Burke Mountain Academy Nordic Ski Team

Skiing (and jumping!) on the HOME TURF!

2011-12-11T22:41:00.000-05:00

December 11th 2011

The Snow that came last Wedneday night let us make a Grand Opening of the Campus Trails today. First thing Thusday AM we had started rolling and packing on the soccer field and on the trails below the field that Alpine coach Darrell Gray had managed to mow one more time. It packed down well and probably was helped along by the ground still being so warm. Just like an old hand Oskar was right at home up on the snow mobile and oversaw the operation.

Today, Sunday the 11th, was bright, clear and windless. We made an early touch up pass with the machine and at 9:00 AM the team was out working on technique, and doing a recovery session after yesterday's hard intervals at Craftsbury. The skiing was surprisingly good. Snow was silky and fast and the underlayer was firm enough to put on the power. Two solid hours of great training...right here at home. No driving and right into a hot shower at the end of the session.

New Uniforms!

We broke in some variations to the trails, people styled the new uniform that was originally designed by Burkie Sam Tarling, AND, perhaps coolest of all we christened Stu Guy's K6 Nordic Jump!

Not a lot of Snow, but Darn Good! Last season BMA often played host to the new NE Kingdom Chapter of the Bill Koch League, the little kids XC skiing organization that holds the future of the sport in hand. Stu was always ready to chip in whenever he could get out of the business office. The kids are coming again this year and Stu, a former jumper and nordic combined skier, lit up with the idea of a real Nordic jump for the little guys. He had the math and knew the specs and after two days of measuring and tramping he called in the snowmachine and the roller (Thanks again for that to alum Andrew Smith!). We made a couple of passes and did a little shoveling. That night Stu got busy with hammering and sawing and "POOF!" the next day we had a "K 6" (ask Stu how to interpret that) jump.

And today the team christened the hill; quite a few times!. Great fun and the Kingdom kids will love it. Check out the video at BMA Nordic on Facebook.

Suddenly the BMA Campus Trails have become the BMA Nordic Complex!

A visit from Matt, The Redfish Run, BMA Fish Tacos, and Mountain Fall in earnest

2011-10-04T10:08:00.000-04:00

Matt Johnson heard that we were planning the Redfish Lake Run and decided to pile into the old white car and head north from SLC to join us for a couple of days. He is busy with the early season work of his new job with The Utah Nordic Alliance and had to squeeze this visit in. Salt Lake is a five hour drive so it isn't a spur of the moment trip. He surprised kids coming back from the SAT's and we've enjoyed his company for a couple of dinners and two great workouts.

The Redfish Run

Redfish Lake is in the Sawtooth Mountains to the Northwest of Sun Valley. It gets its name from what used to be huge runs of Sockeye salmon that made their way from their typically 4 year life cycle in the Northeast Pacific 900 miles up the Columbia into the Salmon and finally to the lake. As sockeye enter fresh water they rapidly change from the brilliant aquamarine blue that gives them the fishermen's name of "bluebacks" to a bright red body. The heads go green and hook snouted. Dams, nets, pollutants and natural hazards have whittled the runs to next to nothing, but there are still a few. Just before we arrived the hatchery above Stanley organized a "roundup", a netting of native fish that had made the trip and safely transporting them around some final hazards to the golden pebble bottomed stretches of the the river to spawn. Something in the vicinity of 130 fish were transported up. 900 miles of upstream swim! Some genes!

The run is about twelve miles and covers about 1000 feet of vertical. Three hours is a typical level 1-2 time allowing for a short snack break at the far west end of the Lake. The kids and Matt and Kate headed out about 11:00. I am a bit jealous of that, and of how good the accomplishment feels at the end. Still, sitting on a log, bare feet toasting in the sand, Oskar playing on the beach, some solo time to relax, and the dramatic backdrop of Mt. Heyburn and the Grand Mogul and all the other ragged peaks of the Sawtooths set off by the shining blue of the lake is pretty darn good too.

It should be full blown Autumn but the days are hanging between between an exultant Indian summer and the onset of late fall. We have been on the edge of a weather pattern. On Saturday in Ketchum, 70 miles to the south we finished the last workout of the day in a darkening afternoon with scattered big drops of rain. Half an hour later it came down hard, pounding loose the wonderful smells of leaves, summer grass, and dust; distinct and intense and sharp as though you plucked a bud of sage and crushed it beneath your nose and took it in. Here at Redfish it is sunny and there are summer clouds, all white and cottony looking. The wind is is still warm but as it freshens it picks up a subtle edge. The lake is capping steadily as far as we can see, and some of the clouds gray a little on their undersides. The march of seasons will resume soon. The wind rattles the Aspens leaves and puffs of them release and scatter. There is a voice, hushed and low.

"Enjoy the warm sand and the sun and the blue skies. Enjoy the softness of the wind, but get ready. Its warmth is the heat stolen from the lake. And look at the noon day shadows in the peaks; how long they are and how dark. Be ready. These are the Mountains and I am October."

BMA Nordic Fish Tacos

We wrapped up the Redfish Run with Burke Mountain Nordic Fish Tacos. These have become a favorite. Atkinson's, the local market, prides itself on getting good fish and happened to have a wonderful batch of Pacific rockfish. These are a fish boat favorite for firm white flesh and great flavor. Fresh cabbage, red and green, cilantro, lime juice, a little honey and a favorite hot sauce, a salsa ( we like the Hailey local "KB's" red or green tomatillo versions, and a fresh peach/mango brand) a nice big chunk of hot grilled fish rolled up in a big tortilla...es muy bueno! Dos es mejor!

Matt headed off tonight. The wind blew the mattress he bought up here and the rack off the top of his car so there was a rescue run. We got him underway again minus rack and with mattress and frame secured with lines through the cab and out the doors. Could be a long drive to SLC.

Back here in Ketchum it is late and it is raining hard. Its cold too. Snow, 3-5 inches of it, is in the forecast for Wednesday. The voice up at Redfish wasn't kidding. Be ready.

Fall Camp: Where we are, more on where we've been, and maybe a little on where we are going

2011-09-29T14:17:00.007-04:00

Senate Meadows, Galena, Idaho

The "High Piney Country" my Dad called it, and he loved it. I do too. Something deep and enchanting lies here. At the same time it makes you feel small it draws you out and into it. There is an almost visceral connection with wildness. In spite of the warm breeze and the soft dryness of early fall some thing still and unspoken suggests survival, and predation, and patterns of life and death. A small breath of air at the same time can caress and comfort and still raise the hair on your neck.

The day before yesterday the team ran the ski trails at Galena Lodge. It was a low intensity workout and designed give each a metric of how altitude acclimatization is coming along. Galena is high at 7200'. I have often felt I noticed the difference between Ketchum at 6000' and Galena more than I noticed the difference between sea level and Ketchum. The trails are a mix of dirt roads, and broad meadows and when the roads dissolve into forest track it is not always easy to follow them. There is a lot of relief to the land. The team connected two or three of the trails for a 90 minute level one to two run and everyone seemed to tolerate the additional altitude well.

We have the luxury of time to get used to the lower pressure up here, and to spend enough time to have a natural training effect take place. It will be interesting to measure times and numbers in certain set tests we use after we come back to Burke. Another factor that seems to be playing a positive role this year is that everyone on the team has been healthy and seems to be able to build on the fitness level with which they came. While we still haven't put down a serious interval session today's morning work out was a series of speeds finishing with 8 times up a steep 100 meter section of trail. Kate and I were pleased with what we saw and the efforts put in. Tough work well done.

This is Steep!

The Girls do Speeds at Lake Creek's South Bench

We have had Burkie Sam Tarling with us for the last week and that has been good fun for the whole gang. Last night we hosted alum Evan Martell who is spending the year with Sun Valley's post grad program and three of his housemates. They come from programs in Montana, the Northwoods of Wisconsin, and of course,Vermont. A fun and hungry bunch.

