Author: Noah Hoffman

This morning I went on a three hour run with my teammates Simi Hamilton, Andy Newell, and Tad Elliott as well as Alaska Pacific University skier Pete Kling and Stratton Mountain School’s Erik Packer. We took it easy and chatted the whole workout.

This afternoon I had to pack everything, move out of and clean my room. I won’t be back in Park City until the spring.

My awesome mom took the train out to Park City on Monday. She is going to drive my car home for me so I can fly straight back to Colorado after camp. I am so lucky that she is so generous. My car is quite full for her.

Today was Lindsey Adam’s (the daughter of the family I live with here in Park City’s) birthday. We had a great sushi dinner and a small birthday party.

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Canmore, Alberta for the second half of the US Ski Team camp.

This evening Mike Engel, a very generous US Ski Team supporter, hosted a fundraiser to give Nordic enthusiasts a chance to show their support for the US Cross Country Ski Team.

My teammate Kikkan Randall brought her world cup sprint globe to the party and made an inspired plea for support. I was very impressed by her poise and professionalism. There were lots of photo ops for the supporters.

On the workout side of things, we did a skate roller ski intensity session this morning at Soldier Hollow. The workout included 5 by 12 minutes at threshold (a pace you can sustain for at least an hour). Each interval included two all-out sprints to imitate the bonus sprints common in World Cup races. It was a good, hard workout. Here is video of the session:

This afternoon I ran for an hour then did my core strength routine. Most of the team was in the gym doing strength.

This morning the US Ski Team did a classic roller ski speed session (10 to 15 seconds as fast as possible) down at Soldier Hollow (the roller ski track at the 2002 Olympic venue.) There were three stations of speeds, two flatter (double pole technique) and one steep up (striding or running on skis.) The US Ski Team sprinters (Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton) are some of the fastest guys in the world. It’s great for me to go head to head against them but I get crushed. We did 9 speeds, took a 10 minute break then did 9 more. I switched to faster roller skis after the set break. Here’s video from the session (I’m in all black):

Most of the athletes at the US Ski Team camp had the day off of training today. I went down to Salt Lake this morning to hang out with some friends, Sarah MacCarthy and Tegan Troutner. This afternoon we organized a large game of baseball with 20+ US Ski Team athletes from all different sports. It was the best turnout and representation of sports we’ve ever had.

Above is US Alpine Team member Sydney Staples at the plate.

Above from right to left, mogul skier Sho Kashima, friendly alpine skier Wiley Maple, slopestyle skier Meg Olenick, alpine skier Katie Ryan, and ski jumper Anders Johnson.

This evening I went to Sushi dinner with several members of the US Alpine Team. It was a fun day with a lot of incredible people.

It snowed up high in Park City today!

The US Ski Team did max bounding intervals this morning. I did 6 by 3-4 minutes race pace to maximal with Tad Elliott, Erik Bjornsen, and a few club skiers. We started and finished at the same place each interval and our times were: 4:00, 3:43, 3:43, 3:39, 3:19, 3:29. The last minute of the last two intervals were maximal. It was a tough and productive workout. Here’s some video from US Ski Team coach Bryan Fish.

This afternoon I classic skied for an hour and fifteen minutes with Kris Freeman. Then we had a pizza party to celebrate Kris’s birthday.

Above from left to right, Kikkan Randall, Tad, Toni Adams, Kris, and Ida Sargent.

Bryan also enjoyed the pizza:

Even though Kris is diabetic, he was still able to enjoy some of his birthday cake. (And the rest of us enjoyed it as well.)

This morning’s workout for the US Ski Team camp was two hours of distance skate roller skiing at Soldier Hollow (on the roller ski track at the 2002 Olympic Venue.) We included 30 minutes of no pole skiing in the session to work on lower body technique. Some athletes did one pole skiing. Here’s some video of the session from US Ski Team coach Jason Cork. It includes Kris Freeman following me no pole skiing and me following Kris and Tad Elliott. Also, check out Andy Newell’s little demonstration of how slick the pavement was with the rain.

This morning the whole US Ski Team plus several elite level club athletes did a two and a half double pole only session. Here is Stratton Mountain School athlete Eric Packer (left) and US Ski Team athlete Andy Newell post workout:

Coach Matt Whitcomb road along for the session.

