January 30th, 2010
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, welcome to Bonktown! My name is Ollie and I’ll be your tour guide today. You may have noticed that before entering Bonktown you had to meet a number of stringent requirements. Think of it as a gated community you don’t want to live in. Or maybe more like a psych ward. I know a number of you are complaining about the first requirement, that you enter a 50k classic race. You’re probably saying “But Ollie, my classic technique is terrible.” Or maybe it’s not terrible, it’s just inefficient, so much so that a teammate told you “It’s not that your technique is slow, you just move around way more than anyone else.” Suffice it to say, I don’t have much sympathy. If you want to come to Bonktown, you’ve gotta do a long race in your more inefficient technique. It’s just the rule. (more…)
7 commentsDecember 19th, 2009
It’s been almost two months since I updated this thing. Way too long. In that time I’ve come home from Lake Tahoe, trained a bunch, gone to West, raced, gone to Bozeman, raced some more, come home to Craftsbury, trained a bunch, raced, drove to Presque Isle, and race this morning. Now I’m sitting in the lodge at the Nordic Heritage Center updating blogs instead of warming up for the quarters.
I crashed on the first corner in the sprint and despite my best efforts to salvage the rest of my qualifer, my day is over. I was 3rd man out, less than a second from qualifying. Briggs made it, as did Lauren and Chelsea. They’ll have fun in the rounds.
As for me, I’ve got to work on staying on my feet. Sprinting doesn’t leave much room for error (Bozeman also was evidence of this), so you can’t expect to ski rounds if you touch down on the course. Now it’s time to conserve energy for tomorrow’s 10k classic.
1 commentOctober 30th, 2009
I might not be back by popular demand (in fact, I think only Chris Nabel and my mom actually look forward to more blogs), but the Clipse are. And they are bringing Cam’Ron along for the ride. The new track is pretty hot – check it out here (via Kanye’s blog, the best celebrity blog out there).
As for me? I’m in Nevada. Incline Village on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, to be exact. The team is out here for a two week altitude training camp aimed at lessening the shock of heading from VT to race in West a month from now. We’ve been crushing a lot of training since we showed up – just about 40 hours in the 11 days. (more…)
6 commentsOctober 10th, 2009
The whole ALDS on the west coast thing is bumming me out. Games coming on at 9:37 makes listening to more than the first few innings (we don’t have network TV up here) an impossibility. And with the way the Sox have been playing, getting up and checking the score while still in bed has made for some shitty mornings. Sorta casts a pall over the day when the Angels are routing my boys. At least tomorrow is in Fenway. I’m betting on a turn of the tide. (more…)
3 commentsOctober 6th, 2009
Today after posting I read an article about Jon Rankin, a mid-distance runner from San Diego trying to make the Olympics in the 1500. He supports his goal by waiting tables at a Denny’s. That is pretty ballsy. Makes seeding trails for a few hours a day seem like a walk in the park. Check it out: Rankin decides sacrifice is worth it.
1 commentOctober 6th, 2009
Cash rules everything around me. Method Man said it fifteen years ago, but things haven’t changed. As a skier trying to make it to the big time, Meth’s truism hits home pretty hard. No matter the level of support you get, it’s impossible to get by without some $$. Whether you’re a college skier in the summer or an Olympic hopeful, our sport requires a sizable monetary investment. (more…)
No commentsSeptember 23rd, 2009
Quick update from our volume week. Today we rocked a max interval session on the SkiErg and then a 5 hour classic roll. While perhaps the “wheat from the chaff” title is a little melodramatic, I certainly realized today that I’ve got some gains I’ve gotta make before I start giving Matt and Tim a scare. The DP intervals were pretty rough (when is max during a volume week not tough?), and while the OD was bonk-free, I would have preferred to be able to comfortably keep up with boys. Even rolling solo, it was still a blast. (more…)
No commentsSeptember 19th, 2009
Fall has definitely hit here in the NEK. Trees are starting to turn, it’s cold as balls at night, and the smell of woodsmoke is back. In terms of training, fall means volume. At the beginning of the month we did a mini speed block and then a week of time trials (4 in 5 days), but now it’s volume, volume, and more volume. This week the aim is about 20 hours and next week is 30. (more…)
No commentsAugust 29th, 2009
It came to my attention that my post “Boys with guns” was a bit unclear. I want to make it clear that I was shooting clay pigeons, not real pigeons. Tim Reynolds was the only one shooting real pigeons. That kid really hates pigeons. So, to reiterate, we were shooting clay disks, not birds. Except for Tim, he shot birds.
No commentsAugust 22nd, 2009
Today we headed over to East Craftsbury to pull some max skate intervals. These sessions are generally few and far between, probably because they are aimed at getting us to go as hard as possible and hold it – basically a mix between your standard 4×4 VO2 max interval and lactate tolerance work. (more…)
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