FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Other Kinds o’ Racing

  • Other Kinds o’ Racing

  • Training Challenge

    Here is a video of myself and a couple other US Ski Team athletes. We are doing a “training challenge week” where we post a video from out workout everyday for one week. The idea is to get more kids in the US out the door and training hard.

  • Rainy Day Run and an Early Christmas

    I so often associate fall with beautiful colors, hearty stews and shooting deer. But when it arrives I remember that fall also means cold, rainy days. Not that I mind too much; if you bundle up and never stray more than a few hours from a hot shower and a trusty espresso machine, it’s all good. This morning Scott had planned for a high-intensity anaerobic workout on the Chewuch with some motor-pacing involved. However, when I woke up a little before 7am and saw the sheets of water running off the roof, I knew we’d be changing plans. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later Scott called and we re-scheduled the day to include a 2-hour distance run and some hill power sprints in the evening. Believe it or not, skiing at top speed next to a car in the middle of the road and swerving back and forth across those REALLY slippery painted stripes in the road is…a bit sketch.

    Besides, getting out for a run this morning meant I got to train with my favorite (sorry, Mr. IPod) training partner:

    We took a moderate route from our house in Mazama and jumped on to the Methow Community Trail, which in the winter runs as an unbroken 16ft-wide skating platform with two classic tracks from Mazama to Winthrop (30km). In the dry months, it offers a 10km out-and-back plus an alternate 10km loop from Mazama. We opted for the out-and-back to Brown’s Farm and set off with Nikki prancing happily beside us. Upon turning around I got a good look at the mountains and was PSYCHED to see snowline barely 2000ft above us:

    A bit hard to see in the photo, but that’s snow on the hills amidst the fog on the left-hand side. Sure, it’s going to melt tomorrow, but we’re getting closer! However at this time of year I always have mixed feelings about the onset of winter. I’m excited for it to arrive and to get on snow, but I also balance that with thinking that I’m not ready yet, training-wise. I still want another full month of solid pre-comp training before I’m ready to sail in to West Yellowstone with an anaerobic Hemi under my hood.

    Today was also great to go running because it was an impromptu Christmas for us here at 33 Graceland Road – big packages arrived in the hands of that ever-jovial FedEx guy, from Scott Shoes and Hammer Nutrition. Boom!

    The new Scott men’s eRide Grip trail shoe – SUPER lightweight and grippy, perfect for fall trail running.


    Hammer Nutrition care package- those boys in Whitefish, MT can sure concoct a madly effective cocktail of high-performance goodness!


    The plan I’ve been working off for training right now is following a 16-day microcycle; Scott thought this would be the best way to lump in all the key workouts while still maintaining enough rest between each. So far it’s been successful; I’m halfway through this block and am really noticing the gains which are coming from an increase in anaerobic workouts, especially when I go out to do the aerobic workouts we’ve been hitting all season. And there’s still more work to be done! Seven weeks until West…

  • Rainy Day Run and an Early Christmas

    I so often associate fall with beautiful colors, hearty stews and shooting deer. But when it arrives I remember that fall also means cold, rainy days. Not that I mind too much; if you bundle up and never stray more than a few hours from a hot shower and a trusty espresso machine, it’s all good. This morning Scott had planned for a high-intensity anaerobic workout on the Chewuch with some motor-pacing involved. However, when I woke up a little before 7am and saw the sheets of water running off the roof, I knew we’d be changing plans. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later Scott called and we re-scheduled the day to include a 2-hour distance run and some hill power sprints in the evening. Believe it or not, skiing at top speed next to a car in the middle of the road and swerving back and forth across those REALLY slippery painted stripes in the road is…a bit sketch.

    Besides, getting out for a run this morning meant I got to train with my favorite (sorry, Mr. IPod) training partner:

    We took a moderate route from our house in Mazama and jumped on to the Methow Community Trail, which in the winter runs as an unbroken 16ft-wide skating platform with two classic tracks from Mazama to Winthrop (30km). In the dry months, it offers a 10km out-and-back plus an alternate 10km loop from Mazama. We opted for the out-and-back to Brown’s Farm and set off with Nikki prancing happily beside us. Upon turning around I got a good look at the mountains and was PSYCHED to see snowline barely 2000ft above us:

    A bit hard to see in the photo, but that’s snow on the hills amidst the fog on the left-hand side. Sure, it’s going to melt tomorrow, but we’re getting closer! However at this time of year I always have mixed feelings about the onset of winter. I’m excited for it to arrive and to get on snow, but I also balance that with thinking that I’m not ready yet, training-wise. I still want another full month of solid pre-comp training before I’m ready to sail in to West Yellowstone with an anaerobic Hemi under my hood.

    Today was also great to go running because it was an impromptu Christmas for us here at 33 Graceland Road – big packages arrived in the hands of that ever-jovial FedEx guy, from Scott Shoes and Hammer Nutrition. Boom!

    The new Scott men’s eRide Grip trail shoe – SUPER lightweight and grippy, perfect for fall trail running.


    Hammer Nutrition care package- those boys in Whitefish, MT can sure concoct a madly effective cocktail of high-performance goodness!


    The plan I’ve been working off for training right now is following a 16-day microcycle; Scott thought this would be the best way to lump in all the key workouts while still maintaining enough rest between each. So far it’s been successful; I’m halfway through this block and am really noticing the gains which are coming from an increase in anaerobic workouts, especially when I go out to do the aerobic workouts we’ve been hitting all season. And there’s still more work to be done! Seven weeks until West…

  • Rainy Day Run and an Early Christmas

    I so often associate fall with beautiful colors, hearty stews and shooting deer. But when it arrives I remember that fall also means cold, rainy days. Not that I mind too much; if you bundle up and never stray more than a few hours from a hot shower and a trusty espresso machine, it’s all good. This morning Scott had planned for a high-intensity anaerobic workout on the Chewuch with some motor-pacing involved. However, when I woke up a little before 7am and saw the sheets of water running off the roof, I knew we’d be changing plans. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later Scott called and we re-scheduled the day to include a 2-hour distance run and some hill power sprints in the evening. Believe it or not, skiing at top speed next to a car in the middle of the road and swerving back and forth across those REALLY slippery painted stripes in the road is…a bit sketch.

    Besides, getting out for a run this morning meant I got to train with my favorite (sorry, Mr. IPod) training partner:

    We took a moderate route from our house in Mazama and jumped on to the Methow Community Trail, which in the winter runs as an unbroken 16ft-wide skating platform with two classic tracks from Mazama to Winthrop (30km). In the dry months, it offers a 10km out-and-back plus an alternate 10km loop from Mazama. We opted for the out-and-back to Brown’s Farm and set off with Nikki prancing happily beside us. Upon turning around I got a good look at the mountains and was PSYCHED to see snowline barely 2000ft above us:

    A bit hard to see in the photo, but that’s snow on the hills amidst the fog on the left-hand side. Sure, it’s going to melt tomorrow, but we’re getting closer! However at this time of year I always have mixed feelings about the onset of winter. I’m excited for it to arrive and to get on snow, but I also balance that with thinking that I’m not ready yet, training-wise. I still want another full month of solid pre-comp training before I’m ready to sail in to West Yellowstone with an anaerobic Hemi under my hood.

