Quebec City World Cup Finals!

It was an unexpected, but nice surprise when I found out three weeks ago that I had clinched the last Nation’s Group spot for the US for World Cup finals, and would be able to race the three day mini-tour in Quebec to close out the WC season. Enter a flurry of rearranging travel plans, since I would no longer be traveling to OPA Cup Finals in Europe, adjusting my mindset, and of course, last-minute race sharpening, and I was feeling (mostly) ready to go. From what I’ve experienced on the World Cup so far, you’re never really ready. The pace is always furious, the races can be blurs of surges and counter-attacks, tactics, and blow-ups, and of course, there’s the nerve factor of competing on the World’s biggest stage. However, if I waited around for years until I was truly “ready”, I would never make it, so there’s something to be said for getting my feet wet, and I was psyched to have another opportunity to dive in.

Even though I’ve lived in the East for nearly eight years now, before last week I had never been to Quebec City, and only been to the province of Quebec for training camps in Foret and to fly out of the Montreal airport. Being in the city and racing on the Plains of Abraham right next to the Quebec Parliament building was an awesome experience. All of the World Cup teams stayed in the Hilton, a five minute walk from the venue, and also five minutes from the Old Town, the historic center of Quebec City. From a little research I did, I discovered that the Plains of Abraham were the site of a battle during the French and Indian war, but the battle itself lasted less than 30 minutes. This seemed fairly appropriate considering we were slated to race a sprint and two 10k’s, the longest of which would take a little less than half an hour! Let the battle begin.

For these races, the GRP qualified five athletes, a new record for the team! We were very lucky to also have Pepa to coach and Nick to make fast skis for us. Being on the World Cup on your own can be overwhelming, and having familiar faces around really helps (Photo John Lazenby).

Bon apetit! Matcha almond milk lattes in the old city= weird but surprisingly delicious. Thanks to my friend Meghan for letting me photograph your plate, and for being an awesome fan and coffee date last weekend.

Ida modeling proper Skida attire for an afternoon jog- if you don’t have at least 

three flower patterns on, you’re doing it wrong.

You can take the girls out of Craftsbury… #muckbootsinthecity?

Alright, back to the races! In three days we raced a freestyle sprint, a 10k classic mass start, and a 10 freestyle pursuit, with the start order determined by the total time back from the two previous days. The freestyle sprint was a bit of a struggle for me as I remembered how to wake up and race hard. However, I felt really good the next day and was happy to finish 45^th in the 10k classic, which is probably my best result in a full (ish) World Cup field. Starting in bib 50 for the pursuit, I battled it out with a group of Americans, Canadians, and some of the World Cup sprinters who started ahead of me, and finished the overall tour in 53^rd. My overall feelings from the races were happiness mixed with extreme fatigue, but it’s funny how sometimes you can still find an extra gear, or get into a rhythm even when your body is riding the edge of tiredness.

I think the best part of the whole weekend was competing as part of a huge US group (27 skiers, well 27 who qualified, 25 raced) on North American soil, with so many North American fans! It’s not often that the World Cup comes to the US and people cheer for you by name all around the course, even during your warm-up. I also loved catching up with friends from the circuit and skiing together with Nation’s group skiers from other clubs in the races.

Freestyle sprint qualifier. You can't see the Parliament building, but you can definitely tell that the venue is right in the city! (Photo Gretchen Powers)

Mayhem in the 10k mass start classic. Right about when this photo was taken, there was a massive pile-up in the back of the pack, and I found my ski tips smashing into the boots of the skier in front of me! Luckily I stayed on my feet, and was able to move up, but I never really even saw the front group break away (Photo Gretchen Powers)

Working together with Annika Taylor, who skis for Great Britain. We were college teammates at UNH and it’s so awesome to race with her now on the World Cup (Photo Deb Miller)

Two exciting things about this photo- 1. We were all really happy to have survived a fast and furious 10k classic. 2. Photo-bombed by Marit Bjorgen!! (Photo Gretchen Powers)

Leading a train in the 10k pursuit (Photo Gretchen Powers)

Most of the US women after the tour. Happy to have finished 3 hard days of racing!

With no rest for the weary, I’m now in Fairbanks, Alaska, for SuperTour finals, which start up next week. After that, and a quick trip to NANA nordic, I’m really truly done with the season, and I can’t wait!

