For the past three years, I have been spending the Christmas holiday in France with my boyfriend and his family.Since the Tour de Ski starts so closely after the holidays, it doesn't make sense to fly back to the US, and then turn around right away and fly back to Europe. So, in order to stay healthy and best prepared for racing, I have made it a tradition to join my French family instead.
Christmas Fireworks with the Maubets
Enjoying some high mountain adventures on a search for snow.
The first couple years were always hard for me, simply because the French holiday traditions are not quite the same. And when something feels different, it becomes really easy to feel lonely and homesick. But, I have realized that I have started to adjust. I just rock out to my own Christmas tunes when I go training, and have learned to really enjoy the French Food, and the Pére Noël's (Santa Clause's) different traditions. The French still decorate un sapin de noël avec des garlands et des boules. (A Christmas tree with lights and bulbs) The French also still give lots of cadeaux and love. I used to say that being away for Christmas was the hardest part of what I do… which I still agree with, but I have realized I have it pretty darn good! While I may be away from home, I am not away from family. I get to spend a few weeks away from the "focus" of ski racing, and recharge my soul with some boyfriend and family time. Jo's family and friends around Hauteville and Meribel have taken me in as if I am their own. I am incredibly lucky in fact, because I am surrounded by family overseas. While I miss the perfect skiing in the Methow Valley, and being with my parents and sister, I will be back there after ski racing!
Jo and I on Christmas Eve.
Jo's father making the US Ski Team badge look good!
My new skis, ready for chasing Jo in Valdez.
Jo, Diane and the goat on our tropical Christmas hike.
This Christmas break, things felt like a little bit of a traverse. First, we finished out final races in Toblach, Italy… so it was a bit of a long traverse back to France with Marine and Erik (9.5 hours including our minor GPS detour issues). Following that, it was a constant "traverse" to find some snow around Meribel. Unfortunately Europe hasn't really received any snow this year. We have spent all of our time chasing man-made snow around in order to get our training and racing in. So, things continued this way for the Christmas Break. So, I enjoyed some good promenades in the forest hiking and running (taking a break from chasing the snow). Snow was thin, so I took as few 1 kilometer double pole laps as possible.
A little refuge in the mountains during my ski in Champagny.
Doing some of my training on the alpine slopes. Skiing down with Jo and the kids, and skiing back up afterwards.... creative training.
Having some fun hiking in the mountains.
perfect hiking conditions.
Jo and his amazing Christmas clients.
The new biathlon involving alpine skiing and shooting.
After five days in the "ski instructors palace" in Meribel, I headed on the train, and took a traverse towards Villard de Lans, home of my brother's girlfriend and her family. So, lucky for me, I got to celebrate a second Christmas with them, and enjoy some skiing in Autrans. Autrans is a little town, only twenty minutes from Marine's home, and it has some of the most fun skiing around central Europe. It also happens to have maybe some of the most kilometers at this time to ski on.. maybe 15k? It is impressive, all 15 kilometers are packed with people. It is more people in one place then I have ever seen at a nordic ski area. One thing is for sure, skiing is pretty popular in the Vercors! (The region around Villard de Lans)
A dream ski chasing Marine.
Smiles and sunshine all around!
Autrans traffic controller.
From here, we will take our final traverse back to "ski racing" tomorrow and the start of the famous Tour de Ski. The Tour will be starting in Lenzerheide, Swizerland… about a 6.5 hour traverse from here. I am feeling pretty excited and ready to do this Tour de Ski battle. 8 races in 10 days, in 3 different countries. Fun times to come!
Thanks to all my wonderful French family for making this holiday enjoyable despite it being a brown Christmas. And thanks to all my family back home for blowing many kisses overseas! Now, please send your snow too!!
