CANADA

Like Maddy said, we couldn't have been more excited to ski on Sunday morning. It was so amazing to get back on snow and get all the kinks worked out from those 8 months (or 5 if you're Max) of not being on snow. Everyone seemed to have a permanent smile on their face as they skied around and around for a little over an hour. The skiing has been absolutely incredible. The first three days we were on a 2k loop, but luckily, we got about 10 inches of snow on Wednesday and Foret groomed out over 20k!

Not too bad for November!

Of course, Thanksgiving dinner was incredibly delicious. The girls joined in on Movember (see the photo below), we had a White Elephant with gifts including a stroll with Wade Rosko, a 30 minute back massage from Filly, a back scratcher (don't get Gracie started on it), a questionable Christmas tree, and a pair of size 13 cleats; the last two were both found in a Foret dumpster.

Happy Movember from that Bates Women's Team

Tomorrow we're doing a 5k/10k skate "mini-carnival" with all of the other teams that are up here. After that, we're heading back to Lewiston for a day to settle back into everything before classes start again on Monday. We have one week of classes, a week of finals, and then we're back on break in exactly two weeks!! A short amount of time to get a lot of work done, but we'll make it!

Happy skiers: Jane, Nate, Connor, and Hallie

We somehow fit 27 of us in here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo Sadie

thankfuls

Happy Thanksgiving! -tara

Thanksgiving is a special time

one that I believe deserves a rhyme

Though I don’t care for the holidays, not really at all,

this day is one of my favorites of the fall.

I feel so very blessed to be here with you all.

I think we’re all excited for the changing of seasons,

but snow or no snow, I’m thankful for the following reasons:

That calming presence reminding you everything’s going to be OK,

you look around, wondering, and realize it’s J

Filly seems to always put things into perspective

and the look on his face during lost valley is when Sean’s drive is reflected

Connor will tell you about supply and demand,

and Nick removes stress and tension with shoulder massages, an ability only possessed by the kindest of hands

Caroline has only one speed and it’s zoom… I’m pretty sure she was even hyper inside of the womb

and Gabby’s laugh creates smiles, turns heads, sometimes even making people leave the room

Hallie inspires all with being the best that she can be

and Jane asks for a van-bathroom stop when, let’s be honest, we all have to pee

Corky makes the cool factor of nordic exponentially grow

and somehow the right thing to say, Gracie always just knows

Helen is a rock with her quiet, kind, stoic ways

And Britta tells you what you need to hear, unless she senses, which she often does, that it’s ‘one of those days’

Nate is thoughtful,

Henry quirky,

And Emmett’s a blast

Ben works hard,

Max skis fast and in commons does mingle

and y’all better watch out because Wade Rosco is single.

Amy’s smile stretches miles wide

And outside and having fun is where Maddy thrives

In Laurel, not a single mean bone can be found

And Sadie’s presence helps keep all our feet on the ground.

There’s no technique problem Chewy’s not willing to help fix

and Becky is proof that high expectations and loving kindness can, in fact, mix

Look to your left, now your right, this group is unique

not to mention good looking, all gems, with nice skier physique

We have home, happiness, health, this that and the other

But most important of all… we have each other.

November 11-23

The week following our adventure to Acadia was another volume week with big training hours. The team kept a positive outlooks and pushed through doubles for most of the week as well as some awesome lost valley ski bounding intervals and a tough week in classes. 6:30am Saturday morning the team skate-rolled out for a long L3 interval session. Why out so early? It's not a standard practice, but the team wanted to have time to drive down to Gorham (Maine) in time to watch the Bates Men's and Women's cross-country regionals races (that determined if they would go to nationals) and cheer on our favorite bobcats.

The courses for the two races were pretty cool from a cheering perspective; with multiple opportunities to watch the runners on course. Both the Men's and Women's races were very exciting and the energy from the cheering fans as well as the racers was really cool to be a part of. The number of racers was overwhelming. The Batsies were holding good places in the pack and the men's team as well as one girl, who qualifies as an individual, headed to Indiana for nationals this weekend. Way to go Bobcats!!!!!

On the ride home Emmett fell asleep again- as usual.

Between the women's and men's races we played some touch football (Shoutout to Hallie for much improved football skills) and a couple of the Colby skiers joined us and we learned some of their top secret plays (this will definateley give us the upper hand as we take them on in a Thanksgiving Bobcats- Mules game).

