Tag: Lindsey Dehlin

I did my first on snow intervals this morning. It was a short session- 2x 4 minutes level 3 but the goal of the work out was to get comfortable going fast on skis. I also focused on being in the right heart rate zone.  Its really easy at high altitude to go too hard and be at too high of a heart rate.

This evening I had the opportunity to meet the kids from the Crested Butte and Durango skis teams. Dan and I were invited to a great dinner and I talked to the kids about skiing. It was awesome seeing so many kids excited about cross country. A huge thanks to all of them and to Duncan Callahan!

The Crested Butte and Durango junior team

Skis!

Tomorrow is the day before the first race of the season. It will be an easy training day consisting of getting to know the race course, testing skis and a couple of short intervals.

I was so excited to ski again this morning that I woke up at 5 am!

Ok, the real reason I was up that early was because of the 2 hour time difference but still. So when 9:00 finally rolled around I waxed up my classic skis and hit the Deja View and Rendezvous trails. Dan skied with one of our good friends from the U.P. Mike Keenan while I got to know the race course for next week. There were a few more people out skiing than yesterday including the CXC team and the US biathlon team. Within the next few days more and more people will be arriving. Its always fun to see so many people cross country skiing!

Mike Keenan and I before training this morning. This guy just turned 70 and skis 3 hours a day!!

The ski trails of West Yellowstone

After 20 hours of driving Dan and I arrived in West Yellowstone early this afternoon. We didn’t waste much time and were on the ski trails as quick as we could. It was a perfect day for the first ski of the year- sunny, 33 degrees and awesome tracks. It was so great to finally be here and be on snow. The few days leading up to the trip were pretty crazy with trying to get things ready for over a month on the road. I had pole tips to switch from rollerski tips to snow baskets, meet with Sten, wax about 25 pairs of skis, pack my bags and train twice a day.  But now that I am here I just have one thing to do—ski!

The open road….20 hours of it! We finally saw snow just outside of Bozeman.

First ski of the year and it was AWESOME!

One week from today Dan and I will be packing up the car and heading to West Yellowstone. It is about a 2 day drive so we will be getting there on the 20th and the plan is to be on skis that afternoon. Its hard to believe that the season starts so soon but I am pumped to be on snow and start racing. Its been feeling a lot more like early October than November around here. The last two weeks have been in the 50s and sunny. I’m not complaining though since winter in Marquette lasts until April!

This morning I went out to Marquette Mountain for a moose hoof interval session. I was just not feeling it today. My legs were heavy and I was having a hard time feeling snappy. I hated to do it but I cut the workout short. Instead of doing 6 intervals I only made it to four. So in short, the workout sucked but I think I did the smart thing.  I have skate intervals on Friday so by then I think I will be back to feeling good. Its important the for the next week to really listen to my body so I am rested and well trained before heading to West.

This morning I joined the NMU ski team for a 10km skate time trial. I woke up way too early for a 10am start- I was just ready for it and a little nervous. I was feeling good on my warm up and when I did the part of my warm up when I do a few minutes of level 3 and a couple speeds I got even more excited. My legs felt good considering I have had quite a few intervals in the last week.

The guys 15km started a minute before we did. Right off the start Laura Dewitt, Christina Gillis, Monica Markvardsen and I took off but by the first hill, about a kilometer into the course, Laura and I had a bit of a gap on third place. Over the next 7km Laura and I put a bigger gap on the field. We came through the halfway point in 17 minutes. Over the next 3km Laura and I were still together but at the bottom of the last big climb I found another gear and pushed it hard to the finish. The second half of the race was about 40 seconds faster than the first! Laura came in second, Gillis third, Monica 4th and Ingrid Fjeldheim a close 4th.

It was a sprint to the finish for the guys with Kevin Cutts in first, Gus Keading second, Chris Bowler third, Matt Weier fourth and Tim Cook fifth and Tom Mcfadden sixth. It was a small field of guys today due to a few people just getting over being sick.

It was a fun, hard day that made me even more excited to get on snow.

Its hard to believe that its already the end of October!

