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Archive for October, 2009

Sunday Rollerski in New Berlin, WI

Posted: Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Chad, Doug, Thomas, and Bryan by the cars after skiing 3.5 hours plus "Extra Credit" hill.

I had lived less than 20 minutes away from New Berlin, WI, for the majority of my life, and I never once roller skied there. Last Sunday, my brother Thomas took Bryan and me to meet a group of his ski friends for their usual 3+ hour Sunday ski in New Berlin, WI, which is just South of my hometown, Waukesha. The course was about 52K of hilly terrain that is very similar to the Birkie. After about one hour of skiing, I realized that the pace was going to be similar to the Birkie for me as well. The ski took us about 3.5 hours and it was way faster than I normally try to go for an over distance ski. Fortunately, I did not have my heart rate monitor on nagging me to slow down. I had fun going a little faster than the norm, but I will be sure to take it real easy during my distance training this week. I had a blast skiing with my brother and his Waukesha crowd. These guys have some excellent hills to train on, and I wish I would have known they were there in high school.

Posted in Maria Stuber | No Comments »

Bergkönig Trail Run a Success

Posted: Sunday, October 18th, 2009

The 2009 Bergkönig Trail Run went off without a hitch. The weather was marvelous and the participants were too. Thank you to everyone who came out to run, walk, ski or spectate. View the results HERE.

This race was unique because of the extreme difficulty of the course. We spent a lot of time squeezing as many hills as possible into each mile at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield, WI. Unfortunately, the estimated distance was a little off and the course was slightly long (5.9 miles instead of the estimated 5.0). Next year we will be sure to have two course options: maybe a 3 mile and a 6 mile.

Men's Winner, Scott Mueller, 37:21

2nd and 3rd place on the home stretch, Erik Teig and Chad Tolbert, Respectively

Women's Winner, Renee Schaefer, 53:42

Finish Area

Margaret Layo and Lori Trader smiling at the finish

Carrie Furry and Josh Mundt charging hard

John MaCarthy checking his watch at the finish line

It was a relatively small race, but good sized for the first year with 64 people registered. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped make this race possible especially my little brother, Thomas, who was a gigantic help. He lives in Waukesha now and he helped me do all the things that I could not do from out of town. Mike and Jane Mandli, Sean Becker, Josh North, Mike Eckert, Yuriy Gusev, Bryan Cook, Jenny Melville, Scott Olsen, and Ben Lund were my race day volunteer force. They devoted their whole day to this event and it would not have been possible without their effort and organization on race day. Also, Shane Mundt of MundtArts did a wonderful job designing the Bergkönig Race Website and logo. He donated this to the cause and his handy work is greatly appreciated.

I’d also like to say a big thank you to all the local businesses and organizations that contributed to this event: 10 Feet Back, 4imprint, Salomon, PowerBar (courtesy of PowerBar athlete Chris Cook), Wheel and Sprocket, InStep, Great Harvest Bread Co., Bicycle Doctor, WIN Racing, MundtArts, Be Fitness, Brennan’s Market, CXC Skiing, Pick’n Save, West Wood Health and Fitness Center, Stone Creek Coffee, and Starbucks Coffee.

It feels great to have planned my first big event. I had fun learning the in’s and out’s of event planning and hopefully I can do an even better job on this race in the future.

Posted in Clinics | No Comments »

Lake Placid

Posted: Monday, October 12th, 2009

Well, we made it back from our last camp in Lake Placid, NY without any problems. We were able to do some pretty intense workouts on some serious hills which is always nice at this time of year. We did all of our intervals uphill and took advantage of the OTC’s recovery center almost everyday. They have a great ice tub, that is filled with around 50 degree water and can hold up to 6 people at once.

As always, the second week of camp ended with the infamous Whiteface Rollerski race on Wednesday. This race is about 5 miles of straight uphill skating with an average grade of around 8%. This makes it very similar to a road bike race where you have to pace yourself right at the redline without going over because there is no recovery. The race went much better for me this year as opposed to last year, which made me happy. The U.S. Nordic Combined team was in town for the race, and they used their race rollerskis to get ready for their national championship races they had later in the week. Needless to say, they put the hurt on all of us using our Marwe rollerskis.

We then drove back to Marquette in time for the NMU cross-country running race where NMU’s Jenny Wiedmeyer pulled away to a convincing win in the 5km. The men’s nordic team fared pretty well in the 7.5km as well.

Then Maria, Gus, and I celebrated the 40th NMU Ski Team reunion on Saturday night at Marquette Mountain. There was a great turnout and the band was awesome. It was really fun to hear how the team started and all the stories from year’s past. It was also great to reconnect with some of my past teammates that I have not seen in years.

To finish out the week I raced the UP Cross race on Sunday at the Fit Strip here in Marquette. I think the week had finally caught up with me because I did not have the legs to stay with the leaders. I managed to sneak into the top ten despite rolling on a single speed, 69er courtesy of Rick Bagley at the Sports Rack. I really could have used a few more gears on the high speed course.

Tight finish of the UP Cross race on Sunday.

Posted in Bryan Cook | No Comments »

Lake Placid Photo Set

Posted: Monday, October 5th, 2009

Lindsey Dehlin on an awesome rollerski after the clinic Saturday

View from the top of the 120m ski jump

Gus Kaeding leads the group in stretching

Skate Intervals (Brian Gregg, Matt Liebsch, Garrott Kuzzy, Bryan Cook, Karl Nygren, Gus Kaeding)

CXC Boy's team (6x5min L-4 uphill skate intervals)

Classic Threshold Intervals (Kelly Chaudoin, Matt Liebsch, Brian Gregg & Garrott Kuzzy)

CXC Ladies (5x9min L-3 uphill classic intervals)

Creek cross ascending Whiteface Mountain (Bryan Cook)

Bryan Cook, distance run up Whiteface Mountain

Atop the Whiteface Alpine Lifts (Karl Nygren, Brian Gregg, Matt Liebsch & Bryan Cook)

Boys team on top of Whiteface Mountain

(Happy to be done after a longer than expected run)

Brooke, Kelly, Audrey, and Igor looking very tired

Skate Intervals (Kristina Owen, Kelly Chaudoin, Maria Stuber & Audrey Weber)

Ladies Team, L-4 uphill skate intervals

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Lake Placid Ski Clinic

Posted: Sunday, October 4th, 2009

On Saturday, Lindsey Dehlin and I conducted a ski clinic for a group of female skiers in the Lake Placid area. This was a mixed group of experienced and novice skiers. All of the women who attended were very enthusiastic and excited to improve their skiing technique. We did all dry-land work, both classic and skate technique. Surprisingly, most skiers at the clinic preferred to classic ski instead of skate. This is very unusual in the recreational skiing world these days, but it was a refreshing change.

Thank you very much to Elizabeth Trachte who did most of the organizing for the clinic. She is a Lake Placid skier with Wisconsin roots. I met Elizabeth through my Ski and Tea connections so I owe them a big thank you as well.