January, 2010

I’ve gotten a few questions about the weeks ahead.  Here’s what’s on tap:

The next big event is the Canmore World Cup, held at the 1988 Olympic venue an hour outside of Calgary.  The team convenes in Canmore on Monday, where I will be joined by US Ski Team and CXC Teammates alike.  That will be the final big international competition before the Games.  I’ll be competing in both events, the 15km Skate on Friday, February 5 and the Classic Sprint on Saturday, February 6.

Canmore is one of the most idyllic stops on the Cross Country World Cup, nestled in the Kananaskis Valley en route from Calgary to Banff.  I’m always taken away with how spectacular the views are and it’s one of my favorite Nordic venues.  However, as coach Justin Wadsworth puts it: “Canmore is easy on the eyes and hard on the legs.”  The course has some serious climbing and the elevation of 4500 feet makes it that much tougher.  I’ve had a productive training block here in Park City and am ready to tackle whatever Canmore can throw out.

The next stop after Canmore will be Vancouver!  We arrive on Tuesday, February 9 and head up the new Sea-to-Sky highway to Whistler.  We’ll have a little less than a week to prepare for the first event, the 15km Skate on Monday, February 15.  I still need to determine whether or not I’ll participate in the Opening Ceremonies, but at the moment, I’m leaning away from it.  We’ll see.  My second likely event will be the Classic Sprint on Wednesday, February 17.  That should be a particularly exciting event for the US.  From there, the relays (skate team sprint and 4 x 10km) will be decided.  It will be nice to get some racing in early in the Games so there won’t be as much time to sit around anxiously.

For now, stay tuned.  As the sun sets on my camp here in Park City, it’s getting ready to shine bright on the coming weeks in Canada.  Can’t wait!

Kikkan Randall taking Team Sprint Bronze at 2009 Whistler World Cup with Liz Stephen

The past couple of days have been a blur.  It’s been overwhelming, and thrilling, to receive so much attention from friends, coaches, teachers, professors, fans, and even people I’ve never met.  Some highlights include inquiries as to when I’ll be getting an Olympic rings tattoo (never), a poem from Gus Kaeding (not appropriate for mass media), and a souvenir request (for the Jamaican Bobsled!).  I look forward to getting in touch with each of you as the time becomes available.

in the zone

Believe it or not, the training doesn’t stop once the selection happens.  The morning after the announcement, I was back on the trail hammering out one of the hardest interval sessions of the year–albeit with a little bit of extra motivation.

One of the highlights of today was catching up with my former Middlebury teammates Jake Whitcomb and Jenny Hamilton.  Jake is in town for the Outdoor Retail Show in Salt Lake City and took the morning off to go for a ski.  Jenny is coaching the Jackson Hole Nordic team and is in town for the Super JOQ (over 650 junior skiers registered!) at Soldier Hollow this weekend.

Jake, Jenny, Kuzzy (are we really that tall?)

midd kids know how to have the most fun

Jenny reminded me that just 8 years ago, we were cruising around the Soldier Hollow trails as forerunners for the 2002 Olympics.  Pretty sweet.

…and to continue on this post…

Simi Hamilton just got added to the team!  That means Jenny’s brother and Jake’s brother will both be at the Games as well.  Yeeha!  Midd Represent.

Canmore.  And after that, Vancouver!  Pretty fired up right now.  Nice to find out a little earlier than anticipated.  Not much to say, except a big “Thanks!” to everyone who’s helped along the way. . .my family, teammates, coaches, friends, sponsors, and fans.  Your generous support and positive influence has helped make my Olympic dream a reality.

More later.  For now, I’m going to try to fall asleep (fat chance).

Located in a nondescript  warehouse building in downtown Salt Lake is The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective.  The Collective is a bike recycling program that takes in used bikes and components, then refurbishes them to donate or sell to people in need of transportation in Salt Lake.  This year, The Collective is already ahead of it’s goal to refurbish 3000 bikes for people in the Salt Lake area by April.