Last weekend has already formed into a blur of excitement in my mind. Saturday was the 15k pursuit, where we ski 7.5 kilometers of classic, then switch mid-race into our skate gear, and finish off the race with 7.5 kilometers of skating. Pursuits have never been a huge "favorite" of mine, but on the same token, I LOVE the challenge of them. Because I have always been a stronger classic skier, it becomes a mental battle out there for me as I switch from my stronger suit, to my weaker suit. I can tell you, there are a whole lot of "voices talking in my head" for the second half of the race. I have had some great pursuit races, and I have had some horrible ones.... but I never seem to form a love or hate relationship with the event. Instead, I look at this silly event as mental training. So, saturday's event was another "in-between" feeling. For the first time in my life, I felt like I struggled during the classic leg, and then started to have fun during the skate leg. Why not switch things up every once in a while?
Thanks to my French Technician, JP, for working hard preparing skis for me!
Noah and I making a plan with JP for testing and preparing skis for race day... testing out the yoga bosu balls for attentiveness.
Liz doing an ice-tub for recovery while doing a skype interview at the same time... multi-tasking at its finest!
The second after I finished the pursuit race though, my heart was in a new place. The 4x5 relay. Our women's team has made this event a huge focus over the years. Ever since the girls won their first medal in Gällivare four years ago, we have gotten a little taste of the pie! We know that it is possible, but we know that it isn't any small achievement. Even heading into the 2014 Olympics, we saw ourselves as medal favorites... but the day didn't work out right. During the 2013 World Champs, we came in 4th. During the 2015 World Champs, we came in 4th again. Although we have "just missed" that medal many times, our hearts are all set on this goal, year-around! We talk about it every camp, we focus on it during training, and we all visualize ourselves stepping onto that podium afterwards. It is a HUGE goal and a HUGE focus of our nine person US Women's Team.
The Kikkan Randall new addition- our team cheering socks!
Which is why Sunday became so special! I like to call it "rocking out with our socks out"! It is a tradition on our women's team to not only paint our faces, braid our hair, and get our american spirit on- but we also pull out our "special socks" on relay day. It is a huge honor on that day to "rock the socks", and you know when you put them on, you are representing the team. A team event is unique, because instead of representing the talent of one successful individual, it represents the collective effort of a group. It represents the work ethic, the vibe, and the belief of a collection of people. Sometimes that vibe will be on fire, and sometimes it won't. When you put those socks on though, you are "rocking out with your socks out" for everyone.... so you better dig just a little deeper, honey! That's when the voices in your head get even louder... but you also have company. You have the voice of all your teammates talking to you, coaxing you on, and believing in you.
It takes a team! (Not pictured- Julia Kern, Katharine Ogden, and Caitlin Gregg)
As Sunday worked out, it was a roller-coaster of ups and downs. With icy tracks, and ripping fast downhills.. most of us went from feeling amazing to feeling terrified. At times I surged far too hard to chase down every second towards the teams in front of me... and other times I held on for dear life waiting for a mini- recovery down the hill. Lillehammer is unique in that I see it as one of the hardest courses in the world. There is little to nothing as far as recovery, and it seems you are either going straight uphill, or jetting down a terrifyingly fast downhill. It is brutal! So, throughout the course of the four legs, Rosie, Liz, Jessie and myself all experienced some swings! Some good moments, and some bad. Magically though, we were able to keep fighting when we fell behind, and we were able to chase harder than ever! With the collective effort of the four of us, Jessie had an incredible last leg to cross the line in 3rd. As she let out a cry of joy, we all shared some goosebumps, hugs, and a few tears. Yes, we can do it! Yes, we believe it. And, yes, WE DID IT!
Jessie's cry of joy- Nordic Focus Photo
Screams of excitement- Getty Images, Cornelius Poppe
Joining the podium
Big thanks to US Women's Coach, Matt Whitcomb, for leading this charge!! Marc Rohde photo
Don't you worry, we have our eyes set on more though! We are gunning for the top. Although Norway safely finds themselves there, it doesn't always happen! In Sochi, they were touchable. On Sunday, we didn't all have our perfect 5 kilometers... which is the exciting part. There is more of where that came from. Look out January... we will be ready to "rock out with our socks out" for the Nove Mesto relay!
Our huge hunk of cheese we won for 3rd place.
