierrepont, NY. The trails were too snowy to ride, and we left wishing we'd just asked for a trip up in the Hummer the fun of it.
George's car was the smallest vehicle for miles...
A hummer in the distance speeds up the hill

Backflips

2011-03-16T18:48:00.002-04:00

In a different vein from important ski races...

On one of our spring days at Higley (while Leah was out doing intervals in preparation for NCAAs) the guys team took a few runs on the top-secret jump at Higley. We've all seen Zach attempt backflips before, and after only one try Andrew got it down. Eric and I tried a bunch of times to get it right, with Eric actually nailing it after a few tries. With no big races and the season over, spring is a perfect time to have some fun with training. We only wound up with two broken skis and really sore bodies. To our surprise Ethan was actually watching, and even pulled out the video camera. We couldn't get him to try any this time, though...

Etown's report after NCAAs

2011-03-15T15:42:00.002-04:00

It was quite a week a tremendous amount of time and effort was put into making these races really excellent. Trapp Family Lodge and UVM deserve a big thumbs up. No doubt all that rain on Friday sucked, I was shivering cold after Leah's race and actually somewhat glad we didn't have any guys skis to get ready.

The 5K free was one of Leah's best races of the season, finishing 17th overall. I really think her best event right now would be a long freestyle race. This was the best NCAA championship finish by a woman on the team since 2001.

For the 15K Classic I wouldn't really call the waxing tricky anymore than klister ever is. We certainly had options I was happy with. Adams rundown of the race is an excellent read but my thoughts are we like everyone were between zeros and a klister combo. The trouble with zeros is that they were really designed for falling snow near freezing. It was quite far from that and so it was suprising they felt so good. In the end it is more about how well the skis are matched and since Leah does not own her own pair specifically matched to her she just wasn't confident that they would work well the whole race. The skis she went on were a bit slow and we had been struggling with this most of the season. Either I am just not waxing them right or they just aren't a good match. From what I could tell it was a mix of zeros and klister skis out there so either choice was successful. Anyway, really proud she hung in there and made up time where she could. I have seen athletes often just check out in these cases but Leah didn't and that was great.

On the Alpine side Ashley-Kate Durham got the SLU flag on the podium with an awesome 3rd place finish in the Slalom race on Saturday. She was the top eastern finisher and moved up from 9th on the first run. http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results11/ncaa11.htm

NCAAs (with video!)

2011-03-12T13:19:00.012-05:00

It was windy and pouring rain on Friday when Kyle, Eric and I made the trip up to Stowe to yell our faces off at Leah and all the other skiers from the East at NCAAs. We came well prepared with the SLU Flag, the billowing Old Glory, and Eric's homemade tablecloth "BEN" flag for his brother. Despite the drenching rain, I've never seen so many loud and excited people at a ski race. The fans were into it. The mass start classic races were hectic, with teams struggling with the tough decision of zeros or klister right down to the wire.

Leah, Ethan and Andrew make the call on skis moments before the start

Leah went with klister and while it looked like her glide wasn't the fastest she was able to blow by a ton of girls on the climbs before the stadium. In the women's race the Eastern teams struggled. Lack of kick, too much kick, crashes, season burnout...I think there were many reasons galore for skiers not having their best days. I've never seen an NCAA race before, and it's definitely humbling to watch skiers like Caitlin Patterson and Rosie Brennan, who dominate carnival races all season, struggling and falling from the pace...Leah hung tough and was making passes each time we saw her, moving up throughout the race.

That's a big cheerin' crew, son!

We reasoned that, with the rain dying down a little and more time to work out wax combos, the men would have the kick dialed. Things still weren't perfect though, and again it looked like the Eastern teams were left struggling to keep up right from the get-go. Nils Koons made a huge effort to reel in the main pack, and moved up to 7th, and Chase Marston skied likewise. The big favorites had it rough, though. Tarling (who won the previous race) wasn't a factor in the main pack, and neither was freshman phenom Scott Patterson or reigning champ Franz Bernstein. Once again it's amazing to see these guys, who normally charge to podiums in carnival races, grit it out even when things aren't going their way.

It looked like Franz was struggling with cramps, holding his sides on the downhills, but that didn't keep him from pushing himself with flawless technique even when the chips were down. He never stopped hammering through the pain. That's class.

I took a lot of footage of the races as they happened, put them together in a video, and uploaded it to youtube for the world to criticize and post hateful comments on. Enjoy!

JO Update

2011-03-09T16:43:00.002-05:00

Hey SLUSKI, just wanted to post an update on Ally and I at JO's. After arrving in Minneapolis late Saturday night, we went out to the race course to prep for monday's sprint the next day. It is interesting racing in a city, as we are staying downtown in a Marriot, with shuttles running constantly to the race site. There are also these glass skyways connecting all the buildings downtown to each other, which is sweet for not having togo outside to go to stores. The race courses are full of transitions, which makes smooth skiing necessary for success. The sprint course was deceptively hard because of this, and we were ready to rock it on Monday.

Monday's sprint race was ok for the both of us. I ended up 46th, missing te heats. I felt like I raced well, but not fast enough to advance. Ally ended up 32nd out of 33 OJ girls, but she was only about 1 second out of the heats. The heats were cool to watch, as the semi's and finals were held under the lights. It was a cool scene to watch, and New England destroyed everyone in most age groups.

After an easy course preview yesterday, we had the mass start classic race today. The girls raced 10 km and the guys 15 km. The distance course is also loaded with transitions, and some more challenging hills. The weather made for tricky waxing, as it was snowing and temperatures were right around freezing. The best skis today in the end were Zero's. I ended up finishing 41st on the day, and for the first time in a while I didn't blow up in a distance race. My Zero's were a little slow on the downhills, but I had great kick, and was catching kids at the end. I'm looking foward to Friday's skate race to have a strong race. Ally ended up 29th today, skiing against a small but competitive field including Jesse Diggins, fresh off the World Championships.

I'll post photos and another recap later. Also, congats to Leah on a good race today at NCAA's. We have a skate individual start on Friday, and a classic relay on Saturday. To get results and other info, go to the JO website (www.jo2011.com). They also have a live video feed to watch the races. That's all for now,

Bill

Leah Hart on the road to the final 39

2011-02-28T19:58:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of a blog post last week, just getting tired toward the season end. We wrapped up the carnival season with an okay weekend at Bates. What an appropriate location for our seniors to finish out their collegiate career, Black Mountain in Rumford being the site of so many big and small time races in the skiing lives. We all know it probably to well. The drive over was thankfully broken up by a stay over in Burlington on Thursday night at the Terkos & Carpenters but we were met with a full on blizzard for second half of the trip which ended up taking around 6hours instead of 4. Anyway plenty of snow so can't complain for the end of the season. The best performances on the weekend were had by super senior (grad student) Zach who punched in a season best 11th in the 10K free which opened the possibility of qualification for NCAAs via a top 10 performance in the 20K. He certainly took a shot at it and skied from a late 40s start position in the mass start up to the mid teens before the effort began to take its tole and he dropped back to finish 21st, still nothing to be dissapointed in.

Leah was already solidly in for qualifying prior to the weekend so the goal was really to see if she could take some chances and have some big races and perhaps move up a spot or two on the rankings. Unfortunately we will have to wait until next week to see her best stuff as the freestyle went well but just out of the top 10 at 13th and taking some chances in the mass start led to tripping up and leaving the stadium in last place. It was very impressive to see her already back up in the top 20 by 5K in but she was only able to hold there for the rest of the race. Anyway I am pretty excited to see how she will fare at Nationals in Stowe after a little rest.

A big thank you to the parents for all their support again this season, the post race food has been excellent and as always a great help. To Steve, Sophie, Kyle, and Zach thanks for all your hard work positive attitudes.

Technical Difficulties

2011-02-15T09:04:00.003-05:00

This past weekend started off fairly well with a tie for 5th on the mens side for the 10K free and a 6th place finish with another top 10 result for Leah on the womens side. I would say we were looking pretty good going into day two a 15K/20K classic mass start on one of the most challenging courses the east has to offer. It is unique in that is starts with a very fast downhill out of the mass start area which exciting to watch but rather nerve racking for some competitors, especially for a mass start where you are really at the mercy of those around you, no one ever falls alone on this start. For anyone that thinks cross country skiing is for the timid they should check out the video of the mens start that I posted below, sorry I did not get the womens.

