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:).

Bonfires, Darkness and Snow

It's the time of year when snow is on the brain! The days are getting quite short and there's nothing better than a little fire to stay warm (see below). Training is going very well and the team is pushing hard during this final lead up to Thanksgiving Break. Team apparel has been issued and we're ready to ROCK THE COW!

A small bonfire at a ski alum's cabin in Savoy over the weekend.

Tsaina pushing the length of the day. No problem,
as long as you have lights!

Jiminy Peak - SNOW

We'll make use of this white stuff soon!

iPhone shot from Oblong Rd last night after practice
BEAUTIFUL!

Speaking of Traveling in Style

A picture from the way it used to be about 55 years ago. 4 skiers and all the skis in one car.....no wax truck, no flourocarbons.

Ralph Townsend and Eliot Coleman (A.K.A. "Boots") in front of the Saint House

HOMECOMING WEEKEND

We've had a great week of easier training this week in preparation for a tough couple of weeks that are planned running up to Thanksgiving break. The highlight was the threshold roller skiing workout up Greylock on Wednesday with absolutely NO traffic and beautiful views everywhere now that the leaves are off the trees. The BIG FOOTBALL GAME and the BIG SPLASH are this weekend, so it's an exciting time around campus and with the snow flurries today skiing is definitely on the brain! Below are a couple of shots of the truck interior. Benches are starting to take shape and the awning is going on this weekend!

Happy Homecoming to all the EPH fans out there!

A new face on the EISA CIRCUIT

Here's a sneak preview of our new gear/waxing truck. We're pretty excited about this!

Fresh off the lot:

Ready for customization

Laying out some of the gear to design the benches

Much more work is to be done before Quebec, but things are underway and it felt good to be moving around wax benches and klister yesterday. Winter is on the way!!!