Happy Halloween, From Eph Nordic!

The Team and their pumpkins

Warm-up Week

A couple days in the 60's and 70's make for some pleasant days of running, rollerskiing and spenst.
New: I have begun posting weekly workouts on the web (link to the right, above photo link). In expectation for the nearing race season, we will be conducting our very own Tour de Ski: Tour de Berkshires!! Check out week 32 for details.

Julia skates down into a pastoral landscape

Kristen poles past the Big Red Barn

The boys ski into dusk

We finish with the last of the day's light.

Sarah becomes a real Road Warrior (after collecting some of the road into her skin)

Sunday Funday: Tour de Massif and Pumpkin Carving

It was a full day of fun for Eph Nordic. 8:30am was the start of the Schnellsteigen preview - a Tour de Greylock Massif: three hours of running a series of ridges and valley up and around Mt. Greylock. Equipped with maps of the route, there were no lost wanderers, making this year's tour a great success.
After dinner everyone headed up to Bud and Barb's house for pumpkin carving, roasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Who could carve the best pumpkin? was the question, and there was some serious competition. I will post pictures of jack-o-lanters as Halloween nears, and you can be the judge!

Evan leads the men's pack up to the trail

Water break at the Prospect overlook: a beautiful view of Williamstown

The women near the top of Greylock, the two ridges they have already run in the background.

At the finish, just as the rain starts to fall. Time for brunch!

Kalle concentrates

Keith explains his mastermind design to Evan, as Mark and Robby work on.

Ties are tucked and sleeves rolled. Despite the smiles present, this is serious business.

Ian is hard at work at his panoramic-ly designed pumpkin

Pumpkin Pie is the ultimate reward for some tough carving work. Thanks Barb!!

Intervals in the Apple Orchards: Happy Birthday Robby and Caleb!!

Thursday's intervals took place up the road through the Apple Orchards. Another gorgeous day, another great showing of intense effort for 30:30 intervals on classic rollerskis. And then a celebration of seniors Caleb Lucy and Robby Cuthbert's dual birthdays: HAPPY 22!!

The women's team heads up the second climb (Hannah still on one-pole)

Coach Fisher runs alongside with advice as the ladies finish the last steep ascent, the orchards and fall foliage of Bennington in the background

Mark and Caleb cool down on foot through the orchard's gravel paths

Teammates for life

Apple Orchards

As is the custom every fall, the team headed to the apple orchards last weekend for picking, eating, and post-event baking of apple crisp.

Maddy and Julia

(Top to bottom) Sarah, Julia, Maddy, Mark, Robby, Christina, Hannah, Isaac

The best ones are always juuuust out of reach. . . . . that is what good teammates are for!!

In the Terrain Garden

Yesterday afternoon the team completed their 2nd of 5 hard days of training in this week's intensity block: 30 minutes of bounding up and down the figure eight we call the "Terrain Park". Is it really as fun as it sounds?! One of the bounding legs is a very steep ascent up through the wooded hillside and the other side is a slightly less steep ascent up onto sheep hill. The workout was made especially hard thanks to tired muscles from the grueling race the team completed the day before, up Mt Greylock, which (fittingly) can be seen on the ridge line looking out from sheep hill.


The boys team bounds up sheep hill, Mt Greylock the second peak from the left on the ridgeline.

Sarah, Christina, and Maddy run back down one hill toward the next, trying to skip through the brambled branches that hide in the grass.

Kirsten finishes her last interval as the sun sets and puts a glow on the hills.

Mt. Greylock Rollerski Race: When the going gets tough. . .

After a couple days of rain, this morning dawned gorgeously clear and sunny. A fabulous day for a race up the tallest mountain in Massachusetts! Berkshire Outfitters, our favorite local ski shop, did a great job putting on the race, and there were many local ski enthusiasts that challenged our team in the race to the summit. Technique was open, so everyone got to choose whether they raced classic or skate. The two overall winners skated the hill: our own Sarah Tory took first for women, and Todd Keefe, a community racer, took first for men.
It was a steep and unforgiving climb up the 8 mile road to the summit. Only a short portion in the middle flattened out and gave the racers reprieve from the arduous ascent. The fastest racers took just over 45 minutes, and many others finished around the one-hour mark.
An especially impressive finish of the day was made by Hannah Hausman who is nursing a bruised arm and so did the entire race with one pole. Now THAT is being tough as a nail.


At the start: 8 miles to the summit

And they're off!

Near the half-way point: Patrick on skate skis, Robby on classic skis

Mojo was the first classic skier to the top.

Maddy strides it out

Caleb lunges to the line, the Greylock monument looming in the background.

Tom Keefe and Sarah Tory take King and Queen of the Mountain for 2010.

Fall shines on: O.D. in Savoy and Greylock preview

The sunshine stuck through the weekend and temps hovered in the 60's. On Sunday we did one of our favorite O.D. loops in Savoy - lots of smooth pavement and little traffic on the 50km ski. Plus, there was a bike race going on that morning that followed a similar path to ours, and we exchanged cheers with our wheeled companions of the road as they passed by in waves.
Monday morning (reading period) we headed to Greylock for a lovely ascent to the top of the highest mountain in Massachusetts and got some great views of the Berkshire Hills along the way.

Maddy and Sara near the top of Greylock

Loving that new pavement and those old-gold fall colors

Ian and Keith lead the men's team up the road

Maddy, Sarah, Evan (skiing no-pole while rehabbing a hurt shoulder) enjoy the lovely morning in Savoy.