Here's the week's plan

The shuttle leaves Adirondak circle at 11:40 everyday this week. If you drive up to Rikert meet there at 12:15pm. Lisa, Mia, Will and Britta will be alternating leading the group and each workout will start with 15-20 min of technique work. lots of no poles skiing and double pole. Then you can ski the remainder of the workout in groups.

Hope everybody is loving the new snow.

Rutland Race: The Will Conlon Perspective

On Tuesday the team raced at Mountain Top. For the Varsity squads, the race was a two person relay, with each member completing five laps around an 800 meter course. The JV skiers completed the loop three times. Each race began with mass starts. On the boys side several teams (MAU, Woodstock) pulled out to early leads and stayed ahead for the rest of the relay. The top Midd team, Will and Will, came in fifth. On the girls side, Dominique returned from Colorado, and she and Britta skied to a top three finish. The JV race saw the debut of Griffin Wood, who raced well despite it being his first time on skate skis. To quote our coach, "Once I teach him how to ski he'll be very good."
The race itself I found exceedingly exhausting, partly because I received hardly any rest after each loop. Although the skis had good wax and were fast, the snow was choppy, and got worse while the races continued. By the third lap I could feel my form begin to fail, and it got progressively worse over the next to laps. I am definitely looking forward to when we return to good old-fashioned 5Ks.
-Will Conlon

Link to the results: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Auh5AHTeS3gPdGxVSmd6ZlNfUWZiV2IzQ1dneGVfekE&hl=en

Frost Mountain Winter Break Clinic

As I mentioned at practice tonight, Frost Mountain Nordic is holding a ski camp over break, Monday through Friday 9-12 at a cost of $200 for all five days. Its a great opportunity to get some serious skiing and training in and with the new snow it should be a pretty fun week. Email Dia Jenks or me for more info or to get signed up.

Nordic Racing Is a Dangerous Sport

George shows us that nordic racing is not just spandex tights and waxing. Things get bloody out there, and as always your greatest enemy is always yourself (or in this case your hand). Don't worry though, he wiped his nose and skied two more legs of his relay...and lived to tell about it.

Pictures, Finally

A big thanks to Shari for sending along these pictures from the NENSA race on Sunday. Hopefully I can keep this blog more colorful with some of my own in the days to come. In any case, Will Earle, Britta Clark and MUHS friend Alia Johnson all headed to Jericho yesterday to compete in the first eastern cup of the season. Conditions forced some last minute changes including location and distance. It was a big race. 12km classic with decent hills in a crowd of 150+ skiers in both the mens and women's fields. We don't get to compete a whole lot in conditions like that so its pretty exciting to get out there and see what its like to hurt for 40-45 minutes. Both Will and Britta finished respectably in the high school crowd, which bodes well for upcoming races.

Head over to Nensa.net to check out the full results. Be warned there are a lot of college skiers to sort through.

Friday Time Trial

Well still a couple of logistical issues, so we missed a big part of the team for the time trail, but managed to get some good speed work with games down at the high school. Ronnie dominated sharks and minnows winning two games in a row and a fine performance from Griffin as well. The most nimble minnow was Adam Peterson by far, with so many dodges and fakes you cuoldn't keep track.

Up at Bread Loaf, Mia orchestrated a short time trial in the field. Conditions we as good as you could hope. Speaking of hope, lets keep doing our snow dances. The time trial was probably in the neighborhood of 2.5-3k. I am planning on running a number of these during the season to help track progress, and give a people a more solid sense of improvement. That being said, the first race on snow is always tough and without enough snow depth for tracks, a classic time trial is a difficult thing.

Mac 9:19
Kelsey 9:54
Steven 9:50
Haley 10:51
Emma 11:56
Hannah 13:23

Wednesday Waxing Clinic

Everybody, listen up.

There's a great opportunity tomorrow night to learn a lot about waxing. The Middlebury Mountaineer is hosting Andrew Gardner who will be giving out more waxing information than you know what to do with. 6pm, its a great way to keep the skiing excitement going after practice. Be there, and be ready for fast skis.

*** Please remember to bring your uniform contract and check for $75 to practice.

Wish I had some Pictures

So I took my camera with me to the race on Sunday, but as Britta came through the first turn and I clicked the shutter, nothing happened. Bad memory card. So this is a bummer, and hopefully I can get that figured out so that we can have some colors up on the blog here. Until then, let me help you all imagine what things looked like during the race. White moving sideways.

We were pretty much at snow-line as we discovered after leaving the race, a few hundred feet down the road from Bolton Valley Resort, conditions turned to heavy rain. So while spectating was fun, I can only imagine how much fun it was to race. Britta and I skied the course to check it out and it wasn't easy. Two 4k laps, the first 1k straight uphill, some hairpin turns, a nice open straightaway to channel the wind and little visibility.

