TT DAY

We had a picture perfect day today for the 5/10k Classic TT. Trail 21 was groomed perfectly and it was great to blow the dust off the racing engines. 11 women and 9 men Ephs completed the TT, which is a big number for our MSA camp. We have a lot of video from today, but only these quick phone shots from the start. Tomorrow is the 10/15K Mass Start Skate TT.

Coach Perry

2 minutes to start!

Home

Hello from Honeoye Falls!

After four straight months at Williams, I got to spend the past week at home and it was grand. Highlights included: having all four Cole kids home, watching my younger brother Jude play in his high school hockey game, a cool talk about iron metabolism I had with a former high school teammate who is now working for a vascular biology lab in Boston, getting to catch the first high school nordic race of the season, and baking lots of Christmas cookies.

I also got the chance to hop into a few of our high school nordic practices. This was kind of special because my break typically doesn't overlap with their practice schedule and NY is lucky if it has consistently skiable snow in late December. On one hand it all felt so familiar-- the big team, Coach Bernie's focused yet energetic voice, the excitement of the first few days on snow... On the other, it wasn't "my team" anymore. I had a blast trading stories about epic races and "I can't believe I survived" that practice. I hopped into their 6am strength practice and was quickly reminded of how well the team fosters attitudes of hard work and commitment. I also thanked my parents repeatedly after I realized how wicked cold it was cheering during night races on top of Bristol Mountain.

It seemed fitting to begin my senior season at Williams with a return to where my journey with nordic began (thank you, thank you to the HFL team). I'm excited and hopeful to see what this season holds!

High schoolers warming up under the lights.

A volunteer finishing the start line set-up.

A cold, clear night for a race.

Snowy woods from a training day at Bristol Nordic Center.

The "family picture" at our Christmas dinner. From left to right:
Christian, Jude, me, and Gabriel.

If you're looking for some reading to do (MSA camp is the best for this) here are a couple of things I've been reading lately:

• https://ephstrackblog.wordpress.com --> Thoughts, stories and wisdom from the Williams Men's Track and Field Head Coach, Ethan Barron
• http://fasterskier.com/fsarticle/mclaren-report-ii-systematic-doping-continued-sochi-games/--> FasterSkier's report on the 2nd McLaren Report, with link to original article. Both frustrating and depressing, but an important read...
• http://www.letsrun.com/tag/sub-2-hour-marathon/--> Several articles on a possible sub 2hr. marathon attempt. If anything it makes for great dinner conversations
• Any and all of FasterSkier's "17 Questions for 2017"--> A great way to get to know some of the best skiers from the U.S. and Canada

MSA has been unreal. Stay tuned for an update soon! 

Hannah

MSA

Morning skate was fast and warm. Time to break out the klister for the afternoon ski!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to the entire Eph Nordic Family!

And you know what that means.......

Ready to hit the road

New Racks in Place

Just a few items for taking care of skis

Coaches' gear is in...and a few athletes.

MSA HERE WE COME!!!

Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours

Most of us have left the Purple Valley and headed home to celebrate the holidays with our families before venturing to the tundra of MSA to welcome the New Year together.  I have had some time to reflect on the wonderful semester and begin knitting a sweater.  Here our some highlights from the last month:

After daylight savings, our practice shifted to 2:30 so we got to enjoy dinner at 5pm with Driscoll all to ourselves.

The freshman are stunned.

Hannah Benson loves eating early.

During Thanksgiving camp at Prospect, Jack won the most practical fashion choice with the wearable sleeping bag.  He was so excited to be able to fly his drone while wearing a sleeping bag so he doesn't get cold.  Perry seems pretty impressed with the drone but has not converted to the wearable sleeping bag-yet.

Coach Jason hosted us at his house for the annual Yankee Swap with delicious foods and hilarious presents.

Sarah, Heidi and Ingrid.  Note the bicycling polar bears on Ingrid's sweater.

Ivy, Lucy, and Hans.

 Dylan, Jack, and Luke.

Luke gets weird.

Luke, Nick, and I with a guest in the background.

Jordan and Rogan seem to be getting along.

We were happy to welcome our faculty advisor as well.

Ingrid is very happy with her swap present.

Rogan loves gift swaps.

Looking forward to seeing the team soon and welcoming Elowyn back to the Northern Hemisphere.

We Made It!

Quick update on what's been happening the past couple of weeks:

1. After Thanksgiving, snow prospects at Prospect weren't looking so good and so we managed by making sure our rock skis were really rock skis and spending some quality bonding time with the ercolinas.

2. Jay and Perry worked super hard to put together a super 1 km loop and we did some hard intervals. So fun!

3. Sarah Becker and I proved great minds think alike and have the same great taste in fashion, from our cozy red flannels to our shiny brown Blundstones. 

Spontaneous twinning at its finest

4. It snowed! Yay! 

Ivy and Snowman ft. Adrienne, who isn't on the ski team but agrees to hang out with us sometimes

5. Finals week began and the entire campus could be found hunkered down in the corner in a library.

6. It got a wee bit chilly in Williamstown which discouraged people from going outside. All the better for studying!

7. Driscoll dining hall closed and we were forced to eat at Paresky. Oh the horror!

8. It got downright hot Sunday morning, 47˚F, which, coincidentally, happened to be close to 70˚ F warmer than the temp in MN (where I'm from) on Sunday morning, a brisk -20˚F with -40˚ windchill.

whyyyyyyy

9. People began to realize they were leaving within the next 1-12 hours and a mad packing rush ensued. 

10. Luke Costley made this helpful guide to finals week.

So ready to be the koala on the bottom right!