My National Team coach Pat Casey lives near-by and spends much of his off time working on bikes at The Collective.  Pat is currently in Europe coaching at the World Junior Championships (Congrat’s to Jessie Diggins on a solid sprint this morning!).  I’ve wrenched at various bike shops since I was old enough to get a job and working on bikes is one of my favorite activities to get my mind off training and onto something more mechanical.  I took advantage of my off day today to cruise down to SLC & work on bikes.

Earn a Bike

One of the coolest programs they’ve got is “Earn a Bike” where kids pick out their favorite bike and take a class in bicycle maintenance.  They learn to work on their bike twice/week for a couple months.  At the end of the course, they get to keep the bike they worked on.  Sweet!

There are at least 10 work stands around the shop.  You can either volunteer and refurbish bikes for The Collective or pay $5/hour and work on your own bike.  They’ve got all the tools you need, color coordinated and organized for each stand.

There are surprisingly well organized bins and racks of every part you could need–except 4mm cable ends.  I had to get a little creative adapting the larger 5mm ends to fit in the braze-ons.  That’s the best part. . .nothing matches exactly what you need, so much of the day is spent cannibalizing parts to make a working creation.

There were a variety of volunteers working while I was there: from Scouts working on their Eagle badges to folks working off community service time.  I had to leave my stand at 4pm when a group of kids from the Boys & Girls Club arrived after school to work on their “Earn a Bike.”

Spending the day at The Collective was about as close as I could get to getting back to wrench at New Moon.  I definitely missed not having the usual crew stop into the shop and BS at the end of the day, but it was great to at least get some grease on my hands again.  Back to SoHo tomorrow!

A day on the hill in pictures. . .

a great way to start any powder day

Greg blowing snow.

yes, those are my quads. yes, they burned all day.

Zimmermann skiing the trees

Even Salomon rental boards are fast!

The Crew: Morgan Smyth, Leif Z, Kuzz, Dan Dehlin, Sarah MacCarthy

Dan shredding it

Zimm heading into the trees

What a day!

No parents, no rules!  I had the opportunity to race my first ever Western Collegiate race at Soldier Hollow this morning.  Racing is fun, especially mass start races.  Today was a 20km mass start skate that was everything you could expect it to be, with pack tactics, break-aways, and enthusiastic cheering sections on the steep climbs (yeah Wyoming!), topped off with some serious lactic acid build-up from the legs all the way up to the ears.

UAA’s Mike Schallinger of Germany put in a solid move on the final climb to squeak ahead of the American pack of Matt Gelso, Leif Zimmermann, and I.  On the women’s side, Morgan Arritola and Liz Stephen put in an impressive argument for choosing skiing over college (although my opinion remains relatively neutral), dominating the women’s field.  You can check out results here.

Back in the Midwest at the Mayor’s Challenge SuperTour, the CXC Team took over the podium for both the men and women.  Nice work!

Finally, traveling West to East, it was exciting to check out the Eastern College Carnival results and see the Middlebury men’s team on top of the list, anchored by former Hopkins skier Doug Debold.  The Midd women finished a solid second.

Great day across the map.

teamtoday.org

No photos from the race today.  If you took any good shots from SoHo today, send them my way and I can post a couple.  This shot was taken during intervals up Hermod’s Hill on Tuesday.

No, not that Adams Family.  The Utah Adams.  They’re my hosts during my time here in Park City and I couldn’t have asked for a better family to stay with during the training camp.  Luke and Lindsey both ski for the local junior club in Park City and Greg and Toni get out practically everyday for a Nordic ski on the trails or Tele-ski on the mountain.

Luke, Greg, Lindsey, and Toni

I could go on-and-on about how cool they are, but these two simple facts alone sum up how at home this Midwesterner feels at the Adams:

1. They’re all Packer fans.  Sweet!  They’ve never lived in Wisconsin, but Greg and Luke have been to several games at Lambeau.  America’s Team?  I’d say so.

Plate one of three

2. The salmon they fixed on the grill tonight sure hit the spot and is right up there with an Angry Minnow Friday Night Fish Fry.  I think this is probably the best pre-race meal imaginable and every meal has been this good.