Our womens team was out one of our regular top 3 as Caroline bowed out due to illness. Leah (14th) was feeling very confident however, as was Sophie (42). This course was real eye opener for our freshmen in terms of the downhills but I think Amy (54) and Amanda (44) faired well for their first weekend at Oak Hill. Kelsey (45) was coming off of being sick so hoping for some better results this coming weekend. I think our kick waxing was right on for this race but the snow just did not warm up and our glide was was a bit to warm, easy to see in a mass start as we tended to close on the uphills but dropped a lot of time on the downs.

The mens race was low lighted by a binding malfunction for Adam (left the stadium last and had to switch skis) and a crash and pole break on the first downhill for Zach. Both worked hard together throughout the race to get back into 32/33rd. Had they not had problems in the start I think we could have had 3 in the top 25. Steve had a career best 23rd place finish, just and awesome performance as he closed strong in the second 20K to move up from 28th, great to see. Looking forward to races at Middlebury this weekend, should be fun with the sprint relay on day two.

UVM recap

2011-02-07T13:45:00.002-05:00

Our best weekend yet for this season for the Nordic team all around. Continued strong performances by Leah along with Caroline and Amanda who continue to improve placed the women 5th in the 15K classic and 7th in the 5K free. For the men Adam, Steve, and Zach are posting the team points. Zach "Brett Farve" Wetherell who after announcing his retirement this summer has been steadily improving after his return 3 weeks ago. He came up big for the team with 13th place result in the 10K freestyle on Saturday. Andrew stuck around with some of the younger members of the team for the Eastern Cup on Sunday. Some great results from that as well from freshmen Bridget Shea-Gander, Eric Lustgarten, and Bill Prescott.

This past weekend was also quite possibly the most pleasant weekend weather wise I have ever experienced for UVM carnival. I think all the coaches were waiting the for the wind and other foul weather to blow in but we were treated to real bluebird days for Friday and Saturday and some incredible snow conditions as the crew at Trapps did a great job getting the course in order after the big snowstorm on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Onward to Oak Hill for Dartmouth Carnival next.

UVM photogs

2011-02-07T12:13:00.002-05:00

My parents made the trek over to Stowe this weekend, so we have some pictures of the races once again. Some of these are pretty epic. Besides being a great spectator course, I think Trapps is probably one of my favorite places to race (though Im still partial to Rumford). Last year conditions were almost perfect despite being a little thin. This year there wasn't even a hint of ice or dirt, as you will see.

Enjoy

more pictures

2011-01-27T13:48:00.007-05:00

Since I have a busy, 2 class and 2 independent study schedule back at school, I figured I would put up some pictures my dad took at races over the past couple weeks. The first album is a long over due set of pictures from the US nationals classic distance races and skate sprint. The second is from both days of the colby carnival.

US Nationals

Colby

Enjoy!

2011-01-23T20:10:00.003-05:00

SLU and Colby Carnivals

Some pictures from the SLU and Colby Carnivals

(Click to see album)

Two breakthrough races for Leah and Adam

2011-01-18T20:05:00.002-05:00

The opening carnival weekend was highlighted by two breakthrough races by Leah Hart and Adam Terko, both juniors on the team. The first day (5/10K classic) went okay, cold temps made for easy kick waxing and although or team result wasn't great I was not all that dissapointed because I had a feeling the skate day was going to go much better, and it certainly did.

I was able to give good splits to Leah who had an opening split at the 4K point in the top 6 which was exciting and then bumped that up to 4th by 9K. She didn't seem to really believe it until the results were actually posted and she was 9th in the Supertour result with only 3EISA women ahead of her, truly awesome and the best individual female performance in over 10years.

I was able to give Adam pretty good info as well and saw him steadily improve in the splits. At 4K he was around 25th, 9K 22nd and then with 1K left to go in the race he stood at 21st. Really great to see him finally get into the top 20 as he finished 19th in the EISA result.

A long drive awaits us to tomorrow on the road to Augusta, ME for Colby Carnival. I am interested to see these new trails there though.

US Nationals recap and Carnival Season Begins

2011-01-12T13:40:00.002-05:00

US Nationals was okay I think as far as results go. Highlight was certainly Leah's 29th place finish in the womens 20K freestyle race. It was also great to have someone in the rounds of the sprint freestyle race at the end of the week with Eric Lustgarten snapping up the final jr slot. All in all a decent week but we should have more to get excited over as we hit the carnival race season.

It starts of this year with SLU hosting the first weekend in LP and it is combined event with a Supertour race similar to what was done at UVM a couple years ago. It make for a rather big event but not all that much larger than our usual open collegiate carnival.

It is great we were able to draw in the APU team for the supertour, not sure if many other pro teams stayed but certainly lots of junior racers will be here as it is a JOQ for both Mid A and NENSA kids.

Staying at the OTC this week has been great. It really helps having food and waxroom right on site and allows everyone to focus on getting ready to race with ample time to relax and recover from last week, including the coaches.

I am keeping my expectations measured as always but the start of every year always brings the excitement of someone coming into the spotlight, should be interesting to see who that is.

Remember you can always check eisaskiing.org for updates and I try to do a twitter feed to the facebook account and twitter page.http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Lawrence-University-Ski-Team/134918268394

http://twitter.com/SLUNordic

Photos from The Balsams

2011-01-06T08:27:00.001-05:00

It's too bad we were only skiing here for an hour or so because it would've been great to explore. By far the best skiing in the east right now; midwinter conditions and trails that reminded us a lot of Mount St. Anne. Ethan might have a report of the races up soon but for now here are some pictures of the other side of skiing:

The Balsams

2011-01-04T17:52:00.002-05:00

While it probably would have fit a little better with the training/racing plan to have hit it yesterday. We set off in search of decent classics tracks and most certainly found them. Balsams was about an hour drive from Bethel and well worth it. When we arrived to this fiefdom in Northern NH they had just finished grooming and setting new tracks resulting in a somewhat loose granular that firmed up in about 30minutes and as we went higher up. I had not been to Balsams before only driven through in the dark. It is quite the place. I would say they had about 25K groomed while we were there but if they decided to keep at it could have easily doubled that by the days end. Conditions just fine for your best skis, just had to watch for the random pulled up rock or two but truly superb conditions especially considering how bleak it is elsewhere.

I am sure Adam has posted some pictures by now on his blog.

10/15K classic tomorrow, 2.7K loop, should be fun.

Jericho eastern cup

2011-01-03T21:27:00.002-05:00

Here's a link to pictures that my dad took of the Jericho eastern cup: http://picasaweb.google.com/Marvinney/JerichoDecember2010?feat=email#
I think it should work.

nationals 15k classic up next, sounds like its going to be many laps.

US Splashionals 2011?

2011-01-02T07:03:00.002-05:00

Conditions

More

Rain, slush, dirt and puddles. Classic sprint today for Eric and Amanda. Gonna be sweet to cheer them on and watch some top notch racing...but the future of the week is in completely unknown...

All for 5 dollars

2010-12-31T18:21:00.009-05:00

In case you haven’t heard yet, Rumford does not have good skiing right now and interestingly, seems to be one of the few places that doesn’t have good skiing. I drove over there the other day to find the snow wind blown and very dirty apart from a few sheltered spots in the woods. On the other hand, despite some misfortune on the mountain that happened to make headlines http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12087306 (which I fortunately avoided despite being on the mountain for some tele skiing), sugarloaf has incredible skiing right now. I’ve gone just about every other day and the trails have only gotten better over the last week. On top of that, a half day there only cost me 5 bucks. That’s a small price for great skiing and spectacular scenery (the sugarloaf outdoor center is more or less surrounded by mountains). Of course, the low price might explain why their groomers have all broken down this week. On my last trip there on Thursday, one of the loops I skied absolutely reeked of diesel oil after the piston bully sprang a leak somewhere. With their snowmobiles broken too, who knows what things will be like after the warm up forecast for the weekend.
Enough bad news, the skiing really has been great, even at my old high school where I skied with some UNH kids today and in Augusta on the new race trails there.

