Purple Valley

Results for the cross country race are here. Great efforts all around. Congrats to Laura on her first place finish for women and Will for nearly making it a Nordic sweep this year.

Also, apparently we've hit 100,000 pageviews. Thank you all for your support and generosity! Come visit our new purple aerospace-grade tent often this year!

Love, Williams Nordic.

With only one more week to go until official practice starts, we're taking gear inventory and prepping for the upcoming season. We figured we'd take the opportunity to test out our new aerospace grade aluminum tent frame in some classic New England inclement weather. Believe it or not we didn't get too wet or cold during the tent set up. Amazing:).

We've heard rumors of some outstanding workouts over the past couple of weeks. Tomorrow is the Purple Valley Classic running race. Most of the team is running the 5k as they finish up a great week of intensity training.

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...

First Day of Captain's Practice

Coach Fisher and I managed to catch the women's team on their way out the door for the first official Captain's practice. The vibe is outstanding and the team is looking fit and ready for fall training! The men's team blew out of the building moments before, sans shirts and ready for a nice 80 degree run up on the Taconic Crest.

Back to School for Ms. Smith

Hello Team and Parents,

     I just had to share this photo of Aubrey on her first day of school.  (Actually, she's been teaching for over two weeks.)    Aubrey is one of seven resource teachers at Wasilla High School.   She is super busy with a full teaching load with many different preps.   Only someone with Aubrey's energy could handle such a schedule.

     We want to thank Aubrey for the indelible mark she left on the Williams Ski Team and the New England ski community.    Bud and I feel it was our good fortune to have Aubrey as a fellow coach, neighbor, good friend, and honorary family member.    We wish you a successful first year of teaching.    They are lucky to have you.