Happy Holidays from the Albany airport! Can't wait for Quebec!

-Ingrid

You get out what you put in

"You get out what you put in." It was really awesome to receive this painting in my inbox recently (I may have requested it, after hearing about it). One of our skiers took the time to paint this for his high school ski coach after winning a section meet.  One of the most rewarding things as a coach is to watch someone put in the time, effort and dedication required to make big gains. This same skier is a huge proponent of Williams and being on the ski team here. As a coach, I can see the strength and drive that that belief brings him during training. Thank you, team, for all of your hard work and camaraderie on the trails recently. Good luck with projects and studying during Reading Period....and enjoy the skiing at Prospect!

Feelin' Super Lucky (And shoutout to HC!!!)

Hi Williams Ski World!

Last week I got to experience my first week training with the ski team. With a little help from the Prospect Miracle, I was able to go from running in the nationals throw-down in Louisville, Kentucky, to skiing in a winter wonderland just a mere four days later.

Nationals pre-race dramatic picture taking sesh 

BEHOLD

Although this transition from running to skiing definitely has it's challenges, I feel so incredibly lucky to have such a supportive, kind, and hilarious group of teammates and coaches to spend these November/December weeks with. Several times this week I was reminded of how truly special this team is, from the constant words of encouragement I heard from teammates on the ski trails, to every time I saw Jack in his sleeping sack.

Whatta smile

I think that's Lucy speeding by

Ladies getting ready to crush classic speeds

I first got a sense of how amazing this team was this summer, when I got to spend time in Bend with Tsaina, Sarah, Elowyn, Sonya, and Ivy. Now that ski season is finally here, I'm so excited to get to know everyone else and experience the team in full-force. 









Something that really meant a lot to me this week was when Hannah Cole took time out of her own strength workout to patiently go through the exercises with me (Eli also was really helpful).  This act of kindness made me realize how lucky I am to be on this team. That day, I also learned "ALL SIX" ways of the monster series, and that a Reverse rollout is no joking matter. Although for now we are back to some dryland conditions, the spirit of the team has kept the hype strong.

A lil summer throwback to a hike up South Sister

Ze View

So, I know these last two weeks of finals are going to be a grind, and getting the ski legs back on can be a little rough, but being on a team with wonderful, weird, and badass skiers is going to keep me going. (Also a little more Prospect magic would be sick.)

-Carmen :)

Blast from the Past- Stay Grateful

     With all the excitement over Prospect's spontaneous transformation into a winter wonderland, I just wanted to make sure no one forgot the snowless struggle that was last year. We have had to be adaptable athletes (and are lucky to have resourceful and resilient coaches!!) in the past and will certainly have to be so in the future; it's all good practice. For training. And races. And life. So be grateful when you feel like a blind, uncoordinated walrus; when you have have to do 652 billion laps to get in an hour long ski; as well as when there are ego-boosting, superhero conditions.

Our extensive training trail in Craftsbury last year. To be fair, this depicts only about half of the actual skiable loop.

This was at Berkshire East, I believe, mid season.  Who says no snow means no hills?

100% accurate. Keep at it, y'all.

What a week to be an eph. Just wrapped up an awesome thanksgiving camp at Prospect!

Me, about to do a klister-hits-powder faceplant 

Becker and me, pounding out some reading-intervals after the skate intervals on Saturday

Movie Night

We did not make it to Craftsbury but we did make the trip to the movie theater in North Adams to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  A great time was had by all!

BEST SKIING IN NORTH AMERICA

Prospect Mountain may very well have the best skiing on the continent this week after 28" fell on Sunday night. With snow shortages in the Western US and British Colombia, there are few places besides western NY with as much snow as we have right now and there are few places I'd rather be. Thankful for a great team and coaches to share these long training days with.

Sad to hear that many other EISA teams' Thanksgiving camps are without snow this year, my only advice to y'all: get to Prospect ASAP.

These photos were taken by Jack Consenstein, one of our awesome freshman and an excellent photographer. He used his new drone to take these shots. See more of his work at: http://jconmedia.com/

Thankful to be an eph, thankful for SNOW!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! The Ephs are thankful today for the entire ski community. We had a great Classic Threshold session this morning and are gathering for a team Thanksgiving dinner tonight at the Costley's. A huge thank you to Liz, Tom and Luke for offering our skiers a chance to get off campus together to share a meal. We are so thankful for your generosity!

A picture from today:

Thanksgiving Day 11-24-2016
Top of 1/3 looking down
Kick - 2 Thin layers of Rode Violet
PERFECT

Continued Coverage of the PROSPECT MIRACLE

Better skiing than we had all last year, all before Thanksgiving! We are all in a state of disbelief.
The team has been making the most of the Prospect miracle, getting an incredible first ski in Tuesday November 23, and then today, Wednesday, we spent all day knocking out two all-time sessions.

Winter Wonderland

 Lots of excitement in the lodge post-ski No. 1

Nobody can contain their excitement!

It's hard to do speeds when you can't stop smiling

Best assistant coach in the EISA, and I'll fight anyone who says he's not

 

Great to have Carmen training with us straight from cleaning up at CC Nationals

Jack Consenstein wondering what he should do with his lunch break

Looks like somebody is happy about his sandwich 

Thesis boys Eli and Jordan in "the dojo"

Happy sandwich-->Happy nap

Keeping cozy round the stove

Coach Jay in the studio with legwork

technique