NP to NYC !!!

On Saturday the group hit the roads early and got in some agility and speed work. It was a short and sweet workout to allow some extra time for the real business of the day. A trip to NY City!

New Paltz is only about an hour and half outside of the city. So we took advantage of the proximity and hit the road after lunch. I have a love hate relationship with the city. I love the atmosphere, people, shops, and entertainment, but hate the over indulgence, waste, and pollution that the city produces.

Sorry to go all Al Gore on everyone but was blown away by the fact that all of these huge stores have the AC blasting and the doors wide open!?!?!? No wonder the weather is whacked out Up State!

The trip was great and well worth it. I have attached a few pictures of our day!

Group Shot in Times Square

I have heard of the Naked Cowboy. But the Naked Cowgirl?

You always gotta pay attention to what's going on in the city. I would not want to step on this thing!!

I’m a big fan of DMB and the bands new song “The Way it is” about sums up the City in my mind.

We all made it back to NP safe and Sound and have a time trial to get after next!!

New Paltz Day 1

I arrived in New Paltz yesterday with Adam and Amy. We made the journey east to attend a camp being put on by Nick Mancuso. Other coaches at the camp include myself, Janice Sabila , Art Stegan, and Jon Stern. I was a little hesitant as I got off 87 and was instantly stuck in the New Paltz traffic but to my surprise as soon as we turned off the main drag we were smack-dab in the middle of the picturesque Hudson Valley. The Mancuso’s have a sweet set up right on the banks of the river and it provides an excellent base camp!

After arriving and a short camp meeting it was time to get down to business. We broke the athletes up in to small groups and focused on technique. We utilized the coaches and set up three separate stations with each station focusing on specific technique V1, V2, and Alt. We were also able to have a coach drive around to each group and video the athletes. Things were off to a great start!!

When we had finished the ski we jumped in to the cars and headed up the road a mile or so and swapped our boots for the sneakers and started out on our run/hike/rock scramble/bad ass workout!!!!! We ran from the cars up to Mohonk Mnt House!

This place is for strait up balers!!! With rooms in the $300-600 range!! But we were able to take advantage of the great views and the rock scramble they have set up to make our way up to the fire tower! It was an epic adventure and the entire way up all I could think about was how awesome NY really is!! This state has is all and though I often find myself bitching about lack of snow, the size of the state and the fact it takes 5 hours to drive to a local race this state is truly amazing and impresses me more and more with all it has to offer. I wish I had my camera but the threatening skies forced me to leave it at the car. I will link in some photos from the Mnt Houses website but they don’t even do the place justice! Not to mention that during the winter there are over 50k of groomed trails at this joint!!!!!!!! I gotta make a trip out here when the white stuff is flying!

That’s it for now I gotta get out of Starbuck and back to the ranch to wake the kids up!!! More to come from New Paltz…

*Images from the Mohonk Mnt House Website!! Check it out at www.mohonk.com

Work and Play !!

There is no doubt that to become faster you need to work hard, but you also need to know how to have fun! Today we did 90min of specific strength on skis. (45 min no pole skate/45 min double pole) We had a great break in the middle in the form of a couch and love seat found on the side of the road! Who ever dumped this thing off should be beaten with it for in proper disposal but none the less we decided to have a little fun. Here are a couple of pictures of the foolishness!!

Have Fun!

But don't forget about the work!!

We finished off the the day with some sprint work. It always fun to line it up against the youngsters and test not only your own speed but also to judge the improvement that is being made by the kids. Tonight a couple of the boys and I were bum pin heads with a little best 2 out of 3. My man Sway-Easy took the first one with a nice move from the start line. On the second one he also got a good start and was leading right up until the last second when I was able to sneak past him. To my amazement he decided to bypass the boot throw and just strait up dive for the finish line! I was psyched to see how bad he wanted it but a bit worried to see what he looked like after I turned around. As usually he was a little bloody but he's tough and was pissed when I decided to leave it at a 1-1 tie!!! Gotta love effort!!!

Now that's what I call

ALL-IN!!!!!!

Get Back Up!!!

The summer is absolutely flying. In and earlier post I mentioned that the most important months for a skiers training is June, July, and August. Well Guess what?? June is GONE!!! It's hard to believe but it's NOW or NEVER! If you have not been training you better get your butt out the door and get something done or you will be toast!!! The R.N.R crew has been hard at work for the past month and I'm starting to noticeevery ones fitness and confidence gaining on the skis. It’s not always easy to tell if the athletes are REALLY pushing themselves or just working hard. There is a big difference!!! But sometimes it is easy, Last week at the end of a hard OD session the kids where doing some uphill sprints working on there speed. I was at the top of the hill watching them come up and giving them some technique advice and some encouragement to keep the peddle down on each one. On the last one I hear a crash and look down to the bottom of the hill just in time to see reed eat it as well!!!! I love/hate to see kids or anyone eat the pavement. On one hand it means they werepushin hard and trying to make the gains necessary to improve there skiing. They were bothOK, and surprisingly psyched about the blood!!! The moral of the story!?!? Push your limits everyday and if you happen to fall get back up and do it again!!!

Busy Busy Busy!!

