On Any Sunday
As I'm sure our avid readers are quickly learning, we of the MOD Squad consider elite-level ski training to be a multifarious, ever-evolving concept. We don't content ourselves with the standard "Mondays are off, Tues/Thurs are intervals, Sundays are O.D.s..."; rather, we seek out that additional adventure knowing that our abilities as well-rounded athletes are what will allow us to achieve success. So it was last Sunday.
We decided to combine a traditional overdistance workout, rollerskiing up Washington Pass, with some low-intensity strength training by climbing Liberty Bell, a spire adjacent to the pass. For me it would be my first trad gear lead climb, a relatively easy 5.6, 4-pitch route. Scott would belay Erik and Jaime on his rope and I would lead Sadie up mine. The weather for the past several days had been thunderstorms mixed with high humidity and bouts of intense rainfall a la New England. Scott and I had trekked up to the base of the climb two days earlier to give me a quick primer on placing gear and the lay of the route; we were quickly rushed out of the high country when a storm cell moved in and began slamming lightning onto the peak itself. We hoped Sunday would offer better conditions.
The morning held great promise. Zero clouds and 65 degrees at 7am. We started rollerskiing part way up the pass, knowing the approach to the climb was a few thousand feet up and several miles in. A few hours later we arrived at the base of the first pitch. After waiting a few minutes to allow a party ahead of us to get to the first belay we started up. As this was my first gear lead, Scott put in pieces on his lead and then pulled his rope while leaving the gear, thus allowing me to have a clear idea of where to place. At the second belay I took the lead and made my first placements. As Scott said afterwards, "The first one was crap, the second mediocre; the third and fourth would probably have stopped a fall." Batting .500 thus far. As we moved onto the third pitch though, things began to get interesting. Thunder started to echo in the distance and with incredible speed we saw thunderheads moving our direction. Time to get moving.
As we entered the next pitch we heard below us what was apparently a father-son duo making it up the last gully in the approach, screaming at each other about their mutual anger in the relationship. We were glad we weren't to be anywhere near them.
On the last pitch Scott increased the pace. "We gotta move", he said, and he and I readied ourselves to "short-rope" our respective followers up to the summit. As Sadie and I got to the top the storms became imminent.
Coiling the rope on my shoulder as quickly as possible we turned around and started heading down to the rappel station. What followed was probably the quickest explanation of ANYTHING I've heard Scott give as he explained to Sadie, Erik and Jaime how to rappel. He would be at the bottom of the rope providing a back-up belay, ready to place tension on their rappel to halt a free-fall should they lose control of the descent. And with that, he was off the edge. Sadie followed with confidence, and after a quick "addendum" tutorial between Jaime and I, she gained her courage and rapped off, followed by Erik and I. After another rappel station we were on the ground. And just in time. As we gathered our things the sky opened and a torrential downpour ensued, quickly turning a moderately-difficult down-gully scramble into a slip 'n slide down a rocky river.
We returned to the car and reflected on the day. Eight hours and 4500 vertical feet after we began at the base of the pass we finished our "workout". Another day in the books.
We decided to combine a traditional overdistance workout, rollerskiing up Washington Pass, with some low-intensity strength training by climbing Liberty Bell, a spire adjacent to the pass. For me it would be my first trad gear lead climb, a relatively easy 5.6, 4-pitch route. Scott would belay Erik and Jaime on his rope and I would lead Sadie up mine. The weather for the past several days had been thunderstorms mixed with high humidity and bouts of intense rainfall a la New England. Scott and I had trekked up to the base of the climb two days earlier to give me a quick primer on placing gear and the lay of the route; we were quickly rushed out of the high country when a storm cell moved in and began slamming lightning onto the peak itself. We hoped Sunday would offer better conditions.
The morning held great promise. Zero clouds and 65 degrees at 7am. We started rollerskiing part way up the pass, knowing the approach to the climb was a few thousand feet up and several miles in. A few hours later we arrived at the base of the first pitch. After waiting a few minutes to allow a party ahead of us to get to the first belay we started up. As this was my first gear lead, Scott put in pieces on his lead and then pulled his rope while leaving the gear, thus allowing me to have a clear idea of where to place. At the second belay I took the lead and made my first placements. As Scott said afterwards, "The first one was crap, the second mediocre; the third and fourth would probably have stopped a fall." Batting .500 thus far. As we moved onto the third pitch though, things began to get interesting. Thunder started to echo in the distance and with incredible speed we saw thunderheads moving our direction. Time to get moving.