Ishpeming and Hayward

I'm won't write too much about my recent trip to the Midwest for SuperTours (and an attempted Birkie), because I've been trying to do a little more cross-posting to the GRP blog. So if you're interested in what that trip was like for the team, make sure to click over to the GRP site and you can read about it and see a few more pictures! Link HERE.

Personally, I was really happy with my races in Ishpeming at the SuperTour. After traveling halfway across the world from Korea I wasn't really sure how my body would react, so it was nice to have good race feelings. With a small SuperTour field, the sprint ended up being a throwback to old school format, with 16 skiers qualifying to race 4 person heats, and the top two from each heat advancing. My qualifier was ok, perhaps a bit sluggish, but I felt good in my quarterfinal, made the semis, and then just missed making the 4 person final when I finished 3rd in my heat. Overall, a decent skate sprint day (6th place) for me!

Womens' sprint podium (Bryan Fish photo)

The race two days later was the one I was really targeting, a 5k classic. I love short classic races, and luckily we've gotten to race a bunch this year. Right off the start I could tell my skis were really fast and then was happy to find that they had great kick as well. I started second, so I didn't have a lot of people around me to judge how the race was going, but I was happy to cross the line in first, and then wait around to find out that it was my two teammates, Kait and Caitlin, who bumped me into third. It was our first podium sweep at a SuperTour, and a fun day for the team overall. A good day is never just about the individual skiers, but instead a result of all the factors (skis, fitness, coaching, attitude, race execution) coming together at once, and this result had a lot to do with Nick, Ollie, and Pepa working like crazy to make awesome skis for us, and then Pepa running like crazy to cheer for us.

Our new Stormy Kromer hats!
Sweet prizes for the podium

After such a fun weekend in Ishpeming it was a bummer to travel to Hayward and have the Birkie get cancelled, but now we're back in Craftsbury and moving forward with training and race prep. I'll be flying over to Europe in less than a week to race OPA Cup Finals, and I'm excited to experience some sunshine and spring skiing!

Here are a few random photos from the Midwest and Craftsbury. A true grab bag. Enjoy!

Start of the UP 200 dogsled race in downtown
Marquette

The amazing cake that Emily made for
mine and Caitlin's birthday- still in awe

Singletrack exploration with the Catamounts

Sometimes you just gotta stick your
head in the snow

Finally got to set the giant burn pile on fire once we
got a good layer of snow on the ground

Snowmen for scale. We may have
a sadistic streak

The Pyeongchang Experience

When I found out that I would be traveling to South Korea for my final World Cup races of Period 2, I have to be honest, I had no idea what to expect. Everything I knew about Asia I’d either read about in books or seen in the news, and the farthest east I had ever traveled previously was, I think, Slovenia. That’s one of the things that I love about this lifestyle, the opportunity it gives me to see new places and experience countries and cultures that I probably would never get the chance to see on my own.

After a somewhat frustrating week of racing in Falun, I was excited for something new, and after a marathon two days of travel, we finally made it to our hotel in Pyeongchang. After one meal I was already a fan of the Korean food- think lots of rice, noodles, kimchi, fresh veggies, mushrooms, and only the occasional weird dish like skate (that’s a type of sting ray) or sweet and sour fish (no thank you). The next day we arrived at the venue and I was already psyched- the sun was shining, the tracks were hard and fast, and although there wasn’t a ton of snow on the ground, it already felt more like winter than it did in foggy, damp Scandinavia (a side note, I love Sweden, but I also think sunshine is really important for happiness!)

  

Loving the Pyeonchang trail system on a ski with the Pattersons

Middle of the trail system, with the Olympic ski jumps in the
background. If you look closely you can see the lights on the
sprint course- they look just like football stadium lights

In my happy place skiing around with Liz and Noah

The Olympic biathlon range is looking good!

Sink laundry goes to a whole new level...

