Wrapping up...

It has been a long camp and there is definitely an eagerness to head home among the kids here. We decided to make the most of our time the past couple days by driving over to Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan University to check out the campus' and athletic facilities. We took skier-oriented tours of the schools and got to meet some of the athletes from the team which was nice for the kids; sometimes its easy to forget that there are schools beyond Lake Champlain...
Now we are back in Ironwood packing up so Pete can get a head start on the snow storms that are finally ascending on the UP. So far the flurries have not left us with enough to ski on so its looking like we will wrap up here without actually getting to ski, but the kids are all healthy again and the training has been really good despite the lack of snow. We will be back to campus on Friday night, hopefully returning to some white stuff on the ground!

Scenes from a run on the North Country Trail

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hopefully everyone is full and somewhat comatose at this point in the evening. We had a great feast professionally cooked by the Prevots today. Meanwhile, the kids had a team competition of Battleship, Twister, Pool, and Trivia today (won by Holly, half a point over the team of Jordan and Jenna.) Here are some photos from our ski yesterday and the feast tonight, enjoy!

Hollybear.

Ironwood: Keepin' on Keepin' on

There's not much new to report from here- still rollerskiing on good pavement with minimal traffic, clouds and cool but not the snow and freezing temps we would like to see. Today the crew worked pretty hard with a mock sprint race in the morning and a recovery interval session in the afternoon that pushed us into and beyond dusk. Here are some more pictures of training in Michigan, check back soon for pictures of us on snow (we hope!)

Pat's natural reaction when the camera is pointed at him

Mitch getting pumped to sprint

Matt's Nature Shot of the Day

Ironwood: Before the Snow..

The title of this post suggests that there will be a future entry after the snow arrives. While we are all hoping that it will come soon, we aren't holding our breath in the 45 degree weather over here in Ironwood Michigan. Despite the lack of white stuff on the ground, the normal mid-November doom and gloom attitude has not settled on the crew. The rollerskiing is actually really good over here and its if nothing else a change of scenery from the usual view as we roll up Mountain Road.

Those of us who have been recovering from illness are slowly getting back into the normal training regime, and while many of us have lost some valuable training hours in the past two weeks, the focus on the season looming in front of us has not been lost. The forecast is calling for probable snow on Wednesday and Thursday which could be a "wintery mix-ed" blessing at this point.... While we would be completely stoked for a big dump of snow and great skiing, it could potentially derail us to get an inch or two of slush that puts us out on the rollerski front too.

There are a few things one could be justified in complaining about here, but we aren't hearing any groans coming from the team, which is a testament to their focus and determination to
push through until snow finally arrives. In the meantime there are still technical issues that we can iron out just as easily on rollerskis, and the pool table in our house has been in constant use as well. We are keeping our fingers crossed for now...

Sun Valley In Photos..

Sorry it has taken this long to get some photos up from Sun Valley, at very least we can all reminisce about the good times, the lack of oxygen, the Sun..

The view from our house one of the first evenings

then a day later...

its snow!

2009 BMA Christmas Camp: Enroll Now!

Burke Mountain Academy is hosting its second annual Christmas training camp geared towards J4s, J3s, and J2s on the BMA Campus from December 18th through the 21st. This year we are proud to announce that U.S. Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb and current U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen will be on hand to help coach the crew, along with BMA coach Matt Johnson. The camp will focus on fundamentals such as balance, technique, waxing basics, and having fun on snow! The camp will be an excellent opportunity for skiers with a range of abilities to get three days of hands on coaching as well as a chance to talk to a U.S. Ski Team coach and an athlete preparing for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics! For more details on the camp please contact Matt Johnson or Pete Phillips at:
mjohnson@burkemtnacadmey.org
pphillips@burkemtnacadmey.org
802-626-1516 ext. 1012

The First Week.5

We are now almost done with our second week of school and training, and as people are settling in to the daily routine, it is clear that the dynamic on the team is excellent and everyone is here ready to work! (and play!) This fall we essentially have 3 separate (yet compatible) training plans for the different levels of skiers we have on the team- the Post-Grad boys and J1s are generally doing similar workouts, although Jordan and Pat are also putting in some extra hours/sets of intervals where they can. The girls are getting lots of technique attention and are on more age-appropriate hours, while still playing med-ball tennis and doing the same strength exercises as the boys. The first week of school paired with the intense heat and humidity wore everyone down pretty fast, so we made sure they got enough rest, but this week the hours and intensity are up a little and everyone seems to be responding to the load well. Last Sunday everyone also participated in the all-school orientation that I planned (don't worry, I made it Nordic-friendly!) The kids got to run around the back side of Burke Mountain to a large, deep mudpit where they dug up bottles with maps to Bald Hill Pond where they canoed their teams across the pond and back, then put together puzzles with instructions to the next spot, and so on and so forth. It was a long day for everyone. I've also included some pictures of the mountain-running test we did on the first day of school. Stay tuned for more updates!