For good measure, here are some pictures

Snow place like home

2010-12-14T07:27:00.003-05:00

One of the benefits of being an English major at SLU is that you often have lots of essays to write in lieu of finals. For the first semester ever I got away with that this fall, and packed up my stuff yesterday morning (Monday) and headed back to Burlington. In reality I could've left Thursday afternoon, but I'm never THAT on top of my assignments. Still, by leaving yesterday I guaranteed myself an extra week of break and access to really solid skiing. I thanked my car Big Red for the Christmas miracle of not breaking down this trip, carried my skis inside and found a giant platter of York peppermint patties which I proceeded to immediately do work on. This morning I woke up to my dog barking at the snowplow, which is always a good sign. Sure enough there's a few fresh inches out there and a good forecast. Eric will be home later today, and we have a good crew to train with up at Trapps and Sleepy Hollow so the start of break is looking good. See you all at those Eastern Cups!

Steve's way of saying goodbye

Oh, here are the pictures from Higley a few weeks ago per Ethan's request. As you can see, the first snow dump in Colton was a big one, chest high in some spots. We even ventured out onto the new trail we cut this year for Higley Trail Day. We did train that day, but couldn't help throwing tele turns down all the hills.

NYSEF Opener

2010-12-13T10:44:00.002-05:00

Well we tried to get to the NYSEF opener on sunday but nearly slid off the road in Potsdam and had to turn back. Would have been great to get in a race prior to the Eastern Cup openers and World Famous Osceola race, we will have team members racing in both of these events. Skiing the past three weeks has been great at both Star Lake right after returning from break and then we were able to ski at Higley all last week, even classic and in the woods. The current warm up certainly is not great but we should have something to at least skate ski on at Higley when it freezes up again. Maybe Adam will post some photos he took earlier in the week making turns in the powder on one of the woods trails.

Race Photos

2010-12-05T15:25:00.001-05:00

Some photos from the classic sprint in Canada, sorry some are a little blurry, focus wasn't working right for a bit.

http://picasaweb.google.com/skibum540/CanadaRaceDay#

Star Lake comes through

2010-12-04T14:57:00.002-05:00

We went from rollerskiing in a blinding snowstorm on Wednesday...

...to skating on excellent conditions, complete with grooming, at our mountain-plateau secret training facility in Star Lake. Two days of skating, then intervals this morning. OD ski on tap tomorrow.

PICTURES

2010-11-30T23:03:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from the trip. Photos from the race coming soon...

http://picasaweb.google.com/skibum540/Canada#

Quebec Camp 2011

2010-11-30T09:23:00.004-05:00

Here are some photos from the sprint race on Saturday at Foret Montmorency in Quebec. The camp went really well with most getting in around 16-18hrs on the week, nearly all of it on snow. The grooming could have been better earlier in the week but we were able to finish the week with a long ski on Sunday at Mt. Saint Anne which opened over the weekend. We decided to stick with this plan rather than racing again on Sunday which I feel was better from a training perspective. The drive back was fairly uneventful although we are now back to dryland training or perhaps wetland training given the amount of rainfall predicted for the next couple of days. Maybe we can get on snow again this weekend. Nearly a foot of snow fell just 30minutes to our south while we were in Quebec but unfortunately the rain over today and tomorrow will pretty much wash that away. Results from the sprint can be found here http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3186.

Our top finishers were Leah Hart '12 and Eric Lustgarten '14. I think we did well given the amount of training we did during the week.

Something Like a Religious Pilgrimage

2010-11-30T04:36:00.005-05:00

Like all true Nordic skiers should, I completed my pilgrimage to Norway this past weekend. The cheap plane tickets brought us to a small airport just south of Oslo, so after a short 45 minute bus ride, we arrived in the city just as the sun was setting, despite it being only 4 o’clock. After a 650 Kroner (over $100 american--food is really expensive there to say the least!) meal of reindeer and fjord-fresh shrimp, we toured around the city for the rest of Friday night. On Saturday again we did more exploring, only taking breaks when we needed to relieve ourselves from the frigid –15˚ C temperatures. After a few mishaps with public transportation, we made it up the hill to Holmenkollen, where we saw the ski jump and part of the world cup course from last year. Surprisingly, the ski jump didn’t appear to be all that big, however, the stadium seating surrounding the landing was rather impressive. Following the long, cold day of walking around the city, we treated ourselves to a home cooked dinner of spaghetti and shrimp, which we cooked in the hostel’s communal kitchen. Sitting in the lounge, with a big plate of shrimp and pasta, watching the men’s classic Kuusamo 10km while in Norway, I could not have been much happier.

On Sunday, we met up with SLU’s favorite Norwegian, Knut, for a walk in the city’s surrounding wood. With the few centimeters of fresh snow that had fallen the night before, and it still coming down, the woods and city were blanketed with the best type of that fresh Norwegian white stuff. We walked through the trails a bit, eventually onto part of the FIS course and ended up on the top of a small ridge, over looking the city. We ended the hike in a rustic lodge, where we were treated to Norwegian pastries and brown cheese. After a small tour guided by Knut, we left later that night for a small fishing village near the airport where we stayed the night.

In the morning, as we boarded the plane, I realized that despite not actually having done any skiing, the trip was well worth it and would definitely get me through the tough week of essays and presentations that was to come. Between naps on the plane, I thought about how beautiful and wonderful the country was, trying to figure out when I would next be able to return.

More photos from camp

2010-11-24T18:28:00.003-05:00

Some skate intervals yesterday in the pouring rain, which led to glare ice on the trail today. But with some fresh snow coming down all day things were better by the afternoon. Everyone seems to be here now; SLU, UVM, Colby, Bowdoin, Bates, Burke, some Middkids, Biathletes and Canadian teams. There's a lot more terrain open and something resembling grooming happened today. Here's some more pictures. Connor has been taking a bunch so hopefully he'll post those too.

Cameraman Carlos and Kyle

Waxing up

Icy trails today, but falling snow made it much better a few hours later

Wet boots suck at training camp. Here's the boot dryer I made. My first one blew the circuits in the house but this one is alright so far.

Kyle strides in the falling snow Tuesday morning

For those who were wondering...

2010-11-21T14:49:00.002-05:00

There is snow in Canada. Buckets of it. We skied for 3 hours today, saw a moose, and never took the same trail twice. Internet is shaky, but we'll keep trying to post stuff and updates.

Skiing Celebrities; on snow in October

2010-10-16T19:18:00.013-04:00

I was going to put up some nice fall foliage photos, but this is much more important. It's been a goal for me since my Junior year in High School to try and ski on my birthday. This year October 13th rolled around and, even though I was home in the mountains for Mid-semester break, things were just cold and rainy. Until the last few nights, that is, when a nasty Nor'easter blew in a dumped a foot of snow on top of Mt. Mansfield. Every fall I watch the webcams anxiously, and for the last 5 years I've dragged a crew of skiers up various mountains in search of October skiing. This morning Eric, Hollis, my friend Danika and I strapped the skinny skis on our backs and high-tailed it up Stowe's Toll Road to the white summit. This promised to be one of the best early snow trips ever.

The hike up was dry for the first part, but as the snow grew deeper we turned the corner and ran into a van from The Weather Channel. Not your local newscast team, the actual legit Weather Channel. We were called over by a guy named Jim Cantore, who Danika excitedly informed us was some type of TV celebrity in the weather world. News to me. He introduced himself and asked us to ski back a forth a little bit between two lift towers as the were "Desperate for some B-roll footage".

Needless to say it was incredibly nerve-wracking to be putting on real skis and taking our very first strides of the season on national television, but we figured the general public wouldn't have much idea what we were doing anyway. Jim thanked us afterward, and immediately we tried to get in touch with anyone who was near a TV, as we were told we would be on TV within the hour. My roommate Ryan was watching and confirmed that he did see us. After the excitement of our 4 seconds of fame, we were even more pumped to ski. We reached a nice flat spot and packed out a 200 meter loop that included some turns, a small climb and descent.

It was about as perfect as you could ask for in October; the snow packed into a solid track for skating, and we made a set of separate classic tracks to switch on and off.