We have just now arrived in Davos, Switzerland- which is the next stop for the World Cup. There isn't a whole lot of snow here, but there is a 5k manmade loop at the moment, which will do the job. It sure is nice to see some sunshine and mountains around!
If you missed the races from this weekend, here is a video summary:
Thanks to everyone for all the congratulatory emails and cheering! It means the world to all of us! Go Team USA! And if you missed it, check out the men's relay! Those boys are on the hunt, and they are not far behind. So good to see them fighting and believing!
Erik, with his lost and found World Cup Trophy, which we re-awarded to him for having the fastest classic leg of the day!
It has been two weeks since we arrived in Europe to jump back into the "ski racing" life. As always, the first couple of weeks feel like I am arriving in a foreign world for the first time… and then life swings back to normal. Back to that "ski racing life", that "life on the other side". Unfortunately, things took a little longer to get thrown back into normal this year. A few days after arriving in Gällivare, Sweden, where we were doing our pre-race camp, I came down with a very unpleasant stomach flu that left me in bed and homesick as ever for three days. Fortunately, I have some amazing teammates and people looking after me. Between daily cracker and coke deliveries and Pete Dickenson room service… I managed to build myself back up, and recover.
Sick walks are so much better when you are in a winter wonderland!
Coke and crackers are not exactly the same in Europe!
Night walks around a beautiful hotel.
That's as much of the sun as you will see on a clear day 100km north of the Arctic Circle!
Thanks to Pete Dickenson for playing doctor while I was sick, and then working his butt off volunteering his time to take care of us day after day! We really appreciate it! Thanks Pete!
I finally started feeling better on Saturday, the first day of races in Gällivare, but decided to patiently wait and get back to 100%. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, patience is a virtue…. but that is SOOO much easier to say than do!
Crisp and Cold in Gällivare!
The professional packing! L.L. Bean jackets folding into stow bags are a miracle!
Needless to say, when I arrived in Kuusamo, I had an extra amount of energy, excitement and anxiety after sitting in bed for 5 days. With a good interval session mid-way through the week, I was feeling much better, but nervous as heck. Not having done a practice race, that meant that I had an outrageous amount of butterflies leading into the tour. It is always so hard to gauge your fitness leading into the season. Even if you know you have trained way better than before… you always worry you will forget the racing touch. But, just like joining back into this European racing life, racing comes back too!
I found a new friend in Kuusamo this year!
Back to the land of walking uphill! In Kuusamo, any and every destination seems to be a 1k trek above you!
The Fischer boot maker, Flo, performing magic on my new boots.
If you are top 30 overall on the World Cup points the past year, then you get your name on your training bib. This is the first year I have gotten that, so I am pretty excited! Pictured behind is my fleet of skis for the MANY varied conditions throughout the winter.
The first weekend was a mix of nerves, excitement, frustration, and all the above. I love the "tour" style of racing, where you get opportunity after opportunity to try again. One day's frustration is the following day's motivation. Instead of waiting a week to let that pent up energy fly- I get to just keep rolling with it!
Last weekend entailed...
A classic sprint, where I made it into my first classic semi-final. I was feeling great throughout the day, but started slipping on the final climb of the course, and became too stubborn to jump out of the track and keep the tempo up- so it was a bittersweet ending. I was stoked, combined with a little frustration.
Some screen shots from the TV of the sprint heats.
First time winning a quarter final!
The second day was a 5k skate. I have grown to love the 5k distance. It is the perfect amount of energy, concentration, and effort! I have spent a lot of time working on my skating this summer, so I was also looking forward to put it to the test. I was really excited to finish 14th, one of my best skate races.
Anatolii Tsymbalov photo
Ski Trax/Nordic Focus photo
The final day of racing was a 10k classic. Saturday we got some rain, and then Sunday we woke up to some rain/snow combo… so things got tricky quickly. Fortunately, I have an awesome wax tech, JP, who helped keep me from stressing about the conditions and to simply make the most of it. After 10 kilometers of challenging skiing, I finished the tour in 14th, my best tour finish!
