Lary Writes a Blog Post

Mi padre is a fabulous man. He is also one of my coaches. Not everyone realizes this probably because I call him Lary more often than I call him dad. People have mixed reactions when I share this information. Sometimes I get, "Oh that's great you get to spend so much time with him!" Other times it's more like, "Doesn't that kind of suck to see your parents 24/7 while you're in college?" The correct answer is more the the first remark. My dear old dad and I are more alike than either of us would like to admit, which makes it easy to spend so much time together.

He also likes to blog. Kind of. Every so often I get an email containing a post that I then have to edit and put on the team blog. I really enjoyed the latest one, so unbeknownst to him he is going to be a guest blogger on my ever popular bloggity that is probably read by the same people that read the team blog anyway. (This isn't laziness. I swear I will get a UNH carnival post up here later.)

So here he is, the great Lary Martell:

We're rolling into February in a snow challanged winter! The walk across campus has been easy. Warm days and a lack of the huge snow banks to crawl over has made it simple for the team to get to the ski room and into the vans.  The talk at the early Eastern Cup races and carnivals is all about the difficult snow year.... 

But not so fast! The SMC gang, it seems, has had no problem finding the white stuff.  From long over-distance days on the rolling terrain at Craftsbury to mid-winter conditions at Trapps to interval training at The Range, the Purple Gang has not missed a beat.  It seems that it is good to be a nordic skier in Northern Vermont. 

The season is well underway and the Big Purple is getting fit and looking foward to another great weekend of skiing at Trapps in the UVM Carnaval and Eastern Cup races.  We'll see you there!

-Lary

Last minute decision to join the race!
Big Purple was PUMPED!

Off he goes! Just look at that form!

Nice work, Lar!

Bates Carnival

One down and five to go. Driving back from Rumford, ME we couldn't believe we had just finished our first carnival weekend. They go by so fast.

Isaiah in the 10k

Friday's race was an individual start 5k skate (10k for the guys.) The course was pretty fast even after the few inches of snow that fell the night before. My usual struggle has been with my skate technique and, while I've been working on it a lot and am feeling better about it, the usual problems occurred. No glide in my V1, just short and choppy. Head bobbing side to side. Ugly. The race was not what I wanted, but there are five more weeks to make improvement. At least I know what to focus on in practice every day.

Me and my dad (in his cute coach's bib) watching the 10k

Photo credit: Connor Hunt

Saturday's mass start 10k classic was a little better. I feel like I lacked the confidence I needed to move up to where I should have been, but once I settled in farther back I raced fairly well with the help of my dad running around the course shouting at me to go hard over the top or put in a few fast strides on the next section. Being in the group ahead of me would have made me feel better about the race, but I passed, held off, and eventually dropped a group of three girls in the course of the 10k, so I'm pleased about that outcome.

The lead pack coming up the hill in the 10k classic

It was really nice to be back in the swing of things. The team is getting along really well and we have a lot of fun. I've happily taken it upon myself to be sure we look good with our hair ribbons and sparkly stickers for each race. The girls are really close this year and we have a lot of fun with our ridiculous nicknames, inside jokes, and constant singing. It's nice that even when I have a bad race I know I won't be in a bad mood once every thing's over and I'm back in the van with the team.

Emery, Balls, and I

It's only Monday, but I already feel like the week is flying by. I have so much to do before we leave for Jackson, NH on Thursday. Wish us luck as we take on classic sprints and a 15k skate!

Ski Team Endeavors in the First Week of Class

I may or may not have just posted this on the Nordic Ski Team Blog, but I figured I'd throw it up here since it includes a story from my week. Plus, it could be a good lesson. Sometimes things don't go according to plan and your intervals get completely messed up and end up non-existent. Even when this happens you can at least look at is as semi-entertaining. Optimism?

Anyway, enough late night rambling...here's the post:

We have a Facebook page! This is going to be short and sweet because it is late and we leave for Rumford tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure it got on the blog before the weekend. This is a new thing for the team and I'm going to see if maybe when I have service/wifi at carnivals I can post results and whatnot to the page before they're online (although the EISA is usually pretty speedy.)

