Friday, May 25, 2012
Evaluating and Planning
Speed and Technique Sessions: Finding time for technique work is always hard. Every practice has a training objective, and stopping to do a technique session of any length makes it hard to accomplish this objective in our limited time frame. I've come to realize that we're going to have to schedule technique sessions into our training plan if we want to do more than just the occasional roadside reminder. So, I'm trying to design a twice-weekly session combining technique with speed work (with a little agility thrown in for fun). We've done variations on this concept in the past, and it's worked out well - making it a regular part of our training should give good results.
Mini Strength Sessions: Every year I become more convinced that general strength training isn't the answer. This is ironic, because most athletes and coaches (including myself) spend a disproportionate amount of time fretting about general strength training - when/how often to do it, which exercises, how much weight, how many reps, etc. But as far as I can tell, it takes a huge general strength improvement to yield even a small change in a skier's ability to apply power to skis and poles. If we had unlimited training and recovery time, I'd probably have our skiers on some sort of carefully periodized strength training plan - maybe Olympic lifts, a really hard circuit workout, or whatever. But we don't, so our time is better spent on specific strength and other forms of training. Next fall, we'll replace our two weekly general strength workouts with frequent mini-sessions added on to other workouts. This should be enough to give our skiers a decent foundation of general strength while freeing up time to do more productive types of training.
Specific Strength: We already do a reasonable amount of specific strength training, but I think we need more - in addition to our regular weekly SS session, we can add more frequent SS to our overdistance workouts, and also perhaps fit in more short ski erg segments as add-ons to running workouts. I'd like to find a way to include more double pole hill intervals and sprints, but I'm not sure yet where these will fit.
5K Training: In recent years, we've tried to close the gap between our performance in long and short races. We've made some progress, but we're not there yet - some of our women still felt a little under-trained for the 5k races this year. We do a ton of threshold training, a lot of 20-30 sec sprints to build speed, and some 3-4 min intervals on hills to build VO2max, but some of our skiers are still lacking the extra pop to ski fast over the tops of hills and through rolling terrain. One idea that we'll experiment with is doing short (1-4 min), fast intervals, which will allow us to work on sustained skiing at 5k speeds rather than just revving the engine on a hill or skiing fast in very short bursts. A couple extra short time trials should also help.
Goals: Goal-setting has always been a pretty low-key exercise on our team - no real process, just occasional informal conversations. We're changing that. A few weeks ago, Athletic Director Jeff Ward was kind enough to lead a goal-setting session for the team. The athletes set team and individual goals and identified specific action items necessary to achieve them. This was a really productive exercise - I think it will give the team a more clearly defined common purpose, which should help people stay more focused during the long months ahead.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Remembrance of Skiing with Damon O'Neal
I was once an avid skier. I learned how to ski at
Bowdoin accepted a group of excellent skiers three years after I arrived. These young tigers included Charlie Long, Charlie Jackson and Bucky Owen and featured John Christie from Camden, Maine, Bruce Chalmers from Brighton, Maine, and Roly O’Neal from North Conway, New Hampshire — all terrific skiers. With their expertise, and management by Charlie Leighton, Bowdoin’s ski team became one of the best in
One weekend I joined Roly O’Neal at his family’s house in
I ate dinner with the O’Neals and we talked about skiing the next morning at
Toni Matt lead the way as we rode the Tramway up
I remember breaking to eat the sandwiches that Mrs. O’Neal had made for us. We talked together and I learned that Toni had schussed the headwall at Tuckerman’s Ravine on
The truly remarkable thing I remembered that winter day in 1956, however, was skiing and having so much fun with a fantastic young skier — Damon O’Neal. Damon was a delightful young man, who adored his brother Roly and his parents and skied with me as if I were a pro myself. I knew I had skied that day with a potential future
I was honored to have known Damon and not only to have known him but to have skied with this gifted skier and outstanding young gentleman. The world skiing community lost a great young man that tragic day in March 1959 — a young man who has been an inspiration to me in the many years I have participated in the great sport of skiing.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Big Move for Zach
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Distance Nationals 50k
RESULTS
Friday, March 30, 2012
SuperTour Finals
The following day was a 10/15k classic mass start. With the snow disappearing rapidly, the course was reduced to a 1.6k loop. The tiny loop meant limited snow access, which gave racers very little chance to test wax and make adjustments to their race skis. Spencer ended up choosing his zeroes, which worked well during the brief testing window before the race - unfortunately, by race time the conditions had changed enough to render them useless. This made for a tough day, but he hung in there and raced respectably considering that he had almost no kick. With this lesson learned, they were able to pull together a workable klister combination for Kaitlynn; her skis weren't great, but she skied a solid race. It's tough enough to do a classic race without someone to help you with waxing and testing, and on a tricky waxing day with limited snow access it's even tougher. Still, I'm proud of these guys for giving their best in trying circumstances.
RESULTS
Even though it's almost April, Spencer still hasn't had enough; he's headed back to Craftsbury for tomorrow's 50k skate race - THIRTY laps on the 1.6k loop. Luckily, some intrepid teammates will be there to cheer him on and, more importantly, count laps. Should be an interesting race.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Sugarloaf 25K
RESULTS
Here are a few photos, courtesy of Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road.


Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Bretton Woods 2012
50k Results
The following day, Spencer raced the Mt. Washington Cup, a 15k skate race - he skied to a convincing victory over a strong group of skiers. In a sport where only one out of dozens or hundreds of competitors gets to win any given race, winning is nice - it's a rare and special thing to cross the line first.
15k Results