Isaiah's Yellowstone Week in Review

by Isaiah

Saturday, The Ride Up

After arriving in Boulder I got to leave really early in the BNJRT team van on a 14 hr ride to West Yellowstone. Due to impending weather up North we ended up going all the way up to Bozeman and back down rather than Teton Pass. Although the ride is not particularly eventful, 2 major points stand out. 1. Weaving Friendship bracelets is an oddly enjoyable way to pass many hours and 2. the music played in the Boulder van would cause Scottie to throw an ipod out the window.

Sunday, The First Ski

My first ski in West Yellowstone while fun, definitely had its drawbacks.  First, I learned the hard way that between my fall lifting and my brother's ultra running, we are no longer the same weight, so my first hour or so was spent trying to overcome an overdose of kick wax. Second, Adam brought his portable lactate tests, so between coming from sea level and struggling with wax I easily took the highest heart rates of the day. However at 1.9 mmol for 161 bpm I also learned that my previously tested zones are wrong, at least something worked out. In the afternoon we went for anther ski focusing on no and single pole classic skiing, and I managed to stay closer to in zone.

Monday, The Long Ski

The monday morning workout was a 3 hr od with the whole rocky mountain conglomerate. I did my best to stay in zone skiing somewhere between the Durango guys and Steamboat girls. After about  2 and three quarters hours, much of which on not yet groomed trails, most of the teams had dispersed.  However, to get the full workout I continued with my brother, his top skier, the Crested Butte coach and one of his skiers. I was doing well until about 3 hrs and 15 minutes in I seriously bonked. On a positive note though, that meant I was on skis for the longest. After dinner we went to see Harry Potter 7 prt 1 in the lone theater, and basically every other colorado team had the same idea, but it was still a nice treat even though I kind of just wanted sleep.

Tuesday, Preparing for the Sprint

Both of the skis today were focused on learning the course for the sprint showdown scheduled for tomorrow. After skiing some loops and figuring out the difference between the skate and classic courses, we proceeded to do ladder speeds.

Wednesday, Too Cold to Sprint

So the sprints were postponed due to it being like -8 degrees F. With the brutal cold, we bundled up for one lone ski along the Windy Ridge trail. I actually was glad that the sprints were postponed, because staying with the common view that the 4th and 5th days at altitude are the worst, I felt like crap. With the rest of the day free there was little better to do than play Wii wintersports, which does not even begin to compare with the real deal.  However, when the gleeks tuned into Glee that was the last straw, so Mike and I went sticker hunting at the expo.

Thursday, The Sprint Showdown

After much anticipation the sprints finally happened. In my races I felt solid technically but a little flat from a lack of speed work in the fall.  However, the part of today that will always stick with me is the poorness of the setup. The sprint courses themselves were quality enough, but there was the problem that after finishing, skiers had to ski 2 km back to the start.  It also seemed poorly thought out that the skate race involved finishing by going backup on a two way hill. I dont think I'm conveying my disapproval well, but trust me it was awful.

Friday, The Last Day on Good Snow or Winning Feels Good 

While many of the Boulder kids prepared for the skate race (slept in), I and the others not racing proceeded to do a race warm up folllowed by 6x1 minute all out intervals and a steady L3 10 minute piece. The workout felt good and I noticed quite a bit of heart rate supression, indicating that this had indeed been a big week of training. After getting warm and changing we went back out to suport the racers, of which Mike was .2 seconds out of the first results page. In the afternoon we broke out the ugly spandex for a ski in the park, for me that meant the cow tights. On this excursion we through the park to a river and around a little loop, unfortunately the only wild life was some crows and a bald eagle. However, we crossed paths with the St.  Olafs team and Adam challenged them to a friendly powder sprint. Using a beautiful high knee run, I handily beat him out for the win, putting the frosting on the week. Then maximizing our last day we went for a night ski, which like any night ski was thrilling, especially since none of the hills had a chance of comparing to Oak Hill in the daylight. This was by far the fastest conditions of the week and a perfect way to end.

Saturday, The Drive Back

On the return trip we were able to cross through Teton pass. Though less eventful than before we did end up eating cupcakes with enough saturated fat to make those reading the label want to gag. And we watched some world cup videos including the Holmenkolen 50km from last march.

Sunday and Monday, Back in Boulder and Back Home 

Today Adam took me to ski at Eldora, which compared to Oak Hill's conditions last year, quite a let down from West. Then I waxed a ton of skis that are way better than mine, yay. Although if i could I'd stay out there, I'm back.  If anyone knows where theres snow speak up.

Leaked Pictures of Spenst

As you can tell from Emily’s post below, ODs have evolved to a predictable pattern, rollerski, spenst and run. Obviously we are waiting to snow, but this weeks forecast, heavy rain, means further patience is required.

Although the salt trucks had been out from last Friday’s icing, the road surface Sunday was not as gritty as expected. We had a full roster of JNT skiers and three parents along as cabooses; Dennis provided his typically brilliant coaching commentary. Freshman Tucker did a great job on the rollerski, given he has only been on them twice.

Leaked here are the pictures from spenst two weeks ago. Although spenst was done weekly in summer training, last week there was a collapse in form. Spenst doesn’t lend itself to still images as the motions are so quick, so I found the results amusing.

Remember, all the motions from spenst should mimic skiing. In the picture below, Emily appears to be snapping her fingers as in a chorus line, Max, well, not sure what to say, Dennis is looking on, clearly bewildered, that’s George studying the grass... he’s not hurt or anything.