A lot has happened since the last post, and I apologize for not posting sooner but as the title states I have been super busy racing, training, and coaching. Last weekend the senior team was in race mode !! Marty, Chad, and I raced in the Thursday night GVCC bike race. Since Chad and I knew we were racing the next two days we talked about sitting in the pack and then trying to make something happen in the uphill sprint finish. But as usual we were not able to sit in the pack and worked to push the pace the entire race. A three man break got away and chad and I lead the group to try to catch them. We were unable to catch them but were able to put the pack in a world of hurt that lead to me being able to win the field sprint and taking 4th overall. Chad got a calf cramp on the last lap and was relegated to soft peddle to the finish. On Friday night we all raced in the festival on the green 5k in Honeoye Falls. I really wanted to do this race because I had won it last year and it would be a good benchmark to measure my fitness. The raced started out slowly and at 2 miles I was with the leaders I did not catch the mile mark on the way out but at 2 miles I was at 11:35 and knew I needed to make a move because if it came down to a sprint I would be toast. I was able to step on it pretty good and ended up winning by about 20 seconds (17:18) . I was happy with my time after doing the bike race the night before. Marty was next 5th overall (18:34) Chad 6th (18:52) Steve 19th (21:56). results are posted here.

http://www.yellowjacketracing.com/FestivallontheGreenOverallResults2009.htm

After the race everyone was tired but looking forward to the biathlon race the next day! The biathlon race also went well despite the fact that Marty and I were both DQ'ed for a closed bolt infraction. Chad ended up 3rd overall and Steve also had a great race. Adam came out to race and was able to take home the lone victory for RNR in his age group!! For race results visit.

http://www.westernnybiathlon.com/

Overall it was a great weekend of racing! Only two more weeks until summer biathlon nationals so it's time to keep the peddle down and get to work!!!

Race Weekend !!!

Race Weekend !!!

It was a big weekend for most of the crew as the team spread out across the state to contest several different races and to show everyone why Nordic skiers are considered some of the best athletes in the world.

Chad and I stayed local and raced the Power Bar 9 mile trail race on the familiar trails of Mendon Ponds Park. This is the second time I have done this race. The last time I raced it was in 2005!! In 05’ I was just getting back in to training after returning home from college and taking a year off to student teach and coach in Virginia. In 05’ on the same course I ran 1:02:01 this year I ran 57:35 I’m pleased to see that I was able to run faster especially considering that racing 9 miles doubled my avg weekly mileage! Chad also was able to step it up in a big way over his 2005 result. In 05’ Chad ran the 4.5 mile course in 33:40 this year he ran the 9 mile course in 59:11. Chad is also running around 10-15 miles per week so I would say our 2^nd, and 3^rd place overall result was a good effort!!! My avg HR was 183 with a max of 192 and if I remember correctly Chad had an avg of 178 and a max of 191 !!!

Adam and Reed also stayed local and mixed it up jumping in the Pittsford Triathlon. Reed was 3^rd in his age group and Adam was 4^th. Looking at the ages Reed was a man amongst boys considering he is only 13 yrs old and competing in the 19 and under age group!?!?! MAN-CHILD !!!!

Amanda also was able to “Throw Down” at the state qualifier in the 3000 meters. She came in to the meet with a seed time of 10:38 and was able to rally and run 10:14 taking the win in Division I . Amanda has been dealing with some injuries so I know it was a big win for her!!! We will all be cheering for her this weekend as she travels to Syracuse to compete at the State Meet!!

Steve also was in action this weekend at the Keuka Lake Triathlon. He was able to take the win in his age group and finished 15^th overall. Not to bad for the old guy!!!!

Marty tried to bring the wrath of R.N.R to New England but was un-able to locate the 5k in downtown Boston and missed the race. (They were Lucky)!!!

Overall it was a great weekend for R.N.R proving that we not only know how to ski but we are can run, swim, bike and even get lost!!!

Here is a picture of Steve on top of the podium!!!

Where are YOU at ???

We did our first baseline test of the year on Wednesday. It was not only a chance to get some information on everyone but it was also a chance to remind ourselves what it feels like to hurt. The test also provided the opportunity to fight those mental battles that are so common in Nordic Skiing providing that line that needs to be crossed to be good, to be great, to be a skier!!!

The test consisted of a mile run on rolling terrain (give or take a few meters) followed shortly after by the following strength test Dips, Sit-Ups, Push-Ups, Step-Ups, and Pull Ups in that order. The protocol for the test was that each athlete would do as many repetitions as they could in 1-min get a 1-min rest and then as many repetitions as they could in 1-min again! This not only test overall strength but muscle recovery and muscle endurance. The title of the post is Where are you at?? Well here are the results so you know where your at!

Name Mile Time Dips Sit-Ups Push-Ups Step-Ups Pull-Ups
A.S 5:56 31/15 30/32 29/16 63/40 7
R.L 5:36 49/35 43/40 30/15 48/52 6
D.H 6:27 50/30 40/40 38/17 44/48 8
S.Z 6:22 57/32 50/33 40/25 45/48 15
J.H 5:20 52/35 49/43 36/19 38/42 13
C.D 5:46 88/62 70/58 60/35 49/52 18
D.D 6:08 67/36 55/36 41/17 52/44 9
M.M 5:39 61/40 68/49 42/25 34/39 9

K.D 7:02 34/24 49/46 35/24 42/41 6
A.C 6:42 26/8 53/50 27/25 46/50 5

Here is a picture of Chad, He posted some of the top performances during the test! He was not kidding about using his Iron Gym!! As you can tell we are all about getting back to the basics. You don't need a gym membership to do pull-ups all you need is a branch, swing-set or in our case a 2x6 beam! Don't make excuses!

Get Out and Get After It!!!