FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Camps and Plans by Sophie

    We wrapped up the annual SMS summer camps last week and had over 100 kids attending them. Erika and I were counselors at both the BKL camp and the junior camp and the rest of the team helped out when they returned from Europe. Working at these camps is a lot of work but it’s very rewarding. We got in some solid training with the juniors during their camp and while the BKL camp isn’t as physically exhausting, providing constant entertainment for a group of 70 10-14 year olds can be pretty draining!

    Austin and I demonstrate the piggy back event at the Camp Olympics

    Justin Bieber making an appearance during my group’s skit

    There was a lot of road rash but we watched the kids make huge strides in rollerskiing (no pun intended). Both camps also had a run or hike that went over Stratton and the junior campers were lucky enough to take the Gondola down!

    Lucy rolled her ankle but was a good sport about it and here we are completing the 3 hour hike!

    Last week was busy with the camps wrapping up and the rest of our team returning from Europe but now we’re all in one place. I was getting lonely without my roommate so I’m especially excited to have Ms. Diggins back.

    In addition to training every day, we have been cooking delicious gourmet meals in our mini kitchen, taking advantage of the beautiful weather by swimming (or watching teammates swim in my case), and organizing our Ski-a-thon fundraiser coming up on September 2nd. Erika and I made a trip to Craftsbury to train with the National J2 camp the other week and made a weekend of it by going to a Lumineers and Old Crow Medicine Show concert in Burlington that evening and doing hill bounding intervals at Trapps the following morning.

    Lumineers performing at the Burlington Waterfront

     I’ve enjoyed staying in VT for the summer but things are about to get busy and the traveling will start soon! Next week we head to Maine for 5 days to train with MWSC. It will be fun to see the Portland area and train with our friends from the East. When we return from Maine, we have the Lake Placid Camp in September and a camp in Park City and Canmore in October and then before we know it the race season will be underway!

    Here are some more pictures from the past few weeks. Check back soon for more updates!

    Sophie

     The SMS T2 girls (West, East, Midwest)

     Technique drills with some campers

    Sophie C. and Sophie C. (also Cami’s daughter!)

     It’s always fun when Parker Tyler SMS ’08, Utah ’13 is back in town

    It was the girls’ turn to be featured on the shirt this year!

    That’s a lot of happy campers!

  • Grass Skiing, Plyos and Strength @ CVU

    Yesterday was a perfect morning for training at CVU. Fall sports are going through tryouts, so there was a lot of activity beyond our training. After warmup, the crew did a circuit-style plyometric and strength routine. The athletes jogged between 5 stations that included plyos, abs, push ups, bench dips, narrow-pushups, and walking lunges. Coach Eli Enman and I supervised the plyos and helped with technique and timing.

    After nearly 60 minutes of that, we put on our skis (thats right, snow skis!) and did some short relays. Grass skiing is extremely taxing on the body – it is like trying to ski uphill through about 10″ of heavy snow. There is almost zero glide, meaning you can never really relax your muscles and recover. The benefits of grass skiing are that striding uphill is nearly exactly the same as on the snow: the body position, the balance, the kick phase, and the resistance from the grass is like a steep climb on snow. Rollerskis are nice, but they give you 100% guaranteed kick every stride – no matter how steep the climb. And there is much less resistance (friction) on a rollerski than on snow. If you don’t believe me when I say it is like real skiing, look at the pictures (below) of the athletes on the ascent. Body position is dead-on.

    I remember seeing Kris Freeman (US Ski Team) and Pat O’Brien (Craftsbury GRP) doing some short sprints on grass skis last summer with coach Zack Caldwell. Earlier this summer, there was video of the Craftsbury athletes practicing sprint starts. And just recently, the athletes at Rochester Nordic Racing (coached by Jason Hettenbaugh and my dad, Roger Weston) posted video of their own relays on grass!

    CVU has such perfect grass and also many steep hills between the fields. The hills were actually steep enough to glide down! It wasn’t fast, but it was fun and good for balance.

    Click the pictures to enlarge!

    Part of the relay included doing some 360˚s. Will Solow on the right catches air.

    The crew at the end of the workout.

    Nigel, Ethan T and Jordan working on plyos

    Emma Hamilton striding up the hill

    First crash of the 2013 season!

    Ethan T working on the lateral hops

    Ethan John striding uphill

    Sienna, Cally and Emma doing the 1-legged hops

    See, it looks like skiing!! Cally and Molly

    Getting the feel of having skis on.

    Nigel, Sienna, Cally and Ethan T showing good form

    Liam John – lateral skate hops

    Liam John trying some tele turns

    Liam and Will Solow striding uphill

    Lucy Leith with a bunch of skiers and field-hockey players in the background

    Lukas Adamowicz ascends the hill

    Nigel and Jordan working on plyos and V2 timing

    The start of the relay

    …and they’re off

    Sienna is getting ready for skiing at St Lawrence!

    Will Solow finds some glide

  • Summer Prospect: Laurien Van der Graaff

    Continuing with my summer reading of XC news, I again perused an one of FIS’s short interviews, this time with Switzerland’s Laurien Van der Graaff.