It was good to get out there and tough it out. Good to get a little feel for racing early in the season. And as a bonus, I brushed up on my civil war history with a fun game pitting Will and Britta's intellects on the car ride up and back.

Haley's Friday Practice

I've been hoping to get some athlete input on the blog this year, and I am happy to share with you the first of these from Haley Olson:

Yesterday was the team's first day on skis.  Though the snow was light enough that we were essentially skiing on grass, the fluff was wonderful.  While Britta helped me with my double pole the rest of the team skied around the school, reacclimating themselves to the feel of skis.  We proceeded to the legion fields and played on the hills for at least 45 minutes.  We were led by one captain (britta) in doing what she calls "chinese downhills" and then we watched her fail at tele skiing (multiple times).  After being pushed down the hill multiple times by the other captain (will), the other will, and mac, I stationed myself safely at the bottom.  Overall, I can file away this practice away under the label: successful team bonding (and of course, good practice). 

Team Equipment Form

Please print, fill out and bring to practice on Monday.

Equipment Form

Hope everybody had fun on the first ski of the season today. We're taking a few people to the race at Bolton Valley on Sunday, look for pictures and news soon.

Saturday's race

Well we'll be changing focus for this weekend, Britta has pointed out that there is a race at Bolton Valley on sunday. This would not be a high school race but if there is a group of interested people we can figure out support.

It is an 8km skate race and the cost would be $25. We'll talk about it at practice tomorrow.

In the meantime begin memorizing our new team cheer:
Silo, silo full of grain, keep us dry when it rains. (please direct any questions to Micah.

Ski Equipment

Hey everybody, if you need equipment for this season, or if you have equipment you are looking to give away/sell/lend, use the comment section to send a message to everyone else on the team.

First Day of Practice

Well, a couple of bounding intervals today to get the seasons intensity started. Forecast this week looks good with snow flurries for the next couple days. Here's one quick picture from my Thanksgiving trip out West, I took it during the first Super Tour races of the season.

Two thank you's and one apology

First, I want to apologize for standing everyone up at the meeting tonight. I had to be at a class for a certification I need, but was hoping to make it on time. Please believe that I would much rather have been with all of you.

Second, A related big thanks to Will and Britta for running the meeting, and doing a great job of it from what I heard. So far they have been really on top of things and enthusiastic.

Third, I would also like to thank everyone who helped out with the ski sale. Thanks to those of you who showed up on short notice and those of you who spent hours there. I'm especially sorry that I was not able to thank you publicly tonight.

Anders

Good Omens

Can't complain about a little early season snow, though I did when I was driving last night, guess it's time for the snow tires.
See you all at the meeting tonight. 7pm MUHS Gymnasium.

Drive Safe

Season 2010-2011

Welcome to the MUHS Ski blog for the new ski Season. Check out the training schedule for captains practices this November.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting on Tuesday November 9th @ 7pm.

Snow

Last Saturday's race at Jericho was pretty good. We had some great results despite some really tricky waxing. It was snowing on and off and hovering around 34 degrees. With the really wet stuff, the tracks were icy and slippery, but the new snow was clumping up on skis anytime we hopped out of the tracks. I think that the waxing was about as good as it could be. We had worse skis at practice one Tuesday, with really variable conditions as this new snow blew in. Kind of frustrating, but a reality of skiing in this type of weather and one that we will have to be prepared for at the state meet. The good thing about conditions like these is that everyone is pretty much in the same boat.

We canceled practice today, and there is talk of the state meet being postponed. I will update on that as soon as I know. But I guess its just a matter of being ready for anything.

It sure is pretty outside though.

Blueberry Hill Race

Well it was no easy course last night at Blueberry Hill, a good uphill climb over a 6km course, we had all of our skiers, Varsity and JV do the entire loop, and I think for everyone it was a good experience. Talking with George after the race, he said that the longer distance was hard for him, but the finish line surprised him, coming earlier than expected. Everyone looked strong up the final hill. It was a great day to be out and a really fun and easy race to get to. It was nice to have the convenience of an after-school race and be back before the sun was down. Thanks to Tony for hosting us there, and doing a fabulous job with the new snow, even regrooming the course mid way through for the middle school racers. And thanks to Brian Jerome for organizing the race.

This Weekend

Well,

we're looking ahead to a pretty fun weekend. The race Saturday should be a pretty good one. Which is to say, it will probably be a really good workout, I'm a little nervous about the waxing as the thermometer will be hanging right around 34 with some new snow forecast, that means some tricky conditions.