    Today was also great to go running because it was an impromptu Christmas for us here at 33 Graceland Road – big packages arrived in the hands of that ever-jovial FedEx guy, from Scott Shoes and Hammer Nutrition. Boom!

    The new Scott men’s eRide Grip trail shoe – SUPER lightweight and grippy, perfect for fall trail running.


    Hammer Nutrition care package- those boys in Whitefish, MT can sure concoct a madly effective cocktail of high-performance goodness!


    The plan I’ve been working off for training right now is following a 16-day microcycle; Scott thought this would be the best way to lump in all the key workouts while still maintaining enough rest between each. So far it’s been successful; I’m halfway through this block and am really noticing the gains which are coming from an increase in anaerobic workouts, especially when I go out to do the aerobic workouts we’ve been hitting all season. And there’s still more work to be done! Seven weeks until West…

  • US Nationals Simulation Week: Day 1


    We’ve been back from Italy for a week now, and we’re settling into a routine that will carry us all the way through to November’s trip to West Yellowstone. This is arguably our most focused block of the year academically and athletically: we have an opportunity to make big gains in both arenas.

    It’s a good time to think about where we’re going: part of moving forward is reflecting on where we’ve been. What’s worked well and where do we need to be better?

    Many of our skiers have made serious goals for the races at US Nationals. In order to prepare, we’re skiing a simulated Nationals week, with three time trial efforts: a 10km skate, a skate sprint day, and a classic distance race. For the first day of this week we drove up over the gap to go meet up with Cam MacKugler and his Frost Mountain Nordic team for a 10km skate TT. I had a vision of Cam bending a Swix Star at the Bolton Eastern High School Sprint when I was in 9th grade (2005). I won’t tell you how long it took me to dredge up this photo, but the display of raw power is worth it.

    Cam had a group of four skiers who showed us the course. We skied it backwards (downhill) as a warmup, then threw on the bibs and got ready to go.
    The group was all smiles before the start. It’s always fun to meet up with different people for training. Thanks to Frost Mountain for letting us join in!
    Heidi starts up the course: her first 10k race!
    Our skiers are committed to so many things: Kaitlin’s balancing college apps, play, the Valley Reporter, and still skiing fast right now.

    Dev has made incredible gains this year (while playing soccer and having a lead role in play!). His game face is on 24/7.

    Night is falling quicker and quicker these days.

    Wood roller skis and a construction hard hat. Not a bad look for our Frost Mountain Friend.

    It’s beginning to feel like Fall in New England out here. Italy was sweet, but the scenery in Vermont is pretty striking as well, even on a cold, cloudy day.
    We had some awesome efforts yesterday: everyone skied hard on an unfamiliar and challenging course. Now it’s out for skate sprinting at Sugarbush!

  • US Nationals Simulation Week: Day 1


    We’ve been back from Italy for a week now, and we’re settling into a routine that will carry us all the way through to November’s trip to West Yellowstone. This is arguably our most focused block of the year academically and athletically: we have an opportunity to make big gains in both arenas.

    It’s a good time to think about where we’re going: part of moving forward is reflecting on where we’ve been. What’s worked well and where do we need to be better?

    Many of our skiers have made serious goals for the races at US Nationals. In order to prepare, we’re skiing a simulated Nationals week, with three time trial efforts: a 10km skate, a skate sprint day, and a classic distance race. For the first day of this week we drove up over the gap to go meet up with Cam MacKugler and his Frost Mountain Nordic team for a 10km skate TT. I had a vision of Cam bending a Swix Star at the Bolton Eastern High School Sprint when I was in 9th grade (2005). I won’t tell you how long it took me to dredge up this photo, but the display of raw power is worth it.

    Cam had a group of four skiers who showed us the course. We skied it backwards (downhill) as a warmup, then threw on the bibs and got ready to go.
    The group was all smiles before the start. It’s always fun to meet up with different people for training. Thanks to Frost Mountain for letting us join in!
    Heidi starts up the course: her first 10k race!
    Our skiers are committed to so many things: Kaitlin’s balancing college apps, play, the Valley Reporter, and still skiing fast right now.

    Dev has made incredible gains this year (while playing soccer and having a lead role in play!). His game face is on 24/7.

    Night is falling quicker and quicker these days.

    Wood roller skis and a construction hard hat. Not a bad look for our Frost Mountain Friend.

    It’s beginning to feel like Fall in New England out here. Italy was sweet, but the scenery in Vermont is pretty striking as well, even on a cold, cloudy day.
    We had some awesome efforts yesterday: everyone skied hard on an unfamiliar and challenging course. Now it’s out for skate sprinting at Sugarbush!

  • US Nationals Simulation Week: Day 1


    We’ve been back from Italy for a week now, and we’re settling into a routine that will carry us all the way through to November’s trip to West Yellowstone. This is arguably our most focused block of the year academically and athletically: we have an opportunity to make big gains in both arenas.

    It’s a good time to think about where we’re going: part of moving forward is reflecting on where we’ve been. What’s worked well and where do we need to be better?

    Many of our skiers have made serious goals for the races at US Nationals. In order to prepare, we’re skiing a simulated Nationals week, with three time trial efforts: a 10km skate, a skate sprint day, and a classic distance race. For the first day of this week we drove up over the gap to go meet up with Cam MacKugler and his Frost Mountain Nordic team for a 10km skate TT. I had a vision of Cam bending a Swix Star at the Bolton Eastern High School Sprint when I was in 9th grade (2005). I won’t tell you how long it took me to dredge up this photo, but the display of raw power is worth it.

    Cam had a group of four skiers who showed us the course. We skied it backwards (downhill) as a warmup, then threw on the bibs and got ready to go.
    The group was all smiles before the start. It’s always fun to meet up with different people for training. Thanks to Frost Mountain for letting us join in!
    Heidi starts up the course: her first 10k race!
    Our skiers are committed to so many things: Kaitlin’s balancing college apps, play, the Valley Reporter, and still skiing fast right now.

    Dev has made incredible gains this year (while playing soccer and having a lead role in play!). His game face is on 24/7.

    Night is falling quicker and quicker these days.

    Wood roller skis and a construction hard hat. Not a bad look for our Frost Mountain Friend.

    It’s beginning to feel like Fall in New England out here. Italy was sweet, but the scenery in Vermont is pretty striking as well, even on a cold, cloudy day.
    We had some awesome efforts yesterday: everyone skied hard on an unfamiliar and challenging course. Now it’s out for skate sprinting at Sugarbush!

  • US Nationals Simulation Week: Day 1


    We’ve been back from Italy for a week now, and we’re settling into a routine that will carry us all the way through to November’s trip to West Yellowstone. This is arguably our most focused block of the year academically and athletically: we have an opportunity to make big gains in both arenas.

    It’s a good time to think about where we’re going: part of moving forward is reflecting on where we’ve been. What’s worked well and where do we need to be better?

