Even though the calendar says autumn, it was truly a summer-like feel to the final dry-land (hopefully!) training camp of the Far West Nordic season. For the second year in a row, 14 top athletes from the division met in the Eastern Sierra for an all-too-brief weekend of high-altitude/high-intensity workouts at the Virginia Lakes Fall Training Camp.
Set in an unbelievably beautiful lakes basin at 9,600 ft. elevation, between the eastern California hamlets of Lee Vining and Bridgeport, athletes were treated to the “luxury†of staying at the Tiernan Family Cabin in order to meet, eat, and lounge without too much fear of possible inclement High Sierra weather. And unlike 2007, where campers were greeted with frigid temperatures and a dusting of early snow, this year’s edition enjoyed perfectly blue skies and warm temperatures, resulting in most campers enjoying a couple nights under the stars.
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Saturday was scheduled as the “intensity†day, so the morning found the group heading south 40 minutes to June Mountain and a grueling Skiwalking and Moosehufs session with former Olympian and 14-time National XC Champion Nancy Fiddler. Led by Nancy and coaches Jeff Schloss and Mark Nadell, athletes were put through the paces of a pyramid interval session before it was time to head to a nearby lake for lunch and recovery, and then more recovery time at the grassy park on the shores of the incomparable Mono Lake.</p>
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