Time Flies When...

you train a lot (and have fun, of course!)

My summer is already flying by! After a few weeks of getting back into training in Anchorage, I flew to Park City for my first U.S. Ski Team camp of the summer. It was an unbelievably busy camp, meeting with the various extended staff helping us out, testing, training, and getting into a groove with my new teammates. I did 2 treadmill tests, one classic and one double pole only. These test only last a little over 10 minutes, but it is a max test so you go until you can't go anymore! I also did strength testing, mobility screening, hemoglobin testing, blood testing, and physicals making for an exhausting first few days. I was glad to be at home however, hanging with Mom when I got the chance! It was also very exciting to learn about all the various resources available to me through USSA and the Center of Excellence. I certainly have everything I need at my fingertips, it's my job now to use them and keep working hard.

Excited to work with Craft and work towards my goal of being injury free this year

Treadmill testing

Running adventures with Sadzarue

We had an unusually rainy camp but our new Craft gear kept us dry!

The Team

Hiking adventures with friends

Getting big in the COE

Biking adventures with Mom

More biking with Erika

We made it to the lake!

I just had a quick week back in Anchorage training before we headed up for our first glacier camp of the summer. Our first few days were filled with intense snow and hurricane force winds. Never able to see more than a few feet in front of you and your poles blowing sideways, skiing was quite the challenge, but we worked on our toughness, powered through it and the weather slowly improved throughout the week, finishing with a picture perfect day. The new snow meant the skiing was fabulous as we trailed behind the Pisten Bully, grooming fresh tracks through the snow storm. I felt like I was able to work on many important things, get in touch with skiing again, and build some good fitness.

And phew, finally, I got my first and much needed recovery week of the summer. Anchorage had a serious heat wave roll through and I took advantage camping, adventuring and spending time in my bikini, a rarity in Alaska! Now we are back at it, ramping things up again for the next block of training. I have chosen to focus on training in Anchorage this summer so I am hopping to have a more regular schedule in the coming months filled with training and some solid Alaskan adventures.

I was the benefactor of my mom's new bike purchase and got her old one to bring with me to Anchorage!!!!!

And I officially became Alaskan....

Our inspiration while fighting hurricanes on the glacier

But the sun finally came out!

Happy Sadie flying down after a good camp

Some really happy girls who just finished camp in the sun!

Back At It

The first day of training is much like the first day of school. Excitement to see all your friends who have been on various adventures, excitement to start moving towards all the goals you just spent all spring planning, and chaos in scrambling to get all your equipment together. We started off with a bang, rollerskiing and treadmill testing on day 1 and continued to progress into a more regular training pattern. Now, at the end of two weeks and a few sore muscles later, it feels like I never even left.

Some things have changed however, I have been nominated for the U.S. Ski Team! This holds a particular significance to me outside of the obvious. I was named to the U.S. Ski Team when I graduated from high school and spent two years racing for both Dartmouth and the U.S. Ski Team before being dropped in 2009. Whatever the reasons were for dropping me, it was impossible not to feel some amount of devastation as it felt like there was no point of doing this if the National Team staff didn't believe in me. How was I going to make it?  I was lucky a girl though and I was surrounded by coaches, friends, and teammates who did believe in me and didn't let me walk away. I think I had one of my best summers of training that summer with the help of Ruff pushing me along when I needed it most.

I am a stubborn one and I believe strongly in hard work and not in talent. I have carried a bit of doubt with me ever since being dropped. It's not something that just disappears, but I did my best to push it to the back of my head and continue to believe in my effort. Finally, 6 years later, I'm back, and well, let's just say it feels good! It was something I really needed to prove to myself how important hard work is.

I have a few more teammates now, but other than that, things are staying more or less the same for me as I will continue to train with APU and Erik Flora. I'm looking forward to all of it!

Crust Skiing!

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Sadie giving her speech at graduation

2 degrees while crushing the World Cup, one heck of a girl, that Sadie!

More skiing!

snow, sun, and friends!

crushing mountains with the best!

Spring Epic

Towards the end of the race season all I can think about it sitting around in the sunshine without obligations. However, in all reality, it seems that spring is often more busy than the rest of the year. I still have not been in one place for more than a week. While the mental break of not thinking about training and racing has been good, I am feeling the fatigue from bouncing around all month. Despite fatigue, I had a really great month that was highlighted by time with some of the best friends a girl could ask for.

Stop 1: After Sun Valley, I went off the grid. Leaving the phone and computer behind and heading to the desert is truly the best thing in the world. I went with some of my closest friends to Moab and then further south to raft the San Juan river. It was a great time all around.

We stumbled upon a great camping spot in a busy Moab

Nothing beats desert views

One of the coolest desert features I have seen, the Tunnel, a 5 ft wide 60ft long tunnel through rock

Another fabulous camping spot near Canyonlands

Canyonlands hiking

Nils and I enjoying Jeep Arch

Camping on the river

Nils and I exploring

Checking out Anasazi ruins

Beautiful evening on the San Juan

Mexican Hat just poking out over the canyon wall

John soaking in the last rays on sun for the day

Paddle boarding down the river

John getting powered up

John showing off his paddling skills

Giving my shot at rowing

Taking the red rocket on a little jeeping excursion

Hannah and Nils emerging from the Tunnel

Lounging in the Tunnel

Stop 2: I then reorganized all my stuff and headed back to Alaska. My friend John came to visit so we quickly got up to some day adventures, enjoying what snow was left and some decent weather.

Skiing Adventures with Rosie squared

Hiking adventures on the arm

more skiing!

Stop 3: We then headed to the far north, actually the furthest north point in the U.S., to the town of Barrow to volunteer with Skiku, the nonprofit I worked with last year to teach skiing in rural Alaskan communities. Once again, the experience was fabulous. It was cold, but the sun came out everyday and the kids were very enthusiastic about skiing. John and I ran the middle school all week. Starting at 7:40AM we taught skiing in all the P.E. classes for the day before leading after school skiing until we were too cold or tired to be out any longer. It was really neat to be at the same school all week as we could watch the rapid progression of many of the young skiers. The end of April marks the beginning of whaling season for Barrow. One night, we offered our muscles and a whaling crew took us 10 or miles out on the sea ice to help "break trail." The whaling boats need to be taken out to the edge of the sea ice, but sea ice is very rough and jagged so chopping ice to fill in holes, widen paths, and take down hills is needed in order to get all the equipment in the ocean. We spent some hours chopping up ice. As mundane as it sounds, being out on the sea ice is almost surreal and quite beautiful. Afterwards, the captain took us to his home to show us exactly the equipment they use and how they go about getting a whale. It is quite a remarkable process!

Breaking trail adventure

These kids learned to jump quite well on skinny skis

Practicing downhills

Sea ice

Chopping sea ice to make a better path

The chopping crew

Our group with the captain 

John looking like an arctic explorer

Afternoon ski on the ice

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Snowmaching selfie

Playing games with the kiddies

Speedball

We even had a little race!

The Barrow Beach

Muktuk or whale blubber that we tried along with seal jerky

Stop 4: Finally back to Anchorage for 4 whole weeks! Anchorage time has been busy, filled up by fundraiser planning, meetings, planning for the training year, and school work. I made my final presentation for my Masters of Arts degree yesterday and have now completed all the school work for the degree. All that's left is my internship!

Beach running

Some more hiking adventures

Enjoying fresh snow on the mountains

And with that, spring is over and we are back training. We started with a bang, treadmill testing on the first day.

Getting my blood lactate tested in between stages of the test.