As we entered the next pitch we heard below us what was apparently a father-son duo making it up the last gully in the approach, screaming at each other about their mutual anger in the relationship. We were glad we weren't to be anywhere near them.
On the last pitch Scott increased the pace. "We gotta move", he said, and he and I readied ourselves to "short-rope" our respective followers up to the summit. As Sadie and I got to the top the storms became imminent.
Coiling the rope on my shoulder as quickly as possible we turned around and started heading down to the rappel station. What followed was probably the quickest explanation of ANYTHING I've heard Scott give as he explained to Sadie, Erik and Jaime how to rappel. He would be at the bottom of the rope providing a back-up belay, ready to place tension on their rappel to halt a free-fall should they lose control of the descent. And with that, he was off the edge. Sadie followed with confidence, and after a quick "addendum" tutorial between Jaime and I, she gained her courage and rapped off, followed by Erik and I. After another rappel station we were on the ground. And just in time. As we gathered our things the sky opened and a torrential downpour ensued, quickly turning a moderately-difficult down-gully scramble into a slip 'n slide down a rocky river.
We returned to the car and reflected on the day. Eight hours and 4500 vertical feet after we began at the base of the pass we finished our "workout". Another day in the books.
Trout Lake
We just returned from a five day ski camp in Trout Lake, Washington. We spent the week staying in the Black’s yard (a family that allows us to use their house while we are there). Trout Lake has some of the best rollerskiing in the world, with endless perfect roads and no traffic, not to mention an amazing view of Mt. Adams. We spent the week doing various rollerski workouts, strength, bounding, and lots of technique work. It is a great opportunity for us to catch up with other skiers from around our region and then knock heads with them at the end of the week in a time trial up a steep road out of the valley. The camp was great this year, there was a good group of very elite athletes for me to ski and work with. It is also always nice to catch up with some other coaches as well, get some of their ideas on technique and training. The last workout of the camp everyone climbs Adams, either half way or to the top. My IT band has been bothering me for the past week so I decided to play it safe and do a long rollerski workout instead. The long rollerski workout turned into an endless 5 and a half hour, 54 mile ski through the mountains. This is the longest I have ever rollerskied! A nice workout, but a very long time to be on rollerskis. We are now spending this week recovering from the hard efforts and great training from last week.
Mt. Adams
One of the adventures of the Trout Lake camp is climbing the Mt. Adams on the last day. When all the athletes are nice and tired from nearly 4 hours a day of rollerskiing, a time trial, strength testing, and bounding, we test our limits and hike up 6000 vertical feet. One of the funniest things about our climb is that our gear includes running shoes and ski poles, with a small daypack full of sandwiches. We try to be nice and make friendly conversation with the big parties of people we pass all decked out in cramp ons, ice axes, ropes and forty pound bags. The reactions of the groups we pass are hilarious. Some parties think we are superhuman, while others get angry and tell us we are doing something illegal. I had several groups convinced we summit the mountain three times a day for training.
The hike up was hard after the long week, but we all managed. The hardest part was making it over the false summit and realizing there was another mountain to climb! But the ride down was a sledding experience out of this world. The majority of the way down the mountain there is snow slide chutes that curve and bump down the snow field. The best way to describe this is a really cold roller coaster ride that you have no control over. The group of skiers all headed down the mountain snow flying everywhere with uncontrollable laughter. I am sure the groups we were passing on the way down were convinced we were all from the zoo. By the time we reached the bottom our butts were so frozen most of us had to turn and look to make sure they were still there. We quickly warmed up with the 4 mile run out, clocking in just over 7 hours. Not a bad day of training!
Jaime Bronga, Sadie Bjornsen, and Casey Kutz freezing on the top of the mountain
The team on the top.
The Wait IS the Hardest Part...
Tom Petty and his crew had it right when they sang those lines. Given that we train nearly every day one might think we would enjoy the odd rest day, yet when those days do come it is often a struggle and a test of patience to keep from going out the door to do SOMETHING.
We just finished our base volume period for the summer, culminating last week in five days training in Trout Lake, WA at a Pacific Northwest Regional Camp. Our volume had been accumulating up until the camp and in that five day period we racked up another 22 hours, which put the week's total for me near 30, my biggest week of training ever. It was a very successful week with lots of low intensity rollerskiing on the immaculately-paved logging roads around Mt. Adams and finishing with a seven-hour hike up that same mountain to its summit near 12,500ft.
Anyways, back to the waiting. Yesterday, today and probably tomorrow are coach-mandated rest days. Nothing resembling training should take place as we allow our bodies to recover from the immense stresses we placed on it over the past few weeks, acknowledging that the true benefits of training only come about AFTER the training has taken place, when the body adapts to the strains through recovery.
