Last One Fast One

When I raced at UNH, at the end of every interval session or race season we would call out "last one, fast one!" as a reminder to keep pushing through the pain near the end. Knowing that we were all in it together motivated us to keep going even when coasting in would have been easier.

After a long season, sometimes the final races of the year can feel like a countdown, with each kilometer raced another check mark towards freedom. I know that in the past few years, I've reached Spring Series with a tired and sore body and survived the races, rather than pushed my limits. This year it was really nice to come back from OPA Cups with a little bit of energy and motivation to do well in Craftsbury in front of a home crowd! After the travel back to the States I came down with a mild cold, which was a good excuse to rest, and also lowered my expectations for the races since I wasn't sure how my body would react. Usually SuperTour Finals are the only time that the US domestic skiers get to compete against our US cohorts on the World Cup, so it's great to hop in with them and see the level needed to compete on the world stage.

Craftsbury was able to rally and pull off really high quality races, especially considering that winter forgot to visit the Northeast Kingdom, and the entire East Coast this year. The grooming crew maintained a 3.4k loop with plenty of climbing and great snow base depth. I think that all of the racers were really impressed with how good the skiing was even as green grass grew on the side of the courses.

On the Saturday before the races we hosted a Fast and Female event in Craftsbury, with over 80 local girls skiing side by side with ambassadors from our team, the US Ski Team, and the other elite clubs. We had perfect weather for our ski stations and I think everyone had a blast. A few hours later we hopped in Dash for Cash sprints- short, 4-person heats that started with a downhill and 180 degree icy turn and ended by taking the "hole shot" through the snow pile. The whole event was really fun and ridiculous, and while my lack of warm-up may have taken me out of the running, it was fun to see Ida take the win and Heather the "wooden medal" (4th).

My Fast and Female station- starts and finishes! (Photo Caitlin
Patterson)

Fast and Female participants ready to go out and ski (Photo
Reese Brown)

Navigating the Dash for Cash turn in ice and slush (Photo
Reese Brown)

The first race of SuperTour finals was a 10k freestyle individual, something I haven't raced since the beginning of the year in West Yellowstone. Faced with icy, fast conditions and, happily, sea level, I raced to 14th place. 10k freestyle, especially individual start style, has been a struggle for me but I keep honing my technique and pacing and it's slowly starting to pay off. The field in the 10k included two foreign World Cup athletes and 6 regular US World Cup skiers, so even in the regular SuperTour circuit I held my own.

Just one day later it was time for one of my favorite events- the classic sprint! I felt really good in my qualifier and was happy to see I placed 4th, and then skied at the front of my quarterfinal heat to take 2nd and advance. My semifinal was tough, but I skied as hard as I could and just didn't have enough on the final hill to advance and ended up 4th. Placing 7th overall was a little bittersweet because I haven't made the A Final in any sprints this year and I really wanted it, but 7th in this field was a far stronger result than my 7th in both the sprints at US Nationals earlier this year.

Hanging on to Jessie Diggins in our semifinal heat
 (Photo Reese Brown)

We had a little break before racing the mixed club relay- a 4x5km event that features two classic legs and two freestyle legs, with 2 women and 2 men forming a team. Because all of the GRP men were in Fort Kent for biathlon nationals we had to mix it up a little bit and pair with skiers on other teams, which unfortunately took us out of contention for the official podium and prizes. Luckily there were two skiers from CU looking for a team and they happily took Hallie and me as their teammates! Our classic scramble leg, Petter Reistad, double poled the course and tagged off to me in 5th, and I went on the chase to catch the skiers in front of me. After hanging on to Ida and Annie Hart for our two laps, I tagged off to Mads Stroem in 3rd, and he moved us up to 2nd after his leg! We ended up 4th overall, which was just fine since we weren't eligible for the podium anyways. Big thanks to those guys for hopping in to race with us and skiing pretty darn fast!

