No Parents! PC Camp '14

You know that feeling you get when your parents leave you home alone for the night in middle school? Yup, I'm talking about ultimate freedom. What are you going to have for dinner tonight? Ice cream and mozzarella sticks from the freezer? Don't mind if I do. Watching a Gilmore Girls/Friends/One Tree Hill marathon until your brain melts? Yeah, we've all been there.

Well that's the feeling I most relate to when it comes to our recent training camp in Park City, UT. Caitlin and I ventured out here to join the US Ski Team for their annual fall altitude training camp, sans coach or teammates (although Ida was here as part of the ski team crew). It's funny because we actually stayed with my parents during the camp, but when you're a professional skier, your coach (aka the person who writes your training plan, makes your schedule, and rules your days) is pretty much your parent. So here we were, without a coach, and although we were mostly on the USST plan, we were free from the tyranny of team meetings, scheduled gym times, and constant, detailed technique pointers. All we had to do was keep our training logs up to date, and we were home free. Wahoo!

But at some point during that glorious, liberated, middle school night, we all reached a point where we missed our parents. Our confused, sugar-laden brains rebelled against the absence of a well-balanced, nutritious meal. We started to wonder whether those horror movies about late nights visits from serial killers ever happened in small-town USA, aka, our neighborhood. And really deep down, we missed having something, anything to do. Please, tell us to take out the trash! We'll clean our rooms, promise, if you just come home!

Well, that's pretty much what happened. We realized that without a coach, those awesome point-to-point rollerskis were going to be a little tough to organize. We found ourselves questioning our technique, needing a pump up after a rough workout, and yes, we even wanted someone to slap vitamin B12 patches on us. In short, we realized something that should have been obvious all along, that without our dedicated coach and teammates, we are just a couple of goofy-looking spandex-clad rollerskiers without a home.

But don't worry, the training camp was actually a huge success! In spite of my laid-back organizational style, everything came together for a really productive 11 days in Park City. During our time here, we managed to squeeze in 2 speed sessions, 2 Level 3 workouts, one hammer-sesh bounding workout, a time trial, 3 marathon strength sessions, and several OD's. We were lucky enough to have awesome training planned by the US Ski Team coaches, and on days when we were in charge our training we hopped in with a motivated crew from Stratton, Sun Valley, and BSF. Pat O'Brien, the Stratton coach, was cool enough to give us rides, take video, and even help out with technique pointers (although this may have been on threat of death by Pepa, we're not sure). We are super grateful though, and we especially appreciate it because we know he had his own athletes to worry about as well. Colin Rodgers from Sun Valley was also awesome for giving us a ride down from the top of East Canyon after L3 intervals.

Anyways, if you followed my metaphor this far, congrats, and your reward is some sweet pictures from the camp! Utah has been good to us, providing miles of open road, scenic vistas, and mountains to be climbed. I know I'll be happy to get back to Vermont next week and make those final fitness and technique tweaks before the season ramps up in November. And yes, I'll say it here, for everyone to see, PEPA WE MISS YOU!



Skiing up American Fork Canyon on the first day of camp. Colorful, scenic, and tough! Almost 3,000 ft of elevation gain on this puppy (Photo USSA Nordic)

Parking lot speeds and endless western skies on day two of the camp (Photo USSA Nordic)

OD Run on Mid Mountain Trail from the Canyon's to PCMR.  Still a little color on this day, but not anymore!

Awesome group of girls at this camp. L to R Caitlin, Jessie Diggins, Annie Pokorny, and Jennie Bender keeping it real on a 3.5 hour run (Photo Jennie)

On days when the USST had closed practices we banded together with the other clubs for really high-quality training. Here's the top of Wolf Creek Pass after 2.5 hrs of skate and classic rolling with APU, SVSEF, SMS-T2, and BSF (Photo Jennie Bender)

Usually on ski trips we cook for around 14-15 people, so it was a nice change to just have a few of us! We took advantage by going gourmet (sweet potato gnocchi, thanks to Caitlin's culinary skills)



Warming up on East Canyon Road prior to L3 classic intervals (Photo Jennie Bender)

The middle of an awesome interval set. I'm third in the train, practicing drafting and double pole with the Stratton and Sun Valley girls (Photo Pat O'Brien)

Striding it out near the top. When we work together, we get better together. Lucky to be doing it with such a motivated, talented group of girls. I'm following Annie Pokorny and Erika Flowers here (Photo Pat O'Brien)

I have a ton more pictures from a really cool OD run/hike we did in Little Cottonwood, but those will have to wait for another day. The coffee shop where I'm bumming internet closed at least 45 minutes ago and the Park City evening chill is setting into my fingers, so check back in a few days for those! Thanks for reading!

