Mansfield Nordic Club

This past weekend, Jericho was abuzz with the USBA Summer Biathlon Championships. Serving as one of the first stops on the route to an Olympic team this winter, all of the country’s (and many of Canada’s) best biathletes were in attendance.

Most of the athletes end up staying in the barracks facilities at the Range, which are notoriously cramped, dull, and bland. In a nice twist of convenience, however, Coach Adam and Coach Liam are renting a house right outside the back gate to the Range. What’s more, this house feature a basement ski workshop abutting a bunk bed, futon, carpeting, and shelf storage. Obviously it doesn’t take a few ski coaches long to identify this as the “MNC Athlete Housing” and open it up to guests.

This option started off with some high-profile candidates, beginning with soon-to-be-SLU skier and friend-of-the-Pugs Tim Cunningham. Later in the week, we stepped it up to the National level, hosting US Biathlon Team members Paul Schommer and Jake Brown. The biathletes were eager to get out of the barracks in prep for their races, and of course it helps that Liam knew them both from his days in the Midwest.

Liam captured this sweet photo of Jake during the race

It was great to sit back and chat with the guys between races back at the house. Despite World Cup and Olympic selection criteria on the line, both Jake and Paul were really friendly and if they were tense, they did a good job not showing it. Liam and I were both a little paranoid that something would go wrong like a fire alarm getting set off or a noisy neighbor ruining someones Olympic chances, but luckily all was well in the house. We analyzed race video, talked about the state of US skiing and Biathlon, and of course had an impromptu roundtable discussion of who the most “savage” nordic skiers are out there. Wouldn’t you know, the biathletes are all about analyzing hip position and engagement right now too, go figure!

Although Jake didn’t have quite the weekend he was hoping for, he still stayed positive and it sounds like he’s made a ton of progress in a sport he’s relatively new in. Paul had an outstanding weekend, especially in Saturday’s mass start where he raced to 4th overall behind World Silver Medalist Nathan Smith (Canada), World Champion Lowell Bailey, and World Silver Medalist Tim Burke. When the only guys that beat you are World Champs medalists it’s a pretty great result I’d say: plus, since they scored an American podium Paul got to be up there with only Lowell and Tim ahead of him.

American mass start podium: Bailey, Burke, Schommer

Not to be outdone, Tim Cunningham laid down the heat in the Youth races. He’s been doing biathlon for about a week, and was third on the first day despite many more penalties than the two ahead of him. On Sunday, he didn’t even give the competition a chance as he shot consistently and smoked the field by almost a minute and a half!

Since he’s done a lot of training with us these past 2 years, Tim is an unofficial Pug and of course I had him toss on an MNC shirt for the podium PR. Looks like he is bound for good things in both biathlon and at SLU this season!

MNC was also out in force with Eliza, Marika, and Tim Cobb. Eliza skied really well Saturday, and Marika had a great pursuit on Sunday highlighted by cleaning the final standing stage to much fanfare from the crowd. Timmy struggled with his shooting so despite skiing smoother than I have ever seen, a bit too much of that skiing was around the penalty loop for his liking on Sunday. He still showed that he is training well and is a threat for the World Junior team this winter by being the 3rd American on Saturday!

USBA Summer Rollerski Trials results

A big thanks to EABC for putting on such fun and well-run races. Many MNC skiers came out to watch on Saturday (having practice scheduled at the Range right after didn’t hurt) and we’ve got lots of video to look at and compare to our own recent timetrial on similar courses…you can check some of the footage out below. Thanks again to Tim, Jake, and Paul for spending time with us, and best of luck this season!

Paul and Jake: honorary Pugs for a weekend

To learn more about Paul and Jake, I highly recommend listening to their interviews with Kizkzone Media which you can find on THIS PAGE below is a bit of race footage from the past weekend! Jake and Paul are slightly “featured” since we were trying to capture a few key sections to review as a group.

What a busy week, starting off with specific strength on Tuesday and ending with some very big-scale workouts toward the end of the week.

Thursday, MNC hosted several other groups at the Range for a big rollerski timetrial…with 61 competitors and even more skiers, this might’ve been one of the biggest rollerski gatherings in the area! The day was hot and humid, but the Pugs hit the course and raced alongside the Craftsbury and GMVS summer camps for a grueling 5 or 10k skate race.