SAT tests on October first for five of our seven. That will close a chapter and we can turn our attentions to the last full week. Hopefully there will be some pleasure reading. there will be plenty of good training. On the list is a run around Redfish Lake, two or three more long roller skis, moose hoof intervals, a time trial and whatever else we can squeeze in.

All the best and more soon.

BMA Nordic is Back! Back on the Blogspot and Back in Sun Valley

2011-09-26T12:14:00.003-04:00

Sun Valley Coach Rick Kapala and BMA Coach Kate Barton
explain the drill to both teams.

Greetings! A lot has been going on with the BMA Nordic Team and since our return from Norway and what turned out to be an excellent camp, enough balls have been in the air that THE NORDIC BLOG has not received much attention. We will try to bring things up to date over the next little bit and perhaps the easiest way to do that is to start in medias res and work backwards!

OK, here we go. It is about 8:00 AM Mountain Standard Time and the sun has not quite hit the peaks to the west of Ketchum and Sun Valley, Idaho. There is a little chill in the air and it promises to be another bluebird day. We have been blessed with perfect Indian Summer weather. It seems as though the seasons are two weeks behind here, with the trees still green, no frost at night, and long warm evenings. Last night we enjoyed a special meal courtesy of the Great Expectations ranch in central Oregon. The ranch owner is Robert Siceloff who is an old chum and who enjoys meeting us here in Idaho. He provided enough fresh pheasant, and antelope to make a true Game feast. Amazing!

Tom Rabon in the SV Strength Room
One of the best we've seen for XC work!

Today at 11:00 we will join the Sun Valley team for a classic roller ski OD/technique workout. The first week on the ground here is almost over and the team has logged good and varied hours as the acclimatization process from 900' to 6000' does its work. Sun Valley's team has an excellent strength facility and we've taken advantage of that. The hiking trails are perfect for steady uphill work and some of the lower angle loops make for good early at altitude runs. A network of miles of paved bike paths make roller skiing a pleasure.

Yesterday the gang hiked up the main alpine hill, Bald Mountain, which starts at 6000' and rounds off at about 9300, to watch the "Baldy Hill Climb", a run up the north side of the mountain. It is a level 4/5 tough one that wasn't quite right timing wise for our schedule, but the level 1/2 hike was ideal.Proctor Mountain and connected tops to the east was the scene of activity the day before and the guys, including BMA alum Sam Tarling, put in a 3 hour high altitude adventure. Sam attended the summer term at Dartmouth so he could take the fall off to train. He is here with us in the Valley and is providing a good rabbit to the team and a good example of the attitude it takes to get it done.We will be here in Idaho until the 10th of October. It is a perfect amount of time as we will begin to truly enjoy the training effect of living at altitude. There is time to put in a lot of low intensity volume work to properly adjust to the lower pressure, and then there is time to throw in our camp-within-a-camp intensity week before we come home. It is a perfect spot to train before shifting to snow.

There have been big changes on the team in the past few months as well. In short Matt Johnson has moved on to take charge of the Nordic Program for The Utah Nordic Alliance, a junior program based in Salt Lake City. We hope Matt joins us up here in Idaho for a couple of days. Everyone is excited to see hime and to get the latest on his new job. At first it looked as though the assistant coach's position at BMA would have to be a 5 month show, but in July things rolled to together and we were able to offer it as full time. We are lucky to add Kate Barton to the roster filling that role. Kate is from Cape Elizabeth in Maine, attended Middlebury and skied there for four years. She joins us as the assistant Nordic Coach and also is zeroing in on helping with admissions and recruiting. Kate has fired up a BMA Nordic Facebook page which will take the place of daily blogging, and gives a venue for the posting of quick news and pictures.This Blogspot piece will stay up and we promise to keep it more current. The thrust will change a bit to more in depth bits about our year, our approach to camps, academic work, and other Nordic News.

Give us some feedback on what you would like to see, and news you would like to get, and do check out the Facebook Posts...they are pretty fun!

Norway 2011

2011-06-17T12:45:00.001-04:00

Greetings from Norway!

We have been here for just about a week now and have been training lots, eating lots, and trying to rest during the time in between. Originally we stayed as the only guests in Hotel Hornsjo. We had the entire place open to us including the sauna, ping pong table, miles of beautiful trails for running/hiking, and the big lake for which the hotel is named. Every night we were served a different Norwegian dish and were given second and third helpings as we wished. I think that everyone is happy to have some solid and hearty Scandinavian food for a while; there is a big difference between the type of energy you get from eating Cheerios's and from eating a variety of cold meats, cheese, and bread in the morning. Trust me, the latter is better and the energy actually lasts.

And we have needed that energy! Just yesterday the group did an uphill high intensity skate rollerski. The workout was not meant to be at race pace, but it was still meant to be hard and we all found it pretty difficult. The younger athletes skied a 5.5 km course and the older group started 2.5 km below in order to make their course a solid 8 km of hard climbing. From talking to the others, I think that everyone enjoyed the workout in some sense and if they couldn't call it enjoyable they at least felt like it was productive. That workout was difficult but from what the coaches have said it looks as though there is harder stuff yet to come.

Excepting the rain we have been extremely lucky with our training. We have done a couple training sessions with a Norwegian club including a skate rollerski, run, and strength session. We also met up with the NTG (which is the Norwegain Academy of Elite Sport) for a timed uphill run. It was great to see the type of focus that the Norwegian skiers have during training and we all enjoyed the opportunity to train with and talk to them. We have also gone to the rollerski track a few times and ran a bit on the trails surrounding our hotel, which are practically unlimited. Overall we have had lots of time for good training and enjoyed every minute of it.

We are staying in Lillehammer for the next few days and will still benefit from the good rollerskiing and running before we head off to Sognefjell to get on snow. We are all looking forward to the next leg of our camp!

Burke Offers Two August Training Camps

2011-05-13T15:19:00.003-04:00

Team "Beast" nearing the finish of the mountain run leg of the 2009 Adventure Race

In August Burke Nordic is offering two training camps here on the BMA campus. The first runs from the 11th through the 14th and is designed for ages 12-16. The emphasis will be on "Fun that Makes You Fit" and will introduce xc ski training through up hill runs, orienteering, kayak races on Lake Willoughby and an all-day team adventure race that will keep people thinking, panting and laughing. Athletes will be introduced to some of the tools they need to be ready for the demands of the sport later on; balance work, base strength training and other things they will be able to take home with them. Athletes will live in Burke dorms and we will do our own good cooking at the dining hall. Attendance is limited to 14 athletes. Cost is $325.

The second camp runs from the 14th through the 18th. It is designed for more experienced skiers in the J1 - OJ categories. and is required for the members of the BMA Nordic Team. We will be on campus for this camp as well, taking advantage of the great training opportunities we have here in the Kingdom. Again, a goal of the camp is to provide the athletes with information and training ideas they can use when they leave the camp. We use a set of XC specific tests that can give a good picture of places needing work, and areas that are on the mark with good skiers of the same age. Roller skis are required for this camp. Again a full day event will keep people challenged. The second camp cost is $425 and it is also limited to 14 athletes. An older J2 could do both camps and the cost would be $600.

Burke offers two August Jr. Camps!

2011-05-12T09:53:00.000-04:00

Team Beast approaching the finish of the Mountain Run leg of the August 2009 Adventure Race!

BMA is offering two Junior Camps this August. The first, from August 11th through August 14th is for ages 12-16 and takes place on the school's campus on the shoulder of Burke Mountain. Campers stay in the Burke dorms, and we'll build our meals (great ones!) in the campus dining hall. The emphasis for this camp is on "fun that makes you fit". Traditional xc dry land workouts are combined into hikes, orienteering, kayak races on Lake Willoughby, and an all day adventure race that will keep everyone thinking, panting, and laughing. The camp is limited to 14 athletes.

