MNC college or and college-bound dudes getting after it
It was a much-needed recovery week after a busy schedule of races, camps, and travel recently. Although we’re not quite done with summer, a few cooler days and some grey rain on Saturday definitely put a bit of the “November feels” into the air recently. The MNC Juniors have had an incredible summer and it’s hard to believe school is around the corner. Fall starts have started up, and even more is changing in the next few weeks.
MNC Academyhas been off and running all summer, and our student-athletes have been crushing it with passing grades of at least a B and plenty higher in college courses left and right.
MNC Academy in action
What’s more, we’ve seen huge growth in the summer program and are working with lots of athletes every day and at every level. In the past, I’d run to get the camera if more than 10 people were at practice. Now, it feels empty if there’s fewer than 20 of us skiing laps at the Range. Wednesday and Friday, typically low-turnout days, have also jumped up thanks to more skiers taking part in 5-day training and putting in the work.
We’ve also been fortunate to be able to use the MMU gym this summer, meaning there was no extra cost to work on good strength training…something that’s often been difficult to coordinate and structure in the past. I’d say the huge double pole test PRs are a good indicator that things are paying off.
Hanna getting SWOLE
So, where next? We’re heading into a new era for the Juniors and as any of them (ok, and me too) might say “the hype is real”. We’re offering more training and opportunity than ever before with MNC Academy, but also keeping our traditional structures of 1- and 5-day training options, too. There’s lots of ways to stay involved or get involved. So even if it’s raining out, we’ll keep pushing hard and having a good time doing it:
It was a busy past week of racing and testing for MNC Juniors. Lots of competitions and training camps took place, from the National U16 camp to NENSA’s App Gap Challenge rollerski race.
NU16 Camp
Every year, the National U16 Camp brings together the top-ranked U16 athletes in the country for a week of training and competing. This year, MNC was one of only a few clubs to send 3 athletes to this event. Magda, Ali, and Aidan got to work with US Ski Team coaches and athletes from all over across the lake at Paul Smith’s College.
NU16 Camp, featuring Aidan, Magda, Ali
The first test was the Canadian Strength Test, an event you may have read about previously on the blog as the Juniors took on the test earlier in the summer. Among the top 31 U16s in the country Magda put up an impressive 189 to score 14th place. Ali ended up 20th and Aidan 27th, with all 3 Pugs improving on their scores from earlier in the summer.
In the uphill run test, Aidan was the top MNC finisher with a 19th place, while Ali was not far back in 23rd for the women.
The real fireworks came in the Skate Sprint, a full event at the Lake Placid rollerski track complete with qualifier and heats. One-upping their speedy performance as the top-ranked U16 men’s group in the country, the New England boys stole the show with a 1st-through-4th place sweep! Finn Sweet, Brian Bushey, and Will Koch took the podium with Aidan in 4th place overall.
After saying she “wasn’t good at skate skiing” only a few days before leaving camp, Magda finished 7th and narrowly missed out on the final, another dominant New England performance with Quincy taking the win and Nina Seeman in 2nd.
App Gap Challenge
Ava! Rockin’ it
The first event in this year’s Bag Balm Rollerski Race Series from NENSA, the App Gap Challenge didn’t disappoint. It was a sunny warm day, with about 120 competitors taking on a combination skate/classic race to the top of Appalachian Gap. The club had a lot of Juniors competing and putting up some fast times.
In the women’s race, Ava Thurston threw down an11th place among all the Juniors, 2nd for U16s behind an impressive 6th from Quincy. Not far behind was a great showing from Sammie Nolan in 19th and Rose in 20th.
For the men, Charles Martell and Aidan packed a strong punch in 15th and 16th place, respectively. It was interesting to note times for the skate (lower portion) and classic (upper portion) as Aidan put up a slightly faster skate time but was surpassed by Charles in the classic leg. Looks like these guys will have a good time pushing each other this fall.
It was a sad day at the awards, however, as the gang had to say goodbye to Jenny…after spending 7 weeks with us this summer, you might not have remembered that Jenny is actually a native of coastal Maine. Her Pug spirit was strong, and it was a real pleasure to have her spending so much time with the group training this summer. We’ll see her again soon though!
