Updated schedule, info for NEXT WEEKEND's race

Friday January 28th – practice - CLASSIC
Sunday January 30th – classic race at Breadloaf
Tuesday February 1st – practice - SKATE
Friday February 4th – practice - CLASSIC
Saturday February 5th – CLASSIC RACE AT THE RANGE IN JERICHO - ***NOTE THIS CHANGE!***
Tuesday February 8th – practice - SKATE
Thursday February 10th – optional freestyle relay race at Colchester
Friday February 11th – practice - CLASSIC
Sunday February 13th – classic race at Sleepy Hollow
Tuesday February 15th – practice - SKATE
Friday February 18th – practice - CLASSIC
Tuesday February 22nd – optional ski day
Friday February 25th – optional ski day
Saturday February 26th – Bill Koch Festival at Breadloaf!!!
Sunday February 27th – Bill Koch Festival at Breadloaf!!!

Please note the race change for the weekend of February 5th. We will not be racing at Trapps on February 6th, but instead will be racing on SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5th at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho. The race at Trapps is appearing to be very unorganized at this point and I know that people have Sunday commitments that can make participation difficult if things are not planned out well ahead of time. The race at the range is a great opportunity to race close to home with no entry fee and to be THE FIRST ONES TO RACE! It is a race with several high school teams and the middle school race is actually going first. Race time is 10am, we will want to be there by 8:40am if you have waxable skis to get your kick wax applied and then by 9:00am if you have fishscales. Hope this helps with planning and that the switch doesn't mess up too many schedules in the effort to accommodate other schedules.

This means that unless you decide to participate in the Colchester Relays, there won't be anymore skate races until the Festival. But don't worry, there will still be skate practices!

More race info for Frost Mountain!

This Sunday's race is at the Rikert Ski Touring Center at Breadloaf, which is technically in Ripton, VT, but is right near Middlebury.

It is a classic race and the first races will go off at 12noon. These will be the little lollipopper races. I would like everyone to try to get to the race around 12 noon. I know this may seem early, but it is difficult to know when the older racers (you guys) will be going since the races will all be mass start and many of you will need your skis kick waxed (if you don't have fish scales) once we are at the race and I want you to have time to ski the wax in and see what you think so we can make adjustments before the race if needed. The 5th and 6th grade race is going to be around 3k and the 7th and 8th grade race is going to be around 4k. This is cool because it is the same place and supposedly the same courses that are going to be used for the BKL festival so you guys will all have a sneak preview and therefore a leg up on those coming from out of state for the festival!

There is no pre-registration and the cost of the race is $5.00.

See you Friday!

Paintball, next week, technique!

PAINTBALL
Even with all the rearranging of schedules, the paintball biathlon went off without a hitch today and it was a great event. While we only had three participants, they really made a day of it with some impressive skiing and shooting. The course was three loops of about 1km each for our two 6th grade superstars and then our lone 8th grade wonder had a big (and hilly) field loop in addition to the three loops. Everyone went into the range 3 times where they shot fluorescent green and yellow paintballs at the targets and into the trees! The snow was cold and a little creaky, but all in all, it was a beautiful day and temps were kind to us. Thanks to families for making the trip and for some excellent efforts out on the trail. I will let you know when I get results with all the times and everything.

NEXT WEEK
We will be skate skiing on Tuesday. Practice will go til 5:30 for those wishing to stay late to work on technique.

We will be classic skiing on Friday in anticipation of our classic race at Breadloaf on Sunday January 30th. I have gotten as much info as I can on this race. It will be on the race courses that will be used for the Bill Koch Festival (see more info on the festival here) with lollipop (the younger kids) going off at noon and then the rest of the races to follow in order of grade. They did not give me approximate start times for these races, but they are going to be run as mass starts so everyone starts at once!

