Author: RSS Feed

The smoke in easter Washington is the worst I have ever seen it.  It is late in the season for forest fires but some lightning strikes almost two weeks ago have been fueld by high temperatures, low humidity and no rain.  The smoke has been clearing enough in the morning to make training possible, but the afternoons have had pretty poor air quality.  Most of the eastern Washington schools have cancelled high school competitions and we have heard rumors about the cancellation of the entire Fall season.

My top 5 favorite trail runs of all time are:

1. Cutthroat Pass, North Cascades, WA
2. Chilkoot Trail, Skagway, AK
3. Cascade/Paintbrush Canyon, Grand Teton NP, WY
4. Grasshopper Pass, Pacific Crest Trail, WA
5. Porcupine Rim Trail, Moab, UT

In 1999 MVSTA started a trail running race from Rainy Pass over Cutthroat Pass and down the other side.  The last time I ran the 11.1 mile race was in 2001 when I was a junior in High School and I finished 8th running 1:22:38.  I have been looking forward to this race all year.  My focus is ski training so I did not taper or adjust my training for the race but I have been visualizing and planning to reach my goal of breaking 1:12:56 and setting a new course record.

Enjoyed a fun and action packed week helping coach at Loppet Adventure Camp.  Thanks to the Loppet Foundation for making it possible for 12 Boys and Girls Club kids to enjoy the experiences of mountain biking, roller skiing, capture the flag, hiking, canoeing, orientierin, ultimate frisbeee, and more.  

Eric and Kendal visiting Nesse the monster in Wirth Lake

Working on the basics with just one ski.  It is amazing to watch these young athletes learn.  The first day on skis was pretty ugly but by the end of the week the kids were full on skiing.  We had some impressive times in our roller ski race.

Concept 2 Ski Erg contest turned a rainy day into a fun one.

By Brian Gregg

Last weekend Caitlin and I swapped roles from athletes to Coaches for our 3rd Annual Technique Clinic with Rochester Nordic.  The Rochester  community is fantastic and although we are only in town for a few weekends it feels like we are visiting famil.  

Ready to go

Video Analysis with Coaches Eye.  This app is only $4 and is a fantastic tool

We brought a Concept 2 Ski Erg with us to help with poling technique.  A huge advantage to this tool is that you can quantify the power in your poling stroke.  We found it valuable to see the various poling techniques within our group and what generated the most power.  

Concept 2 Ski Erg sponsored the clinic with prizes for the Ski Erg contest.