There will be rollerski workouts for those that are already familiar with them and an introduction to them as training tools for athletes who have not yet used them. Camp cost is $325.

The second camp runs from the afternoon of the 14th through the 18th and will also be on the BMA campus. This session is for J2-OJ age groups. The program is more ski specific and includes a series of Nordic specific tests that will give athletes an picture of improvments that have been and that need to be made. Roller skis and bounding poles are needed here. This camp is required for all BMA team members, and would be wholly appropriate for any junior athletes who want to get a jump on the fall's work. Camp Cost is $425.

J2's can sign up for both camps. Cost for both is $600.

Coaches for both camps include Burke Coaches Pete Phillips, and Matt Johnson, as well as several Burke alumni athletes.

Burke Winners!

2011-03-23T11:35:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Sam Tarling '09 on winning the NCAA championship skate race! Burke alums Lucy Garrec, Catlin Curran, Lucas Milliken, Jordan Butow and Janey McClelland have also been proving that Burkies are in it for the long haul, and they only get faster!! Tom Rabon and Mitch Prevot recently competed for the New England in the Junior National Championships in Minneapolis, MN. Tom placed 6th overall in the Classic mass start out there, which is a real accomplishment! From here the team is finishing up the season with Spring Series in Sun Valley Idaho. The blog will be updated lots while we are out there.

Catching Up

2011-03-22T11:13:00.011-04:00

Sognefjell in June. Can't Wait!

Long time. It has been busy and we apologize for the silence. It isn't because nothing has been happening. It has been a fun season and even though Junior Olympics in Minneapolis, and the Eastern High School Championships are over we are still in full swing. On the 23rd of March we head for Sun Valley, Idaho and the US Super Tour Finals; four race days with distance, sprint and hill climbing competitions. The field is coming from as far away as Sweden, and it promises to be a challenging show.

The current Burke team had a solid season with everyone showing improvement and putting down some good results. There were podiums, top tens, and personal bests. Three of our ten qualified for the New England JO team, and one was first alternate. We helped athletes from other teams to a slot on the US Scandinavian Cup J1 squad, and came home with distinction in numerous regional races. Most importantly the lessons of training independence and resilience are sinking in. The vets are building strength and technique on top of increasingly good foundations and that shows in the performance of our alumni.

BMA alums have been tearing it up on the EISA curcuit, nationally and internationally. Sam Tarling and Lucy Garrec have been regulars on the podiums at the College Carnivals, and a lot of other Burkie Nordics have also been in the upper reaches of the first page of results; Curran, McClelland, Buetow, Gill, to name only a few. Liz Stephen won the US Nationals middle distance title in January and went on to a 16th place at the world championships in Oslo in late February.

Lucy G finished in 8th in the NCAA champ skate finals and Sam Tarling ended up as the NCAA Champion in Skating. That is a major accomplishment for any American as the field usually includes some hot rods from Europe, and an even bigger accomplishment for a sophomore!

We have skiers on the teams at every major eastern school and it is always great to see them on the road. They ski well, they are having fun, and they are sticking with the game

There is a new "Sweden Trip" gearing up for June, and it looks as though there will be considerable alumni participation. It is really a "Norway" trip this year and will focus on a higher level of training both on and off snow. We will keep you posted on that one. There are not many spaces left.

The Northeast Kingdom BKL cutting it up at BMA!

The winter saw BMA as a frequent venue for the new NE Kingdom Bill Koch League. The gift of a grooming roller and comb from alum Andrew Smith has allowed us to have good tracks here on campus, and the little guys loved it! In the hands of the Kingdom Trails crew and a bunch of enthused parents no program at all turned into one with 60 kids! The Burke Nordic
Team helped out with the kids when we were not away at races, and that was a hit. Maybe one day in the future, we'll start seeing some townies flying BMA colors, and in any case they are out there skiing and we have been able to help 'em get there.

More later, and we promise to do a better job on the updates.

First Race Of The Season- First Place Of The Season

2010-11-27T21:26:00.004-05:00

Classic sprint today- it went very well for almost everyone. Nate was 3rd overall in the open (non-college) division, which was arguably as competitive as the college division, and 1st Junior. Check out these pictures from today!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-25T21:18:00.004-05:00

The team has been on snow for two days now, and the adjustment period to real skiing has gone extremely well. We have had great weather both days (after driving through a downpour the whole way up from VT) and we have already done some specific strength work, lots of technique work, and some video! The group is a little tired (in a good way) after today's doublepole workout so we are going to have a somewhat lighter day tomorrow in preparation for the weekend of races. They just laid some track outside my window, so it looks like everything should go as planned. Hopefully everyone had a satisfying feast tonight.. we did NOT. The food here leaves much to be desired, but not driving to and from Stoneham every day, showers right after workouts, and beds in between workouts has definitely made it more than worth it.

Another Beautiful Day In Sun Valley

2010-10-11T17:29:00.004-04:00

The kids all survived the intensity block we did over the past week. It was not easy. Lots of L3 and L4 intervals in a short 5 day timespan. Everyone seemed to actually enjoy the work though, especially Jane, who liked telling me how much fun she was having as I was panting on the ground after another 10 minute lap of natural intervals.
The weather has progressively cooled through the weeks we have been here, but we have still at least seen some sunlight every day, and we have only actually been rained on during a workout once. Saturday most of the kids took the SATs, which was an interval workout in and of itself. In the afternoon we did a pace run on the trails up beyond the Sun Valley ski center, and yesterday was completely off. For the next few days we are doing some hiking, biking, and other fun things to finish off the camp. Keeping active but nothing too strenuous.

Sun Valley- the First Blog

2010-10-02T21:26:00.003-04:00

While we have been planning on updating this blog for the past week and a half straight, it is really difficult to draw the motivation, nay, Courage- to sit inside when it is 75 degrees and sunny every day. But here we are, ready to blog as the kids are outside driving golf balls from our back yard (don't worry, its safe.)
Everyone is pretty much fully adjusted to the altitude by this point. Since we have been here we haven't had a full day off, tomorrow is off, and the day after that starts our intensity block. People are looking really good, keeping their heart rates low, and seem excited to get working before every workout. A few days ago we ran around Redfish Lake about an hour north of here, which was as beautiful as anything we've seen, and today we hiked to Pioneer Cabin and looked out at some 12,000 foot mountains up close. Very cool.
It's time to head out to hit some balls. Check back in, we will keep you up to date better in the future!

Day 2 on Snow: Still Skiing!

2010-06-21T14:03:00.004-04:00

The title of this blog, still skiing, may seem obvious, we are in fact, still skiing.....BUT this is skiing at its finest. Each morning we swing open the curtains holding our breath hoping to be greeted by sunshine. So far, so good. This morning up on snow was cloudless, the boys spent their time constructively, working on weight transfer, correct poling and perfect eye-to-norwegian girl-in front of you- technique.

Needless to say this place is full of very "fit" people. This place has it all, beautiful mountains, incredible skiers, skiing in the sun and homemade bread among many things. The crew of "americanos," as they have been affectionatly dubbed by the Norwegians have disocvered the secret afternoon hangout on the roof. The warm metal surface in direct mountain sun provides a perfect playground for some serious sun bathing and mingling. Norwegians must love the sun because day after day the overall skin tone in the dining room becomes a deeper shade of red. (I guess it is their national color) Both groups skied a solid amount today as we endeavour to fill our week with hours on snow. The older group logged an impressive 5 hours training today, so perhaps the halls will be a bit more peaceful tonight, save the ever constant practice of the "twerk" dance. You best ask later on that one, it is truly a long, strange story.

