Salen Sweden

Today is a well appreciated rest day halfway through our camp with the Swedes and we’re all enjoying the time to relax and recover from a few big days of training in Salen, Sweden.  The breakfast buffet, laundry, and some yoga are on the schedule for the morning and then this afternoon we will drive back to Torsby for the second half of our camp.  Tunnel skiing again tomorrow morning!

The first part of the camp has been AWESOME!  Our Swedish hosts have been wonderful and it has been lots of fun having new friends and training partners.  A year ago I would never have imagined myself feeling  comfortable enough to laugh and joke or run and ski alongside these girls, many of whom are my idols on the the World Cup circuit.  The training has been tough and exciting.  Every day has totaled between four and five hours and included a sprint race, intervals, double pole speeds, specific strength, and long runs in the mountains and bogs.  The training plan for the week looked very complicated (partly because it was written in Swedish) but there hasn’t been anything noticeably crazy or different between their training and what I’m used to.  Many of the workouts are exactly the same as what we do at home and these girls laugh and have just as much fun while training.  It’s just hours and hours of hard work!  Here are some pictures of the Salen portion of our camp.

Salen is the start of the Vasaloppet, a 90km ski race to Mora, Sweden. Salen is a small town but it's obvious that skiing is a big part of this community.

We stopped at the stadium on our way into town. It's a huge open field with enough space for the 40,000 competitors to toe the line.

We stayed in cabins in Lindvallen, a resort just outside of Salen. Gunde Svan spent many years training here. It's the perfect location in the mountains with rollerskiing and running out our front door.

Every day started with an awesome breakfast buffet with tons of options to keep us fueled through all the hours of training.

The camp started with an OD run in a bog on the top of the mountain. It was soft footing but with some rainy weather, there were lots of muddy feet and legs at the end!

There are lots of great roads for rollerskiing and all the cars are very tolerant to rollerskiers. Here Kikkan and Anna Hag lead a train of skiers.

Following different skiers and mimicking technique has been very helpful.

We had a skate sprint time trial and the local club skiers cheered us on. Check out the bike which they found in the bushes!

The Swedish coaches have been awesome and very welcoming to our team. They said we added "spice" to their camp

Another morning we ran across the mossy high tundra off the trails for a few hours. Running through knee deep vegetation is great for the legs!

Cloudberries for snacking! There were also little blueberries hidden in the bushes.

Lots of new Swedish friends!

Thanks Marwe for new rollerskis which are closely matched in speed to the Swedes' rollers!

Tunnel Skiing

Today was our second day in the Torsby Ski Tunnel in Sweden and I’m not sick of it yet!  The tunnel is a 1.3km loop which you ski in one direction, then turn and ski it in the other direction, and the entire thing probably takes about 10 minutes.  I expected it to be quite boring but it has been really fun so far.  It’s easy to pass time when you’re catching up with teammates whom you haven’t seen in several months and listening to the pop music which plays throughout the tunnel.  The skiing is also really nice.  The snow is manmade and groomed almost every day but only changed once annually.  It almost has the consistency of sand which sounds weird but its actually very fast and a welcomed change from the resistance of rollerski wheels.   

There is great terrain with some fast corners and transitions, a couple steeper climbs and several gradual sections.  The tunnel is refrigerated to -3 degrees Celsius and feels cold and humid especially when you first transition from the summertime weather outside.  I underdressed the first day because it felt absurd to bundle when the weather was so nice outside.  Yesterday afternoon we did a combo workout where we started skiing in long underwear, hats, and buffs, and finished with a run in shorts and sports bras.

Right now our US women’s team is staying in Sunne (we like to pronounce it Sunny), Sweden which is 35km from Torsby.  When we are not skiing we’ve passed the time watching the Olympics, enjoying picnic lunches and other great Scandinavian food (Brown cheese, fish paste, fresh bread, smoked salmon, berries), and kicking the jetlag before our joint camp with the Swedish National team.  After a ski tomorrow morning we will drive a couple hours north to Salen and the camp gets going tomorrow evening!

At the start of the tunnel. Its wide enough for 2-3 skate lanes and there is a classic track on either side. There is a small biathlon range to the left of this photo with a few targets.

Giant AC unit attached to the back of the building

This is where the building (entrance to the tunnel) is attached to the Ski tunnel. There is also a rollerski track on site which rolls over the tunnel!

