AK Dryland Week

This morning we will get the call as to when the helicopter will get a weather window that will allow us to fly up to Eagle Glacier where we will spend the next week.  As a nordic skier, Eagle can be a little slice of heaven, with not much else to do but ski, sleep, eat, repeat.  There is no internet, just a bit of cell service,  an old TV with a VCR and DVD set up, and lots of Cosmo magazines that date back quite a few years.  However, for me, I really love being up there for 1 week a year.  It makes me rest between my training sessions, and although at times it can be boring, it is really important as a skier to learn how to rest.  I also love the fact that it is back to interacting completely with people for forms of entertainment.  We cook together, clean together, do puzzles together, talk together, and there are no distractions from one another.  No one is multitasking by texting and trying to have a conversation in the here and now, and no one is watching a movie by themselves in their room on their computer.  There are no computers, for the most part.  We have each other.  I am pumped for my one week a year up there, just skiing and living and it starts today.  As posting up there would be a major challenge with no internet, I am going to recap the week today, Sunday, and have another one ready when we come down from the glacier next Monday.  Cheers!

We spent this week doing dryland in town in Anchorage.  Here are a few images from the week's sessions.  Photo credits go to our volunteer PT Zuzana Rogers, Matt Whitcomb, Holly Brooks, and Paul Clark.

Bomber Glacier Run: Yesterday we went on a long OD run with a goal of getting up to Bomber Glacier where a bomber jet crashed in the 1950's.  6 people died, 4 survived and the remnants of the plane are still there.  I didn't make it, as I really struggle when having to work my way over big boulders, but here are a few pictures of the plane from those who made it the whole way.  Afterwards we talked and had lunch with the REG athletes, who also joined us on the run.

Astrid, Holly and Erik on the jet's wing

USST Members and Astrid Jacobsen (Norwegian National Team) and Bettina Gruber (Swiss National Team) talking with the REG athletes.

We have had some really awesome workouts together, learning from one another and pushing each other to become better.  Here are a few group shots.

Bluff Trail Run: Holly and her husband Rob led us on an awesome run on the Bluff Trail by Kincaid earlier this week.  It was beautiful.  Huge props go out to Alex Moore, our strength and conditioning coach, who came to this endurance camp and did all of our running workouts with us.  In fact, I hate to admit it, but he actually won this 1.25 hour run!  Norma, our volunteer massage therapist for this past week also joined us on the runs and is a major badass woman.  How do we find such awesome people?!  Thanks Norma, Zuzana, and Alex for being so generous and great this week.  Gold stars for you all!

Kikkan giving me some advice during a speed session earlier this week.

International Women's Training Alliance crew this year!  Thanks to SKIDA for the awesome headbands!!!

Alex Moore, endurance fanatic and mountain man! ;)

Thanks to the Alaska Club for hooking us up with a sweet place to lift!

Moose count is high on this trip.  These guys are everywhere.

I did a skate rollerski clinic for the Park City Nordic Team before I left.  Rossignol gave all of the kids cool sweatshirts, too!  Thanks Paul and Ryan!

Here I am with all the PC Skiers!

Crest Trail Anyone?

This week I had an awesome training week, full of so many of my favorite kinds of workouts and 5 of the last 9 days I spent in Park City took me in one way or another to the Crest Trail.  The Crest Trail runs along the top of the ridge of mountains that separate Salt Lake from Park City.  The views are beautiful and right now the wildflowers are out and we have gotten some rain, so trails are in super shape.  I ran parts of this trail 2 times, biked it twice and hiked it once with my Mom, so I have really made the most of my favorite trail before heading to Alaska for women's camp.

Views from one of my most recent runs coming off the Crest Trail on my way home.

Another view from the trails.  I am so lucky, I am so lucky, I am so lucky.

It was Alex's 35th birthday last week and in the afternoon I went over to his house to hang out with the girls.  Charlie, his 4 year old daughter and I worked on this beautiful chalk sign for him to come home to.  I wrote the "Happy Birthday", Charlie wrote the "Dad" and of course did all of the flower/weed decorations that really took it over the top.

And then she made sure I wrote this.

This is the view I wake up to most mornings here in Utah.  Not too shabby, eh?  Beautiful sunrises these days especially with the rain clouds hanging around a bit more than usual.  Makes for really good training weather.

Noah and I also did some treadmill testing this week.  Here I am VO2 Max Testing.  We breath sea level air for this test, which is what is filling those balloons in the back round.  This gives us better numbers, as your body can work harder at sea level, letting your heart rate get higher and allowing you to reach your full max.

We also do a double pole max test, which is what I am doing here.  It's really good for me to test every so often, because though I still get so nervous I don't sleep the night before, whether I have a good test or a bad one, I learn things about where I am both physically and mentally in the preparation phase of my training.  I place tremendous value in my mental state and approach to training, so this test tells me as much about where I am mentally as it does about how well I am absorbing training.  I found myself constantly inspired this week.  I was inspired by my Mom running 7 minute mile pace intervals on the Alter-G.  I was inspired by the plank competition I heard about the Women's Alpine Tech Team (slalom and GS is called "tech") doing in which one of the girls held a plank for 26 minutes!  The day we were testing on the treadmill, we had almost every alpine skier on the USST in the gym cheering between their sets of 450 pound squats.  I read my teammates blogs and I get psyched.  I am inspired by the people around me in the gym, on the trails, in my life and all week I have just found myself getting more goosebumps because of hearing about or watching somebody do something incredible.

And then I showed up at the airport yesterday evening and learned I had been upgraded to first class for the first time ever!!  Here is dinner, and yes, it is as nice as you think it is.