We were far from the only people up there, but we were the only Nordic skiers we saw; the first skating and classic strides in the East? Maybe. Definitely the only ones on television in October. Apparently our skiing wasn't scenic enough to make it onto the re-released web-version of the clip, where they used some 'piner bro instead. Still, you can watch Jim's segment on Stowe HERE, the front-page story on weather.com

Testing week, complete

2010-10-11T15:44:00.002-04:00

We finished up our dryland testing week on Sunday with an excellent classic roll through the North Country. While overall our team averages appear to have declined some there were several notable records broken, mostly by Leah Hart who looks exceptionally strong right now. Leah broke every record we have except the St. Regis time trial which she ran in 37:52 (record is held by Kalie Dunn'08 37:07) still an excellent time given the very wet muddy condition of the trail. Leah broke her own Double Pole record by nearly a minute at 9:30, the only woman on the team to ever go under 10 minutes and shaved 5 seconds off the no pole skate record now at 9:13. In the 3000meter on the track she is the first woman on the team who is not on the XC running team to go under 11minutes posting a time of 10:53. Other notable results were Kelsey with a time of 38:50 up St. Regis and a 3K of 11:55 both solid improvements over last year.

For the men Adam broke the double pole record by 5 sec, now at 7:42 and also took the win in the no pole skate test. Kyle won the 3K in 9:56 which is his first sub 10min result on this test and only 13 sec off the record held by Angus McCusker'01. Steve took the win up St. Regis in a very respectable time of 31:03, less than 2min off the record of 29:21 held by Tom Lepesquer'07.

Europe is fun

2010-10-08T12:42:00.003-04:00

SLU-SKI greetings from Spain...

I just thought that everyone should know that I just bought a plane ticket to the land of fjords, Petter Northug, woolen sweaters, and the birthplace of nordic skiing. That's right, if you haven't yet figured it out, I am going to NORWAY! Tickets were unbelievably cheap--something roughly equivalent to $40 american--so we jumped on the opportunity. Though there probably won't be much snow, if any, as we're going in November, the trip will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. And hey, maybe I'll even pass by Northug, or Bjørgen, or the Sausage somewhere in the streets Oslo.

Hopefully training and fall is treating everyone well. Ski fast.

The 2010 Presidential Traverse

2010-08-22T19:05:00.010-04:00

For last years Traverse info, click HERE And for more info on what exactly the traverse is, click HERE.

In the spirit of ultra-endurance events undertaken by the guys team lately, I guess there needs to be an update on the 2010 edition of the SLUSKI Presidential Traverse. While it seems like the Williams ski team guys have been doing some presidential exploring of their own, I'd like to think we started the recent trend of ski-team assaults on the White Mountains. This year the crew for the 23-mile journey was small; Kyle, Zach and myself. After parking the end-car and returning in a small thunderstorm to soggy gear and tents, we checked all our stuff over. Following former SLUSKIer Jake Birchard's method last year I had decided to bring a big fannypack instead of a backpack this time. While stuffing it with Snickers bars I remarked on a famous old saying passed down about fannypacks. "Sometimes useful, always stupid-looking" or something like that. But Zach actually remarked "I've used them a lot hunting, I've even killed a deer with one before". It came out weird. After suiting up the next morning in damp clothes and soggy trail running shoes, we set off. It was cold and windy (32 on top of Washington with the wind chill) but soon the clouds broke and the views were great. We even jogged some flattish parts, which we would soon regret on the steep downhill portion. We made it safe and sound, 9 and a half hours of hiking later. I even picked up my first hitchhiker at the bottom of the notch. Just when we were complaining about how tired we were from our long day hike, we pick up a dude who was hiking the entire AT from Maine to his home in Tennessee. Normally it's not my thing to pick up strangers, but this guy was clearly tired and hungry and I was confident that Zach could easily take him on if it came down to fists. We spent the night in more wet clothes, and woke up early enough to cheer on Teo and local pro biker/pro skier/pro Skirack man Jake Hollenbach in the Mt. Washington hill climb bike race (Jake took a great 4th place). As a bonus attraction, as we were driving back Kyle and I ran into a bear on the side of the road next to the campground. When the bear tried to attack an old lady taking pictures I ran out of my car, grabbed my fannypack and beat the crap out of it. All said and done it was just another epic SLUSKI adventure, with plenty more to come this fall I'm sure. Can't wait to get back to school tomorrow to see how much Ctown has grown, if the sauna is still kickin' and if the new Price Chopper still has bottle-and-can-returning machines. If anyone wants to come say hi I'm in Sykes this year. 2nd floor, look for the room with the brand new bearskin rug.

Kyle on the trail

I found a flag in a free pile (of course) on the side of the road. Decided to give it new life. Apparently an older couple had enjoyed watching me run around like an idiot from the next peak over while they ate their lunch.

The camera missed him going by, but Teo is on the far left in blue.

At the start of the men's pro race. Jake is in 3rd position here.

Bro's, anyone care to lax??

24 hours of Adrenaline

2010-08-18T23:00:00.006-04:00

When the cannon shot rang out at 12 o’clock noon, I hadn’t yet realized what the ensuing 24 hours had in store. I knew that there would be a lot of pain, a good deal of exhaustion, some saddle soreness, and hopefully some excitement, however, what I didn’t know was how eventful the race would be.

Delayed for various hours by an exploded RV motor and the resulting consequence of having to be towed off the Mass TurnPike, my friend Matt and I once again began our trip north to Great Glen in NH. Here, on that the following day, we would begin a 24 hours mountain bike race.

The format was simple—a team, comprised of either 2, 4, or 5, raced an 8 mile loop over a span of 24 hours in hopes of completing more laps than their competitors. Though the rules were pretty straight forward, a good deal of strategy was needed as teams didn’t have to maintain a regimented race order and live timing was available to track everyone’s progress.

The race began at noon on Saturday, however my first lap, being that I was third in our rotation, didn’t come until about 2:30 PM. When the time came, I was pretty nervous as I hadn’t previewed the course and hadn’t really trained for the event. Despite my worries, I was on course before I knew it. Though much of the course was on hard-packed double track, the sections of technical single-track broke up the rests and proved to be quite tiring.

After the first lap I said “oh, [expletive], what’ve I gotten myself into” at the thought of having to do 7 more laps at what seemed to be full speed. Nonetheless, with ample rest between laps (roughly 2 1/4 hrs) and lots of carbs, I managed to maintain relative strength and speed through the afternoon and into the night. More importantly, my team, with the help of some consistency from my roommate and his brother, pulled into the lead (of our respective category) after just a few laps. With the live timing, we were able to track the other teams progress to ensure that we were doing everything in our power to maintain the lead. Through the night, even when sleep was sparse and temperatures were cold, we continued to attack and push onward. When dawn broke, we were all happy to put away our lights and continue riding by daylight. As the second day continued, it looked promising for us as we had gained a surprisingly large 35 minute lead over the second place team.

At 11:20 A.M I began my last, and the team’s last lap. Exhausted and with the win essentially secured, I took the final lap slow and eventually coasted into the arena with delight. And with cliché on my mind, I gave a strong fist pump to cross the finish and end our race.

Following the race—and perhaps the most deserved shower of my life—we packed up camp and prepared for the long ride home. Though I wasn’t able to stay for awards, my teammates stood atop the podium and celebrated the win. However, the weekend did end as all such events should—with a free tee-shirt and a whole lot of pictures.

Finishing the first lap (still fresh legs)

Hydration is key-George Flynn (My roomate)

Bart Flynn-My roommates twin brother

Descending the stairs at the end of the course

Bart Flynn

Patrick Barter-Teammate #4

Atop the Podium!

The Cowboys of Rock and Roll

2010-08-06T19:43:00.002-04:00

Oops, editing problems, my bad. I actually wrote this near the beginning of the summer, but I recently made a another trip up the real "Freeman Test Route" of Sunapee after a visit to Maine with Steve and Bogden, which inspired me to go back and find and post this. Also nobody seems to have much to say about their summer, so here's at least something to read.