    Unlike Masako Ishida, whom we considered earlier this week, Van der Graaff is a sprint specialist, and a freestyle sprint specialist at that. Van der Graaff really did have a bit of a breakthrough season last year:

    As you can see, it was only really her third season of racing “full time” at the World Cup level. She jumped from occasionally qualifying for the heat, to qualifying all but once, and continuing on through at least the semis numerous times.

    She only did three classic sprints last season, so it’s not like she’s racing both techniques the same amount and doing better in one. You’d think that if she’s going to tackle that weak spot, she’ll have to start entering more classic sprints.

    One thing that does concern me looking at her results from just last season is that she seemed to fade significantly as the season progressed:

    Van der Graaff started off with her best race, and then things sort of went downhill from there. It’s possible that the increased number of WC starts had something to do with that. She had a total of 15 last season, compared to only 6 and 5 in the previous two seasons (that’s sprint and distance combined). If I look at all FIS races, she did more last season as well, but not as dramatically: 17, compared to 10 and 14 the previous two seasons. But certainly the the WC starts could plausibly be considerably more draining over the course of a season.

    Assuming freestyle sprints are still going to be her best bet for top results next season, the schedule itself won’t be doing her any favors. She’ll have to travel to Canada for the only early season freestyle sprint. There’s a freestyle sprint buried in the middle of the Tour de Ski, but that seems like a big investment if you’re really just focused on sprinting. Then there’s a freestyle sprint in Russia which could be sparsely attended (because it’s in Russia) or it could attract all the big guns (because it’s a preview of the Sochi Olympic venue).

    The individual sprint in World Champs is classic, of course, and then there’s just the Lahti sprint immediately following.

    All in all, if she travels to Canada, I’d look for her to have some strong results in the freestyle sprints there, but she hasn’t (yet) shown that she can sustain that through a full season.

     

    Related posts:

    1. <Can Kikkan Randall Win The Sprint WC Title?
    2. <Can Kikkan Randall Win The Sprint World Cup?
    3. <Career Retrospective: Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset


  • My Summer Vacation by Amy Caldwell

    Ski Factory Impressions

    This summer I was fortunate enough to visit several different ski factories in Europe with Zach. After our first year back in operation as Caldwell Sport, we felt that investing in my understanding of skis from the ground up was important for our business. We’re a small business, and it’s necessary for both of us to have a high level of expertise in all aspects of the operation. There is no better way to learn about skis than to go to the source and handle skis every day for a few weeks with no distractions. I am pretty sure this is Zach’s idea of heaven.

    Our first trip of the summer was to Norway. Zach planned the trip so that we could spend a few days skiing on the snow at Sognefjell, about a 3 hour drive north of Lillehammer, with some of the US Ski Team guys that he coaches. Sognefjell is a remote mountainous area located above the Sognefjord. Its elevation is about 4500ft and holds snow well into the summer. There is a hostel-like lodge there that serves five very carbohydrate rich meals a day. They salt and groom a 7km winding loop (with hills and turns) twice a day. When we were there, all of the major ski companies were testing their products along with some of the Norwegian National Team, German Biathlon, United Bakeries Marathon Team and a host of other teams from Norway, Sweden and Finland. Because all of the major ski companies are based out of Europe, this ends up being a relatively close testing area for them. While we were there, we were able to test some prototype products that are really interesting ideas. If all goes well, these products will be brought to market over the next few years. We were able to get a sense of what concepts ski companies were working with and what direction they are headed.

    After 15 hours of skiing in 6 sessions at Sognefjell, we headed back to Lillehammer to spend a week picking skis at the Madshus factory in nearby Biri. I have become a bigger and bigger fan of Madshus skis over the past few years, so I was really looking forward to going to the factory. Although any factory setting is far from glamorous, the Madshus factory was a totally impressive facility. They take extreme care selecting all of the materials that go into their skis and have built some of the most exact machines in the industry. They are so exact that they have to make slight adjustments during a production cycle so that not every pair of skis is identical! Anyway, after a week of drinking the Madshus “Kool Aid” and making sure that our Demo fleet had a very good race fleet for me in my size range, I left Madshus feeling even more excited to test their skis this season.

    Checking out the Salomon development press with Frise.

    After Madshus, the next stop on the ski pilgrimage for me was to the Salomon Headquarters in Annecy, France in August. While Salomon produces their skis in Altenmarkt, Austria; their World Cup service team is based out of Annecy and all their development and prototyping happens there. They actually have a press in Annecy where they can produce a new ski to test without having to halt the whole production line in Austria. It was a great opportunity to spend a little time with Patrice Frisson-Roche, one of the Salomon World Cup service guys, to learn a bit about what skis they have been testing and liking on the World Cup. Over the next two days, which also happened to be a weekend, we spent 10 hours on road bicycles near Annecy biking several of the roads and Cols that the Tour de France often visits. Thanks much to Alex Haas, the Salomon international marketing director, and his good friend who is the marketing director for German soccer for showing us some incredible riding around Annecy. In spite of very sore bums and legs, it was an amazing three days.

