Mansfield Nordic Club

After an extended summer of sunny skies, sleeveless shirts, and dry singletrack in every direction, we finally received our expected dose of New England fall weather this week. “Norwegian training weather” I’ve started to call it recently, a more positive spin for what a former teammate of mine from Truckee, CA used to call “East Coast BS”.

Whatever you call it, the work still has to be done!

This Thursday we were hit with the worst of it during regular training time, as wet leaves stuck to the pavement of the rollerski track while a cold rain pummeled us from above. After all of us gathered inside take stock of the various clothing choices (note: no more shorts-and-tank-top combos, please) we took a collective deep breath and made the plunge. I made a game-day decision to not do our usual partner towing workout since that left one partner immobile while being towed, and today was not a day you wanted to stop moving. Instead we opted for a rotating grind of single-stick repeats on the gradual uphill of Pit Loop before cruising the rest of the trails via double poling.

Nothing like a rainy specific strength set

A closeup showing the beautiful soggy pavement!

Luckily we are pretty confident rollerskiers, and the rain didn’t actually deter us from getting in a good workout…Aidan was happy to demonstrate his slalom skills with the nice little trails of rain his skis made behind him:

On Saturday, the weather had done a total 180 and it was sunny and beautiful for a little adventure on the other side of the mountains. Early that morning Ali and Magda met me in Richmond for a field trip to East Warren for a skate timetrial with GMVS. Since Ali and Magda were the only U16 girls racing it wasn’t necessarily a “race race” but the setting of other coaches and athletes made it so the nerves got up a bit. The best part was that both finished the day having learned a few new things and with some new goals for the next few weeks. There were also several moments before, during, and after the race that made me really proud and psyched with some big progress these two have made with their approach to racing and their confidence.

Cooling down after the race with Sugarbush in the background (even a little snow!)

Found some new sunglasses to race in this year at the Warren Store when we had lunch with the GMVS gang

Last but not least, Saturday was also the VT State Meets for XC running and by the looks of the results the race did not disappoint! Many MNC racers were crushing it in the D1 race including Quincy (2nd overall!), Camille, Marika, Sammie, Lily, Isaac (5th overall!), Baxter (8th overall!), Kai, Gavin, and Charles. Way to go gang! Below is a photo from the SMS blog that I like because it also has both Baxter (red) and Kai (blue) in the shot!

Start of the D1 men’s race…can you spot Baxter and Kai?

In addition to the HS action, it was also the Middle School XC championships this past weekend at Trapps. Congrats to Ava (who has been training with the Juniors this summer and fall) for a great 3rd place finish, and MNC up-and-comer Carly Trapeni!

HS Results at Lancer Timing

MS Results at Athletic.net

We’ve been putting together a lot of big workouts this past week, as having a volume week coincide with Thurs/Fri off from school really allows for some freedom. Things kicked into high gear on Tuesday with some skate intervals that went from L3 to L4 focusing on good skiing as a pack and patient pacing.

Aside from a tough fall by Alex during the warmup (always be careful checking your watch and losing track of the trail!) everything went well and the hammering was well done. It’s getting dark quickly now, and since there was some electrical work being done on Tuesday we had to finish things up before total darkness ensued. Big, exciting things happening at the Range these next few months!

On Friday, a huge crowd of runners took to the Range for an XC race hosted by MMU. They didn’t race on the paved paths but instead went through the woods straight down to the old alpine hill and climbed the brutal woods trail all the way back up. Luckily, the MNC skiers who were competing are pretty familiar with hills.

Baxter ran with the main pack and moved up as the climbs got tougher to end up 2nd

Lily (3rd here) at the front of a big group near the finish!

Sammie (2nd here) racing up the hills behind the rollerski loops!

These are all pretty blurry, but here you can see Kai rocking both the shades and hat to look like a true skier

Cheering squad, looking like a squad for sure

Once the weekend hit, the great weather continued and we had ourselves summer-like days for two busy workouts. The first was a bounding session with the St Mikes team up at Bolton. Instead of heading straight for the alpine hill, we utilized the World Cup trail at the Nordic center. We were pleasantly surprised to find the trail recently mowed, with a few new drainage ditches even added in. Things are looking up for Bolton under their new ownership, and hopefully the Nordic trails will begin to receive the renaissance they desperately need!

It was a sunny warm day with beautiful yellow leaves…a great session!

An excellent race trail that we hope we get to ski on this winter! Bounding this time, though

Ladies on the trail!

On Sunday, the grew dwindled to a hardcore few…Kai and Ali, namely. Ali, Kai and I put in about 2 hours of double poling down by Kingsland Bay, with Liam along to support and capture some footage. We grabbed some water and said goodbye to Ali after the 2 hour mark, and Kai and I continued on for another 3 hours…yes, you read that right!

Now, it must be said that Kai did not just go out and simply double pole 75K on a whim. Last year Kai had to sit out much of the training and racing due to back pain sustained from a fall while cliff jumping in the summer. It was a very delicate process to come back to full capacity, starting this spring with back injections to muscle groups and 15 minute easy runs around the Volunteers Green in Richmond.

I told Kai (and I mostly held to this) that the summer would entail a lot of me reminding him to take it easy and stay away from overdoing things. With double poling, we’ve increased the distance of long workouts from 30k, to 50k, and beyond. This was the “beyond” day and I have to say, it was incredibly impressive to see Kai double poling so far with strong technique and good energy.

So…75K complete! Now it’s time to rest with a recovery week and some extra off days!

For 2017 we are again excited to host our annual Thanksgiving training camp at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center! From November 22-26, Junior athletes will stay at Craftsbury where meals, lodging, and trail passes are all included. With the amazing snowmaking team at the Outdoor Center, skiers are often guaranteed on-snow time, and kicking off the winter season with a training camp is the perfect way to get ready for racing.

The cost of this year’s camp is $399, and the registration form can be found HERE.

On Thanksgiving Day the crew at Craftsbury puts together an amazing meal families are welcome to come join in at a fixed cost (typically $25 per person. This meal is already included for training camp participants).  Stay tuned to the website for more details on that meal.

This year our training camp has space for 14 athletes, and the roster is currently half full. Be sure to sign up soon!

We hope to see you on the trails!