It is somewhat camouflaged but you can still see where the tunnel snakes along the hillside.

The stadium in Torsby includes lit ski trails, a Ski Tunnel, a rollerski loop, a biathlon gym, athlete dorms and cabins, indoor and outdoor gyms, and soccer fields; all of which receive lots of use. What a Nordic culture!

Outdoor gyms are quite common in Sweden and I have already seen a couple including one at our hotel. I've got a few ideas to bring back to our own "Monkey gym."

Craftsbury BKL Camp #1

Last week was the first of our two Bill Koch League summer day camps and we had 24 kids from all over northern Vermont who joined us for a busy week of ski training and other outdoor fun. It was a great group of kids who were certainly not lacking in enthusiasm or energy!   The coaching was split between all the GRP athletes and Craftsbury coach Jeremy Nellis and we were all pretty exhausted at the end of the busy but fun week.

Monday morning the campers arrived and after some introductory games, half the group went rollerskiing while the rest played some soccer, capture the flag, and other games.  On Thursday morning the other half of the group rollerskied.  We had a wide range of rollerski experience levels from our CNSC BKL skiers who rollerski at least once a week to kids who were trying it for their first time. Dividing the group allowed us to cater to the different skill levels.  The other half of the group skied later in the week.  Craftsbury Common is the perfect place to learn with nice pavement and basically zero traffic.  We went through quite a few bandaids with some minor spills but by the end of the morning everyone skied the slalom course and raced around on the rollerskis.

Annie and Weslie ski around a cone while Cormac comes in hot from the other side. Opposite directions through the slalom course adds an extra challenge!

Neither Gardner nor Johann had ever rollerskied before but they both picked it up quickly

Everyone reconvened before lunch for some much needed swimming at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center waterfront.  Monday was the hottest day so having access to the lake was appreciated by all!

Monday afternoon’s activity was canoeing.  Some boats made it to Hosmer Point or even the other end of the lake but most stopped around the Narrows.  With the afternoon sun glaring down and the heat continuing to rise, most kids spent more time floating in the water next to their boats rather than in the canoes.

Lots of canoes on the lake

Annie and Molly paddling hard while Weslie goes for a ride

Collision!

Gordon and Griffin paddling together

Tuesday was the rainy day of the week and the morning orienteering got off to a wet start.  The center has an orienteering course set  for the summer and the campers were challenged to get as many of its 30 points as possible.  A few groups came really close to finding them all which meant they covered a lot of ground quickly across the ski trails, mountain bike trails, and even a little bushwacking.  All the groups made it back to the touring center just before a big thunderstorm hit.  Swimming was cancelled for the morning but the timing was  perfect to wait out the storm inside while eating lunch.

Luckily the skies cleared in time for mountain biking in the afternoon.  The kids warmed up riding around the new pump track on the upper field and by the end of the session everyone was tackling the Center’s singletrack trails.  The morning’s rain and storm made it a muddy adventure!

Wednesday morning was a more ski specific session with ski walking, bounding, agility, and strength exercises on the new outdoor gym.  Reid won the monkey bar contest and only stopped crossing the bars once his hands were too blistered to continue.  Impressive strength!  The morning culminated in a relay race and snacks in the shade of the solar panels.

Thanks PowerBar for the snacks!

The afternoon sessions on Wednesday and Thursday included sculling and biathlon.  Each day half the group went to the lake where the Craftsbury GRP and SBTC scullers taught all the kids how to scull.  Both days were quite breezy but everybody stayed upright in their boats!  The other half of the group hiked to the biathlon range at Elinor’s house where Jeremy and Mike Gibson taught them how to shoot and staged some quick biathlon races combining running and shooting with penalty pushups.

Friday was the culminating day of camp with lots of excitement.  The day started with an adventure race.  Dylan left watermelons floating in the middle of the lake which the campers had to rescue in canoes.  The water leg was followed by mountain biking and running around the Outdoor Center, following a race course along the ski trails and single track.  The watermelons were waiting for the teams to enjoy at the finish line.

After a quick swim, everyone jumped on their bikes and rode a couple miles north along Lost Nation Rd. to the Dreissigacker’s cabin for the final afternoon party.  Some of the campers who still weren’t tired added an extra loop to the ride and checked out the new pump track at Hosmer Point.  When we arrived at the cabin, the pizza oven was hot and everyone made pizza, jumped off the ropeswing, and made quick work of lots of s’mores.