    From Annecy we went to the Salomon ski factory in Altenmarkt, Austria. Salomon shares a factory with Atomic which are both owned by Amer Sports. It is interesting to see two totally different ski companies working side by side. They have two separate design teams that work independently of one another. Most of the factory workers are working for Amer and not directly for either ski company. Jean-Marc Draeyer works for Salomon and is very involved with ensuring the quality of every pair of Salomon skis.  Overall, my impressions of the Salomon factory were very positive. Although Salomon hasn’t been making skis for all that long compared to the other ski companies out there, they’ve done a good job bringing in some very hard working and knowledgeable people.

    We were also very fortunate to have 2 free days in Altenmarkt due to an Austrian holiday and another weekend day. Zach and I took advantage of the nice weather and the Austrian Alps and did 2 fantastic hikes from Ramsau, one of them taking us up and around the Dachstein glacier. Although the Dachstein is used as a summer ski training venue, August tends to be its low point for good skiing during the year so we were happy to be hiking instead of slogging around on dirty, very slow glacier ice.

    Also, during our week in Austria, we were able to squeeze in a day visiting the Fischer factory in Ried. Although Ried is unfortunately not located in the beautiful Austrian Alps, it was a great opportunity to get to take a look inside the factory that has been the leader in making cross country skis over the past few decades. The Fischer factory certainly did not disappoint. It is definitely the largest of the factories and it is clear that they continually reinvest in their machines and technology. It was also great to see into the racing department and see a whole bunch of Dario Cologna’s skis get dropped off for grinding. Thanks to Andy Forstner (another World Cup service guy) for showing us around.

    In all, I learned a lot about the different ski brands we carry this summer. One of the biggest lessons that I learned was that to be truly knowledgeable with skis, one must be a continuous and eager student of skis. Ski companies are constantly trying to refine their skis and make them lighter and faster. They come up with new concepts, develop them and then test them over and over again. I know one thing that I will do this winter is use every ski as a ski testing opportunity. Knowledge comes with hard work. Fortunately, like all of our customers, I don’t mind this type of “hard work”.

     

  • Recovery

    I had a good day off of training today. After a totally relaxing morning I headed to Solitude Ski Area to play a new disc golf course. On the hike in we saw a couple of moose.

    It is not unusual to see moose in the Park City area (or Colorado), but it’s still fun to get up close to them. (We were on a raised wooden bridge when we saw them today, so it was no problem. Sometimes, when you meet them in the woods and they’re in your way, it can be a different story.)

    The Solitude Disc Golf course was extremely difficult. There are lots of steep uphills and downhills and narrow fairways. I had a great time playing it, but it was tough and frustrating at times. As always, my friend Graham Watanabe makes it look easy:

    This evening, Mike Engel, a friend and supporter of the U.S. Ski Team, had Liz Stephen, Tad Elliott, Simi Hamilton, some of our coaches and wax techs, and myself over for dinner. It was an incredible evening with incredible food. Thanks to mike for the great meal and support!

  • SMST2 Update

     It has been a busy month for our SMST2 team. Skyler, Erika and Sophie were here continuing with steady training. Jessie went to Sweden while Eric and Andy went to Austria and Germany, all on USST trips. And..last week, when those three returned, the whole team helped out with our SMS summer camps.
    Now it’s back to steady training with the team.

    Yesterday, we did our 10 km uphill L3 TT. It was a perfect day except for the headwind, everyone skied well. It was interesting (not too surprising) to see that the skiers who had not traveled made a little bigger gains in the test. I attribute this to travel and camp fatigue. The 3 who returned from Europe last week are not quite back in the flow yet. It is a good lesson to learn and I imagine that within a week they will be “firing on all cylinders”.

    Above, Jessie starts out.

     Sophie takes off with Erika on deck.

     Andy floats through town.

     Skyler dwarfs the church.

     Eric looking good and forward.

     Andy crests the top of the 6 km hill.

    Austin jumped in and improved his June time by 1:30.

  • Training

    I had a tough workout this morning; I skate roller skied for four and a half hours by myself. U.S. Ski Team coach Jason Cork dropped me off down by Heber City, Utah. I then met him after three hours in Kamas to refill my drink. Then he picked me up at the end of the session in Browns Canyon. I skied 50.5 miles.

    This afternoon I played tennis with my strength coach, Alex Moore again. We both played pretty well, but I got crushed 6-2, 6-2. I have never beaten him. We have probably played more than 100 times. It is still fun though.

    I had a good talk about long-term goals with my coach, Zach Caldwell today. We talked about the difference between “making it” and “making it look easy.” To me, “making it look easy” is the person who has always been good and was always going to be great. They tend to be really good at a really young age. People who fall into this category are Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Petter Northug, long-haired Andre Agassi, Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, and Mikaela Shiffrin. This is not to say these people don’t try just as hard or harder than everybody else. They also care just as much. They just figure it out from the beginning. They “make it look easy.” I don’t fall into this category.

