Getting to Know the 'New' Race Trails

The layout of our racing trails at Birch Hill has undergone some subtle yet significant changes over the past couple of years after a good 4 or 5 (or maybe 10?) years of pretty common routes and trail combinations.  With the coming Junior Nationals in Fairbanks, we intend to know these trails inside and out.  The dryland season is just as valuable and perhaps even more valuable for learning the subtleties of the courses, as the variety of activities (bounding, ski-walking, running) can give us another lens to learn the pitches, lengths and relationships of the various climbs. 

This morning we did a steady 5-10km L3 run on the trails which took between 25 and 55 minutes for athletes to complete.  The courses were tough, in particular some of the downhill sections seemed to take a bit of a toll on the legs (note to self for next time), but hopefully it was also a valuable piece of information which the athletes can use to their advantage come winter. 

Tom carves the new top of White Bear 'A' Climb that brings racers in the Mass Start 5km course up to stadium level with about 1.5 km to go.

Liza, Skeeto and Helen lead the ladies up South Tower

Jewel rounds the penultimate turn on S. Tower

Vanya put Chris through the paces

Up to the sprint wall for the boys

Helen was running really well today

True dat.