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...

"East-Coast Bulls#!&"

First-year Evan Martell grew up in Vermont, but he was a Sun Valley transplant for the past few seasons before coming to SLU. After being pampered with bright, dry, bluebird weather for the last 24 months, he gets irate at the first drop of rain or cloud in the sky.

     "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 -