Vail - Day 5

More sunshine, more firm snow, more quality skiing!  The girls continued skiing GS this morning and again had the coaching staff saying "WOW!"  The strides they have made as a group the last few days is incredible.  Watching them ski this morning working through their individual drills was, for lack of a better word, awesome.  It was again evident that each of the girls came into Day 5 with the same great focus as the first 4 days.  As I said yesterday, it can be hard to stay motivated when you are constantly doing drills and to see this group continue to push through without any complaints is very rewarding to the coaches.  The hard work is starting to show in their skiing and we are looking forward to getting into some brushes tomorrow morning!  We have started to upload athlete video on Sprongo...although the internet here is very slow so please be patient!  Ask your daughter how you can get on and view their video.  We have reached the halfway point of our on-snow days and the girls are looking great, onto the second half!

Photo from Igor

Vail - Day 4

Fourth day in a row without a cloud in the sky.  We got on our GS skis for the first time and had another very productive morning.  The girls spent the morning making laps on the Wildwood Express continuing on our GS progression.  The coaching staff was in awe of the transition the girls made to their GS skis and then the leaps they made throughout the morning.  One of the most impressive things is the level of focus all athletes are displaying.  Drills are generally not fun but the girls are fully focused and understand why we spend so much time doing drills.  I think they are starting to feel the difference in their own skiing which in turn motivates them to continue working hard and change their skiing.  This afternoon we had the treat of seeing Bode Miller and Ted Ligety training SL, and Axsel Lund Svindal training GS.  It's not everyday that you get to see one of the worlds best skiers, let alone THREE of them in the same place!  Hayley even managed to get a hug from Svindal, unfortunately I was not there to catch that moment on camera!

More GS skiing tomorrow and it's supposed to be another beautiful day!

Vail - Day 3

We were spoiled yet again today with blue sky, warm temps, and perfect snow.  To top it off, the holiday weekend is over so it seems as though we are the only people on the mountain!  The girls worked hard this morning with 3 hours of drills earning them a free ski afternoon on their own.  After lunch, we split off and groups of athletes went their own way while the coaches did the same.  It's nice every once in a while to get some "alone" time, even if its with a group of friends, and to not have a coach talking to you for an afternoon.  We followed up skiing with a core routine and they will head to study hall at 5:00pm.

Before heading in for lunch we managed to take a full team picture as well as athlete head shots, which I will be emailing to the athletes and parents...enjoy a few pictures from today!

Vail - Day 2

First I need to put up a picture of our bus trip from Denver to Vail...

Just a bit cramped...

Now Day 2, another blue bird day with perfect snow conditions.  Athletes are continuing to work hard throughout their long days on snow.  We spent the morning skiing around the mountain before lunch.  The snow was unbelievable, total "hero snow."  All the athletes are starting to make progress and they are gaining confidence on their skis which is great to see.  Before lunch we started to work on some one-ski drills and continued with them for the entire afternoon.  You would be amazed to see the improvement from the morning one-ski drills to the afternoon drills.  It was impressive to see athletes ripping down on one-ski... some without poles!

Colleen, Molly, and Hayley

Denali, Kelsey, and Lucy

Sarah, Alita, Issy, and ??

Jamie, Neza, Sophie, and Colleen

Bess and Denali

Vail Race/Training Hill

Day 3 holds another day full of sun and fun as the athletes not only continue on a GS progression...but on their goggle tans as well!

Vail - Day 1

As I sit down to start our first Vail blog, it occurs to me that most of you are 2 hours ahead of us.  By the time I get a moment to sit down and blog, you may all be asleep!

So Day 1, spectacular!  We had a blue bird Colorado day.  For the most part, the snow conditions were ideal for our first day on snow with the exception of a few thin spots and random floaters.  We spent the morning making turns as a full team, aside from our two ailing athletes who took the morning off.  We made lap after lap around the Mid-Vail Lodge and its safe to say everyone had a huge smile throughout the morning...coaches included.  After lunch we skied in two smaller groups (formed by those who were on-time and those who were slightly late after lunch) but still continued with the same focus of fun and miles with small tidbits of technical advice.  We returned to the hotel around 3:45pm, had stretching and yoga lead by Lucy and Molly at 4:30pm, and as I finish this blog we have dinner at 6:00pm.  Needless to say it was a full day considering we started with a jog and stretching at 7:15am.  Tomorrow should be another beautiful day, enjoy the pics from today!

Last team workout before Vail

We completed the final day of our first week and a half of MMWA.  The girls put in a solid 7 straight days of working out with activities ranging from strength & core to sprints & skating.  They seem to have become a close group over these first few days and the coaching staff is excited to get things started on-snow Saturday at Vail.  The Vail trip is finally only days away with our departure on Friday!

We were in the gym again with a strength workout followed by core.  We were also able to get through a few individual schedules and will complete the rest while we are at Vail.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, next blog will be from VAIL!

Sprints and skates

What a day!  As I have said before, the girls have been working really hard and today was no different.  We were able to change things up today and get outside for a sprint workout before heading to the Waterbury Ice Center.  The girls were put through about 50 sprints of various distances and both forward and backward.  They ranged from a GS style sprint, change of pace sprint, rollover-stand up-and sprint, and finished with a series of chase sprints.  There were so many pictures to choose from but here are a few that stood out:

The ever important warm-up and dynamic stretching

If you were caught in the GS sprints...it was 10 push-ups...Sloane was caught only because she fell!

Sloane getting "caught"

Issy working her way through the GS sprints in reverse

Receiving directions for the rollover-stand up-sprint

Getting after it!

The Chase!

After the sprints, we headed to the Waterbury Ice Arena for some fun.

It was a great cool down activity and a change of pace for everyone.  It was nice to see everyone have a chance to glide around on skates, dance a bit, and enjoy some laughs.  We did manage to take some quality video of both sprinting and ice dancing...which will make it into the end of the year video!

One more day before Thanksgiving Break...

No day of rest for this group!

We are really cranking in the gym now!  The athletes are becoming well trained in Sideline Sports.  It is great to be able to have the coaching staff move about the gym helping the athletes with exercises and "checking in" with them while the go through their workout.  It is turning into a well oiled machine with the ability of producing some ripped athletes!

After our workout, we had an open discussion with Pat Quiet's wife, Alisa.  She is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, a Pilates Instructor, and a Nutritionist.

The girls were full of questions and Alisa was up to the task, adding a personal touch to each answer.  It was a very informative session for all involved.  We learned about eating like an athlete, eating small meals throughout the day, and eating some protein after a workout.  Just another piece of the pie in completing our athletes.  Thanks Alisa!

Skating tomorrow should yield some quality pictures!