"Look at this straight-up East Coast Bulls#!%!" he proclaims loudly on any workout taking place in less-than-perfect conditions. Meng, also used to West Coast summers of hard-packed manicured trail runs, brings out the old "we don't have this crap in Tahoe" speech whenever he trips on a tree root or a pile of wet leaves.
"Having such nice conditions all the time out West is great for training," Meng mused Tuesday as we ran alongside the Raquette River at Stone Valley.
"Yeah, and it also makes you complacent and soft!" I replied (maybe with some more aggressive language), eager to defend my East Coast upbringing.
Instead of fighting back, Meng agreed with me.
Being uncomfortable is a natural part of ski racing. If you live and train in a cold, wet, empty landscape like we do, you get to ingrain a certain level of toughness with every workout. And when you add tough workouts to a tough setting, you really induce a final layer of mental-strength: either suck it up and get it done, or you just won't survive
With that in mind, Ethan and I have a list of all the toughest and hardest workouts SLUSKI has, and we've been incorporating one per week starting after Mid-semester break a few weeks ago. The Dpole Derby, the Higley Bounding Loop, Russell Hill yesterday...
It's too bad the body can't sustain these hard efforts day after day...instead of getting dreary and whiny, everyone's been getting more fired up for these workouts than ever. The hardest workouts were my favorite as an athlete and they're by far my favorite as a coach: everyone is really into it, technique and fitness gains are really brought to light, and there's a definite sense of complete satisfaction on the van ride back to campus. Everything we do is geared toward getting faster, but on a cold November day these are the workouts where you really feel like you're faster before you even finish your cooldown.
Connor came out to help shoot some video at Russell Hill yesterday, as Ethan and I were shuttling skiers back down the steep hill after each repeat. Here's a little footage -
It's too bad the body can't sustain these hard efforts day after day...instead of getting dreary and whiny, everyone's been getting more fired up for these workouts than ever. The hardest workouts were my favorite as an athlete and they're by far my favorite as a coach: everyone is really into it, technique and fitness gains are really brought to light, and there's a definite sense of complete satisfaction on the van ride back to campus. Everything we do is geared toward getting faster, but on a cold November day these are the workouts where you really feel like you're faster before you even finish your cooldown.
Connor came out to help shoot some video at Russell Hill yesterday, as Ethan and I were shuttling skiers back down the steep hill after each repeat. Here's a little footage -
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