FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Youth Olympic Games Training Day

    Today was our third day of skiing here and Heather and Paddy did some classic intensity to wake up their bodies. They looked good and felt good. We stayed up in Seefeld for a 2nd ski and they got to test their skate skis in the afternoon. Now they are tired. Tommorow is a day off, Monday they will do a bit of wake up skiing and we start racing on Tuesday.

    The picture above shows the jump out-run and a hill to the right. During the races, the skiers will cross the out-run and ski up over this hill then down and around to the finish.
    This picture looks the other way (I was standing on a foot bridge) and shows wax cabins on the right and the food tent on the left.
    Here you can see the finish area (behind the second fence on the left). This also doubles as the biathlon range (to the right). The uphill after the jump rises up above the range and then drops down towards the brown building in the background. Hopefully no biathletes will have a bad day and take it out on their competitors who will be skiing above the range.
    They have about 250 km of perfectly groomed trails here but we are staying close to the stadium. It seems to be the way things are going, short courses with multiple loops so the spectators can see lots of action.
    These coolers are in every food tent so there is no worry about getting dehyrated. Paddy and Heather just went to doping control to “give” blood. They are testing everyone.
    Late afternoon trail picture.
    Imagine waking up to these views every day!
    I had to put at least 1 picture from the bus in the blog. This bridge is for the train.
    Late afternoon view from my room. Sorry…

  • Morning Results from Farmington EC

    We had a great morning in Farmington – three skiers (Hamish, Katharine, Issy) qualified for the open heats, two boys (Nick & Gino) in the junior heats, and two girls (Tess & Pip) in the J2 heats! Everyone skied well and looked strong on a two lap course that was 98% double pole. Almost all of the boys decided to do the prelim on their skate skis because the course was so flat. Koby skied an especially strong race… but did three laps instead of two so he’s going to watch his J2 competitors this afternoon and check out their strategy for the heats. : ) We’ll update later with official results and photos! Poppet and Matt are prepping skis at the venue for the rounds and Liz is shuttling skiers back and forth from the hotel, 10 mins away, to the venue to get warm. All in all – a great start to the weekend! Check the bar to the right for updates on our Facebook page.

  • Billy Mills ’68: The Most Inspiring Movie Out There?

    Way back in 1998, I ran at the U.S. short course national cross country championships. There, I got to meet Mr. Mills. It was like meeting royalty. Watch, and maybe see why.

  • Minnesota home

    Really good to be back in our Minnesota house after being on the road for almost 60 days.  We forgot how good our new windows looked.

    Off to the 42 k Seeley Hills Classic this week end.  It is a major fundraiser for the Seeley Hills Ski Club and the revenue generated has allowed the club to promote skiing in many ways. The club annually supports ski clinics in conjunction with the American Birkebeiner and the USSA. The club was responsible for lighting the Birkie Trail at the OO area. The club has also developed a new 15K Sawyer County Ski Trail in Seeley which it maintains and grooms, and has purchased grooming and moving equipment for use on those trails.

    And best of all, this year! Penman Prize: $1000 to first male and female in the 42k race.  Wisconsin supports skiing.

  • Minnesota home

    Really good to be back in our Minnesota house after being on the road for almost 60 days.  We forgot how good our new windows looked.

    Off to the 42 k Seeley Hills Classic this week end.  It is a major fundraiser for the Seeley Hills Ski Club and the revenue generated has allowed the club to promote skiing in many ways. The club annually supports ski clinics in conjunction with the American Birkebeiner and the USSA. The club was responsible for lighting the Birkie Trail at the OO area. The club has also developed a new 15K Sawyer County Ski Trail in Seeley which it maintains and grooms, and has purchased grooming and moving equipment for use on those trails.

    And best of all, this year! Penman Prize: $1000 to first male and female in the 42k race.  Wisconsin supports skiing.

  • Rough Week

  • How Much Can The Body Take?

    This is what I had to ask myself on Wednesday night when I was contemplating starting the 30km pursuit yesterday. If you look at the results from the race you will see that I started, skied 3.75km, and then pulled out. It was pretty clear that my body wasn’t ready to race yet, but I had to give it a shot. I had to hope for a miracle that would leave me fighting in the lead group.

    To back up a few weeks, I returned home to Canmore from a great Christmas in Ontario and immediately got sick. I spent 5 day with a bad cold (stuffy nose, sore throat, chest congestion and cough… the works). It was clear my body was run down and needed some time to heal. I spent those five days sleeping, stretching and being as quiet as I could. Eventually things came back together and I rejoined the team and started training again. I slowly built into it, and did my first intensity session since Rossland four days after being deemed healthy. It went well, and I recommitted to my original training program. Unfortunately, that only last two days.

    This past Monday our team did a time trail in Canmore. 9km of classic double poling on rocket fast tracks. Again, things went well and I was finally feeling some confidence heading into Whistler.
    I left the workout pumped, I went home and ate, slept, and had a massage. After my massage my stomach started gurgling. I walked home and just as I got to my house it all came out. When I say “it” I mean all the food I had eaten that day, strewn across my driveway in a disgusting mess. I made it in side, cleaned myself up and immediately got in bed. My stomach settled down, and the hot/cold flashes hit me. My awesome girlfriend came to my rescue and went out to buy the usual flu remedies; chicken noodle soup, ginger ale, Gravol and some bread. She urged me to eat, so I did. Little bits at a time but it wasn’t much use because a short while later I saw all that food again, this time in my bathroom.

    Sorry to give you the complete play by play but I figured it would give you a better idea of what actually happened! And don’t worry, that was the last time I puked.

    So there I was, a sick mess huddled up at home, not being able to digest any food since before the mornings time trial, on the night before our team was scheduled to fly to Whistler for trials. Great.

    I woke up the next morning feeling quite a bit better, but needless to say I wasn’t on my way to Whistler. I stayed home, sipping Pedialite and chicken noodle soup. After talking with Mike and our team doctor it was decided I had caught a bad 24hr flu that has been making its way through Canmore.  The plan was to try and eat as much as I could tolerate that day, and try and fly to whistler the next day (Wednesday). Wednesday rolled around and I was up early and heading to the Calgary airport. I was feeling much better, and eating my first real meals in two days, but a long way from 100%. It was a busy day, lots of waiting and shuttles, but by 4pm I was skiing at the Whistler Olympic Park, trying to decide if I should race.

    I decided I had nothing to lose. I may as well start the race and see what happens. My body felt fine off the start, but by the time we got to the high point of the course, it was clear it wasn’t meant to be. My heart was beating at 2,000,000 beats per minute and I felt a bonk coming on… at the 3km mark. Only 27km to go!

    That was the end of my day. Frustrating for sure. 30km pursuits are my favorite races, and they usually only happen once a year… at the U23/WJ trial races. For me, the 30km and Sundays 15km classic race are qualifiers for the OPA tour trip. Having already not finished 50% of the qualifying races I need to produce something incredible on my classic skis.

    The plan from here on out is to continue to eat and rehydrate myself as much as possible. My body is obviously still in the recovery stages, and yesterday was a good reminder of how much recovery I still need. I am going to take it race by race, hoping to see improvements along the way. I will start tomorrow’s skate sprint, and reevaluate after the qualifier. I have decided to throw the pressure and the expectations out the window, and just focus on getting healthy. Next weekend we have the Western Canadian Champs in Canmore and I want to be ready to go for that. Selection, team trips and race starts will be decided, but I don’t need to waste valuable energy mulling over what could be. I just need to go out and race.

    This year I have been plagued with sickness more then any other year. Underneath it all there is a fit skier just waiting to break free. It will happen soon, I know it. It will just take a little time.

    Thanks for all your support. I will keep you posted on what unfolds this weekend!

    Pate

  • Christmas then a whole lot of sick!

     

    This will be a recap of my Christmas mostly through pictures!
    Sunrise in Vernon!
    Our coaches are incredibly efficient waxers. Imagine having to race wax this many skis?!

    The travel gnome at Valleyview Cabin in Rossland. It has been signed by many skiers over the years!

    Mens 15km Skate podium in Rossland. Kev, Brent, Graeme, Pate
    Woman’s 10km Skate podium in Rossland. Alysson Marshall 2nd, Kate Brennan 5th

    Ski touring above Rossland.

     Peter Moffet teaching me the basics.
    Moving on to Wheeler Hut in Rogers pass with Emma, Phil and Kate
     Emma about to head out.
    Wheeler Hut with our big crew of 24 Canmorons.
    Lots of snow

    Breaking trail as we head up.

    Andrew, Annika and Phil climbing steady 
    Macx and Andrew
    Greg Thompson, our fearless leader.

    Some of the crew.
    The drying room at Wheeler Hut. Packed.
     
     Moving onto Christmas Eve back home in Ontario!
    My mom, the Neumann kids and my cousin Mads dressed to impress on Christmas morning.

    My brother Sam and his latest musical instrument from Santa.
    Christmas at Dads!

