Last week Jessie Diggins and the T2 team put out a post saying they were holding some open workouts that anyone could come to. Naturally, even though we are 2 and a half hours away from Stratton we decided to make a journey!
We had a great day-trip, leaving in the late morning and getting in a sweaty, humid run at Pine Hill Park in Rutland. After the run, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and a little relaxation before hopping back in the van.
Nice little views from the trail at Pine Hill Park
Picnic lunch at the park in Rutland
We had a somewhat-eventful trip to Stratton as I was adamant the van could successfully arrive before running out of gas. Funny how it always works out to be 20 miles left, yet the “40 miles of fuel remaining” seems to drop faster than that…anyway, we made it! There were actually very few other people who seemed to have taken up Jessie on her offer, so the crew got to have some real quality experiences rolling through an agility course with Jessie, Will Koch, and Katharine Ogden before some head-to-head sprints including traditional starts, push-up starts, and laying-on-the-ground starts.
Agility ramps…you’ll find ’em everywhere these days
Rowan versus Diggins!
After the ski the clouds and impending thunderstorm parted just long enough to get a photo and some autographs. Really cool to have such an impromptu experience from the top skier in the world. Thanks Jessie!
Of course we weren’t quite done, as a mandatory pizza stop was needed in Rutland to break up the drive…and to refuel! If you can’t tell from the content of these blogs recently, we are big fans of pizza.
We had a great time at the Lost Nation Roll race in Craftsbury, where rollerski racing action was in full swing on the new paved loops. From a unique two-at-a-time start to spectators with cowbells, it was the closest race back to “normal” we’ve had yet! It wasn’t a huge field, mainly the Craftsbury juniors, the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, and MNC, but we brought the tent and really made it an “event” from the club side just because it was great practice for nailing the race-day vibe and preparation.
I sent some reflections to the skiers who raced, and figured I’d share them here as well in blog post form.
Part 1: Adam Learns a Lesson
My own admission and lesson learned: It was a unique lapping situation, and I didn’t realize Emma Crum had come around the lap lane partway through her race. When I saw her go by I thought she went straight on the course instead of lapping through. Of course I freaked-out and was on the radio wondering if she needed to redo some lap, whether or not I should say something mid-race to her (note: I did and it definitely just made it worse), and if her race time would get messed up.
But what really happened? Well, Emma was right and did the course exactly as she should have (and very fast, at that). Often people will say “this isn’t going to go well” or “I’m not ready for this” and I reply with “NOT WITH THAT ATTITUDE!”
Well, turns out I am just as susceptible to that…I was worried enough about people getting laps right and maybe messing it up, that of course I immediately assumed the worst when I thought something might’ve been off. So, lesson learned, nobody knows what you did on the course better than YOU. Emma trusted herself more than me, which was definitely the right move 🙂
Emma and Rebecca starting together
Part 2: Pro Skier Tips
Geo and Silas ready to begin
It was really cool to see the pros out there. As I said to a few on our team, you got faster and better at skiing just by doing this today and that is independent of how fast you went or how you felt in the race itself.
One big takeaway was not how so many of the top athletes used V2 a bunch (even on the hills), but how they were strong and peppy enough to stay upright, starting each motion from a tall and heightened position even on the steeper stuff rather than crunching down. Luke Brown does a good job of this (blue spandex, bib 27) and I also found a good clip of Caitlin Patterson really maintaining momentum.
Just the tempo of the top skiers was so consistent, which I think you’ll see in the overall clips. It’ll be a good thing for all of us to focus on in upcoming intervals, especially as we get to do more on rollerski loops…keeping the motions fast even when we get tired.
It was a solid day of racing with some strong results, some crashes (but nothing serious!), and lots of fun. Just seeing everyone push themselves in a race setting was great, and even though there were not “crowds” the atmosphere was very fired-up! Here are some results.
The parade was BACK this year! I think we saw more crowds than ever before along the side of Route 2 as MNC rollerskied along and, as is tradition, tossed some snow into the crowd.
Yup, real snow! At least as real as it gets in July. Every year (COVID being the exception) I drive down to UVM and shovel some fresh Zamboni snow into a few tubs, and the MNC trailer becomes the bringer of the cold stuff.
This year we had a good crew out to ski even despite the rain. I even snagged a few photos. We had a good time getting in a little extra skiing after, since the parade ends right at the Southridge neighborhood that we ski in all the time.