The boys (and Gabby) give the van a little push

An exciting adventure the team had this week was when we attempted to get in some intervals on Tuesday. We went up the the Range in Jericho only to find that the road leading up to the biathlon range was a little icy. And by a little icy I mean a complete ice rink that was nearly impossible to even try to walk on. We got part way up the hill in the van only to have my dad maneuver us carefully into a driveway. After getting slightly stuck for just a minute we unpacked our skis and began to walk up the ice covered hill. On the walk up we encountered a school bus in a snowbank, a woman in a Subaru that gave my dad the keys and let him do the driving, a fishtailing, skidding van, and, finally, a dirt truck that came to everyone's rescue. (I'm clearly not an English major, so those of you who are into that kind of thing...you know...literacy...please don't judge me for the hardcore overkill of commas in that last sentence.)

High fives for getting the van out of the snowbank

Pumped for the arrival of the dirt truck

We made it to the top and the skiing was still good, but unfortunately just before we really got rolling the National Guard decided to call it quits and shut down the operation. While our workout was less than desirable we got to ski the Range and test out potential interval loops for the following weeks.

Big Purple leaves tomorrow at noon for the Bates Carnival at Black Mountain! I made the girls purple and yellow hair ribbons earlier in the evening so we're officially ready for the race season to begin!

Make sure to check out and like our Facebook page and wish us luck!

Nordic Ski Team Winter Camp

I'm alive, I swear! I haven't posted in far too long. After Christmas I got incredibly sick and after spending far too many hours on the couch watching chick flicks and drinking orange juice I was back at it with skiing. There was next to no snow in Vermont, but I was able to find it here or there.

All packed up...for two days.
We may have overpacked...

A week and a half ago my dad and I packed up my car and headed to Rumford, Maine for Nationals to watch my brother and various others. While there was little snow elsewhere Black Mountain did a really good job keeping the course well covered and well groomed.

Last Thursday I made it back to campus where I've been staying with the ski team since then. Our schedule hasn't been all too complicated. It looks a little something like this:

8:15 - Drag myself out of bed, go downstairs and decide what to wear from my floor closet where I put everything out to dry the night before, and eat breakfast
9:00 - Head to Trapps
10:00 - First ski of the day. Sometimes intervals depending on the day.
12:00 - Lunch. PB&J. Every. Single. Day.
1:30 - Second ski.
3:00 - Back in the van, back to school
4:15 - Big man nap, waxing skis
6:15ish - Dinner with the team at Bear's house
10:00 - Bed time

Emery and Colin playing Checkers in the lodge.

We've been having a great time skiing and there has been more and more snow as the week goes on, but I'm EXHAUSTED. I basically spend all of my free time zoning out in front of the TV or sleeping. Plus, my house is an absolute disaster. My roommates come home this weekend and they're going to KILL me! While the other three girls of 309 coming home means I have to clean, I am excited for the spring semester to start up and to have everyone back on campus!

Things are about to get really crazy with skiing. When classes start we have six weeks straight of carnival racing. I'll keep the blog updated and, maybe, write about other things like life at SMC. But for the next six weeks I won't really have one of those so get ready for some skiing posts. It's my last season and I'm going to be making the best of it!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...April?

We were so close to not having a white Christmas here in Vermont. Thank goodness it snowed a few days before. It's still not much, but it's better than what we had which was...nothing. It was warm and kind of rainy. I think Vermont forgot it was December.

Because of the lack of snow for days upon days there really wasn't much as far as the whole skiing game goes. This lead to my multiple hour-hour and a half drives to Craftsbury to ski around a 1.5k loop. When all was said and done I skied for five hours in three days on that sucker. It got so old it's unreal.

Now that it's snowed we've got a few more options. Trapp's has around 15k, Sleepy has about 5k, Craftsbury has 10+k. There's talk of a storm coming (maybe? cross your fingers) tomorrow so perhaps this will be just what we need!

But enough of this ski talk! Based on my Twitter feed many of my classmates had wonderful Christmases, but are now ready to head back to our lovely SMC! I am one of many. I go back shortly after New Years for winter camp with Big Purple, so I'm a little luckier than most.