    Many of our skiers have made serious goals for the races at US Nationals. In order to prepare, we’re skiing a simulated Nationals week, with three time trial efforts: a 10km skate, a skate sprint day, and a classic distance race. For the first day of this week we drove up over the gap to go meet up with Cam MacKugler and his Frost Mountain Nordic team for a 10km skate TT. I had a vision of Cam bending a Swix Star at the Bolton Eastern High School Sprint when I was in 9th grade (2005). I won’t tell you how long it took me to dredge up this photo, but the display of raw power is worth it.

    Cam had a group of four skiers who showed us the course. We skied it backwards (downhill) as a warmup, then threw on the bibs and got ready to go.
    The group was all smiles before the start. It’s always fun to meet up with different people for training. Thanks to Frost Mountain for letting us join in!
    Heidi starts up the course: her first 10k race!
    Our skiers are committed to so many things: Kaitlin’s balancing college apps, play, the Valley Reporter, and still skiing fast right now.

    Dev has made incredible gains this year (while playing soccer and having a lead role in play!). His game face is on 24/7.

    Night is falling quicker and quicker these days.

    Wood roller skis and a construction hard hat. Not a bad look for our Frost Mountain Friend.

    It’s beginning to feel like Fall in New England out here. Italy was sweet, but the scenery in Vermont is pretty striking as well, even on a cold, cloudy day.
    We had some awesome efforts yesterday: everyone skied hard on an unfamiliar and challenging course. Now it’s out for skate sprinting at Sugarbush!

  • The Countdown Begins!

    It all starts one month from NOW. From TOMORROW!  November 6th I will jump on a plane and be racing in Europe until Christmas.  This will be my first time racing World Cup period 1 and it’s going to a be a whirlwind tour with up to 14 race starts in FIVE different countries including Norway, Finland, Germany, Switzerland & Slovenia.  I am pretty pumped for new race venues and an opportunity to test myself against Marit Bjorgen from day one.  Last year I learned that there is certainly a learning curve to being on the World Cup and I’m hoping that my experience last year has given me some confidence and knowledge for this trip knowing that I’ve done it before and the girls are totally human…. except for (maybe) these two:

    Props to my teammate Sadie for finding this pic online somewhere….

    With only a month or so to go until the official race season kicks off I’m sure that skiers everywhere, in the US and abroad, harbor some similar feelings and questions:

    “Where is my fitness?”
    “How will I perform this year?” 

    At this point in the fall (at a certain level) you’ve either done the hard work or you haven’t.  October is a great time to ask yourself: “Have I done every possible thing I could to be as fast as I can be this upcoming winter?”  Personally, I find that at this time of year my problem isn’t finding the time or motivation to train. Instead the hard part is to know when to stop or when enough is enough.  If it were up to me and personal enjoyment I would probably train 40 hours/week!  It’s easy to think, oh…. if my roller ski interval times aren’t getting better right now I need to train more…. when really, the opposite might be true and what your body really needs is rest.  My coach Erik brought up an interesting point the other day at practice.  He said that he doesn’t believe there has ever been an Olympic or World Champion that’s been self coached.  I haven’t fact-checked this but it makes sense when I consider the value of having someone see you at training – an objective eye to sense fatigue or a downward spiral.

    But, enough about that!  Where am I right now and what am I doing for training? Right now I’m at a big dry land camp in Park City Utah!  I’ve never trained in Utah for dry land and this camp is the perfect opportunity to get my feet underneath me before the season.  Skiers from all over the country are here to train together.  Yesterday we did intervals at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Winter Olympic venue.  The US Ski Team is also based out of Park City so we have lots of resources at our disposal.

    I find that the fall is always a really great time to get out of Alaska and do something.  During the summer months I have a tendency to stay really close to home and come October, skiing the same roller ski loop for the 59th time becomes less appealing.  It’s nice to get out and explore different places – this is a big part of what I love about Utah or skiing or anything else.  Last year I wasn’t presented with the Utah training camp option so I created a training camp of my own in Hawaii, and specifically Kona.  Last summer in Alaska was one of the worst weather summers in the books and it rained for FORTY DAYS straight.  Because of that Hawaii wasn’t a luxury but rather became a necessity.  When I planned the trip I had NO IDEA that our stay would overlap with one of the MOST AWESOME athletic events I have ever watched: Ironman World Championships! The race is actually this upcoming Saturday October 8th and a small part of me is sad to be missing the even this year. In fact, here I am roller skiing on the Queen K highway posing with a bike team from the Netherlands. Yes, the dude in the arrow helmet is kissing my check while my husband takes the picture!

     Ironman Time! 

    After taking a red eye flight direct from AK my good friend Alison from Whitman College days picked me up in Salt Lake City and we ended up here:

     Gorgeous sunshine, trails & my personal favorite, yellow fall leaves! 

     This forest looks like a work of art in and of itself. I LOVE it! 

    The trail system here is absolutely AMAZING.  I am so impressed and I have to say, a bit envious.  The mountain biking here looks phenomenal with over 200+ miles of single track in the great Park City area alone!  On our hike we randomly found this in the woods:

    Speaking of mountain bike trails and single track, there is a great trail building effort in Anchorage building a new set of single tracks at Kincaid Park! For folks in Anchorage I encourage you to attend the work parties that happen every Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-8pm. (Meeting in the Jodphur parking lot) No experience is necessary and they have all the tools.  Here is a pic of a bunch of us post-work party a couple of weeks ago.  Anchorage will never be the mtn biking mecca that Park City is but these new trails are AWESOME. 

     
    If you want to see the new trails in motion, check out my teammate Reese Hanneman’s blog here for a YouTube video

    To continue with Park City…. 
    A cool sticker I saw on a car in the parking lot… 
    Some one tell these coaches that the “boot” isn’t in!  Three coaches from three different programs all with foot injuries! 
    Cheering on the boys at Soldier Hollow yesterday in our threshold intervals
    Me and Kikkan post workout
    I think our boots got dirtier here in Utah than they do in Alaska! 
    This picture shows the dedication of a starving skier… he is eating raw Top Ramen noodles for his post workout recovery food because (and I quote) “You can get 20 of these for five bucks!” Someone get this kid a bar sponsorship, quick! 
    After posting some pretty gorgeous pictures of Utah I feel obligated to show a couple recent pictures of my home, Alaska and our beautiful fall colors: 
     
    Rob and I went on a hike and found this thing on the top of a mountain. We think it’s some kind of air traffic control repeater but we’re not sure?
    Over looking Hope, Alaska and Turnagain Arm
    Last but not least, a fun picture of my great host, Morgan Smyth!  (Hopefully she won’t kill me for putting this up on my blog!)  While at training camp down here I am staying at Morgan and Deb’s house.  Morgan is even letting me borrow her car to get to workouts while she bikes to work.  Morgan and Deb’s awesome hospitality is making it financially possible for me to be here at this camp.  Thanks so much you two!  If you’re ever in Park City and looking for an awesome place to stay check out Deb’s B&B called Old Town Guesthouse!

