June 30 to July 6, 2006
Lake Placid Olympic Training Center
Compiled by NENSA Program Directors Janice Sibilia and Stuart Kremzner
The NENSA Elite Camp was held at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid June 30th — July 5th. Twenty-six of the regions top junior and senior skiers participated, along with 8 regional coaches, USST coach Pat Casey, and University of Utah’s Eli Brown, on hand to guide and educate. The OTC is one of the best places to focus on training, while having five star athlete training facilities.
The primary goals of the camp were to help the skiers learn more about training at their aerobic threshold, developing hill technique and building on their Summer fitness base.
Despite the continual threat of what has now become familiar weather, the forecasted thunderstorms and steady rain never materialized and we proceeded in a somewhat dry environment-at least from the top down. The warm weather provided a great opportunity to take advantage of the numerous lakes in the area to cool off after workouts. Games of laser tag, soccer, and name game finished off the evenings.
Day one started off with a bang as the athletes were put through a tough mobility session, working on range of motion and flexibility. While none of us threaten to replace Gumby, all got the job done and found some new areas to work on for improvement.
Athletes work through a mobility session with jumpers ascending the Lake Placid tower in the background.
This was followed by a fun plyo session led by Matt Cook ( NYSEF Nordic-Combined), after which some of the campers still had enough energy to take a quick run ( which soon became a walk and later a crawl) up to the top of the ski jump hill.
The following days consisted of lactate testing on the “E†town hill, first with classic technique, then 2 days later, skating. All went well, and despite initial reservation about getting “stuck†some of the participants even asked for more to gain a bit more history for their training regimens. The test data provided valuable information to the athletes about tagging their heart rate and perceived exertion levels to an individualized measurement of work output. All of the athletes did a great job of fine tuning their work loads to just above and just below their threshold.
Coach Margaret Maher helps Parker Tyler check lactate levels during an interval workout.
On Sunday the group drove out to White Face Mountain for a distance hike. With the advent of all the previous rain, the stream crossing were eventful, almost succeeding in taking Janice Sibilia (NENSA) for an unplanned downstream run…Short legs do not do much against a swollen stream and strong current. However, we quickly utilized a cooperative tree to help others get across with a little less excitement. The hike was challenging throwing wind, fog and steep terrain including rock scrambling at us but the clouds parted just in time to get a glimpse of the incredible views from up top.
Elise Moody-Roberts reaches the summit.
The skiers’ roller ski speed and agility were put to the test several times during the week, first with an agility course set up at the ski jumps. This was followed by several laps on the roller ski loop, where only a couple of campers had to find a quick line through the fencing to make the tight corner at the bottom of the downhill. Later in the week, the skate agility course on Bear Cub Rd provided more excitement. The skiers had a lot of fun with this one and saw their confidence grow with each time through.
A Team orienteering/balance competition heated up Tuesdays workout. The skier’s tried their hand at Pete Phillip’s (Burke) homemade balance apparatus and pull up “barsâ€.
A two hour distance double pole along the Au Sable river provided the ultimate terrain for the final camp day training session.
A big thank you to all the coaches who participated and to all the skiers who made it a fun week.
Coaches: Pete Phillips, Pat Casey, Janice Sibilia, Stuart Kremzner, Paul Stone, Amy Caldwell, Margaret Maher and Eli Brown.
Athletes: Kevin Cutts, Fritz Horst, Harry Poole, Paul Smith, Brian Pepper, Gerhard Schulte, Nick Mancuso, Zach Wetherell, Chase Marston, Patrick O'brien, Kyle Dewey, Alex Schulz, Ethan Dreissigacker, Sam Tarling, Jennie Bender, Kristin Dewey, Alice Nelson, Elise Moody-Roberts, Hannah Dreissigacker, Audrey Magnan, Sophie Caldwell, Parker Tyler, Madeleine Talkington, Megan Killigrew, Kristen Harkay, and Kristen Bednar.