Results for the Pugs were mixed, and overall I’m confident in saying it was not our strongest showing as a group. That’s not to overshadow some really strong individual performances, but it would be untrue to say that the results we put up on Thursday accurately demonstrate the work and time this group has put in on the whole this summer. We’ve seen many PR efforts in the double pole test, and saw more PRs and strong first-ever times at Bolton earlier this summer and again just 2 days after the skate timetrial…that, combined with some analysis after Thursday’s race, gives me a clue that we need to work a bit on identifying and sharpening our race-day mentality and preparation. It’s time for a little sports psych discussion and maybe some light homework 🙂

61 racers! Quite a big crew at the Range

The rolling continued the next day with a double pole down in the Charlotte/Shelburne area. As this was my high school and college stomping grounds for summer training, I know all sorts of infinite loops and routes that can be used for any length ski. The group that skied the longest this day did just shy of 25 miles!

Covered bridge tour of Charlotte

On Saturday we ran our Bolton uphill test as our second intensity session of the week. While it was pretty wet and gross out, we did have some brave souls and fast times. At the start and during the warmup, we discussed some mental strategies and ways to tap into a good race mode since identifying that as a goal on Thursday. There were some solid performances, with Aidan notching another PR and Sammie and Ali both running their first uphill test with competitive times. We know we are improving, as these repeatable tests show: now it’s time to take it to the races this winter!

Ford Sayre and soon-to-be SLU skier Tim Cunningham joined the group this week and hit up some of our favorite workouts like Bolton

Group shot atop the chair in the mist

Bolton Historical Record

To cap off a long and tough week, we of course ended on a long workout! This was a nice distance cruise, but it still took everyone up a whole lot of hill…the group skied all of Pleasant Valley and even up into Underhill, before heading up Smugglers Notch (with a little extra climb up Road 101, of course). Phew!

Elevation profile of the ski from Will’s Strava…found some hills out there

Also of note…it’s now August if you can believe it, and MNC Fall Training is now LIVE for Juniors and Collegiate athletes! Be sure to sign up for an awesome autumn of hard training and prep for the winter.

MNC Fall Registration

In anticipation of a big week ahead, this past week was pretty mellow for the Junior team. That being said, there were three great sessions that stood out, and both happen to have some media to go along with them. That makes them perfect for sharing and re-living!

Ben Lustgarten Ski #2

For the second time in a summer, we were fortunate enough to have Ben Lustgarten come out and ski with us! This time the group was quite large and Ben led us through a lot of great drills and talked some serious body position. What was equally as rewarding was the Q&A Ben did afterward…I filmed the entire talk and edited it down to a PugCast that is definitely required-viewing!

Talkin’ about body position…

And demonstrating some great body position!

Double Pole Test

This was round two for the summer, and we saw a lot of improvements. At the start line there was a bit of grumbling because the pavement was wet from a bunch of rain the past few days, and typically rain makes for a slower rolling surface. Conor was even so resolute as to dispute my pump-up speech by saying “nobody’s gonna PR today”.

I replied that he should “prove himself wrong” and he said “no I’m going to prove myself right” and then proceeded to pole to a PR a few minutes later.

Other skiers who either matched or set a personal record:

Kai, Ben C, Matt,  Conor, Magda, Sammie, Ava, Camille. Special shoutout to Ben L who was 1 second from a PR, and Will who was 2 seconds off.

First-time test takers:

Charles, Dakota, Alex, Rose, Lily, and Quincy get shout-outs too!

Below is a video of the racers taken about 1/3 of the way in. We took video on a flatter section to see how people were getting their hips up and forward, similar to some videos from Norway we’d been watching and discussing at the start of practice.

DP Test Archive

Milton Skate Roll and Swim

The DP test may have been a little bit soggy, but that day marked the turnaround for a gorgeous weekend! We took advantage with a very nice ski up in Milton that brought everyone along rolling farm roads and right past the lake. Special thanks to the Lelito family for letting us park at their place to start the rollerski, and providing us with some snacks and pool time after the workout. Everyone skied for at least 2 hours, and some got in 2:40 and 25 miles!

I’ve lately been watching a lot of the Vlog from World Cup winner Johannes Klaebo…pretty interesting stuff. I decided to go that route with the video for this session. It’s a bit different but hopefully enjoyable and at least entertaining!

