Recovery Week FUN!

I love being able to ski in the summer at our glacier training facility, but what I love even more is coming back to town, sleeping in my own bed (with my blackout curtains), sleeping in, and having nothing planned for the week. Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch because I am real planner and I would never go a week without a plan, but I don't have to follow a training plan and get to check out some other parts of AK.

The week started with a small hitch as my boyfriend, Patrick, had some flight troubles and didn't make it here on time. But he made it and since we was last, there was no rest for the weary as we jumped in the car and headed down the Kenai Peninsula for a few days of fun.

We started by taking a water taxi 12 miles across Resurrection Bay to a great little place called Kayaker's Cove. We rented kayaks and hit the water. It was not the nicest of days, drizzling on and off, but I've learned that's just part of being in AK and I did my best to not let it get me down.

Checking out the coast line. Patrick braved going double with me. We both made it back alive. 

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Checking out the waterfall

There were a few yurts that we saw, that are WAY off the grid. Someone had hooked up a little hydropower set up, harvesting the energy from the waterfall to power their cabin. This is the shack that turns the water into power, with a power line extending out of the building. 

If you look hard enough, you can see a little brown bump in the water, that is a sea otter. We saw a few of those!

And some starfish

And some bald eagles. and some Jellyfish, which are my favorite sea creature, but I failed to get a picture of them. 

4th of July is great in Alaska because people up here are some strong patriotism even if we are separated from the rest of the country and most people who don't work in the oil industry forget Alaska is even there. Much of Alaska gathers in Seward, a town that swells from 3,000 to 30,000 to view the annual Mt. Marathon race. It is misleading because it is not a marathon at all, but a 3.5 mile race that climbs up a 3,000 ft. peak and back down. Yes, that means they climb 3,000 ft in 1.75 mile which is absolutely nuts. To add to the craziness, there is not really a defined trail so you have to know your route up and down the mountain ahead of time. Racers spend hours and hours studying the routes trying to find the fastest and safest route. The most common involves climbing roots of trees, scrambling rocks, and hucking it off waterfalls, running down rock creek beds. It is something I would never in a million years enter as I am certain there is no way I would make it up or down without incurring some new injuries, something I just can't afford at this point, but I have some incredible teammates that thrive of this race and it's great fun cheering them on.

It was cloudy and raining, which had one perk, you could actually see the fireworks. This is extremely dark for AK in the summer and this is midnight. 

Enjoying fireworks from the beach. 

Crowds gathering at the base of the mountain for the girls race. Racers come right down that rocky shoot that is actually what I would call a cliff. The up trail is to the right of that, racers scatter into the woods to execute their perfectly planned route up the roots. 

Cheering the boys. This is only about half way up and the town already looks so small! 

Coming down! This is the good part of the down, which is scree so you actually float and slide a bit with each step, taking some of the pounding away. This is an APU coach Eric Strabel who broke the record set in 1981!!!!!!

This man is a well known mountain runner from the lower 48 who was paid to come up here to make the race more competitive. It is hard to just jump is a race like this because experience is so important with all the hazards. He put up a tough fight and still broke the old record coming in 2nd. 

This is the famous "birdman" His bib is pierced through his nipples.

This is a better example of what the down trail entails. Running, jumping, falling, down rock bands, small cliffs, and waterfalls. It rained a lot so the rocks were slippery and wet and most of the trail was in a creek bed that had a creek flowing through it. Here is Strabel, showing us how its down. He has the downhill record of 10:08, which is just crazy!

We had plans to camp one more night, but the rain had just crushed our spirits and our teammate, Greta, offered us her boyfriends appartment, something we couldn't say no to. He also is a fishing guide and owner of Chugach Backcountry Fishing and so kindly took us fishing the next day. I have been wanting to experience fishing in Alaska ever since I got up here, mostly so I can enjoy the best salmon around for free, but also for the experience. It was really fun. I was the first to catch a fish and I did so in my first 5 casts. I guess I have to thank my dad for that one, I actually did listen and do know a little about casting. We also saw a black bear with 3 cubs!  

Here I am very excited about catching the first fish of the day! 

Fishing!

Pat and I showing off our fish!

Guide Corey showing us all up. He could pull them in like crazy. 

