Vermont Camp Recap
Coach Caitlin here recapping our recent East Coast Summer Training Camp.
The view from our deck at the ‘View house’
We decided to change things up this year from our usual altitude camps in the West during the summer and headed East to the Green Mountain State of Vermont. A lot of thought went into why this was a great option, our biggest races this season; US Nationals, World Championships, U23’s and Junior Worlds, NCAA’s, World University Games and Junior Nationals will all be held at lower elevations and getting comfortable with speed and technical terrain was very important. We also learned about great airfare options direct into Burlington, VT thanks to Adam Terko from Mansfield Nordic Club. Add the fact that we could collaborate with Craftsbury, SMST2, the USST, US Biathlon and the U16 Camp training at Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) while we were in town and it was an obvious choice. Of course the fact that I lived in Vermont for almost 15 years and absolutely love it was another reason to bring a group of Midwest athletes to where my ski career began.
Most of Team Birkie at the Top of Camel’s Hump
Our group consisted of myself, 18 athletes from across the Midwest and my assistant coach Matt Clarke. Matt was the superstar of the camp and drove the 20+ hours, with help from Tryg, across the country transporting bikes (Mountain and Road), duffle bags, roller skis and other gear.
Colin Freed teaching the next generation of Team Birkie how to load a van full of bikes and gear for safe transport.
All Loaded and ready to roll!
We were very fortunate and aside from the first morning of training we had a dry two week block to get in our vertical goals. Our camp was mostly based out of Waitsfield, Vermont in the Mad River Valley. We spent a lot of our time climbing over the “gaps” between the mountain range and throughout the area. When we weren’t in the valley we ventured to Craftsbury and Jericho to join other athletes and ski on their (sometimes technical) rollerski loops.
CJ Young and Henry Snider work on speed and cornering at the Ethan Allen Biathlon Range in Jericho, VT. Thank you to the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club and USBA for letting us use the rollerski loop.
Team Birkie and the Craftsbury Green Racing Project after L4 Double Pole Intervals in East Craftsbury, VT. Thank you to Craftsbury for letting us join your morning session and ski on your rollerski loop in the afternoon.
If there is one thing I remember about training in Vermont when I was younger it would be the climbing. No matter what I was doing it always seemed like the climbs were long and steep. In total we climbed over 55,000 ft of elevation over the two weeks of camp. Of course what goes up must also go down, thankfully we maximized transport and riding down the chairlift to ease the eccentric loading. Everyone pushed their comfort zones and found new strength and stamina. We left camp tired but very happy.
Dirt roads for long and hilly running or gravel biking just outside our front door.
Brian leading the train up App Gap. We ended up skiing App Gap no less than 10 times during our camp!
Climbing up Sugarbush North (Mt. Ellen) and heading over to Sugarbush South (Lincoln Peak).
Renae Anderson, Erin Bianco and myself heading up App Gap during some long L-3 intervals.
Delaney FitzPatrick racing up App Gap in the time trial.
Team Birkie, SMST2, the US Ski Team and the U16 Camp all together after a tough 2X’s App Gap Time Trial!
Ready to run up and over Camel’s Hump and back to the Mad River Valley. This was a 15 mile run with over 5,000 ft of Vertical and took around 5 hours.
A huge thanks to the Green Mountain Valley School for letting us use their strength facility throughout our camp. Henri Snider and crew working.
We are in a Max strength phase so getting into the gym was important for the camp.
The strength area had everything we needed.
Lily Brown and Fran Peterson getting stronger each day.
Cooling off by swimming and Jumping at Warren Falls. Victor Sparks, Tyrg Solberg and Joe Lynch jumping together while to group watches.
Deep, cold and refreshing water. Colin loving every minute.
Team activities in the evenings included tie dye lead by my father Chris.
Matt showing off his creation
Video and technique review each night.
Team lunches on the road between training sessions.
Big team dinners every night. Morgan Richter, Heidi Mowgli, Renae Anderson, Annie Miller and Henri Snider.
Of Course we had to visit the Ben and Jerry’s Factory and take a tour :)
Back to work and hard Moosehoof and bounding intervals up Sugarbush. Lauren McCollor, Erin Bianco and Renae Anderson leading the L-3 Moosehoof interval.
Post interval relief.
Thanks to Sugarbush for the chairlift ride down.
Annie Miller leads the team in a spin workout one afternoon.
Every road said it was a steep winding mountain road!
Vermont scenery. Dirt Roads, mountains and barns.
Setting out up Lincoln Gap (steepest paved mile in the US) during our final long ride. Every athlete did at least 2 gaps and anywhere from 50-126 miles the final day. Some athletes reached over 10,000 ft of climbing this day alone.
Top of App Gap (again).
Charlie Brown giving Vermont Camp the thumbs up (tongue out).