We are looking forward to a few more sunny days in the forcast as we burrow into our bags for our higher SPF options. Looks good as of now!

-Lucy (guest writer)

Sognefjell Norway: Home of the Norwegians

2010-06-20T15:36:00.003-04:00

It is pretty late so ill just put up a picture or two for now with some more in depth coverage tomorrow. Everything is going well in Norway!

The Hallsta Test

2010-06-15T11:22:00.006-04:00

This morning we ran up the ski hill past the hotel almost to the top in the annual Hallsta Test.. a much anticipated/dreaded event for yanks and swedes alike. The general feeling before- nervous; the general concensus after- "That was HARD." Charlie had the fastest time for the non-coach men, and was only about 10 seconds off one of the members of the Swedish National Team. He told us that he paced himself really well out of the start and could tell he had a good one right when he was finished. Jane and Lucy had really good times for the women, Lucy was the first non-coach and Jane was around 3rd overall! This afternoon was another rollerski workout for the group, working again on classic technique- double poling, kick double poling, striding, and working transitions. The athletes are getting lots of good information and everyone is improving dramatically day by day. Tomorrow is yet another adventure- the Bog Run- 3 hours of running through a deep, wet, marshy bog! The kids are resting up tonight to get ready for that, as well as having one-on-one meetings with the National Team athletes and coaches!

More fun and hard work in Solleftia!

2010-06-14T16:53:00.004-04:00

A quick post before bed...

I think it is safe to assert that the last few days have flown by for our whole crew. There has been barely a moment to rest with 2 full workouts a day, meetings and information sessions in between, plus 4 full meals (5 yesterday) to keep everyone occupied. The Swedes are extremely quiet and its been hard for the kids to fully integrate, but there are a few that hang out with the Americans quite a bit and the others are starting to fold too! The rollerskiing technique training has been really valuable for all the athletes and even Cal who had never been on rollerskis before this trip is really impressing everyone with his skills and quick learning.

Yesterday we were on classic rollerskis, which despite a few bad crashes seemed to be a fun and valuable experience. The kids also got to learn about orienteering (which was good, because everyone did an orienteering race today!) and shoot guns in the biathelon range. Cal once again impressed everyone with his skills and the biathelon coaches were "joking" about recruiting him for their program. Last night the whole group went on a leisurely rafting adventure down the river that flows through Solleftia and ended at a nature reserve where we grilled hot dogs and the Athlete/Coaches from the Swedish National Team answered questions about how they got in the sport, training tips, and many other skiing related topics. Tomorrow morning is the Hallsta Test, an uphill running time trial that happens at this camp every year. Hopefully the kids are all in bed resting up for the effort, but they might be playing cards with the Swedes. Either way it should be yet another interesting and exhausting day

Sweden: Solleftia! The First Days..

2010-06-11T16:46:00.007-04:00

We gathered the remainder of our crew at the Stockholm airport yesterday afternoon and began the beautiful drive north along the Baltic Sea towards Solleftia, the site of the Swedish junior camp our athletes are participating in. We rolled into town around 9:30pm and found a pizza joint that was still barely open, so we grabbed a bunch of pies and headed up to the top of the Ski Jumping hill where we are staying for the week. We ate some very Scandinavian Bacon and Egg pizza while we watched the sunset around 11pm, then headed to bed; exausted, but still somewhat disoriented from the time change and daylight.
This morning we headed back over to the Baltic coast where we went on a run/hike for most of the day. We were expecting some rain but instead we got pleasantly warm weather and sun the whole way around and plenty of awesome views! The receding glaciers left some really cool geology in the area, including a chasm 100m long and 9m across that the trail passes through. It is pretty dramatic, and pretty daunting when you are above it looking down the cliff! Towards the end of the hike the trail comes out at a beach at the end of a long inlet on the Baltic Sea that almost everyone had the courage to swim in.. even Yannick eventually took the plunge after the girls all jumped in ahead of him. Tomorrow the Swedes arrive and the camp officially begins. The kids are excited, but a little nervous about the swedish kids moving into their rooms- there is a rumor going around that Scandinavians aren't immediately the most outgoing people in the world!

"The Sweden Trip" A training tour of Sweden and Norway is ON for its 10th year!

2010-03-19T16:08:00.006-04:00

The Ski Gymnasium in Solleftea, Sweden has sent the official invitation, the dates for the Summer Ski School are set and we are getting the word out early so interested parties can do some planning. The trip is an immersion in the training culture of two of the world’s top Cross-country ski nations and an opportunity to get a first hand taste of Scandinavia from the shores of the Baltic to the Sognefjord in Norway. It isn’t just a look. Participants are there, in it!. During the first week participants live with Swedish kids, and work with top athletes and coaches including World Cup winners Emil Joensson, Robin Bryntesson, Britta Nordgren, Anna Haag, and Solleftea alum and World Junior skier Jesper Modin. The second half of the trip is in Norway’s Jotunheimen region above the fjord country. On-snow training on freshly groomed trails takes place twice a day. There are always top club teams and frequently National teams here. It is educational and inspiring to be surrounded by so many great skiers.

The trip is early in the summer when the Solleftea Ski Gymnasium in Sweden is best able to schedule the guest athletes. Early also guarantees the best snow in Norway. This year’s dates for initial planning are June 9-29. Participants from J3 — OJ are welcome to apply. Space is limited to 12 athletes. Interest is already active. Applicants should be eager about the sport and familiar with it. It is a training trip. We keep careful track of athletes to make sure the hours and training loads are appropriate to age, and to previous training and later training plans. For this reason we like to know a bit about plans and training histories.

Flights can be arranged individually according to a group schedule. This allows “Air Miles” to be used. We try to fly close in to our final destination (normally Ostersund) to minimize the time spent on the road, and maximize the time on the ground. The ground cost of the trip is $2500.00.

Word Pictures from Previous Trips

First Report: “The Sweden Trip” 2008
The Solleftea Summer Ski School got underway this afternoon with interval and strength sessions. Strength moved two groups back and forth between a variety of circuits and a double pole exercise. The interval session succeeded in instruction, illustration, and creation of a hard workout. Without really noticing the transitions athletes learned and practiced techniques of ski-walking, and moose-hooves, and light, ankle-driven skate hops from short max-power bursts. These were followed up by short, 15-on-15-off, medium, 3 minute, and long, 7+ minute, intervals. After an hour and a half groups switched and guys went to strength and girls went to the interval hills.
This evening the whole camp got together for some games and laughs and then went on to “Second Dinner”. The stucco-cracking thump of a soccer ball against the wall of the building and a happy crescendo of American and Swedish expletives is a clear sign of a good start. It is now after ten o’clock and things are quieting down. There is a light rain and the sky is over cast. A deep-salmon colored slash in the north shows where the sun will take its brief sojourn below the sub-arctic horizon. It doesn’t get dark. The river is silvery down in the valley and the town is still brightly colored dabs against the spring forest. Nice evening.
So far the trip has been smooth. No matter how you cut it the travel is long. After drives, flights, layovers, and drives again, bed …sleeping bags in the moss and lingonberry bushes, or bunk space in the old hunting cottage…felt pretty good. Working on the theory that the best way to confront jet-lag is to stay busy we have reconnoitered the roller ski track, played three rounds of capture the flag with the twist of various core exercises when tagged, grilled chicken on an island, swum in the river and a lake high over the coast, put in a three hour OD session on the “High Coast Trail”, visited the town of Ornskjoldsvik for dinner, killed thousands of mosquitoes, and consumed ten pots of “cowboy-coffee”. The hotel bed…a real one with a down comforter and clean sheets looks pretty good. The troops have settled in with their new Swedish roommates. That all sounds largely good with initial ratings from “My roommates don’t talk,” to “Gustaf is cool”. The halls have fallen silent and after a short minute just to enjoy being back here and to touch base with the special and somewhat eerie stillness of the Northern summer night…no shortage of evidence of why Trolls and nisse populate the folklore…I am headed for the sack.
Eight bells on the evening watch and all is well. The sun has just dropped down between the cloud cover and the horizon and the colors and patterns of light over the midnight country side are fantastic.