Alex and I enjoying our first class experience together.  It's always better when you can share your excitement with someone else.

Kikkan is also fun to share an experience with.  Look how psyched she is in real life too!

(Photo courtesy of Jessie Diggins)

Alaska Women's Camp has officially begun.  This year we have a rocking crew of North Americans as well as Astrid Jacobsen of Norway and Bettina Gruber of Switzerland.  Oh, and a big welcome to our massage therapist, Norma, who came down from Fairbanks on her own dime to help us out this week!

My Mom Came to Town!!!

My Mom is in town!!  She arrived on the 5th and is here for another day before heading back to our new puppy and my Dad who are anxiously awaiting her return to Vermont.  It has been so nice having her out here.  Today she tried out the Alter-G at the COE and ran intervals on it at a 7 minute mile pace!  I was so impressed, and I think she may have some sore muscles tomorrow!  We have had some really good dinners together, gotten to hang out with some of the people in my life out here in Utah who mean the world to me, and it has been really amazing to have her out here.

My Mom having fun on the Alter-G this morning!

Dinner night 1: Homemade Sushi at the Adam's house with Chef Noah.

We baked a chicken for lunches!  Oh man, I am living large with Mom in town!

Dinner night 2: Grass fed beef with radishes in our salad from my parent's garden in Vermont!

Some of last night's dinner crew, Alex Shaffer, me, and Carly.  Thai Curry!!

Tonight's dinner: Spagetti with homemade tomato sauce and heirloom caprese salad! YUM!

Happy 4th of July earlier this week too!  I ran a 5k with Noah, Matt and our strength coach Alex Moore.  We had bets on how far each of us would be ahead or behind the others and Matt won the competition, as he is in super secret really good coach shape.  Then we all headed to watch the parade with Alex's family.

I also played my first game of disc golf with Noah, Graham Watanabe (Star of the newest Ninja Warrior and Olympic gold medalist Snowboard Cross Athlete) , Heather McPhie (Mogul Skier), and Emily Cook (Arial Skier).  It was pretty fun and we only lost 2 discs!

Me on my mountain bike ride on the crest trail this afternoon.  I have gotten two rides in on the crest this week and the trails are in perfect condition with the recent thunderstorms in the afternoons.  The rain feels so good!!

Also got a haircut this week.  Feels so good to have short hair in the summer!

Oh, and we have been doing a bit of training too:)  Matt joined Noah and I on a recent rollerski around the roads and bike paths of Park City.

REG and ELITEAM

This week was full of excitement with the Regional Elite Group (REG) camp in town.  This is a group that each region of the US has, and they get together for a training camp each summer.  From these camps, USSA picks some athletes to come to the National Elite Group (NEG) Camp.  It was really great to have these awesome athletes in town to train with and get to know some of the up and coming athletes that will represent our next generation of US skiers.

MBSEF Athletes and me

Classic threshold intervals up East Canyon

Matt, Western REG athlete, Emily Hannah from Steamboat, who transferred from Harvard to Dartmouth for this season, and her coach Josh Smullin.

Western REG Athletes at the top of Guardsman Pass in Utah last week

OD classic ski up Big Cottonwood Canyon with the Western REG athletes

Doug Lewis and me

  ELITEAM is a camp for kids that was started 22 years ago by Olympian Alpine Skier, Doug Lewis and his wife Kelley, who was also a very high level alpine ski racer in her time, until an ankle injury ended her career.  I went to ELITEAM when I was about 9-11, I would say, and this week I got to join the camp again as a guest speaker.  I was instantly reminded of the qualities I learned were important when I was there 17 years ago.  Supporting on another, pushing each other to be their best and in turn also become your best, love what you do, conquer your fears, work as hard as you possibly can and have an insane amount of fun while doing it.  It was the same feeling when I spent 3 hours with these kids last week, and Doug and Kelley still bring such positive and encouraging energy to each session, each day.  I feel really lucky to have been involved with such great people at a young age.  It is the time in life when other people can have a real effect on who you want to become as a person, and I believe very much so that Doug and Kelley had a very positive and giving effect on me.  When I was really young and still alpine racing as a J6, I was so small and weak that my hands were not strong enough to hold onto the rope tow at Cochrans Ski Area, and so each run down I would stand in line only to shred my gloves and maybe make it 10 feet up the trail before sliding backwards down the rope and having to start all over again.  Doug used to sweep me up and put me on his shoulders and take me up the rope tow so that I could take another run.  Good times, good times.  Thanks for always believing in me, Doug, and for instilling this same belief in so many other kids for the last 22 years.

One of my Mom's best friends and work partner, Sue Arbogast, was in Salt Lake City last week for some big PT meetings, as she was appointed one of 2 Vermont State PT representatives.  Pretty great to meet up with her, walk the city (she showed me around, even though I am the one who lives in Utah!) and get some delicious dinner.  It was almost like going home getting to spend time with someone so close to my Mom.  Thanks Sue!!

Matt and I did a really awesome run together yesterday that went all over the Wasatch Mountains that separate Park City from Salt Lake.  We ran on beautiful trails for hours and hours and did a big loop that was over a marathon in distance and had a great time.  Big running loops are by far my favorite training and so I am still riding a high from yesterdays awesome adventure.  BIG props to my coach, Matt for being able to, at the drop of a hat, still run a marathon without complaint.  Impressive.

Some of the sights of yesterday's loop.

The wild flowers are all in bloom right now and Utah is hot, dry and summery.

But Matt still managed to find a patch of snow and took advantage.  It's not often that it can be over 90 degrees out and be playing in snow.

Post run smiles.  I feel so lucky to be healthy, happy and able to do what I love with great friends, coaches and supporters at my side.  Train hard, live harder.