Leading a train near the start of my relay leg (Photo Bryan Fish)

Tagging off to our freestyle leg, Mads Stroem from CU
(Photo Reese Brown)

The Green Buffaloes- stoked on our 4th place
finish!

Finally, we had just one more race to tackle, a 30k classic mass start. After last year's 30k slogfest, I think all of the women were really happy to see that they reversed the start order and had us start at 10 am while the tracks were still semi-frozen. It made for a slow and grueling 50k for the men, who started at 12:30pm, and I applaud everyone who finished that race, it looked absolutely brutal. I had a decent race, losing the lead pack somewhere during the second lap and then finishing the next six laps with Erika Flowers from SMS-T2, who I have been going back and forth with all year. After a blow-up on the final uphill, she skied away from me and I ended up 11th. It was certainly a long, tough race and a good way to end the season. My Craftsbury teammates had a really strong day, taking 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, so it was sweet to see so much green on the podium!

The women's start (Photo Reese Brown)

Either the first or second lap, climbing Moss Run
(Photo Reese Brown)

Skiing with Sophie Caldwell and Erika Flowers of SMS-T2
(Photo Reese Brown)

Switching off the lead with Erika kept me motivated and pushing
on our 9 laps (Photo Reese Brown)

It's time now for a little rest and recharging, and doing some active recovery before hopping back into training. I'm currently traveling to California where I'm planning to hop in the Mammoth Ski Marathon this weekend as a fun race, then I'll be spending the spring in Park City, with escapes to Southern Utah for backpacking and mountain biking. As I process the season, I realize that even though I didn't have the standout results or big break-through I was hoping for, I'm still making forward progress in so many areas. I'm motivated to train hard and consistently next season, and I'm really excited to be moving forward with this team. We have such a strong women's program right now, and I think the forward momentum we've built will only push each of us to new heights next season! Big thanks to coach Pepa for her dedication and hard work, and to Nick Brown, Anna Schulz, Ollie Burruss, and everyone else who helped wax for our team this year and gave us great skis all season. For now, enjoy the spring everyone, get some sunshine, and I'll be back in May!

Most of the GRP women's team, just missing Hannah, Clare,
and Emily

Toblach Mini-Tour

We arrived in Toblach, Italy last Monday to some of the first full-on winter I’ve seen all season. It was dumping snow on the drive in and we had already had some reports from Emily, who was in nearby Antholz training for IBU Cups in biathlon, that the skiing was epic. We saw the two foot high snowbanks, but it wasn’t until the next day that we got to play in the winter wonderland.

Innsbruck, Austria is in between Arber and Toblach, so on our drive
 we detoured up to nearby Seefeld for a lunch stop and to take a
picture in the stadium where American Bill Koch won a silver
medal in the 1976 Olympics- pretty sweet piece of skiing history
(Photo Bryan Fish)

Toblach (also known by its Italian name Dobbiaco) is nestled in the northern Dolomites right on the Austrian-Italian border. Because of its location, the people speak German and Italian and it's common in one conversation to hear, "Ciao" (hello in Italian), "Bitte" (please in German), "Danke schon" (thank you in German), "Prego" (you're welcome, Italian) and "Tchüss!" (informal goodbye, German). It's hard enough keeping track of one foreign language, but the good news is that both languages work equally well. Known for their sharp protruding peaks, the Dolomites fit into a postcard perfect view of ski vacations in Europe, and with the new snow we were in skier heaven. Add to that all the pizza, pasta, prosciutto, and gelato we could stomach, and we were definitely living la dolce vita.

The stadium in Toblach, about a 2 min walk from our hotel.
I love how the trail goes up and over and the comp
building on the right

Barnyard scene in town- shaggy
sheep, chickens, and ducks

The cutest little black lamb!

Lago Dobbiaco and the mighty Dolomites on a solo ski
that had me stupidly happy the whole time

A typical 5 course meal at the Hotel Dolomiten- "Greetings from
the Kitchen", soup, pasta, main course (a light one in this case), and
dessert, my favorite, tiramisu!

