Craftsbury Camp Update

Today we had a great day. I am so drained of energy that I can’t think of what to write. So Chris will dictate and I will type and filter what he says… then he’ll correct my grammer [which he tells me is spelled with an “a”].
The REG camp started for real yesterday with a grueling mountain run time trial. Hannah and I were a bit … uh… we did not have an auspicious start to the camp. But we totally ACED the core workout that afternoon! Thanks to Alex Jospe’s torture sessions on Friday nights, we were totally ripped for the circuit strength.

Today we did a skate OD in the morn and a DP/run combo in the afternoon, for a total or 3:30-4:00 of quality distance. Some sweet video was also taken and reviewed with US ski team coach Matt Whitcomb. Turns out Chris has killed the WORM, but has moved on to the LURCH!

We also had 4 hrs of rest this afternoon, in which we swam, rested, played volleyball, and played soccer – which we’re really great at. : )

But, even though we’re tired, it’s been well worth all the great times! Check back for more updates!

Hannah and Chris

Canoe Orienteering!

Today I took part, for the first time, in a canoe orienteering event put together by Aims Coney.  I was teamed up with Shawn Burke, a canoer who lives in Andover.  Having never done a Canoe-O event I was curious to see how this would go. Its been years since I've done even a regular O event.  Answer - It was a blast!!  Fortunately, Shawn has done a number of these events and had his canoe all set up with clipboards for maps, etc.  I was the bowman and therefore the designated runner.  In canoe-O there are wet controls, reachable from the water, and dry controls, reachable by running to them, all fairly easy to find.  In addition, there are places where you split and the runner goes for a couple controls by running and the other paddler paddles to a predetermined meeting spot.  One last big decision is whether to paddle the boat or portage it and run.

We got off to a good start with the first 3 wet controls.  For 4 I hopped out, bushwhacked straight up the hill and nailed the control, but veered left coming back down and lost a minute finding Shawn again.  We opted to paddle the next couple controls, but perhaps should have done a long portage for 6, at the far end of the course, clearly faster than paddling it, but a long way to run with the boat. We made another mistake by not reading the directions and got a couple controls out of sequence going upstream.  We did a couple splits on the way downstream toward the finish where I ran and Shawn paddled, meeting up successfully, and found the last control, 14, pulled the boat out and portaged it a few hundred yards to the finish rather than paddle.  All in all, a decent run.  The winners must have run the really long portage because they stomped us but we were in 2nd until we learned that we were supposed to get all the controls in order.  Oooopsssssy!  Remember, READ THE DIRECTIONS!!!  However, we had some good fun, a long, varied workout, worked well together and didn't make any big mistakes, so all in all, a good, fun day!  If you are looking for a fun way to get a different sort of workout in, try it!

Hannah and Chris Head for Craftsbury

We zoomed away from Chris’s house at 6:30 on the dot – exactly according to plan. What didn’t go according to plan is when we also zoomed onto the wrong part of Route 3 approximately 45 minutes later. After several anxious attempts to get back onto the Everett Turnpike and one confused yet helpful gas attendant later, we made our way back onto 93 North as desired.


Me: Um, can you help us get onto 93?
Her: North or South honey? [eye-roll-type glance]
Me: Oh…. North.
Her [coming out to gas pump]: The first four times it said Card Invalid; the next two times it said Invalid Card.

After that, with smooth driving, no traffic, easy navigation (VT is a piece of cake), beautiful views, and ample use of cruise control, we arrived at Craftsbury at 11:00 – thirty minutes ahead of schedule.

Franconia Notch

Craftsbury!

Hannah Busting a Gut

As the first New Englanders to arrive, we received a warm welcome from Janice and then Hannah did a VO2 max test on the erg machine. Hard but a valuable test.

Other afternoon activities included a short run, blong ball (kinda like horseshoes…), badminton, soccer, REALLY good food, and swimming.

David Sinclair adds, “I scored a lot of goals in soccer today!!”

Welley Ramsy says, “Hold up a second, I’m gonna think up a good quote.”

That’s all folks.
Hannah

Chris and Isaac go on an adventure

Chris Stock reports on an action-packed day in western Mass...

On Wednesday, Isaac and I headed down Route 2 for some adventures in Western Mass. We left in the morning around 8:15 and cruised until we got to Northfield Mountain. Turns out there's some great rollerskiing around there, and once we had strapped on the skis we found ourselves rolling under narrow railroad bridges, through fields of corn, wheat, and sod, and finally up a steep mountain road with great views.





After a quick stop for burgers at the Wagon Wheel in Greenfield, we hit the road again. It started raining when we got to the Berkshires, but that didn't stop us from getting to our destination -- Mt. Greylock. There, we hiked for about two and a half hours, mostly on a section of the Appalachian Trail. The Mt. Greylock State Reservation is well-developed, and we crossed several roads along the hike in addition to enjoying the elaborate hut and war memorial at the summit.





The rain had cleared up by the end of our hike, so we changed and headed into town -- North Adams -- for a wild night at Mass MoCA, the modern art museum. Unfortunately, by the time we got there at 6 pm, the galleries were closed. But we didn't miss out on all the action! Luckily, there was an avant-garde musical group that was rehearsing in the MoCA's black box theater, so we slipped in and absorbed the abstract, multi-media performance.

