Lake Placid Camp

Since Wednesday I have been in Lake Placid training with the USST and a lot of other good skiers at the Olympic Training Center.  Fall is in the air, and that means that the leaves have begun to turn, as well as the intensity of my training has been going up.  In that vein, we started off the week with really difficult bounding intervals up Whiteface amongst some beautiful fall colors; 6x3 minutes maximal which definitely set the tone for the week.  Since then we have had a really rocky and rooty three hour run in the Adirondacks where we climbed Mt. Algonquin, had a badass speed session, interspersed with tons of eating at the OTC cafeteria and hanging out with the other skiers here.  There's a massive amount of skiers here, at last count I think there were 48 skiers here for the camp, most of them pretty fast, so the training group is super strong.  

Bounding....

More bounding...

Yesterday the beautiful weather took a turn for the worse, and coincidentally it was also time for Climb to the Castle.  The race went OK, the weather was really windy, foggy and cold, and the field was super deep and fast.  So a little bit miserable, but also really good for training.  

Early on, latching on to a big train.  The picture doesn't do the weather justice.  

We had an afternoon off earlier in the week so Andy Newell, Jessie Diggins, Eric Packer, Ryan Scott and I went to a place called The Flume for some sweet cliff jumping and rope swinging.  There were some 30 foot cliffs, and the rope swing was off a cliff so we got some good air time.  I was really stoked because I did a gainer for the first time off one of the big cliffs.  

Backflip off the rope swing

Sending my first gainer ever (Eric Packer photos)

I'm here until Wednesday, so I have a few more days at the OTC training before I come back to good old Williamstown.  The Purple Valley Invitational is this Saturday, so get ready to see the Destiny's Canyon Track & Field squad out in full force.  Until next time...