Snowdancing

All eyes are on the Laurentides' long-range forecast this week as everyone tries to push through one more week of dryland before heading to Canada for Thanksgiving Break training camp. Last week everyone got a bit of a break, as the hard training and shorter days were really starting to take a toll. We backed off just before the breaking point, eliminating an interval workout and morning practice from last week's schedule. On Saturday, we headed down to Mt Arab, just outside of Tupper Lake, and did some hard uphill running intervals as our one focus workout of the week. This "mountain" has a fire tower and cool views of the northern Adirondacks, yet it only takes 11-12 minutes to get to the summit when you're fit and running fast. The men went up three times, the women twice. The conditions were cold and clear, with mud, ice and snow. That's all likely out of the picture now that we've had back-to-back 60 degree days, but hopefully the snow guns are still running up north.

Longboards were all the rage at SLU my Sophomore year (2009/10). Then they fell out of style, only to come back this year for some reason. The access road to the Mt Arab trail was really nice for carving (if you're Reed), sitting (Calvin) or skeleton-ing (Kelsey)

The other big news, which you already know if you follow the various other social-media outlets of the team, is the newest addition to the ski team armada: The SLU-Haul. A gigantic heated, insulated, wired wax trailer that will be towed to races behind our new Chevy 3500 Duramax HD Diesel pickup truck. Everything is big, loud and red:

The giant snowflake-logo on the side is forthcoming...