Isaac and his artwork of choice

It was getting late, and with everything in North Adams closed down for the night, we hopped in the car and headed back East. Our final stop was an 8 pm dip in the Deerfield River, accompanied by some delicious PB&J sandwiches, before heading home.

Mt. Washington Hill Climb

Yesterday was the annual Mt. Washington Hill Climb.  CSUskiers taking part included Rob Bradlee, Donna Smith, Lisa Doucett, Fabio Schiantarelli and Charlie Kellogg plus many from the running section.  It was hot at the base, and of course when the breeze is blowing from the west and the road is on the east side of the mountain, that means tough conditions until you hit tree-line at the half way point.  The women's record was beaten by Shewarge Amare, currently of NYC, in 1:08:21.  The men's race was won by Chris Siemers of Colorado in 1:00:22.  Kris Freeman ran and finished 15th in 1:07:56.

From Lisa Doucett:
It was hoped the winds would be refreshing once above the tree-line, but there were intermittent gusts at best and even those faded away.  The long climb on the dirt section from the around 4.5 mile mark to nearly 6 miles offered no relief at all.   The final section, a legendary wall of roadway, was tough to navigate to the finish line.  I overhead a great nickname for that section as I was going to the start, "Dante's Pitch."

As usual, it was great to see friendly CSU volunteer workers at the finish.  Larry and Sara Mae Berman were the first to offer their support, other CSU'er handed out the silver blankets and medals to all finishers.  At least we were able to hang around the summit in t-shirt and shorts for the most part, and seek the all important ride down the mountain.  It was the 50th Anniversary of the road race, Jock Semple of the Boston Athletic Association and Fred Brown of the North Medford Club were the first race directors.  For the past 29 years, Bob Teschek of Granite State Race Services has been the director, and he  retired following this year's race.  In 2011, Dave MacGilvray of DMSE will direct the race, so things like the lottery entry system and other characteristics of the race may change.  It was Jock Semple who loved to set off the starting cannon and instruct the runner's that it is "only one hill."


CSU Results - Men

139    Dima Feinhaus    1:30:42
162    Rob Bradlee       1:33:44
186    Derek Sawyer    1:36:45
225    Sumner Brown   1:40:04
229    Jim Terry           1:40:28
434    Fabio Schiantarelli 1:58:27
493    Paul Grant         2:04:33
580    Tom Parker       2:16:30
596    Fred Ross         2:19:10
643    Joe Leader        2:35:54
652    Earton Robertson 2:48:04


CSU Results - Women
19      Suzy West         1:19:22
49      Donna Smyth     1:40:22
51      Lisa Doucett      1:40:57
145    Karen Mahoney 2:04:34

Nashua River Canoe Race

Dan Rabinkin puts on a very nice canoe race each year on the Nashua River in Groton.  The Nashua is a beautiful river that has been cleaned up since the 1960's when it ran different colors from dyes used in factories in Fitchburg.  This year the weather was sunny and hot, but with a nice cooling breeze, so it was a lot nicer than I thought it might be.  Several skiers took part in this affair, including Michael Melnikov in a surf ski, Wes Denering and I in C1 racing canoes and Aims Coney in a racing sea kayak.  I had a blast, settling in after the start in 8th place of 13 C1s, right behind Wes (I still need to go out easy in these affairs to make sure I don't take an impromptu swim), but saw an opening at the first bouy turn a few hundred yards into the course to sneak by Wes on the inside as we struggled to get our boats to turn (18' single canoes do not turn easily!).  I was eventually able to get up to 2 other C1s and the 3 of us paddled the next 7-8 miles together, either bow to stern, drafting, or side by side, riding each other's wakes, soooo much better than being out there by yourself.  Wes struggled to hang with Bill Farrell and another boat.  On the last stretch the 2 boats I was with blew me off and put 45sec to a minute on me as I faded to 7th place in 1:41:46 and Wes in 1:51:41.  Meanwhile, up near the front the fast kayaks were cranking along, Michael in the mix to claim 4th in 1:28:37.  Aims, still learning about how his boat handles opted for the shorter 4 mile race, taking first place in 0:37:13. 

Other Westontuesday night skiers had excellent days, including Carina Peritore, paddling a C2 racing canoe in the mixed division and taking first in 1:34:35, while Seth Miller also paddling a mixed C2 took 2nd place in 1:35:01. 

Humid Friday core

90 degrees out last night, but we still had a good turnout for the circuits in Jody's backyard. I added a highly popular station, the "agility" station, which was basically a free-for-all, gymnastics-type station. Most people chose to do handstands, although somersaults and jump-360s were also popular. The boys quickly discovered that doing somersaults on freshly-mown grass without a shirt when you've been sweating profusely is not such a good idea...




The hose was popular in the rest between circuits.



Chris and Corey attempt partner pushups, because apparently that's how the wrestlers do it.


