St. Olaf Nordic Team

  Our neighbors of Southern Minnesota (Gustavus Adolphus) came to do a bounding workout with us the other1 week, so we introduced them to a nice little place we call Hell Hill.  Some people even almost pooped their pants! After some warm ups the teams bonded over level 4 bounding intervals, and then went to watch the Ole and Gustie runners in the NCAA regional cross country meet, where our very own Jake Brown took 3rd, and Ole men took home the win.

Northfield had its first snowfall a few nights ago. In a way, it was strange to see the first few inches of fresh wet snow sticking to all the leaves still clinging stubbornly to their trees, even a week into November.  The snow wasn't much; you could maybe have double poled around a soccer field for an hour in the morning before it started melting.  But seeing those first few inches of snow puts everything in a whole new light- it makes you realize that race season is just around the corner, and it lends an entirely new sense of urgency to your training. And training is what we've been doing.  This team has been doing some seriously hard work, including bounding intervals up Buck Hill, a long double pole from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, some long L4 intervals near Nerstrand, and some speed endurance intervals that Joel imported from his summer in Bend. The same afternoon as this week's snow, we had a running/bounding time trial on the steep, long hills of Leba...

This weekend was Olaf Homecoming and Family/Alumni visit weekend! AKA the annual golf tournament fundraiser and the Nordie/Piner picnic with delicious chili, apples, and cookies.  A few former coaches (Zach Hudson, Mark Skildum, Mike Smith, and Kevin Cook) came down to visit  which was a treat to everyone.  The teams mingled and played a little football. Coaches Hudson, Smith, and Skildum Alumni Ladies!! Sophie and Emma :) Nordie Team Also! To all you Olaf alumni/students/parents/general population.  The awesome looking headbands we've been wearing are being sold in the bookstore.  So if you need some school spirit to wear to come cheer us on during the winter, go check them out! 

One of my former coaches taught us that to race efficiently, we have to be able to "dance" on skis. One way to learn that is through agility workouts, challenging your speed and balance skills. So yesterday we skied to a parking lot and set up an agility course with cones, and then practiced racing each other one-on-one as fast as we could. Needless to say, there were a few crashes. We timed ourselves and kept track of our improvement as the workout progressed, a way to measure whether the corners we were hitting were the best way to ski the course. The course consisted of around a minute of zigzags, weaving, off-roading, curb hopping, 180s, and jumping, then a sprint to the finish to practice the boot throw. We're getting pumped to race!! Practice starts next week with an uphill run. Homecoming is this weekend! GO OLES!! Nels was ready for some serious off-roading.  180 practice Head-to-head racing!  (Notice the gorgeous fall tree) ...

Welcome back to the hill! Captain's practice is in full swing and the workouts are gettin' done.  We've had gorgeous weather and welcome our new freshmen (Shelby, Mikki, Josephine, Liza, Graham, Nate, Leif, Sam) and transfer student, Jake!  Some of the newbies are cross country running, so I'll be posting updates about them.  We're missing our teammates (who will always be considered teammates) who are off in the world (Elise in Wyo, Emma running speedy in Minneapolis, and Sophie in Duluth), but we're looking forward to an awesome season. Here's some pics from training so far this fall. Official practice starts next week! Add caption The road out to Dundas was washed out this summer.  Ready, set, jump? Saturday morning bounding intervals  Saturday morning bounding intervals

Hey Oles and Alumni- get excited for these new t-shirts we'll be selling this fall/winter as a fundraiser! They're neon orange so the cars (and the hunters) will definitely see you while out training. Thanks to Anders Nienstaedt for the design! Only a few more weeks until we're back on the hill!!

One of our skiers, Joel Bransky, is spending the summer working and training in Bend, Oregon! Here's a little bit from him about how it's going. Good luck with summer training everyone!! This summer I’ve trained in Bend, Oregon with the Bend Endurance Academy. The program is coached by Ben Husaby, who went to the Olympics in 1992 and 1994, and who now rides his dirtbike and imparts wisdom. Among the training group are Dakota Blackhorse von-Jess, who’s skied on the World Cup, and a few NCAA qualifiers. Those guys are about a lightyear and a half ahead of me in most workouts but I hope to be quite a bit faster next year. Rollerskiing out here is pretty sweet, if you know where to go, which Ben does. The climbs are not nearly as steep as the Midwest’s but go on forever, the roads are smooth, and we get views of volcanoes and pine forests to boot. Other days we bound on purpose-made trails or do a gnarly strength and soccer session that leaves me wrecked for two days. Ou...

The 2013-2014 Race Schedule page has been updated, but here it is again.  7-Dec UP Invite 1  NMU 5/10 CL 8-Dec UP Invite 1  NMU 5/10 FS 14-Dec UP Invite 2  MTU 5/10 CL 15-Dec UP Invite 2  MTU 5/10 FS (A limited team, probably US Nationals participants, might go to one of the above weekends). 21-Dec Wausau Sprint JOQ 1.5 FS SPR 22-Dec Wausau Distance JOQ 5/10 CL (They will have an open category, so we will likely be able to take a large team.) 4-Jan US NATIONALS  DISTANCE 10/15 CL 5-Jan US NATIONALS SPRINT 1.5 FS SPR 8-Jan US NATIONALS LONG DISTANCE 20/30 FS MS (Soldier Hollow. Limited team.) 11-Jan MN College Championships 3x5 FS REL (Battle Creek or SJU. Full team.) 18-Jan Telemark Distance CCSA & JOQ 10/15 FS MS 19-Jan Telemark Distance CCSA & JOQ 5/10 CL 24-Jan CCSA Mt. Itasca Distance 5/10 CL 25-Jan Mt. Itasca Distance CCSA & JOQ 5/10 FS 26-Jan JOQ SPRINT 1.5 CL SPR (College races are Friday-Saturday. Juniors will likely ...

From the banquet last week:

Happy spring! Or Spr-inter, as some Oles are calling it.  It's May 2nd and we woke up to 8 inches of fresh wet snow. SNOW. On MAY SECOND.  Today they are grooming the Birkie trail in Hayward, Wisconsin.  I believe this is a record of some sort.  We wrapped up the season with a banquet, so announcements should be made.  Captains for the 2013-2014 season- Gretchen Mueller, Paige Schember, Nels Thompson, Joel Bransky MVPs for the 2012-2013 season- Paige Schember, Joel Bransky Matt Haugen award- Emma Lee It was an adventurous yet incredibly productive season, and I think we have our new coach Tom to thank for that. Without him, our team would have been lost. We all grew as skiers, leaders, and teammates, and successfully navigated a season with our largest team yet. The bumps in the road only provided more chances to work with one another and learn for next season.  We say goodbye to our two seniors, Emma Lee and Sophie LaFond. This is hard, becaus...