The church in town

However, we were there to race, and although we got the trails to ourselves for the first few days eventually the European teams started trickling in. The trails in Toblach definitely get a lot of use- first and foremost for World Cups and also as a perennial stop on the Tour de Ski. Although the Tour didn’t use this section in 2016, the pursuit start from Cortina d’Ampezzo to Toblach up and over the mountain pass has got to be one of the more unique World Cup stage events.

A Tour de Ski advertisement in town

A bit of ski testing prior to the prologue, thanks Julia Kern
for the photo!

So fun to have some younger athletes along for the trip!
Leah Lange skis for the same club I skied for in high school and
she was on her first international trip, and Julia Kern absolutely
slayed the competition this trip, finishing 2nd in the junior women's
mini-tour

Craftsbury General Store hats making the long journey to Toblach!

Anyways, back to our races. The last weekend of OPA Cups is run as a mini-tour, meaning that all the times from all the events are added together for an overall tour standing at the end of the weekend. The first race was a 2.5k (3.3k for the men) freestyle prologue, which is one of the trickier distances to race. Start like a sprint qualifier and you risk blowing up, pace it like a 5k and time leaks away from you in the early parts of the race without you knowing. I erred on the latter side and didn’t have enough pop on the flat sections out of the start, so I wasn’t surprised to see I crossed the line in 25th, not terrible, but not a great result.

Heather cruising through the stadium (Julia Kern photo)

The following day was a 10k classic individual, a distance that I’m just starting to warm up to as I figure out the pacing. I decided to go out harder than I did last weekend in Arber, figuring that my slow-starting prologue was a sign that level 3 wouldn’t get me anywhere. I got a split that I was in the top 10 after 2k or so, and then didn’t quite have the energy to maintain that, but still fought my way to 22nd place.

Ben Saxton (SMS-T2/USST) striding up the final hill (Photo
Heather Mooney)

Gorgeous day for a long cool-down (Photo
Heather Mooney)

Just like that, we only had one day left of racing and had to say goodbye to winter. The pursuit start is a really cool format, one that we rarely do in the States. I wish we had the opportunity to do it more because it can be really fun and rewarding. The way is works is like this- they add up everyone’s times from the previous races of the mini-tour. Say I was 20 seconds back in the prologue and 2 minutes out in the 10k. That means in the pursuit, whoever has the fastest combined time starts at 0:00 (In this case, 10am). Then the next person starts at their time back, and I started 2 minutes and 20 seconds behind the leader. We race a 10k course, and whoever crosses the line first wins the mini-tour and also the pursuit, regardless of how long it took them to complete the course that day. Because I started pretty close to a few people and had several right behind me, I ended up skiing in a pack of around 4- myself, a Slovenian, an Italian, a German girl, and an Austrian. We were pushing each other a lot and I actually felt the best I had since I arrived in Europe. I still finished in 22nd (the same place I started) and had the 22nd fastest time on day, but I was really happy with my effort. Racing head to head with fast Europeans gives me ideas on what I can work on. Surprisingly, it’s not the uphills where they pull away, it’s all in transitions, skiing smoothly with good technique, and skiing smart and tactically well.

Heather soaking up the mountains and snow

Erika and I psyched to be done with the mini-tour! (Photo Julia Kern)

Security was pretty tight in Toblach- luckily we made friends
with the course controllers!

Overall, the trip to Toblach was an amazing experience. We had great support from our wax techs Justin Beckwith, Dylan Watts, and John Filardo, who worked hard to give us competitive skis so that we could be in the mix. We also owe a lot to Bryan Fish and the NNF for organizing these trips and helping defray the cost. It’s impossible to leave a place like Toblach without a renewed love for skiing and the beautiful places it takes us.

