This last week of camp in Lake Placid has been fantastic yet hard training! To fire us all up before our classic team sprint time trial, Matt sent out this gem of a photo:
Grover working the corner in style while measuring out a sprint course
Ok, you can stop giggling now. As you can clearly see, the coaches have been putting a ton of effort into planning the best possible workouts for us and keeping it fun. I guess the weather had other plans for us though, because the day of our team sprint it was pouring rain! But it wasn’t cold rain, and simply getting through a tough workout in bad conditions is, truth be told, pretty good team bonding stuff. We still talk about a similar sprint workout in freezing rain from 3 years ago! So although we’ve had some rainy days, it’s nothing to cry about. Here’s the video, if you’re curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkecMrH7Vs8 the clips may be a little out of order but everyone’s in it!
I recently was emailed a quote from my Mom while she was reading The Traveler’s Gift, and I think this describes why this week has been a success despite some challenging conditions: “Most people fail at whatever they attempt because of an undecided heart. Should I? Should I not? Success requires the emotional balance of a committed heart. When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will search for a solution. The undecided heart will search for an escape…..A committed heart does not wait for conditions to be exactly right. Why? Because conditions are NEVER exactly right.”
Saxton putting some power into his poles during a start (Whitcomb photo)
There’s a whole lot of committed hearts here in the OTC right now, and it’s pretty darn inspiring.
Working on my 180 jumps (Whitcomb photo)
We’ve been working on our agility before each speed workout, and I think it’s helping us feel more confident on our roller skis! The coaches put together a cone course of 180 jumps, backwards skiing, slalom through cones on both two feet and one-footed.
In between workouts, we’ve had some patches of sunshine and took full advantage of our sunny day off last Monday to go read by the lake!
We also had Steph Caverhill, an amazing massage therapist who donates her time to work on our team, come for a couple days and help us out with body work during a hard training camp. We are so lucky to have her, and she will be in Sochi and at the Tour de Ski ready to help us recover and stay injury-free! Check out where she works next time you’re in Maine, at LiveWell United fitness center.
Sophie and Annie getting some sun by the lake
Erika checking out our new pets
Yesterday we had a continuous 60 minute L3 bounding session in…you guessed it…the rain and mud! It was a great session though, because technically L3 is a distance race pace that you should be able to keep up for an hour. To actually go and DO an hour, though, really makes you focus hard on your pacing and how your body feels, because if you go a little too hard you’ll shut down before 40 minutes is up. I was psyched on how the session went and I think everyone got some good quality technique work done.
A big train of roller skiers (photo from USSA Nordic)
On Sunday, we have our Climb to the Castle race. If you’re in the area, jump in! Everyone’s pretty hammered from a big week of training so this is an ideal time to come beat up on some USST skiers 🙂 See you there!
“Children at play”. Yep. (photo from USSA Nordic)
