First Week Back!

 Hi everyone,

It's official, we are back up and running here at SLU! Upon arriving to campus, we quarantined in our rooms for four days, mainly doing school, indoor workouts and going out when we had to pick up meals or get another PCR test on campus. Going from Phase 0 to Phase 1 meant that everyone's second PCR test had to come back negative, which thankfully they did. We then got released from Phase 0 and entered Phase 1 (which we are currently in), meaning we can go outside to practice and class, but masks and social distancing are still required.  

Higley is looking fresh! (PC: Gabby '21)

We started training officially as a team Tuesday January, 18th. And for going since last March without the whole team being together (because some people were off campus in the fall), seeing everyone training together was so nice! We got dumped with snow while we were in quarantine (snowing a little everyday), so Higley Flow had a solid couple of new inches on their base. The golf course has been groomed for classic single track, and the practice fields has been groomed for skate (Thank you GH!). To abide by COVID regulations, we have two vans leaving at different times in the afternoons to accommodate both people's class schedules and keep the van capacity capped at eight people total, something we had to do last semester as well. 

This week has consisted of mostly an average training week for us. On Tuesday, we did 4 min classic intervals starting at the house near the pump station and making a loop going up to the lodge, and heading back down the main road. We've previously done this in the fall semester as bounding intervals, and they really get the heart rate up! Good, aerobic efforts are always a good start to the week.

Wednesday consisted of a longer 2 hour skate ski, focusing on one pole drills around the camp loops. Thursday was classic specific strength, focusing on double pole, no pole and single stick efforts on some of the flatter campground loops. On Friday, we did a solid skate speed workout starting with 5 minutes of 30 sec on/30 sec off, and decreasing down to 5 minutes of 10 sec on/ 50 sec off. We've got some rockets on this team!

On Saturday, we competed against Clarkson's Nordic Ski Team in an asynchronous 10k classic time trial at Higley Flow. Our team warmed up and raced at 10:00 AM in 30 second interval starts with the women going first, and the men following. Once everyone finished, the SLUSKI team went off to go cool down while the Clarkson team then raced. Our times were then compiled in a spreadsheet found below:

10k Men and Women's Results (PC: Amanda '24)

That was a very cold morning!! It was sunny and in the single digits while we were racing, so we really put our bodies (and lungs) to the test. Although, the beauty of it being so cold was that our kick was spot on! The team did well, and it was a great opportunity to get back into race mode in a low-stakes environment with good competition. Like always, the first race effort of the season doesn't determine the rest of the season, and can act as a base of what to work on for next time. 

On Sunday, some of the team did a classic OD at Higley to top off the week. It was actually colder than Saturday, as we started skiing at -8*F and warming up to a balmy 5*F by the end. Again, we had perfect set tracks, sunshine and solid kick. It was a great way to end the week! Tim '21 and Kai '23 headed down to the Snow Bowl on Sunday to get in some backcountry skiing, and likewise had a beautiful day to ski.

Snow Bowl snow! (PC: Tim '21)

Ready to rip (PC: Tim '21)

From Sunday's OD at Higley; hi sunshine! (PC: Charlie '23)

Robyn with the stride and glide (PC: Amanda '24)

Hi Dana! (PC: Charlie '23)

We are looking forward to racing this Thursday and Friday at Jackson, NH! More to come on that development. Until next time, we'll see you on the trails.

-Gabby W. '21

An Update on the 2020-2021 Racing Season

Hi there!

I’m sure you loyal followers of the blog have been dying to know the answer to the one question we’ve been asking since NCAAs (half of it!) last spring: Race? Here at SLU we’ve been asking ourselves the same. The constantly changing world of a pandemic makes for a constantly changing upcoming race season. For now, here is an update on what the EISA racing circuit will likely look like for SLU.

PLEASE NOTE: this is unofficial! We are just athletes reading league updates around the circuit and speculating what we’ll be able to safely do while abiding by local, state, and national COVID guidelines. The information in this blog post is likely to change throughout the coming weeks and months. 

