CSU ladies travel to H.U.R.T. Ski camp

Last weekend, Carina, Clara, Meg, and Alex drove westward for a few hours, and ended up in Queensbury, NY, for the Hudson United Race Team (HURT) training camp. You know a camp run by people who call themselves "HURT" is going to be fun... the weekend was action-packed. Friday was core circuits (which, unfortunately, we missed, arriving late), and some hillbounding. The girls made it through the hillbounding fine, but Alex managed to get stung by a bee in her leg, which swelled up to about the size of a golf ball in her hamstring. Fun! Saturday morning was a long classic technique session, on a beautifully-paved bike path with rolling hills, and Saturday afternoon was a 3km uphill time trial. Sunday morning was a long skate technique session, on a different rolling bike path, and then we wrapped it up with some video, a presentation, and a goodbye bbq. A good time was had by all, and I heard a lot of talk about "next year..."

The weather was brutally hot, and we were staying in a tent city next to the downhill lodge at West Mountain, complete with a hose in place of a shower, but all the skiers seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It's a good thing Rob didn't come, because he would have been whining the whole time about how he's too old for this stuff.

It was hot - head coach Dave Kvam after suffering up the mountain run.

Tent city.

The CSU ladies at the finish of the uphill climb - on a chairlift disembarking platform!

Hiking back down. True to form, we found some blueberries, and indoctrinated some of the NY skiers about the importance of stopping to eat blueberries when on a hike. The NY skiers were all super friendly, and it was good to watch the cultural mixing.

Alex's bee sting in its early stages. From there, it spread to cover almost the entire hamstring. And boy did that sucker ITCH!

Clara mid-air during the rollerski agility warmup.

Meg and Clara during a pickup on the skate day.

Carina doing a pickup.

Charlotte Loses a Pole

Charlotte didn't look where she was poling on the Littleton roll on Saturday. Her pole got stuck and she kept going - fortunately puling the pole off and not knocking her down.






She came back smiling

Update from Corey in AK!

Here are some more great photos from what we’ve been doing recently! Photo credit to Lauren Loberg for all of them! Every day I see new, awesome parts of Alaska. We were going to fly up to the glacier tomorrow morning but due to sketchy weather in the forecasts we are taking the helicopter up tonight! I am super excited and I will be sure to post photos when I return!

Yesterday a few of us went over to Kikkan’s house to make monster cookies for a BBQ last night!


We had a great time making a mess of Kikkan’s kitchen! From left to right: Kikkan, me, Liz, Chandra, and Jessie!

It is such a cool experience to be hanging out with these girls!

Kikkan let us try out some of her sweet glasses! From left to right is Kikkan Randall, Perianne Jones, Liz Stephen, me, and Lauren Loberg.


Jessie showed us her moves as we jammed out to Lady Gaga!


Yesterday morning we did skate speeds. Here are some photos (Photo credit Lauren Loberg!):


It was so cool to watch these women at there top speeds! Here Holly Brooks and Kikkan Randall lead the pack.


We’ve had beautiful blue-sky days with weather never above the 70’s! Go figure! There I am in the back in neon!


And my moose count is now up to 9!


Munching away on a yummy little bush. Om nom nom.

Good job on the DP test everyone!!

Corey

Corey Escapes to Cool Alaska

Here is a great report and photos from Corey, who escaped to Alaska just in time to miss the heat wave!

I’m in Alaska training with the US Ski Team and it is truly AWESOME here! I am training with the five USST women, the two Canadian Ski Team women, and for most of our workouts we also join up with the elite Alaska Pacific University (APU) skiers. I am in a condo with Ida Sargent and Jessie Diggins!! All of the girls are super nice. Alaska is also amazing! Everywhere that we go there are gorgeous views. Throughout Anchorage there are paved bike paths with great pavement to ski on. Here are some photos from what we’ve been doing so far. We did some great DP intervals – these girls are FAST!

The first three women in this photo are Kikkan Randall, Ida Sargent, and Liz Stephen (all USST members)!
It is really cool to ski with these girls and try and mimic their techniques.
 
Another day we skied a distance DP along the coastline. There were mountains on one side of us and the ocean on the other! We have a huge group of women here training together which is so beneficial for everyone. I am much younger than almost all of them and it is inspiring to look up to them and see what they have done to get to where they are now.