    Oh! And one more thing!  Because there are so many of us in town we’re hosting a Fast and Female event here in Park City!  It’s this Saturday and will be held at the COE, AKA, Center of Excellence.  I’m sure I’ll have an entire post of it but if you know of anyone in town, sign up because this event is going to be great!  Also, for Alaskans, save the date Sunday, October 30th for a Fast and Female event in Fairbanks, AK!

    Fast and Female Park City, Utah
    NEW EVENT ADDED!

    Fast and Female Fairbanks, Alaska

    More to come and as always, thanks for reading! Make today AWESOME because as I like to say, “you have so much to be thankful for!”

    Holly 🙂

  • The Countdown Begins!

    It all starts one month from NOW. From TOMORROW!  November 6th I will jump on a plane and be racing in Europe until Christmas.  This will be my first time racing World Cup period 1 and it’s going to a be a whirlwind tour with up to 14 race starts in FIVE different countries including Norway, Finland, Germany, Switzerland & Slovenia.  I am pretty pumped for new race venues and an opportunity to test myself against Marit Bjorgen from day one.  Last year I learned that there is certainly a learning curve to being on the World Cup and I’m hoping that my experience last year has given me some confidence and knowledge for this trip knowing that I’ve done it before and the girls are totally human…. except for (maybe) these two:

    Props to my teammate Sadie for finding this pic online somewhere….

    With only a month or so to go until the official race season kicks off I’m sure that skiers everywhere, in the US and abroad, harbor some similar feelings and questions:

    “Where is my fitness?”
    “How will I perform this year?” 

    At this point in the fall (at a certain level) you’ve either done the hard work or you haven’t.  October is a great time to ask yourself: “Have I done every possible thing I could to be as fast as I can be this upcoming winter?”  Personally, I find that at this time of year my problem isn’t finding the time or motivation to train. Instead the hard part is to know when to stop or when enough is enough.  If it were up to me and personal enjoyment I would probably train 40 hours/week!  It’s easy to think, oh…. if my roller ski interval times aren’t getting better right now I need to train more…. when really, the opposite might be true and what your body really needs is rest.  My coach Erik brought up an interesting point the other day at practice.  He said that he doesn’t believe there has ever been an Olympic or World Champion that’s been self coached.  I haven’t fact-checked this but it makes sense when I consider the value of having someone see you at training – an objective eye to sense fatigue or a downward spiral.

    But, enough about that!  Where am I right now and what am I doing for training? Right now I’m at a big dry land camp in Park City Utah!  I’ve never trained in Utah for dry land and this camp is the perfect opportunity to get my feet underneath me before the season.  Skiers from all over the country are here to train together.  Yesterday we did intervals at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Winter Olympic venue.  The US Ski Team is also based out of Park City so we have lots of resources at our disposal.

    I find that the fall is always a really great time to get out of Alaska and do something.  During the summer months I have a tendency to stay really close to home and come October, skiing the same roller ski loop for the 59th time becomes less appealing.  It’s nice to get out and explore different places – this is a big part of what I love about Utah or skiing or anything else.  Last year I wasn’t presented with the Utah training camp option so I created a training camp of my own in Hawaii, and specifically Kona.  Last summer in Alaska was one of the worst weather summers in the books and it rained for FORTY DAYS straight.  Because of that Hawaii wasn’t a luxury but rather became a necessity.  When I planned the trip I had NO IDEA that our stay would overlap with one of the MOST AWESOME athletic events I have ever watched: Ironman World Championships! The race is actually this upcoming Saturday October 8th and a small part of me is sad to be missing the even this year. In fact, here I am roller skiing on the Queen K highway posing with a bike team from the Netherlands. Yes, the dude in the arrow helmet is kissing my check while my husband takes the picture!

     Ironman Time! 

    After taking a red eye flight direct from AK my good friend Alison from Whitman College days picked me up in Salt Lake City and we ended up here:

     Gorgeous sunshine, trails & my personal favorite, yellow fall leaves! 

     This forest looks like a work of art in and of itself. I LOVE it! 

    The trail system here is absolutely AMAZING.  I am so impressed and I have to say, a bit envious.  The mountain biking here looks phenomenal with over 200+ miles of single track in the great Park City area alone!  On our hike we randomly found this in the woods:

    Speaking of mountain bike trails and single track, there is a great trail building effort in Anchorage building a new set of single tracks at Kincaid Park! For folks in Anchorage I encourage you to attend the work parties that happen every Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-8pm. (Meeting in the Jodphur parking lot) No experience is necessary and they have all the tools.  Here is a pic of a bunch of us post-work party a couple of weeks ago.  Anchorage will never be the mtn biking mecca that Park City is but these new trails are AWESOME. 

     
    If you want to see the new trails in motion, check out my teammate Reese Hanneman’s blog here for a YouTube video

    To continue with Park City…. 
    A cool sticker I saw on a car in the parking lot… 
    Some one tell these coaches that the “boot” isn’t in!  Three coaches from three different programs all with foot injuries! 
    Cheering on the boys at Soldier Hollow yesterday in our threshold intervals
    Me and Kikkan post workout
    I think our boots got dirtier here in Utah than they do in Alaska! 
    This picture shows the dedication of a starving skier… he is eating raw Top Ramen noodles for his post workout recovery food because (and I quote) “You can get 20 of these for five bucks!” Someone get this kid a bar sponsorship, quick! 
    After posting some pretty gorgeous pictures of Utah I feel obligated to show a couple recent pictures of my home, Alaska and our beautiful fall colors: 
     
    Rob and I went on a hike and found this thing on the top of a mountain. We think it’s some kind of air traffic control repeater but we’re not sure?
    Over looking Hope, Alaska and Turnagain Arm
    Last but not least, a fun picture of my great host, Morgan Smyth!  (Hopefully she won’t kill me for putting this up on my blog!)  While at training camp down here I am staying at Morgan and Deb’s house.  Morgan is even letting me borrow her car to get to workouts while she bikes to work.  Morgan and Deb’s awesome hospitality is making it financially possible for me to be here at this camp.  Thanks so much you two!  If you’re ever in Park City and looking for an awesome place to stay check out Deb’s B&B called Old Town Guesthouse!

    Oh! And one more thing!  Because there are so many of us in town we’re hosting a Fast and Female event here in Park City!  It’s this Saturday and will be held at the COE, AKA, Center of Excellence.  I’m sure I’ll have an entire post of it but if you know of anyone in town, sign up because this event is going to be great!  Also, for Alaskans, save the date Sunday, October 30th for a Fast and Female event in Fairbanks, AK!

    Fast and Female Park City, Utah
    NEW EVENT ADDED!

    Fast and Female Fairbanks, Alaska

    More to come and as always, thanks for reading! Make today AWESOME because as I like to say, “you have so much to be thankful for!”

    Holly 🙂

  • The Countdown Begins!

