Archive | Junior Blog

Juniors and parents,

I wanted to use the blog this week to highlight some news and programming events coming up. I’ll try to include links whenever possible!

Memberships and Registrations

• MNC Membership registration is open for the 2016/2017 season. This membership is required for all MNC programming. Registration for MNC membership is HERE
• Fall Training for Juniors begins Thursday, August 25th! You can find information HERE, and registration HERE
• Thanksgiving Camp registration is also open. You can find information HERE, and registration HERE

Open Session next Saturday, August 27th

• Come and join the MNC Juniors next Saturday at Honey Hollow in Richmond for some ski walking and bounding! Find details and directions HERE

Winter Calendar: Eastern Cups and more!

• On the right side of the MNC homepage, you’ll see many new events cropping up. The schedule is being finalized for the 2016/2017 racing calendar! Juniors will want to mark all of the dates of the Eastern Cups.
• We are planning a “Race Trip” to the Waterville, ME Eastern Cup for this winter. This will be a first for the club: all-inclusive transportation, lodging, and meals for the weekend. MNC will have a van for travel, hotel rooms at the Best Western, and meals planned out. This trip has room for 6 athletes (3 hotel rooms, 2 skiers each room). Look for a registration page to come online in the next few days.
• There have been updates made to the MNC Parent Primer, which is a good refresher for many parents, and a must-read for parents of newly-minted Junior (U16) racers!

Photos from recent training!

Quincy speeding along at the Range. “Q” also just set a new women’s course record at the Bolton test!

Some more rain for the Bolton test. Here is Will, spurred on by the mascot himself

The other issue with lots of storms: downed trees! Adam Glueck and crew carry out a little impromptu trail work

If you missed last weeks collection of photos and videos, be sure to check out the #BoatToLP blog post HERE!

With Junior Nationals in Lake Placid this coming spring, many skiers have taken to using the hashtag #roadtolp to tag their training and preparation for the event. This past weekend, a few hardy Pugs floated over to NY on the #boattolp, also known as the Charlotte Ferry, for a weekend training/camping adventure.

cruising across the lake

After a morning of rollerski biathlon races in Jericho (congrats Eliza, Timmy, and Marika!) the crew united at Buffalo Wild Wings. Together Adam, Ethan, Greg, Alex, Liam and Aidan left VT behind and met up with NYSEF skier Henry McGrew at the base of Whiteface Mountain. First, the GoPro aka “Footy-Getter” was installed on the side mirror of the car:

#footyfortheboys

After a solid warmup with a few running and striding drills, the crew tackled the 3 miles of consistent uphill grade provided by the Whiteface Toll Road. The workout: 20 x 1 min L4 striding, with 1 min recovery. It seems easy at first, having full recovery for an interval only a minute long…but as the lactate builds and the fatigue sets in, it’s harder and harder to keep good technique. Luckily, with coach driving alongside in the car to yell encouragement and technique advice, the productivity can be pretty solid. Plus, the Footy-Getter managed to score some sweet clips:

getting some elevation under us!

As we skied higher and higher into a dense fog, the reflective vests were distributed and the soaking grew more heavy. Everyone was finished with the workout before the biggest downpour, when Liam and Ethan returned to VT and Henry returned home. That left Greg, Aidan, Alex and Adam to set up for the night at a nearby campground.

MNC basecamp

After a luxurious sit-down dinner at one of Lake Placid’s finer dining establishments, Mr Mikes Pizza, we ventured next door to the dingy arcade at BowlWinkles. Alex and Aidan got seriously sendy with the Hydro Thunder boat race simulator, while Greg put his baseball skills to work by scoring piles of tickets at the Skee-Ball machine.

pitching some high scores

After a night in the tents highlighted by downpours and aggressively loud drivers 40 feet from the campsite, we woke up to more rain and dreary skies. With the poor food choices of the previous day still rumbling in everyone’s stomachs, Adam made the executive decision that breakfast would be a healthy mix of bagels, Greek yogurt, granola, and fruit.

We changed plans a bit, and did not end up hiking Whiteface as initially planned: with the threat of thunderstorms still possible, we figured hanging out at 4,000ft might be an issue. Instead, we drove over to the Olympic trails at Van Ho for a distance run on the trails to be used for Junior Nationals. We ran Ladies 5k (the primary race loop) and talked about strategies to approach the course, along with some good banter on training in general. Since Van Ho was Adam’s “home course” for 7 years, there was some good discussion of tactics and trail awareness. We also ran over to the bobsled track, and through the tunnels to the biathlon range.

It wasn’t the nicest weather, and it wasn’t the most comfortable lodging, but we were able to get out of town for 24 hours and get in some cool workouts which helped change up the vibe and get us thinking about the winter ahead!

What a great workout! Nothing says “ski team from Vermont” like classic rollerski intervals up some hilly switchbacks, cliff jumping in a nearby river, and maple creemees!

If you’ve never been to Road 101, near the base of Smuggler’s Notch, it is definitely worth a visit. I’ll let the photos and video do the talking:

Warming up with the first trip up the climb

Marti on the straightaway to the top: 3×15 min L3

Giving a few pointers on-the-fly!

Nearby swimming hole right at the starting point of the ski

Timmy, recently back from biathlon camp, taking the plunge

Will goes for the flip!

Video compilation of some of our skiing: 3×15 minutes of L3 striding. Striding is a team goal of ours this year (even amid the numerous double poling goals) and that has meant making each striding workout very focused. This was no exception, and the new location and great weather didn’t hurt. Thanks to Ali for capturing some of the footage while I handled the wheel!