Directions at the start

Rolling through farm and field

Vermont does it again

Post-ski water recovery

Many skiers know that the sport is often all about climbing. It’s not unlikely to find Nordic skiers searching out the steepest and longest hills they can find, from Alaska to Wisconsin to Maine. Given their competitive nature, skiers are also likely to want to challenge themselves AND their friends to race up said hills.

So it’s no surprise that NENSA’s App Gap Challenge rollerski race, winding up the Appalacian Gap by Mad River Glen, drew almost 60 rollerskiers to duke it out. The course began with a winding skate leg that climbed up to the ski area, where everyone transitioned to classic equipment for a striding journey to the summit (nobody double poled this one…at least not this year…it may have happened but Adam Glueck was on a trip to Bend, Oregon and did not compete!).

MNC was well represented with what seems to be the biggest group size from a single club (Coach Adam’s goal for the team). Current Pugs Magda, Quincy, Will, Charlie, Eli, Ben C, Aidan, and Kai all raced the Junior event alongside summertime MNC skiers Conor and Greg. Adam, Sara, Kate, and Charlie Maitland all raced in the Sr division as well.

Pugs getting ready for the start (Dave P photo)

Magda and Eastern Cup winner Alex Lawson stride-for-stride (Dave P photo)

Kai with some smooth striding (Kat H photo)

It was a solid team effort from the MNC group, and while nobody really “blew the doors off”, the team seems to be in a good spot for July. The main consensus was that the Pugs didn’t quite have the top gear for racing yet, which is what we spend the fall trying to sharpen and hone in on with shorter, harder intervals and some increased racing.

We’re definitely ready for a little recovery this week as we prepare to put together a busy August to cap off the summer training season before school starts up!

Check out some more great photos from Dave here: App Gap Challenge Album

Check out results on the NENSA website here: App Gap Challenge Results

Sign of a busy ski day (Dave P photo)

The theme for this blog post will be a little highlight of local star (and MNC alum) Ben Lustgarten. Ben skied for Burlington HS and trained with MNC in the summers during his years as a Junior athlete. As a collegiate athlete at Middlebury Ben scored a place at NCAAs all 4 years of his career, and achieved a top-10 at US Nationals before graduating and becoming a professional ski racer.

Ben racing for Middlebury College

After a few years racing with the Sun Valley Gold Team, Ben returned to his home state of Vermont last year to compete as a member of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Needless to say, it was a great year as Ben skied away to a convincing victory in the 30k classic mass start at US Nationals in Soldier Hollow, Utah.

Ben Lustgarten claiming victory at US Nationals (photo by US Ski and Snowboard)

Along with a few strong Supertour wins and podiums, Ben was selected to compete at the 2017 World Championships in Lahti, Finland, as well as the 3rd and 4th period of World Cups in Europe and Quebec. Hard to not call that a best-ever season (so far!).

You can check out Ben’s team profile on the GRP by clicking HERE

So what is Ben up to right now? Well, since he is based in Vermont again Ben is nearby! Last week Ben shot me an email saying that he was in town and wondering what we were up to. As it turns out, both Ben and MNC were scheduled for a skate ski last Tuesday morning, so we met up at the Allen Brook School in Williston for a group workout.

After some warmup agility and mobility, Ben helped lead us in some drills and activation processes while going over some technique that he and the Green Racing Project had been working on. From there we took a tour of our favorite neighborhoods and chatted about all sorts of stuff. The group took turns skiing right behind Ben as we made our way around Southridge.

Enjoying a sunny day on the roads and bike paths

After the session Ben was nice enough to do a pass in front of the camera along the bike path, and then we each took a turn on the same stretch of trail to see how we could pick up on some of Ben’s best qualities. It’s always hard to ski relaxed when you know the camera is on you but it’s also great to ski right with the best. Some key things we need to keep working on are the ever-important 1-foot glide and weight shift, along with some more dynamic knee drive and forward body position. Luckily we are always looking toward drills, analysis, and more to help us get there.

In addition to the occasional drop-in at practice, Ben is also working to put together a rollerski clinic day with Mansfield Nordic and Skirack at the Range. So, although the official flyer has not been published (look for it from Skirack soon) we’re excited to announce that this clinic will take place on Tuesday, July 25th up at the Range! So as the schedule gets finalized we hope some skiers will check it out, whether you’re a Junior or Master skier!

Thanks for skiing with us Ben!

Group at Allen Brook School!