TECHNIQUE VIDEOS
*If you click the YOUTUBE button, you can watch them on youtube and it will be formatted a bit more nicely. Sorry!
We have talked a bit about double poling and practiced for a very short time during that "course"/loop we did the other day and at the beginning of practice on Friday, but I thought it would be helpful to find a video for you all. I think it's best to start doing your double poling without worrying about getting up on your toes. As you get more into it and more confident, using more power in your double poling, you will start to get onto your toes naturally. It is difficult to do it at the right time if you are consciously trying to get up onto your toes and then you end up wasting energy. Some of the explanation in the video is a bit much - you don't have to remember everything since they are going into super detail - but it is a good visual for sure. (Around the 3:30, you can also see a good comparison with kick double pole with the skier on the right.)

This video goes more into the kick double pole (they are calling it step double pole) that you might use when classic skiing.



We have also talked about step turns and keeping your feet active on downhills (picking your feet up, freeskating, however you want to do it and whatever best agrees with the terrain) so that you don't end up freezing up/getting stuck in one position and then having trouble making it around a corner and shooting into the trees. So check this out!


And, oh, those uphills. When skating, while you have more time on flats and slight uphills to gather yourself and glide, once you hit a hill, your skis don't want to glide very far. You compensate for that by picking up the pace/tempo/turnover of your skiing -- you make quicker steps -- you glide for a shorter amount of time and step more often. You may even do a bit of a hop to get yourself up the hill. Take a look here! The skiing doesn't actually start until 1:44 into the video. At 2:08 the second to last guy (in red and white stripes) and the last guy (#21) do the hoppy thing...then at 2:48 a bunch of them are doing it, but it helps to just watch one guy at a time and you can rewind and just keep your eye on one guy at a time...then at 3:25 the second guy is doing it more. They have great turnover and you can see how much they use V2 as well. It's a sprint race, though, so it's fast and tactical, but once again I think just having a visual helps.


But let's not forget about V2! Once again, balance is key in this part of cross country skiing. You want to be gliding on one ski and then poling "onto" the next ski. Your poling is independent of when your skis are hitting the ground (unlike V1 when your poling coincides with one of your skis hitting the ground - remember you have 3 (one ski, two poles) and then 1, 3 , 1). But in V2, you are already gliding on a ski...then your poles hit the ground...and then you glide onto the next ski. I really like the idea of double poling first and then starting to skate with your skis, just small steps to start, and then making bigger movements to help with the timing of the poling as seen in this handy video.

Here we go...WEEKEND PLANS

Ok. So now that I have seen the updated race info for the paintball biathlon here is the scoop. We will be racing SATURDAY at Mountain Top. It doesn't appear that there are multiple practice times at the range as there were before. If you want to go early and practice at the range (shooting the paintball guns) it looks like you have to go early. It says bib pick up and practice range opens at 10:00am. Practice closes at 11:30. So, if you want to practice, your best bet is to get there at that time. Our team has two different start times depending on grade. If you are in 6th grade, your race starts at approximately 1pm. If you are in 7th or 8th grade, your race starts at approximately 2pm. So, if you are in 6th grade, we should plan on being there at 12NOON (or earlier if you are practicing - I will meet you at 12NOON though). If you are in 7th or 8th grade, I encourage you to come at 12NOON as well and we can cheer on teammates, but you should be there at 12:45 at the latest.

You will want to do a warmup that is approximately the length of the course. This is easy skiing, relaxed. Then you will do about 5 minutes of harder skiing, faster tempo, to get the heart rate up before you get on the start line. Then, you will do your race!! Go! Go! Go! And finish with at least a 10 minute cool down. This is also an easy relaxed pace.

Today - we will have practice and our special biathlon presentation. Waxing will be available at CVU immediately following practice. We will NOT stay late for technique. Sorry!

RACE MAY BE SATURDAY

Thanks to parents for keeping me in the loop here. Since I myself was not registered, I did not get word of the paintball biathlon possibly being rescheduled for Saturday instead of Sunday. I had checked in with Molly and Sarah (cvu coach) and Andy (our race leader for the traditional BKL program at Sleepy Hollow) and we had determined that we didn't want you guys racing out there in the cold on Sunday so had made the decision that we were not going even though we hadn't heard from the actual race directors about plans. So I apologize for canceling our racing all together. Let's see what happens -- they say they will update the NENSA website here and let us know in the morning. It did say, however, in the email sent out to registrants that the racing would start at 11:30 on Saturday if they switched it for Saturday. That would be bumping everything back by two hours since originally they had lollipop racers starting at 9:30am. So, that would put you guys starting at 2pm and the range open for practice at 1:30pm, I would look for us to get there by 1pm.

