Christmas Break

I took a Christmas break from blogging as well......

I traveled to Canmore, Alberta for 2 back to back classic sprints the weekend before Christmas. I didn't have the best results, but learned so much and am very glad to have worked many kinks out before heading to Nationals. Canmore is a beautiful place! Everyone should make a trip to the Canadian Rockies at some point in their lives, it is really spectacular. Ida, my Dartmouth teammate joined me out there, which was great. I miss traveling and training with Dartmouth! At the end of the weekend, I do believe we came out top Americans, despite neither of us having our best races so that as encouraging! The Canadians were on fire as that was the last of their Olympic Qualifying races.

Christmas in Park City was wonderful. I had a busy social schedule with all kinds of Christmas parties, but still got in a few hours on snow. There is not a ton of snow here, but it has been cold so the skiing has been great! My mom and I attempted to ski up Mill Creek Canyon the other day, but a moose had tromped all the way up the trail leaving enormous holes and big chunks of snow. It was a frustrating ski to the top, but we both made it!

Tomorrow I head out for the rest of the season...........

I am flying to Anchorage, AK tomorrow for Nationals then I head straight to school from there. Packing is a nightmare as I have to pack up all my skis and ski stuff for Nationals as well as ship some boxes to school for the rest of the winter.

Here is the race schedule for Nationals:
Jan 2nd: Freestyle Sprint
Jan 4th: 10k Freestyle
Jan 6th: 20k Classic (I think mass start!)
Jan 8th: Classic Sprint

All other information and results will be posted here: http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/nationals10/index.html
They might even have live timing...

This is my last chance to really shine and maybe get lucky so I am getting quite pumped for that, as well as being reunited with Dartmouth!


The Dartmouth Hotties

BZN BRRRRRRRRRR

The cold weather has taken over the west! After a small celebration for my 21st birthday in West Yellowstone, we headed even further north to Bozeman and the cold weather followed, unfortunately. My silly knee has been quite sore and as a result I only raced in the qualifying round of the sprint on Saturday. I thought I was skiing pretty well but I was just not quite as fast as I had hoped. The qualifying round of a sprint race is skied solo and for some reason I just struggle to reach my top speed skiing alone for such a quick race. It's something I have been working on, as qualifying is actually very important, especially in the higher level racing, but apparently I need to do a bit more work. Sunday brought frigid temps and a crazy course. When the girls started it was about -2 degrees!!! The course weaved in and out of the trees for about 3k and then hit the steepest hill I have ever skied into a crazy downhill with a nice 90 degree turn at the bottom into another crazy steep and longer hill, making the last 2k rather exciting. I struggled getting my muscles warmed up and I still have a lot of work to do on the technical side of things when it comes to skiing corners and the gradual downhills. Both those things took a toll on me and I ended up in 9th place.

With little to no snow in Park City, I debated continuing north to Canada with the rest of the team, but after having a sub-par weekend of racing I thought it would be best to come home, regroup, get some hard training in, and head to Canada for the last weekend of racing. Fortunately a storm hit Park City with just enough snow to open up some skiing! I have a nice week ahead of training and enjoying Mom's good cooking!!!

Colds and Cold

Brrrrrr, its turned very frosty here in West Yellowstone. We woke up to temps well below zero this morning. The snow is nice and squeaky, but there are rock hard tracks so the skiing is still holding up. I got two pictures from the race, courtesy of Ian Harvey/Toko USA.

10k Skate Race

5k Classic Race

Yesterday, we got a bunch of Dartmouth students and alums and went for a long ski. We skied every trail here! It was a beautiful day!



The Whole Crew!



Dartmouth Girls

and now I've got a cold! So I resting up trying to get healthy before the next races.

Race Race Race

Yesterday was the 10k skate race. It was pretty brutal. The course was very flat, but had NO rest so it was very challenging and definitely favored a certain type of skier. I have a hard time on flat courses as my technique is not as good as many of the top skiers. Overall, it was a pretty average race. I ended up 11th place. today was the 5k Classic. Classic has always been my favorite and I guess things haven't changed this year. The sun was out and the tracks were nice and hard. I skied a very solid race, but still felt like I had some more to give out there so I think the more I race the more of that top fitness I will gain. I ended up 5th place and 2nd american so that was very positive. Now we have a week of some good training before heading to Bozeman for a few more races!

