Go USA!

What a weekend and what a start for USA XC on the World Cup!  It's inspiring to be a member of this team as records are set and the the bar is raised.  This past weekend was the opening World Cup in Gallivare, Sweden and was a very historic weekend for our team.  Saturday was a 10 and 15km skate and Kikkan scored the first US World Cup distance podium since 1983 with a 3rd place finish.  Then on Sunday the US ladies reached the podium for the first time ever in a 4x5km relay!  It was a weekend of tears. laughs, and cheers for us all!  I personally raced in the 10km skate and while my 53rd place finish doesn't look great on paper, it was my best ever distance points in a World Cup race which means that my percent back from the winner was less than ever before, which was surprising as distance skate races are the biggest struggle for me.  I've never found efficiency or flow in skating over longer distances the same way I can in classic skiing but I'm not giving up yet.  I'm focusing on making small improvements so it's encouraging to be closing in on Marit Bjoergen and other World Cup giants.

Yesterday we had a long drive back across Lapland to Ruka, Finland.  We have a three day mini-tour this weekend.  More on Ruka soon but first, here are some pictures of the past weekend.

US ladies on the podium! WOW! It was amazing skiing!

The relay socks prevail again! We started racing in these in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic last year and they still have their charm. With the socks, face paint, and glitter, it’s obvious there is a lot of spirit on the team!

I had fun cheering them on while wearing pink sequin suspenders. Here is Liz chasing down team Norway.

Northern Sweden sunset at 1:30pm.

We stayed in cabins which were part of this hotel and were close to the top of the alpine mountain and a 15 minute uphill run from the race courses.

Gallivare is the home of Swedish Nordic superstar Marcus Heller so the stadium is named after him and he put on a good show this weekend collecting two silver medals.

It’s exciting to be back on the World Cup, to see all the other countries, and experience all the fanfare that accompanies the big show. Lots of ski testing goes on in the days leading up to the races and here is part of the ski depot.

We did prerace workouts together as a team and rocked the black and pink, our colors for this season.

Here’s a shot of the race course as the trail leaves the stadium and heads out on the technical and hard course.

A clear day in Gallivare!

A new year in Muonio

I was a bit nervous about returning to Muonio this year after getting burnt out on the darkness and Arctic living here last November when the snow was very scarce.  I was at my breaking point last year and didn’t know if I could ski another loop in the dark around the short, icy, and dirty loop.  But at the same time, as I packed my bags in Craftsbury last week, I was excited to be back on the road and to start the season so I pushed aside last year’s memories and got excited for a new season and a new start!

After about 30 hours of travel we arrived in Muonio, Finland, a small town which is about 250 kilometers north of the Arctic circle.  Our team was staying in little cabins on the trails at the ski area Olos.  We got out of the van, tired and jetlagged, and we were greeted by a great show of northern lights in the sky.  I tried to capture them but the shutter speed on my camera was a bit too slow for a good photo.

While 2011 was one of the worst years of early snowfall across Lapland, 2012 is shaping up to be one of the best.  There is lots of snow here and the skiing was great.  It was fun to explore lots of new trails that I never even knew existed and the tracks and snow couldn’t have been any better.

We had a few days of training and adjusting to the time change and then racing began.  This weekend was just warmup races for the team as we prepare for next weekend’s World Cup races.  But these races were still very legit and are known as some of the largest FIS races in the world.  There were over 500 entries every day including National teams from Finland, Russia, Poland, Germany, Japan, and probably some others which I have forgotten.  The first race was a classic sprint on a very hard a technical course.  I didn’t really know what to expect as I had been having trouble sleeping and getting over the jetlag all week.  I just focused on skiing relaxed and smoothly and was very excited to see that despite a horrible transition that caused me to come to a complete stop in the finishing area,  finished 5th!  The afternoon brought the heats and it was really fun to ski with these really fast women.  I felt strong through most of the heats and ultimately finished 6th, racing against ladies who commonly finish in the top 10 of World Cups, a place I hope to someday land.

The next day was a 5km classic which I was very excited for as it’s one of my favorite races.  Unfortunately it ended up being a very rough race for me as I battled some lingering stomach issues (complications of interesting Finnish cuisine?) and wasn’t ever able to get the same race feeling I had felt the previous day.  Still it was great to have another race and blow out some cobwebs.  Finally on Sunday, there was a 10km skate which I skipped but had a lot of fun cheering the on the other girls.  Liz, Holly, and Jessie all skied really well and finished 2nd, 7th, and 9th!  We finished the weekend in style by watching Skyfall, the new Bond film, in an underground theater in Olos which none of us oreviously even knew existed.

Here are some photos of the week in Muonio.

Remember this from last year?

The skiing is a little nicer this year. Here are Kikkan and Liz skiing the first day we arrived.

Here we are skiing in the middle of the day. The sun never seems able to quite rise above the horizon so it’s a constant sunrise/set.

A view of Lapland from our cabin

Our cabin was quite cozy. Liz slept in a loft which wasn’t tall enough for her to stand up in.

Finnish cuisine involves lots of potatoes, root vegetables, reindeer, berries, and salty oatmeal.

Last year Clare visited the middle school in Muonio and since she wasn’t returning this year, she set up a visit for our team. We talked to the kids about where we are from in the United States and then answered questions like, “What is your favorite fast food?” and “Are there polar bears in Alaska?”

Racing in the heats next to Kowalczyk

The course was very interesting and had a herringbone finish as you sprinted up the base of the alpine line to cross the line.

I was very happy with the start to the season! Also this picture was taken directly after the race but the lights had already come on and the darkness was setting in.

It was fun to see lots of great racing by the US team this weekend. We’re ready to go! Here is Liz on her way to a 2nd place finish in the 10km skate

And winter begins...

With a little snow on the ground, really good skiing, and temperatures in the 20s or colder, it doesn’t feel like October in Canmore.  The Nordic center Camore saves snow from the previous winter and rolls it out in the middle of October every year for “Frozen Thunder.”  Our first day here it was warm and the skiing was a little slushy and rocky but then the temperatures dropped and the snow began to fall and the conditions have been great ever since.  We have even been skiing on hardwax which is not normally to be expected in October!  There is only a 2km loop of skiing so we end up doing a lot of laps but the terrain is fun and its nice to be back on snow.  It reminds me a bit of Muonio, Finland last year except with fewer people, prettier views, and a lot less dark!  So far the training has mostly just been distance with a focus on technique but we also did a 10km TT and we have a sprint race with the Canadians in a couple days. We're off for an afternoon ski and the rumor is that they've changed the direction of skiing today.  It's going to feel like a whole new loop!  Here are some pictures from the week so far!

We're staying in some cozy apartments in the Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge. It's a great location at the edge of town and across the road from an awesome coffee shop but the small kitchenettes make cooking team dinners for our hungry team a creative process.

This is the view from our deck! The Canadian Rockies are amazing!

Kris Freeman, Noah Hoffman, and Andy Newell during a distance classic ski.

Tad Elliott and Jason Cork skating with the mountains looming behind them. Watch out for the black and yellow this winter! (Noah Hoffman photo)

Looks like winter! (USSA photo)

The snow guns are blowing on the World Cup courses so my fingers are crossed for some more terrain opening sometime soon! (Noah Hoffman photo)

Yesterday morning for our OD workout we skied for a couple hours on the loop and then switched to running shoes and ran to Banff National Park. It was about an hour and a half run on ski trails and then single track trails with a few inches of powder on the ground.

Here is the group about a half hour away from Banff. The coaches picked us up in Banff and we walked around the town and warmed up with a warm lunch at a cafe in town.