Fasterskier/Nordic Focus Photo
Ski Trax/Nordic Focus photo
We are now in Norway, my favorite place in the world to race and ski. The weather has been great, and we have gotten a chance to ski on real snow… which doesn't happen so often anymore. We spend the majority of the time racing on man-made snow… which is much more challenging to ski on. So, our awesome break of perfect skiing in Sjusjeon and Nordseter just got twice as good!
Traveling also becomes second nature. Liz foam rolling it out in the airport.
No problem for Bird- traveling and zzzzz's.
Lillehammer does holiday best! Rosie in front of one of the stores on the walking street.
Sunshine Sodie Sandwich
Perfect classic skiing in sjusjeon.
A great day to be out training!
It looks like the weather will continue with its frustrating pattern of perfect skiing during the week and then a rain/snow combination for the races! Fortunately, we are becoming pretty practiced with it. It will be an exciting weekend of racing ahead, with a pursuit race on Saturday, and then a relay race on Sunday!
Watercolor painting for Rosie's b-day. Caitlin lead an watercolor painting session.
These past 2.5 weeks I have been living and training out of Park City, home of the US Ski Team. This is always an exciting time of the year to:
Get together with all my US teammates.
THE TEAM (USSA Nordic Photo)
Do a little bit of blood, strength, and fitness testing in the Center of Excellence.
Squat Testing
Get our new uniforms for the year.
Pretty sweet little markings on all our gear! Proud to represent the United States of America and this little eagle!!
L.L. Bean Custom Pants.... finally I own a pair of pants that are long enough for me!! (USSA Nordic Photo)
Early Christmas!! (USSA Nordic Photo)
Thanks for the wonderful presentation by Craft and L.L. Bean on all the perks and special features of our gear! Pretty fun to be representing an American brand with our American uniforms! (USSA Nordic Photo)
Link to all our products if you want to join us this winter: US Ski Team Uniform
Set goals and aspirations as a team.
One goal is to surpass this "momma's" muscles next time we take a photo together! (Craft photo)
It also happens to be the time of year that I am training the very hardest, so living and sleeping at 9000 feet, and training with less oxygen than normal has proven to be a challenge all five years of being on the National Team. Every year I come in running, and leave trotting. Fortunately, that is just part of the game! You can't be sprinting all the time!
Sprinting it out at SoHo- USSA Nordic Photo
Erik taking advantage of the COE current pool for some "laps".
Despite a few tired days, Park City delivered some pretty spectacular times. We were lucky enough to have amazing weather the entire time! After spending many rainy months this fall in Alaska… sun for 2.5 weeks straight just doesn't seem fair. Likewise, getting snow in September in AK meant that I have been training in tights and jackets for two months… so shifting back to shorts was also a little bit of a backwards adjustment.
A little different attire than these APU ladies are used to these past few months!
Best coach and best bro in the world!
Sadly, Mr. Finger is still a working progress.!
This camp happens to be the first time this summer that our entire National Team has been together. With 10 girls, it is sometimes hard to round all of us up in such a large geographic area! I had extra fun these past few weeks getting to know our two youngest D-Team members (Katherine Ogden and Julia Kern). As I spent multiple evenings and training sessions sharing stories with them, their excitement and motivation was contagious! Despite some summer injuries, these girls are charging hard just below us. Suddenly this culture of cross country skiers is truly taking off in the US!
The Team! (USSA Nordic Photo)
Head Women's Coach- Matt Whitcomb, and USSA President- Tiger Shaw leading the force during a 3 hr. ski up the canyon .(L.L. Bean photo)
Which brings me to a yearly event that takes place in the United States. During the month of October is the annual Drive for 25 Fundraiser for the National Nordic Foundation. The recent success of this nation has only been possible through the support of this organization. We were all juniors at one time making our first trip overseas. We were all U23's attempting to make it possible to race NCAA's and U23 World Championships at the same time. And at one time or another, we were all given an opportunity because of the National Nordic Foundation! Every dollar goes towards our nation of nordic athletes. In my mind, this organization makes sure that where there is a will, there is a way! I have a fundraising page that many people have already contributed towards, but these funds will all be directed toward our nation of developing young athletes, so I encourage you to participate in this culture that is being created!
