Mansfield Nordic Club

This was quite a busy week for the MNC Junior team. We started out with a great session together and a large group on Tuesday, but then found ourselves scattered a bit with the “Tour De Chittenden” High School events. It was an exercise in managing and balancing quality sessions with busy races!

Since we have quite a few Klaebo fans out there, and the Klaebo Vlog has taken the Nordic social media world by storm, I decided to really get into it this week and record at least a little bit of what we were up to every day. I frequently put together 1-2 minute “edits” of our sessions, but after this week-long vlog endeavor I have a lot more respect for Johannes Klaebo’s younger brother Ola, who edits and creates the vlogs for his brother every week!

[Note that more content, photos, and words follow below the embedded video!]

This week, having so many skiers off in various directions was a challenge. We get the most out of our training when everyone works together, but given the nature of our programming it’s been hard to guarantee that continuity. Right now we make do with schedule-swapping and training needs that make sense given each athlete’s priorities and obligations for that week, but I’m excited about a few possibilities we have lining up that could help streamline our club’s ability to have athletes working together, learning from, and skiing with, one another.

In terms of outside resources and opportunities, we are fortunate to have a lot at our disposal. We really are given all sorts of benefits and advantages thanks to amazing ski centers like the Range, Sleepy Hollow, and Craftsbury. Snowmaking is the norm for us, and I often am quick to complain about having to alter plans due to a grooming or snowfall headache here or there…but man do we have it good when you think about it. What Vermont and New England is able to do on a regular basis is on par with some of the best in the world.

The same can be said structurally and organizationally from NENSA. I attended a spring Board meeting at NENSA and questions that drive and influence many decisions revolve around “are we in-line with the best in the world, or on a path to compete with those who are?”

This isn’t just about offering training and racing opportunities: it’s the whole picture. Are the courses that Eastern Cups are held on tough enough to develop future World Cup skiers? Does our region have enough summer rollerski races like they do in Norway? Do venues that host events like BKL Festivals have snowmaking to ensure young skiers get effective time on skis? Do we promote Masters skiing enough to create a full-picture skiing society?

I can only speak to one, maybe 2 other regions from experience…but New England is a step above without a doubt. I’d like our club to continually be asking those same questions of ourselves…what races are we attending? Are they helping develop our skiers more and replicating the types of courses and race formats seen on the World Cup? Is a weekly training schedule fully-inclusive, offering a beneficial amount of time in the gym for strength training, long enough distance-training days, and a coherent and reliable off-day each week that can be planned and counted on?

The Supertour race this past weekend was a prime example…this race was a BIG DEAL, with live broadcasting, coaches bibs, chip timing, and a new 5k course at Craftsbury that seemed to feature even steeper and more intimidating climbs than ever before. I’m excited at the possibility of seeing this course more, because I think our skiers spend time on terrain that’s similar, and test themselves equally so, when they are with MNC and racing events like Eastern Cups.

How do you define a race course tough enough for FIS and the World Cup? Each lap of the 5k race course at Craftsbury featured 501 feet of climbing…meaning the men’s 10k involved over 1000 feet of uphill! For reference, the vertical drop of Cochran’s is 350 feet.

Craftsbury will be the host for US Nationals next January so you can bet we’ll be stringing together the toughest climbs we can find this summer for rollerskiing and running! Should be no problem since skiers love a challenge 🙂

Jenny skis a strong points race on Sunday and then took some great photos which you can see on the MNC Facebook page! I’ll share a few great ones below:

Gaelen out for another strong skate race! (photo by Jenny)

Kai had a great race on a course that had his name all over it with those steep climbs! (photo by Jenny)

Tim Cobb, relieved that he didn’t have to ski through that slush AND hit targets this time (Jenny photo)

Isaac speeding along with his race suit for next year (Williams) in the background! (Jenny photo)

Jenny on course, about to climb up Chip Hill located just past the entrance to the PAIN CAVE!

Also, we’d like to say happy birthday to Magda who celebrated her big day with…what else? A ski at the Range! Also, a Klaebo-themed birthday muffin since Magda is his number 1 fan:

Will is training and racing in Sun Valley, Idaho this year as part of their post-grad program. He took some time to share his story on the Intermountain Division website and it is certainly a good read for those of us here in the East! Will has been having a great season and we’re looking forward to watching him ski fast all the way through the winter!

Perspectives on being a PG Skier: by Will Solow

The choice to take a PG year was daunting as many of my friends headed off to college, some of whom continued to ski for the varsity team. For many of our competitive careers, skiing in college and making NCAA’s is an overarching goal. However, with the depth of skiers applying to New England colleges, skiing as a college freshman wasn’t a given for me without JN’s qualification as a highschool senior.

I started to explore gap-year options after I realized I may not ski my freshman year. Knowing that I wanted to ski varsity for Colby College in Maine, I leaned towards a post-grad year focused on skiing. While the East boasts the ski schools Stratton and GMVS, I knew I didn’t want to continue to compete in the East as I wanted the chance to move far away from home to grow as an individual.

Many post grads may be under the belief that the only point of a gap year is to improve skiing results, however I would argue that personal growth is equally important. The opportunity for personal growth is ultimately why I chose to ski in Sun Valley for the year before moving back East to Colby College. Sun Valley’s program has similar structure and the resources to rival GMVS and Stratton, but athletes live on their own or with a host family.

I currently rent with another PG athlete in Hailey and commute around 20 minutes to practice each way. While the cooking isn’t as good as meals from home, it has given me the opportunity to learn how to feed myself, budget, and shop for groceries (more difficult than it sounds when staring at aisles of food!).

The West Coast’s mountain ranges were a large for me. Even after living here for months, I continue to be in awe of the jagged peaks which are unlike anything in the smooth and lush Green Mountains. These peaks offer top notch hiking, mountain biking, and running with the bonus of altitude training. The rollerskiing does not live up to the road networks of the East, however it is easy to limit rollerskiing to intensity sessions and the SVSEF rollerski treadmill while volume training in the mountains.

Living without the responsibilities of school is a blessing for training through the fall and winter seasons, and for the first few weeks I lived out here, I did next to nothing aside from training, house cleaning, and cooking. This was great until I realized how bored I was outside of organized training. One of the challenges of not being in school was learning what to do with myself. I spend a fair bit of my time reading (hooray for the Ketchum Public Library!) and doing intern work for a local software company.

Having a form of extracurricular activity whether it be a job, internship, online course, or volunteer work is vital to a meaningful PG year. Finding the balance between training and personal growth has allowed me to mature, and I hope it will make the transition to a college athlete easier as I balance a heavy workload.