CSU Camp Day Four

Another murky day at ski camp.  What a big difference from last year where every day was perfect weather.  The law of averages is a stern taskmaster!  The morning workout was an OD classic workout.  The Stratton T2 team again joined us for the workout and the faster kids got to ski with them for over 2 hours.  A few of the boys (Rion, Trevor and Lewis) missed a turn and skied all the way back to the school, which ended up being a pretty good adventure.  Those that went on the longest ski had quite a long workout.  Not a bad day when you get to go out and rollerski for a few hours with World Cup/Olympic skiers! 

In the afternoon most of the kids stayed at the school to do agility in the big parking lot, while a small group went off to a technique session with the Stratton team.  The rain finally got us though.  Part way through the agility session it started raining and within a few minutes it became a deluge with thunder.  We retreated to the dorm for about 20 min. and went back out once the storm moved off to finish up our session.  We timed everyone, then the boys started switching skis to try and find the fastest combo, then some did it no-pole, so a successful and fun afternoon, if a bit damp.  (My shoes are now banished to the hallway). 

Rob talked about goal setting in the evening and then everyone worked on their goal pyramids and figuring out their goals for the coming season, with input the coaches.  Lots of good work and planning for the coming season!

CSU Camp Day 3

Today was a real yin and yang sort of day.  After our morning run and breakfast we loaded up the vans for a speedhike/hill bounding workout at the lost ski area on Mt. Watatic.  The old road up the mountain makes for excellent and plenty exhausting hill bounding terrain.  The air was a bit thick but it stayed more cool as we hiked to the top and then started the real workout of either 5 or 6 min. ski walking/bounding intervals up the mountain.  Before long CSUers were scattered up and down the road banging out these very tough intervals with those headed down for their next interval cheering on those headed up. This made for a great team-building atmosphere.  That and the shared discomfort of heat, humid and hard efforts!  For some of us there was a little bonus at the top in the form of wild blueberries before the trek back down to the buses and then lunch. 

At the eastern REG camp a few weeks ago Rob talked with Gus Kaeding, head coach of the Stratton T2 Team and they made plans for the team to come down and train with CSU for a few workouts.  This afternoon the Stratton team arrived with Eric Packer, Sophie Caldwell, Erika Flowers, Andy Newell, Jessie Diggins, Simi Hamilton and Annie Pokorny to ski speeds with CSU.  And when I say speeds I mean SPEEDS. Whew, they were flying, and when I say flying that is exactly what I mean....their wheels were off the ground more than they were on it.  Then our athletes hopped in to rip off a few and Eli Hoenig and Julia Kern could hang in there, perhaps not as smooth, but right in there!  Great to see.  The kids were having a great time!

We then rushed back to get dinner before they shut the place up (don't get us started on that topic), slamming down a quick meal before our mandatory fire alarm.  The fire inspector asked how we knew if everyone was out of the building and Rob quickly explained our fire team organization, adopted from the Marines and he was impressed.

After dinner we feasted on ice cream and then the Stratton team had a great question and answer session where everything from race psychology, to goal setting, to highs and lows on the world cup circuit and what runs through your head in a race were discussed.  What a great opportunity for our athletes to talk to these world class skiers!

Tomorrow will be an OD classic ski and in the afternoon we work on agility with Stratton.  That will be fun!

CSU Ski Camp Days 1 and 2

CSU ski camp is now in full swing and so far its been just a bit warm and humid.  After arriving and getting sorted out yesterday we headed over to the bike path for double pole drills and video analysis.  It was a sweaty affair and to top it off everyone ran back the few miles back from the bike path.  But no more pool to cool off in! So, showers had to suffice. World Cup videos were on tap for the evening.  This morning dawned nice and foggy and relatively cool for the pre-breakfast jog and stretching session.  The morning workout was a skate OD workout on the nice roads in NH (since the roads in Mass are terrible!)  By now the sun had burned off the fog and it got pretty hot.  Four groups set out for varying distances and speeds.  The good news is that one of the roads that was pretty sketchy last year has been beautifully repaved and the roads are pretty shady.  For the afternoon we moved the usual core workout over to Lake Dennison, which has a large grassy area we could use for our workout and a nice swimming area to cool off in after.  Fortunately, this year without Alex and Maddy as drill sergeants the core session was considerably easier with Rob leading it.  Cooling off in the lake after was a very pleasant way to finish off the workout although the life guards kept overzealous skiers at bay.  This evening we celebrated a couple birthdays with mini-golf and ice cream.  As usual, we completely overran Tweedo's.  This blog writer was the coach's champion (just had to slip that in.)

Tomorrow should bring some cooler weather, so we are all looking forward to that.