A Week to Remember

Last week was a week to remember for more then one reason! By the end of the week I had more "first times" then I think I ever have experienced in one week!

First Times-

1. Traveling to Senior Nationals with the APU Group- This pretty much sets the mood for all my first times, and is the most important key! This group of skiers and coaches are incredible. The way that everyone works together, and pushes each other throughout the week is hard to put your finger on and even describe. I think the chemistry among the group is the unique part to allows this to happen. There is not a single person on this team that is bringing down the energy. Every person gets out there race day and throws down- whether that means racing, or cheering for their teammates. One of the most rewarding things about this, is when you have the opportunity to stand on the top of the podium on any given day- you have 30 other people standing there with you, giving you the high five. The next day your teammate will be standing in that same place, experiencing the same feeling. It makes all the hours you put in training alongside all these people worth it!

2. New Years Celebration- for the past 6 years, I have been traveling to Senior Nationals right before New Years, so I have never once had the opportunity to celebrate. Normally my night consists of sitting and watching "America's Next Top Model" on Tv- or reading my text books. This year, the girls house decided to throw a dress up New Years Party. We got all dressed up and sent out invitations. It turned out being tons of fun, even if we didn't stay up until the "New Year", but it was still the most excitement I have had on New Years in my life!

3. Arriving at a Venue with No Snow- well maybe we can call it a couple inches... lets just say I was disappointed to not bring rock skis! Regardless, it was incredible what race organizers pulled together for every race! It added some fun to the mix of racing, and in no way affected any of the racers opportunity for success! Thanks to the Black Mountain Crew!

top of the course day before the race

4. My first Podium- In my first Senior Nationals race of the year, the classic sprint, I finished 3rd American- allowing me to stand on the podium at National Champs... I couldn't have been happier, let alone, my roommate, and teammate, Morgan Smyth was standing in second, and the great H. Brooks stood on top! Katie Ronsse also took fourth, so APU swept top four Americans!

5. Sweeping the Podium as a Team- I already said this, but it is a true first! Standing on the starting line of the A-Finals, with three of my teammates was a unique feeling. I knew that 300 days of the year, I train endless hours with these same girls, and it was all worth it!! Thanks to the coaches and tech's for making this possible!!

6. First National Championship Title- Honestly, this still hasn't quite sunk in- but it was one of my favorite firsts! With the 10k Classic consisting of four laps of a 2.7k course- I went into the race with a plan. A plan to race it like I would a mile on the track. First lap for rhythm, second lap pick it up, third lap push the pace, and fourth lap race from the heart. My plan kinda fell a bit to pieces when I took out the first lap at a faster pace than I expected with all the excitement. So I would say more of a pattern made of push the pace on the first lap, push the pace harder on the second lap, and race from the heart for the following two laps. Going into this week I would have never guessed I could win a distance race, I had my money more on the sprints- but this was the best part!! Once again, one of my teammates accompanied me on the podium, congrats to Morgan for second!! Wahooo

7. First Time I Have Seen Such an Incredible Performance- Saturday's race was amazing for a bazillion reasons. First, I raced my heart out every heat of the skate sprint and after cresting the last hill in first during the A-Finals, I was passed by two girls right before the end. This is one of the things I need to work on, race tactics! Even though it is most comforting to lead a race, and control your competitors, tactically it is stupid. The same thing happened in the classic sprint. Drafting is way better in second or third coming down the last hill than in first! Third times a charm with this lesson though, next year I will come prepared to race it smarter. But beside that point, one of the girls I have been racing with for years, Jessie Diggins, had one of the most unbelievable performances. For one, she is not a sprinter, and she won the race. And for two, she fell on the top of the hill and somehow still managed to win the race! Congrats to Jessie!!

Homestretch w/ Jessie on the left coming in hot!- Stephan Mitman Photography

8. First Time Making the Alaska Daily News- Not only did we make the daily news, but APU skiers made the front page every single day of races! Thats fun!!! 

Stephan Mitman Photography

After all these firsts, I came away from the week feeling very happy with everything. Not only had I made my first podium, but I podiumed in every race. Thats a huge jump for me, and I couldn't be happier! Buttt, the year is early, and I have lots more ahead of me to set my eyes on! On sunday I take of for U23 Championships in Estonia, where I hope to do just as well if not better. The races are a Classic Sprint, Skate Distance, and Pursuit Distance. This years US team is going to be amazing. I think it is stronger than ever!