But it's sunny and beautiful out, and my 2-9er mountain bike leans seductively against the garage, begging me to take it out for a long summer ride in the mountains. Patience, young grasshopper. Patience.
We just finished our base volume period for the summer, culminating last week in five days training in Trout Lake, WA at a Pacific Northwest Regional Camp. Our volume had been accumulating up until the camp and in that five day period we racked up another 22 hours, which put the week's total for me near 30, my biggest week of training ever. It was a very successful week with lots of low intensity rollerskiing on the immaculately-paved logging roads around Mt. Adams and finishing with a seven-hour hike up that same mountain to its summit near 12,500ft.
Anyways, back to the waiting. Yesterday, today and probably tomorrow are coach-mandated rest days. Nothing resembling training should take place as we allow our bodies to recover from the immense stresses we placed on it over the past few weeks, acknowledging that the true benefits of training only come about AFTER the training has taken place, when the body adapts to the strains through recovery.
But it's sunny and beautiful out, and my 2-9er mountain bike leans seductively against the garage, begging me to take it out for a long summer ride in the mountains. Patience, young grasshopper. Patience.
Silver Star... 8,876 vertical feet
Last weekend Sam, Jaime, Midge, Scott, Allen Watson, and I went on a 7.5 hr. mountain adventure. Different than most weekend over-distance workouts, we brought out the cramp ons, ropes, harnesses and ice axes. After beginning with a 3.5 hr climb up through the trees and into the gully we started our true mountaineering excitement. Roping in and belaying down the steep snow slope, we rounded the mountain and headed up the glacier on the north side of the Silver Star. The last part of the climb was an hour scramble up the rocks to the summit. The summit was a rock only large enough for the three of us, Sam, Jaime and I to sit and uncomfortably clutch on. Jaime and I were brave enough to stand up for less than a second, but quickly sat back down suddenly feeling how exposed we were. After taking in the views of all the surrounding mountains and planning our next adventure, we ate some food, hydrated and headed back down. The highlight of our decent was glissading down the glacier. The six of us sat down and ripped down the snow field, snow flying everywhere experiencing true mountain sledding. The last couple of hours was steep downhill hiking, reminding our legs what they were meant for. It was a great adventure, and just a warm up for Mt. Adams which we will be climbing at the PNSA camp in Trout Lake next week.
Sadie, Jaime and Sam
Scott belaying Sadie down the top steep section of the snow field
Sam kicking in steps for the rest of the group near the top of the snow field
Jaime, Sadie and Sam on the top of Silver Star
Sadie standing up on the top for a brief second.... SCARED!
Jaime down climbing the rock section
Refining the Quiver
As full-time athletes we have an often monolithic focus on our physical training and improvements. We get stronger and faster in the hope that our prowess in those areas will dictate our success. And though these factors may be primary, it is often necessary for us to look to our tools to ensure they also are performing at the highest level possible.
This past week the MOD Squad spent a pizza-filled evening with Project sponsor Rita Kenny at Winthrop Mountain Sports where we used her pressure-testing apparatus to check the compatibility of our skis to ourselves. This turned out to be a very worthwhile endeavor as each of us have either grown out of many of our current skis or have been skiing and racing on skis which are ill-picked for us. It also became a very useful exercise in discussing the composition of a race ski and what makes one wicked fast.
Finding yet another pair of skis to swap out...
This past week the MOD Squad spent a pizza-filled evening with Project sponsor Rita Kenny at Winthrop Mountain Sports where we used her pressure-testing apparatus to check the compatibility of our skis to ourselves. This turned out to be a very worthwhile endeavor as each of us have either grown out of many of our current skis or have been skiing and racing on skis which are ill-picked for us. It also became a very useful exercise in discussing the composition of a race ski and what makes one wicked fast.
Finding yet another pair of skis to swap out...
Jaime's First Post
Hey all,
So I have officially been given access to the Blog now...I hope I don't disappoint. As always MOD has been focusing on technique interspersed throughout our intensity week and volume week. We've been doing some pretty amazing video analysis thanks to Pete Dickinson's camera skills and the Dartfish Program. We've all gained from the immediate feedback and the ability to slow down the footage and really pick it apart. I've always had rather rough technique and so working extensively with video and the pointers from Scott and Pete has helped me pin-point the elements that need the most work. Basically, it all boils down to weight-shift or in my case the lack thereof. But with some determination, a lot of amusing drills, and continued support from Scott and Pete I'm sure I'll be a balanced ballerina in no time!
Eric busting out some no pole
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