By the time we got some shade, life was much more pleasant. For the first time, it was questioned what exactly the extra credit was for when the extra credit pushups were suggested...

Andrew Reed and Belmont Hill Capture National Rowing Title!

Graduating CSU Jr. Andrew Reed, rowing in the number 2 seat for the Belmont Hill School four with cox captured the national title in Cincinnati last weekend!! Here is the story I lifted from the Belmont Hill School website:


After winning its eighth consecutive New England championship last month, the crew team capped a truly remarkable season by winning the United States Rowing Youth National Championship in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was Belmont Hill's fourth national title, with other titles coming in 2003, 2006, and 2007.


"The boys rowed three fantastic races," Coach Chris Richards said from Cincinnati. "A regatta like this is really tricky because you race three straight days. You have to race intelligently without expending too much energy. On Sunday, the boys really shifted into another gear, and in a season of great races, I think we all felt that they raced their very best today."

Congratulations to Andrew and the entire Belmont Hill crew! 

Gt. Linoln Steeple Chase

Last weekend was the annual Great Lincoln Steeple Chase trail race through the lovely woods and fields of Lincoln.  This is a great little race and I wish I could have run it. CSU skiers dominated the front end of the results!!  Congrats to Eli Hoenig for nailing down 3rd place overall, followed by older brother Isaac in 6th.  Rounding out the top 10 were Andy Milne in 7th, John LaChance in 8th and Greg Holdman in 10th.  Quite an awesome display by a bunch of skiers!!  New CSUer, Max LaChance, ran really well to claim 16th, sandwiched between dad John and mom Sue, who came home 1st F.  Hannah Smith, 3rd F, chased Nick Serbedzija, Marshall Randolf and Frank Feist as all four finished within 40 seconds of each other. 

Here are results.  Please let me know if I missed anyone.

3.   Eli Hoenig                   42:11
6    Isaac Hoenig               43:10
7    Andy Milne                 43:37
8    John LaChance           43:22
10  Greg Holdman            44:41
13  Max LaChance           46:54
16  Jimmy Burnham           47:18
19  Sue LaChance             48:28
22  Frank Feist                  49:04
25  Marshall Randolph       49:17
26  Nicholas Serbedzija     49:35
27  Hannah Smith              49:44
?    Hamish McEwen         51:30?? (Got missed in the results)
40 Alan McEwen              53:29
45 Tom Smith                   54:30
     Del Williamson             57:18 (CSU running section)
     Kris Koziel                  58:14    
     Aims Coney                 58:20
     Fabio Schianterelli        58:57
     Geoffrey Kent              60:40 (CSU running section)
     Ann Burnham               62:27
     Rebecca Smith             70:03

NENSA Coaching Clinic

Rob held a NENSA coaching clinic at Lincoln-Sudbury HS last weekend with 9 participants, including Gunther and Doro Kern. John Sakalowski provided the photos. This one day Level I clinic was intended to attract more participants by being held locally and for one day instead of a multi-day clinic up north somewhere.  There will be a Level 2 clinic later in the year. 

Rollin in the Rain

Jacob, Greg, Ryan, Blake and Jordan

Soaking wet but happy!

Props to the hardy bunch who showed up tonight for practice in the heavy rain!  I rolled for 30 minutes and came back expecting no one to show up since it was raining pretty hard (my feet were swimming in my boots), but no, the LS crowd plus Jacob were already there and ready to roll!  So, out we went for a good skate workout in the rain for an hour and all were adequately soaked through by the end.

Specific strength in the rain

(I was not on rollerskis, hence the lack of a helmet)

It was raining and windy, but the few brave souls who made it to specific strength were not deterred. Olga and Charlotte sported our fancy shiny vests and were even able to smile at times. Olga hammered out a great workout while Charlotte and Alex worked on some technique.



"I think I get it!"

Those words are gold to a coach's ear.



It may be rainy, but Charlotte is still dancing her way down the hill.

CSUers Named to NENSA Masters Team

Congratulations to the three CSUers named to the NENSA Masters Team this week!  They included Ellen Chandler (M4), John Sakolowski (M2), and Jamie Doucett (M6).  The scoring was based on NENSA Eastern Cup Races and the marathon series where you had to ski in at least 2 events.  Quite frankly I'm a bit mystified about how the scoring worked given that there are a number of racers who beat me in the marathon series, but hey, you take what you get and showing up is half the battle.  Ellen had a consistently good season, skiing in a number of events and always doing well, particularly at the Trapps classic race.  John skiied in a couple of the tougher Eastern Cup races at Rumford and the Cheri Walsh race at Holderness, which, while short had the killer slush uphill of mixed snow and sand.   I went for the classic races and was one of 3 Masters racing in the masters wave at Presque Isle, nailing down that 3rd spot and then raced the Gunstock classic race, having my best points in a couple years thanks to some smart wax selection in the highly variable conditions.  In any event, next year the scoring will include the Citizen Series as well, which should broaden the pool of eligible skiers since few masters skied in at least 2 of the Eastern Cup races.

Burnham Train in Littleton

The storms came through early enough that we ended up having good, but very humid weather for the Littleton roll today. Caught the Burnham's in action: