FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Ridge To River

    -Sadie Bjornsen came over Friday night and took me to the airport. I flew all night and Saturday morning
    -Valerie Valaas and
    -Susan Valaas picked me up from the Wenatchee airport. After some time at home I borrowed
    -Tom Feil’s surfski and ran the Wenatchee river (dumping TWICE). Later, picking up my registration which
    -Biosports had sponsored and taken care of, I finally made it home to find
    -Chad Gregg,
    -Aleeta,
    -Simon, and
    -Tara Gregg had not only brought food to our house but were cooking us dinner. Entertainment was, as usual, provided by
    -Kirsten Valaas and her posse. It was a frantic, frantic day and I was starting to get frazzled so I was glad to have my
    -Dad and my
    -Mom around to keep my calm and make me feel like everything would go smoothly. Sunday morning was race day. After sleeping through my alarm (due to not sleeping Friday night) I headed up to Mission Ridge. Until the car had a mechanical 2miles from the parking lot & we unloaded our gear and a white
    -F-150 pulled over and we hopped in the truck bed.
    -Hugh Owen took my xc skis and poles up the chairlift for me in his ski bag. I set up my exchange zone and ran into
    -TJ Owen on my way to the start and she rubbed some jet stream into my skis. At my xc-alpine exchange
    -Sean graciously stepped in at the last minute and baby-powdered my alpine boots and pulled open the tongue so I could get my feet into them. Sweet boots given to me by
    -David Tewell and skis borrowed from
    -Michael Hansen. At the ski to run exchange,
    -Aleeta had my shoes and even had a gel with the top torn off for me already. Mid way through the run
    -Mark Broberg caught me (as usual) and gave me a good pace for the rest of the run. I was super psyched when I heard my old running coach
    -Kelso cheering. At the run-bike exchange I was super happy to see
    -Emily Martin with my helmet and
    -Barb Braley with a stool for me to sit on, my bike shoes and my beautiful time trail bike. I caught
    -Broberg and teased him about putting a 13 on the cassette on his wheels which I had on my bike so I wouldn’t be able to peddle down the (long) hill. It wasn’t a 13, but I was using a sweet set of his wheels. Then we hit Saddle Rock and stopped talking. And then he pulled away from me. At the bike-paddle exchange, the lovely miss
    -Kari Koos had my shoes for me and picked up the front of my boat and ran full tilt into the Wenatchee River, handed me my paddle and sent me on my way. My mom had my lifejacket for me. Of course the lifejacket and paddle were borrowed from
    -someone-who-doesn’t-know-I-borrowed-them and the boat belonged to
    -Greg Harnish and was one of the very coveted Futura IIs, which are nice and fast and I couldn’t have flipped it if I’d tried. Post race a cold, stiff & soggy LAV got a ride home to a shower and dry clothes from
    -Barb Braley.

    I did, incidentally, win the race (Max Christman, one of the junior nordic skiers in town won the Overall!!!) but before you tell ME good job, count the number of dash marks in my race report. And those are only the obvious contributors on this particular day.

  • Ridge To River

    -Sadie Bjornsen came over Friday night and took me to the airport. I flew all night and Saturday morning
    -Valerie Valaas and
    -Susan Valaas picked me up from the Wenatchee airport. After some time at home I borrowed
    -Tom Feil’s surfski and ran the Wenatchee river (dumping TWICE). Later, picking up my registration which
    -Biosports had sponsored and taken care of, I finally made it home to find
    -Chad Gregg,
    -Aleeta,
    -Simon, and
    -Tara Gregg had not only brought food to our house but were cooking us dinner. Entertainment was, as usual, provided by
    -Kirsten Valaas and her posse. It was a frantic, frantic day and I was starting to get frazzled so I was glad to have my
    -Dad and my
    -Mom around to keep my calm and make me feel like everything would go smoothly. Sunday morning was race day. After sleeping through my alarm (due to not sleeping Friday night) I headed up to Mission Ridge. Until the car had a mechanical 2miles from the parking lot & we unloaded our gear and a white
    -F-150 pulled over and we hopped in the truck bed.
    -Hugh Owen took my xc skis and poles up the chairlift for me in his ski bag. I set up my exchange zone and ran into
    -TJ Owen on my way to the start and she rubbed some jet stream into my skis. At my xc-alpine exchange
    -Sean graciously stepped in at the last minute and baby-powdered my alpine boots and pulled open the tongue so I could get my feet into them. Sweet boots given to me by
    -David Tewell and skis borrowed from
    -Michael Hansen. At the ski to run exchange,
    -Aleeta had my shoes and even had a gel with the top torn off for me already. Mid way through the run
    -Mark Broberg caught me (as usual) and gave me a good pace for the rest of the run. I was super psyched when I heard my old running coach
    -Kelso cheering. At the run-bike exchange I was super happy to see
    -Emily Martin with my helmet and
    -Barb Braley with a stool for me to sit on, my bike shoes and my beautiful time trail bike. I caught
    -Broberg and teased him about putting a 13 on the cassette on his wheels which I had on my bike so I wouldn’t be able to peddle down the (long) hill. It wasn’t a 13, but I was using a sweet set of his wheels. Then we hit Saddle Rock and stopped talking. And then he pulled away from me. At the bike-paddle exchange, the lovely miss
    -Kari Koos had my shoes for me and picked up the front of my boat and ran full tilt into the Wenatchee River, handed me my paddle and sent me on my way. My mom had my lifejacket for me. Of course the lifejacket and paddle were borrowed from
    -someone-who-doesn’t-know-I-borrowed-them and the boat belonged to
    -Greg Harnish and was one of the very coveted Futura IIs, which are nice and fast and I couldn’t have flipped it if I’d tried. Post race a cold, stiff & soggy LAV got a ride home to a shower and dry clothes from
    -Barb Braley.