    My goal is to “make it.” It’s going to look and be hard to succeed. I have no problem with that. People who fall into this category are bald Andre Agassi, Pietro Piller Cottrer (as far as his relay gold medal), and, to an extent, Bjorn Daehlie.

    I didn’t take any pictures today, but here’s a picture of the World Cup Venue in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic on relay race day from February of last year.

    I’m psyched for the race season!

  • Is "laziness" a medical condition? Pictures…

    A doctor at the Mayo Clinic recently published some thoughts on a subject that I find intriguing: should “deconditioning” (a fancy term for being out-of-shape) become a medical diagnosis? An excerpt from his article in the Journal of Physiology:

    “Physical inactivity and lack of exercise – deconditioning – is one of the most common preventable causes of morbidity and mortality known for an impressive array of diseases (Thyfault & Booth, 2011).   . . .   If deconditioning were a recognized syndrome or diagnosis . . . it would be easier to educate the general public and medical community about the one universally effective treatment for it – exercise training.”

    ———————–

    Yesterday we trained at the Range on a perfect Vermont summer day. We were lucky to have 2 awesome MNC graduates back: Eric and Ben Lustgarten (Burlington HS alums that now ski at St. Lawrence and Middlebury, respectively). They’ve been training out in Sun Valley for most of the summer. Ben was one of the best XC runners in the state in ’09 as well as State Champ in skiing in 2010. Eric has come on full-bore in the past year, winning 2 Junior National Championships in one season! As a sophomore at Middlebury this past year, Ben qualified to represent the United States at Junior World Championships in Turkey! These guys represent some of the “old guard” that paved the way for the expansion of the Mansfield Nordic Club. Along with Peter Hegman [UVM], Jared Supple [Colby], John Dixon [Colby] and Emily Stitt [Middlebury], this crew of folks is kicking ass in the collegiate ranks. It goes to show just how much talent we have in this area.

    The coaches set up technique and skills stations and the athletes did a continuous rollerski with stops to do the drills. We practiced sprint starts, 1-ski downhill balance, running uphill, striding through an uphill slalom, kick double pole, jumping on rollerskis, and bounding up a grassy hill with rollerskis on.

    After no-pole warm up and about an hour of drills, everyone did some specific strength work. The big boys double-poled about 3 loops and the gals did a variety of double-pole and single-stick repeats. We ended with some max-power drills on a gradual up: go as far up the hill as possible in 10 poles.

    Bounding on skis: notice the different body positions of Eric/Ben (left) and the younger guys

    Sprint starts

    Craig Calhoun working on the specific strength

    Destyni catchin air! That takes confidence, power, agility, balance

    Ethan Thibault – specific strength

    Molly, Sienna, Leslie sprint starts

    Most people do slalom downhill… we do it uphill (diagonal stride)

    Bounding

    Jordan Lamay catching air

    Liam John working on the power

    Junior National champs (and BHS grads) Ben and Eric Lustgarten are going to ski fast this winter!

    Sienna looks excited – like Michael Jordan

    Will Kay has got some power for a young guy – not to mention wicked determination.

  • August BKL Camp – Success!

    Last week was the second week-long BKL camp of the summer, and I’m happy to announce we escaped without any casualties. In fact, one of the rollerski groups completed their session without any bloodshed! — a landmark accomplishment. Add to that the good weather, enthusiastic campers, and fun activities, and you can imagine that we all finished the week tired but happy.

    Throughout the week, GRP skiers and rowers, coaches from the Center, and other Craftsbury athletes led about 20 BKL-ers on half-day sporting adventures. Like the first camp back in July, the first four days included mountain biking, canoeing, biathlon, soccer & games, bounding & agility, sculling, and rollerskiing. There was also lots of swimming, multiple times a day in fact. Pretty astonishing how much entertainment kids can draw from jumping off the dock into the lake.

    I helped out with a few different sessions myself, including one rollerski morning where I got a glimpse of the East’s next wave of skiing talent! Some of those little rippers ride a better gliding ski than me, I swear. I also worked with Jeremy Nellis to do a morning of agility exercises.

    Bounding exercises on the Upper Soccer Field. Photo: Gordon Vermeer

    Bounding exercises on the Upper Soccer Field. Photo: Gordon Vermeer

    The ladder hones agility, coordination, and speed. Photo: Gordon Vermeer

    The ladder hones agility, coordination, and speed. Photo: Gordon Vermeer

    The full photo album from that morning is posted on the GRP’s facebook page.

    Friday, in a sort of culminating adventure, Dylan and Nils organized a multi-stage adventure race where the campers got to run around the Center doing all sorts of crazy things. It started off pretty tame with a swimming portion and a team log carry, but things started to get exciting when they reached the log bridge — attempting to walk across “Frog Pond” on a bridge of logs tethered to shore and to one another. It was extremely popular, so I imagine the log bridge will feature in future BKL camps. I tried the log bridge myself and fell in the swampy pond shortly after everyone started chanting “fall! fall! fall!” at me.