    It all starts one month from NOW. From TOMORROW!  November 6th I will jump on a plane and be racing in Europe until Christmas.  This will be my first time racing World Cup period 1 and it’s going to a be a whirlwind tour with up to 14 race starts in FIVE different countries including Norway, Finland, Germany, Switzerland & Slovenia.  I am pretty pumped for new race venues and an opportunity to test myself against Marit Bjorgen from day one.  Last year I learned that there is certainly a learning curve to being on the World Cup and I’m hoping that my experience last year has given me some confidence and knowledge for this trip knowing that I’ve done it before and the girls are totally human…. except for (maybe) these two:

    Props to my teammate Sadie for finding this pic online somewhere….

    With only a month or so to go until the official race season kicks off I’m sure that skiers everywhere, in the US and abroad, harbor some similar feelings and questions:

    “Where is my fitness?”
    “How will I perform this year?” 

    At this point in the fall (at a certain level) you’ve either done the hard work or you haven’t.  October is a great time to ask yourself: “Have I done every possible thing I could to be as fast as I can be this upcoming winter?”  Personally, I find that at this time of year my problem isn’t finding the time or motivation to train. Instead the hard part is to know when to stop or when enough is enough.  If it were up to me and personal enjoyment I would probably train 40 hours/week!  It’s easy to think, oh…. if my roller ski interval times aren’t getting better right now I need to train more…. when really, the opposite might be true and what your body really needs is rest.  My coach Erik brought up an interesting point the other day at practice.  He said that he doesn’t believe there has ever been an Olympic or World Champion that’s been self coached.  I haven’t fact-checked this but it makes sense when I consider the value of having someone see you at training – an objective eye to sense fatigue or a downward spiral.

    But, enough about that!  Where am I right now and what am I doing for training? Right now I’m at a big dry land camp in Park City Utah!  I’ve never trained in Utah for dry land and this camp is the perfect opportunity to get my feet underneath me before the season.  Skiers from all over the country are here to train together.  Yesterday we did intervals at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Winter Olympic venue.  The US Ski Team is also based out of Park City so we have lots of resources at our disposal.

    I find that the fall is always a really great time to get out of Alaska and do something.  During the summer months I have a tendency to stay really close to home and come October, skiing the same roller ski loop for the 59th time becomes less appealing.  It’s nice to get out and explore different places – this is a big part of what I love about Utah or skiing or anything else.  Last year I wasn’t presented with the Utah training camp option so I created a training camp of my own in Hawaii, and specifically Kona.  Last summer in Alaska was one of the worst weather summers in the books and it rained for FORTY DAYS straight.  Because of that Hawaii wasn’t a luxury but rather became a necessity.  When I planned the trip I had NO IDEA that our stay would overlap with one of the MOST AWESOME athletic events I have ever watched: Ironman World Championships! The race is actually this upcoming Saturday October 8th and a small part of me is sad to be missing the even this year. In fact, here I am roller skiing on the Queen K highway posing with a bike team from the Netherlands. Yes, the dude in the arrow helmet is kissing my check while my husband takes the picture!

     Ironman Time! 

    After taking a red eye flight direct from AK my good friend Alison from Whitman College days picked me up in Salt Lake City and we ended up here:

     Gorgeous sunshine, trails & my personal favorite, yellow fall leaves! 

     This forest looks like a work of art in and of itself. I LOVE it! 

    The trail system here is absolutely AMAZING.  I am so impressed and I have to say, a bit envious.  The mountain biking here looks phenomenal with over 200+ miles of single track in the great Park City area alone!  On our hike we randomly found this in the woods:

    Speaking of mountain bike trails and single track, there is a great trail building effort in Anchorage building a new set of single tracks at Kincaid Park! For folks in Anchorage I encourage you to attend the work parties that happen every Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-8pm. (Meeting in the Jodphur parking lot) No experience is necessary and they have all the tools.  Here is a pic of a bunch of us post-work party a couple of weeks ago.  Anchorage will never be the mtn biking mecca that Park City is but these new trails are AWESOME. 

     
    If you want to see the new trails in motion, check out my teammate Reese Hanneman’s blog here for a YouTube video

    To continue with Park City…. 
    A cool sticker I saw on a car in the parking lot… 
    Some one tell these coaches that the “boot” isn’t in!  Three coaches from three different programs all with foot injuries! 
    Cheering on the boys at Soldier Hollow yesterday in our threshold intervals
    Me and Kikkan post workout
    I think our boots got dirtier here in Utah than they do in Alaska! 
    This picture shows the dedication of a starving skier… he is eating raw Top Ramen noodles for his post workout recovery food because (and I quote) “You can get 20 of these for five bucks!” Someone get this kid a bar sponsorship, quick! 
    After posting some pretty gorgeous pictures of Utah I feel obligated to show a couple recent pictures of my home, Alaska and our beautiful fall colors: 
     
    Rob and I went on a hike and found this thing on the top of a mountain. We think it’s some kind of air traffic control repeater but we’re not sure?
    Over looking Hope, Alaska and Turnagain Arm
    Last but not least, a fun picture of my great host, Morgan Smyth!  (Hopefully she won’t kill me for putting this up on my blog!)  While at training camp down here I am staying at Morgan and Deb’s house.  Morgan is even letting me borrow her car to get to workouts while she bikes to work.  Morgan and Deb’s awesome hospitality is making it financially possible for me to be here at this camp.  Thanks so much you two!  If you’re ever in Park City and looking for an awesome place to stay check out Deb’s B&B called Old Town Guesthouse!

    Oh! And one more thing!  Because there are so many of us in town we’re hosting a Fast and Female event here in Park City!  It’s this Saturday and will be held at the COE, AKA, Center of Excellence.  I’m sure I’ll have an entire post of it but if you know of anyone in town, sign up because this event is going to be great!  Also, for Alaskans, save the date Sunday, October 30th for a Fast and Female event in Fairbanks, AK!

    Fast and Female Park City, Utah
    NEW EVENT ADDED!

    Fast and Female Fairbanks, Alaska

    More to come and as always, thanks for reading! Make today AWESOME because as I like to say, “you have so much to be thankful for!”

    Holly 🙂

  • The Countdown Begins!

    It all starts one month from NOW. From TOMORROW!  November 6th I will jump on a plane and be racing in Europe until Christmas.  This will be my first time racing World Cup period 1 and it’s going to a be a whirlwind tour with up to 14 race starts in FIVE different countries including Norway, Finland, Germany, Switzerland & Slovenia.  I am pretty pumped for new race venues and an opportunity to test myself against Marit Bjorgen from day one.  Last year I learned that there is certainly a learning curve to being on the World Cup and I’m hoping that my experience last year has given me some confidence and knowledge for this trip knowing that I’ve done it before and the girls are totally human…. except for (maybe) these two:

    Props to my teammate Sadie for finding this pic online somewhere….

    With only a month or so to go until the official race season kicks off I’m sure that skiers everywhere, in the US and abroad, harbor some similar feelings and questions:

    “Where is my fitness?”
    “How will I perform this year?” 