    I did, incidentally, win the race (Max Christman, one of the junior nordic skiers in town won the Overall!!!) but before you tell ME good job, count the number of dash marks in my race report. And those are only the obvious contributors on this particular day.

  • Spring Time

    Sorry to have been away from the posting for a while. I got myself a twitter account, and while I can’t say I’ve been prolific, the little bit of muttering I’ve done has seemed to sap the energy I would normally devote to the blog. Or it could just be that I’m lazy.

    Today was the second warm day of spring here in Bend, though with temps heading above 80 tomorrow, it might be less like spring and more like summer. In fact the whole week has been pretty nice, and I’ve been able to get out and enjoy it a little. I got in two days of Alpine skiing (trying hard to make the spring path worth the $129, I haven’t figured out what my goal should be in terms of runs or vertical, but since Bachelor let’s me track both, I figure a goal is in order… please offer suggestions in the comments), a short run (did my legs ever feel shaky after that one!) a crust ski on the Bachelor trails yesterday and a bike ride today. Pretty excellent really.

    I think tomorrow I may try to re-acquaint myself with paddling in preparation of the upcoming multi-sport event that grips Bend with a wild fever. If anyone has or knows of a TT bike in town for me to borrow, I’m all ears.

    Back to work this week, and I’ll do my best to stay active. Training starts up again for real in about 10 days, so it would be good to be ready. Just have to come up with a good plan for the year between now and then.

  • Spring Cleaning

  • The WTF Wax Season Review.

    Send along the most complicated wax mixture you brewed this season.  T-shirt to the winner. johnnyklister@gmail.com

  • Ryggprosjekt (thanks to Jason Cork Pete Phillips.)

    p

  • Dylan in Sweden 2

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Seqn4pe6gTI/AAAAAAAAAec/F9_7PpUfW8c/s1600-h/Crust.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Seqn4pe6gTI/AAAAAAAAAec/F9_7PpUfW8c/s400/Crust.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326254100969062706″ border=”0″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Seqn4pBWdMI/AAAAAAAAAeU/ASmv399na18/s1600-h/climbing+in+bruks.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Seqn4pBWdMI/AAAAAAAAAeU/ASmv399na18/s400/climbing+in+bruks.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326254100845065410″ border=”0″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/SeqnyolrWfI/AAAAAAAAAeM/M44yqfpJLp8/s1600-h/alpine+area+in+the+26+k.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/SeqnyolrWfI/AAAAAAAAAeM/M44yqfpJLp8/s400/alpine+area+in+the+26+k.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326253997649779186″ border=”0″ //abr /ttspan style=”font-size:85%;”Bruksvallarnabr /br /Greetings from Bruksvallarna, a resort town in the mountains of western Sweden. It was a thirteen hour drive from above the Arctic Circle in Finland to Bruksvallarna, but we were able to see a large portion of Sweden, including Ostersund, a beautiful city on the east side of a large lake, where most of the elite skiers in Sweden live and train. I believe this is also Dennis Donahue’s favorite ski site. Bruksvallarna is one of the coolest places in the world. Many treeless mountains dot the area; we’re staying at a nice hotel/ hostel up the hill from the village of Bruksvallarna that has a beautiful dining area with big windows that provide a panoramic view of the mountains. This area is a popular vacation spot for Swedes and Norwegians who want to cross-country ski, hike, or alpine ski. There are many huts and waffle houses scattered out on the hundreds of kilometers of groomed trails. For the most part, it has been warm during the day and cold at night, creating excellent crust skiing. I’ve had some great long adventures through the mountains.br / There are three races this weekend that serve as the end-of-the-year races for the Swedes and some Norwegians. Many of the elite skiers are here, such as Petter Northug, who won the sprint today. Today was a sprint down in the village of Bruksvallarna. They closed the course an hour before the start, so I didn’t ski one of the tricky downhill corners. In the qualifier, I came in with too much speed and fell in the sugary mess, crossed my skis, and lost more than 10 seconds. I was still three seconds out of qualifying in the junior category. It was frustrating and disappointing, especially because I felt great and I would’ve done super well. It was the first time I fell in a race this year and the first time I didn’t make any heats this year.br / Tomorrow is a 26 km skate that includes a climb up a local alpine area. It’ll be tough.br //span/ttdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1847564486460994594-2115593280085686061?l=gmvsxc.blogspot.com’//div