    Rivaling the log bridge in popularity was the tire roll, where teams got to (safely, I assure you) roll tractor tires down a big hill. “Wait, we actually get to roll it down there?!” they exclaimed when instructed to do so.

    I filmed the whole morning! There’s a highlight video of the race online — lots of good footage of falls into the swamp.

    We capped off the week with a bike trip to the Dreissigacker’s camp and an afternoon of pizza-making and rope-swinging. Judy Geer took a bunch of pictures including the ones below, but check out the whole album here.

    Watermelon and pizza with dough from the Center's kitchen. What more could you want? Photo: Judy Geer

    Watermelon and pizza with dough from the Center's kitchen. What more could you want? Photo: Judy Geer

    One of countless trips out over Hosmer. Photo: Judy Geer

    One of countless trips out over Hosmer. Photo: Judy Geer

    I look forward to seeing all these BKL athletes tearing up the trails this winter!

  • Junior Camp Classic Tech. Vid

    More vids click: SMS Vimeo Channel

  • Can Masako Ishida Break Through?

    I was reading FIS’s interview with Japan’s Masako Ishida with interest, because I’ve really been rooting for her to pull off some strong results. In the interview, she mentions that some of her goals for next season include increasing her presence in the top 5, and in particular making the jump up to some podium finishes.

    It’s not like she hasn’t been there before. She managed a 3rd place back in 2008-2009 in a 30k classic mass start. And last season she finished 5th twice (15k and 30k classic mass starts) and also finished 6th once (15k classic interval start).

    You may have noticed a slight pattern there, which she also touches on in the interview:

    So, like many Japanese skiers, Ishida performs dramatically better in classic races. If we look at only classic races, measured by finishing place (since that’s the metric she mentioned herself), we see the following:

    (That reminds me that I need to tweak that function so that it always runs from a minimum value of 1 when plotting by rank…0th place, indeed!)

    The red line corresponds to 3rd. As you can see, Ishida improved steadily for several seasons, and then had a bit of a break though in 2008-2009. But even in classic races, her specialty, I’d not that she has a pretty high level of variability. A bit under 1/3 of her classic results over the past three seasons have been outside the top 30, so she can be a bit inconsistent.

    Last season did see a bit of an increase in top ten classic results, though it’s still accompanied by a range of results back into the 30s. What I really like to look for in an athlete making a jump is for their bad races to improve as much as their good races do, which hasn’t really been the case here.

    That said, Ishida has consistently been able to crank out multiple top ten classic results each year for several seasons running, and I doubt that will change next year. The tricky part is figuring out how she’ll find a way to sneak onto the podium.

    A podium result in a women’s World Cup distance event is hard. That sounds pretty dumb when you say it out loud, but I actually have something specific in mind. Think for a moment who you’re going to have to displace to get on the podium. The vast majority of the women’s distance podium results recently have gone to Björgen, Kowalczyk or Johaug. I think it’s fair to say that those three have to a certain extent “gapped the field” in distance events recently. Certainly other folks sneak in there, but when those three are racing well they just seem to be on a slightly different level then the rest of the women’s field.

    What’s worse for Ishida is that all three of them are fairly excellent classic skiers, and they each have pretty much owned Ishida head-to-head. Indeed, if we compare Ishida’s results to each of the women who reached the podium last season in a distance race, things look a bit bleak:

    (Negative values here are bad for Ishida, positive values are good for Ishida.) Jacobsen, Weng and Brodin are the only three who Ishida compares relatively favorably to in classic events.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Ishida and I would be thrilled if she popped a great podium result. But at the moment, I feel like the most likely route for her to get there is to find a classic race next season that might be poorly attended. The 30k classic mass start at World Championships would be ideal, except that, of course, everyone else will surely be there. Possibly the 10k classic in Canmore would be a better bet, as possibly a bunch of Europeans won’t want to do all that travelling. The only other possibility I can see on the schedule is the 10k classic in Lahti immediately following WSCs, figuring that some women will take the weekend off to rest after World Champs.

    Related posts:

    1. <Most Unimproved Women: Distance
    2. <Davos Recap: Distance
    3. <Week In Review: Friday Jan 14th


  • Leadville Trail 100

    My good friend Zeke Tiernan took second place on Saturday in the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Running Race. I ran with Zeke last Monday. I am super impressed and excited for him. The three times he has run the race, he has finished third once and second twice. On Saturday he ran more than an hour and a half faster than his previous best time. Oh yeah, and it was the fourth fastest time ever run on the course!

    Two years ago when he ran the race, I got to be one of his pacers. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there this year, but it was fun to follow his splits on the internet. I talked to Zeke today and got the low down on how the race played out. Talking to him about the race makes me more excited for my race season coming up. Here is a picture of Zeke (leading his pacer) during the race (I stole it from the internet.)

    His accomplishments are even more impressive because he is far from a single-minded professional; he is a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade history teacher and a father.