    At this point in the fall (at a certain level) you’ve either done the hard work or you haven’t.  October is a great time to ask yourself: “Have I done every possible thing I could to be as fast as I can be this upcoming winter?”  Personally, I find that at this time of year my problem isn’t finding the time or motivation to train. Instead the hard part is to know when to stop or when enough is enough.  If it were up to me and personal enjoyment I would probably train 40 hours/week!  It’s easy to think, oh…. if my roller ski interval times aren’t getting better right now I need to train more…. when really, the opposite might be true and what your body really needs is rest.  My coach Erik brought up an interesting point the other day at practice.  He said that he doesn’t believe there has ever been an Olympic or World Champion that’s been self coached.  I haven’t fact-checked this but it makes sense when I consider the value of having someone see you at training – an objective eye to sense fatigue or a downward spiral.

    But, enough about that!  Where am I right now and what am I doing for training? Right now I’m at a big dry land camp in Park City Utah!  I’ve never trained in Utah for dry land and this camp is the perfect opportunity to get my feet underneath me before the season.  Skiers from all over the country are here to train together.  Yesterday we did intervals at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Winter Olympic venue.  The US Ski Team is also based out of Park City so we have lots of resources at our disposal.

    I find that the fall is always a really great time to get out of Alaska and do something.  During the summer months I have a tendency to stay really close to home and come October, skiing the same roller ski loop for the 59th time becomes less appealing.  It’s nice to get out and explore different places – this is a big part of what I love about Utah or skiing or anything else.  Last year I wasn’t presented with the Utah training camp option so I created a training camp of my own in Hawaii, and specifically Kona.  Last summer in Alaska was one of the worst weather summers in the books and it rained for FORTY DAYS straight.  Because of that Hawaii wasn’t a luxury but rather became a necessity.  When I planned the trip I had NO IDEA that our stay would overlap with one of the MOST AWESOME athletic events I have ever watched: Ironman World Championships! The race is actually this upcoming Saturday October 8th and a small part of me is sad to be missing the even this year. In fact, here I am roller skiing on the Queen K highway posing with a bike team from the Netherlands. Yes, the dude in the arrow helmet is kissing my check while my husband takes the picture!

     Ironman Time! 

    After taking a red eye flight direct from AK my good friend Alison from Whitman College days picked me up in Salt Lake City and we ended up here:

     Gorgeous sunshine, trails & my personal favorite, yellow fall leaves! 

     This forest looks like a work of art in and of itself. I LOVE it! 

    The trail system here is absolutely AMAZING.  I am so impressed and I have to say, a bit envious.  The mountain biking here looks phenomenal with over 200+ miles of single track in the great Park City area alone!  On our hike we randomly found this in the woods:

    Speaking of mountain bike trails and single track, there is a great trail building effort in Anchorage building a new set of single tracks at Kincaid Park! For folks in Anchorage I encourage you to attend the work parties that happen every Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-8pm. (Meeting in the Jodphur parking lot) No experience is necessary and they have all the tools.  Here is a pic of a bunch of us post-work party a couple of weeks ago.  Anchorage will never be the mtn biking mecca that Park City is but these new trails are AWESOME. 

     
    If you want to see the new trails in motion, check out my teammate Reese Hanneman’s blog here for a YouTube video

    To continue with Park City…. 
    A cool sticker I saw on a car in the parking lot… 
    Some one tell these coaches that the “boot” isn’t in!  Three coaches from three different programs all with foot injuries! 
    Cheering on the boys at Soldier Hollow yesterday in our threshold intervals
    Me and Kikkan post workout
    I think our boots got dirtier here in Utah than they do in Alaska! 
    This picture shows the dedication of a starving skier… he is eating raw Top Ramen noodles for his post workout recovery food because (and I quote) “You can get 20 of these for five bucks!” Someone get this kid a bar sponsorship, quick! 
    After posting some pretty gorgeous pictures of Utah I feel obligated to show a couple recent pictures of my home, Alaska and our beautiful fall colors: 
     
    Rob and I went on a hike and found this thing on the top of a mountain. We think it’s some kind of air traffic control repeater but we’re not sure?
    Over looking Hope, Alaska and Turnagain Arm
    Last but not least, a fun picture of my great host, Morgan Smyth!  (Hopefully she won’t kill me for putting this up on my blog!)  While at training camp down here I am staying at Morgan and Deb’s house.  Morgan is even letting me borrow her car to get to workouts while she bikes to work.  Morgan and Deb’s awesome hospitality is making it financially possible for me to be here at this camp.  Thanks so much you two!  If you’re ever in Park City and looking for an awesome place to stay check out Deb’s B&B called Old Town Guesthouse!

    Oh! And one more thing!  Because there are so many of us in town we’re hosting a Fast and Female event here in Park City!  It’s this Saturday and will be held at the COE, AKA, Center of Excellence.  I’m sure I’ll have an entire post of it but if you know of anyone in town, sign up because this event is going to be great!  Also, for Alaskans, save the date Sunday, October 30th for a Fast and Female event in Fairbanks, AK!

    Fast and Female Park City, Utah
    NEW EVENT ADDED!

    Fast and Female Fairbanks, Alaska

    More to come and as always, thanks for reading! Make today AWESOME because as I like to say, “you have so much to be thankful for!”

    Holly 🙂

  • The Countdown Begins!

    It all starts one month from NOW. From TOMORROW!  November 6th I will jump on a plane and be racing in Europe until Christmas.  This will be my first time racing World Cup period 1 and it’s going to a be a whirlwind tour with up to 14 race starts in FIVE different countries including Norway, Finland, Germany, Switzerland & Slovenia.  I am pretty pumped for new race venues and an opportunity to test myself against Marit Bjorgen from day one.  Last year I learned that there is certainly a learning curve to being on the World Cup and I’m hoping that my experience last year has given me some confidence and knowledge for this trip knowing that I’ve done it before and the girls are totally human…. except for (maybe) these two:

    Props to my teammate Sadie for finding this pic online somewhere….

    With only a month or so to go until the official race season kicks off I’m sure that skiers everywhere, in the US and abroad, harbor some similar feelings and questions:

    “Where is my fitness?”
    “How will I perform this year?” 

    At this point in the fall (at a certain level) you’ve either done the hard work or you haven’t.  October is a great time to ask yourself: “Have I done every possible thing I could to be as fast as I can be this upcoming winter?”  Personally, I find that at this time of year my problem isn’t finding the time or motivation to train. Instead the hard part is to know when to stop or when enough is enough.  If it were up to me and personal enjoyment I would probably train 40 hours/week!  It’s easy to think, oh…. if my roller ski interval times aren’t getting better right now I need to train more…. when really, the opposite might be true and what your body really needs is rest.  My coach Erik brought up an interesting point the other day at practice.  He said that he doesn’t believe there has ever been an Olympic or World Champion that’s been self coached.  I haven’t fact-checked this but it makes sense when I consider the value of having someone see you at training – an objective eye to sense fatigue or a downward spiral.