Watching Pat kill his fish. Cory made me kill my fish and bleed it, neither of which I enjoyed so much....

Guide Cory and Greta.

The Whole Crew!

Our amazing guide Cory from Chugach Backcountry Fishing

Glacier: take 1

I survived my first glacier camp of the summer! Just as I thought summer was over, we got a second go around and were lucky enough to have almost perfect weather on the glacier. Lots and lots of sun, soft snow, and sore muscles. I don't think I have been this tan since I left Utah 6 years ago! I do not have the photographic talents that my teammates do so I have shamelessly stolen these pictures from teammates Holly Brooks and Reese Hanneman.

I was worried about my injuries and certainly had my ups and downs during the week, but in the end, I think it was a very worthwhile camp as I was able to really focus on the movements I was making and work one on and one with our coach to improve those movements. I didn't ski quite as much as I am accustom to or would have liked to, but that's life when you're injured.

Getting "buzzed" by a teammate's friend on a spectacular evening

Awesome panorama of the facility and drink supply pond

I found some pure zinc chapstick when I was home this spring and had to bring it up to the glacier where sunburnt lips are hard to combat. Sun safety!

Skiing

More Skiing

Our Men's team has had lots of changes with people retiring and newbies joining. This is the 2013-14 Men's Team and Coach Erik Flora on the far left!

Due to the high number of injuries on our Women's team, only 4 of us were able to make it up to the glacier and this is proof that we didn't totally score, we did get 2 foggy days. 

Waiting for the helicopter to come pick us up. 

This is our staff. They work super hard making sure the facility stays in good operation and that we get the most out of our training camp. We had a competition in which these techs had to wax our skis for intervals using our supplies. Don Haering, far right, was my tech and we won the competition so the trail is now called Haering's Humps. 

I also like to do some backing up on the glacier, it keeps everyone happy! 

Another week down

This week was highlighted by record high temps followed by the end of summer, a big fundraiser, and going on some bike adventures, trying to make the most of my foot injury.

The week started out with some serious heat, I could have been easily convinced I was back at Dartmouth. However, as soon as the solstice hit, which is technically the start of summer, actually marked the return to normal AK summer (or lack thereof). But it hasn't rained yet so I can't really complain.

On one hot evening we decided to take a dip in the river to cool off. Lots of others had the same idea.  This however, was my reminder that I was still in AK and not in New England...

Cooling off!

Freezing now as I emerge from the lake

We had a nice visit from Mr. Bear, who knew it was Wednesday, trash day! bad bear!

Sadie, enthralled by the bear and not running for once in her life

I have been getting back into road biking lately. Biking is not great for my back, but it is for my newly injured feet so I have to pick my battles. Road biking in Anchorage is really an experience. For one, there aren't many roads in AK so all our riding is in the city. Two, there are lots of hidden secrets in the city if you go far enough. Three, the animals are still lurking in the depths of the city. Four, there is lots of construction and dirt roads so really its more like cyclocross, than road riding.

Caught by construction, we hit the soccer field to get back to the planned route.

A day adventuring 

 APU hosted a big fundraiser for the whole school, that was "cirque" themed complete with acrobats. It is a huge fundraiser and the ski team gets a little money out of it by auctioning off a dinner made by the Men's team and a dinner made by the Women's team.

Crazy Decor

Dressed up for the event

Momma and baby chilling in the yard. 

Another adventure ride, we found this scenic spot that reminded me of some rides I did around Hanover. 

Today we hit the glacier for our first camp of the summer. I am excited to be back skiing and to hopefully get my injuries back in a good place for another month of dryland training.

Injuries and Sunshine

I have to say I am actually in disbelief. It has been warm and sunny in Anchorage for over two weeks now and there is a severe weather warning for heat (it's AK so the 80's deserved a warning) this week. I have never experienced such good weather here. I have worn shorts outside of training, used the AC in my car, and even got a little sunburnt and sought out shade in the past 2 weeks! The only way I am still reminded I am in Alaska not the east is that the mosquitoes are out of hand. You cannot leave the house without a thorough coating of deet.

It's been awesome and had kept me so busy bouncing from one activity to the other, I have hardly had a moment to relax which is really the way summer should be!