Although the weekend is finally here, it’s going to be busy around the Adams.  Luke & Lindsey are off to take their SAT’s tomorrow morning (sure glad I’m past that!), Greg is racing in the local Wasatch Citizens Series ski race at Mountain Dell, and I’m headed to Soldier Hollow to compete in the Utah Invite collegiate ski race–a 20km mass start skate.  As a guest in the event, I get to start in the back of the field for the mass start.  Maybe this will teach me to not go out so hard at the beginning of ski races!

That’s Utah’s claim. . .and this morning, it would be hard to argue.  Northern Michigan gets some deep lake effect snow off of Lake Superior.  The Wasatch Mountains in Utah get their lake effect off the Great Salt Lake.  When the system hits the range, it dumps powder across the Wasatch and make for some of the best skiing in the world.

For the past week, all the locals have been complaining about their lack of snow.  Personally, I’ve been on race skis everyday and have been very impressed by the conditions.  This morning, however, I got my first true taste of Utah powder.

Leif Zimmermann - in deep

Park City is the place to be this week.  Leif Zimmermann, Caitlin Compton, Billy Demong (Nordic Combined World Champion), and I all got out for a ski at White Pine in Park City this morning.  Having so many skiers in town this week has been great for getting out to train.  We almost took a powder day today, but opted for a classic ski instead.  Still, we couldn’t resist the waist deep powder on the golf course.

Compton demonstrating her new type of resistance training

Billy D, Zimmermeister, and Comp-town

Caitlin & I enjoyed talking about the big Mayors Challenge SuperTour on our home course coming up this weekend.  Bummed I won’t be able to compete.  If you’re in Minneapolis this weekend, be sure to check it out!

Wirth Park Warriors - Compton and Kuzzy

Thanks to everyone who has been following along for your overwhelming support, both this week and throughout my ski career.  Now get outside and play!

The initial US Olympic Cross Country team was announced this morning.  The final team will be announced, according to USSA, on January 29.  This will be done after the final reallocation of start spots awarded to each nation by FIS.  You can read more about this at fasterskier.com.

I’ve been more concerned about getting myself in top form and making every workout count, than about Olympic selection.  However, given the announcement this morning, I felt it worthwhile to share my thoughts.

First of all, congratulations to Kris, Andy, Torin, James, Kikkan, Liz, Morgan, and especially Caitlin Compton, my Minneapolis teammate!  These guys are awesome and have proven one-hundred percent that they deserve this team selection.

Last spring when I sat down and wrote my goals for the 2010 season, one of my goals was to be the “O.C.” for “obvious choice.”  That means not being on the bubble.  At the time, I was ranked 11^th in the country after having fallen back a bit last year.  I refocused on what worked best in my training over the past few years, especially with my coach Bryan Fish and the CXC Team.  Classic skiing was a major priority, given the classic sprint at the Games and I’ve been very happy with my improvement.

So far during the season, I moved myself from 11^th up to 5^th on the National Ranking List.  In any past Olympic year, this would’ve likely been more than enough to be an OC.  This fall, however, FIS announced a new quota system, which made it more difficult for the US to earn Olympic start spots.

While I still don’t entirely understand the new system; it is what it is.  For now, we’ve got 8 spots for the initial team named today.  There is still a chance that we will earn several more spots over the next two weeks when the final team is named.  Until then, I remain in purgatory.  Right now, I’m heading to the gym for my third workout today in what has been a very productive altitude camp so far in Park City.  Get ‘er done & save the best for last.

If dogs dream in black & white, I dream in corduroy.  Another picture perfect day at Soldier Hollow.

Liz and Morgan - intimidation

Not much to report today.  Simply a perfect morning for a 3 hour distance ski.

Here are some other links worth checking out:

My shop, New Moon Ski & Bike,  just unveiled a new website today.  They can hook you up for all your ski and bike related needs.

If you’re burned out on skiing and snow already, check out Donovan Dums‘ blog from his fly fishing trip to New Zealand.  It’s updated daily with some nice reminders of what summer is like.

The collegiate ski season is finally underway in the East.  Check out the report from the Middlebury Ski Team in their first weekend of racing out in Lake Placid.