Harvest Camp

Having lived in Maine for several years now I have heard a lot about Bar Harbor, or as the locals call it: “Bah Habbah.” The quaint picturesque town on the east side of Mount Desert Island was the perfect place for Maine Winter’s Harvest camp due to its close proximity to the oldest national park in the country: Acadia National Park. The beautiful cliffs and perfectly manicured roads provided an impeccable place to throw down one of the bigger volume weeks of the year.

Knowing it was going to be a bigger week I decided to get a head start back in Fort Kent and do a little extra on Tuesday to start the week off right. Unfortunately I ended up setting myself back. During a race pace interval while tucking down a hill I stood up awkwardly and felt a debilitating tweak in my back. Luckily I was able to begin stretching and rolling it out immediately and the pain went away. But I was unable to finish the workout and was actually behind on hours by the end of the day.

Our first workout in Bar Harbor was an easy 2 hour run through the national Park. It was quite wet and stormy because apparently there was a hurricane that was making land fall at the same time. But none-the-less we completed the workout with wet shoes and high spirits because let’s be honest running in the torrential rain is kind of fun.

Rollerskiing in the park was a lot of fun because of the awesome views. Unfortunately the park had an apparently strict rule about not allowing coasting activities (rollerskiing, rollerblading, skateboarding, Etc.) in the park so we trained as close as we could in relatively unpopulated areas.

I guess technically you cant prove that's me skiing

Brendan Cyr and I

The camp was going well but I was still bothered by falling behind on the first day so I decided I was going to make up all the time in one day. The plan for the camp over-distance session was a 4.5 to 5 hour run/hike through the park. A sizable training day that I was going to add onto. In the end I had completed a 6 hour workout, the longest I have ever done. Around Hr. 5 I was not too concerned with bonking because I had been refueling and eating throughout the workout but that last half hour went by very slowly. Props to my teammate Lance McKinney who toughed out all 6 hours with me.

Mid 6 hour Run/Hike

My watch holds all the stats

What better way to end a camp than to go swimming? On the last day we went down to the ocean and played some Ultimate Frisbee on the beach which was followed by a fun round of body surfing in the ocean… in October… in 50 degree weather… among a few hundred bundled up tourists. It was quite a sight to see. And to be honest the water wasn’t too bad… once your body went numb.

This upcoming weekend is Jericho: Round II. I am excited for the opportunity to race again because racing is the best part of this sport. Thanks for stopping by, follow me on twitter: @bhbiathlon Instagram: @bhalligan4 and friend me on facebook.