"Jakt Stugo” Bengt Stattin’s hunting cabin near Solleftea

Olympic Gold Medalist Charlotte Kalla demonstrates Double Pole Kick

Third Day, Solleftea Camp 2009
Today was busy. On the docket were an uphill running time trial, a multi station classic roller ski work out, and the raft trip postponed from earlier in the week. All went off smoothly and the kids really acquitted themselves quite well in all three. The Hallsta Test is a time trial up a long two km of road that starts near the base of the ski area here and ends midway up one of the steeper pitches. Fifteen second interval starts send the athletes running and ski-walking for personal best times. The staff of the ski gymnasium uses it as a measure of engine capacity. It is tough. The men’s record is in the 7 minute range and women’s in the nines. Those were Olympians. Our kids all had strong performances led by Jack Hegman, with a 9:53, and Mitch Prevot in 10:01. Winning today was the Vancouver World Cup sprint relay gold medalist Robin Bryntesson with a 9:18. Hannah Boyer was our first girl at 11:11. Our two youngest were the two fastest today. Working as a team blind skier Zebastian Modin and his guide Albin Ackerot finished in a respectable 12:10.

Alaskan Hannah Boyer in “the Hallsta Test”

Final Day, Solleftea Camp 2009
We finished up the camp in fine style...the kids were instrumental in getting the last night's disco hopping, and luring unprepared Swedish kids to think about sleeping out, and consequently a midnight, but daylight coaches' sweep of the lift tower cabins to round them (the Swedes) up and get them to bed. Ours stayed out...I knew the bugs would be ample censure and indeed they were.
Last work out was a fast paced series of gear-shifitng drills in skate technique. We went down to the Ski Gymnasium for the closing comments and were entertained again by Robin Bryntesson, the sprinter, who definitely has a career as a commentator waiting when his skiing days come to a close.
We then went out to Bengt's hunting cabin...everyone opted for that as opposed to the hotel for the last night in Solleftea, and then to Bengt's house for the traditional BBQ and game of "Kubb". I am sure that will sprout on the Burke campus this year. We didn't know that the night of the 18th was Bengt and Marits 28th anniverary, but Bengt told Marit that having us come and do the cooking was his present to her. A good time.
The cottage really is a special place, lost back in the forest near a little pond. Sleeping bags and bug nets went up and out and by midnight things were quiet. I know when I awake that I am in another world when the wake up comes from a cuckoo...a real one.

Bruksvallarna, 2009
We are now in Bruksvallarna in the west of Sweden at Erik's family cabin. I am stealing a moment or two to catch up on business. The kids and Erik are out for a run with none other than Anders Sodergren...among other things on his CV are the gold medal in the 50 km at the Holmenkollen World Cup two years ago and silver at the World Champs. He had back surgery last year so missed most of the season but is back training. Erik and I were out for a walk last night and ran into Anders, who has a cabin almost next door to Erik. He was very interested in what we were up to and invited the kids on a training run with him and his two happy black labs, Alfonse and Nils. Pretty cool. He is a good model...one of the quiet champions.

Erik Nilsson on the left and Anders Sodergren, Alfonse and Nils and the gang at Erik’s cabin

We'll have a second workout here on roller skis this evening and then tomorrow head for Sognefjell. The clouds are breaking up, sun is peeking through. It should be a nice afternoon. Time to lay out a strength workout to go along with the roller ski. All is well.

Solleftea, Summer Ski School 2009
The afternoon was devoted to classic technique. I have been really pleased with the active involvement our athletes have had; they are listening to suggestions, trying them, and asking good questions when they have the chance. Four groups spread out around the roller ski track and each works on a different aspect of technique for twenty minutes then skis on to the next station. It is a great way to keep things moving and minimize stand-around time. Today the stations were; starts and impulse double poling, DP Kick, striding, and a transition cycle of downhill, double pole, kick double pole, stride, kick DP, DP and tuck. Robin, Tio Soderhielm, Charlotte Kalla and Britta Nordgren worked individually with each group. Our kids are enjoying the contact with top skiers. Each is very good at working with kids and open with his/her time.

Sognefjell, Norway –on snow!

These little bits give a pretty good picture of parts of the camp. It has proven to be an inspiration to a lot of US skiers, and has forged friendships across the country and the ocean. Two camp alumni were on the US team in Vancouver, and two of the Swedish alums won medals there!
Six athletes are signed up and there is a lot of interest. With successful Olympics for both Sweden and Norway enthusiasm is high and it should be fun year to be over there. Please contact us with interest or questions.

Pete Phillips
Head Nordic Coach
Burke Mountain Academy
pphillips@burkemtnacademy.org
gamlefisken@yahoo.com
802-626-1516-ext 1012, or 1527

518-524-4127 cell

Wrapping up...

2009-12-02T12:03:00.004-05:00

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!!

2009-11-26T20:11:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-24T20:49:00.004-05:00

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..

2009-11-22T12:12:00.003-05:00

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..

2009-11-10T10:24:00.011-05:00

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!

2009-11-05T10:02:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-03T10:50:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-15T12:43:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-07-27T11:02:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-31T16:33:00.001-04:00

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

2009-03-27T14:40:00.003-04:00

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!!

2009-03-14T18:40:00.002-04:00

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

2009-03-12T16:35:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-10T01:54:00.006-04:00

JOs in Truckee: The first two days

2009-03-08T14:22:00.002-04:00

As promised, the sun has been beating down on us since we got to Truckee late Friday night, the snow is deep, and the trails are perfectly groomed. The only problem is that we can't ski very hard or very long the first couple days out here while the low-landers acclimatize to the increased UVs and decreased oxygen intake. The hardest part of the trip for me so far has been the drive up Donner Pass to the Auburn Ski Club while looking out at the barely touched powder and epic lines that I won't have time to ski while we are here. Fortunately its possible to hop off of the edge of the nordic trails at almost any point on the race course to ski some powder down to a lower part of the course.

Tomorrow morning is the skate sprint race which will most of the athlete's first chance to prove that the altitude isn't going to slow the East down this year. The course is a quick 0.9k course that leaves the stadium, flows down and up over one roller and then down again around a sharp curve before one last steep climb into the finish. The internet is pretty unreliable here, but I'll be taking pictures and posting them as soon as we're back from the venue. Stay tuned.

The Hanover/Gunstock Eastern Cup Weekend

2009-02-23T22:32:00.010-05:00

This past weekend the Burke athletes participated in the fourth and final Eastern Cup weekend in Hanover and Gunstock. These are the last races which decide the New England team for JOs in Truckee, and as a few of our kids were somewhat on the bubble, it was a make-or-break weekend for them. Fortunately both Lucas and Janey skied incredible races which solidified their places on the team on Friday in Hanover. Lucas took the first 5k lap relatively conservatively but then broke it all out for the exausting series of climbs on the next lap, coming in 8th, just over a minute off the pace. Janey and Corinne both looked great throughout the race and placed 5th and 6th, just five seconds apart! The Y-ME boys also skied respectable races, and Evan especially is starting to use his technique to his advantage. Sam also has been working hard on his skate technique, and it clearly paid off as he finished less than 10 seconds off the podium in 4th.
Sunday's classic race in Gunstock, NH was difficult to wax for due to changing temperatures and looming snow clouds overhead that made everyone wait until the last minute to decide what the women would race on. The snow was held off for the girls and the 2x2.75 laps of the course went by quickly for both Corinne and Janey, who placed 4th and 9th in a very tight field. Then the snow hit before the men's race but luckily it did not turn in to harries conditions and the boys all got by on hard wax, even if it got a little slow as the race went on. Despite the less than favorable conditions, Sam still hammered his way into 14th place and Yannick pulled out another great effort in 27th. After the race we attended the JO team naming ceremony where Sam, Lucas, Corinne, and Janey were all recognized.. now its just a quick 2 weeks of last minute race prep before we fly out to Truckee!