  • Tunneling in Torsby + Seattle

    I wrote this article for NNF, the National Nordic Foundation regarding our training camp in Sweden.  NNF funded a large aspect of the trip, therefore making it possible for me to attend. I’m super thankful to them and to everyone that has donated to the organization!  I’ll leave this article text heavy and picture shy since I’ve already shared most of the best pics in my previous blog. Or, there are some awesome ones posted on the NNF Facebook and/or USSA Nordic. You should LIKE both of these pages if you haven’t already done so. 

    Looking into the “eye” of the tunnel, down my ski…..  

    Two weeks of brown cheese, tunnel skiing, fish paste, and Scandinavian countryside have come to an end.  I think that all parties, Americans, Swedes (and our lone Canadian) alike would agree that our joint training camp was a great success.  When I initially heard about the trip I had decided to stay home and save my money for winter competitions. But, when NNF and other donations stepped in to fund the camp I jumped on board and boy, I am sure glad I did! 

    Our trip had three distinct parts to it. The first was the “North American” acclimatization camp where we got used to the respective time change (10 hours from Alaska!) and tested skis with Salomon techs in the Torsby Tunnel. Next came the dry land portion where we met up with the Swedes and trained in Salen, the start of the Vasaloppet, and finally, a return to Torsby for more tunnel time and a bit of cross training outside of the refrigerated loop.
    Joint training session number one featured pouring rain and three hours in a nearby bog.  We were initially handed a topographical map with some light arrows penciled into the tiny contour lines.   Both the fog and mud were so think that maps didn’t seem to matter but luckily, we stuck together as one big group.
    In Salen my favorite workout was a skate sprint time trial where we skied a prologue, TWO quarterfinals, a semifinal, and a final. After the prologue we were ranked in brackets. With each “race” the fastest skier would move up a bracket and the slowest skier would move down a bracket.  This was a great way to perform some really tough intervals and work on race tactics. We all had a blast despite our comparatively slow skate roller skis! 

    Other workouts included specific strength on classic rollers; mostly single sticking and double polling up a Swedish Pass.  We also did a threshold plus 5×10 minute workout, point to point over rolling uphill terrain. We had a great core routine, went on some distance skis, and a second bog-run hike too.  In Salen we had Fica (Swedish for night snack) and watched the Olympics in our mountain-side cottages, I took a high speed crash into a pile of gravel spread across the road, we threw away our trashed “Bog Socks” that were beyond return, and we enjoyed an American BBQ meal our last night. After four solid days of training (almost five hours per day) we had an entire day of rest that was used for travel from Salen to our next destination two hours away, Torsby. 

    Once in Torsby, we hit the tunnel hard, skiing four to five hours the first day on the 1.2k loop.  Loops took between 5-6 minutes each and we would alternate directions each time, ensuring a wider variety of terrain!  That means we averaged between 40-60 loops in the tunnel that day alone!
    The tunnel interestingly enough, had a different effect on everyone. Some loved it and would exit the tunnel exclaiming, “That was great! I love skiing and love the tunnel!”  Others hated it and would avoid it at all costs, even if it meant doing a group workout alone on roller skis outside of the tunnel. (Both of these examples are Swedes, FYI)  I will admit, it was tough to go into a humid, winter, recycled air environment on a beautiful sunny day.  The tunnel was mostly underground and featured barely audible music and no windows whatsoever. My personal favorite was to complete 2/3 of the workout in the tunnel and finish the last 30-60 minutes outside the tunnel, either running or roller skiing.  The Torsby Sports center was awesome for this in that they had a 3k-paved roller ski loop literally crossing OVER the ski tunnel and running trails directly adjacent. The training options were awesome and I really appreciated the opportunity to “go to winter” and then leave when it was time.  (General aside, the tunnel wax of choice for us seemed to be a klister layer of violet covered by Swix VR60)  In addition to tunnel skiing in Torsby we had a great threshold plus 45-minute pace workout on the ski trails. We ran roughly three loops of the 2,5k ski trail which featured some really hard terrain and big hills. Afterwards, we ran down to the lake to jump in and cool off!
    By the end of the second four-day training period everyone was still in good spirits but tired and ready for some rest. Apparently the 9-day camp was much longer than a typical Swedish National Team camp and by the last couple of sessions, there were more North Americans still standing (all six of us, healthy & ready to train) than Swedes!  After our last session we packed the van and drove to Oslo where we celebrated our last night in summer Scandinavia together with a nice dinner near the Oslo Harbor, complete with fresh muscles!
    Here are a couple of additional thoughts I’ve had in reflection of my trip thus far:
    Gained confidence – we’re on the right track
    Some of us have already addressed this in blogs but it’s worth mentioning again.  It was great to see that the Swedish National team girls weren’t that different than we are.  There is no secret to their training; in fact, it’s not that much different than ours. I believe their current success lies in their tradition of success or simply the belief that they KNOW they can succeed, as others in their country have done in the past.  In the US we are more or less paving our own road but trips like this add to our belief when we have proof that we can keep up in summer interval sessions, handle more training hours, or do more pull ups J  I think that this trip gave each and everyone of us some positive feedback and some additional motivation to finish out the training season strong as we head into the 2012-2013 World Cup season.
    Keeping in touch with Euros & building relationships
    Seeing that most of us spend five months a year racing World Cups in Europe, it’s good to maintain contact WITH Europe and our peers there.  It’s easy to isolate yourself in a small microcosm American training bubble but it’s valuable to see what summer training in Europe consists of.  For most of us, this was our first time doing so. We also got to practice traveling, adjusting to the time change, and eating weird foods…. All seemingly meaningless until you try to perform on the World stage continually out of your comfort zone….
    The camp provided a great opportunity to become friends with the Swedish girls as we were in a (mostly) non-competitive environment. It’s tough to build relationships on the start line at Kuusamo or the dining hall in Russia.  Having more friends on the road and WC circuit will make it easier missing holidays with friends and family.
    Proud of our team’s resilience
    I am so proud of our team!  We are strong, resilient, and it’s amazing what we are able to accomplish, especially considering our shortage of resources compared to our larger budget competitors!  On the last day of camp all the North Americans were still standing, ready to train with smiles on our faces. Somehow, one way or another, seemingly half the Swedish team seemed to be out with sickness, injuries or general fatigue despite the fact that they were just hours away from home by car compared to our thousands of miles by plane. For comparison in Torsby they had 12 wax techs, a slew of coaches, video technicians and two “physios” (What Euros call PT/Massage Therapists.)  Sure, the camp was in their backyard but there is something to be said for staying healthy……
    All said and done, I’m flying home with infused confidence, specific direction for the remainder of my training period, and more International ski experience to my name.
    THANK YOU to the National Nordic Foundation and everyone who has donated to it for helping fund this trip!!!!! Happy summer everyone,
    Sincerely,
    Holly 
    Ok, shoot. I lied. I can’t help but add some other, new pictures to the post. On my way home from Sweden I stopped in Seattle for three days to see my family. It was a rare opportunity and I usually miss every holiday and every birthday. So, we took the opportunity to visit my family’s cabin at Snoqualmie Pass where I learned to ski.  It was cool that I was just in Sweden because I am actually part Swedish.  Consequently, the trip got me thinking about my Swedish Grandmother, “Farmor” quite a bit.  I wanted to make Swedish coffee bread or “Bula” with her…. here are a couple pictures from my visit to Seattle….. 