And We're Off

Yesterday, I completed my first race of the season! It was a sprint race, however, it was only the prologue/qualifier section of the sprint race so all we did was 1 1.4km race. The course was also point to point which made it harder as it took out much of the flat that a stadium typically has. Conditions changed quickly overnight and were much different than everyone had expected. It was COLD and dry making the snow pretty fast and the downhill corners icy and a bit terrifying. My legs were feeling a bit dull from the training this week, but I was very nervous and ready to go. I had thought so much about this race as it was so short, yet very important, but once I got out of the gate, my body did just as it does in every race and that racing subconscious took over so I did all the worrying for nothing, my body certainly knew best! The icy downhill corners took me by surprise causing me to do the dreaded snowplow that I am endlessly fighting, but all I could think about was getting my left ski caught in a rut and tearing the rest of the ligaments in my knee. Fortunately, I survived, and skied on to the finish. I ended up 8th place, and 5th American which I was quite pleased with. I felt that I could have gone much harder as when I finished, I felt like I could have skied a bit longer, but I got the job done and got the first race jitters out of the way! Tomorrow we have a 10k Skate and then Saturday a 5k Classic. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

(here's the link to full results: http://summittiming.com/races/race_results.php)

It's here

I headed home to Park City for a few days to empty the car and repack the race gear as well as pick up some of my Dartmouth teammates. Sunday we then headed on up to West Yellowstone and were greeted by a big snow storm just south of Pocatello, making for a long and scary drive! We made it here safely though and have been skiing ever since. The trails are in great shape and are packed, only to become more busy as the week wears on. It has been SO great to be reunited with some of the Dartmouth team. It really feels like race season has started now! I have been busy testing my new skis and I think I have found a few good ones. Wednesday is the first race so look back then for a bigger report with hopefully some pictures!

Fresh Tracks

A small storm hit the Wood River Valley. It rained at my house, however some snow fell up high, enough snow that rollerskiing became dangerous on the iced over bike path. We were left to some hill bounding intervals in a few inches of snow. Friday afternoon, we decided to head up and just check out how much snow fell. I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautifully groomed trail. I strapped on some skate ski and headed out. The days are short so I only got to ski about an hour before it became dark and very cold. It was fabulous though! The first few steps are always quite awkward as I suddenly have a ski that is 187cm long instead of a heavy rollerski that is only about two feet long, however, I had the best transition yet and after a few strides it was as if I had never even left the snow for the road.





When I got home that night, my friend Parker (U of U ski racer from VT) arrived with two of her friends that are on the soccer team. We had a great time catching up and gossiping the night away. The next day, I awoke to a couple of inches of snow on the ground at our house and big white flakes still falling. We geared up and headed back up to the mountains to ski some more. Just as we arrived at Galena Lodge, the skies cleared and it turned into a glistening sunning day. About 20km or so was groomed and despite a few hazards, conditions were pretty good. It was so wonderful to be out enjoying the snow with two great friends. The moment I hit snow is always the moment I am sure I will ski the rest of my life. It was a great weekend! I think we should be able to hold the snow through the week so I might just be packing up those rollerskis for good, but weather is crazy so I might hang on to them for just a bit longer. I will be heading back home sometime at the end of the week to prepare for the journey to West Yellowstone and the beginning of race season! o boy!

Rosie and Sophie go Adventuring!

This week was pretty strandard. Training twice a day everyday and the rest of the day spent resting and trying to think of things to occupy the time. I have spent some time reading, making jewelry, and cooking this week. I also found a Snuggie on sale at Albertsons (if you haven't seen the Snuggie commercial, youtube it now, quite a humorous product) and my boyfriend happened to tell me all about this Snuggie thing last year so I snagged one and sent it his way. We have also had to pick winter classes this week and work on our housing and administrative details for the winter term. This weekend however, we planned a full schedule!

Saturday, we hit the road to Boise so I could get my H1N1 flu vaccine. Boise Health Department had things very organized so although I had to wait in line a bit, it was a rapidly moving line and most importantly, I got it! Then Soph and I headed downtown to check out the scene down there. We shopped a few places downtown. Boise happens to be one of the few cities to host a Title 9 store so that was exciting to see that, although just about everything is much out of my price range. Then we hit up a massive mall that had every store you can imagine. So needless to say, we shopped til we dropped.