When I got home from Lake Placid I had a few days off to recover from all of the training at the camp. I took two days completely off from training and the two days after that were easy distance. This past week things have been busy again and I am back to training twice a day. I was in Madison with Dan for work and in Milwaukee for a wedding but I was able to still get in all of my workouts thanks to a great bike path in Madison and a great gym at the hotel in downtown Milwaukee. 

For the next few weeks I will be in Marquette getting ready for the ski season which is coming up fast! 

Dan and I at the Packers/Lions game on October 18

This morning I woke up to a blanket of snow here in Lake Placid. Ski season is on its way!

Morgan Arritola running in the snow. Wish we had skis!

For the last intensity session of the camp we did a classic sprint time trial on Monday. It was run just like a real sprint race with the qualifying rounds, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The course we used was similar to the Olympic sprint course- a couple of big uphills, technical downhills and a sharp left hand turn into the finish. It was a great time to work on strategy and skiing that close to 6 other girls on a tight course.  All of my times were consistent which I was happy about because after a hard training camp like this I’m getting tired! 

Qualifying round of the sprint time trial.

Hopefully the snow on the roads will have melted by this afternoon so we can get in the final rollerski of the camp. Tomorrow afternoon I will be headed home. The plan is to take a day or two completely off from training to recover and get ready for the next block of training. It sounds like there is snow in Marquette too- get your rock skis ready!

The last three workouts that I have done here in Lake Placid have all been either speeds or intervals. Friday morning we worked on starts, transitions and downhill sprints. That afternoon was did a level 4 classic session of 5×3 minutes. This morning was 2×10 minutes level 3 classic followed by 2x 10 minutes level 3 skate. As Cook says,” Count it”.

This afternoon in between workouts we headed over to the ski jumps to watch the nordic combined national championship. Since they had already jumped this morning we saw the cross country part of the competition. Todd Lodwick won his 20th national championship title and Stig Fjeldheim had a great race as well. 

Trying to hang with Newell on L3 skate intervals.

Stig Fjeldheim bib #20

Me, Morgan Smyth and Lindsay Williams wishing we were at the NMU ski team 40 year reunion!

This morning all of the skiers that are here at the Olympic training center did a rollerski race this morning called the Climb to the Castle. The Climb to the Castle is a 5 mile race up Whiteface Mountain. I want to emphasize the UP part of it -all but  few minutes of the entire race is V1. At least the snow held off but it was still rainy, windy and foggy. But despite the not so great weather it was actually pretty good. I have been anxious about this race for the last few weeks because last year was extremely hard. I went out too fast and I blew up. But all of us girls started out a bit more conservative and relaxed. Around a mile and a half things started to pick up and I was able to hang on to the lead pack until a little after three miles. At the 3 mile mark I couldn’t hang on and I dropped back a little bit. Over the next mile and a half I held things together way more than last year and crossed the finish line breathing hard and feeling tired. I am happy with my race and feeling confident about the upcoming season. 

Climbing to the Castle.

5 miles. Up hill. In the rain and wind. A perfect day to be a cross country skier.

Here is a look at what I have been up to since arriving at the Lake Placid Olympic training center 5 days ago:

Friday-  am-distance skate rollerski, pm- distance trail run

Saturday-am- distance run, pm-over distance classic rollerski

Sunday- am-Level 4 bounding intervals, pm-recovery run

Monday-am- classic speed workout, pm-distance skate

Tuesday- am-over distance classic rollerski/run

I have a few things that I am focusing on during the camp such as improving my technique. With so many coaches around its easy to ask for help or to have one of them watch me during a workout. Another focus for the camp is intensity. I have already had two high quality intensity days with another one tomorrow and many more before the camp is over on the 14th. Now is a good time to work on going hard and fast because it is close to the season but there is also time to recover from it.  So with all of these hard workouts in such a short time recovering and rest are very important at a camp like this. One of the nice things about the training center is being able to use the ice bath. Being able to to go right from rollerskiing or running into the ice bath helps your body recover for the next workout. 

The girls during the over distance classic roll.

The dudes

Ice bath post-rollerski.

On Thursday morning I caught the 6 am flight out of Marquette headed for New York. I landed in Albany about noon where I met Lindsay Williams and Noah Hoffman. We had to wait about 5 hours in the airport for the rest of our crew to get in before we could make the 2 hour drive to the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. But because of travel delays, our wait turned into 9 hours. It was a long day but we finally made it to the training center just after 11pm. 