     Wasa Bread and Lingon Berry Jam!  (Also, check out my grandma’s hat! (I traded for it at the Olympic s and gave it to her!)

     I went on an awesome hike/run with my parents on the Pacific Crest Trail. Here I am running on the Kendall Catwalk 

     With my parents, Don & Chris 

     With Farmor getting ready to put the Bula in the oven 

    In Seattle I also took the opportunity to pick blackberries which grow like weeds in Seattle. We don’t have them in Alaska and I wanted to bring some home for Rob! 

    What’s next? Five weeks in Alaska, at home! I’m really pumped for a solid block of training & time with my husband, friends, and cat!  In October I’ll go to Park City for another round of testing at the COE and an altitude block! 
    Until then! 
    Cheers & thanks for reading, 
    Holly 🙂 

  • SMS Jr Camp Wrap

    We finished up our Junior camp with a classic/run/hike combi OD. Everyone was out 2 1/2 -3 hours and they were all encouraged to ski with our SMST2 team as they came by.

    It was a picture perfect day and a nice rolling uphill ski.

     Malcolm had a small hole in his arm (stitched) so he went no pole.

     Chris and Sidney took turns leading.

     Julia works on matching strides with Erika.

     Sophie, Sarah and Liza.

     Ashton and Jaclyn.

     Max and some SMS boys.

     Andy, Skyler and a group of followers :).

     Sophie, Jessie and Issy.

     Catching a ride.

     Sam and Calvin.

     Skis, poles, boots and helmets “off” and in the vans, running shoes “on”, depart… aka controlled bedlam :).

     That will be fun to sort out!

     Everyone made it back over the mountain, down the gondola and back to school in time for lunch and the final wrap up meeting with t-shirt distibution.

     The T2 girls are featured on the shirts…anyone know what they are doing? Hint (their fingers represent letters).

     The “price” of fame :).

    Thanks to all of the coaches for their help and to Power Bar for supplying bars!

  • Skate Vid from JR. Camp

    Here is some skate footage from camp.  Classic footage under construction and will be up soon.

  • Mt Mansfield Hike

    Saturday 8/19 we had about 22 people gather for a hike up Mt Mansfield. The days started cool and cloudy and breezy. Once we reached the ridge we encountered nice views towards Stowe – it was entirely clear to the East. We skirted around the summit on the Profanity Trail and eventually looped back up and over on our way home. On the summit ridge (now coming from the Smuggs side), it was ominous and gray on one side of the ridge while remaining clear on the other. After a chilly few minutes on the summit, the clouds lifted and made for a beautiful descent. While we were on top of Vermont, one of our other MNC families was over in the Adirondacks summiting the highest point in NY – Mt Marcy. Hopefully we can get a few pics of their hike too!