And here’s my teammate Ida Sargent:

Teammates Liz Stephen (left) and Kikkan Randall are two of the three girls on the US Ski Team A Team:

This afternoon I ran for an hour then did “session 2″ of my new core strength program. We had a delicious team dinner cooked by new US Ski Team nutritionist Matt. (I don’t know his last name.)

My only workout today was an hour and a half road bike ride. I was too much of a wimp to go out early this morning in the cold so I waited until mid day and drove down to Salt Lake. I road Little Cottonwood Canyon.

I had never been up the canyon and it was beautiful. Someday I want to ski the two famous ski areas at the top.

The tram at Snowbird looks amazing.

I hear they get a lot of snow up there.

And the terrain at Alta looks fun to ski.

I liked the church in the “town” of Alta.

It’s hard to read but it’s called Our Lady of the Snows.

The canyon was steep. I was taking it easy, but it took me more than an hour to go the 8 miles (13 kilometers) from bottom to top. It was a cool ride.

After the ride I played disc golf with my friend Graham Watanabe. I achieved my goal of better than bogey golf with 19 under for 20 holes.

The US Ski Team October Camp started today. This is a split camp that starts here in Park City for 10 days then moves to Canmore, Alberta (on-snow) for 10 more days. Most of my teammates are testing for the first two days of camp. They roller ski on a giant 6 foot wide treadmill, breathe into a tube and go as hard as they can while the treadmill either goes faster or gets steeper until they fall off. In this way they measure their VO2 max, max heart rate and max lactate.

I tested consistently for the first three years I was on the US Ski Team. The last two years I have chosen not to test because I didn’t feel I was getting a benefit from it. I never received any results or information from testing that helped me ski fast in the winter. I never had a treadmill test tell me something I didn’t already know (i.e. I’m in good shape or I’m not in good shape.) This is not to say I will never test again. If there is a good reason to test in the future I will absolutely do it.

So, I worked out on my own today. I did a two hour run this morning followed by 10 minutes of short hill bounding on real skis. This afternoon I went for a two hour mountain bike ride. This may have been my last ride of the season and it was really fun.

We also did US Ski Team head shots and group photos today. Here is my teammate Holly Brooks getting her head shot:

Picture day requires a lot of waiting around:

And waiting for instructions:

But we finally got the sweet team shot we were looking for:

This morning I did skate intensity by myself. I went to a road I have only skied once before, Hoytsville Rd. It is a great location that I will try to use more often. I warmed up for half an hour then did one hour at threshold then cooled down for fifteen minutes. It wasn’t a great session because I struggled to get my heart rate up. For the hour of on time, I only averaged 142 beats per minute (bpm). I would like to be between 153 and 160 bpm for threshold. I’m not 100% sure why I struggled get my heart rate up but it’s partly because the terrain was flat or gradual and my technique isn’t good enough to ski really hard on that terrain without tensing up. I’m a little disappointed with the workout

This afternoon I did an hour run followed by a new core strength routine. I felt a little tired on the run, but the new core was great.

This evening I went to pizza with the Canadian National Team. Then I went up to their hotel for a game of Settlers of Catan. Settlers is a really fun board game similar to monopoly but with less luck and more strategy.

We had ten people playing so we split into two groups of five but played right next to each other.

You need ten points to win. I was at nine points for a long time but couldn’t get the tenth point. Devon Kershaw (2nd overall on the World Cup last season) ended up getting the victory. I have played 7 or 8 times with the Canadians between New Zealand and this camp but I have yet to get a victory. Hopefully next week when we’re all in Canmore, Alberta.

I was over-scheduled today. This morning I did a two hour skate roller ski down in Salt Lake on my own. I went straight from there to a tennis match with my strength coach Alex Moore, and then straight into my second session: an hour and a half classic roller ski, also on my own. Tennis is obviously not great recovery in between sessions. I enjoy being busy and doing things like playing tennis, but I need to weigh the “fun factor” against what is best for my training. Today I chose tennis.

After the second roller ski I met up with the Canadian National Team again for a baseball game.

I hadn’t played “America’s Pastime” in a couple of months and it was really fun.

