Quebec day 2

Good morning from cold and snowy Mt. St-Anne!

Yesterday was our second full day of camp and our first intensity session. In the morning we did a 3-4-5-4-3 classic L4 interval ladder and went for a recovery skate in the afternoon. The temperatures were chilly but we took advantage of the above 0 temps to get a good workout in. The weather forecast is looking a little better and announces a high of 2 degrees today instead of the -4 degrees they were predicting yesterday, so hopefully everyone will stay warm and we"ll we able to get two good skiing sessions in.

Stay tuned

 Girls team (minus Tsaina) during the afternoon skate 

Quebec Camp: Day 1

Day 1 is in the books! We arrived this morning to perfect conditions and enjoyed a great 1.75ish classic ski to get re-acquainted, or newly acquainted with the trail system. The snow is excellent and all of the trails are open. We went out for a second session in the afternoon and did some skate speed work as a team and ran into a couple alums from the class of '04 rounding out a 3-4+ hr training day for everyone. The women's team hosted a delicious dinner and we're all heading off to bed to rest up for tomorrow morning's L4 classic intervals. Everything is going great, but we see some VERY cold temps in the forecast starting Tuesday, so we'll see how it goes. I only had the video camera out today, but here are a couple of screen shots from the video, just to prove that there actually is snow out there:)!

Vanya chasing Hans during a speed

Bud and Isaac with snow in the trees

The snow here at Mount Saint Anne is amazing and 175 kilometers are open! Can't wait for everyone to arrive!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all the Ephs out there! In the spirit of the holidays here are some pics from our annual Yankee Gift Swap that was held just before finals:

The Gift Circle

Vanya plotting his next move

Jordan looking like a natural

Darth doesn't have a chance against Tsaina!

Luke sporting his best tie

Josh is pretty excited about his new shorts

Eli and his wooden sword

yep, a perfect spot for some extra blue

Ben checking out his thrift store
juke box. What a gem!

Olivia with a quick demo for Ben.

Um, Jordan?

GO PAUL!
Paul said this was a bit creepy, but
that he rocks his just about
every day

Laura with her hand in the toilet

LUKE!

And last, but not least....the truck gets a COW!!!!!

Quebec conditions:

148KM open for us and cold weather forecasted for the extended. Vans head north on Saturday. Quebec here we come!

SNOW!!!!

Winter has finally arrived in the Purple Valley.

 

 

 

Greylock quad and the traffic circle on Saturday night

2013 CrewXC Erg Relays

Yesterday was the annual Crew/XC Erg relay challenge! The ski team held their own and there was plenty of pain to be head during the 4x4min intervals that each athlete completed. Here's some video footage from the day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH34dAkztlQ&feature=youtu.be

You'll notice that every nordic skier has great technique (so I've been told), which no doubt boosted our numbers considerably:)

And some pictures of the pain! GO EPHS!

Ready

GO HANS!

Kalle showing that after 4 times on the erg he is a pro!

Freshman GRIT from ELI!

Jordan showing off his erg skills

Vanya loving the pain!

Laura moving too fast for my phone

Sarah put up some big numbers!

Eliza using those long levers!

Olivia with a frown as usual:)

Josh also challenging the iPhone with his speed

Ben contemplating switch sports

Skiers Luke and Hannah

Jenna showing she's a pro
And proof that Tsaina was there! For some reason
I don't have a still shot....

Hannah working hard

The wrap up!

Last Update

Eph Nation: As I write this it is FINALLY dumping snow outside of my window.  November is in my experience the worst month in Norway at least training wise because most of the time it oscillates between dumping snow and dumping rain, it starts to get dark fast and there is no snow to amplify the light, and the training options often are limited to rollerskiing on ice or running through snow.  This is exactly what has happened from late october until now, which has made training feel a lot more hardcore.  Luckily though I have been able to get away on some excursions where there was snow.

First I journeyed to Lillehammer with Victor (honorary, nordork) and our friend Eric Ryan (former nordork) to visit Heidi Halvorsen (Williams Class of 2018) and get some skiing in.  After a detour around the mountain passes because of some raging winds, we got to Lillehammer and to our surprise had perfect spring skiing conditions.  It was sunny, there was lots of snow, and the temperature was up around 5º C, which was amazing.  Getting to see Heidi, get some sweet skiing in the sun, and experience the epic temple to winter sport that is Lillehammer made for an awesome weekend.  We even got Victor out on the skinny skis one day, and he proceeded to crank out a 2:15 OD!  I was very impressed.

Nordies of Novembers past, present, and future

 The next place I visited was Tromsø, above the arctic circle in Northern Norway.  As I flew in, we were buffeted by some very high winds that made for a sketchy landing, but also brought an epic storm cycle into Tromsø.  I was there for a week staying with my old roommate Rune Strømholt from my year abroad and seeing all my old buddies, and it dumped snow every single day except for one, where we got some pictures on the last day before mørketiden, where the sun doesn't come over the horizon for 8 weeks! Rune is taking a year off to ski and train right now, so we were out two times a day on the trails every day, getting some quality Ks in.  Most days we skied about 4 hours a day, but we managed to fit in some strength, short runs to keep the jogging muscles going, and a 10k CL time trial in the dumping snow. Also, I don't know if you can spot it from a distance, but I had a pretty sweet mustache and soul patch going at that time, I had grown a beard out for my halloween costume in october and ran with the 'bart' after that through november.  

