For the past 10 days, the BSF Pro Team and I have been in Marquette, Michigan for our annual, mid-summer, training camp. The Goble siblings (Reid and Sarah) are from Michigan and now live on the coast of Lake Superior. As always, we are trying to get down to sea level for some extra intensity and speed workouts. At altitude, where the air is thin, you can only do so much intensity before your body starts to get too tired to keep sessions productive. Down at sea level on the other hand, you can move faster, put in more intensity work, and recover better with the extra oxygen. It’s hard not to feel like a rock star when you come down from altitude to train at sea level. That’s exactly why we do it!
In the latter half of camp, we had a couple time trials on the schedule. For the first, we had a 12k classic TT that NMU has done many times. It had a general uphill trend that was mostly double pole with some double pole kick on the steeper sections. It was a rainy wet day the morning of the time trial but rather warm, so all things considered, it could have been a lot worse. And considering both the men’s and women’s course records were broken that day, I’d say the team is looking and feeling good.
Along with the distance time trial, we did a skate sprint time trial with a couple of the NMU skiers that had just gotten to town. On a course that trended down out of the start, climbed up and over a large hill, turned around, and finished up the gradual climb back up to the finish, it was a great opportunity to practice skiing on what could have been a race course in the winter. For the men, it became quite tactical, leading to fast finishes with lots of energy. With the uphill finish however, it meant that people could fade and passes could be made. For the women, it was also tactical, but we were all impressed by how hard they pushed from the start. Which lead to a pure guts race at the end of each of their heats.
All in all, our midwest camp was a success! We got to spend time on the lake, enjoy a new area, and train our butts off. After a little recovery, the gains we make from this camp will propel us into a month of training at home in Bozeman. It will be our last full month of training in Bozeman together before we travel to Park City camp with the US Ski Team in early October. Then likely a little chasing of the snow until the first races in late November. It’s exciting to see everyone performing well but the season is fast approaching. Now, a few days easy, then back to the grindstone.