Then, if they switch it to Saturday, the plan would go back to the original waxing at CVU after practice on Friday and we would NOT stay late and work on technique as was offered. Hope that makes sense. You can email ME with any questions. Don't email the list :o)

No race this weekend, practice plans for Friday

We are not going to race at the paintball biathlon on Sunday due to cold temperatures. When looking at the BKL recommendations, it says that racing is not recommended at the temperatures we are expecting for Sunday. This is really a bummer as the paintball race has gotten such good reviews in the past and I was very excited for our group to get to experience it.

Fear not, we will have our biathlon presentation at practice tomorrow as planned. Perhaps we can have our own sort of biathlon later in the season - skiers, do you have any ideas??! We will NOT be waxing at CVU as planned since we will not be racing...but, I WILL STAY UNTIL AT LEAST 5:30pm TOMORROW TO WORK ON TECHNIQUE WITH ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED. It is a skate practice, so if you want to work more on your skate technique and you have a ride arranged/parent permission to stay a bit later, you are welcome to stay and work on technique. I know some of you have been looking for more and I understand how difficult it is with our practices being so short!

No race on sunday due to expected cold temps.

Race recap, next week's events, and some odds and ends...

Here we go...this is a long post so sit back and relax:

1) Race recap
2) Next week's events
3) Odds and ends

1)RACE RECAP!

I have emailed the results as an attachment to the group so please refer to them there. Apologies for not being able to get them directly connected to the blog. Pictures above are from Kort (Ben L's dad - many thanks for those!) What great conditions (and hats!) we had today!!!

Thanks to all who came out to u32 for a great first race. A cold morning, but some high spirits and fast skiing for all. It is great to see first time racers out there going head to head with some of the more experienced skiers! We saw some great tempo on the hills - nice quick steps, excellent V1 technique even on the hills (!!) and strong V2 on the flats which is really impressive as this is pretty new for many of you. To see you all really go for it was great.

Special thanks to those of you who stayed and cheered for your teammates, which really means a lot. I apologize I wasn't able to get up to the finish for you all as it is nice to check in after the race and to see how things went before everyone jets. Cool downs are also good for your body before you go sit in the car, so let's keep that in mind for next time. I would also like us to help each other to formulate a pre-race and post-race plan. I will come with ideas and I hope you guys will think about what does and doesn't work for you or what tips you might be able to offer each other. We will come up with a team warm up and cool down strategy to use at our races.

As you look at the results, keep in mind that sometimes it seems like there is a big gap between times but it's a little deceiving since the middle school races don't have very many participants. If you look at the JV race results (you guys did the SAME course as the JV skiers) you'll see that you are all right in the mix of things and that EVERYONE actually skied faster than some high school JV racers. Pretty impressive since we have had so few practices to build skills. It is clear that even our newest skiers have a very strong foundation already as far as making it around the course efficiently! Our more experienced skiers also had some great performances and I hope you are inspired to keep improving especially as we will be attending some Bill Koch racers with more competitive fields in the coming weeks. Also know that the race distance of 2.6 miles was pretty close to the length (5k or 3.1miles) that the high school races usually are, so you definitely have something to be proud of!!

2) NEXT WEEK'S EVENTS
Tuesday we will be CLASSIC SKIING. Get ready for some no pole and double pole skiing. I will have the wax of the day out for you to apply yourself. If you are still unsure of how to do this, you may come up to the meadow for assistance as I will have wax there, but this is a really important thing for you to know if you've decided to use waxable skis. You will learn a lot from waxing your own skis and then going and skiing on them! Go for 3-4 thin layers. Chalk/crayon a layer of wax on and then use the cork for primarily long strokes to heat the wax up.

