Prep/Comp Update
Summer training has been amazing this year! This summer we have seen our largest training group yet, with over 20 athletes attending practice almost every session. The commitment of all the athletes to Nordic training has been impressive, especially considering that most athletes have summer jobs and family commitments. We have had some awesome workouts, including 50k double poles, bounding intervals up Snow King, track interval workouts, running around Jenny Lake, climbing Cache Peak, and many more! Our training group this summer spans the entire age range and includes college athletes, graduating seniors headed to college this year, high school skiers, and middle school athletes learning the ropes of summer dryland. The energy has been very positive and the group dynamic is extremely supportive, with lots of strong athletes doing tons of good work across the board. Our strength truly lies in numbers, and it has been a very special summer to be training with JHSC Nordic!
Bozeman Training Camp
The JHSC Comp team took off last week and had an amazing week long training camp in Bozeman, MT, in advance of the Jim Bridger Rollerski and Running races, which featured athletes from Bozeman, Sun Valley, Park City, and our crew in Jackson. In advance of the races, we camped up Hyalite Canyon outside of town and put in some quality training with the Park City team. This included rollerskiing up Hyalite Canyon, running to the top of Blackmore Peak, running on the trails of Crosscut, and doing some rollerski speeds around town. The weather was hot ,and every workout included an obligatory swim in either Hyalite Reservoir or the Gallatin River! The week was capped with a skate rollerski race and a trail running race against some strong athletes from around the region. Our very own Nate Streubel won the U16 category in the rollerski race and everybody had great running and rollerski performances. It is always great to put on a bib and compete in the summer, especially on rollerskis!
Western Region US Ski Team U16 Camp
In the middle of July, three JHSC athletes had an amazing Nordic training experience! Lena Poduska, Nate Streubel, and Lucas Wilmot qualified for Western U16 Camp based on their results at Junior Nationals this year. This training camp is run by the US Ski Team as a development opportunity for elite U16 athletes to train hard with other strong skiers, make friends, and have a fun time somewhere away from home. The athletes went to Copper Mountain, Colorado, and trained with the 25 fastest athletes from Alaska, California, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado. The three JHSC athletes got to do an uphill running time trial, hike a big peak in the Colorado Rockies, and participate in a 150 meter knockout skate rollerski sprint. Participation in this camp is a huge honor, and these three athletes worked extremely hard to qualify and compete there. Congrats!
Junior Summer Training
This summer has seen the first time we offered rollerskiing and running training for middle school athletes from our Junior Team in the summer! 7 Junior Team athletes have been attending practices, where we work on skate rollerski skills, building endurance with trail runs, and getting an introduction to classic rollerski technique.
Skiers are made in the summer, and these athletes will take these skills into the fall and winter. JHSC recently purchased a fleet of 20 pairs of skate rollerskis specifically for the Junior Team, which will enable all U12 and U14 athletes in the middle-school Junior Team to start working on technique months earlier than in the past, and to diversify the range of training that athletes can do during Fall Dryland. Technique training and time on rollerskis are essential for the U14 age group to learn how to ski. With summer training and the new fleet of rollerskis, their ski-specific training period is extended by 2-5 months! We all are looking forward to seeing what the winter brings for these athletes!