New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)

On October 8th, the NESCAC announced they are cancelling all winter season sports competitions. This announcement still allows for practices and individual institutions to organize outside competition at their discretion. What this means for Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, and Williams skiing remains dependent on their institutional, local, and state guidelines on travel and competition. That being said, with almost half of the EISA schools’ other sports not competing, a traditional EISA carnival season is already not looking promising. 

Ivy League

Similarly, the Ivy League (governing Dartmouth and Harvard) announced they are cancelling all intercollegiate winter sports competitions. Based on the announcement, it appears that athletics practices would be permitted, but travel for races seems to be out of the question for these schools. If the EISA is able to put together races (even unofficially), it seems Dartmouth and Harvard would be sitting these out for the year.

Liberty League

On November 9th, the Liberty League (in which most St. Lawrence University athletics competes) cancelled all winter sports competition and championship events. While this announcement does not specifically cancel the nordic ski season (as we compete in an outside league, the EISA), it does mean that holding athletic events will require stricter guidelines. Also important to note in this announcement is that smaller scale and unofficial events are not prohibited by the Liberty League so long as they are sufficiently safe. Within University guidelines, staying overnight for races will likely pose too much of a COVID exposure risk. For SLU Skiing, we will likely be limited to racing within realistic day driving distance (New York State and Vermont).

Vermont State

With a recent rise in COVID cases, the state of Vermont is implementing stricter guidelines that prohibit all recreational sports activities, likely impacting UVM, Middlebury, and St. Mike’s ability to practice or race for the foreseeable future. A stricter 7-14 day quarantine rule will also prevent out of state schools from travelling into Vermont to race and prevent UVM, Middlebury, or St. Mike’s from travelling out of state to race. Looks like we will have to get by without Craftsbury or Rikert this year :(

New York State

New York State recently relaxed travel restrictions regarding entering and exiting the state. Now, travelers from contiguous states (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) are exempt from quarantine and testing rules according to Forward NY guidelines. In theory, this would allow schools from these states to come to New York to race. However, as we’ve already mentioned, these schools are under restrictions of their own to prevent this from happening.

Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA)

With all that said, the EISA has yet to make an official decision regarding this season’s races. As of now, the EISA plans to hold five single-day races starting later in the winter season. These races are scheduled for Fridays to avoid some of the weekend-warrior crowds. Based on what we have discussed, there are some clear quarantine and travel issues given current guidelines, but the current EISA schedule is as follows:

1/29, St. Michael’s/Sleepy Hollow, VT: 5k/10k classic

2/5, Colby/Quarry Road, ME: 10k/15k skate

2/12, St. Lawrence/Lake Placid, NY: 5k/10k classic

2/19, UNH/Jackson, NH: 15k/20k skate

2/26, UVM/Sleepy Hollow, VT: 5k/10k classic

3/10-3/13, NCAA Championships/Jackson, NH

National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)

The NCAA has yet to make a formal decision on winter sports. NCAA national championships are still on, with UNH picking up the bid to host at Jackson (as Middlebury, by new Vermont restrictions, will be unable to host at Rikert). Given the current COVID-19 climate, it will certainly be a smaller affair, with talk about how to qualify (with most schools unable to participate in standard EISA races) still underway. Saying anything more than this feels like gambling, so I’ll stop. See the NCAA’s Covid page for more resources and information.

“Final” Verdict

So, where does all this leave us? For SLU, with other winter sports teams on hold for competition, and many EISA schools looking at limited participation, it is looking like local racing is most likely. For the beginning of the season, we will likely be doing some local time trials at Higley Flow. It is our hope to be able to race/time trial with Clarkson University and Paul Smith's College ski teams during the early season, or travel to Mt. Van Hoevenberg for other open race opportunities should they arise. In the late season, we hope to follow the currently scheduled EISA and NCAA races during late January, February, and March should travel restrictions and institutional guidelines allow it. Within the coming weeks this prediction may change drastically. Regardless, as we said when we arrived in the fall, we’re going to keep crushing hard workouts and preparing for racing, if only to be thankful to participate in this sport we all know and love so well.

That’s all for now. For more reading on collegiate skiing across the country, see this great article written by Minnesota man Luke Brown. Thanks for tuning in and we will talk again soon!

Until then, keep those hips forward,

Charlie Reinhardt ‘23