Sunday, we decided to head to the mountains for a long workout. We headed up towards Pioneer Cabin, a ski cabin up in the Pioneer Mountains. There was quite a bit of snow at the cabin and it was relatively new snow so we were post-holing all over the place. We intended to make a loop out of this workout and possibly summit a peak in the middle. Snow was covering the trail though so we couldn't see where it went.......looking around, we spotted a peak that seemed like it could be the one we intended on summiting so we just headed straight up it. This part wasn't too bad as we were on the south side so we could climb along the ridge without snow impairing our way. Upon summiting however, we could not see the trail at all and the north slope had a couple of feet of snow on it. Sophie had done this hike a few years back and we thought we could see a trail on what we thought was the ridge we were suppose to head back to the car on so we just went for it. Not the best idea or smartest..... We post-holed, somewhat dangerously down a rocky north face for a couple 1000 feet. I kept falling on my knee which was not ideal and our feet were frozen, not to mention that we had no idea if we'd actually be able to make it the whole way down and find a trail. We made it down to the tree line and that snow was a little easier to go down on, however our feet were so numbed, I don't think it mattered. Then the snow turned to a sheet of ice down a steep slope, straight into a creek. We just slid down on our butts and fortunately didn't fall in the creek. Then we had to climb up the other side just to see where we were and figure out our next move. We saw the ridge we thought we wanted to be on, but not the trail we had spotted from way up high so we decided to just traverse along the side of the ridge until we could get up on top of it. We were following some animal paths and suddenly below us appeared to be a more developed path so we scrambled down and sure enough found the trail. There were moments coming down the the snow that I was not sure we would easily make it out, if at all so I was quite pleased to come upon a trail. We started jogging down and came upon two men hiking up and they asked us how much snow was up there. We explained to them our route and they just kept pointing to the mountain and saying: "you went up that? How on earth did you get down." They most certainly thought we were nuts and maybe we were. I would not say it was the smartest thing I have done and I of all people, growing up in the mountains, should know to always carry a topo map and probably a few more articles of clothing, food, and water. BUT, we made it back to the car after just under four hours of adventuring and were both very glad we went up the peak. It was quite a day up there!




Me approaching Pioneer Cabin


The view from the top!


Soph and I at the top of the unknown peak.


Me falling through the snow on the north slope descent....NOT FUN

Sun Valley is for Nordic Skiers

Last friday I was reminded of why I decided to come here and train. We were doing some all out rollerski intervals on the bike path. There was one hard 90 degree corner in the beginning and it had some loose gravel on it. Our coaches were in the process of trying to remove it by sweeping it with their feet when the mayor of Sun Valley drives by and asks what they are doing, then turns around, drives back to his house, returns with a big push broom, and sweeps away the gravel. I thought that was pretty cool and gives a good picture of the support nordic skiers get around here. Nordic skiing is actually a pretty big deal up here, in fact they have pictures of nordic skiers on the little flags that hang from the side of lamp posts on main street.

For Halloween, I was a bag of Jelly Bellies and unfortunately failed to take pictures.......It was great to dress up and check out downtown Ketchum.

Sophie, my teammate from Dartmouth, arrived Sunday night so I am psyched to have some company around the house and a great training buddy. We went for a beautiful run yesterday. It warmed up a bit this week so morning training isn't quite as brutal as last week when it was in the 20s for most our training sessions. Today we did the Canadian Cross Country strength test, which was extremely hard! It involves pull ups, situps, push ups, box jumps and dips. You do each for a minute, then a minute rest, then on to the next exercise. I couldn't do box jumps because of my knee, but I got worked by the test nonetheless. I did the most pullups I have ever done, but failed to do as well as I had hoped on the other exercises. O well now I have something to work on.

There is a hunter that has been coming around the house recently and I hadn't seen the elk in awhile so I was worried they were hoping to save their lives and had moved on, but they back last night so Sophie was able to see them. Daylight savings makes it trickier to spot them as they usually come around about 6 and now its dark at 6. Hopefully they will make it through hunting season!

I will do my best to get some pictures of Sophie and I one our various training adventures this week.

Mommy and Time Trials

My mom came to visit me on Saturday, which was great as I was getting quite lonely living alone! Sunday we woke up to well below freezing temperatures so we waited until the afternoon to go adventuring. We checked out some new mountain biking trails in Hailey hoping that being in the south valley would provide some more warmth and sun. It sure did! We had a great ride, although we rode a completely different trail than we thought we did so I still have some exploring to do out there. I only got scared and walked once and managed to not fall so my first ride after my big crash was a success! My knee actually felt pretty good the whole ride. Sunday night, my mom made me some delicious salmon which is something I don't usually splurge for on my own so that was wonderful! Monday was a bit stormy although no precipitation fell, just some threatening clouds. We climbed Baldy, which is the main mountain in Ketchum and the one that the ski area is located on. The elk made an appearance for Mom on Monday which was nice and then we back up to Ketchum for a good sushi dinner, something else I don't eat much on my own. This morning it was supposed to be a big snow storm but the storm seemed to just nip us over the night and headed south so I awoke to beautiful crystal clear skies and as I drove up valley for training this morning there was a nice dusting of snow on the roads and all mountains. We did an uphill time trial this morning. the trail had snow on it the whole way but the snow is so nice and dry it was not slippery at all so we were able to give a good full effort up the hill. I had a great run and am now the second fastest girl to ever run up this hill! This was especially great news for me since I am just coming off a fairly serious injury. I now am sure that I am back on track and ready for a great winter!!! Only 1 month until my first race.....

