Sunday, September 23, 2012

Lake Placid Wrap Up

The past two weeks I have been in Lake Placid, New York put on by the US Ski Team. They have run this camp for the past 5-6 years and is always well attended. It gives people like me a chance to do some workouts with the top athletes in the country. This training I believe, helps improve my "threshold" in many aspects but mostly my predicted progression threshold. Many times training in Vail, I often think I am "maxing out" because most of my training partners are quite younger than I am. I get a taste of what my top speed or top level of fitness is, or could be, at these camps.

We had a great camp though with 7 intensity sessions in 12 days there. This is another great aspect of the camp for myself and any other athlete who spends most of their training time at 8000ft of altitude. It's no secret that it is harder to recover and develop fast twitch muscle movement at altitude. Lake Placid gives us a chance to make fast movement faster and more precise.

At last and biggest of all was our big rollerski race of the year, Climb to the Castle. Below is a recap I did from it with some links to actual race recap along with a few pictures:


"Perhaps the hardest intensity session occurred on Saturday. It is called Climb to the Castle and it is a race the climbs just short of 2000 feet from the start to finish. This year I would say that SSCV had the most success, arguably, out of any other club attending. We had Tad who won the Overall, me who won the Senior Division, and Ryan who won the U-23 Divison. We were all in the Top-10 as well. Our PG's also had a very impressive showing in their first climb. Results tell their story. Impressive.

Results: http://blogs.fasterskier.com/insidetrack/2012/09/15/elliott-takes-mens-climb-to-the-castle/

You can read about the climb here: http://blogs.fasterskier.com/insidetrack/2012/09/15/elliott-takes-mens-climb-to-the-castle/

We have been able to take advantage of some very good training here and look forward to returning to Vail to keep it rolling right into the season.

For me personally, it is really cool having teammates out here to train with. I also think it is so cool that Max, Christian, Cal, and Tony are out here doing the same thing. It will make them so much faster and it is really just a cool experience to be out here."

Hope this finds everyone well and am excited to report progress on my school placement as I will be in the classroom for the next 3 weeks.

S

Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Interim

The past two weeks has been quite the time for me. Readjusting to altitude, readjusting to rollerskiing (and not running), and getting a chance to catch up on some work before I head to Lake Placid, which is conveniently, tomorrow.

It took a couple days for me to get used to the altitude. For a second there it was almost a little discouraging but it had been awhile since I had last had to adjust to altitude with staying fit at the top of my priority list. Last week was filled with good rollerskiing and some new strength that made it hard to get out of bed in the morning.

Last weekend was filled with fun. Long runs, hikes, bikes, weddings, and Oktoberfest! Two of my best buddies, their significant others, Sarah, and I had a blast living up all of it.

This past week felt much better in terms of training for me. Getting back on my feet with a couple of more days of altitude under my belt and getting some good workouts in before this coming week's workout with the US Ski Team and other fast hombres!

It is the reason I return every year to this camp. To learn from others and to keep pushing each other in a way that will help our men become some of the fastest in the world. This is the best way to get better in my belief.

Below are some pictures from this past two weeks events! Enjoy!

S