These days dangerous journeys, split-second decisions and the spirit of adventure seem to have gone the way of gunfights and swinging saloon doors. Maybe I can't recreate real wild west action out here in the East, but the least I can do is try to bring some of the spirit back. The problem is that people have forgotten what real cowboys are. “Back in the day in this town, things were different...” started my boss, John. It was already 87 degrees out at 7 in the morning and John, a 50-something tobacco-spittin', stone hauling machine who can shovel dirt like a human dumptruck and wield a backhoe like a 5th appendage, was telling another of his tales of how Shelburne used to be. Listening to his stories doesn't get old though, because each one isn't just a tale of how cheap gas was or how different music sounded. Every story is about people and places from a time when life was raw and unpredictable. “Now you're all set, Mick”, John assured me, spitting a wad out the window as we cruised down the road in our '88 Chevy Cheyenne pickup. I've just finished double knotting a bandanna with a Bald Eagle and the phrase This Bud's For You onto my forehead. Ever since I cut my hair I've taken to wearing a headband to work. They drain away the 5 gallons of sweat I produce daily I from rock hauling and brush cutting, and when I tie them around my forehead John is convinced that I'm a modern-day reincarnation of a young Mick Jagger. In the spirit of Mick, Hendrix, Moon, Bonham and all the other cowboy's of rock n' roll I decided on a whim Friday afternoon that it was about time for an adventure. At high noon I found out that Steve was racing in a triathlon in New Hampshire Saturday morning. I asked Steve if I could crash on his hotel floor that night and be a pseudo-coach for the event. Thinking I was joking, Steve replied “sure, we've even got an extra bed”. Within an hour of getting home from work I had packed my steed Big Red, found the town to get to, and pulled out of the driveway. “New Hampshire furdamshur!” I yelled, pounding the dashboard and gunning the busted muffler a couple decibels below rock-concert. Three hours later I was chowing down on a burger with Steve and discussing race plans. Despite some rain and a canceled swim leg, the Triathlon (now just a Biathlon?) went off with Steve having a great race.

The sun was shining by the time I left, but my adventure wasn't over. Driving down to the race the day before, I'd gone by signs for Mt. Sunapee. This ski mountain is where Kris Freeman, along with his brother Justin among others, have frequent hillclimb testing runs similar to our own trips up St. Regis. It was on. After taking a different route out of the tri course and ending up lost for about an hour, I pointed the wheels in the general direction of Andover and set off. Like writing cursive or doing math by hand, reading a real paper atlas or roadmap is a skill that seems to have gone to the wayside in today's world. I'm bringing it back. My plotted route took me right to the base lodge, empty and silent. I waited expectantly for a tumbleweed to gently bounce across the bunny slope. After running around looking for a trail I took my ten paces back, hit the watch timer and took off. I ended up running on a Kearsarge-Sunapee connector trail to the summit instead of the correct access road I discovered Freeman uses afterward (my sense of direction apparently doesn't work as well for vertical travel). Not much difference, it was gonna hurt either way. I hammered it out to the top of that hill like I was trying to break the course record. At the top I keeled over to puke, sat down on the lift chair and looked out across the valley and lake below. It seemed like my adventure was almost over. Putting a body through that type of pain and suffering just to be faster is another one of those experiences that seems to have gone to the wayside. But I'm bringing it back.

Tubin'

2010-06-19T21:03:00.017-04:00

After paying what seemed an unreasonable amount for old tractor inner tubes from Clayton’s Auto Repair—a family owned business that appeared more like a Vermont hick homestay than any reasonable business venture—we loaded up the pickup truck and hit the river. A few of the ski boys, including Adam and Steve, along with the company of my sophomore roommate George and two of Steve’s high-school friends, took advantage of the mid-eighty degree weather and had ourselves a full day in the sun. The Battenkill River, which is a tributary of the mighty Hudson River and flows through Vermont and New York, was the host to many water seeking adventurers looking to escape the oppressively hot sun on the cloudless June day. Our slow float down the river was mostly uneventful, only occasionally disturbed by a group of rowdy joe’s who couldn’t seem to maintain control of their canoes, hardly keeping them afloat. The trip lasted just over two hours and our spirits/energy remained high with the nourishment of chips and cold refreshments supplied from the cooler in tow. The day ended at a picturesque, small Vermont town square, appropriately adorned with a covered bridge, an old church, and a number of surrounding farms.

We baked in the sun, working on tans and sunburns for another hour or so, replenishing with burgers and dogs. Though most of us came out of the day with noticeable burns—mine perhaps the most severe as a result of forgoing any sunscreen application—it was a fine day, and we were pleased with the refreshing summer activity.

Whitewater rafting photos!

2010-06-01T08:47:00.001-04:00

I finally got the photos from the Whitewater rafting trip that Andrew set up for the team in April. Andrew and his older brother Joe ('98 SLU alum), took us down the Hudson with Whitewater Challengers out of North Creek, NY. Water was cold but the level was pretty decent. Some fantastic chili at Morehouse's helped to warm us up before heading back to campus.

Alpine vs Nordic Spring Softball Game

2010-04-28T08:16:00.003-04:00

The Nordic team took the win in our first Alpine vs Nordic spring Softball grudge match. After much trash talking Fanfare and dressing up we had fantastic weather for the event played on the Saints Softball field this past Friday afternoon. An early run by both sides kept the game tied at 1 all until sometime around the 5th or 6th inning when the floodgates started to open and the Nordic team started to pile on the runs. From there it was pretty much over, not sure how many innings we played or what the final score was but it was agreed that the Nordic team took the win. Everyone came dressed in "formal attire" and enjoyed a cookout afterwards.

Season awards were also given out.

Nordic Men's MVP & Axtell award winner: Eric Wolcott '10

Nordic Women's MVP & Axtell award winner: Johannah Ludington '10

Alpine Men's MVP: James Anderson '10

Alpine Women's MVP: Ashley Durham '13

Alpine Fritz Sample Award was presented at moving up day to Graham Flinn '10

NCAA 20K freestyle

2010-03-13T15:19:00.003-05:00

Their goal was to mix it up with the big boys. They sure did. It was a very exciting race (4laps of a 5K course). After 5K Eric and Ben where about 8th and 12th and Zach was in the mid 20s. All doing well and going for it, I couldn't ask for more. At 10K Eric had moved into 5th with Ben right behind 6th or 7th. Zach was still fighting for mid 20s and holding well. However this proved to be a little to much to early as by 15K Eric had dropped back to 20th and Zach to 30th. Ben was still skiing strong and holding in the top ten with a pack that was 8-13th. Ben stayed with this group with a top ten in his grasp with about 200 meters to go. Around the last hard corner going into the stadium he tripped up on his pole and the 3 he was with got buy him putting him in 13th, a great finish but hard to be really happy with since All-American was certainly possible at that point. Eric dropped back to 28th and Zach finished in 36th. I think it was good day, certainly it looked like it was going to be outstanding day for little while but I am really proud of how well these guys came back after the 10K classic to prove they could race with the best.
The guys finished 8th as team, the top finish for schools that give athletic scholarships.

Classic 10K, glad thats over

2010-03-12T17:06:00.002-05:00

Well assuming you have looked at results, not an impressive day for us. Probably one of the most challenging wax days of the season and all coaches struggled with decision of using klister and covering or hardwax on a binder. I think we just waited to long to prep the klister option for the guys to try and between that and a first race at altitude it just was not a good day. I think it is behind us now, maybe even a little pressure is off for tomorrows 20K free. Should be some really fast skiing not that we have been through a thaw freeze cycle twice.

klister klister klister

2010-03-10T20:42:00.002-05:00

got pretty sticky today I think we tried just about everything we had and liked quite a bit of it. Harder to decide what was best. However now that it has been snowing a bit we could see some very different conditions for tomorrows classic race. We have klister, hardwax, and zeros all waxed and ready to go. I will try to send a twitter message shortly after the race for those that follow. Live time should also be available, check out the eisaskiing page.

NCAAs Steamboat, getting ready

2010-03-09T09:15:00.002-05:00

Our trip out was relatively uneventful. All equipment arrived unharmed on Saturday, we stayed overnight in Denver. On Sunday after a 3hour drive through some very stunning scenery we arrived in Steamboat at noon. When we got here it was sunny and about 60F, t-shirt weather. After a lengthy check in at NCAA registration and getting unloaded at the hotel we got on the course by around 3:30pm by which time the clouds had rolled in the and it started a light rainy pellet snow, not pleasant but whatever everyone was glad to be out skiing finally. The conditions were okay but the course had not been groomed for a couple days so not nearly as good as it could have been.

Monday morning was still overcast but fairly warm, probably around 34F when we got on the trails after getting the klister on. The photos are from Monday, the boys did some classic ski intervals. They are pretty pumped about the course which we all agree is good one for them. Some solid climbing but no real walls to go up. It is good to be settled in and have time to ski the course a bunch before races start on Thursday but there is also a lot of downtime so it can get a bit boring. We had a great dinner last night with the Knowles family who came out for the week and rented a condo just down the road. Some easy skate today. A little light snow this morning but we are mostly on refrozen old snow.

Regional Champions!

