Two (and one) Down.

September 13, 2015 Torin La Liberté

So I was gonna do a recap of preseason, but I never got around to it. My Bad. So here is a little of that, plus a triple race report!

So, to kick off preseason, I decided to try my hand at a 7km trail race at Great Glen Trails as a benefit to my friend and Olympic Biathlete Sean Doherty. It was a good mix of single-track and wide trail, and it was a decent field for a bunch of local runners.

Up and over the bridge! Photo by Meg Skidmore.

The course started with about 200m of wide trail before dropping into the first bit of ST, and had quite a few technical pieces to it, but was still a blast! I ended up first overall (second if you count Sean, who raced as a bandit) in 28:36, and came home/went to school with a sweet new 'Adidas Climatube"

Right behind Sean! Photo by Meg Skidmore.

Following that race, I drove with my dad back to Winooski Park for preseason running camp, which was pretty much the same as last year, but with a few new faces from the seven first-time runners we picked up this season.

After camp, classes started, then that Saturday we had or first race of the season. This is the third time we have run the Shacklette Invitational at St. Anselm College, and it the best we have run as a team to date. The race started out rather slow for this meet, with the leaders going out rather conservatively for the first 5k.

Somewhere around 5k. Photo by Coach Joe Connelly.

After that, though, they picked it up, as did everyone else in chase. For SMCXC, I led the team to 8th place out of 9, with a 41st place finish overall. Our next three (Liam, Ross, and David) were within 15 seconds of me, all above 50th place.

200m to go. Photo by Coach Joe Connelly.

It was a good team effort, and the rest of the top 4 for us were all in their first college race!

Yesterday was the Vermont Technical College Invitational, but this year on a new course. Things went out a little fast (my bad, again), but as a team we were able to hang on and win the overall, with Ross placing third, myself fourth (30:03), Liam sixth, and David seventh.

Fast start. Photo by Vermont XC

This edition of the course started the same as always, with a fast first mile followed by a killer downhill into a cow field. But we then climbed into this campground, which added even more climbing on the loop in there. Also, the course measured long by a bit. But anyways, it was a great race!

I am in much more pain here than the smile says. Photo by Vermont XC

This coming weekend the team has a double effort (at least the nordic guys do), with the Sleepy Hollow TT, followed by our first team appearance at the NYSEF Climb to the Castle!

Another Season Down

April 8, 2015 Torin La Liberté

This was a huge season for me. I made some big leaps towards where I want to be with my skiing, and found even more things to work on and look forward to for next year.

We left off after the Middlebury Carnival and Cheri Walsh races, my last 3-peat weekend for a while. From there, myself and the team packed up and went west, back to my former home of Lake Placid, NY for the Saint Lawrence Carnival.

This year, the SLU Carnival played host to the EISA Championships, as well as being the NCAA Preview for those who qualified.

The weekend kicked off with a 10km Skate for the men, held on the notorious 1980 Olympic Trail "Ladies 5k." This course features a twisting 1.5km downhill, with athletes reaching speeds of 60km/hr, only after a 3.5km long climb, with a total climb of around 180m. Per lap.

This day was not my day to crack the top-40, but I was not far out. I placed 44th overall, but was only a minute out of 30th, 90 seconds to 21st. So even though the place wasn't there, the pack was so close for this one it was exciting.

Saturday, on the other hand, did not go so well. It was a 20km Classic Mass Start on the same course, and the field got really spread out. After being caught up in a crash right off the start, I played catch-up for the rest of the race, but to no avail. The adrenaline wore off after a couple of laps, and I just fought to bring it home. I ended up closing my collegiate season with a 55th place finish on what is by far the hardest course I've raced.

The next day was the Lake Placid Loppet, and though I was not racing, I still ended up skiing more than some of the racers. I stayed in LP with Silke to be her wax test/moral support as she tackled her longest race to-date, a 50km Classic.

She survived! And won a huge amount of maple syrup for being first in her age group!

And because one marathon is never enough, the following weekend, the two of us travelled to Bretton Woods for the Bretton Woods Nordic Marathon, my first long race. It was a fun race, and at the end of 42km, I was in 34th place. It was nice to be able to have a race that I could just kick it into one gear and go for a while (2:20:11.1), and not have to worry about splits or making a move, I had plenty of time.

But the season wasn't over yet! Before spring break took hold, I jumped into the 2nd annual Cochran's NordiCross Race in Huntington, VT. Last year they didn't have me in the results, so I made myself known this year.

This year I came in second overall, first in my age group, was the first collegiate skier by almost a minute and a half, and walked away with two wax irons, some chocolate, and was one of only three people to break the 10 minute barrier on this years course.

It was a good year.

I have decided to forgo this years collegiate cycling season due to something called academics and choosing to take spring training easy.

Here's to the next time.

.tl

I finally have material

July 22, 2014 Torin La Liberté

Alright, there really hasn't been that much to post about lately. A lot of training + no easily accessible camera makes for few posts.

It has been a little while, but I have been doing some stuff!