Friday we will be skate skiing in anticipation for our skate race on Sunday. We will also be having Travis, a very talented and experienced biathlete, coming as our special guest. Travis skied for GMVS during high school, trained at the range in Jericho, and has gone to many national and international biathlon competitions. He is currently at UVM and we are very fortunate to have him joining us. He will bring his rifle, unloaded, and will be doing a presentation for us before heading out to ski with the group. ****Parents, by bringing your skier to practice on Friday January 21st, you are giving permission for him/her to be at Sleepy Hollow and to participate in a presentation where there will be an unloaded rifle. Please be aware of this and let me know if there are any concerns.****

Friday evening skiers will be able to stop by CVU to wax their skis in preparation for Sunday's race. We provide all wax and supplies.

Sunday we have a race at Mountain Top this is the paintball biathlon. Race info here.
Note that start time for your race is 12noon. The range opens for practice at 11:30. I would like us to get there at 11am. Registration is a little more expensive for this race (typically BKL races are less than $5) due to the extra labor and supplies involved. You need to register online here.
They will then have your info to put into the starting list and you will need to pay with cash or check at the race. Registration NEEDS TO BE DONE BY WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19th!!! Don't know where Mountain Top is? Look here. If you click larger map it'll take you right to googlemaps and you can put your address in for directions.

View Larger Map

3) ODDS AND ENDS
Oh, the email list!!
--I understand the inconvenience of receiving emails that are intended for me but are mistakenly sent out to the entire team. I assure you that nobody is doing this on purpose. The challenge here is for people to remember that if you receive an email that is not speaking individually to you, it is coming from the group email address which is associated with this blog. At the end of the blog emails you will see a hyperlink in blue to the blog - if you click it you will end up at the blog and the actual blog post. The email sent to you is simply a copy/notification of the actual blog post. IF YOU RESPOND TO A BLOG POST/GROUP EMAIL, YOUR EMAIL WILL GO TO ALL TEAM MEMBERS. Very rarely would this be appropriate (maybe for a carpool!?). If you are ever wanting to send me an email - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use my personal email address which is andreallarosa at gmail dot com. Just make sure that my address is the one in the "to:" field...
--The group email notification for blog posts was initiated due to parents expressing that it was difficult to remember to check the blog. If you would prefer NOT to get a notification when the blog is updated and would like to take on the responsibility of checking the blog yourself at whatever frequency you desire, I would be happy to take you off the group list. Just send me an email -- to my individual email address, of course :o) Really the whole purpose of the blog was to have everything in a central spot, where you could easily find previous announcements, see pictures, video, etc. and as a way to avoid sending out bunches of emails that clog inboxes, so I apologize that there has been difficulty with this for some.

Waxing
I strongly encourage you guys to wax your own skis. It is an important skill to know and something that will benefit you for your entire skiing life. It helps you to better understand how your skis work and to be fully involved in your racing experience. YOU are the one that makes your skis go fast, both by the efforts you personally put in through waxing and then when you are on snow. The opportunity for our group to wax at CVU is pretty amazing. Every skier can have their own bench and iron (note: an iron meant to be used for waxing skis, not the old clothes iron!). All the wax and supplies are there for you (brushes and scrapers of all kinds, wax remover, etc.) This is also a valuable opportunity for team building. While you are out in the woods, it can be a bit challenging to get to know each other, but while you're hanging in the wax room, it's easy to chat and learn from each other. So while it might be helpful for your parents to wax your skis if you've got lots of homework or you need to catch up on sleep, I hope that for at least a couple times this season you will come join us at CVU to wax with your teammates. I know it's an extra time commitment for parents, but I encourage you to carpool and remember the money you're saving on wax and the time you're saving on clean up!

Some more ideas for you all to ponder...
-handwarmers
-toe warmers
-clothes to change into after racing/practice so you don't get cold
-lobster gloves (great invention that's in between a mitten and a glove)
-bringing a snack to races - either pre race like a powerbar or gu type thing, banana, etc. and/or post race
-getting good sleep the night before the race AND the night before the night before
-having a balanced meal with carbs, protein, and you gotta have some fat the night before and for longer races, the night before the night before
-having a good breakfast that is once again some carbs, protein, fat...sometimes people come up with something that is always their pre-race meal - maybe it's oatmeal with milk, you can do a higher %milkfat to get a little fat in there, banana with peanut butter and toast, toast/english muffin with cheese , egg, and tomato, cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit and granola, just as some ideas...you don't want to be too full, but you want something for your body to put to use!
-stretching!!!