    Out for a humid and snowy ski at home!
    Palgrave on a beautiful morning!
    So that wraps up my Christmas post! Now onto the “whole lot of sick” part of the title. I bet you are all wondering how I am doing in Whistler? Well, I am surviving but I am going to nap first and then bring everyone up to speed on my health. So go back and enjoy the pictures, and I will have another update ready in a few hours! Promise!
    Thanks for checking in!
    Pate

  • YOG Opening Ceremony Pictures

    We had the Opening Ceremonies this evening at the Olympic jump complex. Here is part of the crowd.
    Team USA heads in. If you click on the picture to make it larger AND if you have really good eyes, maybe you’ll see Paddy and Heather.
    Becky Scott (Wadsworth) is here as an ambassador.
    The flames get skied down the jump landing hill.
    Dancers and a back flip.
    70 flag bearers.
    More dancers.
    The torch bearers ran up through the stands. There were about 15 torch bearers, all Olympic medalists.
    Get ready!
    Franz Klammer lit the third torch. He is adored by the Austrians. This is the third Olympic Games that Innsbruck has hosted (1964, 1976). Bill Koch won his silver medal here!
    The obligatory fire works..this is an out of focus shot of the Olympic rings.
    It was a fun, exciting event and we all returned for dinner and a good sleep. Tomorrow the competitons start for many, but we do not race until Tuesday.

  • Nationals, Snowmaking & the Snowpocalypse

    Sitting in Kaladi Brothers Coffee, using their superior internet and getting a few things done, I have just begun to experience the dreaded free-refill-rabies. Fitz has told me of such things before, but I am sure she drinks about a gallon of coffee before exhibiting symptoms. My approx. 19oz of decaf shouldn’t cause such a reaction in any normal human, but I suppose normal can be considered a relative term. The free-refill-rabies, a term coined in the midst of my current caffeine overload, is merely the result of a bottomless cup of good coffee. Kaladi Brothers on Northern Lights is a great place to sit and use the internet, and they also serve some superb coffee and pastries. Not being a coffee drinker myself, I thought decaf would be a good option for a hot drink while I caught up on my long-overdue training log. As I began to work, my focus became more and more acute, my brain function increased exponentially, and then… it hit. I started to lose my train of thought in the attempt to do 20 different things at once and was overwhelmed with a need to use the bathroom. My typing speed has reached a level so ridiculous, it is rivaled only by the percentage of typos that I am having to fix. In a way, it’s quite entertaining to be moving at this level of speed. However, it really isn’t worth the number of mistakes that I am making. Hopefully I don’t progress to the point of foaming at the mouth, but if you’re in Kaladi Brothers right now, I would not approach the furious typing fiend in Carhartts by the door.

    However, I digress. The purpose of this blog is to be a source of skiing and adventure updates, not a spillway of chemically induced mental overflow. Thus, I shall begin to bring any semi interested readers up to speed. About three days ago I returned from the US National Championships in Rumford, ME. Due to low-snow, last year’s races were held by the skin of the organizer’s teeth. This year boasts even less natural snow in Maine, but with a huge stock pile of fake stuff the races were held as planned. We were even able to race up the infamous ‘high school hill’, a behemoth of biblical proportions that resides out on the longer 3.5k loop. It is now dubbed ‘preschool hill’, by those fearless and daring. Since I laugh in the face of fear, that’s what I call it. Really though the trails were great. The conditions were fast, the terrain flowing, and the atmosphere fabulous. That’s one of the real perks of skiing lap courses: the cheering is almost constant! It’s funny, after racing nationals for a few years now, it seems that quite a few people know my name. Either that or it was all my Aunt. She was great, I heard her yelling at least twice every lap… which is a lot in a 6-lap 20k!

    Here are a few other fantastic things from Maine:
    – Dasha Gaiazova was my roomate, and she is awesome! I have been having some very good luck with meeting super cool Canadians this year… She and Chandra are really great to talk to about skiing. They’re super motivating. Also, I got to see her OWN the classic sprint last week, and tell everyone that she is my roommate- awesome!
    – FItz had a GREAT week. She was on the podium twice, and outsprinted Ida Sargent in a double pole finish of a classic sprint (no mean feat!)

    – We finally got our new E’Klaar headwear from Erika! Not only did we get fleece-lined headbands that will stay on my head, we also got some fun casual hats. It’s really cool, I never thought I could pull off a hat like this, but now that I have been practicing I think I have it down:

    Obviously there are lots of ways to wear them, that’s just my personal fave. APU girl’s team below shows off different approaches to the new hat (yes, FItz and Lauren are wearing the same hat, it’s just folded up at the bottom)

    – I did, by the skin of my teeth, make it to U23 world championships. That means that I get to race in Erzurum, Turkey! My racing tour of Europe will start February 4th and include races in Latvia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Spain. I am in Alaska right now, recuperating from a post Nationals bug and getting stoked to travel again!

    This photo was taken by my friend Willie Via, who visited Erzurum for the world University games a couple of years back. To hear it from him, it is going to be one awesome place to see!

    Thanks for reading, now I am going to head out to enjoy more of this amazing Anchorage Snopocalypse. About 8 inches fell yesterday again, so there is lots of fun to be had!

    (photo- Katie Ronsse)

  • An update on the Marit vs Justyna rivalry

    You’ll recall that recently this rivalry has been fairly one sided, no matter how much Justyna’s fans want to believe otherwise. The previous two season simply saw Marit winning far more of their head to head match-ups. At the start of the season, things looked even worse for the Justyna camp, as she struggled quite a bit in the early races.

    But Justyna may have simply been using those as training for the Tour, as she fared much better last week against Marit. Let’s take a look at how their complete history stand as of now:

    So these are just the distance races, measured in difference in percent back. Values above zero mean Marit won and vice versa. Marit had the better of this match-up for two straight seasons, with the occasional lapse. This season, you can see the early group of really poor races for Justyna, and then during the Tour things were more tilted towards Justyna, though the margins weren’t terribly large, for the most part.

    As for sprinting:

    Marit is still ahead on this score, though we’ve only had a handful of sprint races thus far.

    So my question is: will Justyna, having clearly peaked for the Tour, slide back again to being mostly beaten by Marit? Or will she be able to sustain this level of fitness through the rest of the season?

    Related posts:

    1. <Victims & Nemeses: Marit and Justyna Edition
    2. <Bjoern Daehlie vs Thomas Alsgaard
    3. <Head-to-Head: Marit vs Justyna


  • Youth Olympic Games (day 3)

    This morning we took an easy distance ski which included skiing up to the next town and dropping off Opening Ceremony tickets for Heather’s family. We found the correct hotel and had a nice ski so all was good.

    Along the way we say a horse with its draft gear walking aimlessly along the trail. About 1 km further on we saw a distraught farmer looking for his horse (well…that is what we think he was doing…our german is not very good and he spoke no english). We pointed him down the trail and continued our ski.
    Above is our wax room…pretty tidy eh?
    This is the wax room avenue. We were lucky and got a wax room on the bottom so we do not have to climb up the stairs.
    Paddy and Heather in the lunch tent. Our bus drive is about 35 minutes. They schedule the buses and training times and we just follow the schedule.
    Prepping for lunch.
    We had a little snow early this morning and the clouds were just trying to burn off as we left the venue.
    Last night I met a coach from India. He is here (along with a couple other officials) in support of their 1 athlete, a female alpine skier. He told me that to ski in India, one has to hike up and then ski down. I imagine that hopping on the tram over here is pretty exciting! The goal for team India is participation and sharing in the Olympic experience. It’s great that they came.
    The rest of the pictures are from our bus ride down to Innsbruck.
    Apparently the guy on the left did not lose his horse.
    They build the roads pretty steep here..click on the picture above…yup..16% gets you down in a hurry.
    Along this 2 km stretch, there are 4 truck run-away pull offs.
    That is the side of the mountain and that is a train track!
    This afternoon we meet the US Ambassador and then go to the Opening Ceremonies. It will be a long day, but it should be fun.

  • Tour de Ski Reflections….

    I MADE IT!
    I made it to the top of the Alpes Cermis! Yehaw! 
    Ten years from now I can just picture myself laughing, in reflection: “Remember the time when I race the entire Tour de Ski with a broken wrist after falling on Christmas Day?!”  I can even chuckle at this feat now, as I stare at my computer over a cup of coffee.  The dust has finally settled. I have a while before another race attempt.  Rob is on a plane home (I hope to see him in April!) I am away from the team for the first time since flying to Europe mid-November.

    Teammates and finishers! Me, Kikkan & Liz 
    Yep. While the Canadian men’s team is lying on the beach in the Canary Islands I opted for my own version of R & R. Months ago I remembered getting an email from my friend Kathy announcing that her and her husband were selling everything and moving to Italy.  Back in the day I got to know Bill & Kathy when I coached their two kids at West High School.  Since then Kathy has been a member of my women’s group back in Anchorage.  Part way through the Tour I was able to track down some contact info for them (with some help!) and they agreed to let me crash out at their house for a while. I’ve only been her a few hours but it was incredible to sleep in & walk downstairs and make what I want for breakfast, when I want it. When opening their cupboards I find familiar things like Life Cereal, Organic Valley Milk & El Paso Taco Shells.  This funny mixture of Italian and American is a result of Kathy’s job working as a school nurse on the Aviano Military Base.  They have access to the commissary grocery store where I suppose, they feel the need to offer American things to the Americans working here.

    Here is the “traffic circle” in the small town that they live in…. while they’ve been going non stop since moving here, the pace of Italian life is slow – which is exactly what I need right now…. 
    Kathy & Bill are some of the most gracious, kind people I know I am so grateful to have a “home away from home” here in Italy. There is no snow here in Aviano but funny enough, Kathy brought her roller skis from Alaska so I might take a spin on those later this week!  (You’ve gotta love those Alaska girls!)  It’s been really fun so far to take a peek into their new lives and I am incredibly thankful that they’ve accommodated me so much. It’s been fun to bit** about the aspects of Europe that are tough – for example, the inability to get anything done. Here in Italy everything is “Domani, Domani” which means, “tomorrow, tomorrow!”  When living life on the road (such as I am) you must become accustomed to a lack of productivity. For example, it may take all flipping day to figure out how and where to do a load of laundry.  Back home in the states, laundry would be one of 101 things you might get done any given day. They can relate to bad Internet, the ten hour time difference, and the difficulty of staying in touch with loved ones back at home.
    Here I am with Kathy on a walk….. mandatory machiatto stop along the way…. 

    Kathy & Bill 🙂
    Kathy is the perfect mixture of mom and friend…. it’s so nice to be spending some time with people from home.  This night we had Kathy homemade ravioli for dinner – each ravioli made with loving care! 
    Enough about laundry & ravioli and back to the Tour!!
    Finishing the Tour, and reaching the top of the Alpes Cermis with a bib on was a huge goal of mine.  I’m not going to lie. It was really, really tough but not as tough as dropping out would have been for me. A friend sent Rob an email telling him about a German saying that basically says, the pain of racing is temporary and the pain of quitting lasts forever. I agree whole heartily with this statement and it became somewhat of a mantra for me during the 11- day tour.
    “Cheers to finishing!” 
    Just a sampling of the food they had in the VIP tent at the top of the Alpes Cermis! 
    Each day I had to put my ego aside and accept that my results weren’t what they had been earlier this season.  Each day I questioned myself, trying to figure out if I was doing the right thing. Was I hurting myself by continuing to race? Was turning in sub-par results adding or taking away from my case? All I knew was that I love to race, I have worked my butt off to be over here, racing in Europe. I knew that there were many, many other ski racers who would have loved to be in my position. There were also countless people back at home who had gone above and beyond to help me be here, racing the Tour.
    Devon Kershaw powering up the last part of the climb – in places, the grade was 28% which required everyone, even the top men to “granny skate.” 
    Early on, even before I had my proper diagnosis I knew that I would finish the Tour if it killed me. I owed it to myself, my family & friends, my coaches, and my teammates.  My visual through all of this is one of those little sea snails that hooks onto a rock and won’t let go, despite the crashing waves on it’s back. Even though there were some significant odds against me, I got back on the starting line each and everyday.
    In the Oberstdorf pursuit I had a bit of bad luck…. I had a great start to the race & my skis were good. Then, literally one minute into the race the group went down a big downhill with a turn at the bottom. All the girls in front of me start “power-plowing” (snow plowing) like mad and I felt like I was going to smash into them. I quickly busted out a snow plow too – but it was too quick. I caught an edge and went down really, really hard. I got up quick but lost all my momentum and the entire field was gone. I was absolutely dead last by 100 meters. I then spent the rest of the race trying to catch the entire field that had one another to work with and draft off of.  This picture doesn’t quite do my legs justice but needless to say, they were bruised. Liz said I had “alpine bruises!” 
    Some days I would look at the results, and some days I would simply walk away from the finish line, choosing to reflect on my race via technique, feeling, and subjective analysis.  The objective number, place, and time back doesn’t always help.  I looked at each race as a learning opportunity. I learned a ton about new venues, new formats, and my competitors. Each time someone passed me I would take a mental note of what they were doing differently.  The last venue, at Val di Fiemme, is also the site of the 2013 World Championships. While I’m not particularly proud of my individual performance there, I have now raced the course where a new World Champion will be named next year. I now have an intimate and personal knowledge of the hills and how to prepare to take them on next winter.
    Petter was tired at the end of the climb…. I have to admit, it was fun watching Hellner pass him! 
    Cross Country skiing, and really most sports are full of competitive people, people who do each and every little thing in their power to “win” the race or come out on top. While we might not like to dwell on this fact, our goal is to beat our competitors and often a good race necessitates having one’s name above that of their competitors on the results sheet.
    Dario, the eventual men’s winner has quite the fan club that travels from venue to venue. Once the men’s race was done his fans marched up the race tracks playing gigantic swiss bells in celebration!
    Thanks to Zach Caldwell for helping me with my skis during the Tour 
    Throughout this whole ordeal, one of my friends sent me a few emails outlining some important facts.  First, he told me, “Holly, you are more than your results.”  While this is an incredibly simple point, sometimes it’s easy to forget. I’ve found myself, and seen some of my teammates fall into a pattern of self worth being directly tied to their placing in races.  Did I score World Cup points today or not? Did I have a personal best today or not? Especially for our team (USA) that has what I’ve called the “proximity disadvantage” (the inability to go home and rest) this can really plague us and if you’re not careful, it can be a downward spiral. So. I am more than my results and so are my teammates. We are human and not everything is perfect all the time.
    Second, he sent me a link to a speech given by John Wooden, perhaps the most articulate 92 year old on the face of the planet. (Wooden is a retired UCLA basketball coach and professor.)  In his speech, Wooden outlines his version of success which he pointedly admits is much different than the Mariam Webster Dictionary definition:

    From those things, and one other perhaps, I coined my own definition of success, which is: peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable. I believe that’s true. If you make the effort to do the best of which you’re capable, to try and improve the situation that exists for you, I think that’s success. And I don’t think others can judge that. I think it’s like character and reputation. Your reputation is what you are perceived to be; your character is what you really are. And I think that character is much more important than what you are perceived to be. You’d hope they’d both be good,but they won’t necessarily be the same. Well, that was my idea that I was going to try to get across to the youngsters.
    This notion became my second mantra of the Tour.  My goal was to be the best and do the best that I could do, without comparing myself to others.  Now this is much, much harder than it sounds because like I said before, the essence of sports in many people’s mind is what page your name falls on for results; or what step of the podium you stand on.  However, without doing better than some of my competitors, I wouldn’t be here in Europe, having the opportunities that I’ve had.  Sports aren’t a big “Kumbaya” where everyone holds hands and tries to cross the finish line for a tie – not even in the slightest. The difference is, however, that when you focus on having a good race for yourself, and do the best that you can do, the results and improvement will come. I believe what John Wooden is saying is that if you focus on what others are doing, rather than trying to improve your own “game” it will work against those measures of success.  Instead, if you focus on improving your striding, or your mental game during races, the good results will fall in your lap. Not without effort, of course, but the point being, focus on what you can do, rather than being upset that you cannot do what others have done. 
    In my specific case moving forward, I need not focus on the races that I’m missing and the World Cup points that my competitors are accumulating but rather, what kind of productive PT can I do for my wrist to heel my injury & how I can stay in shape while doing so.
    What is my plan now? My plan consists of skipping the next couple race weekends. As much as it pains me to opt out of racing opportunities, I know the priority needs to be on getting better; on healing.  A couple weeks ago I had a quote about how every single second in a race is important; that even wiping the snot off your face could cost a place on the results sheet.  The reality is, every decrement in performance, whether it’s 1% or 10% will result in a quick slip down the results list.  Therefore, my plan is to skip the sprints in Milan this weekend, the classic double header in Oteppa, Estonia next weekend, and the city sprint in Moscow.  Most likely, my next world cup starts will be in early February in Rybinsk, Russia.  There is a 10k mass start skate race and a 15k pursuit. Following Russia I hope to race in the Czech Republic & Poland as well.  

    Until later & thanks so much for all the support! 
    Love, 
    Holly 🙂 

    PS.
    I had one day after the Tour to spend with Rob before his departure.  Considering I am here in Europe November – March it’s tough missing loved ones.  My mom actually inspired and treated us to this wonderful “date.”  We took the gondola up Latemar, a big ski area and took the Alpine slide, had lunch, etc.  We were celebrating New Years, Valentine’s Day & his birthday since I won’t see him again until spring 🙁
    (Thanks Mom!) 
    Going up the Alpine Slide 

    Rob with our Italian Pizza

    Sitting in front of the Dolomites

  • Snowy Day at Trapps: Winter is finally here!

