Friday, July 25, 2014

Fast and Female



Girls ages 9-19 please join us for a Fast and Female event in Stratton, VT on August 10th.  Register today at fastandfemale-stratton.eventbrite.ca.  See you there!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

July in VT!

It's the calm before the storm.  That moment on a summer afternoon or evening when you suddenly realize it is really really dark outside.  The wind has picked up and the rumbles are increasing in volume as they creep closer and closer.  Before I'm done typing this I'm sure it will be pouring, clashing, flashing, and banging with a loud cacophony of energy unleashed from the skies.  If you are inside its the perfect opportunity to run outside and dance in the yard (with or without clothes), quickly being drenched to the bone and happily soaked with the warm summertime rains.  And with the force of it's arrival, the intensity quickly departs luckily taking the thick humidity and stickiness along as it passes for a respite of clear air.

I had a moment yesterday where I realized I had just more than a month left of my calm time at home before I launch into the blur and exciting fury of fall training camps and winter travel and racing.  I chose this year to spend a long time at home in one place and it will be about three months in total which is eons for the life of a Nordic ski racer.  I'm thoroughly enjoying being settled in one place, finding almost a sense of consistency and routine in my life.  But don't worry, I haven't become too much of a homebody and have been very busy with lots of summertime training, adventures, and fun.  Here's a much overdo recap of the past month or so.

At the beginning of the month my sister Elsa got married near our childhood home.  It was a really fun weekend of celebrations including jeep rides, swimming, maple creemees, fire works shows, dancing, bonfires, toasts and roasts, and more dancing

Congrats to this beautiful couple
It was a beautiful but windy day and I was very happy to stand by Elsa's side
Eben and I after the ceremony
We had pie for dessert instead of wedding cake and I made my first ever pies to contribute to this lovely spread.
We danced for six or seven hours but took a break to watch this amazing sunset over Jay Peak
It was really fun to see so many friends and family. Here's the Dartmouth Ski Team at the wedding (just missing Kristina Trygstad-Saari)

Last week was the first of our two Craftsbury Bill Koch League day camps which I organize every summer. The Craftsbury GRP athletes coach twenty local kids for a week of mountain biking, rollerskiing, orienteering, soccer, swimming, adventure racing and much more.

Mountain Bike games
Swimming to capture watermelons in the middle of the lake during the adventure race
Rollerskiing with only a few scraped knees despite many newbie rollerskiers
Ropeswinging and pizza to end the week!

And finally we have been training hard logging long hours of rollerskiing, running, biking, and hiking.  Last week part of the SMS T2 team traveled north to train with us for a few days.  It was awesome to show the Annie Hart and Annie Pokorny our training grounds and have some new training partners.  Thanks for visiting and we are looking forward to making a trip to Stratton soon!

Classic speeds with the #annies on a rainy day

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Steamy summer training

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just announced that May was the hottest May recorded across the globe ever ( http://time.com/2917053/may-hot-temperature-noaa/ ) And as climate change advances, I think June and July are following suite.  Summer training is in full swing and as the heat and humidity increase to record levels, we are sweating!.  It's the time of year where I swim three, four, five, or more times a day to escape the hot stickiness.  Visions of lemonade and ice cubes keeping me going on long workouts.  I find the existence of new sweat glands with every workout, pumping out salty sweat from every inch of my body.  Our coach, Nick Brown, brings a plant sprayer (clean of course since we have an organic garden) filled with ice water and sprays us down between intervals.  But we haven't let the heat or humidity get in our way as we train early and late, logging high volumes of training and dreaming of cooler months this winter.

Swimming in the river in Stowe after a long run
Track intervals
Looking out at Camel's Hump from Smugglers Notch
A viewpoint during a recent OD run on the Long Trail
The view from my cottage
A peaceful evening at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center waterfront
Pete Graves, Susan Dunklee, and I leading an Olympic Day event last week
Almost 90 kids participated in an afternoon of sports, fun, dancing, and stories at Hosmer Point.