A nice timeline of athletic development here… left (63): U16 Aidan Burt center (74): Middlebury College skier Lewis Nottonson right (73): Professional skier Ben Saxton
Congrats to Timmy and Marika who competed in the rollerski biathlon races this past weekend! Tim raced to a 5th place in Saturday’s race, while Marika was 2nd in both her events. Results and more can be found at the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club website:
MNC Members of all ages…if you’re interested in participating in the US National Rollerski Biathlon events this coming weekend, see this email from John Madigan below on ways to volunteer. Thanks!
Hi Volunteers!
Thank you for agreeing to help with the 2018 North American and US National Rollerski Biathlon Championships on August 11th and 12th. As always, without your generous help, it would not happen. The races are fast and should be a lot of fun. Saturday is the Sprint race and Sunday is the Pursuit and Mass Start for Sr Men and Women. Here are some details for volunteers:
1. Plan to arrive at 7:45 am the first morning when you will be assigned to either the Chief of Range or Chief of Timing for training in your volunteer job for the morning. The athletes will zero their rifles at 8:00 am and the racing will start at 9:00 am. Note that this is earlier than in the Winter. Things should wrap up before noon. Volunteers will meet outside the timing building at 8:00 AM for assignments.
2. Make sure you bring clothing for all kinds of weather including rain. Bug spray and a water bottle might be a good idea.
3. There will be snacks and drinks in the Walker Building before and after the races.
4. Once the races start it is hard to get away from your position, so try to take care of all your needs before the 9:00 am start.
5. The outcome of these races depends a lot on how well we do our jobs as volunteers. Details, details, details! It is very important to be focused when on the range, in the penalty area, or at the finish. Missing a number or recording something incorrectly takes quite a bit of effort and time to sort out so do your best to get accurate information. You will get additional instruction on this from the Chiefs. Having said that, we all sometimes miss things. If you think you might have missed something, don’t guess, note it on the recording sheet and bring it to the attention of the Chief at the end of the race.
6. If you have any questions before Saturday, you can contact me at this email address or at jpmad2013@yahoo.com or call me at (802) 373 5777 (doesn’t work at my home in the evenings). Looking forward to seeing everyone. We can always use more volunteers so feel free to bring a friend.
You know you just survived an intensity week when every step out of bed brings groans, ever reach downward to put on a shoe or ski boot feels like a gnarly hamstring stretch, and washing your hair sends sharp pain through your shoulders.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to achieve all desired soreness from your intensity week:
1) Start off with a double pole test, then more intervals on top of that, and then go to the gym to do a Canadian Strength Test
The double pole test was an absolute destruction-zone of previous PRs and fast times. The archive showed a massive improvement for so many in the group, and after a long period of time it is exciting to announce that the records have fallen! Olivia set a new women’s club record, while Elliott Ketchel, Will, and Greg ALL went under the previous course record which had stood since 2014.
PRs for Ben C, Will, Aidan, Kai, Magda, Julia, Marika, Hanna, Meredith, and Ava…phew! We also got a lot of footage since GMVS joined us for the test. Colin, Andy, and Perry all had the cameras rolling so most skiers have clips of beginning, middle and end!
But we weren’t done after the DP test. We then went to the gym and took on the Canadian Strength Test. This is a test used by many of the college ski teams and Juniors around the country (and, I can only assume, in Canada as well). The test is simple but brutal: one minute on, one minute off, for ten minutes. As many of the following as you can in each respective “on” minute:
-Pullups
-Situps
-Pushups
-Box Jumps
-Dips
Everyone partnered up and pushed hard. Ali, Aidan, and Magda will do this test as part of the National U16 Camp they qualified for in a few weeks, so part of the plan was to get a test in so it’s not such a shock at the main event. But of course, we all should take part in the fun (including Adam and Sara). Here’s a spreadsheet of results. MNC Juniors or Masters, if you want to do this test on your own just have a partner to validate and send in your scores to add to the sheet!
On Wednesday we set out for a trail run, but as you can imagine most everyone woke up feeling like they got “hit by a bus” as Jenny put it. The first few minutes of running were excruciating but luckily we made sure to do our Morning Sport exercises (mobility, dynamic stretching, and more) to get ourselves loosened up. Still, it’s worth noting that for us a nice easy trail run is about 12-14 min/mile pace and we’re just fine with that!