2010-03-02T20:35:00.002-05:00

The mens Nordic team won both days of the regional championships at Middlebury this past weekend. It is going to be hard to top such a historic finish but I don't think Eric, Ben, and Zach are quite through with shaking things up yet. On to NCAA championships in Steamboat, I will try to keep you posted.

The overall combined team score with alpine of 5th was also our best of the season and probably the best since the mid 90s.

http://fasterskier.com/2010/03/slu-men-and-dartmouth-women-top-team-scores-bernstein-and-sargent-top-points-leaders-at-eisa-regionals/

http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results10/mc2010tm.htm

Middlebury Photos

2010-03-01T14:15:00.001-05:00

Here are photos from the classic race at Middlebury. Great work this season everyone, it was a fun one.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5443430324708764481&authkey=Gv1sRgCNW-6qjdw8qaQw&feat=email

enjoy!

Morehouse Wins!

2010-02-22T20:10:00.002-05:00

Our assistant coach Andrew Morehouse won the 10K freestyle race up in Gatineau on Sunday.

Results at http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=46040

Margaret Fellows, Allison Hall and Hollis Keith also raced fairing well in a nearly 200 racer field. Well not sure how Hollis did since he is missing from results, have to find out more about that.

Williams was a bit up and down. Zach turned in a fantastic classic race finishing 5th to strengthen his chances for NCAA championship berth he still needs probably a top 7 freestyle finish to qualify which he is more than capable of but some other notables on the circuit turned in season best performances. Eric and Ben had another decent weekend with Ben improving his NCAA point total and Eric racing unlucky but well in the classic race where he ran over one of the early starters who was lapping though and lost about 45sec out of the start. Out for a little vengeance on day two he was leading at the halfway point but could not hold the pace for two laps, sometimes though you just have to go for the win. It will most certainly come down to the final day with about 6 guys in the hunt for the last 2 or 3 qualification spots including Zach. If we can qualify 3 (a full mens team) that would be the first time since 1994 I think.

The women certainly are showing signs of improvement as the season comes to a close. Caroline had 2 solid top 30 (27/22) finishes Johannah fell in the classic but came in 24th in the freestyle and Leah finished 34/29th. Kelsey can't seem to shake some cold that has been dragging on now for most of the season but toughed it out and I think will be someone of note in upcoming years.

Williams Skate

2010-02-21T15:25:00.005-05:00

Here are the photos that my dad took at the Williams skate race. Tough course, good snow. Things look and feel like winter now that its snowing again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5440729405778833009&authkey=Gv1sRgCPrTvNekw9uhWQ&feat=email

You'll probably have to copy and paste the link, thats the only way I've been able to get it to work.

Enjoy!

Just keep digging

2010-02-15T14:14:00.003-05:00

When it comes right down to it the ability to simply suffer is second only to quality consistent training in terms of things that an athlete can control in this sport. Ones natural talent is not something that you can do much about. Some coaches refer to it as the pain dance, I like to think of it as digging a hole where the only way out is to keep digging deeper knowing that somehow, some way you will come out the other side.

I have seen it in all the great performances this year on the team. As Ben Knowles moved into second place in the 20K classic this weekend I just yelled to him "these guys just don't know how much pain you are willing to endure." Of course truth be told he didn't know how much they would endure and so you have a race and it was a great one. While not able to overtake Bernstein of UVM for 1st Ben was able to out kick Johnson of MID for second and post the best individual result of both his and my career as a coach. It was also the best finish of a slu nordic skier since Eric Tremble back in 2001.

The senior men just seem to keep rolling. Wolcott put in the 2nd best split of the day in the 3x5K free relay to keep the guys in 3rd place and Wetherell put in an increadable 2nd half of the 20K moving up to 11th after some tangles at the start had him in the mid 20s at 5K.

The women while not having a great season thus far did show some signs of improvement over this past weekend. I am certain we will see considerably better results over the last two weeks.

Historic weekend for the Boys

2010-02-10T09:02:00.002-05:00

Certainly the big news over the past weekend for the team was the outstanding back to back performances of our senior men Eric Wolcott (5th/4th), Zach Wetherell (9th/10th), and Ben Knowles (10th/13th). It has probably been around 20years since we have had 3 in the top ten on a day. Their combined team score for both days placed them 3rd for the weekend just behind Middlebury and Dartmouth. A first place team finish is certainly possible and we are strong in both events. The women were a bit flat this past weekend but trying to put that behind them and refocus our efforts on the upcoming races.

UVM Photos

2010-02-07T22:21:00.002-05:00

Here's the link to the photos that my dad took at the UVM Carnival this weekend. There's a bunch that are of people my parents know on other teams mixed in.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Marvinney/UVMCarnival2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCIiJgvidkfOW0gE&feat=email#

Enjoy!

Momentum is Building

2010-01-25T20:19:00.002-05:00

This past weekend at St. Mikes I think indicates that momentum is building for the team. We had two days that were really close to being some of the best I have had as a coach. Leah Hart is starting to show some impressive form as indicated by a career best 16th place finish in the 10K freestyle just 1 second behind Johannah Ludington who skied a career best freestyle finish of 15th. Before I even hit enter on the split timer at about 4.5K I could tell it was going to be good for Leah. Sometimes you just look fast.

On day two we were treated to another beautiful blue bird day for the classic sprint, I don't think conditions could have been much better. Our senior men really came through in an event that I know they had been looking forward two. We have not had much success over the years in sprint racing in any form aside from a few individuals here and there. I got to witness what was probably the best relay exchange I have seen when Ben Knowles came around on his first of three sprints to tag off to Eric Wolcott. Ben was just behind 2 or 3 other teams in 6th I think as the others went for the exchange Ben shot through on the inside to tag Eric down farther in the zone (a real smart move on Eric's part). This was key to getting Eric out ahead so he could just lay the hammer down and move solidly into third. Zach had skied a conservative but smart first leg and avoided any tangle ups saving his efforts for his second and third sprint. While I thought that we could possibly win this it was a fantastic 3rd place finish of which I am quite proud and was very exciting to watch, I really can't wait for the freestyle relay at Dartmouth in a few weeks.

SLU Carnival photos

2010-01-18T20:57:00.003-05:00

My family made the long trek over to Lake Placid from Maine this past weekend and my dad came prepared with his camera and has posted photos from both races in a web album. Here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5427787896262534913&authkey=Gv1sRgCPe1-b6Qq_iVXg&feat=email

There is also a web album for the UNH criterium that some of us did the weekend before: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Marvinney&target=ALBUM&id=5427802768268025409&authkey=Gv1sRgCOCI3Zr-nc-58wE&feat=email
Eric, Zach, Teo, and myself along with Leah and Hannah on the women's side went over to Jackson NH for this race the weekend before the carnival as a chance to get a little racing tune up. The field was mostly UNH, Williams, and Bates skiers with a few from UVM, Harvard, and of course the SLU crew. The race didnt have a predetermined distance, just the notice that it would be between 25 and 35 minutes long and that we would be told when we had three laps left on Jackson's 1.4km sprint loop. I don't really remember too much about the race since it was over a week ago with a carnival in there as well, so I'm not really sure what to say about it. I thought it was a fun race despite being very hard. I felt strong, especially on the climbs Eric was pretty near the top with Teo not too far back, and without a broken pole Zach would have been up there too. Combined with a 10k classic the next day, it was a good confidence booster and tune up going into the race season, which is now moving into full swing with one carnival already done.

The 2010 season begins

2010-01-18T19:48:00.002-05:00

I am on the whole relatively pleased with the racing this past weekend. We got through a rather difficult classic day for waxing on Friday (klister, hardwax mix, zeros, the works) with 18 racers as opposed to the normal 12 size and had 3 career best finishes which included a 7th and a 5th. Unfortunately success was not quite as evident on Saturday with only a respectable finish on the women's side and a rather disappointing day for the men.

With that in mind I gave the weekend a great deal of thought before addressing it with the whole team after training Sunday morning. My main point of emphasis is that every race regardless of how well it is going for you offers many opportunities to improve. One very simple example would be when your skis just don't seem to be keeping pace on glide. What a fantastic opportunity to learn how to carry your speed better. Pole breaks in a mass start, an opportunity to work on your passing ability, when is the best time to get around someone, how do I time this?

I am very confident that we are ready physically to be competitive, there should be no excuses. Skiing is still pretty good at Higley, some new snow would be great though.