For complete results of the weekend's races, click here

Happy faces after the skate race

Mitch in the classic race

Janey in the finish lane

Yannick on the final turn

Trapps Eastern Cup Weekend

2009-02-09T20:17:00.006-05:00

The new race course at Trapps is a piece of ski racing art. When we first encountered it on Friday afternoon it was hard not to go too fast on it because its just fun to ski. Its a definite improvement on the old course's skiability while still maintaining the "feel" of racing at Trapps- fast downhills with sharp turns, good climbs, excellent grooming, and of course the brutal climb up and into the finish. There was definitely a feeling of excitement among the team to pull a bib on and throw down on the 5k loop. The girls raced a quick but tough 5k in the morning which went well for both Corinne and Janey, placing 33rd and 62nd overall. These were especially impressive results because the race was a combination of the Eastern Cup, UVM Carnival, and Supertour events. Burke Alums Lucy Garrec and Elise Moody-Roberts, now skiing for Colby and Middlebury respectively, placed in the top 10 overall at 6th and 8th- just barely over 30 seconds off the winner!
The men skied the 5k loop twice on Saturday for the skate race. As fun as the course is to ski, there is no question that it is hard. As one racer told me, "this course is full of 'active rest', which is really just a fancy term for 'no rest'". The final 200 uphill meters into the windblown finish didn't help the lactate build up in the legs, but nonetheless the boys overall had a pretty good day, with Sam finishing 40th and Lucas finishing just over 30 seconds behind in 57th. Although the results haven't caught up to him yet, Evan also had a breakthrough day, skiing technically as good as we've seen him this year.
The classic race on Sunday was a different game entirely. We got to the venue at 8am in hopes of being able to nail down the wax before the girls arrived for thier race, but the combination of sleet, rain, wet snow, more snow, wind, and changing temperatures made predicting wax for more than a 10 minute time period next to impossible. The girls raced on harries, which was the only thing kicking and not icing at the time, but especially in the wind-blown fields they were pretty slow. In the woods the tracks were wet and icy but Corinne and Janey were both able to kick anyway which could not be said for much of the field. Both had stellar races, placing 22nd and 30th, while former Burkies Lucy, Ida, and Elise placed 3rd, 4th, and 10th!
The 15k mens race was not any easier to wax for, as the conditions continued to change in various ways, and some decided to use thier Zeros while others used klister. Suprisingly enough, we haven't had many klister days in the east this year, and some of the guys were clearly not used to working the kick. Overall it was a tough day on the Burkies with the exception of Yannick who didn't seem to care that the tracks were in different conditions each lap and came in 88th overall, 7th J1. From here we have a sprint with GMVS coming up on Friday, followed by February Break and then its on to the Hannover/Gunstock Eastern Cup- and the last chance for some of us to qualify for JOs in Truckee.

Thanks again to the Tarlings for bringing lunch on Saturday and Sunday!!!

Going, Going, Back, Back, To Rumford, Rumford...

2009-02-05T19:31:00.005-05:00

Sam and I made the trek across RT 2 to Rumford again- this time for the Classic Supertour Sprint on Wednesday. The course this time was a ridiculously long 1.7 kilometers, less than 100m short of the FIS limit. It definitely changes the game when there are three seperate long climbs in one race- it makes sprinting less about strength and more about having a high VO2 max, and the ability to just hurt. The small turnout (29 men, 9 girls) meant that everyone was qualifying for the rounds, so it was guarenteed to be a long day from the start. This was also my first solo coaching gig, which could have complicated things further, but fortunately the wax was pretty managable and the conditions weren't changing on us too much throughout the day. Sam qualified 16th with a time of 4:03 but was knocked out of the running finishing 4th in his quarterfinal, just behind Eric Packer, Tim Reynolds, and Kevin Hochtl. Despite not moving on, Sam still put forth a great effort and is now preparing along with the rest of the team for the Eastern Cup/Supertour/UVM Carnival hosted by Trapps this weekend! Speaking of Carnivals, keep your eyes open for Burke alums Ida Sargent, Lucy Garrec, and Elise Moody-Roberts, all of whom have been on the podium at least once at the Carnivals so far!

7.5k Classic in Placid, OD at Breadloaf

2009-01-26T15:27:00.006-05:00

This weekend the team made the trek over to Lake Placid for the NYSEF JO-Q 7.5k classic race on Saturday. The cold seems to be following ski racers this season, and this weekend was no exception with race-day temperatures hovering around zero. The trails were well groomed with fast, hard tracks and the Stratton and GMVS teams showed up to race along with the Mid-Atlantic crowd. Highlights from the day included Sam's 1st place overall finish, 10 seconds ahead of second, as well as Janey and Corinne's 2nd and 3rd place results (respectively) overall in the girls race! Sam looked especially fast and powerful throughout the relatively flat and rolling course, but it was also clear that Mitch has been working hard on advancing to the next level in his technical abilities which was great to see. After the race we stayed around a bit to watch (and participate in) the awards while eating fresh bagels and cream cheese brought down by the McClelland clan, who also braved the cold to watch the races! On Sunday we drove over to Breadloaf and skied with the Middlebury Ski Team in significantly more pleasant temperatures, and then joined them back on campus for a late lunch after the ski. A BIG thanks to the McClellands for hosting us in Keene and supplying us with a post race lunch!!!

Corinne heading to the finish

Jane Train- choo choo!

The boys cheer on the girls

Eastern Cup Weekend #2: Rumford

2009-01-19T22:27:00.007-05:00

Thursday evening we arrived in Bethel, ME to temperatures edging lower and lower below zero. All we knew about Saturday's race was that it was supposed to be cold. Really cold. After dinner the athletes bundled up to walk a minute down the road to play a couple rounds of Lazertag, the only source of entertainment in town. As expected, Evan repeatedly came in first place with his special combination of frontal assault and stealth tactics. Also unsuprising, Lucas usually came in last, as he was more apt to organizing cease-fires and peace negotiations between the red and blue teams.

Friday morning was bitterly cold- somewhere between -10 F and -25 F, but we all put on our best pair of windbriefs and balaclavas for the drive up to Black Mountain. Fortunately the temperatures were creeping up as we apporached the venue, but the wind racing across the stadium still made most of us take refuge in the trees as we previewed the classic course.

Saturday was still about as cold as expected in the morning, with the low of -26 F, but up at the trails it stayed above zero to the delight of the racers who recently returned from Anchorage. The course had a lot of climbing in it, which combined with the cold temps and soft snow made for a challenging race! After the prelims, Burke had 4 racers (Corinne, Janey, Sam, and Lucas) in the top 30 of a very competitive field. In the Quarterfinals, Sam led a pack of Dartmouth skiers up and over the hill, but then was narrowly beat out in the finish to take 3rd in the heat and 14th overall. Lucas also had a very respectable quarterfinal, as he started out in the back of the pack but pushed his way into third by the top of the hill. Despite his extremely strong performance, he also did not make it out of the quarters, and came in 18th overall. Corinne and Janey were placed in the same quarterfinal- unlucky because of the lower chances of both making the semis, but also lucky because they could work together during the race. Corinne was looking like a true sprinter as she dominated the other girls going up the hill and picked the best lines for speed as well as blocking. Janey broke away from the pack up the hill and attempted to get around another girl, which was actually a smart move, however it didn't help her in the end and she finished 25th overall. In another "Burkies learn their lesson" moment, Corinne lined up at the start of her semifinal heat with her warm-up skis on. Although she still looked like she was in top form from the start, her skis let her down in the slow snow, advancing her to the B-Finals. Proving that it was the skis and not her legs getting heavy, Corinne once again skied great in the B-final and got herself into a mad sprint to the finish with her future Middlebury teammates Kate Barton and Sophie McClelland. She was second by a few inches placing 8th overall!