Mom and I at the top of Baldy

Mom just reaching the top

The valley from up high. Ketchum is the town down there.

Some natural snow on the runs and some man made snow from what appeared to be a good test for the snow guns.

sorry no pics of the bike ride of the TT. Also, you can click any picture to make it bigger if you want a close up.

For Lex

Lexi asked me to get a picture of the fox that also lives in my backyard. Today during lunch he was on the fence around the garden, probably looking for lunch in the recently turned up dirt. When I saw him last, he was much more beautiful and orange so I'm guessing he is growing his grey winter coat for some camouflage.

Training, Training, Training

Team training started this week, however, flu has hit the Wood River Valley, so teammates were few and far between. Our coach was hit hard with the Piggly Wiggly so he too was absent for most of the week. I have stayed clear so far and was able to get some good training in. I am in an intensity block meaning I do hard, fast workouts everyday that are typically not too long so I wasn't able to go on any adventures. Yesterday afternoon, I didn't want to drive all the way into Ketchum so I decided to drive out the gulch just north of my house, little did I know that it was a serious 4 wheel drive road that went WAY back into the canyon. It was difficult to turn around on as well so I put away my fears of getting a flat with no cell service and kept driving in hopes of finding this trail. about 45 minutes later I made it to the trailhead and although the entire road is available for camping, it seemed that many of the "campers" were more residents than campers. That also gave me a little fear. However, I headed out on the trail and about 5 minutes into my run, I saw a full deer carcass and suddenly feared all the animals of the mountains as well. I was feeling quite isolated up in this canyon and training alone just sent all kinds of fears through my brain. I did the workout and it was fast thinking of all that could happen to me....I made it back to my car and back out to the highway with no trouble, besides passing a truck full on hunters and realized that maybe that should have been my biggest worry out there! I realized how much a team is worth! Teammates can keep you company, push you hard, pick you up when you fall, and be there all the time. I miss my team back at Dartmouth! Last night, Wise Guy Pizza Pie had a fundraiser for our team and donated all profits of the night to the team so we all went out to grab some pizza. The place was hopping, so hopefully we made a few bucks! Yesterday was also a very special day for me because the Park City High School girls cross country team won state again! I believe this is the 7 year of victory out of the last 8! Today we had our first real practice with almost the whole team and our coach! Unfortunately the team was doing a power workout with lots of bounds and jumps which still hurts my knee a bit so I did a different workout. I am looking forward to tomorrow when I can train with everyone! I failed to bring my camera to any workouts so I have no pictures to share but I will do my best to fix that this week.

Breakfast Buddies

The elk came back this morning and I got some better pictures. I think this is the mama and baby as the little guy runs and jumps around and then scurries back over to mama. There were about 4 or 5 more in the front yard and one had a big rack. Maybe I can get a picture of him soon.

Sun Valley Alas

Thursday morning I hit the road after a positive visit with the knee doctor. He was very pleased with the progress I have been making and cleared me to do all that didn't hurt. Wednesday was the first workout I've done without pain since I fell so I am feeling more confident now that I will make it through, although I am feeling behind in my training! I am living in the guest house of Priscilla and Ward Wood. Thank You Wood Family! The house is beautiful and will suit my needs perfectly! I will be training with the Sun Valley Olympic Development Team, a group of post-high grads and post-college grads all working to reach a higher level of skiing. We start group sessions again next week after a post-Lake Placid camp break in which we were all doing different things. I visited Hanover to meet our new freshmen, catch up with friends and spend some time with my boyfriend. Although quite a few of us are taking the fall term off the team seemed to be doing well. It made me quite excited for the winter and racing! I have two weeks ahead of me of some more intense training, then my Dartmouth teammate, Sophie Caldwell is joining me. It will be great to have some company in the house. I am quickly learning the challenges of cooking for one.

My new room with a bed big enough for five!

The visitors I had a breakfast. There was a whole herd in the yard when I woke up. Unfortunately, they were very timid elk and did not like me poking around so I only got this bad picture.

It's potato harvest! I took the shortcut on my way through the potato farming land and the road was covered in trucks like this full of potatoes bringing them to the transfer station to load up the train.

This is one of the many potato farms and that is a HUGE pile of potatoes. They get piled up by the little conveyor belt and then the big dump truck comes to scoop them up.

(I apologize for the sideways pictures, I can't figure out how to rotate them...)