Two more weeks of preparation in Alaska, where we will hopefully be visiting some snow, and then off we go to Europe for the winter! It's the final countdown, da da dah da dahhhhh...!
Fun to see a familiar face welcoming me home to AK last night!
This fall has been an adjustment in a few regards.
First, we suddenly went from the most fantastically sunny summer ever in Alaska, into a cold, chilly, and wet fall. We shifted straight from training in shorts and tank tops to full length tights and jackets… jumping over that middle ground.
Erik preparing for a swim.. nice way to break up the rain training.
Second, as fall hits, life becomes busier than ever. With sponsor events, team functions, Fast and Female planning, and school starting up again… the day becomes full on "game mode" from 7AM until 8PM. iCalendar becomes my best friend as I try to keep track of all ten separate places I must be throughout the day.
Saltchuk Family Day- potato sack races and all!
Third, training becomes even more intense than normal. We shift from lots of base training throughout the summer, to lots of base training combined with lots of intervals! Sleeping and resting becomes evermore important.
Taking advantage of recovery training with buddies.
And finally, after my most successful year of "injury-free" training, I took a little turn. Mid July I had a big fall when I was rollerskiing and banged up my hand pretty bad. X-rays didn't show any major breaks, but there was a fair amount of ligament damage. I was put in a hard-brace for an eight week recovery, but the future was still plenty bright. I was forced to do some one pole skiing, avoid biking, and be extra cautious for my usual and frequent little tumbles I seem take. Six weeks into my recovery, I was flying down one of the hills on the rollerski path into a blind corner, and as I came around it I came face to face with a mom and baby moose. My immediate reaction was "stop as quick as you can." Having seen an angry momma moose stomp one of my teammates a few years back… I wasn't interested in partaking in that sort of activity. So… I sat down on the side of the trail as quick as I could… hitting my tailbone at full force and unfortunately bending my fingers backwards around my hard cast that was protecting my hand injury. I stood up as quickly as I could, racing the opposite direction, back up the hill, and immediately felt I had done something very wrong to my bum that was screaming in pain, and my fingers that were quickly puffing up into balloons.
Double brace syndrome
Going to the doctors office for x-rays becomes a lot less scary when this guy is guarding the room! Thanks AFOC and Greg Schumacher for taking good care of me!
ouch!
And that is how I went on to break my ring finger and do some quality ligament damage in the opposite direction just as I had six weeks before! It turns out pavement is more dangerous than expected… especially with no brakes! Standing on my two feet has just not been working out so well for me this fall.
So, it was time to head home… back to my roots… maybe learn how to stand on my two feet again. Last week I got to spend an awesome week in the Methow enjoying my last bits of warm weather, my last bits of family time with my sister and granny before the winter approaches, and my last bits of parental spoiling that I really miss! I haven't been home during the month of September since I was living there, so I forgot how awesome fall is. Temperatures were a little warmer than normal, but I got to see some changing leaves, smell some familiar fall smells, and have some flash back memories from the start of school.
A little warmer than AK..!!
Family-time
Surprise birthday parties with Granny!
Not too bad!!
A little change in scenery.
I also got to spend a day with the local cross country running team and ski club. We talked goals, talked dreams, talked training, and talked about the path I took. It was super fun to see some serious talent coming together back home. There are certainly champions in the making back there!
Rollerski Speeds
Ella Hall
Agility training
Nordic Team Crew
My final day I got to do a four hour run in the mountains with my mom and dad. The North Cascades are a seriously amazing place… I always forget how amazing those mountains are. They are different than anything I see in AK, so I am like a kid in a candy shop when I go back! As we were heading down the final 30 minutes with both my mom and dad… I realized how lucky I am. No wonder I learned to love this sport, and learned to love this goal of mine. I learned how to stand on my two feet chasing my parents around in the mountains with my brother and sister. To this day, I still get to do that (not often enough)! I couldn't be more thankful to my parents for teaching me this passion, and reminding me why I am doing this! It is nice to have little reminders periodically, it keeps me excited about what I am doing every day.