  • Sweat, Sunshine, High Speeds and Big Air

  • The end of the line….

  • 2009 USSA Cross Country Domestic Coach of the Year

  • In case you were wondering, Zach Caldwell keeps the stoke high…

    img src=”http://20.media.tumblr.com/COiZNt422maewfbezx2nOkmao1_500.jpg”/br/br/In case you were wondering, Zach Caldwell keeps the stoke high in all of nordic skiing.

  • EASTERN SPRING

    Spring in Vermont; something I miss terribly. I flew into Burlington for my “little” brother’s birthday (little in age but 6’4″ in height). We had some fun at his place in New Haven and I had the chance to catch up with some college friends.br /br /After a few great days in the green mountain state, we headed home to surprise my folks and to catch up with our big brother (for my mother’s birthday).br /br /Happy Birthday Mom, and Jake!br /div style=”text-align: center;”br /div style=”text-align: center;”object width=”320″ height=”266″ class=”BLOG_video_class” id=”BLOG_video-1101e28becea5cae” classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DqAAAAJRKzAPfu3a7ks9WIkYJqTEzsg9Ay3sBA8HIvC4wBuUVblgFZJ_K3TR92Zq5I6mAbE_ZsJ6xCBaIacA4f2PSqdL8xCVcC20_hg-lrwAsLk2G0HkqutQIQrpuP163hX-F9PCD3CQF8pJGolYiui3IQFx8OK3ftFHO25BMYn5ECpdODrveeYGjxEthGNKnKRfwflP77v3X5SUZG-p60Y7IIQ3ErjpVVC5C7GElXzCtJzRn%26sigh%3DoCm1IeHs1vHSK_LWS-q6yqOCB-4%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26docid%3D0amp;nogvlm=1amp;thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1101e28becea5cae%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3D9AQ8ZXOdLxShyIG1RTDYxmYwqhoamp;messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den”param name=”bgcolor” value=”#FFFFFF”embed width=”320″ height=”266″ src=”http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DqAAAAJRKzAPfu3a7ks9WIkYJqTEzsg9Ay3sBA8HIvC4wBuUVblgFZJ_K3TR92Zq5I6mAbE_ZsJ6xCBaIacA4f2PSqdL8xCVcC20_hg-lrwAsLk2G0HkqutQIQrpuP163hX-F9PCD3CQF8pJGolYiui3IQFx8OK3ftFHO25BMYn5ECpdODrveeYGjxEthGNKnKRfwflP77v3X5SUZG-p60Y7IIQ3ErjpVVC5C7GElXzCtJzRn%26sigh%3DoCm1IeHs1vHSK_LWS-q6yqOCB-4%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26docid%3D0amp;nogvlm=1amp;thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1101e28becea5cae%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3D9AQ8ZXOdLxShyIG1RTDYxmYwqhoamp;messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash”/embed/object/divbr /span style=”font-size:85%;”span style=”font-style: italic;”Some of the highlights from the Vermont portion. /span/spanbr //divbr /Training is going well, I am back in Idaho and my back is feeling roughly 75% these days (which is great)! I hope everyone has a good case of spring fever!br /br /I have started coaching again (Girls on the Run) and training for the current year. The game is still on! More to come.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4299718529371785873-781415205963805692?l=in-the-arena-kate.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Ski Clinic

    On Saturday some of the elite skiers who were in Anchorage coached at a youth ski clinic at the Hilltop Ski Area sponsored mainly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Alaska Chapter, as a vehicle to educate young athletes about, as you probably guessed, asthma and related issues.