Sunday we headed out on our last OD classic rollerski of the fall. Backy and Matt pulled up about an hour and a half in with some delicious cookies that gave us the energy we needed for the rest of the ski! We finished the week exhausted but stoked at the amount of training we fit in.

This past week (November 18-23) has been a good recovery week as the team got ready to head to Canada for Thanksgiving camp! This morning we packed the vans with a ton of food, lots of ski clothes, SKIS and excited skiers and embarked on a journey to Stoneham, Quebec. The chalet where all the teams are staying is made up of cozy, colorfully painted condos in the midst of full-blown winter. And LOTS and LOTS of snow.
The high tomorrow is 9 degrees and we couldn't be more excited to get on snow.
Stay tuned for more on our Canadian adventures, I know Emmett has some artsy pictures coming up!

BOBCAT WOLFPACK FOR LIFE
Love,
Maddy

ACADIA (sorry Henry)

After a pint of Ben & Jerry's phish food downed in Jay's van, a midnight bowl of chowder, and Maddy's soothing (...terrorizing) snoring in my ear, Acadia was revealed to us in the beautiful sunlight of Saturday morning.
The day was off to a good start by the time 7:45 rolled around and we were practicing sun salutations on the beach, and became even better when Maddy and I unknowingly walked into the caretaker's house, expecting breakfast at the Milliken's, and were instead greeted by 3 of the cutest dogs I have ever seen and a very friendly woman in a bathrobe. After eating a delicious breakfast in the RIGHT house, we rolled out onto the coast to hammer out some 1k classic rollerski intervals.
This workout may have been the best one of the year. Almost everyone was negative splitting on most of the intervals, and Becky was pretty pumped with the team's performance. Later that day, we did some major wood-stacking (Emmett was in his backwoods Vermont element), some wrestling, and then played some girls on guys football which we DOMINATED.
The next morning, we did a sweet run through the park, a success because the girls only talked about horses for 10 minutes of the 2:45 workout.
Some stats:
42:0- the score of the football game
1:1- the score of Britta and Caroline's wrestling matches
1- the thankful number of photos Chewy instagrammed
8- the number of hashtags on that one photo
30-45- the approximate number of minutes we spent in L4-5 on Saturday
90- the approximate number of minutes we spent stacking wood
9- the largest number of lobsters Lucas has consumed during one sitting
6- the number of 1.5 quart containers of ice cream the team ate in one night
12- the number of pairs of danskos we had in the house

WOLF PACK.
xoxo Amy

Crunch Time

At around 8:30, every week, I open my Bates email and die a little inside. My brain is exhausted from class, homework, and everything in between. I consider marking all as read until I see the training schedule. Then, it sinks in, the undeniable fact that it's going to be another busy week as a college athlete.

Every day I tell someone (usually the same people over and over again) that I can't believe it's already November. Three weeks until Thanksgiving break, five until finals, six until Christmas break.. Yikes! It's officially that time of year, and I'm not talking about the holidays, even though they will be here before we know it. The academics are picking up fast and at the same time we are in the midst of a huge volume block for training. It's crunch time.

Last week was the first of our volume block. We had double workouts, two tough interval sessions, lifting, an OD, and somehow we managed to get to class in between. I got to thinking on my cool down after Level 4 intervals in Lost Valley on Wednesday. I realized that it's pretty impressive what our team is able to do on a daily basis. After a morning workout and a long day of classes, the team was still able to "bring it" to the workout. Everyone was able to let go of their days and focus on the goal of the workout. It was awesome to see the MENS and women's teams working together as we bounded up the access road, encouraging and pushing each other to new limits. More than anything, I recognized the effort. On everyone's faces I saw pure determination because we all knew that this was a workout that would make a difference.

This effort sustained through the whole week. On Sunday morning, the team was up bright and early to put on the 5k race. We ended up getting more participants than we thought we would and it ended up being a great event. Despite the cold, the team showed their nordic pride and were all smiles during the event. Afterwards, we headed out on a skate overdistance from campus. Even at the end of a hard week, everyone's spirits were still high. The girls were still able to play telephone and laugh our heads off and the boys were all smiles when they returned from four hours of roller skiing.

It's bound to be another busy week, especially the weekend when we'll head out to Acadia for a mini training camp. I can't wait. Our team as a whole is really stepping it up for this busy time of year. I know we're all ready for the challenge and that everyone is going to give it their best every single day. It's this spirit that keeps us all going, that reminds us what we are capable of when we put our minds to it. To be honest, it's pretty inspiring.

-Laurel Fiddler