Still getting my butt kicked by mom.
Cutthroat Pass.
Beauty Places!
So now I am back in AK for the next three weeks, back on the pavement, and crossing my fingers that I stay on those two feet of mine!
Rosie and I all bundled in our llbean rain gear- prepared for a wet descent.
2. It makes you work harder than you could ever imagine for it, but the rewards are high.
Saved by a coke after a long week, and a long final workout!
3. You are happy to make sacrifices for it on a year-around basis.
4. When it challenges you, you are willing to take on adversity and be resourceful.
Blurry hike on the treadmill after a rollerski crash left my knee and hand pretty banged up.
Best part about wearing your bones on the outside of your gloves... you can check up on any broken ones easily!
5. It brings together with an amazing group of people to collaborate with and improve from each other.
The Women's Team after a sunny and incredibly intense team sprint workout. (Eric Packer photo)
Thanks to these amazing men for keeping the Glacier going! Erik Flora, Don Haering and Andre Lovett. (Eric Packer Photo)
APU Team celebrating the end of a sweet summer! (Eric Packer photo)
Thanks to our amazing coach, Erik Flora, for managing 100 tasks, always staying positive, and believing 110%!
6. It takes you outdoors in all varieties of conditions, but never lets you focus too much on the weather.
Sunny, or.... (Eric Packer photo)
Not so pleasant....
7. It leaves you feeling fit, happy, and challenged.
Enjoying every second! (Eric Packer photo)
Tyler vs. Rosie. How to get two sets of skis up the long 1km climb from the stadium?
A perfect day on Eagle (Zuzana Rodgers photo)
8. It teaches you about a variety of things, including the changes in climate and glaciers and how to observe your surroundings.
A glacier melting down to blue ice in new places.
Many varieties of snow crystals throughout the day on Eagle. (Zuzana Rodgers photo).
9. You love every second of it, including the brutally long and challenging training hours, races, intervals, and more.
The boys pushing hard, working on uphill DP (Zuzana Rodgers photo).
Team Sprinting with Thomas-Finding the race mindset. (Zuzana Rodgers photo)
Giving it all (Zuzana Rodgers photo).
10. It constantly reminds you to be thankful for the opportunity you are given.
Racing around the world representing your country!
Skiing on a Glacier in the middle of summer...!! (Zuzana Rodgers photo).
Last week was APU's third and final week of training on Eagle Glacier for the summer. It was a successful camp despite some little hurdles thrown my way just before. (I took a big crash on roller skis that left me with a fairly banged up knee and a hand with some sort of ligament/bone damage). But, sunshine cures all frustrations, and that last kilometer skied for the summer on Eagle was my happiest. Over the course of the summer, I had some great time to work on technique goals, I got to ski hundreds of kilometers, and I got to focus my heart on ski racing 100%.
I have been to fourteen camps now on Eagle Glacier, and it still hasn't gotten old. I am just as excited, motivated, and incredibly thankful as I was my first camp on Eagle. It is so hard to believe that I train in town, jump on a helicopter, and am engulfed in winter for a full week… only to return back to town for three weeks of training, and repeat three times throughout the summer! That is a true dream world!
Since arriving up on Eagle Glacier in a very tired state fromthree previous weeks of hard training, I had to make a theme for myself in order to make it through the coming six days of challenging training. This month I have made a big step up, and with a healthy body, I have been able to participate in all the training, resulting in a much higher load than normal. With the weather being a bit foggy and warm all week, this meant for a tough week of pushing through some deeper slush and practicing training in the now very common conditions we race in Europe. Global warming often means slushy, man-made, dirty snow conditions throughout the winter. So when the going gets tough on Eagle with some deep slushy glacier snow, I know I am truly practicing my trade!
