VT --> UT

Besides winter, fall is definitely my favorite season. What's not to like- you've got cool, crisp air, even crispier fresh apples, crunchy leaves underfoot, and of course, anticipation for the coming ski season.

After the seasonal confusion of being in Slovenia and Austria and spending half our time on snow and the other half in shorts and t-shirts, I was quite happy to settle into real fall weather in Vermont. It was absolutely gorgeous training weather, and we hit peak foliage at the perfect time this year. The focus of our two weeks in Vermont was on rediscovering our speed, after having buried it a bit under some long distance training in Austria! Although the first few days back felt a bit like getting run over by a truck, I was happy to find those good speedy feelings again by the end of the speed block. 

Next up was a two-week training camp in Park City, my hometown, with the US Ski Team. During a long-run with Erika Flowers (from the Stratton team), we were reminiscing about how we both had awful October camps last year, me with a nasty sinus infection, and her with a broken arm. Needless to say we were beyond happy to be training full-time with the camp, soaking up the sunshine and mountain air! With that in mind, I was bound to be happy this camp no matter what happened. We packed a lot of distance and intensity into the two week period, ending with a few rollerski time trials at Soldier Hollow. Although my results in the time trials weren't all out stellar, I was happy to put on a (metaphorical) bib, and even practice sprint tactics again, and just get more excited about the real races coming up.

Here are a few photos from fall in Vermont and the camp in Park City. I'll be heading back to Vermont in a few days and getting in a final intensity push before we head west again for races in West Yellowstone (FIS race) and Bozeman/Silver Star (SuperTours). I hear it's been really cold and wet back east, so my fingers are crossed that it will mean snow in the next couple weeks! Snow dances, everyone!!

A gorgeous dirt road run back in early October in Vermont, 
or perhaps we'll just call it a leaf-peeping tour with added 
fitness benefits(Photo Caitlin Patterson)

We were back to a very full van on the way
to rollerskiing in Craftsbury

Morning sunrise from our driveway at Elinor's

Every fall Craftsbury holds an Oktoberfest Dinner, so Mary
and I spent a lovely afternoon making flower arrangements
with garden guru Pam

Look who the team ran into in Jericho- Patrick Leahy,
the senior US Senator from Vermont. Also a good reminder
to make sure to get out and vote November 8th, everybody!!

And a few photos from Utah- we got lucky with great training weather the whole time. Although the 50 degrees temperature swings during the day had everyone confused about training clothes, we really couldn't complain about constant sunshine and fresh mountain air.

Backyard visitors at my mom's house in Park
City- these guys have been popping up almost
every night to say hello

Jazz game with my dad! The Jazz might never reach

their late 90's peak again, but they're still pretty fun to watch

Skiing on the Mirror Lake Highway with Caitlin and
our friend Jaqui Mourao from Brazil
(Photo Caitlin Patterson)

High desert sagebrush and scrub oak, and a reminder why I love being
back in the intermountain West (Photo Caitlin Patterson)

An awesome run/hike on the Wasatch Crest Trail. It's high up
there- 9,000 ft, but the views are awesome. Even though I've
lived in PC for a while, I had never run on the Crest Trail
so I was super excited to the whole thing this year!

A fun group from the GRP, US Ski Team, and SMS on the
Crest Trail (Photo Erika Flowers)

We must train together or something- Caitlin, Kait and I ended
up in the same heat twice during the sprint TT(Photo Bryan Fish)

Last hill in the semifinal at SoHo. (Photo Bryan Fish)

The GRP on a final run on the Mid Mountain trail

Off day banana waffles with peanut butter maple syrup.
The recipe is from my neighbor Letty Flatt and I HIGHLY
recommend it (recipe in link)

I also helped my step-dad Dave grind 27 lbs of venison for
sausage! He's been lucky with his bow and arrow this year,
with two deer in the freezer, and we are happy about the local
game meat. Yum. (Note, not the backyard deer from above ;)

Stay tuned for some (hopefully) on-snow updates! I'll be in the east until just before Thanksgiving, when we'll travel out to West Yellowstone for a few FIS races and then the start of the SuperTour season in early December in Bozeman.