I think that the whole team is really looking forward to Sunday and Monday. Britta invited the team to make the Bread Loaf to Blueberry Hill ski on Sunday afternoon and then spend the night up there, have a big pasta feed, watch some movies, camp out on the floor. Britta is emailing out the details but the general plan is to take the 1pm shuttle from the green and hopefully be hitting the trail by about 2pm. We'll do it ski tour style with some backpacks with dry clothes and sleeping bags, but the food for dinner and breakfast can be put into Tony's Truck or my car and will magically arrive at the Inn.

Can't wait.

J2 Qualifiers

I'll write quickly about the J2 and Eastern High School qualifiers yesterday at Grafton Ponds. We only had a small handful of skiers there, but the day was pretty successful. It was an early morning and a bit of a long day with two races, but all in all things went pretty well. The coverage was great but the snow was pretty transformed, they haven't had any new snow in a while either, that made the waxing a little harder, but not too confusing. The guys probably ended up on a little slippery skis than I would have liked, but the girls kick seemed pretty dialed in.

For the skate race a little structure in the bases and some fast wax seemed to make for good skis. Everyone seemed pretty happy. Congrats to Will Conlon and Dominique who both qualified for the J2 team. Also Addison Tate and Britta who were named as alternates the the J2 and Eastern High School Teams respectively, both just missed qualifying outright by only a couple of seconds, and skied some really fabulous skate races to push themselves into solid contention.

All in all it was a nice day, sunny in the morning but getting colder throughout the day. By the time results were posted I think everyone was pretty antsy to get into warm cars.

Relay Time Trial

Well , I thought it was pretty fun to do the relay on Saturday, it was a little cold, but well worth braving the conditions. The snow on the far side of the field was in great shape and Jim was nice enough to groom it just before we raced so conditions couldn't have been better. We got in a little practice for Tuesday's race with the tags, and learned that it is important to have your warm-ups off before your partner gets into the tag zone (who could have imagined...)
I was also surprised that I was able to time without a hitch, and I dont think I made any significant mistakes, so here are the results, rounded to the nearest second.

Eastern Cup @ UVM

So we've got a couple of skiers racing at the Eastern Cup this weekend at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. Tomorrow is the Classic race and Sunday will be a skate. It should be a fun weekend with some competitive racing. It is combined with a college carnival so it will be a great event to watch. Head on over on Sunday for some really beautiful skiing and fun spectating. Cood luck to Will, Britta, Dominique and Lisa.

Coach's racing debut of the season is the Sunday skate race. Come and watch him get thrashed. Its gonna be a tough one. Race start is at 9:30am. For lack of a better picture, here is your coach, the last time he was seen skiing in public. Yikes.

Time Trial Tomorrow

So here's the critical info.

We will push back the start just a little bit to about 10:15 am. There is a Shuttle bus from the Green in town which leaves at 9:15 and should get us up there around 9:40. That leaves about a half an hour for warmup.

We will be skiing in the field across the road.
After a brief discussion with Charlie, I have decided to change the format to a relay, so that we can have a little practice before Tuesday's race at Woodstock. It will be run in 2 person teams. JV will each do two laps while Varsity will do three.

See you up there.

The Paintball Biathalon

So it was my first experience at the paintball Biathalon. It was about what I expected, just colder. All in all things went pretty well. I was pretty confused with the registration, the addition of t-shirts made for a little more to keep track of. But we got it all sorted out, and got down to the skiing. The scene at the range was pretty hectic, lots of skiers coming in and out. Three 1.5km loops lead to occasional periods of congestion and other quiet moments, but always the popping of guns.

There were a ton of volunteers doing the scoring of shooting which looked pretty confusing to me. Our skiers skied well, Britta and Dominique finished 3rd and 5th with really close skiing times. Maddie had a great race, though her shooting wasn't quite sniper material, her skiing would have landed her in 13th, a solid result. Will Earle had another solid race, 8th and Will Conlon and Austin also skied well finishing 15th and 17th.

We're taking a little time off of racing, but we'll be back at it on Tuesday at Colchester for the night relays. We have a little time trial on Saturday to keep things sharp. We're getting a little bit of snow here and there, and skiing is improving daily. After the rains last week, I think everyone is glad to be skiing again after a week of running.

Some more pictures

Here are some pictures from the U-32 race that were given to me by Christine Metcalfe. I figured it would be nice to show some of our guys. Here's Kelsey making it hurt up coming toward the final hill and Will getting after it.

Paintball Biathalon

Sorry everybody the results are a little slow in coming, but they should appear sometime later today. In the meantime, here is a link to some photos from the event. Dubs is featured right on the front page. I think I would be terrified if I didn't know the whole story.

http://www.bigshotphotovt.com/p193082622

We're also awaiting some video from the race. Dubs managed to hit record this go round and supposedly there are some fun tumbles.

