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!