Hi, Lauren, here!
The team just arrived in Lake Placid, NY, for nine more days of hard training. Today we met up with the Sun Valley Gold Team, and the SMS T2 Team will join us later this week. We plan to collaborate on workouts with Sun Valley and SMS T2 to follow people we cannot train with often as we begin to focus on high-intensity efforts. We are focusing on high-intensity (L4 and L5/time trials) workouts for various reasons. The first being that it is already mid-September, and the fall marks the time of cutting down the volume while sharpening the tools in the shed and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. The second reason is that we are down at sea level, which offers increased recovery, increasing our intensity load while also training smart.
Before heading out to Bozeman to ski for the Pro Team, I found myself enjoying the excellent training the east coast has to offer during the past five years. Although I haven’t spent a lot of time in Lake Placid during the summer, I have raced here every year for the past five years. I have some great memories at Mt. Van Hoevenberg and the ski jumps that excite me for the winter and motivate me to push a little harder during intensity sessions.
The dry-land training in Lake Placid is (apparently) incredible for various reasons, most notably for the two roller-ski tracks! Roller-skiing on a specific roller-ski track is great because it is significantly safer. The tracks tend to offer the terrain that most closely simulates a ski course without worrying about cars. Our closest roller-ski track to Bozeman is in Soldier Hollow, so it is most definitely a treat to train on one.
With access to great roller-skiing, we have some great workouts planned for this upcoming week of training. I’m especially looking forward to the roller-ski intensity and speed sessions on the track, including a skate-roller ski sprint at Mt Van Hoevenberg. We also have a couple of speed sessions planned in Another big workout is a roller-ski race in Jericho, Vermont (at another roller-ski track!!). We are doing the race in Jericho to include more collegiate skiers. I’m excited to check out the roller-ski track in Jericho and see some of my collegiate friends.
We will be doing lots of exciting training, whether on roller-ski tracks or run/hikes in the Adirondack mountains; make sure to stay tuned for updates and pictures from the rest of the Pro Team!
(Pictures are from the last few weeks in Bozeman!)