Bread Loaf Race Pictures

Thanks to Hillary Swift for a couple of pictures from the race. There's one of the Varsity Girls mass start and Britta and Dominique skiing well together.

Snow Dance

Somebody please do a snow dance.

Bread Loaf Race

Well, a quick note from race central before I finish packing up and stop to eat some lunch, if I'm lucky I'll have something in my stomach before 3pm.


We had a superb race here today. The conditions were absolutely beautiful. Sunny and warm, but not melty. The crew here at Bread Loaf put on a phenomenal event, and I was lucky to have so much help on my first race. I must admit I was a little nervous going into the morning but everything ended up going smoothly.

As far as the race, the snow was pretty abrasive and we lost a little wax. I tried a little klister change right at the end and it held through the abrasive downhill. Our girls finished 3rd and our guys skied to 2nd in the team results which was exciting. I'll post results sometime this evening or tomorrow.

For now its back to clean up and then on to the Ski Team Gala this evening.

A big Thank You to all of the parents today. There was a great turnout and a lot of help which made things so much easier. Thank you again to the Bread Loaf staff who will be putting on a Bill Koch event tomorrow too.

Race Timeline for Saturday

10:30am JV Girls 3km mass start
11:00am JV Boys 3km mass start
11:30am Varsity Girls 5km mass start
12:15am Varsity Boys 5km mass start

Members of the MUHS nordic team should be at Bread Loaf 1 hour before your start time.
I'll be up there at 7:45 to start testing and waxing.

U-32 Meet

Just a quick report from our last race. Things are busy now as we prepare for our home meet on Saturday and the annual ski team ball Saturday evening.

The weather was great for a skate race at U-32, bright and sunny, and fairly warm. The snow stayed relatively dry, but the up hills turned to mash potatoes and the downhills were scary fast (Charlie was our worst victim with ending up with an injured shoulder and skiing most of the race using only one pole).

Britta had a great result skiing to 6th in the girls varsity race, which was really exciting to see. She excelled on the short and steep uphills which abounded on the course. Her quick tempo was crucial for the day and exciting to watch, especially into the finish. Our girls varsity team was a little small due to All-State Auditions, but three brand new skate skiers stepped up in a big way to fill out our scoring spots. Hannah Krauss, Emma Ryan and Haley Olson all had great performances, especially considering their limited experience (this was Hannah's fourth day skate skiing, first time racing, Haley and Emma don't have much more experience than that either). They all finished the long race well, and looked great while they were skiing. I'm going out on a limb a little here, but I think they'd all say they had a good time. They did ask to return to JV racing for a little while, though.

On the guys side, our skiers skied well, but some results were not quite what we hoped. I think that our technique work has been good, but we can continue to improve, especially in practicing our new technique at race type speeds. Be on the lookout for some more intervals soon.

One final note. In an effort to push our team well into the blogosphere, Dubbs attempted to provide some multimedia in the form of a stomach cam perspective on the race. Turning his race suit from orange to silver with duct tape, he had a securely mounted video cam for the entire race. Next challenge: pressing the record button. Look for exciting footage from our home race, maybe.

Parent Volunteers for Bread Loaf Classic Race

We still need some more parent volunteers for our race this weekend. Please email ameyer[@]middlebury[dot]edu to sign up for a spot.


Registration Table 8:45am-10:30am
1.Amy McGlashan
2.Nancy Breiden
Road Crossing 10:30am-1:30pm (or race finish)
1.Chris Anderson
2.Christine Metcalfe
3.Ron Metcalfe
4.Ken Johnson
5.Peter Conlon
Bib Colletion
1. Nancy Breiden
2.Sarah Wesson
3.Wendy Hollander
Finish Time Recorders 10:30am-1:30pm (or race finish)
1. Hector Villa
2. Todd Kincaid
Finish Order Recorders 10:30am-1:30pm (or race finish)
1.Tim Hollander
2.Pete Ryan (-11:30)
3.Christina Wadsworth (11:30-1:30)

Concessions
9:00-11:00
1.Marcia Collaer
2.
11:00-1:00
1.Jutta Miska
2.Erika-Maria Miska
Cleanup 1:00-2:00ish
1.Jutta Miska
2.Erika-Maria Miska
3.

Upcoming Races

Sat, Jan 23 Middlebury@ Bread Loaf 10:30am
Sat, Jan 30 Rut @ Mt Top 9:30am
Sat, Feb 7 Time Trial Blueberry Hill ?
Tue, Feb 9 CHS @ CHS 4:30 pm
Sun, Feb 14 J2 Qualifier
Sat, Feb 20 SB@ Range 10 am
Fri, Feb 26 State Meet MAU @ Prospect Mt.
Mon, Mar 1 State Meet @ Craftsbury