Great job today everyone. Race results and plan for the week to come later this evening once I get to the computer!

Important! Race time change. meet at u 32 at 10: 30 if possible. Sorry to bump it earlier. just got an update from the race director

Waxin', water, and updated schedule

WAXING ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FRIDAY - Due to larger numbers of skiers racing this season (YAY!) we have more skiers waxing...quite understandable as we know everyone wants to be fast. It's also great because waxing is a really fun thing to do as a team and really adds to the social aspect of the team. So, to accommodate waxing, we will head to CVU to wax after practice on Friday for those skiers interested. It will allow us to use many more tables and irons and profiles than the minimal equipment at Sleepy Hollow. This will SAVE TIME for everyone as well. You will want to bring a change of clothes so that you can be in dry, warm clothes for waxing, and it would probably be a good idea to bring a snack. We will need parents to help drive. If there is a certain parent that you are ONLY allowed to travel with, please let me know and parents, inform your skier of this as well. If you can arrange carpools ahead of time that would be great as well so we can get skiers down to CVU.

ALSO - WATER BOTTLES --- BRING THEM TO PRACTICE!!! EVEN THOUGH IT IS COLD, YOU STILL NEED TO HYDRATE. No more eating snow :o) A regular water bottle is fine since we aren't out too long and you could always bring it to the meadow and then to wherever we might be doing other activities, but if someone wants to buy you a gift, it can be helpful to have a belt that holds a water bottle or even a belt that has a canteen-ish thing built in. Then it's on your body and at the ready. There are several different brands and they will probably look similar to these.







Please see the updated schedule below. Ski technique for each practice will be as written below if conditions permit, but be aware they may change.

Friday January 14th – practice - SKATE
Saturday January 15th – freestyle race, U-32
Tuesday January 18th – practice - CLASSIC
Friday January 21st – practice - SKATE
Sunday January 23rd – freestyle paintball biathlon race at Mountain Top
Tuesday January 25th – practice - SKATE
Friday January 28th – practice - CLASSIC
Sunday January 30th – classic race at Breadloaf
Tuesday February 1st – practice - SKATE
Friday February 4th – practice - CLASSIC/SKATE
Sunday February 6th – freestyle race at Trapps
Tuesday February 8th – practice - SKATE
Thursday February 10th – optional freestyle relay race at Colchester
Friday February 11th – practice - CLASSIC
Sunday February 13th – classic race at Sleepy Hollow
Tuesday February 15th – practice - SKATE
Friday February 18th – practice - CLASSIC
Tuesday February 22nd – optional ski day
Friday February 25th – optional ski day
Saturday February 26th – Bill Koch Festival at Breadloaf!!!
Sunday February 27th – Bill Koch Festival at Breadloaf!!!

Paintball Biathlon

The paintball biathlon race is January 23rd (Sunday). I just found out that there is a registration deadline and that the fee is a little more than the usual BKL race, probably due to the extra effort with it being paintball and all. Skiers can also get a t-shirt if they register early enough. Registration is $15. You must register by the 19th and if you register by the 14th you get a t-shirt. The races for 5th/6th and 7th/8th graders start at 12noon. Practice for this group is 11:30. I would like us to meet there at 10:45. You register online here then pay the $15 as cash or check on race day.

Check out video here:

Classic practice and race update

Tomorrow's practice will be classic. It will be great to change it up a bit. I heard good things about practice on Friday even with all the crowds. Thank you so much for parent help with all of that and for going out with different groups.