    It was a glorious day for classic skiing at Trapps, and with it came the first real signs of winter: a classic heavy eastern snow storm made things dreamlike out on the trails today.
    We had a small group today, but we worked on sprint starts, cornering, and did some speed work with 30 30s.
    The snow was falling fast and hard the whole time we were there, and continues as I write even now.
      

    We did some tele turns in the powder to cool down. Nice! Now off to the Eastern Cups in Maine.

     

  • Race two, Black Forest Germany

    The second race of the weekend went well for me. It was a rare chance for me to race in a distance race that really didn’t matter. I was able to experiment with some new tactics during the race. In all of the distance races that I’ve done this year I have started way too slow. For this race I made it my mission to have an extremely fast start. After the first 2.5 km I had an 11 second lead over 2nd place. I was able to hold onto my lead and finish off the weekend with 2 gold medals. I may have started a little hard, but I still feel it was an improvement over my previous distance races. Next time I will still start just as fast but start toning it down a little bit before the 2.5 km mark and get into a good rhythm earlier to save some energy.
    It ended up being a great weekend for the Canadians, Chandra also won both of her races and Devon and Alex ended up 4th and 12th overall in the Tour de Ski!! Congrats!!
    At the moment I am training in Val di Fiemme Italy getting ready for the World Cup sprint on the weekend.
    There is a big race happening in Canada today, first race of the Junior and U23 trials in Whistler. Good luck to everyone, I cant wait to see the results!

  • Just a few smiles to brighten your day!

    Post Tour de Ski Smiles
    Ramsau=Smiles
    Sunset in Seiser Alm = Smiles
    Fast and Female buffs+mountains and sun = smiles
    Friends = Smiles
    Spa + relax = smiles
    Lounge chairs in Italy=Smiles
    Life with mountains, good friends, sun, support, travel, racing, resting = smiles.
    Ciao for now, more words and pictures soon

  • YOGames (skiing at Seefeld)

    You’ll have to get used to this picture; it’s what I see every morning when I wake up. Innsbruck is in a long valley with impressive mountains on either side. These are the mountains more to the south west. The morning sun is just hitting the peaks.
    This morning we had a “spirited” breakfast (some people were rushing and there was a line). The breakfast tent is right behind our apartment building so it is handy. Breakfast was very good. We then hopped on a bus and took the 40 minute drive up to Seefeld.

    Driving up, the temps were hovering around freezing so we worried a bit about waxing for kick, but the venue is nestled up against mountains (to it’s east) so we were in shade and had cooler temps. We waxed in the extra blue range and had good skis.
    Our courses stay near the stadium (which is also the jump outrun) so no loop is longer than 3.3 km. There is one big hill about 1 km out and the rest of the course is pretty gentle.
    Here is the town of Seefeld.
    As always, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.
    This picture is taken from our bus stop, looking up at the stadium.
    Just another day in paradise. We skied for 1.5 hours and then headed back down to Innsbruck for lunch.
    I wish we could send some of this white stuff back to the US!
    Everything is centered around the stadium. We will be having Jump, Nordic Combined, Biathlon and XC Skiing races all here so the schedule is quite busy. All of the US teams are sharing a wax room so we spent some time this morning getting it all organized. Luckily the coaches from the other disciplines are nice and reasonable so we will not be fighting over space.
    Yup…I like the mountains :).
    Here are the hockey players having a team meeting before lunch.
    This is the dining hall (sorry it’s out of focus). We come here for lunch and dinner. They also have a food tent up in Seefeld for lunch. On Saturday we will probably do a double workout so we will stay there for lunch.
    Paddy’s lunch tray (out of focus again).
    This is the US/Canada building. Heather is in the room with the flag on the upper right. I am on the other side (so I get the view).
    Each building has team flags hanging from it. You need to go through security to get in the village, but once you’re in, you are free to roam around.
    This afternoon we are going for a short run and this evening we have a welcoming ceremony. Tomorrow evening is the opening ceremony and then we get busy. It is good that we got here a couple of days early so we can figure things out and get used to European time.

  • Great skiing for GMVS at Trapps

    It was a beautiful cold day at Trapps, and we got in some great skating yesterday in the sunshine. 
     It’s nice to start getting back in a rhythm of training after the week of racing at nationals… and great to be on real snow and a trail network! There isn’t much snow anywhere, but there’s enough to ski on up at Trapps.
     Today we did some dynamic drills to work on balance and commitment to each ski. Dev here is actually hopping up and down on one leg, but I couldn’t catch him mid-jump.
    Reuniting with Hans has been awesome!

    He’s got a wild side.

    Hans and Ryley worked on balance before Hans peeled off to do some skate intervals.

    Pretty great skiing available.