    Approaching the summit. Gray to the W, clear to the E

    Garrott and Murray

    Nigel and Chris Rodgers

    Molly, Karin, and guest Margo

    Stopping for  a snack on the way up

    At the bad-weather bypass

    Is that the Alps? Nope, it is Stowe.

    Ben and Will on the summit

    Summit, looking West

    Ascent – we were still beneath the clouds

    Henry and Liam in an elevator shaft

    Louis, Will, Casey, Henry, Liam and Bill.

    View of Mansfield before the hike!!

    Heyo!

    On the way down…skies clear…looking towards Burlington

    Awwww yeaaahh!!

    Ballet pose with Pleasant Valley in the background!!

  • Salt Lake Adventures

    Last night, after arriving back in Park City and going for a mountain bike ride, I headed down to Salt Lake to see the new Bourne movie with my friend Graham Watanabe and a couple of his friends. We went to the drive-in.

    I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a drive-in, certainly not for a long time. It was really fun, although the movie (Bourne Legacy) was my least favorite of the Bourne series.

    We were the least prepared of anybody at the movie. We should have brought more chairs, blankets, food, and drink.

    After the movie I spent the night at Graham’s new place in Salt Lake. This morning I went for a three hour run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Then Graham and I played disc golf on the Creekside course in Murray.

    Graham is very good; he shot five over par. I am not; I shot twenty over par (for twenty holes, bogey golf.)

    After playing disc I headed back to Park City to play tennis with one of my strength coaches, Alex Moore. He crushed me 6-3 6-2.

    Then I went for an hour and a half classic roller ski. It was a busy day.

    This evening I made spaghetti with Toni and Greg Adams, my hosts here in Park City. Toni and Greg just got back from Colorado today. I hadn’t seen them in a month since before I left for Vermont. It was a fun night.

  • Haig Glacier

    After a summer of differing schedules and various programs, Team Black Jack came together mid August for a week of high altitude training at the Haig Glacier. With volume and on-snow technical work as the team’s main focus, the Haig delivered a perfect training location and everything went according to plan. The daily schedule ranged […]

  • Training 8/20 – 8/26; Pictures from last week

    Training 8/20 – 8/26: (last week of Summer Training)

    • Monday: 8:30 – 10:30am. Classic rollerski at the Range.
    • Wednesday: 8:30 – 10:30am. Running & skiing at CVU. Bring rock skis (classic) and poles/boots. Fun relays!
    • Thursday: 5:00 – 7:00pm. Skate rollerski at the Range.
    • Saturday: 9:00 – 11:00am. TBD.

    Here are some pictures from last Wednesday. We did the make-up DP test on Wednesday, as well as a lot of classical technique work.  At the end of training we had an informal awards ceremony to honor Henry Harmeyer and Ben Hegman. Both of these boys earned All American status at Junior Nationals last year for their podium performances. Congrats guys!

    Yesterday we started hiking Mt Mansfield on a chilly morning that turned into a beautiful sunny day. Going up the west side of the mountain (from Underhill), we were stuck in the clouds the entire time. We flanked the summit via the Profanity Trail and as we moved towards the Stowe side of the mountain we encountered beautiful views. Back on the summit, it was sunny in one direction (East) and cloudy/windy to the West. Everything cleared off just after we began our descent down the Sunset Ridge Trail. We finished with a bunch of mini-donuts and donut holes.

    Coach Alice Nelson leads the girls – working on high hands while double-poling.

    Alissa Stone doing the DP test

    Ben Hegman and Sienna Searles

    The boys are happy that they don’t have to do another DP test for 2 months

    Cally Braun makes her way up

    Ethan, Jordan and Nigel

    Forrest and Ethan

    After the All-American presentation. Looks like about 35 athletes/coaches!!!

    Henry Harmeyer leads a group through kick-double-pole drills.

    Julia Snyder joined us from BFA-Fairfax

    Liam John set a big PR

    Nathanael Kuzio set a really big PR

    Parker Francis and another PR.

    Sam Longenbach, PR.

    Sam leads Lauren and Cally doing “shadow” drills

    Will Solow and Adele Julianelle mimic one another

    Will “suns out guns out” Solow is psyched for the BKL Festival!!

  • Birthday, Europe, Strength

     Sam had his birthday today….

     …and showed why he keeps coming back to camp 🙂

     Jessie gave a presentation on racing in Europe (WJC’s, U23’s, World Cups and World Champs). She was then joined by her SMST2 teammates to answer a bunch of questions about racing, travel, training etc…

     We then went down to the school obstacle course and did 2-3 loops for warm up before returning to the soccer field for strength.

     Andy, Matt and Sophie led a legs routine that included an introduction to Olympic Lifting.

     Eric, Jessie and Poppet led a core routine.

     Erika and Liz led an arms routine.

     We split into 3 groups and each group spent 30 minutes at each station.

     Everyone has been enjoying Power Bars both during the long workouts and after the hard workouts!

    We finished up just in time for dinner, a couple of videos and then a trip to the village for some good old Southern R and R along with some hula hooping. Our own Alex Cobb won the hoola contest and received a new hoop for her efforts!