Hanging out at the Albany airport

The next morning we jumped right back into training with a distance skate rollerski. We had a big group out on the roads with athletes from the US Ski Team, Sun Valley, CXC, NYSEF and Maine Winter Sports. It was awesome to be out there with so many fast skiers. The coaches from the US Ski Team were out there helping with technique which is always helpful.  That afternoon we had a distance trail run right from the training center. 

This morning after a distance run around Lake Placid I joined Maria Stuber for a dryland clinic with a great group of ladies from the New York area. It was a great clinic where worked on both classic and skate technique. A huge thanks to all of them and to Maria for setting everything up! After the clinic Maria and I headed out for an over distance classic rollerski. It was a perfect afternoon with sunny skies and gorgeous fall colors. 

Maria working on skate technique at the ladies ski clinic

Sweet rollerski road

Tomorrow morning all of us athletes are headed to Whiteface Mountain, which is the alpine hill here, for level 4 bounding intervals.

Despite getting almost 10 hours of sleep last night, I woke up this morning feeling tired. My plan was to do a trail running race but decided to skip it and went for an easy skate rollerski instead…

This past week has been Homecoming at NMU so there were parties all around town. A few nights ago I woke up at 1 am to an impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The guy was good and I had a laugh but it took me an hour to fall back asleep. Then the next day I did hard level 4 skate intervals in the afternoon and couldn’t get to sleep until midnight. So I think it caught up with me. On my ski this morning my legs felt slow and sluggish and my heart rate was a little higher than usual.  But I think by tomorrow or Monday I should be back and feeling rested.

Even though I have been tired the last few days, up until now I have been feeling great. Last weekend I had a very successful couple of days in Traverse City, MI. On Friday night I gave a presentation for the ski community about training for the Olympics. Saturday morning Dan and I held a skate rollerski clinic.  On Sunday I joined local skier Milan Biac on a beautiful classic over distance  ski on Mission Peninsula.  On Monday when I was back in Marquette I went out for my first mountain bike ride in three years. It was awesome!  Tuesday I had level 3 classic intervals and Wednesday level 4 skate intervals.

Sunset over Elk Lake, MI

Sten giving last minute technique advice to Laura Dewitt and Ingrid Fjeldheim just before moose hoof intervals.

This morning I met Laura Dewitt and Ingrid Fjeldheim at the ski room at 8:00 and headed out to Marquette Mountain for level 4 moose hoof intervals.  We did a 30 minute warm up run and I was a little nervous to start the intervals because my legs felt a little sluggish from the skate intensity yesterday. But about a minute into the first hill my legs started to feel better and I was able to push myself through the entire set of intervals- 5×5 minutes. I did this same workout last week and today I was able to get farther up the hill.  Sten was out there with us to help with technique and cheer us on.  It was awesome to have him out there because I have been working on a few things with my technique- relaxing my shoulders and my follow through and he helped things come together even more. 

5×5 minute L4. Love it!

Last Thursday, Sept. 10th, Lindsey took part in an interview with Marquette’s ESPN Radio 970 WZAM while attending an expo during the US Speed Skating Olympic Trials. Click on the link below to listen to the interview.

>>>>>Lindsey Dehlin ESPN 970<<<<<

On Friday after running an hour and a half (!!) with Dan on the trails of Marquette, we packed up the RV, picked up our friend Tyler at work and headed up to Copper Harbor for the weekend. On Saturday Dan and Tyler mountain biked all of the peaks in the Keweenaw which was about 80 miles and over 10 hours in the saddle! I spent the morning running on the awesome trails right from our campsite at Fort Wilkins State Park. Level 3 intervals-5×8 minutes. That night I ran into a couple of friends from Houghton, Karl Walczack and Margot Hutchins, and we made plans for an over distance run the next morning. We spent three hours on Sunday morning running on forest roads and enjoying the great weather. I felt really good running and the company was great! 

Training for this week looks good. I have 2 interval sessions which I am looking forward to as well as a specific strength workout which is always one of my favorites! On Friday Dan and I are headed to Traverse City, MI. Friday night I will be doing a presentation and on Saturday morning a rollerski clinic with the Vasa skiers.