Pizza making

Everyone contributed toppings for the group to share. Sam's choice was a bit more creative. Have you ever tried a Chex Mix pizza?

Eagerly awaiting pizza from the oven

Pat mans the fire

Yummy!

David made a blueberry, pineapple, and pepperoni pizza

The perfect way to end the week

As soon as the pizzas were devoured it was time to get back to the lake. Here's Avery at the top of the ropeswing

And a few seconds later

Ani climbs the tree for added height

Swing....

We went through two bags of marshmellows, two boxes of graham crackers and LOTS of chocolate in a matter of minutes. Here's Nicole making her first ever s'more!

A big thanks to Judy Geer for hosting the Friday afternoon party, the COC kitchen for making pizza dough, PowerBar for some great energy snacks, SBTC athletes for teaching sculling, Jeremy, Pepa, and all the GRP athletes for their coaching.  It was a fun week and we’re looking forward to the next week of camp in August.

Grass Skiing

It's hot, humid, and very summery here right now and taking skis out of storage just didn't seem quite right.  But it turns out that July is the perfect time for skiing in Craftsbuy, grass skiing that is.  Check out th video of ski speeds on the grass.  It actually felt much more like classic skiing than rollerskiing does.  Thanks to Gordon for the video editing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nyBEGFwT8B8

Eastern REG camp

This week forty of New England’s top junior skiers came to Craftsbury for a training camp so we’ve had lots of company on the trails and roads during our training sessions.  The first few days were cold and wet so we were all very excited when the sun came out yesterday afternoon.  The camp started with an agility rollerski test which Pat and Alex participated in at the Lake Region parking lot and included slalom, 360s and running across the grass with your skis on.  Clare and I did the Canadian strength test which was a minute of pullups, a minute of situps, a minute of pushups, a minute of box jumps, and finally a minute of jumps.  Then on Wednesday the entire team raced the Elmore Mountain Time Trial up Mt. Elmore.  In addition to these tests there have been lots of distance and interval sessions on rollerskis and running on the ski trails.  The Stratton Elite Team came up for the last couple days and it has been great to have a huge training group.  I was feeling pretty old early in the week since I only knew a few of the REG camp juniors but it was a nice opportunity to meet the up and coming fast juniors.  Here are a few pictures from the week thanks to Liz Kantack.

Caitlin and I took the J2s and Junior women on a skate rollerski on the creek road yesterday and it was great to see the sun after a few rainy days.omen

Luckily there isn't too much traffic because we had a long line of rollerskiers.

Nils set a new course record on the Elmore TT.

The TT takes about 20 minutes and the steepest section is right before the finish. Here Pat crests the top with less than 100meters until the finish.

Han and Suz are injured and skiwalked the course instead and were great cheerers on the final stretch.

I of course started out a little too hard and was in a world of pain by the finish as my face shows. But I was psyched afterward with a new PR.

Today the Craftsbury road department closed the North Craftsbury Road for us so the entire group could do double pole intervals together safely. It's great to be apart of such a supportive community! Here is the boys start with the huge group of guys stretching across both lanes of the road

Each interval felt a bit like a mass start race and it was great to have the head to head competition.

Classic Speeds in Bend

We have a huge North American training group together this week in Bend.  It’s a lot of fun to see so many familiar faces in the summer time and also to train with athletes who we often only see at races.  Yesterday everyone did a classic speed session and there were skiers from the US Ski Team, US Biathlon Team, Canadian Ski Team and Canadian Biathlon Team, Craftsbury, APU, XC Oregon, Sun Valley, Alberta World Cup Academy, CXC, Steamboat Springs WSC, Team Homegrown,  and MWSC were all out there sprinting in some sloppy and slushy conditions.  Having so many skiers out there pushing each other is truly invaluable!

Here is a video of the workout thanks to Bryan Fish.  You can play Where’s Waldo to find me in the group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oOSzeJwiKIs

Here are some pictures taken by Matt Whitcomb

Part of the women's group skiing easy between speeds

Suz and I during a speed

Tim leading Erik Bjornson

Trying to keep up with Kikkan and Chandra