Parking It In the City

These past 2.5 weeks I have been living and training out of Park City, home of the US Ski Team. This is always an exciting time of the year to:

Get together with all my US teammates.

THE TEAM (USSA Nordic Photo)

Do a little bit of blood, strength, and fitness testing in the Center of Excellence.

Squat Testing

Get our new uniforms for the year.

Pretty sweet little markings on all our gear! Proud to represent the United States of America and this little eagle!!

L.L. Bean Custom Pants.... finally I own a pair of pants that are long enough for me!! (USSA Nordic Photo)

Early Christmas!! (USSA Nordic Photo)

Thanks for the wonderful presentation by Craft and L.L. Bean on all the perks and special features of our gear! Pretty fun to be representing an American brand with our American uniforms! (USSA Nordic Photo)

Link to all our products if you want to join us this winter:
US Ski Team Uniform

Set goals and aspirations as a team. 

One goal is to surpass this "momma's" muscles next time we take a photo together! (Craft photo)

It also happens to be the time of year that I am training the very hardest, so living and sleeping at 9000 feet, and training with less oxygen than normal has proven to be a challenge all five years of being on the National Team. Every year I come in running, and leave trotting. Fortunately, that is just part of the game! You can't be sprinting all the time!

Sprinting it out at SoHo- USSA Nordic Photo

Erik taking advantage of the COE current pool for some "laps".

Despite a few tired days, Park City delivered some pretty spectacular times. We were lucky enough to have amazing weather the entire time! After spending many rainy months this fall in Alaska… sun for 2.5 weeks straight just doesn't seem fair. Likewise, getting snow in September in AK meant that I have been training in tights and jackets for two months… so shifting back to shorts was also a little bit of a backwards adjustment.

A little different attire than these APU ladies are used to these past few months!

Best coach and best bro in the world!

Sadly, Mr. Finger is still a working progress.!

This camp happens to be the first time this summer that our entire National Team has been together. With 10 girls, it is sometimes hard to round all of us up in such a large geographic area! I had extra fun these past few weeks getting to know our two youngest D-Team members (Katherine Ogden and Julia Kern). As I spent multiple evenings and training sessions sharing stories with them, their excitement and motivation was contagious! Despite some summer injuries, these girls are charging hard just below us. Suddenly this culture of cross country skiers is truly taking off in the US!

The Team! (USSA Nordic Photo)

Head Women's Coach- Matt Whitcomb, and USSA President- Tiger Shaw leading the force during a 3 hr. ski up the canyon .(L.L. Bean photo)

Which brings me to a yearly event that takes place in the United States. During the month of October is the annual Drive for 25 Fundraiser for the National Nordic Foundation. The recent success of this nation has only been possible through the support of this organization. We were all juniors at one time making our first trip overseas. We were all U23's attempting to make it possible to race NCAA's and U23 World Championships at the same time. And at one time or another, we were all given an opportunity because of the National Nordic Foundation! Every dollar goes towards our nation of nordic athletes. In my mind, this organization makes sure that where there is a will, there is a way! I have a fundraising page that many people have already contributed towards, but these funds will all be directed toward our nation of developing young athletes, so I encourage you to participate in this culture that is being created!

Fundraising Page

Two more weeks of preparation in Alaska, where we will hopefully be visiting some snow, and then off we go to Europe for the winter! It's the final countdown, da da dah da dahhhhh...!

Fun to see a familiar face welcoming me home to AK last night!