    Justin demonstrates that the snow is deep enough even off the trail: this is a big deal after all the time we’ve spent on man-made loops at Rumford and Craftsbury.

    Got the band back together.

  • Nationals Recap

    We just wrapped up a successful trip to US Nationals in Rumford, and are back in Waitsfield recovering and preparing for the next thing coming down the pike. But before we put Nationals in the rearview we should recap the week that was. And what a week it was!

    We started with a skate sprint, delayed a day because of rain the night before the original date. Undeterred by the delay, Heidi, MK, Fitzy, and Dev all posted strong qualifying times. Heidi and MK each earned spots in the junior heats and finished 6th and 21st, respectively. Both Dev and Heidi ended up as the 8th J1 skier for the day, a great accomplishment for both of them!

    GMVS alumnus Tim Reynolds advanced through the heats, but his day was ended by an unfortunate fall at the end of his semifinal. Nonetheless, he skied to 12th place overall on the day.

    Next up was the open skate race: 10 km for women, 15 km for men. Heidi was once again the 8th J1, as well as being the 16th junior. MK was not far behind, coming across the line as the 27th junior, and Fitzy skied a great race, finishing in the middle of the field. Dev didn’t feel like he had his best race, but skied four hard laps (4 times up High School Hill!) and finished as the 22nd J1. Alums Tim Reynolds and Peter Kling were right in the mix, finishing 20th and 22nd, respectively.

    The third race of the week was a classic distance race, and by this time everyone was beginning to get a little tired. The fatigue did not show in the results, however, with MK grabbing the 16th junior slot in the 5 km classic. Heidi suffered a fall but still hung on to 21st, and Kaitlin skied another strong race and finished 69th. Alum Kristin Halvorsen got her first racing of the season and skied well to 51st place. On the men’s side, alum and Dartmouth sophomore David Sinclair skied his best race of the championships and was only 9.3 seconds out of the victory in 4th place. Devlin finished up his first nationals with another solid performance, ending up as the 25th J1and 57th overall for juniors.

    The men skied 30 kilometers, nine laps around, and nine times up High School Hill. Tim Reynolds and Peter Kling were undeterred, skiing with the lead pack for much of the race. Reynolds finished 15th, less than a minute off the podium. Kling hung on to the pack for as long as he could, and ended up in 30th.

    The final race of the week was the classic sprint. Heidi qualified for the heats with a 29th place finish in the qualifier, and skied a great quarterfinal, finishing in 5th, right behind a pack of skiers led by Jessie Diggins! Her result was good for 25th overall, 3rd J1, and 6th junior on the day. MK qualified for the junior heats and skied a great semifinal, overcoming two skiers in the final stretch to move on to the final. Trying to execute the same game plan in the final, MK got boxed out settled for 4th place. An excellent result after she was disappointed by the results of the skate sprint heats.

    Alums Tim Reynolds and Peter Kling once again did their alma mater proud, finishing 10th and 24th in the sprint heats. David Sinclair was 9th place in the junior heats.

    It was a furious week of racing in Rumford, and we had some excellent results. Heidi qualified for the J1 Scandinavian trip, and will be heading overseas later this winter. Congratulations! The rest of us skied hard the whole week and are now recovering with some great distance skiing at Trapps, where the snow is better than anywhere else in New England!

  • Youth Olympic Games (travel day)

    We made it to Munich this morning. Here are Paddy and Heather in their USST gear. We had a large group of US athletes and coaches on the same flight from Chicago and they were waiting for us with 2 big buses to drive us down to Innsbruck.

    This is the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games. There are athletes from all over the world who will compete in nordic, alpine, snowboard, luge, bobsled, figure skating, speed skating, hockey and curling. Teams are small, the US was only allowed to bring 2 x-c athletes. Paddy and Heather were chosen because they were the #1 ranked skiers (YOB ’94-’95) in the US at the end of last season.
    The other bus filled up so we got one pretty much to ourselves 🙂
    Shortly after leaving Innsbruck we got a glimpse of the alps.
    After a little climbing, we drove through some snowy towns.
    Another bus picture. It was a beautiful day and we had a spectacular drive.
    When we arrived in Innsbruck, we went through security and got our credentials. Your credentials let you do everything from get into the Olympic village, to eating, watching events etc… ALWAYS HAVE YOUR CREDENTIALS.

    Above is a picture of my bedroom. Simple, but clean. What is really special is the view from my window… seen below 🙂
    Not bad eh?
    We will go up to Seefeld to ski tomorrow. We drove through on our way down and it looks perfect. Stay tuned for daily updates!