TOUGHER! STRONGER! FITTER! FASTER!

Welcome to the Windham Race Factory blog! We will be posting weekend recaps every Monday providing a rundown and pictures of WRF happenings throughout the season. To receive the blog notifications via email, click "SUBSCRIBE" at the top of the page.

Here is our first entry…

TOUGHER! STRONGER! FITTER! FASTER!

The WRF Fall Weekend kicked off in style with an amazing opportunity for our athletes. Caroline Mutter was the catalyst to have Olympian Doug Lewis, founder of ELITEAM, come to Windham to run our athletes through a one-day dryland clinic. Doug has created a dryland camp/clinic empire and we were fortunate enough to have him at Windham to show us what it truly means to be, “Tougher! Stronger! Fitter! Faster!” Doug's passion for ski racing and working with young athletes is extremely evident in the way he runs the clinic. For those of you who were here to witness him work, I am sure you will agree that his energy is second to none! The athletes were put through a variety of exercises and challenges throughout the day and, by all accounts, our athletes were exhausted by the time they got home.

Legend - Doug Lewis

Pre-sweat group photo

The morning session consisted of a dynamic warm-up to get the blood flowing. Doug ran the athletes through dynamic stretching and coordination drills where he had everyone (including the coaches) sweating in no time! After properly warming up, it was time for a grueling circuit routine of 12 exercises ranging from choice core, tricep dips, push-ups, fast feet, jump rope, box jumps and more. The athletes were broken into small groups and they moved around the circuit for two full rotations around the circuit; 30 seconds of work, then 30 seconds of rest/move to the next exercise. After the circuit, the athletes were tasked with some mental training. The camp was split into two large groups with one group working on a team numbers memorization game where they each were assigned a number to step on inside a circle. Athletes were assigned numbers and had to run through the circle stepping on the number spot they were assigned. Doug would time them and they were constantly trying to better each time. The second group was broken down into three smaller teams where they competed in a trinket memorization game. Pods of two from each team would run to the table where they were responsible for remembering a certain number of trinkets to then report back to their group scribe. From there, we transitioned to lunch where Windham Mountain Resort provided a great box lunch for the athletes, coaches and volunteers.

After lunch, we went inside for some sports psychology with Doug and learned a bit about his experiences. One of the most shocking parts was his recount of his first World Cup DH at the age of 17 and weighing in at a mere 135lbs! He showed us his bronze medal DH run in the 1985 World Championships in Bormio. Doug then transitioned into a fantastic Skype interview with US Ski Team member and former Windham athlete, Tommy Biesemeyer! After asking a few questions to get the interview going, Doug opened it up to the current Windham athletes and they had the opportunity to get some face time with Tommy and ask him some questions.  Some of the highlights included how important his youth racing days were at Windham and around NYSSRA,  “those years were the best. Hanging out with friends, having fun at races and getting to have states at Windham on Why Not, was the best!” He also talked about his injuries and what it takes to return from repeated injuries. His most recent injury occurred while training the day before the Olympic Downhill. “I went from the highest high to the lowest low in a matter of 30 seconds.” He urged the athletes that if they end up with having to comeback from injury, the first step is, “accepting it and allowing yourself to be upset at the same time. I had to hit rock bottom before I could begin the rehab process.” He talked about the importance of setting short-term goals to get to the long-term goal.  “Often times we get too focused on the long term goals and its hard to stay patient. Set attainable short term goals and respect the process it takes to complete them.” When asked what motivates him to continue to work so hard despite the injuries (he’s had 10 surgeries: shoulder, back, jaw, both knees, Achilles, hand), his answer was simple, “Self-belief. I believe I can win at the highest level.” He left us with these final thoughts when asked by Doug, “what would you tell 12 year old Tommy if you could go back in time?” Tommy said he would tell himself, “Push yourself. Be competitive. It’s ok to want to win and it’s ok to not win. Be humble. Most importantly, thank your parents for all their support.” He expressed how he knows he didn’t do that enough as a young skier and all of our athletes should appreciate the sacrifices their parents make to keep them involved in this great sport. All of the athletes wished Tommy the best for his upcoming return to the World Cup in November – we’ll be watching! Tommy will be in Windham January 1^st through January 3^rd skiing and training. He will be spending time with our athletes on and off the hill and we can’t wait to have him home!