The whole trip seemed to fly by, and since we only had two days of skiing before the first race, we kept it pretty chill skiing-wise. We only skied in the afternoon and spent the mornings sleeping in and going for short jogs, so that we could minimize jet lag and stay on a good schedule for afternoon/evening races. One morning Liz (Stephen) had the great idea to borrow the tech’s van and go check out a Buddhist temple a few k’s up the road. The temple was apparently established in 643 AD, and the grounds contained around 15-20 buildings, as well as stone pagodas, statues of Buddha, doors with intricate patterned wood paneling, and hundreds of paper lanterns. Most of the tourists there seemed to know exactly where to bow, and how to navigate the different temples. We might have stuck out like sore thumbs as tall Americans (all dressed the same in team gear), but I’m so glad we had to chance to see a bit of Korean culture outside the venue and the hotel.

Temple entrance- Scott is stoked!

One of many gorgeous and intricate buildings

I loved the colors and pattern on this door

The 9 tiered stone pagoda in the center of the
temple grounds

More doors, and really cool dragons

The first race, on Friday, was a classic sprint, and looking at the start list, I knew there was a really good chance for me to qualify with only 36 women entered. Most of the top European racers didn’t make the trip to South Korea with World Champs only a few weeks away, so the field was significantly weaker than it was in Scandinavia. Therefore, it was a perfect opportunity for me to score World Cup points and gain experience racing heats on this level. My qualifier wasn’t perfect, I struggled with tempo, skied the downhills a bit cautiously after my fall in Falun the previous weekend, but after crossing the line I saw I was holding 25^th place. After a nerve-wracking heat selection process, two hours later I found myself standing on the line of my quarterfinal with some very fast ladies. After a somewhat slow start, I was at the back of my heat but not getting dropped. On the second hill, I maneuvered around a Finnish girl who was starting to slow, and on the final turn and finish stretch I double poled with the highest tempo I could muster and almost caught fourth place. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop smiling, I had skied my first World Cup heat under the lights in Korea and only finished 2 seconds back from the leader, and I scored World Cu points! We didn’t get back to our hotel until almost 10 pm and had to eat dinner then somehow wind down enough to sleep and get ready for a 2:30 pm race start the next day. Back at the hotel, we watched the finals of the sprint on TV and got to see Ida take third in the A Final, her first career World Cup podium. She’s worked hard for a long time to get there, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of her season ends up!

Racing under the lights was such an awesome
experience (Photo Nordic Focus/TokoUS)

Women's podium from the classic sprint- go Ida!!

Ida's new friend/podium prize

I wasn’t specifically targeting the skiathlon the next day, as I’ve only skied two other skiathlon races before in my life, and since they end with skating, I wouldn’t consider the event a strength of mine. However, after the mass start in Falun, I decided to try to ski my own race this time, and work on relaxing into a tempo that I could sustain for the whole race, instead of burning all my matches at the start. I was happy to find that I could hold onto the chase pack in the classic portion, and my skis were really fast which helped me catch people on the downhills. I transitioned to skate around 12^th place, and prepared to lose a lot of time, but was pleasantly surprised that I was able to more or less hold position even though skating felt like a lot of work. Once again, I had really fast skis, and when I crossed the line in 13^th, I couldn’t believe it. Then I immediately found out that Caitlin had finished 4^th, which is an amazing result for her and a reflection of a lot of hard work this summer and fall. Combined with Liz’s 2^nd place (which is not a surprise, she’s an amazing distance skier and well suited to the hilly skate course in Korea), it was a good day for the US women.

Start of the second classic lap (Photo Nordic Focus/TokoUS)

Pushing through the skate portion (Nordic Focus/TokoUS)

Screenshot from Eurosport, when I found out how Caitlin did!

Although I wasn’t chosen to race the team sprint the next day, I had a great time being on pole duty, cheering as loudly as I could, and ultimately watching the two USA women’s teams take 3^rd and 4^th in the final. We say this a lot, but while skiing may be an individual sport, it takes a team. I’m really grateful to the US wax techs and coaches for supporting me and giving me great skis while I was over in Europe and Korea, and to some of the more experienced ski team athletes who helped me navigate my first World Cups and keep things in perspective (and keep it fun!) I’m leaving Period 2 with a good idea of what it takes to ski on the World Cup and a few ideas on how I can improve, and mostly I’m just grateful for the opportunity to experience this level of skiing and learn as much as possible.