Our summer training has begun, with numbers quickly closing-in on the most we have ever seen! With our college training group, Junior athletes, and U14 rollerskiers, we are going to be reaching over 50 skiers and taking things to new record levels. This past week kicked-off our “traditional” summer program, with some Summer Olympic challenges. The group broke into teams and competed in everything from medicine ball shot-put to mountain biking to an gymnastics course.
It was a fun set of activities with times and scores that didn’t really count for anything…but just getting a big group together was a gold medal endeavor after making it through summer training last year! It is so great to be headed toward normalcy with programming and safe surroundings.
Everyone got a short rollerski in, and our new-to-rollerskiing group was already cruising about 10km only a couple days later. Thanks to our great familiar coaches like Perry, Sara, and Rick along with new summer coaches Kirsten and Craig from BHS! This summer is going to be a ton of fun.
A mountain bike relay, with only the newest and fastest bike model
Relay race with rollerski baton
Medball shot-put throw
“Gymnastics” course, while attached to a team rope
A big group for skiing as the “closing ceremonies”
Our collegiate training group (MNC University, as it has become known) had a great training camp in Lake Placid last weekend. It was pretty cool to experience our first training camp in about a year. We travelled across the lake to put in some serious efforts and hours in the Adirondack mountains, including a rollerski timetrial up Franklin Falls road, a ski on the brand new rollerski track at Mt Van Hoevenberg, and a long 14 mile trail run/hike checking off three “46’ers”.
We set up camp at Wilmington Notch State Park, right at the base of Whiteface Mountain. Much like the traditional North Conway location of Mountain Camp, this area is close enough to feel like a short drive, but totally different in terms of surroundings and vibe: it really feels great and helps the focus to be in a more unique location than our usual roads and trails.
After a trail run on Friday afternoon and a night of rainfall, we experienced perfect weather on Saturday and Sunday. We got right down to business with a rollerski timetrial up the notorious Franklin Falls road, the route used by the US Ski Team for big tests before the Climb to the Castle route got formalized. GMVS drove over to join us in this competition, and with a brutal net-uphill 10km course under a hot sun, it was definitely one to remember. You can check out some video footage below!
After a nice long cooldown on a much flatter road, it was off to the swimming hole for cliff jumping and rinsing off. Once Perry pointed it out, I could not get over just how BAD everyone’s sweaty pole straps smelled. So, a cleanse in some river water was definitely key.
Some serious “west” vibes on this track right now, at least until the grass grows in
That afternoon, we got to check out the brand new rollerski loop at MVH. As someone who spent time at SLU as an athlete and coach from 2008 to 2015, I spent a lot of time in Lake Placid. I got to see and experience the re-working of the famous Ladie’s 5km loop, as well as the construction of the rollerski loop at the jumping complex. But these new updates totally change the game…the rollerski loop is only 1.8km right now, but you can clearly see the room for intended expansion. And the new lodge and trail updates are truly insane. Justin Beckwith calls it “Soldier Hollow East” and he is not wrong.
We were warned again and again by organizers and locals that the loop is “really scary” and I brought the first aid kit right to the side of the trail…however, I think everyone underestimated the kind of skiers this group was made up of. Everyone rolled right around with no problem. There’s definitely some high speed sections, but nothing we couldn’t handle. My only complaint? They ripped out all the trees to make this place, even trees in between some of the trails. Obviously this was for construction and/or TV “spectator/camera” purposes…but the lack of grass and open terrain (especially on a hot sunny day) reminded me a little too much of Soldier Hollow…if you know me, you know the East Coast pride runs deep…we like our green and our trees! I have to say though, having a rollerski loop you can just go up to and ski on felt very European. Would you look at that? We didn’t have to submit reams of forms, papers, lease agreements, and US Government nonsense along with an arbitrary payment structure just to ski on a rollerski loop! Thanks Lake Placid!
We packed up camp that night in preparation for a 5:30am wakeup and a trip into Keene to complete a big Adirondack loop. Starting at the Garden trailhead, we ran 3 miles in to Johns Brook Lodge. From there it was up Gothics, my favorite high peak (complete with metal cables bolted into the highest, steepest rock portions for climbing) and across to Armstrong and Upper Wolfjaw. All three peaks at “46ers” meaning they are among the 46 peaks over 4,000′ high in the park.
Looped back to the lodge and ran the 3 miles back to the van for a total of 14 miles and just under 4 hours of training time. Woohoo! Trips to New York are of course never complete until you stop at Stewarts on the way home, where we loaded up on milkshakes, burgers, soda, and all of that delicious post-hike food. It was an awesome camp, and such a good feeling to be working hard together, travelling together, and being in a true camp environment after a long 20/21 season. MNC University is killin’ it!