    But, enough about that!  Where am I right now and what am I doing for training? Right now I’m at a big dry land camp in Park City Utah!  I’ve never trained in Utah for dry land and this camp is the perfect opportunity to get my feet underneath me before the season.  Skiers from all over the country are here to train together.  Yesterday we did intervals at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Winter Olympic venue.  The US Ski Team is also based out of Park City so we have lots of resources at our disposal.

    I find that the fall is always a really great time to get out of Alaska and do something.  During the summer months I have a tendency to stay really close to home and come October, skiing the same roller ski loop for the 59th time becomes less appealing.  It’s nice to get out and explore different places – this is a big part of what I love about Utah or skiing or anything else.  Last year I wasn’t presented with the Utah training camp option so I created a training camp of my own in Hawaii, and specifically Kona.  Last summer in Alaska was one of the worst weather summers in the books and it rained for FORTY DAYS straight.  Because of that Hawaii wasn’t a luxury but rather became a necessity.  When I planned the trip I had NO IDEA that our stay would overlap with one of the MOST AWESOME athletic events I have ever watched: Ironman World Championships! The race is actually this upcoming Saturday October 8th and a small part of me is sad to be missing the even this year. In fact, here I am roller skiing on the Queen K highway posing with a bike team from the Netherlands. Yes, the dude in the arrow helmet is kissing my check while my husband takes the picture!

     Ironman Time! 

    After taking a red eye flight direct from AK my good friend Alison from Whitman College days picked me up in Salt Lake City and we ended up here:

     Gorgeous sunshine, trails & my personal favorite, yellow fall leaves! 

     This forest looks like a work of art in and of itself. I LOVE it! 

    The trail system here is absolutely AMAZING.  I am so impressed and I have to say, a bit envious.  The mountain biking here looks phenomenal with over 200+ miles of single track in the great Park City area alone!  On our hike we randomly found this in the woods:

    Speaking of mountain bike trails and single track, there is a great trail building effort in Anchorage building a new set of single tracks at Kincaid Park! For folks in Anchorage I encourage you to attend the work parties that happen every Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-8pm. (Meeting in the Jodphur parking lot) No experience is necessary and they have all the tools.  Here is a pic of a bunch of us post-work party a couple of weeks ago.  Anchorage will never be the mtn biking mecca that Park City is but these new trails are AWESOME. 

     
    If you want to see the new trails in motion, check out my teammate Reese Hanneman’s blog here for a YouTube video

    To continue with Park City…. 
    A cool sticker I saw on a car in the parking lot… 
    Some one tell these coaches that the “boot” isn’t in!  Three coaches from three different programs all with foot injuries! 
    Cheering on the boys at Soldier Hollow yesterday in our threshold intervals
    Me and Kikkan post workout
    I think our boots got dirtier here in Utah than they do in Alaska! 
    This picture shows the dedication of a starving skier… he is eating raw Top Ramen noodles for his post workout recovery food because (and I quote) “You can get 20 of these for five bucks!” Someone get this kid a bar sponsorship, quick! 
    After posting some pretty gorgeous pictures of Utah I feel obligated to show a couple recent pictures of my home, Alaska and our beautiful fall colors: 
     
    Rob and I went on a hike and found this thing on the top of a mountain. We think it’s some kind of air traffic control repeater but we’re not sure?
    Over looking Hope, Alaska and Turnagain Arm
    Last but not least, a fun picture of my great host, Morgan Smyth!  (Hopefully she won’t kill me for putting this up on my blog!)  While at training camp down here I am staying at Morgan and Deb’s house.  Morgan is even letting me borrow her car to get to workouts while she bikes to work.  Morgan and Deb’s awesome hospitality is making it financially possible for me to be here at this camp.  Thanks so much you two!  If you’re ever in Park City and looking for an awesome place to stay check out Deb’s B&B called Old Town Guesthouse!

    Oh! And one more thing!  Because there are so many of us in town we’re hosting a Fast and Female event here in Park City!  It’s this Saturday and will be held at the COE, AKA, Center of Excellence.  I’m sure I’ll have an entire post of it but if you know of anyone in town, sign up because this event is going to be great!  Also, for Alaskans, save the date Sunday, October 30th for a Fast and Female event in Fairbanks, AK!

    Fast and Female Park City, Utah
    NEW EVENT ADDED!

    Fast and Female Fairbanks, Alaska

    More to come and as always, thanks for reading! Make today AWESOME because as I like to say, “you have so much to be thankful for!”

    Holly 🙂

  • Some Top Young Finnish Men

    I can’t keep up on the enormous number of good young skiers from every nation. I have a hard enough time with just those in my own backyard, the US and Canada. So it’s fun to look at some folks from other countries that I’m not so familiar with. For instance, here are some graphs looking at some good young male skiers from Finland. I’m using ‘cohort’ style graphs; they compare an athletes FIS points at a particular age to the range of FIS points achieved by skiers in the past that have gone on to achieve top ten results at WC, WSC or OWG races. (Remember, of course, that FIS points have plenty of limitations, and I calculate them slightly differently that FIS. For instance, I select people’s best results from a season, not from a calendar year.)

    First, here are five young Finnish men who had strong distance results last season (click for full version):

    Obviously, one wants to be at or below the shaded region, ideally. But those shaded regions don’t represent everyone who was ever successful, so it’s certainly possible to buck the trend and be a late bloomer. It just happens less frequently. Perttu Hyvarinen certainly seems promising. Sami Lahdemaki does as well, despite a slight uptick in his results last season.

    To go along with this, here are five good young Finnish sprinters; again, FIS points for sprinting are only measuring qualification speed:

    Some different names here and none as obviously promising (based solely on the data).

    Related posts:

    1. <Best Young Distance Skiers: 2009-2010
    2. <Looking Back At The Finnish Men
    3. <Top Male Juniors


  • Some Top Young Finnish Men

    I can’t keep up on the enormous number of good young skiers from every nation. I have a hard enough time with just those in my own backyard, the US and Canada. So it’s fun to look at some folks from other countries that I’m not so familiar with. For instance, here are some graphs looking at some good young male skiers from Finland. I’m using ‘cohort’ style graphs; they compare an athletes FIS points at a particular age to the range of FIS points achieved by skiers in the past that have gone on to achieve top ten results at WC, WSC or OWG races. (Remember, of course, that FIS points have plenty of limitations, and I calculate them slightly differently that FIS. For instance, I select people’s best results from a season, not from a calendar year.)

    First, here are five young Finnish men who had strong distance results last season (click for full version):

    Obviously, one wants to be at or below the shaded region, ideally. But those shaded regions don’t represent everyone who was ever successful, so it’s certainly possible to buck the trend and be a late bloomer. It just happens less frequently. Perttu Hyvarinen certainly seems promising. Sami Lahdemaki does as well, despite a slight uptick in his results last season.

    To go along with this, here are five good young Finnish sprinters; again, FIS points for sprinting are only measuring qualification speed:

    Some different names here and none as obviously promising (based solely on the data).

