After a long explosive strength session that replaced the on-snow work we pulled the plug on due to the pouring rain yesterday, this morning the team went back to work on snow at Burke. 
The groomer from the Base Lodge to Mid-Burke Lodge gave us some perfect terrain for climbing V1 intervals. The athletes worked on using quick motions and fast footwork to efficiently climb the 6 minute uphill. Although there were a few complaints about sore calves from jump roping in the gym yesterday, everyone seemed to be absorbing the intervals and recovering fully in between. The emphasis right now is to develop the athletes' "top end" speed as the first round of important races looms ahead of us. That sort of training takes a lot of focus because of the physical and mental wear on an athlete, but the lack of snow during this period makes that sort of focus even more important- and difficult to achieve. Everyone has been staying on top of it really well so far, and hopefully tonight the snow storm that is predicted will come in and dump on us so we don't have to play anymore workouts "by ear". This team has the personality to keep having fun no matter what the conditions are... after the workout of level 4 intervals followed by sprint starts, the crew still didn't want to get off the snow and took advantage of the groomer we were training on by setting up an impromptu slalom course to practice step-turning sharp turns on icy courses! As Lucas frequently says before he starts down "Death or Glory!!"
Cheating death for glory...
Resting after an interval
Sprint Starts
Putting the Hammer down
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