Training week of 9/7

EVERYONE:

  • The training plan is here and below.

  • Don’t forget to fill out the attendance form.

  • Save the date for program registration opening! It will happen on Tuesday, September 30th, at 8:00pm. Head over here for more info and make sure your membership is up to date/that you can login smoothly well before registration happens.

  • Detailed questions about the winter schedule: we’re getting there. Patience, Jedis. It’ll be posted soon.

  • NO ski swap this year… and possibly ever: At its outset, our ski swap was a low-key affair focused on linking used gear with our community members. As the swap grew, so did expectations that we’d have new gear and outrageous deals. Some of our swap partners left the industry and every year we saw fewer and fewer consignments from the community, which made the swap both less sustainable and more like running a retail operation. And when it comes to retail, what we really want is for y’all to support the awesome small, independent shops and businesses that already serve the industry. Never fear—swaps still abound! Keep an eye here to look for an updated 2025 list this fall. There are also various Nordic-focused buy/sell groups on Facebook, too. And of course we’re lucky to have a number of amazing shops right here in VT—go and check them out! 

  • World Cup Finals are in Lake Placid this spring. Yep, like the World Cup of the world, the one that all the world’s best skiers go to after the Olympics. More info here. It’s March 19-22, so after all of the things in the season except SuperTour Finals (which happen to be in Craftsbury). Juniors will have the option to travel to this as a team—see your section below. Families/others who want to go on their own should pursue lodging sooner rather than later.

JUNIORS:

  • Weird weekend: we will be offering practice this SATURDAY instead of Sunday. There’s also a VTYC (mountain bike) race at Cochran’s Saturday 9/13, several XC running meets, and the Singletrack Shootout that Sunday 9/14. Lots going on. We want everyone to figure out how to do at least one race and take at least one day off in that Friday-Monday chunk.

  • Licensing: if you are planning to race much outside of the high school circuit this year, you’ll likely need one or more licenses. US Ski & Snowboard licenses get more expensive Oct. 15th and some of you are old enough that you’ll need to complete SafeSport training, which takes a while. Now is a good time to get licensing taken care of!

    • Check out our distillation of license needs here. Reach out to coaches with additional questions.

    • NENSA Membership (required to participate in Eastern Cups, U16 Champs, Eastern High Schools)
      You will need to become a NENSA member to participate in Eastern Cups, though not all members of this group may want to do that. Register yourself online for NENSA here. A NENSA membership is not required for those not racing in those events, but is a good way to support the New England ski community. 

    • US Ski & Snowboard Membership (required to participate in Eastern Cups)
      You will need a US Ski & Snowboard membership to race in Eastern Cups. You can read about US Ski & Snowboard membership types here and register here. For juniors racing in Eastern Cups, there are two main options:
      1. A "general" membership for those interested in the racing experience but unconcerned with scoring points toward Junior Nationals, etc. (A “short-term” membership is also possible for those who only want to do ONE Eastern Cup race.)
      2. A “Competitor U13 and over” membership for those who ARE interested in scoring points

  • Keys to the Castle/Climb to the Castle rollerski race weekend: this is Sept. 20-21 in Lake Placid. More info here. Right now were tentatively planning to send a coach with a small handful of you.

  • Training logs: are a great thing to do when you’re procrastinating about doing homework

  • World Cup Finals: interest from last week’s attendance form registered, thanks! If any of you did not tell us you were interested but you are, please drop us a line.

  • Looking ahead at some dates:

    • weekend of 9/20-9/21: LP rollerski race weekend

    • weekend of 10/18-10/19: we will be offering a van to a rollerski race at Jericho that Saturday 10/18 (confident rollerskiers only). There will not be practice Sunday 10/19, but Craftsbury is hosting a VTYC bike race that day.

    • A reminder about other dates looking ahead: toggle to the “25-26 year” tab at the bottom of the training plan to get a better sense of what’s ahead this winter.

U14s:

  • See the note above about World Cup Finals. Consider lobbying your parents to take you! If we have extra space we’d consider taking some U14s with us, but older kids will get dibs and I’m not sure if we’ll have extra space.

  • Looking ahead at some dates:

    • weekend of 10/18-10/19: we will be offering a van to a rollerski race at Jericho that Saturday 10/18 (open to confident second year U14 and older rollerskiers only). There will not be practice Sunday 10/19, but Craftsbury is hosting a VTYC bike race that day.

BKL:

  • Regular week!

BIATHLETES:

ADULTS/MASTERS:

  • Wednesday strength is in the AC gym, as the Event Barn will be overrun with juniors.

  • Stay tuned for more details on Sunday—not sure if you’ll be having practice with the Singletrack shootout happening but will keep you posted.

Here’s the TRAINING PLAN for the week, or check below:

Hazel: the #1 way to get Rick to sit still and do computer work

Anna Schulz