Summer update

Hi Readers,

It has been a little while but here is an update from the last couple months. This summer I have spent most of my time training with the Alaska Pacific University mens team in Anchorage, Alaska. Check us out -->

Our team is fortunate enough to get to spend some time on snow every summer. This is important for getting some high volume as well as put the techniques I have been working on during dryland training onto skis. 

Here is a video made by Charlie Renfro an APU coach. It does a really good job showing you a typical day on Eagle Glacier. Ok, maybe not a "typical" day, we usually get lucky and get at least a couple of clear days each camp.

A Sunny Day on Eagle Glacier with the APU Ski Team (HD) from Charlie Renfro on Vimeo.

Below is a picture of "The Glacier House". I spent four weeks of my summer there last year and two weeks so far this summer, I have one more camp up there in mid August. My coach Erik Flora just counted all the days he has spent on this glacier, he has been coaching for the last 10-12 years and spent 360 of those days on the glacier. Thats crazy!

Our team practices as a group for a few weeks and then we have a week off to do some active recovery. This gives us an opportunity to do some different activities like paddling, swimming, hiking, fishing, or maybe just take a trip back home. 

Back at it!

My last post was about the last time I was in the full on ski scene. I took a month off after the Super Tour Finals in Vermont, I had a great time in Alaska doing things I rarely get to do. For me it is necessary to once a year push the good old reset button just so I don't get blown out on the sport. I find that three to four weeks is all it takes before I am eager to start training again and give up the non-athlete lifestyle. My mind doesn't work right if I haven't done a workout that day. I find myself with a worse attitude, schoolwork is harder, food doesn't taste as good, and I just don't enjoy life as much. Soooo it's nice to be back at it again! Here are a couple of photos from my month off-

Backpacking

oops

I jumped back into training two weeks ago with a super big week of training in Anchorage with the APU team. The very first day our coach had us do classic intervals. What a good way to kick our butts back into shape. Most of the week was on snow skiing which is pretty sweet for May. After the start up week in Anchorage I flew down to Utah for two days of testing and strength at the US Ski Team building in Park City. It was sweet to get the results back and see that I have a made a big jump this past year in fitness! If I can make that big of a jump every year I will be more then happy. 

Testing

Met a couple of famous runners while I was there. ("Mo" Farah, myself, and Galen Rupp)

After the two days in Utah I hopped a flight to Oregon where I am now. It's been one year since the last time I was here in Bend, Oregon. It's a really fun place to be at this time of year. You can wake up and within a half hour be in a winter wonderland atmosphere at the top of Mount Bachelor, train for a couple of hours and come back down to town where it is usually sunny and warm. This is one of the few places in the world you can do that and that is why hundreds of skiers from around the US and Canada come here to do their May camp. My goal for this camp is to follow around the fastest skiers from North America and learn how to ski better then them. Check out these pictures from skiing-

 The cone marks the end of the speed.

I learn a lot from following people.

Also, as I'm starting a new year I have been thinking about things that went great last year. One of those things was all the support I got. I am amazed with all the support I got last year from my hometown and from all around North America. Thanks EVERYONE!! It would be impossible to have made it to where I am today without all your help.

Super Tour Finals

Hi Everyone, sorry this has taken a couple days to get an update to you all. I'm back in Alaska, trying to get caught back up on my school work. 

I haven't been to a race in Vermont since I was younger racing the Bill Koch Festival. The east coast weather is just WEIRD, I'm not used to the quick weather changes.We raced in Craftsburry, a small town where one of the strongest elite programs in the U.S. is based, the Green Team Racing Project. It went from 70 degrees and sunny to below freezing and snowing in three days. The volunteers at Craftsburry did a great job putting up with the weather and had the only snow in the area nicely spread out around a 1 mile loop. It was good to be back in the United States and it felt close to home after being in Europe for two months. 

I raced five races in Vermont. A four day mini tour and the 50km National Championships. The World Cup has ended so the best from the United States competed at these races. I had been skiing stronger and stronger the last two weeks in Europe so I came into this race series feeling really quick and I skied to some of my best results ever. The four day series included two distance races, a sprint, and another event I don't get to do very often, a uphill climb. My standout performance was in the 15km classic race. Below is a picture from the race a long with a youtube recap of the race at this link.

It was such a good experience to duke it out with the best guys from the country and a real confidence booster going into the off season. It was the best race of my life… what a good feeling!

The fourth and final race of the tour was an uphill climb. In the uphill climb they seeded us off the results from the previous three races. I had skied strong all week so I went into the race seeded second. The way they find the start times is they add up all the times of the other races and then who ever has been the fastest the previous races starts first. I started 18 seconds behind Kris Freeman(two time Olympian, several World Cup top 10 results, and multi-national champion). Behind me I had 70 or so races and among then was Simi Hamilton who started 8 seconds behind. He has also posted some top 15 world cup results this season and was at the last Olympics. I somehow managed to hold him off and only let one of the 70 guys chasing me pass. That man was Noah Hoffman, a great hill climber, who skied to second overall in the Tour. I finished up the Super Tour Final race series in third. It feels great to end the season on such a high note.

-Overall podium, from right to left, Noah Hoffman, Kris Freeman, and myself.

What a great week. Now I'm back in Alaska. Getting caught up on my school work and enjoying being back home. 

Rogla

Last week I spent in Rogla, Slovenia. This trip to Europe I have gotten to experience a lot of new countries and this was one of them. We stayed in a small resort town on the top of a mountain, a little different then most ski resorts in the U.S. where the lodge is at the bottom of the hill. The mountain wasn't exactly what you picture of when you think of a downhill area but it was obviously really popular because the big hotel was PACKED, tons of families on vacation. When you went to the buffet dinner you had to use your elbows and fists to get to the food. People in Slovenia don't believe in lines.

A church in town.

 Most nights I go on a run to try to stretch out the legs, it also gets the blood moving which I have found helps recovery. Nothing crazy, no marathons, just a 15-45 minute run. It's been really fun to do this in Europe because you usually end up finding something cool. Last week a couple friends and myself found a huge tower that we thought might have been a radio tower from the distance but was actually for public use. It didn't seem like it was necessarily the sturdiest thing but it was obviously safe. It had a pretty good view from the top, check it out-

On Wednesday we took the 30 minute drive down to Celje, the third biggest town in Slovenia. We explored the town for a couple hours and then we drove up to a castle purched up on one of the mountain sides looking over town.

 

We raced Saturday and Sunday, Skate 10km first and then 30km mass start classic. The skate raceing is starting to feel a little better and I think I'm learning a lot from these guys that are passing me during the races. I'm not as competitive in the skate skiing right now as I am in the classic, I don't know why. It seems to go back in fourth, I will be . I think on a good day in a classic race I can be within reach of these Euros. I finished 37th in the skate race. In the long classic race I finished 23rd and I was the first American.