Sunday was a completely different kind of race in every way. The air had warmed considerably, there was fresh snow on the ground and plenty more coming down as the races went on, the races were much longer (10 and 15k), and they were in a mass start format. The course was divided into 5k laps, which included a generally downhill section for the first 2k, then a long gradual uphill, then two long steep climbs including High School Hill, a name anyone who has raced at Rumford knows. There were mixed feelings about the race after the team had come back through for a cool down. Yannick had a very strong race; although he started way in the back lines of the mass start, he was able to stay light on his feet and continually pick off racers throughout the 15k course. Janey also had a stand out performance, placing 26th overall. Tomorrow the team is heading over to Lake Placid for a 7.5k classic race on Saturday. This past weekend was another oppertunity for all the athletes to evaluate thier strengths and weaknesses and we have been working through a few minor technical issues this week in preparation for the coming weekend. Stay tuned!

Nancy-Pants and Bambi watch the sprints

Janey and Corinne in the quarters

Sam chugs up the big hill in the prelim

US Nats: The Sprint, And The Bogburn Back East

2009-01-11T21:04:00.005-05:00

Now that the whole team is back in the East, we are finally skiing together on our perfectly groomed home trails together again. Although jetlagged, our 4 brave skiers from the North were good sports about staying up late enough for a night ski under the brightest moon of the year last night. Yannick, Mitch, and Evan went down to the Bogburn yesterday for the 12k classic race. The course was a true easterner's course- long windy climbs, narrow trails, and almost unskiable downhills- all in all, it was a lot of fun.

Janey has also been kind enough to write up an update on the sprint race that finally occurred in Anchorage.

We all arrived to the race venue Thursday expecting the worst, another delay or cancellation. At 12:30 the jury made thier final decision that the race was on, the temperature acceded -4 degrees Fahrenheit for the second time in the past two weeks we have spent in Alaska. The race was on, we all bundled up and smothered our faces with Dermatone before leaving the warm chalet. Sam placed 41^st in the qualifying round, giving him a spot in the Junior/U23 heats. Lucas placed 98^th, not quite making the rounds. Corinne placed 47^th and Janey placed 54^th, both qualifying for Junior/U23 heats. The heats were scheduled to start with the male quarterfinals at 17:15. We all enjoyed the two hours given to enjoy the warmth of the lodge. As we headed out for the second time lights illuminated the stadium. Women and men heats were finalizing as we entered the stadium. The Junior/U23 heats were pushed back until those heats were completely finished. Running around the stadium and doing our best to stay warm to prepare for the upcoming heats we watched Kikkan Randall and Kris Freeman dominate the A Finals. Sam won his Quarterfinal heat and Semi-Final heat qualifying for the A Final Junior/U23 boy’s heat. In his final heat Sam placed 3^rd. Corinne placed 3^rd in her Quarterfinal heat and 6^th in her Semi-final heat qualifying for the B Final Junior/U23 girl’s heat. Unfortunately her pole broke during her Semi-final heat destroying her chances of making A Finals. She finished her last heat 7^th Junior/U23. Janey failed to make it past her Quarterfinal heat in a 4^th place position due to a pole strap malfunction. Happy to be done and to get out of the cold we enjoyed a lasagna dinner in the lodge for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships banquet and awards before returning back to the Lake Hood Inn to pack up our stuff and head to the airport.

US Nats in Anchorage: 5/10km Skate Race

2009-01-06T00:46:00.006-05:00

As of last night the race was still in limbo and many athletes and coaches were on edge waiting for the third potential day of racing to be canceled. This morning there was no more or less optimism, as the 1:00pm start loomed in the distance and the temperatures crept up and down near the cutoff mark of -4 F. At 12:00 it was official: the race was on. Driving into Kincaid there was more activity on the trails and in the stadium than we had seen in earlier days, and everyone seemed calmer and happier, despite the usual race day nerves. Corinne and Janey both looked solid while climbing the first major hill of the 5k course, especially considering the creaky slow snow on the largely sunless hill. Today was not an easy day of racing by any means; the radio was crackling through out the woman's race about athletes finishing with frostbitten ears, toes, fingers, noses... pretty much everything, on top of the slowwww conditions and burning lungs. And that was the warmest part of the day. Both Janey and Corinne have been working on quick snappy V1 for conditions like this, and coincidentally both looked extremely strong. Corinne ended up in a very solid 82nd place today, and Janey skied into a respectable 120th. In other exciting news in the woman's field, Burke Alum Liz Stephen came in 3rd overall, just 8.3 seconds off the leading time!! As the men set off on the 10 kilometer course the sun began drifting behind the hills south of the stadium. Spectators and athletes alike began feeling the temperature drop almost immediately. After seeing the painful aftermath of the much warmer womans race, we lubed up Lucas and Sam with some extra dermatone on their faces and sent them out to warm up. Sam got out of the gate first and took advantage of the late afternoon sun still hitting parts of the course to stay warm-ish, while lucas took advantage of his late start by missing it... oops! It was only by 20 seconds, and its one of those things that you instantly learn from and never do again, so an early season race before College is probably the best time to learn that lesson. Despite his rather frantic race to the start line, there were still some very bright moments to his race. Sam ended up in 70th place today- a little back from where he would like to be, but still a very solid performance.

Thank you to all the voulenteers and officials for putting on an excellent race at Kincaid today, and for the past few days even when the races weren't run! For a complete listing of today's results, click here

Janey finishes into the sun

Sam near the top of the big hill

Janey at the top of Elliot's Climb

Lucas rounds the turn into the stadium

Corinne watches the boys!

Lucas in the only sunny spot on the course

Happy to be done... but still a bit cold

US Nats in Anchorage: Sprint Canceled Today

2009-01-04T20:06:00.004-05:00

After the postponement yesterday, there was less surprise today as the race was delayed well in advance of the scheduled start time and then canceled before many of the teams even drove out to Kincaid. The team bundled up and went out to preview tomorrow's skate course- which has been cut back to a 10k and relocated to the easier classic course which doesn't drop down into the abyss known as the "icebox". The sun was still out and the trails were still perfect, but the temperature isn't rising, and people are wondering how long they will have to wait tomorrow until the skate race gets called. At this point the races have been condensed into four days of straight racing- tomorrow is the skate, then the sprint, then the classic, then the sprint relay. whew! Lucas and Sam said they were mentally and physically totally ready to race today, then both acknowledged that they were happy that they didn't have to fry their lungs in the cold. We will keep updating as the week goes on and we hope for some great racing in above-zero weather!

