Category: XCFeeds

I had a great two and a half hour run this morning with a big crew from Ski and Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV). This afternoon, Ryan Scott and I did a two hour double pole with Eric Pepper supporting us on a road bike. It was another good session. This evening a friend and supporter of mine, Jon Schafer, otherwise known as Fast Big Dog, arrived in town. Schafer is going to train with us tomorrow morning.

This photo is from our walk to dinner tonight. From left to right, Jon Schafer, Eric Pepper, Tad Elliott, and Dan Weiland.

I learned a lot about SSCV today. It is an amazing ski club. Besides the huge number of National Team skiers I mentioned in yesterday’s post, SSCV has possibly the best development system in the country, if not the world. Recently, they opened the new Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy. It is a public school, part of the Eagle County School District. It is free. Every student at the school is a member of SSCV. The school calendar and schedule are tailored to athlete’s training needs. Every class is integrated with online work, ideal for kids who miss a lot of school. There are world class Nordic trails right out the door. Next year it will have a brand new strength and conditioning building. In two years there will be dormitories and a dining hall. The Nordic coaches, Dan and Eric, run up to twelve training sessions a week for the athletes.

If I were in high school and wanted to compete in Nordic skiing at a high level, this is where I’d want to be. The vision, commitment to success, and ability to turn dreams into reality of SSCV is outstanding.

Early this morning I drove to Vail for a three day training camp with my Team Homegrown/Ski and Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) Team. It’s great to be here with a bunch of great up-and-coming athletes. This morning we did 4 by 12 minutes classic threshold (a pace you can sustain for at least an hour) intervals. Then my teammate Tad Elliott and coach Dan Weiland got some good screen-time in the middle of the day (I did too.)

In the afternoon we trained at the aptly named SSCV strength room:

It was fun to have a big group of motivated skiers training together.

On the front of the strength building, SSCV has life-size cutouts of all their athletes on the USST.

There are a lot.

And a few more.

This is one of the greatest ski clubs in the country and I’m honored to be apart of it.

I went on a fun 3.5 hour mountain bike ride this morning with Keegan Swirbul. Keegan is a young Nordic skier and mountain bike racer from Aspen. He’s had some great junior results on the national level, and I’m looking forward to watching him progress. He made me suffer on the bike today. Here Keegan is early in our ride:

This afternoon I got invited onto one of Aspen’s great local TV shows called The Local’s Show. The host of the show is a friend of mine Erik Skarvan. It was fun and a great experience for me.

You can watch the show we filmed today on the internet at http://vod.grassrootstv.org/vodcontent/11063.wmv

I went for a run this morning with my friend Zeke Tiernan. Zeke is an ultra-marathoner. On Saturday he is running the Leadville Trail 100. Today was his last real training run, and he wanted to get up high in preparation for this weekend. I don’t generally mind the altitude, but after living below 4000′ for the last three weeks, I was feeling it today. We were running at 12,500′ (3800 meters).

Zeke has a chance to win the race this weekend (he has been 2nd and 3rd in his two previous attempts.) I am excited to follow his progress on the internet (since I am unable to be there in person.) Here I am on the ridge above the ghost town of Independence on our run today:

This afternoon my mom and I went to a presentation by the Aspen Institute of a conversation with former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. Governor Huntsman is well spoken and has very moderate views. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and would like to attend more of these types of events in the future. Here is Governor Huntsman (left) onstage with moderator Norman Ornstein:

After the presentation I spoke with Governor Huntsman. Utah has been very supportive of the Olympic movement and winter sports. I thanked him for his support.