Roommates ca. 2010-11, some sweet skiing

Last light of the year and some great skiing in Tromsø

After the Tromsø trip, it was back to reality at the university in Trondheim.  Exam period has settled in, and the city is tangibly more tense and withdrawn, probably similar to whats going on in the Purple Valley right about now.  In between trying to read for all the classes I managed to miss this semester, Victor and I found time to make a delicious Thanksgiving for a few of our best Norwegian and American friends.  It was our first time making Thanksgiving ourselves, and it made me realize: a) why my mom is so tired after the meal, b) why it's good to have a house with two ovens, and c) how rewarding it is to bring people together over a delicious meal.

The turkey crew ready to chow, plus vic's mustache

Anyways, these last few weeks are going to be brutal in terms of studying, especially because the exam is worth 100 percent of your grade in some classes, but hopefully with the snow thats puking outside of my window as I write this post it will be possible to get on snow and train a little more to unwind. Good luck on your exams, good training, and Merry Christmas to everybody!  

Happy (late) Thanksgiving from Craftsbury!

With no organized team camp for Thanksgiving this year, the Abramson family graciously offered to host us in Craftsbury to take advantage of some early-season training.  Before I rave about our little vacation, we owe them a HUGE thank you for their incredible hospitality and putting up with a few crazy skiers for the week. After classes got out on Tuesday, Sarah, Tsaina and I headed north in search of the first snow skiing of the season.  We knew that Crafstbury had a kilometer open with man-made snow, but as we drove into the night a snowstorm materialized in our headlights, giving us hope for an even better week of training to come. Unfortunately, our winter wonderland melted into rain overnight, so on we resorted to a soggy morning run through the dirt roads of northern Vermont.  Luckily the rain changed back into snow later in the day and we were able to push daylight and break out the skis that evening!

Stoked selfie after our first ski!

Since then, the weather has stayed cold and allowed us to put in some long, quality hours.  The freshly groomed morning snow is perfect for extra blue classic skiing, and although the trails are skied-in and glazed-over by the afternoon, something about being on snow and the imminent race season keeps us skating lap after lap.  

Doing some no-pole work

In our spare time, we've been attempting homework, doing jigsaw puzzles, playing numerous rounds of Dominion, celebrating Hanukkah (Tsaina's and my first time!), eating delicious meals thanks to Louise (Sarah's mom), and driving to St. Johnsbury to see the newest Hunger Games movie.

A little baking after a long day

Perhaps the smallest jigsaw puzzle ever (it comes with tweezers to help)

Josh drove up and joined us this afternoon, and rumor has it Eli will be on his way tomorrow.  We're planning to put in another full day tomorrow, and then some of us will hop in the Craftsbury Opener on Sunday to remember what racing feels like!

A beautiful sunset while driving back to the house where we're staying

We've thoroughly enjoyed our break from school, and being able to get on snow has not only been great training, but it's gotten us fired up about the upcoming season.  Many thanks again to the Abramsons for a great week!

Winter is on the way!

We're wrapping up the last few workouts before Thanksgiving break and winter is in the air! The 10 day forecast is for very cold temperatures and a few days with possible SNOW showers. This is good news for Craftsbury and for the Eph Skiers that are heading up there during the holiday break. Training has been great, but pretty tough the last couple of weeks as we wrap up an intensity block heading into break. All of the workouts have been going very well and we are seeing improvements in fitness across the board. Just to keep life interesting though, we did end last Friday's workout on a bit of a strange note. While running down sheep hill between the 5th and last L4 bounding interval Isaac suddenly stopped and had to sit down due to an extreme pain in his foot!!

A stick where it shouldn't be!

After a quick investigation it became apparent that a stick had driven itself straight through Isaac's shoe and into his foot. NOT GOOD! It was 1/4-3/8" thick or so where it penetrated the shoe, but luckily was a bit smaller where it entered his foot. Off to the trainer, then the health center and finally the ER in North Adams where the shoe was cut off and the stick removed. Luckily the recovery has been quick and Isaac is back up to full speed already, less than a week later! Today we are off to do some more L4 bounding, this time on Petersburg rd just to stay away from those dangerous sticks!

This is the time of year to dial in the race gear. A batch of race skis came back from Caldwell Sport yesterday and are ready for race hardening:

The coach's room is a bit cramped these days.

In other random news Jayvin decided last night during dinner to assign some of his matchbox cars to the members on the team and then to practice his handwriting skills. The members of the team are quite the celebrities in his eyes!:)

Women's Team from bottom to top:
Sarah, Tsaina, Olivia, Hannah B., Elena,
Laura, Eliza, Hannah S, Hannah C and Jenna

Or in the handwriting practice version:

Men's Team from left to right:
Jordan, Vanya, Kalle, Ben, Will
Hans, Luke, Isaac, Eli and Josh

 And the handwriting version:

Jayvin assures me that no one car is faster than another:).