This evening I went up to the very nice Canadian accommodations for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. It turns out their Thanksgiving is very similar to an American Thanksgiving. It was delicious.

I did a long fun session with the Canadian National Team this morning. We started classic rollerskiing down in Salt Lake City at the base of Mill Creek Canyon. We skied to the end of the pavement at the top of Mill Creek; it took an hour and twenty minutes. Then we switched to running shoes and ran the Wasatch Crest Trail to the top of Guardsman Pass; the run took two hours and twenty minutes. We gained almost 5,500′ (1650 meters) during the workout.

All these pictures are courtesy of Canadian National Team Skier Graham Nishikawa:

It was cold this morning but turned into a beautiful day.

The running trail is fun and has incredible views.

Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey did the session. They both finished in the top 5 in the overall World Cup last season. I look up to them and want to achieve what they have achieved. I enjoy the opportunity to train with them.

Off day today. I played a couple hours of tennis this morning with Stefan Kuhn, Canadian National Team coach and former World Cup skier. He is better than me and thoroughly beat me but it was a ton of fun.

It was a gorgeous day in Park City.

The trees are past their peak but still nice.

It has been below freezing in the mornings.

This evening Monique and I had a great dinner with my former strength coach, Alex Moore and family. Then we went to the 2012 MSP Film Superheroes of Stoke. (MSP produces freeski movies.) It was excellent. It made me excited for winter, but also made me miss skiing on the mountain.

In truth, I would way rather ski powder, park, gates or bumps than Nordic ski. (I Nordic ski because I want to be the best in the world.)

Here is some video from the bounding on real skis yesterday:

And here is video from the max bounding intensity yesterday afternoon:

I described both sessions and posted my heart rate data in yesterday’s post.

This morning I did a basic two hour skate roller ski on my own. This afternoon I went on a fun mountain bike ride, also two hours and by myself.

This evening we had a really fun, delicious German dinner party, cooked by Monique Siegel, of Schnitzel and potatoes.

I made a raspberry chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

I found a great place to do some grass skiing this morning:

Two weeks ago in Putney was my first time grass skiing. My technique coach Zach Caldwell of Caldwell Sport wanted me to try it to work on a steep running stride in classic. The first hill I did today was a good grade for long bounding, or skimming, as we call it.

The upper hill was too steep to run, even on grass. (I was actually slipping.) It was a good chance to practice herringbone technique (used while classic skiing on very steep terrain.)

I was able to glide coming down.

In total, the morning session was an hour and twenty minute run followed by ten minutes of bounding technique on skis.

This afternoon was another “foot” session, 8-10 by a set distance of about 90 seconds uphill max bounding intervals (with shoes, not skis.)

The session was only an hour total time but the intervals were brutal.

I only finished 8 intervals before the quality was degrading and I stopped the workout. US Ski Team Coach Jason Cork supported the session. We have video of both the morning and afternoon sessions which I’ll post tomorrow. Here’s the data from the afternoon session. (Keep in mind the highest heart rate I’ve ever seen is 184.)

I had a recovery day today with only an hour run in the morning followed by some core strength. It was a gorgeous day!

This afternoon I played tennis with Ted Ligety (Olympic Gold Medalist in Alpine). This is the second time I’ve played singles against him. Last time we played we split sets then played a tiebreak as the decider. He won it. Today we played two sets and he won both in tiebreaks. Next time maybe I can take it. I got two very bad pictures:

And another (I apologize for the extremely poor quality.)

We fired up the pizza oven tonight.

Jason Cork also made some outstanding homemade pasta. Here he is working on it with Jessie Diggins:

I was the head pizza cook. I only burnt 2 of the 20 pizzas and calzones. I could do better.

We had some great food.

Luke Adams, whom I live with, enjoyed it:

Lindsey Adams, Luke’s sister, and Jessie made some delicious cupcakes.

We had a fun crew.

From left to right: Jessie, Monique Siegel, Liz Stephen, Lindsey and Jason.

We ended up with 13 leftover pizzas and calzones. Awesome!

For training this morning I did 8 by 4 minute double pole intensity. Jason Cork supported the workout. This afternoon I skate roller skied for two and a half hours. Here’s some video of the morning session: