Mansfield Nordic Club

The Pugs have returned from a great Thanksgiving Camp at Craftsbury. From Wednesday through Sunday many hours were trained, many buckets of snow were shoveled, and many laps were skied! Craftsbury did not disappoint with  comfortable lodging, great facilities, and of course amazing food.

Mother Nature, on the other hand, was pretty cruel. While the western slopes of the Green Mountains were coated with snow (we were skiing on groomed powder at Sleepy Hollow earlier in the week) the Kingdom wasn’t so fortunate. A small loop greeted us and our rock skis (the ground was not quite white) and temperatures that were just barely on the wrong side of freezing gradually wore away what snow was there right before our eyes.

Nonetheless, we got creative when we needed to, and had a productive time. Training camps are a phenomenal way to not only train a lot, but to bond as a group and get psyched for the winter ahead. We had a diverse group of skiers from more than just our own club, but folks really came together and everyone seems to be  in a great spot as we head into winter. Here are a bunch of pictures from the week!

Night #1 featured a good amount of snow on the fields and in the small loops near the Lodge

We kicked things off night one with the Marshmallow Challenge. Here’s Ali, Cameron, and Ben with their winning tower

Here is a clip of some run/stride/bound drills we did as a warmup for our first day of classic skiing. Also on the menu? Some great L3 double pole intervals. A consistent small loop was actually really nice for those since it allowed people lots of chances to work together and get some timing and pacing practice.

Even by day 2 the snow was fading fast…we decided to meet up and shovel before our afternoon workout to help make keep the loop alive

Sammie getting serious with the shovel skills

Many teams were making day-trips to the Notch Road in Stowe…here’s the crew getting dialed in the parking lot

We also had fun on the notorious S-turn descents! #dragginknucks

Team photo atop the Notch! We were joined by some alums and friends like Ben L and Conor…everyone was seeking out the snow

We had numerous team meetings and talks, including Coach Sara’s nutrition rundown

Even lots of shoveling couldn’t stop the forces of nature…by the end of the week the loop had dwindled to this…

Coach Adam leading Kai, Aidan and Will through the fog

Here are some clips from some speedy starts we did as a group. Fun to work on speed off the line but also coordination and reactions!

With the Craftsbury Opener cancelled, we had to get creative with our final day. The event? “Team Triathlon Challenge” where teams of 3 each tackled the following: 10k orienteering trail run, 75 laps of the loop, 100 pullups, and 6k of SkiErging. Here are eventual-champions Ali, Tim, and Baxter checking out the trail map before the run

Teams head off on the run (with vests to stay safe during hunting season, of course)

Teams all did the run at the same time but took different routes. As they came back, some teams opted to do all the ski loops at once, while others split up their activities which made for an interesting competition scene. Here’s Charlie putting in one of many ski laps

Final podium, with all the competitors! Liam put together some great little prizes for the victors: maple lollipops and some beautiful decorative pine boughs

Thanks to everyone who participated, all the coaches who helped out, and of course EVERYBODY at Craftsbury who makes skiing and training so great for everyone!

Many of these photos were taken by Liam. You can find more at the MNC Flickr page, specifically the album for this: Thanksgiving Camp 2016