Behind the scenes magic with Beckwith, Filardo,
and Watts

New friends from the Austrian team, and a sneaky way to
get the NNF repped internationally!

One last shot of winter wonderland

I’m currently on a plane from Munich back to the States where the snow situation sounds pretty dire, but I’m excited to be heading back to Craftsbury for the end of season SuperTour finals races starting March 21st. The races will definitely be held on a man-made loop of unknown length and it may rain, sleet, snow, or be sunny, be it’s the East Coast after all and we’re determined to make the most of it! First up is rest and getting over jetlag, then we’ll be hosting a Fast and Female event on March 19th, and then after that it’s game time.

OPA Cups in Arber, Germany

This past weekend I had the opportunity to race in Germany for the first time! Known for Oktoberfest, schnitzel, das autobahn, and schnapps (more on that later), Germany is one of those countries that just looks good all the time. They must have ordinances on what you can leave on your lawn, because I've never seen a German house that didn't look clean and neat, and woodpiles are at a whole different level of organization.

We stayed in the town of Zwiesel, which is on the far eastern side of the country right next to the Czech border. Zwiesel is known for glassblowing and also sits at the base of the Großer Arber, the highest peak in the Bavarian forest. We actually raced up at Arber, which was good because by the end of the week it was down to green fields in Zwiesel. We stayed at a great little guest house called the Landhotel Madalenenhof, where the owner instantly took a liking to Julia (Kern) because she was able to communicate in German (so great when you are traveling in Europe!). He brought out schnapps for the team for our first and last nights dinners. I'm not one to turn my nose up at local customs, so... prost! We also spent a lot of time on a 1500 piece puzzle of the world, which unfortunately we had to abandon once we had just the ocean left- too much blue.

Exploring Zwiesel, this church had massive vaulted ceilings

Heather and Leah with the tallest tower of
wineglasses in the world! Did they use glue?
No telling..

View from an afternoon jog

Skiing up at Arber was fantastic, although the
newly fallen snow and warming temps made
waxing tricky.

We raced a 10k classic individual start on Saturday and a 15k freestyle mass start Sunday. The races were all held on a 2.5k loop, which had a really steep hill out of the start and then more gradual climbing on the second part of the loop. Coming straight over from the US and jumping in, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had a good, but not great race in the 10k, placing 21st, but on the bright side I nailed my pacing for the first time this year in 10k. I was third American, and it was cool to see Becca take 13th in our race and Julia 4th in the junior race! In the 15k, I had a horrible start when I slipped on someone's skis on the first uphill and lost a lot of places. However, there were solid packs behind the leaders and I was able to ski with Erika and Becca and catch up a bit. Aided by blisteringly fast skis, I skied to 20th place and was 1st American (in our race, although Julia crushed her junior 15k and had a faster time and 3rd place finish!). I was happy with the result as distance freestyle has been pretty tricky for me this year, and we haven't done many mass starts, so it's always fun to do some head to head racing. The races were really fun overall, and I'm hoping with a little more time over here I can improve my results for next weekend. Big thanks to Bryan Fish for organizing the trip and our techs Justin Beckwith, Jon Filardo, and Dylan Watts for giving us competitive skis, which makes the transition to European racing all that much better.

We drove Monday from Zwiesel to Toblach, Italy, where we'll be competing in OPA Finals this weekend. The schedule has a 2.5k freestyle, 10k classic individual, and 10k freestyle pursuit, and there's about 2 feet of new snow on the ground, so we're happy to be here! I'll post more after the weekend.

Skiing on the lake at Arber, just like Craftsbury!

Got to meet up with Heather, who was coming
from U23's in Romania!

It's great being in Europe and being able to watch
cross country and biathlon on TV! Here's Hannah
Dreissigacker after her top 20 in the sprint at
World Champs

Little photo collage of the 15k race thanks to Justin
Beckwith. I'm in green, lower right. Our techs were
awesome at cheering and feeds!