Kris Dobie Photography getting artistic

Thanks to the coaches and wax tech's for doing an amazing job last week! It is unbelievable to see how hard these guys work!

I am now in Lake Placid, New York hanging out for a couple more days until heading to Estonia. FUN, FUN!

Nationals Day 2- First National Title!

photo by Kris Dobie

Today was the second day of Nationals here in Rumford Maine- a 10 kilometer classic race. After walking around the dirt covered courses yesterday afternoon, I was incredibly surprised to see how much snow race organizers managed to get on those trails! Even with the limited snow, the 2.5 kilometer loops were lacking no challenge. What seemed like a course with one hill and lots of rest turned into a tough course that required you to stay on your toes and push every transition. 

I knew that in order to stand on that podium today I needed to be in a world of hurt, so I went from the gun and went like-a-hell, crossing the line in first place, 30 seconds ahead of my closest competitor, teammate, and roommate, Morgan Smyth. This is by far my best distance result, and to have that at Nationals is so fun! As a team we managed to take top two places in both the mens and womans field.. YEAAAHHHH! We also had many girls stacked in the top ten, throwing down a good showing.

It is incredibly fun to be part of this APU team. Any one of us could pop a good race and stand on the top for the day. I think that is what I enjoy best about it. When one person does well, it pushes the group to strive and reach to that same level. I have never been part of a team that functions so well together and gets along so well- I couldn't be more thankful I am part of it!

Thanks to the coaches for some bomb track skis and keeping us going!

Tomorrow is the 20k skate race, which I will sit out. Following that is the last race, a skate sprint on Saturday.. fun, fun!

Getting one of my first interviews :)

Nationals- Day One

www.flyingpointroad.com photo- during the heats

Yesterday marked the first day of 2011 U.S. Nationals here in Rumford Maine. I must say I have never raced on so little snow in my life, but race managers managed to throw together a super impressive race out there!

The day started with a 1.4km qualifier where APU woman had an impressive showing with six skiers qualifying in the top ten. I ended up qualifying second, behind Holly Brooks, and then close behind were Morgan, Katie, Fitz, Becca and Ky! The mens qualifier was stacked with APUers as well. Lars Flora won the heats, with Reese Hanneman close behind. Results posted at: http://www.chisholmskiclub.org/2011_us_nationals/results.htm

At 12:45 when the heats began, the snow was turning into puddles, tracks were disappearing, and the dirt was showing through. Regardless everyone threw down pretty damn hard and had tons of fun. Because the only snow that Black Hill has right now is placed on the sprint course, there wasn't many options for warming up on besides going up and down the short alpine run. This made things a bit tough- but everyone seemed to remain positive and have fun.

I went through the heats with the plan of attacking from the start and going from there. All my heats were pretty fun as I had between 2 and 4 of my teammates in each heat- which made me feel right at home :) By the A-Final heat when I lined up with 3 other APU girls, I was starting to feel the effort catching up to me. I was able to get out of the start quick and keep my eyes on Holly Brooks throwing down every last bit of energy. As I pushed over the top of the last hill I headed down the hill in second place. From there things switched around a bit with varying ski speeds before we put out every last bit of energy down the double pole finish. I crossed the line 4th, 3rd american.... which meant APU swept the podium!!! My first Nationals podium ever :)

Top 4 Americans!

Big thanks to the wax techs and coaches for bombs skis! And congrats to the boys squad for rockin as well!

Mike Matteson getting after it!

Races are postponed until wednesday because of the lack of snow... but good news is its supposed to cool down and they are going to start making snow. 

Here is a link to the front page of Alaska Daily News today!

http://media.adn.com/images/pdf/A1/anchorage_01_03_11.pdf

APU Ladies Team

Home for Christmas

It has been great to spend a couple days at home, relaxing, and kicking up the feet a bit with the family after a long racing block throughout november and december. Unlike last year, the snow in the methow right now is amazing! The first couple of days were great hardwax, cold days- whereas now it is a bit warmer. The good news is, this will probably be pretty similar to next weeks skiing in Maine!

Skiing with the family-minus Kaley, who couldn't make it home for Christmas :(

I hear there is a storm warning for the next couple of days in Rumford, where Nationals take place next week, so I may head east with my skis after all!