So, back to my original problem. I arrived on Eagle Glacier far more tired than I ever have, but I wanted to have a successful six days of training, so I made a theme for myself. "My body is an engine". In endurance sports, we often talk about how we want to build a Ferrari engine inside our bodies, so this was my my Eagle Glacier Plan. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about cars and engines,but I knew enough to work on what I thought a great racing engine would require:Fueling, Maintenance, Efficiency, Speed, and Power.
A little R & R in the rocks (Zuzana photo)
Fueling- While on Eagle Glacier, fueling is important, and also entirely up to your own choice. We cook group meals in the evening; but in the morning, afternoon, and snack hours, fueling is open to interpretation. Now that I have started training higher volumes, I have enjoyed experimenting with different types of foods to see how they carry me through the next training, or even the next day. For example, the later in the week of training; the more glycogen I can eat, the stronger my engine can run for the next training session, or even the next day. It is a common occurrence to be woken up in the middle of the night while training up on the glacier by hunger, so I am forced to head downstairs to eat a little snack because I can't get back to sleep. It is also common to make it through 1.5 hours of training during the second session… and find myself bonking so badly at the top of the course that I literally have to waddle back to the start of the course and find a snack in my drink belt. Avoiding these little crashes has become my goal. So, this camp, while I arrived with a high load of training, I worked really hard to keep my body fueled correctly. By avoiding useless fuel, and taking in more efficient fuel, I managed to have a very successful week of training. My favorite fueling moment came on Wednesday, during our afternoon session following morning threshold intervals. I was feeling really good in the afternoon following intervals, so I took off with a hot pace. Things felt amazing until about 1.5 hours on the top of the big climb at the far end of the course… and I began to start weaving. I could tell I couldn't really keep my technique together, and I was dragging myself around the course, not even working on the important parts of skiing. As I came into the intersection of the access road back up to the building, and the start to another loop, I pulled over and ate the fresh baked cookie in my drink belt. As I headed out for another loop, about three minutes in, I suddenly had the "invincible energy" back. Again, I felt light, quick, and strong. This is when I discovered the "cookie comeback". While you wouldn't commonly feed your Ferrari a cookie, my racing Ferrari thrived on this extremely sugary and easy to access fuel!
Some Powerbar Coke Gummies on OD day saving the day!
Maintenance- As with your nice racing car, sometimes the maintenance and care can take just as long as the actual training/racing. Many people, when they hear that as athletes, we are training 4 hours a day, they wonder what we spend our time doing the remainder of the day…. And the answer is, maintenance. As we come in from our training sessions, each athlete has their own maintenance routine. For me, this looks like: change into dry clothes, get a snack, do a stretching routine, foam rolling, massage, eat a larger meal, get my feet up and rest a little in order to recovery for second training, take care of skis (waxing and cleaning)…. and then, out for another training session, and repeat. It is literally a full days work to maintain my body and keep it healthy. A lot of times, it becomes easy to cut out large portions of this maintenance process, because it becomes easy to fill your day up with other activities. But, while on Eagle Glacier, there are no distractions. For one full week, I am living to train. I am giving 110% of my energy towards maintaining and training the very best Ferrari engine possible! Lucky for us, the APU team is sponsored by an amazing clinic, Advanced Physical Therapy. Last week we had Zuzana Rodgers, the worlds best PT up on the glacier to help us stay healthy and ready to train. For many of us, her manual labor on our stressed and tired muscles is the magic!
Big thanks to Zuzana Rodgers!
Efficiency- Finding the most efficient way get an engine going fast is key. For a cross country skier, technique is a huge factor in efficiency, and it is also an ever changing process. With new efficiency, new movements, new techniques… the sport stays exciting. Becoming a master of the trade means being innovative, aware, and dedicated to focus. With our 20-30 hours per week spent skiing kilometers around our Eagle Glacier track, we have hundreds of thousands of repetitions to work on perfecting our technique. We often watch World Cup videos, technique examples, and videos from our previous training sessions to find cues and things to work on. My personal goal on Eagle Glacier is to focus every minute of effort on skiing the most technically well I can. Because I have skied so many kilometers with my old habits. I know that I have to spend hours and hours of work on the "better technique habits" I am working on, before I will resort to them in a race. So efficiency is an ever-going goal of mine while up on Eagle Glacier.