Wednesday we biked up to a lake and went for a canoe. We have awesome boy teammates who paddled Sadie and I around due to our bad backs!

Enjoying the Alaska Beach! I have now worn a bikini and eaten ice cream outside in AK!

When it stays light all night, its hard to ever stop playing. We enjoyed some nighttime B-Ball at the park by our house. I still remembered a few things from my middle school basketball days.

On the Weekends, I work at the downtown market selling bike jerseys. Wax tech Mike and Sadie came to visit me and we strolled through the market on a balmy day.

There have also been some floods as a result of the heat. This river went over the road on a big downhill that we could not see the bottom of. It ended in 3 crashes with some scrapes and bruises and fortunately a lot of laughter, not tears.

We also went to the rodeo! I have to say I was a little disappointed having drown up in the West and seeing some professional rodeos, but it was sunny, warm, and fun anyhow.

 The sunshine is my saving grace these days, as I have encountered a new injury...I am now suffering plantar fasciitis on my foot. This is a common injury for runners and I have somehow acquired it despite not running that much. So needless to say, between my back and foot, I spend about 1 hour everyday doing physical therapy. I am working hard to stay positive, keep up on my body care, and train where I can in hopes this will be a short lived set back. We have one more week of dryland training in town before heading up for out first Glacier Camp of the summer.

Happy Father's Day to my most proud and supportive Father!

Computer Problems...

I made it back to AK with just hours to spare before jumping into meetings for our annual fundraiser. I spent 3 days putting together the finishing touches on the fundraiser with the rest of my team. While no one likes doing these things, it is of course important to our team and being able to do the things we do best, skiing. Everything went well and we raised some good money!

Then we jumped right into training...Luckily AK is cold so there was still some skiing to be had so we did a mix of running and skiing and I have also taken up swimming this spring. I even bought myself a swim cap, making me the real deal...NOT. But I have found that mixing up the activities I do for training really helps my back stay in a less painful state and swimming of course involves little risk of further injury so I have been taking tips from my teammates that are really good at swimming and trying to improve.

We had just one week of training in Anchorage before we were off again. I headed to Bend, Oregon for a US Ski Team camp. I love Bend! It is a very hip outdoorsy town and it is the West. The cool part about Bend is that there is still skiing late into the summer up on Mt. Bachelor, a giant volcano. So, we ski in the morning and then head back into town where it is warm and summer-like for a dryland session in the afternoon. This is a great way to ease into dryland activities. When we can use our familiar skiing muscles on snow in the morning and then start to get our running, rollerskiing, adn biking muscles into shape in the afternoon, we help prevent injury while still training a high number of hours.

Just before I headed south, I made the bozo move of spilling on my computer...It still worked so I brought it and a day into the trip it suddenly failed on me. There was a bunch of mishaps during the fixing process so three weeks later I am still without a computer and really behind on everything because of it. Turns out I am really dependent not only on a computer, but also the internet! I am now back in Anchorage so I have the ability to use the computer lab at APU so I am slowly catching up. Creating a blog was one of the many things I am catching up on. Here are some pictures from the last month of my life.

In order to prevent this from happening again and to keep you all well informed, I am going to write a weekly blog on Sunday so please look for that!

The boys after an awesome ski with fresh snow at Hatcher's Pass, AK

The unwanted storm that brought half a foot of snow in town the day before we left for Bend

Skiing in Bend

At camp, we do lots and lots of following trying to pick up technique from others.  

Bend has awesome trails for running and biking. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a bike  to do some afternoon riding! 

Back in Anchorage, which I survived my first rollerski of the season on June 2nd!

 I did my first rollerski this week on June 2nd! Most people are probably thinking, what you only started rollerskiing now, you're behind. But I like to brag about this for a couple of reasons. First, I have really taken an effort to be more controlled in my training to try to eliminate my back injury for good and I feel I am accomplishing this. Second, I have been able to ski on snow until this week and we all know snow skiing is WAY better than road skiing. Lastly, it is easy to burn out on rollerskiing come October so the later the start the later the burnout so I should make it a long time this fall before I am dragging my feet to get out the door.

Look for Sunday Blogs from here on out! Enjoy Summer!