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Skiing and running uphill

By on 28 May, 2018 in Junior Blog

Another week in the books toward summer training. Everyone is counting the weeks left of school at the start of each session and there is a lot of anticipation building toward what we hope is our best summer yet.

This week we broke out of the bike paths for our first ski on the “open road” down by the Round Church. It’s probably one of the most recreated roads in the whole county so it’s nice to feel like at least a portion of the cars actually know what we’re out there doing as we roll alongside the beautiful banks of the Winooski river with the backdrop of Cochran’s and the Green Mountains on our other side.

The footage is a bit rough but we got after it with a few repeats up the gradual hill on the backside of Greystone.

Coach Rick came out to help lead a group during the ski. Unfortunately a good chunk of the group had left when this photo was taken but the early evening lighting was too good to pass up!

On Saturday it was time for the first uphill run test of the season. We yet again headed up to Bolton to push ourselves as hard as we could for a nice little all-uphill jaunt. It was a good start to the season with Ben and Ali nearly hitting PRs, Magda having her fastest time in 2 years, and Hanna giving it her all in her first (of many?) Bolton tests.

Ali racing for the top, and inching closer to that 20-minute barrier

Time for even more training and bigger, longer sessions this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fit Summer

By on 21 May, 2018 in Junior Blog, Uncategorized

There’s a Hemingway book called “The Dangerous Summer” that recounts a season’s worth of bullfighting between two masters of their craft in Spain. Each bullfighter has a different style, but they are equally impressive and accomplished.

That’s sort of like reading the plethora of ski blogs out there, as athletes and teams with different styles and methods all try their hardest to be as fast as possible come winter.

So you could consider this “The Fit Summer” as we strive to find the next level of performance that’ll keep upping the bar. Fitness has sort of become a buzzword in the ski world recently…sometimes more sarcastic than serious (as in, posting an extremely short workout and talking about how you are “working on fitness”), but it’s a good reminder that the end-game of skiing, and the way to be fastest in many respects, is to just be one of the fittest racers out there.

We’ve started to turn up the intensity a bit as we get more and more comfortable running and rollerskiing, and I think the Pugs are definitely looking Fit.

Ben and Timmy getting in a little L3 running on the Richmond River Trail

On Tuesday last week we did some running intensity on the River Trail in Richmond, and on Thursday we were on a different sort of trail; the bike path at UVM. In fact, UVM coach Perry Thomas joined us for that ski and is going to be working with the group this summer! The roster of awesome coaches, both new and returning, continues to grow. Sara, Perry, Laurel, Rick, Liam…what a time to be a Pug!

With athletes qualifying for camps and trips regionally, and more camps and training collaborations opening up for everyone, the summer is more fitness-goal-oriented than ever. We’ve got things to prepare for, not just when the snow flies but throughout the year and months ahead. That’s a good thing, since it narrows the focus and keeps everyone tuned-in to the next challenge and benchmark heading toward winter.

Speaking of winter, we DID still find snow up on Bolton Saturday morning scoping out the course for next week’s first uphill run test of the season. It looks like there’s probably going to still be some white stuff to navigate during the test next week at this rate!

A few patches of snow dot the trail on the upper reaches of Bolton!

 

Biathlon Summer Opportunities with EABC

By on 14 May, 2018 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

This summer Ethan Allen Biathlon Club will be offering a variety of programs including a running biathlon race series,  Junior and BKL aged training programs. Youth program  training starts June 5 and you can sign-up online to reserve your spot.

Youth Program Overview

Program Duration:  Jun 5 thru Sept 31, 2018

Age Groups & Cost: 

BKL (Ages 10-13):         $75 one day/week (Tues 5:30 – 6:30)

Juniors (Ages 14-18): $250 two days/week (Tues/Thurs 5:30 – 7:00) +$75 ammo

For more details and information contact John Madigan

MNC Summer Singlets

By on 13 May, 2018 in Uncategorized

ORDERING CLOSES TOMORROW, MAY 15TH!

MNC Summer Singlets

Get decked-out for summer in our new singlets from Podiumwear! Perfect for running, biking, or the gym. Men’s and women’s versions available. Use the storefront code “mncsinglet” and order by May 14th!

MNC Summer Singlet Order

We are rolling!

By on 13 May, 2018 in Junior Blog

It’s been a sunny two weeks for Junior spring training and we have been exploring some of our favorite spots and trails. On a very hot and summer-y Tuesday last week I decided we could all probably enjoy a snack break partway through our trail run. I ran up into the hills above Richmond before training and stashed a watermelon at a trail intersection. Sure enough we were all sweaty and tired and the watermelon hit the spot.

Nice trailside snack, unless your Timmy who doesn’t like watermelon (?!?)

On Thursday we had our second rollerski of the year. We’ve stuck to the bike paths at WCS for these initial 2 sessions to get our wheels back under us and focus on the basics. Hanna is our newest rollerskier and she’s made a TON of progress in just 2 days. I heard there may have been some extra practice happening in the neighborhood at home too 🙂

We were also joined by Eli who stopped into the session to see how his lower body handled skiing after working through some injuries this spring. It was a complicated year for sickness and injury with the Pugs this season and Eli was no exception, but it looks like things are on the upswing.

Below is a short video clip from some pickups in the neighborhood just past the school:

We worked on good snappy initiation with the poles and also getting a good relaxed push with the legs especially on fast-gliding gradual downhill terrain (there’s a lot of that around Williston). Everyone looked really phenomenal as I hope the video shows. I think this has a lot to do with our late winter and being able to basically keep skiing right into May and then jumping right onto rollerskis without an awkward break for the body to forget the motions. Just like how the Norwegians do it!

On Saturday it was trail run #2 in Richmond, and Hanna’s mom snapped this photo of the gang in action. Another nice day and a good session to get the base building up for the summer.

The woods are starting to look more and more green in VT

This week we’ll keep the work going but add in some more distance and on-time. Plus, we’ll have the course preview at Bolton on Saturday for the following weekend’s (May 26) first uphill run test! Almost hard to believe we are going to embark on that but we always have the first test around the end of May/start of June. Let’s go Pugs!

 

 

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