Here are a bunch of us on the distance DP. (I’m towards the back in the green shorts, following Sadie Bjornsen!)

Here I am skiing with Chandra Crawford from the Canadian Ski team (she won a gold in the 2006 Olympics!), Perrianne Jones (Canadian Ski Team), Jessie Diggins (USST), and Sophie Caldwell!

Another cool photo of the huge group of girls on the DP.

On one of the afternoons we went on a run above the tree line! We could see across all of Anchorage. Here is a view to the mountains across the Turnagain Arm!

Those are a little bigger than Mt. Weston.

Another morning we did skate intervals.

Here is the front group finishing up with a sprint to end one of the ten minute intervals. Kikkan Randall is leading the pack.

Here I am feeling the pain!

At the end of the intervals Kikkan gave us these sweet sweatshirts that she made for us!

From left to right: Kikkan Randall (USST), Jessie Diggins (USST), Chandra Crawford (Canadian Ski Team), Sophie Caldwell (Dartmouth), Kinsey Loan (APU), Rosie Brennan (APU), Sadie Bjornsen (USST), Celia Haering (APU), Ida Sargent (USST), Perianne Jones (Canadian Ski Team), Rebecca Rorabaugh (APU), Me, Holly Brooks (APU), Liz Stephen (USST). It is really cool getting to know these girls!

Next week we are going to the glacier!!

Corey

DP Bake Off

16 or 17 stalwarts showed up for the Double Pole Bake Off tonight.  It was 97 at game time as we headed out for warmups but the saving grace was a strong breeze blowing up the recovery hill so you could cool off a bit.  We all put water bottles at the top of the hill and I dumped most of mine over my head.  The Hoenig Boys were hammering at the front, reportedly setting new standards for single runs and combined times for the day.  Almost everyone had a good first run and then the heat started catching up on the 2nd or 3rd interval.  However, several people set new PRs by quite a bit, including Greg and Olivia M..  A few DP test first timers also got to experience the joy that is Annursnac Hill, including Rafi and Charlotte.  Hannah went early and was finishing up about the time we got started.....why?  Because she likes it HOT! 

The highlight of the day though came after we were done with watermelon and popsicles for cool down and re-hydration supplied by Karin Cole and Donna Holdman which almost made it all worth it!  Thanks hugely for the treat!!!

3000m time trial

Some photos, courtesy of Albert Innamorati, of the 3k from Wednesday. Lots of PRs, despite the hot weather.

Eli Hoenig 9:55 PR
Calvin Wight 10:04 PR
Isaac Hoenig 10:08
Chris Burnham 10:28
Sean Skahen 11:36
John McDaniel 12:03
Olivia Meyerson 12:17 PR
Hank Yoder 12:54 PR
Peter Hoenig 13:29 (wins 50+ category)
Clara Cousins 13:33
Meg Yoder 13:33 PR (first time)

John



CB

Clara and Meg, entering the pain cave.

Hank

Isaac


Olivia



I wonder how many guys have to deal with people asking what that strange stripe of a tan line is across their chests...

Skate time trial from camp

Below are posted the results from the 2011 skate time trial from camp. Most people did four reps, but some did fewer because of age or other considerations. You should be able to click on the times and they'll get bigger.



Here are the results from 2010. As you can see, a very big improvement for most of our skiers!


And digging even further into the past, below are the results from the 2009 camp.



Nice work, everyone! Now take that enthusiasm, and carry it forth into everyday workouts!

CSU Ski Camp - Day 5

Today was the last day of CSU summer ski camp, another gorgeous summer day of dry, clear, sunny weather.  Perfect for the time trial!  The time trial was a 3-4 min. uphill skate x 4.  Alex started groups of 1 or 3 skiers and Rob and I timed.  We then add up the four times for an overall time.  Some of the younger or newer skiers skied 2 or 3 intervals instead of 4.  The weather was perfect and most of the course was in the shade.  The results will be posted later this week, but in the meantime, here are a number of photos from the finish line. 

 Calvin looking tough

 Isaac and Erik

 Olivia

 Sean

 Jacob

 Catherine

 John

 Cecily

Zoe, Olivia and Cate hammering

 Katie

Jane

CSU Camp - Day 4

Photos of the morning pre-breakfast run, the hike with Rob and end of the day S'mores.  It was an excellent day!