Stadium sunset on the team sprint day in Pyeonchang 

As I write this, I’m on my second day of travel back to Vermont from Korea. I’ll only have 5 days in Craftsbury before I fly again, this time to the Midwest for the next SuperTour stop in Ishpeming, Michigan. The goal for the rest of the season is to ski well enough to qualify for World Cup finals in Quebec later this season, but either way, I’m feeling really motivated and excited for the remainder of the season! Thanks for reading and for the cheers and support from back home!

First World Cups

Well, I officially survived my first two weekends of World Cup racing in Sweden!

Backing up—I traveled over to Europe the day after the freestyle sprint prelim at Nationals, which I decided to skip since it didn’t count for anything points-wise, and would have meant racing the day before two big days of travel. I got to Ulricehamn a few days before the US Ski team arrived from Toblach, and spent those days skiing the race loop, checking out the town, and sampling different restaurants (surprisingly good Thai and Middle Eastern food in southern Sweden, as it turns out!) Luckily I was able to meet up with the guys SuperTour leader Matt Gelso, so it wasn’t a solo expedition. Ulricehamn is a first time venue for World Cup, so everyone in town was super excited about having the races there, and so friendly towards athletes, whether it was in the gym or grocery store.

The ski team arrived on Tuesday, and it was great seeing them and catching up with a few of my friends that I haven’t seen in a while! It’s an awesome group of people, and they definitely do their best to make traveling and racing in foreign countries a fun time. I did some intensity leading up to the races and fought the jet lag, then got ready to race my first ever World Cups… deep breaths.

On Saturday the women raced 10k freestyle individual start, which isn't my favorite race format. However, since I don’t have all that much time over here, I’ve decided to take advantage of every start right that I have. I figured it would be a good chance to test things out over here, learn how things work on the World Cup, and at the very least, I wouldn’t put too much pressure on myself to have a really outstanding race. In the end, it ended up being a pretty solid effort for me. I may have skied a little conservatively out of the start, but I was happy to feel like I could push hard, and I skied a bit with other women in the race who were lapping or catching me. A Russian woman caught me at around 8k, and we skied together into the finish and I was able to outsprint her for the line. My final result of 52^nd was not spectacular, but I was really happy with the race in general. Plus it was cool to see the US put 4 women in the top 25!

The next day I was really excited to have a spot on the second women’s relay team for the US. They haven’t had enough women over in Europe to field two women’s relays in a while. I was chosen to anchor the team, which meant a skate leg. Unfortunately I didn't feel quite as good during the relay as the previous day, and got caught by the Russian woman behind me, so our team finished 12th. However, it was still a really fun day, and I was psyched to be a part of the USA II team!

The volunteers were super friendly and excited to have us
there. Notice the grey fog/mist- pretty standard Scandinavian
weather for winter time

Sunset over the lake next to our hotel

Walking street in Ulricehamn

I got a new max speed during the 10k
skate, which feature a ripping downhill

Screenshot from the 10k race start from UNH teammate
Katie Miller- I was a tad bit nervous and forgot to smile
for the camera

First World Cup in the books! Doing a cool down
jog with Kikkan and Jessie

One crazy story from Ulricehamn- after the relay a woman came up
to me and introduced herself, and it turns out that she was my nanny
back in the States starting from when I was about 2 days old. She lives
nearbyin Sweden now and saw that I was racing then came to find me!
Such a small world. Our story made the local paper

Then the team traveled to Falun, Sweden for a freestyle sprint and 15k classic. Falun was the site of the 2015 World Championships, so I've seen the courses before on TV, but they were pretty impressive in person! Lots of sustained climbing with tricky downhills (especially on the sprint course). During the week, we did a bit of training and I got to hang out with my family since they were over to watch. Our hotel was the main lodging for the World Cup, so it was a bit unreal riding the elevator and eating meals next to World Cup athletes like the Norwegians and Russians, who I've only seen on tv.

An easy classic ski with double trouble friends
Sadie and Rosie- they're pretty cool!

My races in Falun weren't the best feeling-wise or results-wise. I struggled to shake some lingering fatigue from the Ulricehamn weekend, and falling in the sprint qualifier didn't help things. The next day I was excited for the 15k mass start and had a good start, but maybe went out a little too hard and spent most of the race getting passed (not a fun way to do a race, especially one with very fast skiers). So although I finished my two races disappointed, I'm trying to take these results and experiences in stride. As my first ever World Cups, I'm looking for things to take away from each race. Now I know the pace that a World Cup mass start goes out, and while it's pretty fast, it's not unattainable, so I'm looking forward to one day being able to hang on, instead of getting spit out the back!