The Martell-Crawford/(Lary) Martell cousins on Christmas Eve
Eli, Evan (my brother), Cylas, Phoebe, me

That is my short and sweet life update. Life at home can be pretty boring. Mine especially since it's been consumed with driving to ski, which when going so far away can take pretty much your entire day. Once we hit New Years life will be going non-stop with skiing and I'll have no lack of Big Purple racing posts and pictures during the carnival season.

I hope everyone had the happiest of holidays and enjoys a fabulous New Year!

Phoebe, Uncle Pat, Aunt Becky, and I

Race Day

Gorgeous tracks on Saturday

This weekend was the first race weekend of the season. We haven't started the carnival season yet, but the  first Eastern Cup (the races put on by NENSA, the New England Nordic Ski Association) was this weekend. While there is absolutely no snow anywhere in the east, Craftsbury managed to pull together an phenomenal 1.4k race loop.

The first day consisted of a 1.4k classic sprint and a 3k classic prologue. Can't say I'm much of a sprinter, but it felt good to be in a solid set of tracks for the first time all season. The course was hard and fast and my lungs were absolutely burning. I didn't do as well as I hoped, but we've been doing a lot of long intervals, which isn't exactly too helpful for short distances. It's still early and it was good to get some starts in.

The fam after the classic races

My brother during the skate race today

The second day, today, was a ~5k skate race for women, ~10k for men. Again, it was hard, fast, and brutal. I worked hard and accomplished what I had hoped to, which was to ski more smoothly up the hills.

It's still very early in the season and I'm looking forward to a good winter break of training. Hopefully we'll get snow soon ANYWHERE in New England. I'm ready and willing to drive to snow wherever it falls. At the very least let's hope for a white Christmas!

Gabby and I being in love

First Snow of the Season

Wednesday morning of Thanksgiving break I woke up to a solid amount of snow outside. I had expected a dusting, but actual coverage was really nice to see. I had two of my teammates, Sam and Gabby, with the fam for the week since they live too far to go home for just a few days and they were equally as excited.

Craftsbury Thanksgiving morning

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent at Craftsbury Nordic Center on actual snow. Thursday was almost as good as real, middle of the season skiing. They had a solid number of k's open so that we really didn't use the same trails twice. Friday morning brought some warmer temperatures and slightly less snow, but we were able to get solid intervals in during the morning and a good ski in during the afternoon. Members of the team trickled in one by one and we were back on campus Friday night.

Saturday afternoon

Saturday was a little more iffy as far as the conditions were concerned. We still managed to get two skis in but things were a liiiiiittle dicy by Saturday afternoon. It took some trudging through a little grass and water to get from certain trails to others. Anything for early season snow.

By the end of the weekend the snow was pretty much gone and a good portion of the team was back on campus. Six of us did a great 2 1/2 hour classic rollerski wearing t-shirts...in NOVEMBER. The weather is definitely unpredictable.

At this point it's 63 degrees on campus and overcast. It's not looking like the temps are dropping much below 40 degrees (if at all) for the next couple of days. The couple of days we had on snow only made us want more. Hopefully Vermont can figure itself out pretty soon and we'll get some snow that'll stick for a while.

New Snow Friends

Today was an easy and GORGEOUS ski at Sleepy Hollow, which is one of our regular ski spots during the week. It was what I definitely consider a perfect Vermont winter afternoon. A little chilly, but LOTS of sun.

Now that we've seen lots of wildlife (Herman the porcupine and the handful of deer) and have never gotten pics I've started keeping my camera in my pocket while I ski. I took advantage of the easy day and ended up with some sweet pics.

Kat and Rizzle do some no pole work into the sunset

Star Wars themed running/biking trails are a personal favorite

While adventuring Big Purple made a new snow friend, Marvin the Turtle.

Playing with Marv

We decided to take Marv for a little ski down to the lodge, which turned into a core workout for the three of us. We traded off and eventually made it all the way from the end of Zig Zag on Ridge Road, which, for those of you who don't know, is a REALLY long way to carry a heavy chunk of snowturtle.

Eventually we said goodbye to Marvin, left him with the giant snowman and continued our ski.

All in all it was a great ski at Sleepy. I'm off to shovel out my car and then continue doing far too much homework. We're Hanover-bound tomorrow for the Dartmouth carnival, which is always concluded with "Carni Crush" valentine exchanges. Definitely something you'll be hearing about here later on.