NNF Drive for 25!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently in Park City, UT, attending the USST fall camp, and having an absolute blast! More on that later; I will put up a post about the PC camp in the next week, and in the meantime I need to start taking some more pictures. Yikes.

But this post is about the NNF Drive for 25, running from now until November 15th. The National Nordic Foundation (NNF) is a sweet grassroots organization that supports development of nordic skiing in the US. In the past few years, NNF has done an incredible job of fundraising every fall. They do this by getting nordic ambassadors (that's us) to ask friends and family to donate $25 (or more, or less! every little bit counts!) to the cause.

So where the money from NNF go? Well, everyone from junior (under 16) to elite skiers get help from NNF to attend camps and races during the winter. NNF does a great job supporting World Junior and U23 Championships, and they also give money to junior skiers competing in Europe for the first time at Scando Cups, and to aspiring skiers competing at OPA Cups, the level just below the World Cup.

I've been so fortunate to have support from NNF throughout my years of racing, even when they operated under a different name, NCCSEF (National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation). In the past few years I've qualified for U23 World Champs in Liberec, Czech Republic and Val di Fiemme, Italy, and had the opportunity to compete against the best in the world. I also tested myself at OPA Cups in Rogla, Slovenia and Valdidentro, Italy. These trips truly would not be possible without the NNF, and I know that I wouldn't be where I am today, skiing and reaching towards my dreams, without their generous support.

So I'm asking all of you to consider donating as little as $5, or as much as you can, to one of the more worthy and awesome causes around. If you feel like you can't donate, I would really appreciate it you could forward on the link to my fundraising page to anyone you think might be interested. Either way, you'll be able to say that you helped developing skiers in the US get a little closer to international success!

Here's the link to my page:
https://support.nationalnordicfoundation.org/fundraise?fcid=354994

Here are a few snapshots over the years of racing trips I've taken with the help of NNF. Who doesn't love a little throwback?

Katie Gill and I racing for the first time in Europe at Scando Cups in Norway. We got 3rd in this relay!

Scando Trip 2009. Of the boys in this photo, Scott Patterson and Tyler Kornfield are racing for APU, Jake Barton and Andrew Dougherty are on my Craftsbury GRP team, and Max Durtschi was a pro cyclist for several years and is now trying out biathlon with USBA

Pre- U23 World Champs camp in Ramsau, Austria in 2013

Annie Pokorny, Sloan Storey and I cheering in Liberec

Carrying the American flag for Opening Ceremonies in Val di Fiemme

Toblach, Italy for last year's pre-camp for U23's in Val di Fiemme

OPA Cup Races in Valdidentro

GO NNF! The whole crew at OPA Cup 2014

And for those who are curious, a breakdown of NNF funding

Thanks to everyone who donates, you guys are the best!

Ramsau to Craftsbury

Well, somehow it's been almost a week since we got back from Austria, I honestly don't know how that happened. That means I also have less than one week until I fly out to Utah for a ten day USST camp, so I'm trying to soak up all the Vermont fall time I can! We were all pretty excited to wake up after flying in from Europe late at night and look around at the foliage in Craftsbury. There is some serious fire burning on the hillsides with the reds, yellows, and oranges out.