3) Towing and mass starts
Time for towing after an easy day Wednesday! We like to use old bike tubes and tow partners for some specific strength, and also to get the hips forward and powerful. We usually do a bit more of this in the fall, but we’ve started earlier this year and we’re already looking strong and powerful. Usually every 2 weeks in the fall we increase the length of the towing “course” and this year will be no different.
We ended the session with some mass start practice! It’s been awesome to have 20+ skiers at the Range pretty much every Tuesday/Thursday. So with a big group, how can you NOT make it exciting and work on those close-quarters mass start situations?
4) Bolton test, round 2 of Summer 18
It was a hot and sunny day for the second round of our Bolton uphill run test. About 1.4 miles of all uphill gravel terrain from the Vista base are to the summit just past the wind turbine. This test is just short enough (14-20 minutes) to mean there isn’t much pacing involved, but long enough to be a full effort on your engine for pushing the limits.
A glance back in the records show that this is the biggest group we’ve had for the test in quite some time: a good indicator of how strong the motivation is with this group, since often the uphill run test is one of the more dreaded things we do all year. We also were joined by MNC Master skier Michael Gaughan who is part of a growing group of Masters prepping for Climb to the Castle in September.
There was a PR performance by nearly everyone, and Rose smashed the course record by 50 seconds to earn a pint of Ben and Jerry’s on Tuesday! Rose and Meredith took the top honors in most-improved as well, with Dith knocking 1:24 off her previous best time and crossing the line under 19 in only her second test ever. Also PR runs from Sammie, Ben Carnahan, Dakota, Julia, Jenny, and Marika. Charles took the win in the men’s race with an impressive 14:45, going under 15 in what was his first uphill test ever!
Shout-out to the hiker who took our group photo!
Girls team gettin RAD this summer
5) Long skis and summer swimming
On Sunday we geared up again for another favorite session; our long ski in Milton down to the shores of Lake Champlain and back to the Lelito house for lunch and a swim. The girls ended up skiing 20 miles and the guys 30 on a hot, sunny day. With the combination of heart-rate monitors, vests, and water belts there were a lot of interesting tan lines after the 2-3 hours endeavor.
Kai rolling along the shoreline
Magda, Ali, Julia, Meredith on some pretty perfect-looking rollerski roads
Thanks to the Lelito family for hosting us after for lunch and a swim. Next up, be sure to make sure you’re registered for the App Gap Challenge rollerski race in 2 weeks! We’re looking to have a BIG club presence there for such a cool event. Find more HERE.
The summer is a busy time, with all sorts of opportunities cropping up. Go on a mountain bike ride with this group? Race this weekly 5k? Head over to XC captains practice for running? Ski with another training group for their session?
The best part is that without a lot of conflicts, this is usually a great time for that sort of thing. This past week, though, recovery was the name of the game as we tried to give ourselves time to absorb all the hard work of Mountain Camp.
What impressed me the most was how many times I had to hold the gang back a bit.
“Can I do another interval??”
“What if I also trained on this day? I know it says off day but…”
That’s a good problem to have, since it means everyone is FIRED UP and pumped about training. It can be a little dangerous though…you’re always feeling the boost from a camp and it’s hard to take a break right away. Mentally, at least. And then it can all catch up to you. So the phrase I kept repeating all week was “take the rest while you can get it!”
Even in a recovery week, we’re still putting in work, and here’s a bit of evidence:
We were visited this week by Sharon and Lucas who were doing a study on force application, coordination, symmetry and motion in skiing…so of course we were the natural test subjects!
Working on classic speeds, with one partner having “clean snow” and the other partner having to ski over some wet ferns to cause slipping…since those ratchet wheels work so well, you gotta make it realistic somehow!
Magda, Meredith, Sammie, and Julia cooling down after some bounding intervals at Honey Hollow on another sunny day
Got a busy week coming up, with the Double Pole Test tomorrow and the Bolton Uphill Run test on Saturday. Anyone and everyone is welcome to test their mettle at Bolton…we’ll meet at the Vista base lodge at 9AM and plan to start the test at 9:30! Up up up!
