Spring Fever

Once again, I'm looking back at my blog and noticing that it's been over two months since I last posted! This always seems to happen this time of year, and honestly I'm ok with letting my blog lapse in the springtime. In general it means I'm spending a lot of time doing other activities, and not very much time thinking about skiing. April is the best time of year for me to recover mentally and physically from the long season, catch up with family and friends that I've been missing all year, and pack in all my favorite activities that aren't necessarily the best for "training" during the rest of the year. It's also a good time of year to figure out what worked last season, and what changes I can make for the upcoming year to make things even better. I made a few changes on that front, which I'll get to in a bit. But first, a quick skim of what happened this spring!

Since I last wrote, I raced at Spring Series in Fairbanks. There isn't much to say about those races- I got sick on the travel day there and ended up with a stubborn sinus infection, so I sat out both the skiathlon and the relay. I had a lackluster skate sprint, and then convinced myself to race the 30k skate, which wasn't a great idea. It's wasn't that I had a bad race, but my energy was not in a good place for a race that long at the end of the season, and my sinuses flared up again a few days later. So, anyways, it wasn't awesome and I was pretty excited to be done with racing after that week.

I flew straight from Fairbanks to Ambler, AK to do NANA Nordic for a week. I wrote a blog about that experience for the Craftsbury website, so if you're curious, click on the link below. Here's a few photos from the trip that didn't make that blog:

http://www.craftsbury.com/blog/?p=5965

Gorgeous snowy landscapes in Ambler, waiting for the kids
to find me in a scavenger hunt

After school skiers- two cuties skiing on the lake

What's more exhausting- racing a 30k, or pulling kids around
for 10 hours a day? I'm still not sure

Hung my Martenitsa bracelet (it's a Bulgarian tradition) on a 
tree outside of Anchorage, so hopefully I'll have good luck all
year long.

From Anchorage, I flew down to Utah to spend the rest of my break at my parent's house in Park City. I love Park City this time of year because the alpine skiing is still awesome, but most of the lower trails dry out enough to mountain bike. You can also easily escape to Southern Utah, and the weather is generally perfect down there. When I got home from NANA, I was maybe the most tired I've ever been in my life. It felt a lot like coming home after finals in college, and I spent some quality time on the couch, enough that I think my parents started to worry about me. However, with enough fun activities to do, my energy started bouncing back.

View from Gooseberry Mesa, outside of Hurricane Utah

Sunsets on the mesa with an awesome crew after a day of
mountain biking (and right before the best fire roasted
sweet potato burritos ever made)

I got to play doggy aunt for a bit with my brother's border collie
mix Marty. He's super energetic and bouncy, and loved frolicking
around in this late season snow

My mom and I also had a four day trip to Florida planned to get in some sun and beach time. The first few days were rainy, but on the last day we had absolutely perfect weather to do some kayaking, snorkeling, and power shopping.

Kayaking from St. Andrew's State Park

Seaside, FL, a little gem of a resort town on the Florida panhandle

Back to Utah, and Heather came through PC on her way to
Truckee, so we of course had to bust out the skinny skis and get up
high

Mountain biking with two of my favs :)

I've been back in Craftsbury for the past few weeks, since we kicked off the official start of training on May 1st. Last season I was really happy with how things went skiing wise, and I had good, solid training year-round for maybe the first time ever. However, I knew I wanted to make a change in my living situation, because after spending four years in the ski house at Craftsbury (usually with 10+ other athletes), I was craving my own space. My teammate Susan, who is a rock-star biathlete, just bought her own place in Craftsbury last summer and was looking to rent out the spare bedroom. She was nice enough to let me be her roommate, and I moved in just a few days after getting to Vermont. She has an awesome lawn and garden with gorgeous views, and I'm absolutely loving the new place.

Other than that, we had a testing week to kick off summer training, which reaffirmed that there is ample work to do this summer. I've been keeping busy between training and work projects, as well as getting in some fun stuff too. The weather theme of the spring so far has been cold and rainy, and I'm eagerly awaiting the start of real summer, so I can pack away my down comforter and get back to running in tank tops. I don't have any training photos, but hopefully I'll get some into my next blog, and in the meantime here's a smattering of life shots from the past few weeks.

The kitchen in my new place, successfully used
so far to bake ample bread and granola. Next up-
I'll be trying my hand at brewing my own
kombucha

Our view from the backyard- Mt. Mansfield looming in the
background

Our window "greenhouse" as of two weeks ago.
So far- tomatoes, cukes, winter squash, onions, basil, and marigolds.
 I'll have to post an updated photo in my next blog as things are
sprouting like crazy

Terrible photo quality, but an awesome time at the barn dance/
library fundraiser in Craftsbury

My trusty Subaru officially became a Vermonter this year,
which may have been a bit overdue, but better late than never!

Getting in lots of puppy time this spring too! Here's Ellie,
Ethan's new pointer/lab mix, hanging out on the porch at the
Outdoor Center

Susan's parents just got a new golden
retriever puppy, Paddington. He decided
he liked using my shirt as a chew toy,
so I'm holding him where he can't bite me!

And of course, I've been back getting my hands dirty
in the Center's gardens, planting kale, swiss chard,
cabbage, and tomatoes so far, more to come soon!