Race Updates: A 2-Part Post

2010-01-03T17:22:00.004-05:00

By Steve and Adam. Steve's account didn't work so he emailed me his post.

STEVE

Well it's snowing out. It's been snowing here since last Friday night, I'm not exactly sure how much snow we've gotten but it's a lot. Anyway I'm stuck inside watching football and I thought that I would write a post just for Adam since he has been telling me to since October. So the plan this weekend was to go and do a classic race in Craftsbury, but Mother Nature had other plans. I still wanted to get in the hard effort so I went up to Prospect to do a time trial by myself, not exactly the most fun thing. Anyway after warming up I skied a 10k on the Williams course. The skiing was pretty slow and soft with all the new snow, and a few trails weren't completely groomed. Although Prospect's skiing has been pretty good this break (Prospect is notorious for its bad grooming and high prices. Matt Briggs recently posted his senior thesis on fasterskier which had to do with ski area pricing. It's pretty interesting if you have time to check it out, I would post a link but I don't feel like finding it) (editors note: You can find the article HERE). I started off at a good pace but in order to push myself harder I wanted to negative split the race. I tried to ski long and smooth for the first lap and I think I did a pretty job doing that. I checked my watch at the 5k mark, 19:05, and started my second lap focused on finishing under 38:10. I tried to make up time in some places where I held back during the first lap, and I was pretty sure I was. After the final climb and sprint to the finished my watch read 37:43. While it wasn't as much fun as the Craftsbury race would've been I got my negative split and more importantly the race effort.
Since being home the trainings been going well. I did the Bolton Opener a few weeks ago and had a solid race then. I did a pretty big week this week and will continue that into early next week before taking it easy before camp. I haven't been sick which is also very important. I also skied with Knut a few times over break; he said he's doing well, working hard in school in Norway. It also sounded like some people had some decent results this weekend. Adam also did a time trial by himself after not making it to Craftsbury either and sounded happy with the effort. Wolcott, Connor, and Hollis made it to Craftsbury, Wolcott sent me a text saying he lead for most of the race but didn't have the pop to take the W. Teo also looked like he had a solid race yesterday at the Mount Hor Hop. So hopefully everyone else is doing well, I'm looking forward to seeing and training with people again at camp! Keep up the good work everyone.

ADAM

Like Steve mentioned I had planned on racing the Craftsbury Classic. I woke up at 6:30 and gave myself 3 hours to get to the race, despite the Mapquest directions estimating 1:30. I wasn't gonna let the snow get in my way. Unfortunately when I looked out the window the plow was just going by. Just looking out into the darkness you would never guess it was snowing, but the headlights of the plow illuminated a huge storm as it blasted through about a foot and a half of fresh snow. I wouldn't even be able to shovel out of my driveway in time to make it, and my parents would have none of this business of me driving in these conditions. Too bad I had already paid the $17 race fee online. So after the morning workout (a fierce 2 hour shovelfest) I headed up to Sleepy Hollow for a 10k classic solo timetrial. Again like Steve mentioned, tons of fun. Conditions were soft and slow, and new snow was coming on faster than Petter Northug's sprint finishes. My skied kicked for nothing, and though it was a little colder than 32 it was a perfect chance to test out my Zero's. Though I've never raced on them, I lent them to Bednar last year and she raced to 7th and 11th place finishes. Today was the perfect test for them. My friend and UVM Biathlete Danika made it up to Sleepy and was able to take some video footage. I raced what I think was about 10k. The high school race earlier in the week was two laps of a 2.5k loop. I raced the loop four times, and just like Steve, I decided ahead of time that I wanted to negative split the laps. Each time I went by Danika I shouted out times, and we compiled them at the end. I was really pleased with the effort. Obviously pacing is much easier when you're by yourself: no other racers, no pressure so to speak, no distractions, etc...but I found I was able to just go harder and harder. It was a really reassuring feeling to be able to demand more of your body and then make it happen. In the end I did almost negative split every loop, and my plan to bring the pain for a big last lap played out to textbook perfection. My times for each loop:

9:20
9:25
9:05
8:48

Again it was pretty slow conditions, as the video shows, but when you're having a good day you know it, and I was glad that the effort went so well. Here's some short clips.

My car Big Red is under there somewhere...The tally as of 6:00 tonight is 33 inches with more still falling!

Great days to be a skier

2009-12-24T14:08:00.007-05:00

Happy Holidays everyone! I know it's Christmas Eve, but all I can think about is being outside. My Grandparents are visiting, and they like it warm. My dad cranked up the fire in the furnace and the thermostat reads...hang on...81 degrees in here. I might pass out from heat stroke. Luckily, there's tons of snow outside for me despite the tropical conditions in my living room. A pretty good amount of VT ski areas were open when we got back for break, but the past few days have seen some nice fluffy powder and great skiing almost anywhere you choose. Steve came up for the Bolton Opener last Sunday (results HERE. I put SLU on my club but apparently it wasn't listed on the results?). I had been skiing there for 2 days prior and though conditions were great with wicked hard-packed skating, it looked like nobody would show up for the race. I was proved wrong on race day when a whole host of guys showed up from Team Rossi, UVM, Craftsbury and even CXC. The most well-represented crew though? Team SLUSKI, with Wolcott, Steve, Teo and myself, along with recent alums Issac Noyes and Angus McCusker. The race went well, and the next day Steve and I went to my home base, Sleepy Hollow, for some training on the St. Mikes Carnival courses. Should be a wicked steep hill and chaos for the classic sprint relay. Conditions were mediocre, but the next few days brought good snowfall. Yesterday I headed up to Trapps for some classic intervals. The plan called for 7 minutes: 6 being level 3 pace, with a 1-minute pickup of level 4 sandwiched in the middle. My goal was to practice the race course for the UVM carnival. The terrain worked out perfectly; I strode out the first level 3 effort on the gradual climbs at the low point of the course, hit level four as I hammered up the biggest, longest hill (if you raced it you know where I'm referring to), and kept it back to level 3 as I finished the climb and ended coming out of the woods into the stadium. After resting up and eating some lunch I went out again, this time with my summer training buddies/high school rivals Jared Supple (Colby) and Pete Hegman (UVM). We cruised around and I'm sure blinded some of the touring holiday guests with our vibrant displays of red, blue and green spandex from our respective schools. Different attitudes toward the sport, but it was obvious everyone was just psyched to be out skiing.

Tried out the self-timer on my parents camera at Bolton. Good skiing on Sunday, and even better conditions now I'm sure.

Dig the Hig

2009-12-12T16:50:00.001-05:00

Higley Flow up and running as of Wednesday. Classic tracks and all today. NYSEF opener in LP tomorrow, then exams!

Finally

2009-12-08T19:19:00.003-05:00

After some agonizing December rollerskis (the type no one really looks forward to), we finally got out on snow. With only a few inches falling in Canton, we headed south to the golf course in Star Lake to get some quality K's in. Though they weren't quite mid-winter conditions, I think it would be safe to say that everyone was pretty excited to finally be out on the white stuff. It was certainly encouraging to finally see some snow fall after what has been a very mild past few weeks. Hopefully there will be more coming, and with any luck, we may be racing in Lake Placid this weekend.

short clip from Stoneham

2009-12-06T16:43:00.002-05:00

I think Adam has already done a great job of summing up camp but I am finally getting around to downloading some pics from the camera. Most of which are blurry since I just can't seem to figure out how to take action shots. Recently though I did figure out how to take short videos which seem to capture the moment better for workouts anyway. Here is one of the boys hitting the bounding intervals hard at Stoneham.

Culture clash

2009-11-29T16:05:00.005-05:00

At around 8:00 last night Kyle, Connor, Bogden and I were in Cornwall, crossing the water to the USA. With our stomachs full of gas-station A&W burgers, we gunned our 15-seater gas guzzler over the bridge and blasted the Team America theme song as we rolled up to customs. That's when I realized how much I love our country. We do everything over-the-top and love every minute of our indulgent lifestyles. Of course, as a responsible team we do our best to shed the image of the typical lazy, environmentally destructive American stereotype. Every once in a while though, you just have to embrace your heritage. This was one of those times. We all needed some good old 'merrrcan time after a tough week of hammering it out Canuck-style in Stoneham. Intervals, s'il vous plait! Though we got our snow feet wet on a 500m loop for a few days, most of the week was devoted to hard training either by foot, rollerski or Go-Kart. Some of us (me) learned the hard way that Mariokart driving abilities don't hold up so well when you're in the real deal. All in all there was a positive atmosphere despite the lack of ski time. Some incredibly tough workouts stand out, like switchback rollerski striding intervals, a great 2.5 hour trail run and all-out bounding ladders, but a couple of us agreed most of the week felt like a consistent blur of naps, egg-frying and sore appendages. Mostly shredded quads, particularly for Lanky who (with a broken wrist) toughed it out with all legs all week. Maybe they don't have dollar menus or SUVs in every driveway, but our neighbors to the north know how to accommodate skiers. When it comes to training like, this I guess Canada's alright.