Anyways, I promised a big Austria photo share, so here are some of the trip highlights. After taking a few days to decompress after our travel, I'm looking back on the camp and am truly amazed how much high-quality ski time we were able to fit in, even under some less than ideal conditions. I mostly had my camera out on the perfect, sunny, t-shirt weather days on the glacier, but the truth is we had about 50-50 of those days versus really nasty days. Dense fog, 25+ mph winds, visibility not even to the ends of your boots, you name it, we experienced it. Skiing in those types of conditions is frustrating because you feel like you aren't getting high quality training, and you find yourself just trying to make it to the end of your allotted two hours of training (so you can warm up with a latte, some soup, and a hot shower!), rather than focusing on the process. But considering that ski racing has a huge mental component, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to train in trying conditions. We experienced a lot of mental toughness days, and having to learn to ski when there's snow blowing in your face and snow drifting across the tracks will probably come in handy when the weather is less than ideal come race day.

Much of the camp was spent either training or resting for training, so I was really excited to spend an off day in Salzburg experiencing the historic old city. Here's the view from the Hohensalzburg Palace, looking back towards the mountains and Ramsau.

Adventures with the (K)Caitlin's!

By far my favorite part of Salzburg was the Mirabell Gardens. I mean, they filmed the Sound of Music here, what's not to love?

That building directly behind us is the Hohensalzburg Palace, one of the distinguishing features on the Salzburg "skyline", if you can call it that

And just like that, we were back up on the glacier. This day was one of the more dramatic for scenery. As we made our way up the tram-line, we pulled out of the fog, but it still clung to the valleys below.

A little fresh snow cleaned things up nicely on the glacier and made for some awesome skiing. Hard wax at first, and then bomber klister tracks

View from the top of the tram

Some years they groom this side of the glacier, but I don't think they had quite enough snow this year to do it. Instead we skied on the so-called "tourist track", but it definitely didn't feel that easy at 9,000 ft!

Had a great time with these ladies! GRP Women L to R: myself, Caitlin, Kait, Ida

Skiing back up to the tram at the end of a workout

That same day they let us ride down on the top of the tram. The views were amazing, but I was terrified the entire time. Turns out that my fear of heights, which usually doesn't apply to chairlifts (I think because I've been riding them my whole life), well, it definitely applied here!

Working on engaging my arms correctly in double pole. I had a focus for every session, and if it slipped my mind, Pepa was out there with her iPad capturing video and reminding us to keep working.

Taking it all in at the top of the mountaineering trail that winds above the glacier trails.

Bit of a drop off here, not a good place to experience vertigo!!

Kait with some climbers getting ready to ascend that peak in the background

Little ski trails and little skiers ants down below

During our second week in Ramsau we did a really fun adventure ski/hike day. We skated in the morning and then hiked off the glacier and wound around the mountains, ending up at the guesthouse where we stayed.

Spot the skiers (and their yellow and green Rudys!)

Stopping for a quick drink break and natural beauty appreciation

We could see the town of Ramsau, but it was a long way down!

The top of Mt. Sinabell, one of the peaks that was easily accessible during our hike

OUCH

All of the houses and hotels in Ramsau had these perfect little flower window boxes.

Our last day nice day on the glacier, before the weather turned sour.

Panorama with the Dachstein tram

That cable coming out of the snow is actually a climbing route! Yikes

Can you ever have too many panoramic shots when it's this beautiful out?

And here's my one piece of photo evidence that we actually did have bad weather. This day we were supposed to have a Level 3 piece partway through our workout. It was a little interesting because the fog was so dense on the downhill that you could never really be sure if you were on the track or just careening blindly towards a glacial crevasse! So, we strode up the hills in L3, and then pulled out our best snowplows and somehow made it down the hills, all while bumping into snowbanks and skiing on and off the trail. I wish that someone would have been able to video the whole thing, because I'm sure we looked ridiculous.

If this photo were zoomed in, I'm sure the expression on my face would be less than pleased

All in all, it was a fantastic camp. I think the bad weather near the end made it a little easier to come home, but truth be told I was feeling a little tired and ready for my own bed. Craftsbury has been really nice since we've been back, and though I'm currently fighting a little cold, I think I will be good to go in a week when we head to another training block in Park City. I'm also really excited for the Oktoberfest races we have this weekend! I'll be hopping in the biathlon running race, and it's been fun to get back to shooting after a little break. Thanks for reading if you actually made it to the end of this post, and stay tuned for updates from the Park City camp!