    We broke into small groups to ski with and talk to the kids and then reconvened as a large group for some obstacle course competitions and a game of speedball. Above, Kristina Strandberg demonstrates some skating technique.


    Speedball is one of the standard ski-games. For this game we had two soccer balls, one ski per skier, and no poles. This set of equipment minimizes the severity of the inevitable collisions. It’s a melding of ultimate frisbee and soccer– you can either dribble or throw but not run with the ball. Then again, as far as rules go it’s the kind of game where rules can change on a whim.


    There was also race video from the World Champs playing and we signed posters for the kids. It was really fun to see how excited the kids were about skiing and how engrossed they got in the race video. Are these kids going to take home these posters, hang them up, look at them, think about skiing, start identifying as a skier, and become a skier? I don’t know. It’s certainly possible. I could see that possibility at the clinic. I could see that seed being planted and that the kids thought that being a skier was something super cool.

  • Ski Clinic

    On Saturday some of the elite skiers who were in Anchorage coached at a youth ski clinic at the Hilltop Ski Area sponsored mainly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Alaska Chapter, as a vehicle to educate young athletes about, as you probably guessed, asthma and related issues.


    We broke into small groups to ski with and talk to the kids and then reconvened as a large group for some obstacle course competitions and a game of speedball. Above, Kristina Strandberg demonstrates some skating technique.


    Speedball is one of the standard ski-games. For this game we had two soccer balls, one ski per skier, and no poles. This set of equipment minimizes the severity of the inevitable collisions. It’s a melding of ultimate frisbee and soccer– you can either dribble or throw but not run with the ball. Then again, as far as rules go it’s the kind of game where rules can change on a whim.


    There was also race video from the World Champs playing and we signed posters for the kids. It was really fun to see how excited the kids were about skiing and how engrossed they got in the race video. Are these kids going to take home these posters, hang them up, look at them, think about skiing, start identifying as a skier, and become a skier? I don’t know. It’s certainly possible. I could see that possibility at the clinic. I could see that seed being planted and that the kids thought that being a skier was something super cool.

  • Ski Clinic

    On Saturday some of the elite skiers who were in Anchorage coached at a youth ski clinic at the Hilltop Ski Area sponsored mainly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Alaska Chapter, as a vehicle to educate young athletes about, as you probably guessed, asthma and related issues.


    We broke into small groups to ski with and talk to the kids and then reconvened as a large group for some obstacle course competitions and a game of speedball. Above, Kristina Strandberg demonstrates some skating technique.


    Speedball is one of the standard ski-games. For this game we had two soccer balls, one ski per skier, and no poles. This set of equipment minimizes the severity of the inevitable collisions. It’s a melding of ultimate frisbee and soccer– you can either dribble or throw but not run with the ball. Then again, as far as rules go it’s the kind of game where rules can change on a whim.


    There was also race video from the World Champs playing and we signed posters for the kids. It was really fun to see how excited the kids were about skiing and how engrossed they got in the race video. Are these kids going to take home these posters, hang them up, look at them, think about skiing, start identifying as a skier, and become a skier? I don’t know. It’s certainly possible. I could see that possibility at the clinic. I could see that seed being planted and that the kids thought that being a skier was something super cool.

  • Ski Clinic

    On Saturday some of the elite skiers who were in Anchorage coached at a youth ski clinic at the Hilltop Ski Area sponsored mainly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Alaska Chapter, as a vehicle to educate young athletes about, as you probably guessed, asthma and related issues.


    We broke into small groups to ski with and talk to the kids and then reconvened as a large group for some obstacle course competitions and a game of speedball. Above, Kristina Strandberg demonstrates some skating technique.


    Speedball is one of the standard ski-games. For this game we had two soccer balls, one ski per skier, and no poles. This set of equipment minimizes the severity of the inevitable collisions. It’s a melding of ultimate frisbee and soccer– you can either dribble or throw but not run with the ball. Then again, as far as rules go it’s the kind of game where rules can change on a whim.


    There was also race video from the World Champs playing and we signed posters for the kids. It was really fun to see how excited the kids were about skiing and how engrossed they got in the race video. Are these kids going to take home these posters, hang them up, look at them, think about skiing, start identifying as a skier, and become a skier? I don’t know. It’s certainly possible. I could see that possibility at the clinic. I could see that seed being planted and that the kids thought that being a skier was something super cool.

  • Kid’s Tri-Loppet Training Group

    Tomorrow is the first day of my new program for the summer with In-The-Arena and the City Of Lakes Loppet Nordic Ski Foundation. The Tri-Loppet is an off-road urban triathlon here in Minneapolis consisting of canoeing Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake, running the hilly trails at Theodore Wirth Park and then Navigating the single track Mountian Bike trails at Theodore Wirth Park.