Good luck, Tommy!

After the great talk with Tommy, we headed back outside for more training with Doug. The athletes had three courses they worked on during the afternoon – two for speed and one for perfection. The first course for speed was an obstacle course that included everything from hurdles, to hay bales and bamboo SL, to an army crawl under a spider web of rope. Everyone was pushing their limits in the course while trying to be the fastest team. The second course for speed was the quick feet SL down a steep hill. Athletes had to find the quickest way though the tight gates while moving from foot to foot (outside ski to outside ski!). The course for perfection included many different challenges; hurdles in a variety of directions, different colored rings that meant right or left foot, or both feet, a slack line balance test on one foot, and ladder drills.

Shot of the day!

Amazingly enough, we weren’t done there! Doug took the athletes to the mountain where they hiked half way to the Wheelhouse, but in true ELITEAM fashion, it was not your ordinary hike. The athletes had to drop into their tuck at multiple locations and perform tuck jumps and backwards tuck walks up the hill. This was a great way for the athletes to see how deep they can dig when fatigue is setting in!

One final group picture at the top of the hike. I think there are some tired bodies in there!

The final piece of the ELITEAM clinic was a question and answer portion with Doug after watching his forerunning video from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Not only was he forerunning but he was live reporting the entire run! Talking about the upcoming turns, jumps, traverses, and forces he was feeling – live while forerunning! The man is a machine. We can’t thank him enough for coming to Windham and putting together such an action packed day. We hope to have him back this winter for a day on snow with us and without a doubt we want him back next fall! Special thanks to all the WRF parents and coaches who volunteered throughout the day to help coach and keep our athletes safe as they progressed through the clinic!

After the conclusion of the clinic, we had our Fall Weekend Potluck Dinner on the patio in front of the lodge. A huge thank you goes out to Laurie Barlev for taking on the task of organizing the potluck! She organized families to make sure we had the right amount of food options, drinks, and dessert! Thank you to all the parents who supplied the great options for the potluck – it was a great success!

Look at that spread of food!

We wrapped up the day with a trip to Windham Mountain Sports where Kate Cohane had reps from Stockli, Lange, Rossi, Fischer, Volkl, Nordica and Atomic with equipment for our athletes to get properly sized. Properly fitted equipment is vital as we head into the season. Equipment is a controllable variable and it was great to see so many WRF athletes taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to the reps, receive guidance from a coach, and make an educated decision on the 2018-19 equipment! Thank you to Kate Cohane for putting together such a great opportunity for our program!

On Sunday, WRF took on the mountain and hiked to the top! We could’ve taken the easy way and walked up the work road, but the athletes and a bunch of brave parents decided the best way to continue the theme of, “Tougher! Stronger! Fitter! Faster!” was to go straight up the mountain! They surprised themselves when they made up in about 50 minutes! We had a group talk at the top about yesterday’s clinic and the importance of coming into the season, in-shape. The hike up the mountain was a great example of what can be done in under an hour! Our athletes will be heading into the remainder of the fall, all with a better sense of what it takes to get physically and mentally prepared for the ski season!

On a personal note, thank you for being such a welcoming community! This weekend gave me the opportunity to meet many new faces and every interaction made me feel exactly what I was hoping to feel – part of a great community. It reinforced the how fortunate I feel to have the opportunity to lead this great program and help the athletes, coaches, parents, and the Windham ski racing community continue to grow. I am looking forward to this season and the years to come. Thank you!

Winter is coming!

Topher

PS ~ I take full credit for the weather over the weekend.