Sprint qualifier in Falun (Photo Nordic Focus/TokoUS)

UNH wildcats in Falun! Andrew and Tim are
both alums from the UNH ski team who tech
for the US ski team now, and I also had my
brother over to cheer me on 

Green Racing Project ladies after a tough 15k
classic. It's our first time having 3 women from
the GRP on the World Cup, which is awesome!

Team Guiney posing in front of the Norwegian
wax truck

After a solid two days of travel, I'm now in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and will be racing this weekend in the pre-Olympic World Cups here! So far Pyeongchang has been awesome, and the venue was spectacular yesterday, so I'll be posting a photo update after the races are over (and I survive another 2 day travel back to the States!)

Checking out trails South Korea style with
Caitlin and Scott Patterson- lots of sunshine and great snow

View from the classic course with the ski jumps in the background

Soldier Hollow US Nationals Roses and Thorns

Earlier this year, our GRP women’s team did a team bonding session where we shared our roses and thorns from the summer and fall of training. It may sound corny, and maybe you haven’t done “roses and thorns” since elementary school, but it actually led to some really good discussion and understanding of where other people were coming from. A “rose”, of course, is something positive, in other words a highlight or happy moment. And then a “thorn” is something that was a struggle, or that challenged you, or put you through a low point. 

I've been struggling with how to write a blog about Nationals, because, to be honest, my results weren't what I was expecting and definitely not what I was hoping for. I actually placed pretty similarly to how I did at Nationals in SoHo three years ago, when I first joined the GRP, and I know I've made a lot of progress as a skier since then (or at least I would like to think so). Frustrating! 

But as the song goes.... "every rose has it's thorn" (sorry, terrible power ballad), in other words, it can't be all sunshine and rainbows. The early race season was great for me, and though nationals was not great, it didn't mean that there weren't some positives and a few lessons to take away from the races. There were also some negative feelings and thoughts that are going to get thrown away as soon as I write them down here!

So anyways, instead of the usual race recaps, here are my roses and thorns from the three races that I did at SoHo. 

10k Freestyle Individual

• Thorns- 10k skate at altitude is a really tough event for me in any circumstances, but in this particular race I went out conservatively in order to pace well, and then I still blew up and struggled on the final gradual climb. My family who was there to watch me race said I looked like I was in pain the entire race. It was really frustrating to go for my race gear and discover it just wasn’t there.
• Roses- I had really good skis, thanks to hard work from our techs, and even though I skied most of the race alone I didn’t give up even when it started to hurt. A lot. The end result of 24^th could have been much worse from the way I felt. Also, my GRP teammate Caitlin got 3^rd! She didn’t feel great either, but I thought it was a solid result considering she spent most of Christmas break getting over a cold.

Eve of the 10k, sunset over Timpanogos and Soldier Hollow

Thanks to Ian Harvey of Toko US for the photo, and more
importantly the warm gloves!

The only sunny day at SoHo during Nationals, but
also the coldest (Photo Deb Miller)

Classic Sprint

• Thorns- Generally I look forward to classic sprints almost more than any other event, but this particular classic sprint seemed determined to change my mind on that. While testing for the qualifier, we experienced just about every type of weather- powdery snow on the tops of the climbs then some rain/sleet/hail coming down from above. Needless to say, testing was a little stressful and down to the wire and the “perfect” ski wasn’t really out there. In the qualifier I built up about six inches of snow on my right ski during the final climb that I had to stop and kick off. Then in the heats, it just poured rain the entire time. Not exactly what I had in mind when I first heard Nationals would be at Soldier Hollow!
• Roses- In spite of the stressful qualifier, I squeaked into the heats, then had much more success with my glide and felt good in my quarterfinal. I really like the new sprint course at SoHo and can’t wait to watch the World Juniors/U23’s race on it in late January. Unfortunately I made a bad tactical decision in the finishing lanes of my quarter which left me plowing through slow snow for 3^rd in that heat, and then I missed lucky loser so my day finished early (ok maybe this is still in the thorns section). However, even though my end result of 15^th on the day wasn’t what I was hoping for, that’s sprint racing and I was happy to at least feel a little more like myself. Then I got to watch my teammate Kait advance all the way to the A Final where she took 3^rd. It’s gratifying to see someone that you train with and see work hard all the time get solid results. Ben also made it to sprint semifinals for the first time in his life!