Technique work
Speed- On day four of training camp, we often get to rip out some speed training. With the majority of our week so far being distance training, our distance muscles become extremely tired. In fact, we just feel exhausted. I am always blown away by the fact that when it comes to speed, I find this extra storage of energy I had no idea existed. I am magically able to rip out some speed when I thought I had nothing left. Then, day five we have a "practice race", where we throw down some laps around the sprint course at top speed. Again, we are feeling so exhausted, we can't even imagine we can make four laps of 1.5 kilometers. This is the speed that is fun to practice. Like World Cup racing, when it comes time to go top speed… you are rarely rested, or full of energy. Instead, it is at the end of a 1 or 5 or 30 kilometer race, and you feel you have already topped out. Instead, you have to turn that Ferrari engine up, and find one more gear of speed. The best way to train that speed, is to train it in a similarly exhausted state, on day four and five of Eagle Glacier.
Power- I think of power as your endurance. To me this is all the aerobic training I do on a yearly basis, and over my lifetime. This includes the first weeks of training in Park City with my US Teammates, the many hours of hiking and running, and the huge amounts of distance skiing that is so important in endurance sports. This is what creates my power. Eagle Glacier is all about fine-tuning my engine's power. For 25 hours, I push my already exhausted body, and tell myself I can keep going. When the weather is bad, or I am having an epic energycrash, or I am pushing over the top of the hill on the last lap of our practice race on day five ;power is that little voice in my head that says "must keep going". It is the same voice that chirps in during my racing!
Rosie, Becca and I
Voilà, that is "my engine". Now you know all the funny and hilarious things that run through my head during a week of training that feels harder than ever! It is now back to building the strongest engine in the world right here in Anchorage for three weeks of dryland before heading back up for our final week of skiing on Eagle in August.
Last week was one of the best weeks ever! My older sister got married in the Methow Valley, on a cute little ranch up above our home town. All of my family from both my mom and dad's side was able to attend, so I got to have five full days of catching up and family time. It has been years since everyone has been together, so we all felt pretty blessed to be able to make it work! As a young girl, my summer job was catering weddings, but I haven't participated in many myself. So, I got to learn all about what a wedding entails. I realized the most wonderful part about a wedding is how all your closest friends and family all gather together in one place to celebrate love; like a huge love birthday party!
Our newest member of the family!
Wedding
Bridesmaid Additions
Ask a french man to dress cowboy for a wedding.... and this is what you get ;) Jo, arriving to the Methow in style!
Maid of Honor and Best Man, speed walking down the aisle!
As the maid of honor, I also got to learn about what that role entails on a day full of chaos, excitement, and happiness. As my beautiful sister pulled on her stunning dress, got her hair and make-up done; and started walking down the aisle alongside my father, I found tears sliding down my face. I had never seen her so beautiful and happy ever! It was really neat! Not only that, we got one new member in our family, a new brother-in-law! I am pretty stoked to have Tyler join the clan, he is a wonderful guy!
Speech time!
Jessica and Kelly, our friends from high school doing our make-up in the sunshine.
A bunch of bridesmaids and a bride headed for the big wedding!
Our beautiful little flower girl cousin.
Jo and Granny
With five short days at home, we didn't have a whole lot of time, but we made the most of every minute of it. My cousins girlfriend caught the bouquet, so we are all hoping we get to do this all again soon!
The Kaley sisters and all the cousins.
A happy bunch of Bjornsen ladies.
Spending time with two of my favorite people out there! My sister, and my god sister!
This weekend I am headed down to Seward to watch the famous 4th of July race up Mount Marathon. Some runners from out of state/out of country will be there this year including Kilian Jornet, and Forsberg, so it should be nothing short of exciting! I have never actually been to the "top" of the mountain, so I am finally headed there this year to watch from above. Shortly after, we will head back up for another week of training on Eagle Glacier.