Back in the 'Dacks

We arrived in Keene, NY on the afternoon of the 13th after leaving Burke in the morning and picking up athletes along the way. When we got here the whole group went out for a run, immediately followed by a swim in the Ausable river due to the intense heat. Yesterday we did a 3000 meter test early in the morning as we tried to avoid the heat (to minimal success) and in the afternoon we did some strength testing in Petes yard, including the Brutal Bench (a sit up that you start hanging upside down), dips, and pushups on the dip bars which adds a balance element to the pushup while also forcing you to go down lower than usual. While there is no "pass/fail" measure in the test, it was defitinely encouraging to see everyone this strong coming into the fall. Stay tuned!

The August Camp is Coming Up!

Burke Mountain Academy’s Nordic Team is gearing up for the new season’s first camp. Again the setting is in the Adirondack Mountains basing out of the the Trail’s End Inn’s “Cascade Cottage” and coach Pete Phillip’s home in Keene, New York. We have four new Burkies to welcome this year and the mix of work, training and enjoying the summer is a perfect way to start. Jenna Hill is the daughter of Alum Bruce Hill and joins us as a Sophomore. She made the decision to switch to Nordic from Alpine before entering Burke and we are excited to have her. Holly Bushman comes to Burke from Union 32, the same school Liz Stephen attended before BMA. She will be a junior and has participated in last year’s Christmas Camp and other Burke mini camps. Holly is a runner, and has a strong Nordic background. A veteran of several Burke camps and last year’s Sweden trip, Patrick Joslin comes to Burke as a PG. Pat is already “IN” at Williams, and wants to take a year to concentrate on training, math and writing. He knows the whole gang and it will be fun to have him aboard. Jordan Buetow is really making a big jump in joining BMA’s Nordic Team. Jordan hails from Fairbanks, Alaska and will do a PG year with us. He is looking seriously at several Eastern schools, and wants to get into the Eastern Cup mix while working on a solid training base. His last season was derailed a bit by a chronic tonsillitis but after coughing those up, it sounds as though he is ready to roll.

The camp will consist of a series of assessment workouts and physical testing that will give the coaches and the individual athletes some training guidelines for the rest of the summer and fall. Among other things will be a 3000 meter run, max rep tests in dips, straight leg lift, and “the Brutal Bench”. When school opens the Nordics will take the testing day on the 23rd to do the “Timed Hike” with poles. That will set individual bench marks for another one at on Parents’ Weekend.


The A-dack camps always mean a little water time, and some sort of adventure day...roller ski up this, run over and around that, swim the river, run the river.

When the Fall Training Block comes in late September BMA Nordic will head for the Smoky, Pioneer, Boulder, White Cloud, and Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. There will be a week break after Parents’ Weekend and then from the 28th of September to the 17th of October we will stay in Ketchum and train with the Sun Valley Nordic Ski Team taking advantage of moderate altitude, lots of peaks to bag, and miles of paved bike path. The details are still coming together, but it should be another way to get mighty, and share the passion of the sport with kids from another part of the country.

Distance Nationals- The 30 and 50

The 15k/30k pursuit race on Friday was a real eye-opener into the world of long distance races for both Sam and Corinne, neither of whom had ever raced anything that long before.  In the women's race, Corinne skied a smart classic leg, focusing on staying relaxed and smooth so she could really put the hurt on during the skate leg.  After changing skis she passed some more girls in front of her who went out too hard and ended up the 4th junior in the event; a very solid performance overall.  Sam, who before the race had never raced more than 15k, also looked very relaxed during the classic leg and was right in the mix of juniors, however he was skiing on his "warm" skis for the skate portion due to a travel mishap with his "cold" skis, and he ended up with extremely slow skis for the whole 15k skate leg.  Despite the result, it was still a decent race for him, as he had a strong finish and definitely didn't blow up at any point, which is the goal for anyone's first real distance race.  