Next picture: Dennis had to stop the session and reiterate the fact that this was a ski drill, not free form dance: Max is doing a good job checking hand position, George is still on the grass, he is ok.

Final picture. With great concentration, the JNT gets the point, this weeks spenst was much better. Good focus Sam.

Testing Wednesday... and given the forecast, expect to get wet, here is the radar image from Tuesday evening. Thank you to Scottie and Dennis, who will be standing trail-side timing.

Sunday 11.28 OD

By Emily

This Sunday we had another rollerski, run, and tug of war combo. We had a very cold start, beginning at the intersection of Campbell Flat Rd. and Route 132 in Norwich, we skied to Huntley Meadow, about 7 miles, and then we transitioned to running.

We did spenst at Huntley and focused on our technique, then ran/strided with poles up Dutton Hill Road, to the top of Happy Hill where we were met by many BKL skiers.

We then had a rematch of tug-of-war, BKL vs. JNT, BKL won yet again. The JNT then split in half and went against each other. The team with Max, Noah, Kate, Sam, and Emily won over the other half. At least half of us were winners.

River Road Roller Ski

This Sunday brought yet another team over distance (OD) although much colder and a little closer to winter than the last one. Beginning at the Thetford bridge, we classic roller skied down River road and rt. 10 to the Richmond Middle School, a distance of about 7.5 miles. At the Middle School we transitioned to running.

After a loop around the 5 km race course at Oak Hill, we went to the stadium do to spenst then finished by running another 3 km to the High School. We were joined by Max Block who was home from Andover and Patty who was on break from SMS.

We finally got Tucker out on a Sunday roller ski and little did we know this was his first time on them! After a quick fall at the start (that’s why the welding gloves!), he put in a good 45 minutes before the sag wagon decided enough was enough and put him on photo duty in the passenger’s seat. Many thanks to Ed Merrens who worked caboose.

Lyme OD & Hike with BKL

Sunday was a training mode triple: roller ski, hill run and tug-o-war. Bonuses to the day: alums Rosalie and Beth joined us, AND the BKL skiers were going to be at the Skiway! A carefully choreographed plan had skiers of all ages simultaneously finishing at the top of Holts Ledge.

The morning was clear and frosty as the team gathered at the intersection of route 10 and River Road in Orford. The plan: roller ski to the Skiway, run around the neighborhood and up to Holts Ledge via the AT, and a tug-o-war with the BKL skiers.

Roller skiing was classic and the route covered long stretches of new pavement. Open fields, bright sun, fresh pavement.. all good. Total distance to the Skiway - 9 miles.

A change to shoes and a quick snack, meeting up with Paddy and Tim, and off to the top of Holts Ledge. Timing couldn’t have been better, the grades 5 through 8 BKL skiers were just gathering for a picture when the JNT came up the trail.

Picture taken and a short walk to the top of the chairlift and this group met the younger BKL skiers who had walked up the face of the mountain. Sunshine, more snacking and then a tug-o-war, BKL vs JNT. BKL won.

Pay attention the weather this week, it might affect practice!

First Practice

This past Wednesday was the first roller ski practice of the fall. With several team members still tied up in running and various other commitments, the practice was fairly small. Because it was one of our first times on roller skis this fall, we started with the basics: scooter drill, balance, weight transfer; then finished with specific strength.
At the end of practice, we talked with Scottie about this years team hats. There were several patterns to chose from, but in the end we picked the limited edition fabric so that Ford Sayre hats would be unique.

Practice this Friday is L3 ("feel- good") intervals at Oak Hill.

Moosilauke Adventure

Moosilauke has had a white top for the last several weeks, so the first Sunday hike of the ski season was a reconnaissance trip to the top.  Given rumors of snow, skis had to be brought.

Three cars, two rendezvous points (Dan & Whits and Thetford park and ride) and an hour later, eight JNT skiers with skis strapped to backpacks headed to the summit.  Temperature at the base: 28F, summit: obscured by clouds.

Kate K set a surprisingly brisk pace considering yesterday she had run in the NH cross country championship with a placing that qualified her for the New England Championships.  Halfway to the summit the trail was snow covered and hopes for good skiing ran high!

Approaching the summit we broke above the clouds, and entered a world of blue and white: hoar frost covering trees, ground and distant peaks, blue sky above and clouds, driven by a strong north wind, rolling in a three dimensional flow around the mountain.  At the tree line, layers were added in preparation for the summit push, a mad dash across the barren peak.

At the summit the wind was absolutely blasting and water bottles were freezing!  So there was just time for a quick photo and then back down the carriage trail, with hope still high of finding some skiable snow before we started the decent.

Video of our summit experience is on our YouTube channel (click to watch video).

We did find snow, a 40 yard section, rock free.  Four JNT skiers laced up boots and.... skied: mission accomplished!  A quick lunch, and then back to the cars for a round of chocolate milk- total hike time 3 hours 25 minutes.

Dryland starts Wednesday.

2010 Fall - Winter season about to begin

In spite of two days of classic New England early November rain, the JNT now has the critical mass of athletes ready to work together as skiers. Fall sports are winding down. Moosilauke hike (and ski?) on the agenda for this Sunday. Conditions most likely will be described afterwards as 'good for mental toughness'. Stay tuned for reports.-