Canmore is home of my great friend Chandra Crawford who has been showing us around the area while we are not training. She also has an awesome house in town with a normal kitchen and a very comfy couch so we've spent quite a bit of time relaxing at her pad! (Noah Hoffman photo)

Park City Camp

I spent the last 10 days in Park City Utah for testing and an altitude camp.  After some wet weather at home, it was great to arrive in the arid west and see the sun!  The town of Park City is around 7000′ but we stayed in a condo near the top of Guardsman Pass so we were sleeping at 8500′ for extra altitude effects.

The view from the deck of our condo.

I wasn't expecting to see foliage here but the yellows leaves were really pretty

The camp started with lots of testing at USSA’s Center of Excellence.  We did VO2max tests on the rollerski treadmill, strength tests, mobility tests, blood tests, and body composition tests.  So after a couple days of feeling caged up like a lab rat, I was very excited to head outside for training with the rest of the USST as well as great friends from SMS and APU.  The rest of the camp involved lots of rollerskiing, running, and bounding on the roads and trails around Park City including a 3+ hour point to point run on the Mid Mountain Trail

Liz and Holly running on the Round Valley trails

We did a couple of intensity sessions on the rollerski track at Soldier Hollow including classic speeds and skate threshold intervals. It was fun skiing fast in a big group.

This camp was the first time that our entire team was together since the Bend camp in May. Unfortunately with some injuries plaguing the team, we weren't able to train together for every session but everyone was working hard all the time. Here are Sadie and Kikkan aqua jogging in the COE pool.

After a week and a half in Park City, we headed north to Canmore, Alberta for Frozen Thunder.  The Canmore Nordic Center saved snow from last winter and rolled it out last week for a 2km ski trail and some of the earliest skiing in North America.  We’ve spent the last couple days skiing hot laps around the manmade loop and then today it started to snow!  The ground is fully white and we are off to make some fresh tracks through the powder!

NNF Drive for 25

The National Nordic Foundation is totally committed to the development of Nordic skiers in the United States.  Every year they raise thousands of dollars and distribute these funds to rising athletes and other development projects.  This support fills the gaps making it possible to gain international experience necessary for success in this sport.  I personally have received funding from NNF for the J1 Scandinavian Cup trips, World Junior Championships, U23 World Championships, World Championships, World Cup racing, and most recently for our joint US and Sweden training camp in Sweden.

NNF has organized the Drive for 25 with the goal for our nation's Nordic skiers, fans, and enthusiasts to come together on November 15th and collectively support cross-country development on this day.  Please check out the following link for more information about the project and how you can help.  Thank you very much for your support!

http://grouprev.com/idasargent#.UHXb8NOktfw.facebook

Roll Run Row

Rollerski from the bridge on North Craftsbury Road to Mill Village, run back to the center, and then row to the narrows and back.  That was course for this year's Roll Run Row triathlon between the Craftsbury GRP skiers and rowers.  A lot of smack talk happened leading up to the event and the triathlon was mentioned in nearly every mealtime conversation.  But I think all the hype was worth it.  I had a few close calls including a fall on the dock and a near swim after some no hands rowing but in the end my biggest trouble was debilitating forearm cramps during the second half of the row.  Check out this video for footage from the racing action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLax9TEk0lE&feature=plcp

Craftsbury GRP rowing coach Dan gives a dock talk before the race

Shoes in the transition area

Pepa gives a rollerski lesson before the start

The start

The pack strung out quickly

Heading out for the row

Alex several strokes into the row

Kyle Lafferty, this year's Roll Run Row World Champion

High School Nordic Clinic

Last weekend as part of our Oktoberfest weekend at Craftsbury, the Green Racing Project hosted a high school dryland Nordic clinic.  While we didn't have huge numbers outside of our own Craftsbury juniors, it was still great to meet some athletes from North Country Union HS and BFA Fairfax HS.  The rain held off and we spent the afternoon bouding, grass skiing, and trying some agility exercises and strength circuits.  Susan Dunklee and I finished the clinic with a slideshow of pictures from last winter's World Cup Biathlon and Nordic seasons.  Here are a couple pictures from the afternoon.

Grass skiing

Matt Lawlor rocking the single leg jumps

Side to side jumpies