The Fall at a Glance...

Welcome to the Burke Mountain Academy Nordic blog! Now that we are up and running we hope that you will check back in often, as we plan on updating the parents, friends, supporters, and Superfans of the BMA Nordic team at least a couple times a week!!! We are driving down to the Great Glen Sprints tomorrow morning for our first real race of the season, but we've been working hard all fall to get to this point- below is a quick overview of the season so far.. Enjoy!


The fall started off with beautiful weather- lots of sun, perfect training temperatures, and cold water for after-workout dips. A normal day consisted of a 6:15am wake up followed by a good warm up before hitting the gym for strength (Strength was a big focus this fall and everyone is seeing and feeling the results as we begin the transition to snow). After the gym it was straight to breakfast and a full day of classes. In the afternoon after class the crew would hop on their mountain bikes and warm up over to Darling Hill Road for a rollerski workout. The road is around 2km of out and back, but good terrain and low traffic made it an optimal site for training, especially after daylight savings started and the sun started creeping down before we were ready for it!

When we talk training with the kids we usually talk in terms of training levels (1-5) based on their heart rates. To train accurately its important to know what your levels are, as they vary widely between individuals. This fall we took a trip down to the University of New Hampshire to test the VO2 Max readings and Lactate Thresholds of the athletes. Some of them had done the test or something similar before, and for some it was their first experience getting hooked up to a treadmill and told to run until you drop. Literally. Some of the younger ones were a little daunted going in, but once it starts there's no stopping! The readings from the test came out instantly and within minutes Dane, our lab technician, was able to pull up the data and graph the curve to show where the athlete's lactate threshold is, as well as show what kind of training the athlete can do to improve the trajectory of their curve. Its complicated stuff, but also really crucial to the development of elite athletes.
Next it was off to Keene Valley, NY for our fall training camp. Everyone was ready for the break from classes and the opportunity to get some solid hours in. Right from the start the whole crew jumped in the Climb to the Castle rollerski race up Whiteface... due to the newly fallen snow at the top the race didn't actually end at the castle, but you wouldn't find many people complaining that the race wasn't hard enough. The U.S. Ski Team was staying at the O.T.C. in Lake Placid at the same time for their fall camp, and they invited us to do a couple workouts with them, including a rollerski speed session, a killer hillbounding workout, and their sprint TT (which Lucas and Sam raced in). Training with the big guys was an exciting experience for everyone, but was also very useful- watching Andy Newell sprint is in itself a lesson in technique and power. After some of the workouts with the Ski Team the Burkies were feeling the burn and took some ice baths in the river across the road from our cabin... and then sunned themselves dry. At the end of the camp we challenged the U.S. Ski Teamers to a round of mini-golf, one of the few social activities of the week that didn't involve heart rate monitors. Everyone seemed to like hanging out with fast skiiers in a less competitive environment, as well as catching up with Burke alum Liz Stephen!







The last few weeks of fall we were back in the classroom during the day and rushing out to Darling Ridge Road in the late afternoons hoping to beat the sun. It generally beat us. We also spent some more time on the weekends driving up to Lake Willoughby to find some new rollerskiing terrain for our ODs.

Everyone was absorbing the training really well and staying positive, but at the same time we were all ready to get off the cold, damp pavement and on that fluffy white stuff in CANADA!


...And on the Fourth Day, There was Snow

When we arrived in Stoneham there was no snow in sight... the ride up into the mountains towards Foret Montmorency wasn't too promising either- there was some old dirty snow brushed to either side of the Highway but nothing that I would put rock skis on. All in all a pretty bleak sight. When we arrived at Foret we were pleasantly surprised to find a .5km loop of man made snow waiting for us. At this point length wasn't an issue, everyone just wanted to get on skis!! As the crew put their boots on Pete went to get tickets for everyone, only to be informed that only visitors staying at the facility were allowed to ski on the loop. After some grade A schmoozing (bribing?) the guy behind the desk sold us tickets- then proceeded to turn away the teams that came in behind us... Whew!
Skiing on the loop was nothing to complain about for the first few days, as there was nothing else like it within driving distance (or in West Yellowstone, for that matter) and we were all just getting used to skiing on skis that felt like they were a mile long. On the third day we convinced the other guys training on the loop to reverse direction, keeping everyone sane for another day.
Finally the snow started really coming down on our fourth day on the gerbil loop and by the time we were ready to ski on the morning of day 5, the groomer had been out far enough to ski a solid hour and a half out-and-back. From there the snow only got better and the tracks set up so it looked and felt like mid-winter skiing! We generally set out for the trails around 9am, skied until lunch, came inside for food and ping-pong, then got back out for a second workout at 2. The NorAm races that we were signed up for were canceled before the snow even had a chance to fall, but we took hooked up with the Colby and St. Lawrence teams for a skate time trial anyway. On thanksgiving we all gathered at the condo some of the parents were staying in near us and ate a giant feast with the Milliken, Tarling, Prevot, and Martell clans. It was so good that some people literally couldn't stop eating, and in classic Thanksgiving fashion spent the rest of the night trying to move very slowly so they wouldn't see their dinner again.... Lucas. We owe a huge thanks to all the families for generously cooking for us the whole time they were there, it was really nice to come home from a full day of skiing to great food and company!
On our second to last day we drove over to Mt St. Anne for a distance skate ski. The fresh wet snow made the trails quite soft and all our legs were dragging a bit to begin with from long hours on snow the past two weeks, but the trails were beautiful all the same and everyone was happy to ski on some new terrn. There's something exciting about skiing on trails you don't know very well, you never know whats around the next turn. At Mt St. Anne, that mystery around the turn is usually another big uphill. Of course, there are always those who would rather know where they are on the trail system, if the "WE LOST" written in the snow shortly before we skied up to Janey and Mitch is any sign...

Sam and Lucas skiing at Mt St Anne