We will plan to skate ski on Friday in anticipation for our first race on Saturday. There is race info below and as you can see, the course is a little uncertain at this point. I am going to say we probably don't need skiers to get there until 11:30ish. It's really tough to gauge start times since we are completely dependent on how many high school skiers there are. Plan to bring some good warm up and cool down clothes, water, snack, and your team hat if you have one! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOUR SKIER WILL NOT BE RACING THIS WEEKEND. FOR ANY NEW TEAM MEMBERS, IF YOU DO NOT FEEL READY TO RACE, PLEASE TALK TO ME AT PRACTICE. I WILL BE SENDING IN REGISTRATION WITH ALL OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS ON IT, so will need to know ASAP (let me know by Wednesday 1/12 at the latest please). Many thanks!

We will wax on Friday night at Sleepy Hollow. I am not sure how many skiers will be interested in waxing. This is not mandatory, but is something great to learn for future skiing and is expected at the high school level. It's also great for your skis and great for your speed. We will do an intro/mini clinic for those who have never waxed before.

Yes, I seem to be completely computer challenged. For some reason I can't get the text that I copied from the U-32 race email to show up in any color other than black so you can read the info I received on the race in the comment section below. That actually reminds me, if anyone, skiers or parents wants to comment on the blog, feel free. Skiers, if you have tips that might help your teammates, add them to the blog as a comment!

Tomorrow, this weekend, and next!

TOMORROW: We are on for practice tomorrow even with the limited snow conditions. It will be very busy tomorrow - much crazier than when we were there on Tuesday. Why? Because the traditional Bill Koch program (50 more kids!) will be at Sleepy Hollow and things will be tight since our group can't really go ski off into the woods to get away from everyone. So please be flexible in dealing with the crowding and know that it will get better once we get more snow.

I also will NOT be there due to previously unforeseen issues with my job. I am very sorry to miss practice but will assure you that you will be in good hands. Marc, our new coach that you met on Tuesday, will be joined by George, who will also be joining us each week throughout the season and is an experienced skier and talented athlete. These guys will get you set.

It will be another skating practice since there aren't any tracks set. Please try to grab your nametag in the chaos or at least be kind in correcting coaches or helping coaches with your name...when in doubt, the name is probably Ben, right?! So meet up at the meadow at 3:45 ready to go. You will start with no pole skiing, so once you get up there, ditch the poles and get goin'. Your technique will thank you later!

THIS WEEKEND: We do not have a race scheduled for this weekend, but I have been informed about a race that is being thrown together at the Range on Saturday morning since so many of the high schools have now missed races with the poor snow conditions. You are welcome to participate in the middle school component of this race on your own. It is a skate race and will be mass start. Let me know if anyone is interested - just send me an email, and I'll get you more information from the CVU coach.

NEXT WEEKEND: As you know, we were trying to decide between racing at Colchester on Friday night or racing at U-32 on Saturday. We are not going to go to Colchester, but WE WILL BE GOING TO U32 ON SATURDAY THE 15TH (snow permitting). Once I found out timing for the Colchester race, I think we'll be cutting it too close for you guys to get out of school and make it out there only to be thrown on to the course without a warmup. Not a pleasant first race experience. I apologize for those with siblings who will be at Colchester. But perhaps this will help CVU siblings as they are going to U32?!

First practice a success!!!

Thanks to all for a great first practice.

We started the afternoon up at Molly's Meadow where we did some no pole skiing and reviewed technique. Then we added our poles and did a little bit of skiing on the limited snow before an intense couple of rounds of Sharks and Minnows!! I unfortunately forgot to take pictures today as everyone could have seen the fancy new hats.

Looking forward to Friday when we'll be skating again and plan to go over a bit of V2 technique and get some more consistent skiing in! Friday we will also be joined by Colin (big Colin from last year - aka Colin Masseau) and George who has also agreed to help out so we'll have quite the team of coaches.

***I also just realized that when you "follow" the blog it doesn't mean that you get notified whenever there is a new blog post so it was still on you to check the blog regularly. My sincere apologies for that as I know it is a challenge to remember to check in your busy lives. I have now put all team email addresses under a google group so that you will get a notification when there is a new post to the blog so be on the lookout for those. If you would rather not get a notification/reminder or would prefer to get it at a different address, please let me know and I will remove this feature for you and you can check the blog on your own.

Snow conditions...change in plans: practice tuesday will be skating due to limited snow at sleepy hollow...