Smooth roads and no traffic made the local park a great place to train

Baby Calvin, taking some fashion notes from Wolcott

Kelsey and Andrew skiing the loop

We traded dinner duty each night: Wolcott and Lanky's kabobs

skiing?

2009-11-27T13:31:00.002-05:00

After skiing on the manmade loop at Foret on Tuesday I had pretty much decided that it was not worth the 45min drive and battle for space that would be part of getting on snow. Since the point of training camp is training and not getting on snow at all costs (while it would be nice) I decided to focus efforts on utilizing the terrain and sites available for dryland. This went exceeding well and I think that even though our on snow time was very limited this was quite possibly one of the best training camps I have experienced and run as a coach. We are finishing it off with a hard bounding session we did this morning up the ski slope at stoneham, with a recovery run this afternoon. The forecast is for snow overnight but it won't be enough to immediatly open more Ks at Foret. I called and tried to get some time reserved on the loop for the am only to be told that they were full and no time could be scheduled.
So we are left with either a rollerski at Jaques Cartier park and then pack up and leave or pack up and head for Gatinue Park in Ottawa for a rollerski there.
We were going to head home on Sunday but given the conditions have decided to get back a day early so everyone can get caught up school work and resettled for the final drive toward the end of the semester.
At least it looks to be turning a little more winterlike with some snow forecast for Northern NY and other parts of New England. Hopefully we will all be on some quality snow soon.

Go Speed racer

2009-11-26T21:49:00.002-05:00

Gokarting in Quebec city and a stroll in the Old Quarter. Andrew and I were trying to think of some suprise fun for the end of the week and I think we might have a new yearly tradition that involves stinking of gas and oil. It was not environmentally friendly but it was certainly fun. Wolcott and Beano made good on their trash talk winning overall and turning in the fastest lap time while finishing second respectively. It took me a couple laps and nudge from behind to figure out that the only real way to make an effective pass was basically to push the cart in front of you out of the way. We may have stretched the language barrier excuse a little far as most didn't seem to pay attention to the yellow caution flags that repeatedly came up as the less deft of us has to be turned around after spinning out by the swift footed attendants who appeared rather exasperated with us toward the end.
The absurdly warm weather made walking around the old part of the city comfortable at least. Sorry about forgetting the camera, but if you really follow this you have learned to expect that I often forget the camera and am not very good with it anyway.

Results from the kart race
1. Eric
2. Ben K
3. Connor
4. Hollis
5. Me
6. Andrew
7. Adam
8. Ben O
9. Tyler
10. Leah
11. Hannah
12. Margaret
13. Caroline

UP continued

2009-11-23T19:06:00.003-05:00

I figured I would just continue along Adam's line for what is going on up in Canada. Well we were not expecting much snow and that is what we got, not much snow. So day one was an excellent 2.5hr trail run from Jaques Cartier Park through the woods and over a river back to Stoneham. Actually for not having a map this was probably one of my luckiest calls ever. At one point I said we could be about 10minutes away or we could be out here for 5 hours, I am really not sure.

Foret has skiing a reasonable 500meter loop that was okay for an easy skate in the morning. For the afternoon I decided we needed to hit it hard while everyone was still fairly well rested. The housing boom in Stoneham aided this effort by providing a rather quiet 1mile climb up into the mountain amongst several houses and then finishing on some new pavement and a building lot that will make someone a fine mountain home. An absolutely excellent workout that got the thumbs up from the residents who started watching our crazy workout that involved shuttling the team back down after every interval.

Hopefully Foret will have a little more terrain tomorrow for a couple of easier sessions on snow, if not we will do a ski in the am and a roll in the afternoon.

Well I have some pics but for some reason I can't get them to upload. Figures I also just found out I forgot a necessary cable for watching the video I took of the intervals.

Training is great though.

Up

2009-11-16T15:15:00.008-05:00

The team is finishing up a tough two weeks of training. Lots of intensity, lots of volume, lots of focus. Lots of up. Up mountains. Up the tempo. Up the pullups. Up the temperature. It's mid-November, but we rollerskied for three hours without shirts this Sunday. Up the complaining. Where's the snow? Why aren't we there? We practically live in Canada, but the only thing falling across the border is the value of our money. No time to worry about that when you've got this much intensity to be ready for. 3x6x30. 4-5x5-6. Up the multiplication. Up the effort, but only if you up the rest along with it. Maybe you have class until dark. Too bad, gotta get out there and get it done. Have a headlamp? Good. Up the brightness and ski off into the night. It's almost Thanksgiving. Up the speculation. Maybe it'll be a dryland training camp. Maybe we'll be kicking out four hour classic skis on hardwax. Either way, the preparation has to get done all the same. Train, rest, train, rest. Live it up.

Up mountains. We literally scaled the Eagle Slide rock face of Giant Mountain early this fall. Terrifying.

Steve in the SLU Quadathlon. Steve won the bike leg and SLUSKI Nordic won the event by 4+ minutes.

Lanky and I at SUNY Canton after dark. Sprint speeds with a little extra strength added in.

A typical North Country sunset

A final shout-out to the Snow Gods. This is from Quebec almost exactly one year ago.

Kiki gets a haircut

2009-11-12T19:59:00.001-05:00

Kyle was known for his hair before, and now even more so. Tonight we took the scissors to him for the mustache-bash (notice his fu-manchu already prepped) on campus tomorrow. We had our friend Katherine (who's given both Ben and I haircuts before) use her skills to whip up Kyle a sweet new mop.

7 Springs Spa and Resort visit #3

2009-11-10T19:34:00.003-05:00

I believe this makes the third visit to this wonderfully long hill in the woods of Colton (maybe Parishville) twice since the start of official training and once during captains practice in September. We went at it really hard today with 4-6 repeats up the hill with 4 full out bounding sections within each. Getting dark early now so the pics are a bit grainy. The team looks great and aside from a few who have been sick it seems that most have managed to stay healthy even with the onslaught of flu cases on campus over the past two weeks.

I wish I had some pics from this morning. After a short stationary bike interval session we tried some yoga. First year Connor Hunt showed off some rather impressive yoga skills.

All in all a very solid day, hope it gets cold soon though we are looking forward to some snow.

Going Fast

2009-11-05T22:04:00.002-05:00

A short clip from a sprint work out today. This was toward the end of 3 sets of 6 x 30sec. I am impressed in the ability that most on the team have to go really fast on rollerskis. It is considerably, like night and day, faster than the sprinting speed that I had on rollerskis when in college even as a fairly decent college skier myself, a little over ten years ago. I think the anty is always getting upped as to the level of speed training that can be done on rollerskis. There were no crashes and no broken poles during this workout and everytime was a full out sprint.

Ability on rollerskis is something that I have been stressing to the team for the past couple of years now since it is rather hard to work at being forward and aggressive with your technique if you don't have the skill and confidence on rollerskis. I think all the junior clubs and programs are helping a great deal with this as we continue to see an ever higher skill level of the athletes when they enter college.

River Road skate rollerski TT

2009-10-31T11:18:00.002-04:00

We certainly were not let down by the weather. Forecast was for clearing by midday but about 5 minutes before we were to start a steady rain accompanied by fog rolled in. About 30 sec after the last finisher it stopped. Results will be posted on the team info webpage probably monday but Zach successfully defended his title making it 4 for 4 winning this event every year since he was a freshman. I doubt anyone had faster times than last year due to the wet road surface. Caroline won on the womens side again as well.

The FLU has descended on SLU and that kept some on the team out of the event and probably out for the next week or so. Hopefully most of them can avoid catching it which unfortunately is rather difficult within the close confines of campus life. I suppose the best we can hope for is for it to run its course prior to Thanksgiving break in Quebec.