    Related posts:

    1. <Best Young Distance Skiers: 2009-2010
    2. <Looking Back At The Finnish Men
    3. <Top Male Juniors


  • Volume Week, Day 2: Agility/Intervals + XC Race/Biking

    Tuesday was a busy day for the team. Our 9am training session had half the team up at Lot 1 working on skate agility with Matt & Liz, while the other half of the team joined Andy and Skyler for some L3 skate intervals up Brazer’s with Sverre. (Brazer’s Way is the steep road that runs by the school – nothing like a little 9% grade to get you going!) Everyone pitched in before lunch with some trail work on our on-campus trail and the connector trail to the nordic center. We wrapped up our day down in Manchester with the cross country race for our runners or a short bike ride and some spectating for those who did the morning intervals. Congrats to race winners Paddy & Issy for their strong running today!
    Tomorrow we head up to New Hampshire for an overnight trip – skiing the Kancamangus Hwy on Wednesday and a hike across Franconia Ridge on Thursday. Pictures below from Lot 1 and the race – click on any to enlarge!

    We got a little competitive using bungees this morning… : )

    Tess showing nice forward position.
    With an odd number of skiers at Lot 1, Boobar gets called in to help…
    …and gets a little workout of his own in!
    Teamwork.
    Gino & Paddy – flying through the agility course.
    Kate – getting better every day!
    Hamish.
    Issy.
    Kate, Mackenzie & Tess.
    What a crew!
    Burr and Burton Academy hosted the cross country race at their trails in town – nice, well maintained, fairly flat trails. The boys get warmed up for their race.
    Mackenzie goes out with the pack in her race. She ended up third overall (boys and girls) and the second girl in the junior high race.
    Paddy and Calvin spent the first lap around the pond shadowing two runners from MAU. They broke away and went stride for stride on the second lap (lapping the other runners in the photo) and Paddy pulled away from Calvin at the end for his first win of the season.
    Hamish was pleased with his race today – 11th.
    Gino looking strong -16th.
    Tyler floating along -18th.
    Mac ran well today – 22nd.
    Issy picked up her second win of the season today with some nice running.
    Kate runs in second for our team and ended up fifth overall.
    Hamish & Gino (above) and Mollie and Mackenzie (below) out on the course cheering for their teammates.
    Girls at the finish line – Anika, Issy, Mackenzie, & Brooke.
    Race Results:
    1. Issy 23:17
    5. Kate 24:28
    1. Paddy 18:38
    2. Calvin 18:42
    11. Hamish 20:46
    16. Gino 21:08
    18. Tyler 21:14
    22. Mac 22:01

  • Volume Week, Day 2: Agility/Intervals + XC Race/Biking

    Tuesday was a busy day for the team. Our 9am training session had half the team up at Lot 1 working on skate agility with Matt & Liz, while the other half of the team joined Andy and Skyler for some L3 skate intervals up Brazer’s with Sverre. (Brazer’s Way is the steep road that runs by the school – nothing like a little 9% grade to get you going!) Everyone pitched in before lunch with some trail work on our on-campus trail and the connector trail to the nordic center. We wrapped up our day down in Manchester with the cross country race for our runners or a short bike ride and some spectating for those who did the morning intervals. Congrats to race winners Paddy & Issy for their strong running today!
    Tomorrow we head up to New Hampshire for an overnight trip – skiing the Kancamangus Hwy on Wednesday and a hike across Franconia Ridge on Thursday. Pictures below from Lot 1 and the race – click on any to enlarge!

    We got a little competitive using bungees this morning… : )

    Tess showing nice forward position.
    With an odd number of skiers at Lot 1, Boobar gets called in to help…
    …and gets a little workout of his own in!
    Teamwork.
    Gino & Paddy – flying through the agility course.
    Kate – getting better every day!
    Hamish.
    Issy.
    Kate, Mackenzie & Tess.
    What a crew!
    Burr and Burton Academy hosted the cross country race at their trails in town – nice, well maintained, fairly flat trails. The boys get warmed up for their race.
    Mackenzie goes out with the pack in her race. She ended up third overall (boys and girls) and the second girl in the junior high race.
    Paddy and Calvin spent the first lap around the pond shadowing two runners from MAU. They broke away and went stride for stride on the second lap (lapping the other runners in the photo) and Paddy pulled away from Calvin at the end for his first win of the season.
    Hamish was pleased with his race today – 11th.
    Gino looking strong -16th.
    Tyler floating along -18th.
    Mac ran well today – 22nd.
    Issy picked up her second win of the season today with some nice running.
    Kate runs in second for our team and ended up fifth overall.
    Hamish & Gino (above) and Mollie and Mackenzie (below) out on the course cheering for their teammates.
    Girls at the finish line – Anika, Issy, Mackenzie, & Brooke.
    Race Results:
    1. Issy 23:17
    5. Kate 24:28
    1. Paddy 18:38
    2. Calvin 18:42
    11. Hamish 20:46
    16. Gino 21:08
    18. Tyler 21:14
    22. Mac 22:01

  • Autumn in the North Country

    Elinor's Field

    Elinor's Field

    Misty mornings.  Waking up engulfed by a cloud.  Trees slowly materialize out of whiteness. Half an hour into our rollerski, the fog has completely burned off in the Black River Valley.  A perfect fall day.

    King Farm Road overlooking Little Hosmer

    King Farm Road overlooking Little Hosmer

    Dylan works on building a sauna out of scrap wood.

    Dylan works on building a sauna out of scrap wood.

    300 lbs of crisp fall apples are stacked, crammed, into the back of a red minivan.  They totter and shift precariously as we wind and rattle over dirt roads.  Parking behind the dining hall to unload, we open the trunk carefully in case they fall.  We carry them in waxed cardboard boxes, salvaged from the recycling, and the bottoms threaten to give out.

    Winter squash harvest from the garden at Elinor's

    Winter squash harvested from the garden at Elinor's

    During an off day in Lake Placid, a few OTC residents decided to go apple picking. I found this interesting specimen, probably caused by an apple sawfly.

    During an off day in Lake Placid, a few OTC residents decided to go apple picking. I found this interesting specimen, probably caused by an apple sawfly.

    Some tasty oyster mushrooms. Foraging is a new hobby that I'm cautiously embracing.

    Some tasty oyster mushrooms. Foraging is a new hobby that I'm cautiously embracing.

    Running on a forest trail, through a tunnel of blurry color.  Bright splotches of yellow and red leaves crunch underfoot.  Later in the week, it rains and they compress into muddy mats.

    Hiking adventure in the Adirondacks with the biathletes

    A hiking adventure with the biathletes

    Fall in the Adirondacks!

    Fall near Paul Smiths in the Adirondacks. This area was a favorite haunt of Teddy Roosevelt during his teenage years.

    I fall asleep to the rhythm of rain spilling off the roof and wailing gusts of wind surging against the windows.  It is cozy inside, warm and dry under a down comforter.  But it hasn’t let up by morning, and it is time to go out, to train, in the pouring rain, in ski boots still waterlogged from yesterday.   And following practice I’ll have an immediate date with my rifle cleaning supplies.  These are the hardest days to motivate.

    Lifting up a giant boulder in Elmore State Park.

    Lifting up a giant boulder in Elmore State Park.