Kiki gets a haircut

Kyle was known for his hair before, and now even more so. Tonight we took the scissors to him for the mustache ride on campus tomorrow. We had our friend Katherine (who's given both Ben and I haircuts before) use her skills to whip up Kyle a sweet new mop.


Before.


After. This image has been censored for family viewing

6:04 PM, November 5

It is snowing.

Highlight of the week

(Photo: Mapleleafphotos.com)

Video:
http://www.wcax.com/global/video.asp?clipId=4262139&autostart=true

Wins

The SLUSKI testing concluded this week with the 10k rollerski TT at River Road. It's a tough course that mostly consists of long steady climbing followed by a long descent, leading into long steady climb, then a long descent, for 8k. The last bit is flat or downhill, which is a relief after 20 minutes of constant climbing or tucking. This year the test looked to be the only evaluation other than the 3k that wouldn't be hampered by weather. Cold and rain had made breaking records or times at Browns Bridge difficult, and the sloppy mudfest at St. Regis really made times slow. On Friday afternoon, though, the air was clear and the road was dry. However, like the most dreaded classic race scenario you could imagine (VT Academy Eastern Cup 2008?) suddenly the temps dropped, a pouring rain began and a gusty headwind rolled in 4 minutes before the start. We started soaked through and skiing into a gale. I felt alright for the first few K. I wasn't en fuego or racing out of my mind, but I was judging the distance/time (as I usually do in the beginning of a race) and was making up some time on Teo and Bogden, who started 30sec and 1min in front of me. During the middle of the race, I started to lose it, and I think this is the key for me between racing like I did last year and racing like I need to race. At the 5k mark I was losing focus when Ziz caught me. Ziz likes to rollerski race, and he not only holds the course record, he's won the thing all four years. My best races have come from sticking behind faster guys whenever I can, so I resolved to not let Ziz out of my sight. Instead of dying and giving up halfway through (as would have happened last year), sticking behind Ziz let me know that I had more in the tank, and more importantly let me know that it feels good to hurt. We stuck together for about 2k and then hit the longest downhill. Ziz (having faster skis and weighing a good 30lbs more than me) pulled away. I didn't reconnect on the following uphill, but I did look up and realize that I had made up lots more ground on Teo and Ben. I resolved to hammer it out in the last 2k and managed to do just that. I ended up 4th, just being edged for the podium by Wolcott by 4 seconds. Mostly though, I was happy with the way I felt, skied and reacted to the race.

One of the long, grinding V2 uphills on the course (Photo: Andrew Morehouse)

I'd been going over technique a lot through some video and one of the most influential things I've gone is arm position. This shot doesn't capture it especially well but Ethan suggested a more forward position for my arms. I tend to ski with a very compact upper body, but the suggestion to reach out just a little was aiming at getting some more power from each pole plant. I really notice the difference on slight uphills especially, and I think the upper body strength I've gained this summer (lots of pullups) made this transition easier. I feel like I'm going further with each stride, and without much extra effort. Hopefully the constant focus on this should ingrain it well when we get on snow soon.

In other news, it was Halloween on Saturday! Of course, the rampant outbreak of swine flu on campus meant all festivities (including the much-anticipated OC Party) were all canceled. That didn't stop us from having a good time and dressing up like idiots, though. This year Shaggy (me) and Scooby (my roommate Ryan) were a hit.

Shaggy and Scooby, a classic


The whole gang at Commons


Not five minutes after I had shaved my shaggy-stubble off my chin did I read the news about the High School State Championships at Thetford. Zak Pete, a friend of mine from the old days who I actually even used to be on par with running wise, TIED for the win with GMVS's David Sinclair. Now, I'm not trying to cause a controversy, BUT, I'm psyched to see Zak go head to head with David because I'm not all that fond of the whole Ski School running at states thing. I guess there's no rule against it, but I don't really like how schools with so much emphasis on physical conditioning and race training can race against kids who go to public schools and all. You don't see the Burke or Stratton vans at Nordic States. In the end it's not THAT big of a deal, but I'm all for the public schools for a number of reasons, which made it even sweeter to see that Zak accomplished what he did, and that the CVU girls team outraced the Stratton girls team for the overall female title. Maybe I'll put a little more formal argument/discussion on this topic up later, I'd like to talk to some other people and get their feelings.