US Nats in Anchorage: Sprint Delayed

2009-01-03T21:14:00.008-05:00

The course was set, the volunteers were out there from 8am this morning in anticipation of a potential 11:30 start, the big thermometer on the stadium scoreboard was turned off, and the sun came out... Alaska style... around 11am. The preparation was amazing and everyone was clinging to the hope that the rolling patches of ice fog would cover the stadium at just the right time and warm the air up to the -4 F needed to legally start. As we all hunkered down in the Kincaid Chalet waiting to hear the official word, rumors of -14 F readings and speculations about how long they would be willing to wait before calling the race were floating around the rooms. The call at 11:30 was a delay until 1:00 when they would decide whether or not the race would start at 1:30. A little before 1:00 the girls started warming up for the second time, only to get cut short a bit later as the start was now pushed back possibly to 2:00 pm. By that time it was looking doubtful that anyone would be racing today, as the sun had already passed out of sight behind a hill and the temp was falling again. When the race was finally called at 1:45 and rescheduled for the same time Sunday, there was a sense of disappointment in the air from athletes, coaches, and officials alike. Its unfortunate that so many races have been canceled across the country because of lack of snow this season already, and now the trails are immaculately groomed but its too cold to race! Interestingly enough, the Anchorage old timers can't recall a single race at Kincaid that's been canceled due to the cold. After the race was called we went out to ski the skate course again- brutal. But it should be a blast to race and just as fun to watch. Meanwhile, despite the cold, it was a beautiful day at the stadium so here are a few more pictures from around the sprint course.

The midday sun over Kincaid Park

US Nats in Anchorage: Before the Sprint...

2009-01-02T19:06:00.005-05:00

There is excitement and uncertainty in the air as we gear up for the first race of 2009; the trails are in perfect shape thanks to the many hard working "Green Grunts" of Kincaid Park, however the giant stadium scoreboard keeps flashing -15 F in the mid-day sun which has everyone on edge wondering whether we will see the -4 F needed to start tomorrow morning. Everyone has their own theory on how the temps will be handled tomorrow- some think they will start the race around noon and compress the heats down, possibly eliminating the U23 heats, others think they will race the men and women on different days, and a few are pretty sure the officials will tuck the thermometer into an armpit for a few minutes and then race anyway. No matter what, the real challenge is staying focused whether the race happens on time tomorrow or not. Today the crew got out and tested their race skis in the cold, checking out the course one last time and picking best lines. Everyone is healthy and excited to race, so hopefully tomorrow everything will go as planned and we will post again after a successful race day for Burke!

Race Weekend #1: Bolton and Craftsbury

2008-12-15T12:18:00.012-05:00

Race season is here. Its that time of year when all the anxiousness and anxiety of waiting to see how 7 months of training will pay off finally dissipates in 3...2...1.. and you're off! The first couple races essentially remind an athlete how to race, but in many ways they set the stage for the entire season. This weekend we raced at Bolton on Saturday and Craftsbury on Sunday to simulate an Eastern Cup weekend of back-to-back races. Corinne had this to say about Saturday's race:

On Saturdays, 6:30AM departure times suck. But hey, that's winter and we're starting to get used to it. For some of us, the Bolton Opener was the first race of the season. Despite the bitterly cold temperature, the sunshine and fully covered trails were a blessing after this past week of flighty weather (New England's infamous 'Wintery Mix'). The course was great - a 20 minute 5k made up of two laps of an all up-then down 2k loop, and a 1k lollipop to the finish. After catching up with some Mainers (Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, Gould, etc.) at Great Glen last weekend, it was fun to race with some fellow Vermont skiers (UVM, Middlebury, and other Vermont High Schools). We look forward to racing tomorrow at the Craftsbury Opener!

A 7:15 departure on Sunday gave everyone a little extra rest after Bolton, but it was still a pretty quiet ride over to Craftsbury. When we arrived at the trails we found a well groomed race course with hard tracks despite the warm weather and lack of snow we have been experiencing lately. The snow was pretty abrasive so the kids put plenty of kickwax on their skis in hopes that it wouldn't strip before they were done with the 10k course. Because the loop had multiple long steep climbs, proper technique and skiing in control was essential for success on that course. I was watching on one of the more brutal climbs during the second lap, and it was clear that our athletes were all focused on staying light on the skis and kicking efficiently. By the second lap people were starting to get tired, but as their technique suffered and they started slipping, they would remember to get back on top of the skis and kick up the rest of the hill. It was definitely a promising start to the season for everyone- especially Yannick, who showed us once again that hes a tenacious kid with a big motor when he needs to be, coming in fourth place overall! Now the hours start to drop off as we recover from the weekend and gear up for the next- the first Eastern Cup at Trapps.

Thank you to the Bolton and Craftsbury race crews for putting on such high quality and fun races this weekend!!!

For results from the Bolton Season Opener click here and for results from the Craftsbury Opener click here

An Uphill Battle

2008-12-11T15:31:00.010-05:00

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

The Great Glensby

2008-12-06T17:51:00.009-05:00

The first real race of the year is always an interesting experience. Even though the Great Glen Sprint is less formal than most of the races we will be competing in this season, there is a certain feeling that comes with putting on a bib- for some its manifests itself in subtle anxiety, for others its increased concentration and focus, for others still its increased bowel movements...
No matter the race or the athlete, everyone feels the excitement that comes with stepping up to the start line (made of blue powerade?) for the first time in the season. Pete and I have been talking to the athletes about pre-race warm up routines recently and their physical and mental importance. We arrived at the course with plenty of time to get bibs and socialize with friends we haven't seen since last season before getting out on course. There were definitely possible distractions (OMG Sylvan!!) but everyone was super focused and made sure they got out for solid sprint warm ups. Maybe some were even a little too eager and if anything started the warm up before they really needed to! By the 12:00 start time everyone was warm and feeling pumped up to sprint, so at 12:10 when the prelim heats were posted, and most of the kids weren't scheduled to race for another 45 minutes, we all got that friendly beginning of the season reminder that flexibility is another important aspect of nordic ski racing! Mitch was looking good in the pink suit today, but after getting a little excited in his first start and forgetting to use the beautiful technique he's been developing all year, Pete decided this might have to be the last showing of the pink suit tradition, as seen in the picture above (behind Mitch in the black coat).
The level of the races was actually pretty high- the whole UNH and Bates teams came out to play, along with some other good high school teams, so the Burkies certainly had some competition. Today's sprint was formatted to give everyone their moneys worth of race... There was first a round of randomly seeded heats of 5, from there the winner advanced to round three, while the other 4 advanced to the second round. The winner of round two advanced to round four, while the 2nd and 3rd placed finishers in round two advanced to round three. The top 2 from round four went on to the semifinals, and the top 2 from each semifinal went on to the final. Whew! did you get all that? All the Burkies were racing really well, Lucas usually had pretty tough heats full of UNH guys to contend with, but skied like he was the real Wildcat, advancing to the Semi-finals where he met up with Sam to race still more of the UNH guys (see top picture). Mitch won his second round heat, advancing him to the fourth round, and Corinne won her first round, advancing her to the third. Now the race format is admittingly a little tough to follow, and if you look at it carefully, its actually somewhat flawed. For example: if you win your first round, you automatically advance to the third round, but if you lose the first round and win your second round, you advance to the fourth round ahead of the people you lost to in the first round. Corinne found herself up against some stiff competition in her third round heat, specifically the eventual race winner, Marlijne Cook. She still skied well and came in right on her tail, which should have qualified her for the fourth round. However, when she looked at the board to see her next position, she wasn't on it because some girls she beat in the first round had advanced ahead of her in their second round to the fourth round, displacing her from the race. As we were looking skeptically at the board figuring out that she was being cheated out of advancing, one of the officials standing next to Corinne patted her on the shoulder and said "Just don't think about it too hard, life isn't always fair." Bad move. Anyone who knows the competitive spirit (to put it lightly) of nordic ski racers knows to never tell them to lighten up about not being able to ski in a race they want to win.
As long as that tirade might have been, its still a bit of a sensitive subject, so I thought I would explain it on Corinne's behalf so you know how we feel about the results sheet.
I think it goes with out saying that the small quirks of the day in no way put a cloud over what turned out to be an excellent day of racing and much better than expected snow conditions! Congrats to Sam for his 3rd place finish overall!!!

Sam with Mt. Washington in the background

heats in the late afternoon sun

Lucas lines up

The Fall at a Glance...

2008-12-05T17:02:00.025-05:00

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