Sunday's race then topped the pursuit for the title of "longest race ever" for both the athletes.  In addition, the one 5k lap and six 7.5k laps were on the hardest course I've ever seen for a 50k race- just barely under the FIS limit for climbing meters per kilometer.  Corinne was definitely tired from the 15k still, and although she skied well, she dropped off a pack of girls early in the race and skied alone for the next 25k, which is no easy feat.  Sam also ended up skiing alone most of the time, but he was skiing his own race and didn't bonk, while at the same time passing a few guys who for most of the race were almost 10 minutes ahead until they lost steam.  It was still an exhausting ordeal, as anyone who has skied a 50k knows, but the degree of difficulty on this course made it even worse.  Needless to say none of us had any trouble falling asleep on any of our flights yesterday.  

Thanks once again to John Estel and the amazing volunteer crew who worked without rest all week to put these races on, it was a great race series to end the season on a high note!

I'll also post pictures from the distance races as soon as possible, I was busy waxing so I put my dad in charge of the documentation, now I'm just waiting to see them!

US Distance Nationals

Even though it is almost April, it's not common to see wax testers skiing around in T-shirts in Fairbanks Alaska.  The daily highs have been almost 30 degrees, although the snow is still squeaky cold enough that we are still racing on the coldest waxes we can find.  The 5/10k Classic race a few days ago was Sam and Corinne's first race effort since leaving altitude at JOs and it was definitely a good warm up race for the week which keeps getting more intense from here on out.  Sam actually skied really well in the 10k, beating many elite team members and other good skiers his age, while Corinne skied well but a little conservatively for a 5k back at sea level.  It can be really easy for skiers to come down from altitude thinking they can hammer the whole race, only to blow up before the end, so I was happy that she played it a little safe- especially considering the long team sprint a day later, the 15k pursuit today, and the 30k classic on Sunday!  The team sprint on Wednesday was a super twisty 1.5k loop that the racers did 3 times.  Corinne and her partner, APU's Kate Fitsgerald, made it into the top 5 of their semi-final and advanced to the final where they got to ski with the big shots like Kikkan Randall, Morgan Smyth, Liz Stephen, and Morgan Arritola.  They ended up 9th overall, which was a great result for such a young team.  Corinne was definitely feeling the burn after around 10ks of sprinting, so we will see how she fares today in the 15k!  This will be the longest race Corinne and Sam have ever competed in, so it will definitely be a learning experience, but I'm also confident that they are both in prime condition for this level of race right now.  I'm headed up to the venue to test skis with Sun Valley SEF's Travis Jones, who we have been teamed up with for wax all week, and it is snowing outside this morning, so I'll upload some pictures from the team sprint and fill you in on todays race soon!

Thanks to John Estel and the entire Fairbanks volunteer crew for putting on such high quality and well organized races this week!! 

A big day for New England, winning most of the relays and the Alaska Cup!!

Unfortunately in California, "High Speed Internet" apparently means "dialup".. so the short story is that New England rocked it today and the Burkies definitely left their mark (1st place OJ boys relay anyone?) and there are lots of great pictures to go along with the story but they won't load so I'll get plenty of them up as soon as possible.  For now I've been at least able to put up a glam shot of the entire team.  

Truckee: The mass start skate

Due to poor internet service at the hotel this week, the blog has been somewhat neglected so far but I'm still trying to at least get pictures up and maybe a little blurb about the day when possible.  The conditions were perfect for racing- hard packed powder that stayed firm throughout the day despite the rising temperatures.  The mass starts were a little messy at times, lots of broken poles and tripped up High Plains skiers, but the wide trails were perfect for racing.  Corinne was the top New England J1 of the day, ending up in 8th place after face-planting 10m from the finish.  In the OJ boys race, after the first lap Sam was in the lead pack along with Midd skiers Graham Egan and Chase Marston, while Lucas was skiing conservatively in the top 30.  After they disappeared for the second 7.5k lap we kept getting radio reports of New England skiers moving up and ahead of the other skiers until they finally came back into the stadium for the last 150 meters.  Chase had a 2 second lead on Graham and a Rocky Mtn kid, and Sam soared into 6th place after a fall 1k from the finish.  The East in general had a pretty good day, although the Classic race tomorrow is really our strength.  

Mass start skate tomorrow... pictures from the week so far