I will post again next week with schedule of races and report from the east coast!

Tour Day 2- 5k Skate

Today was the second day of the mini tour here in Rossland, a 5k skate. It was one RIPPIN course, a 12 minute 5k.!!! I pretty much went with the goal of going as hard as I could the entire time, knowing there was no time to conserve energy. As Erik Flora would say, "go like-a-hell". After 12 minutes of aggressive V2ing, some solid hop skating, some seriously gnarly corners, and one super steep climb- I crossed the line 5th place, only 3 seconds out of 2nd. What this means is tomorrow's handicap start is going to make for some exciting times. 

For tomorrows 10k classic, from what I have heard, Holly will go out first, I will head out second-7 seconds back, and Diggins will be close behind-12 seconds back from me. From there out, girls are packed in super tight. The first one to cross the line wins the overall tour. Should be some fun times!

Congrats to APU skiers H. Brooks and Lars for their wins!

Thanks to Rob Whitney for the pics from the race today.

Let the Tour begin- first NorAm Victory

Today was the first day of the three day mini tour in Rossland BC. After last weekends races in Silver Star, the APU team hit the road and headed the four hours east to our current venue called Black Jack for our final races before Nationals.

Leading out of the stadium

The mini tour consists of a sprint on friday, 5k skate on saturday, and a 10k classic on sunday. Throughout the three races, you get time bonuses for various results and then sunday's race is started handicap style so the first person across the line wins the whole shebang. 

Great to see last years teammate, Sam Naney, throwing down after recovering from mono earlier this fall.

Today's race was a skate sprint that offered a lot of entertainment for the cheering crowd. There were a couple gnarly corners that allowed for some crazy falls and some pretty damn fast skiing out there. In the mornings qualifier, I was able to cross the line first, only .05 seconds ahead of my teammate, Holly Brooks. As my mom told me tonight, by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin. 

APU boys getting after it. Congrats to Reese Hanneman for throwing down some impressive sprinting today- 3rd American!

The fun course made for some awesome heats. All throughout the quarters and semi's I was able to get out of the start first and control the pack. The first half of the course was a solid climb before some roller coaster turns down to the bottom, a quick hop skate hill, and then some technical turns into the finishing stretch. The final heat, I sat in behind Perianne for the majority of the course before throwing down hard into the finishing stretch- winning my first NorAm ever. FUN FUN!

H. Brooks, Perianne and I right after the finish- Perianne excited for her secured spot to World Champs!

Holly Brooks and Perianne tied for second place

Thanks to Casey and Erik for some SICK skis, and to the huge group of people out the cheering. It is always so much more fun to sprint with tons of yelling on the sidelines.

Tomorrows race is a 5k skate. Results should be posted on www.zone4.ca

Sovereign Lakes- 10k Skate

Yesterday was the 10k skate race to round off the NorAm weekend here in Sovereign Lakes. We woke up to about 10 inches of snow in the morning, so I knew it was going to be a lot of work. As I started warming up, I was feeling pretty wrecked from the hard sprinting effort day before, but tried to stay positive, knowing everyone else was in the same boat.

I have always considered Sovereign Lakes as one of the hardest skate courses I ski all year, so I was anxious to see how it would all pan out. With my new "liking" of hills, I actually had a lot more fun than I thought I would! Brook Gosling, a really strong distance skier started 30 seconds behind me, so my plan was to jump on her when she came by. Fortunately, she caught me on the second lap, right where I was beginning to struggle. For the next couple of kilometers of climbing, I set my mind on watching her boots and hammered on. Just as we started approaching the last couple of climbs, I got a second wind and made the pass, powering for the finish.

At the end of the day, I ended up 7th place, a little over a minute back from the winner, and team mate, Holly Brooks. A solid weekend for all of the APU athletes!

Results are on:

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=28494&cal_suchsector=CC

APU- Lars Flora and Holly Brooks take the win in mens and womans. Congrats to B. Gregg as well, taking 2nd.

We are now headed off to Rossland for the mini-tour next weekend. I have never been to Rossland, so I am anxious to see what its like.

APU Team after races

APU team helping break down the stadium after the races

Thanks to Erik and Casey for great skis all weekend. It is impressive to watch how two guys can take care of 18 athletes so efficiently... even when some athletes are traveling with about 30 pairs of skis each!

Rob Whitney pics- THANKS!