    My first day begins with Anderson Middle School in South Minneapolis. We will be working towards the goal of completing the triathlon at the end of June. Last year I coached a similar program, but this year there will be a higher focus of getting all of the kids to participate in the triathlon either as a team or solo. The program will also incorporate nutrition and other healthy lifestyle advice. Wednesday will be the first day of the program at Anwatin Middle School which is adjacent to Theodore Wirth Park and allows us to train on the race trails when we meet. The kids at Anwatin are really lucky to be so close to such a great park!

    During the two and a half months of the program I will be working with both Anderson and Antwatin schools on a weekly basis, rotating between Canoeing, biking, and running! We will be supported by many local Minneapolis companies who will be providing the canoes, bikes and even donating running shoes.

    I am so excited to finally get this program started and to meet the kids (hopefully a few returning faces from last year).

  • Kid’s Tri-Loppet Training Group

    Tomorrow is the first day of my new program for the summer with In-The-Arena and the City Of Lakes Loppet Nordic Ski Foundation. The Tri-Loppet is an off-road urban triathlon here in Minneapolis consisting of canoeing Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake, running the hilly trails at Theodore Wirth Park and then Navigating the single track Mountian Bike trails at Theodore Wirth Park.

    My first day begins with Anderson Middle School in South Minneapolis. We will be working towards the goal of completing the triathlon at the end of June. Last year I coached a similar program, but this year there will be a higher focus of getting all of the kids to participate in the triathlon either as a team or solo. The program will also incorporate nutrition and other healthy lifestyle advice. Wednesday will be the first day of the program at Anwatin Middle School which is adjacent to Theodore Wirth Park and allows us to train on the race trails when we meet. The kids at Anwatin are really lucky to be so close to such a great park!

    During the two and a half months of the program I will be working with both Anderson and Antwatin schools on a weekly basis, rotating between Canoeing, biking, and running! We will be supported by many local Minneapolis companies who will be providing the canoes, bikes and even donating running shoes.

    I am so excited to finally get this program started and to meet the kids (hopefully a few returning faces from last year).

  • Kid’s Tri-Loppet Training Group

    Tomorrow is the first day of my new program for the summer with In-The-Arena and the City Of Lakes Loppet Nordic Ski Foundation. The Tri-Loppet is an off-road urban triathlon here in Minneapolis consisting of canoeing Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake, running the hilly trails at Theodore Wirth Park and then Navigating the single track Mountian Bike trails at Theodore Wirth Park.

    My first day begins with Anderson Middle School in South Minneapolis. We will be working towards the goal of completing the triathlon at the end of June. Last year I coached a similar program, but this year there will be a higher focus of getting all of the kids to participate in the triathlon either as a team or solo. The program will also incorporate nutrition and other healthy lifestyle advice. Wednesday will be the first day of the program at Anwatin Middle School which is adjacent to Theodore Wirth Park and allows us to train on the race trails when we meet. The kids at Anwatin are really lucky to be so close to such a great park!

    During the two and a half months of the program I will be working with both Anderson and Antwatin schools on a weekly basis, rotating between Canoeing, biking, and running! We will be supported by many local Minneapolis companies who will be providing the canoes, bikes and even donating running shoes.

    I am so excited to finally get this program started and to meet the kids (hopefully a few returning faces from last year).

  • Kid’s Tri-Loppet Training Group

    Tomorrow is the first day of my new program for the summer with In-The-Arena and the City Of Lakes Loppet Nordic Ski Foundation. The Tri-Loppet is an off-road urban triathlon here in Minneapolis consisting of canoeing Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake, running the hilly trails at Theodore Wirth Park and then Navigating the single track Mountian Bike trails at Theodore Wirth Park.

    My first day begins with Anderson Middle School in South Minneapolis. We will be working towards the goal of completing the triathlon at the end of June. Last year I coached a similar program, but this year there will be a higher focus of getting all of the kids to participate in the triathlon either as a team or solo. The program will also incorporate nutrition and other healthy lifestyle advice. Wednesday will be the first day of the program at Anwatin Middle School which is adjacent to Theodore Wirth Park and allows us to train on the race trails when we meet. The kids at Anwatin are really lucky to be so close to such a great park!

    During the two and a half months of the program I will be working with both Anderson and Antwatin schools on a weekly basis, rotating between Canoeing, biking, and running! We will be supported by many local Minneapolis companies who will be providing the canoes, bikes and even donating running shoes.

    I am so excited to finally get this program started and to meet the kids (hopefully a few returning faces from last year).