Striding up the little kicker hill in the classic sprint
qualifier (Photo Gabby Naranja)

GRP ladies trying and failing to stay dry during the heats. Yay
Kait on a fast race in the A Final! (Photo Deb Miller)

20k Classic Mass Start

• Thorns- Testing for the classic mass start, it was between zeros and klister , and both were feeling really good over on the warm-up area. Since there was a possibility of new snow coming down at some point in the 1 hr+ race, I decided to play it safe and go with the zeros, since I figured new snow would stick badly to klister. Well, on the first hill of the race course, I quickly realized that my “safe” decision was the wrong one when I had very little kick and was left slipping and herringboning where I would have preferred to kick and glide. It’s worth noting that the choice to go on zeros was mine alone, not the coaches’ or wax techs’. With hindsight, it’s easy to say that I should have chosen the klister pair, but with only about 15 minutes to test on the course right before the race, it was a down to the wire decision and could have gone either way.
• Roses- I think the 20k may have been one of the most painful “learning experiences” of my life. However, the silver lining was that my energy seemed to be bouncing back from earlier in the week, my skis were fast if not kicky, I got tons of herringbone practice (on every hill), and I was still able to pull off a top 10 result. I learned a ton in that race about making it work when things are less than ideal, and was happy to find some of my own grit. The true rose of the day was watching the live splits of the men’s 30k race roll in and realizing that Ben was going to win his first ever National Championship. Even though Ben is new to the team this year, he’s already proven himself to be a really dedicated athlete, and everyone was proud to see a Greenie take the win! The GRP women also put three in the top ten with Caitlin getting another podium and Kait in 8th.

Start of the mass start (Photo Deb Miller)

Going up the first hill (Photo Deb Miller)

Green team led the charge for a little bit (Photo Deb Miller)

Talking it over post race (Photo Deb Miller)

All bundled up with Kait and Mary after the race 

Great to have my mom (and most of the rest of my family!) out
to cheer during the week

While my overall experience at Nationals was frustrating, I have to stay confident and believe that these results don’t define my fitness or race potential right now. After reflecting on the races and my feelings (and receiving some blood test results from a test right before Nationals), I think I may have been fighting a subtle sinus infection the whole time, that didn’t have serious symptoms but sapped my energy, and along with the altitude and conditions, left me feeling more flat than usual. My goal now is to rest up, get fully healthy, and then do some low altitude training in Sweden prior to my first World Cup start next weekend. In spite of an up and down week at Soldier Hollow, I’m really excited to start on the World Cup! It’s gonna be a crazy ride, and while I don’t have specific results goals or expectations for the races, I will be taking it all in, learning as much as I can from each race and experience, and skiing as hard as I possibly can each time I get to toe the line. 

And some bonus roses from the holidays and time at home:

Christmas Eve ski with my bro and his
new puppy Marty, who is an energetic ski buddy
and absolutely the cutest

In our house, the baked brie on Christmas has
to be ski themed

Hitting the lifts on Christmas! Even though it was dumping
powder in Utah, I resisted the temptation to ski besides our
traditional Xmas day ski. Hoping there's still some snow left
for me when I get back in April

Park City pretty-training day at White Pine

4 of the GRP skiers came and stayed at my house in PC to get used 
to the altitude early. New Year's eve celebrations were relatively
tame but at least got out of our sweats :)

A few of my favorites things- sweet potatoes, kale, maple tahini
sauce, and a full belly

Found a little bean at the races! 

Another shot of handsome Mr. Marty

Proof that I may have been born to be a ski bum,
my mom and dad at Snowbird, cerca 1980's

It was really fun having Kait's mom Deb (far left) stay with us in Park City,
and thanks to her for taking a lot of photos during the races.

Will try to post another update following the races in Sweden. Thanks for following along!