Ski Quote of the week

I have procured a small stereo for use when we do circuits or other inside workouts where music may be appropriate.

If you want to make time to create a cd mix and bring it to practice I would play it for our workouts.

I realize I may regret this.

Etown

St. Regis

The annual St. Regis test went down yesterday in wet and soppy conditions. "One of the top three worst times I've seen it" stated Ethan. Its a rolling course for the first few miles. When you reach a small wooden bridge the trail turns right and climbs. And climbs, and climbs. Wolcott, Steve, Zach and Kyle left everyone else in the dust after the first mile. I took the lead of our second group (backpack!) and took a short wrong turn. When Bogden realized we weren't on the trail he turned back and broke off the front with Connor, leaving Hollis, Lanky and I to our own race. We were still on the flats and I was feeling like crap. Like in the XC race at the beginning of the year I just couldn't make myself go faster, and Bogden and Connor pulled ahead out of sight. When those two had amassed what was probably a 30 to 40 second lead we hit the bridge and the steep climbs. I immediately kicked into gear and dropped Hollis, and suddenly I was in a whole different race. I turned on the jets and made it hurt, and it felt good. I made up the gap Connor and Bogden had put on me in the flats. After passing Connor I was hot on Bogden's heels but the finish came up too fast. I'm not sure what to feel about the race. I've known for a while I race better when I'm suffering trying to hang on behind people, and after the wrong turn I got gapped and never made the effort to reconnect. I was really pleased with the hill section though, and I feel like the race could've gone much better had I been in more contention with the pack when we hit the killer climbs. At the fire tower on top of the mountain (in a raging gale) the guys team combined for 350 pullups in honor of the international day of action for 350.org.

Later that night the pain continued with the first annual SLUSKI Fatbag Challenge. For those that aren't aware of what a Fatbag is check out this definition from Urban Dictionary:

1. Fatbag

A medium pizza, rolled up and deep-fried. It is officially called a pizza roll. Usually ordered when intoxicated. The favorite food of drunk St. Lawrence University students. If eaten sober, the first few bites tend to taste quite delicious. The same can't be said about the last few bites. THE ultimate diet killer, hence the name "fatbag."

That definition is lifted exactly from the website. The challenge was basically an eating contest with each person getting one cheese and one pepperoni Fatbag. Showing their true seniority Wolcott and Ziz threw down sub-13 minute times. The same couldn't be said for the rest of the team, but with this now becoming an annual event we all have plenty of time to improve. I woke up for this morning 3hr OD and barely ate any breakfast because I was still full from the night before. Ouch.

Midterms

"Terko write a f*%king blog. i am getting bored. i want daily updates"
-Hunter Karnedy

The past few weeks have been all about tests. Ski tests, school tests, all sorts of evaluations. Our ski testing is basically like the midterms we've been spending all summer studying for. After a surprisingly successful 3000m (10:26 is successful for me) I was looking forward to the specific strength tests because A) They were on rollerskis, not running and B) I rollerskied a lot this summer and ran very little. It was cold and wet though, which slows wheel bearings and makes things not so fast, especially for my already-slow Marwe wheels which are on their last few millimeters of tread. Still, conditions were the same for everyone. The doublepole test went alright but I wasn't feeling really energetic in the second half. To be honest I really didn't think about or have a lot of gumption for the nopole, so I just started and figured I'd see what happened and if Steve caught me I'd try and stick with him. In front of me were Hollis and Connor, who have some quick skis. Nobody caught me from behind, so I ended up skiing the whole thing all alone. In the end I was 4th in both DP and NP tests. I felt like I could've won the doublepole on a good day but those don't happen every time. Times were for the most part slower than last year, but my difference wasn't too great. After a productive Midsemester break and some tough academic testing it's almost time for the 2 longest and arguably most difficult tests, St. Regis and the 10k. Etown was planning on doing them on back-to-back days but rumors are that painful idea won't end up happening. All I can do now is think about getting them over with and skiing on some perfect tracks in Canada over Thanksgiving break.