Thursday was the best classic skiing we've had all year - following Tuesday's "best skate ski of the year". And those are bold statements, seeing as how we've had some really amazing skiing already this season at Prospect. We have been so lucky this week with temperatures in the mid to high teens, great grooming, and fantastic snow conditions. We skiied a lower volume week with two days of speed-work to sharpen up for the races this weekend in Stowe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!!!!!!!!!!

Can't beat sunshine, blue skies. . .

. . . except when you have perfect tracks, as well!! (thanks, Steve!)

Prospect Time Trial: squeekin' cold.

The training schedule was already tough, and the temps made it tougher. Luckily, our time in Quebec toughened us up for the season, so that the weekend temps were "taken in stride". After Friday's 4x4 intervals we had an easy ski day, and then woke early on Sunday morning for a "fast" and furious time trial around our home course. It was 3 degrees when we started the race at 9:45. One x 5km loop for the women and 2 laps for men, mass start.

Despite the cold, slow, snow, times were ripping fast: 15 minutes for women and 26 for men. Alice Nelson took out her competition early on (stepped on Kirsten's pole and the handle came off) and led the rest of the race to the finish line, Sarah Tory close behind. In the men's race, Mark Johnson and Erik Anderson finished 1-2, after passing Alex Taylor close to the finish line.
A beautiful day and a good workout!

Alice leads the women's start

Dimitri and Erik come through the stadium

Atay

Alice finishes first

Caleb with Ian hot on his tracks

Mark Johnson and Erik Anderson finish 1-2.

Christina

Prospect Fun: White-out O.D. and Intervals at 0

Yesterday we had a 2.5 hour over-distance workout scheduled. After Monday's rain the trails were still fully covered, but a bit icy in places. Not so after yesterday. It was snowing so hard that you may as well have been skiing the downhills blindfolded. Steve had freshly groomed the trails, but halfway through the ski the tracks were already invisible. It was a winter white-out. . . . And we LOVED it. I thought that I had the most fun out there, but when I stated this fact after the ski was over most of the team assured me they had more fun than I did, so I guess the storm and all that snow brought out the 5 year-old kid in all of us. . . ..
This morning we had a very hard, 4x4 minute interval session scheduled. The temperature at Prospect when we arrived was 0 degrees F. And windy. But blue skies and sunshine, combined with some diamond-cut Paana tracks made the skiing bearable and the workout - although short - a success.

Coach Fisher skates through the white-out

Hausman collects some snow

Torinator

I can't really see anything. . . .


Sweet tracks!!!

Evan, Keith, Atay turn it over on an interval

Atay

Mojo workin'

Napster

Photos from the Weekend

Despite Phil's best efforts to the contrary, we were able to get to Burlington and back with minor delays. To celebrate that, Phil, Casey and I took some time to capture the beauty of the weekend before the rains came. With bluebird days and extra blue wax, it turned out that capturing beauty was not hard in northern Vermont.


Mt. Mansfield from afar

Me admiring the view

More admiration



Poor insulation at the hut allowed for a great desktop on my computer



The valley

Stay dry...think snow.

St Mike's: Day 2: Classic Sprint Relays

Quite a chaotic day - some fun, some craziness, some disappointment. The format for the day was teams of 3, each leg completing 3 x 1km loops. The waxing was easy, the kick was not: a steep, harringbone hill at the start of the loop made for tricky racing, especially when trying to navigate through 30 other teams. There were a couple falls, but no broken equipment for the team. The boys raced first and had to compete with an extremely competitive field. The starting pace was blistering fast and it never let up. The team of Keith, Caleb, and Evan raced well, but unfortunately several other teams had stand-out performances, and our trio finished in 7th despite their speed.
In the women's race Alice set a blistering pace for her teammates Sarah and Kirsten by blowing away the rest of the field in her scramble leg. But a fall and a missed tag waylayed the ladies team and they finished in a disappointing tenth place.
The rest of the teams did well and everyone got a fantastic sprint workout (very sore hip-flexors at Sunday's O.D. ski).
We had a fantastic ski yesterday at Prospect, but unfortunately it is now raining and 55 degrees, so we are crossing our fingers the cold weather will be back soon.
Looking forward to our weekend off racing, as we would like to get some good training and good resting in before our next carnival at Stowe, VT.

It is a gorgeous morning - all sparkle and shine

Caleb

Robby tags to Atay

Phil tags off to Erik

Evan tags to Keith


Ian takes a breath

Robby gives Blair, Christina, and Sarah some tips on the race course

Kirsten

Hannah tags to Christina

Alice

Holly, Blair


Sleeping Beauty

More pictures

Cows Rip Up Track at St Mikes

A good day for the team, as we had nine racers inside the top 30. The snow cover was thin, but proficient, and cold tracks led to fast skiing for this morning's 10/15km individual start skate races. It was a gorgeous day, bright and sunny for the most part, with temps in the teens. The course was tough; wickedly long V1 uphills and wickedly icy downhill S-turns.
The women's race was first. Alice Nelson and Kirsten Johnson had great races, placing in 7th and 11th. Our third score was Sarah Tory, a very solid result with 27th. The women's team took 4th place.
The men stacked the top twenty: Keith in 12th (ties best result), Caleb in 13th (best-ever result), Evan in 17th (best skate result), Atay in 18th. The men's team took 6th for the day.
Results


Coach Fisher gives a split to Sarah Tory


Maddy Wendt starts off the day of racers with Bib #1

Coach lets Alice Nelson know she is "in the mix"

Christna Knapp rounds a corner

Kirsten Johnson and Coach Fisher rehash the race

Robby Cuthbert

Alex Taylor

Team Work: Caleb Lucy and Mark Johnson

Casey Jones

Ian Nesbitt rounds the corner toward the finish line

Snow Heaven at Prospect

The team (and coaches) were pretty darn tired yesterday when we started driving to Prospect at 8:30am yesterday for our Sunday over-distance training. But 10 minutes into the ski - on Paana grommed tracks over fresh snow, with the morning sunlight beaming down through cracks in the clouds, the weariness melted away and was replaced by the familiar endorphin high and love of glide. Glad to be skiers. :)