Tour de Sadie

I can't think of any better way to describe my last two weeks other than "Tour de Sadie". After having a little more relaxing period for World Champs- I got back to racing with a bang. Starting with the World Cup's in Lahti, Finland.

Last year I had one of my best races of the year in the pursuit race in Lahti. At that point that meant coming in 31st... the closest to the points I had ever been. So, this year I went into the weekend with confidence. After having a less than successful experience at World Champs, I was determine to prove to myself I was in better form. I could feel my shape was there, but I knew that things needed to line up better in order to have the day I was capable of.

The first race was the skate sprint. After a 13th place qualifier in one of the most stacked fields I had raced against this season, I knew that I was in a good place. As I walked out to the my first quarterfinal heat, I took a look around me. To my largest fear, every person I would be starting my heat with had won a World Cup medal. Thank god to the immediate encouragement from my coach, Matt Whitcomb, I released my fear into the back of my mind. This year I have had many strong qualifiers, but not once had I finished that day feeling like I skied my quarterfinal to the best of my abilities. So today, I was going to lay it out there. This would mean laying it out there standing beside none other than Marit Bjoergen, Kowalczyk, and Anne Kylloenen. Standing on the line I started to believe in myself, not allowing the intimidation to get to me. After advancing as lucky loser into the semi's, I made a small tactical mistake in my semi's, and narrowly missed moving on to the finals. But what this meant was that I finished my day in 9th- not only my first top 10, but my first top 20! And this was just the motivation and confidence that I needed.

A video of QuarterFinals

Chasing down Kikkan in the Semi-Finals (Salomon Photo)

Enjoying some time in the leaders chair after the 10km

The following day we had a 10k classic, and again I had a PR, finishing 18th. With little time to soak it in, we jumped on a plane and travelled to Norway where we had a midweek sprint in the city of Drammen on Wednesday. Last year this was my last World Cup Race of the season, and also the first time I had ever made points. So, I went into these races with some confidence from the previous year. Qualifying in 26th, I was determine to move up through the field. Drammen has a unique atmosphere with the fans packing the streets screaming and pushing you on, making it extra fun. Unfortunately, I struggled to get my skis to work throughout the course, crossing the line and moving back to 30th place. While a little disappointed, I couldn't be for too long... because I would be racing three more times in the next four days.

Ran into Pete Kling up at Holmenkollen during my race prep.

Sophie and I having some fun in Oslo

Sophie, Rosie and I enjoying the ocean on our pre-race run!

So, thursday morning I woke up early and jumped on the air plane from Oslo to Innsbruck where I began my adventure through the public bus system and train stations with my skis and duffle. 12 hours later I arrived in Dobiacco for OPA Cup Finals and tried to prepare myself for the next race early the following morning. I knew this travel was not going to be ideal, but with this mini tour being at the end of the season, I was willing to put myself into the "hurt zone" a bit. I also really enjoying ending my European season with both a different group of people, and a different challenge. Winning on the day is possible, so instantly your mind frame goes in a different place.

A new group of people and our awesome waiter in Dobiacco (Lauren Fritz photo)

Bryan Fish photo

Many thanks NNF for making this awesome trip happen!

The three day tour certainly took on a new challenge. When warming up becomes a challenge, you have to dig to new levels during racing. Throughout the three days I finished both 3rd, 2nd and even won one race... which put me in second for the combined mini-tour effort. With 6 races in 9 days in 3 separate countries- I crossed the line in the final race exhausted and exerting every last drop of energy! I had completed my very own Tour de Ski. Some rest and recovery was in store!!

Standing on the top of the podium for the first time in an OPA race. (Lauren Fritz photo)

My huge chunk of meat I won!

So now with a little over two weeks until our finals series of races in California, I am spending a little recovery time in France with my boyfriend. I am trying to break up the usual training and get some "downhill" time in. It also means some time to catch up in school, catch up in emails, and catch up in life in general!

Pete, Erik and I on top of Meribel

enjoying some fresh powder

getting some uphill training as well, of course!

Enjoying some powder!

Every good day ends with some Hot Chocolate for Erik!

One more week of rest and then it's the home stretch. Five more races; A prologue, a distance race, a sprint race, a hill climb up the alpine slope, and then a 30k classic. The finish line is in sight!

Hiking up into the sunset!

Val di Fiemme

I am just finishing up my week of Championships here in Val di Fiemme... looking back on all the great moments. At the same time, I am going through the process of reviewing my week and thinking about all the things that went very well, and the things to improve for next time. I must say, I didn't have quite the Championships that I was hoping for, but in other ways- things were also very positive.

Matt giving us some pointers for the classic sprint (fasterskier photo)

As a ski racer you can never look at anything as a failure. If you did, you wouldn't make it very far beyond one year of racing on the World Cup- because this process is not very forgiving. The difference between an average day and an overly excellent day could be .15 seconds... one size larger boot. Or the difference between putting one too many layers of kick wax on your ski, or simply the difference between finding one more gear of energy for the last climb of the course. It is all so small, yet so important. So even though my two individual start races were less than my best, there were some very encouraging parts at the same time!

Salomon Photo- Racing through the stadium in the Pursuit

So in honor of moving forward in a positive manner; here are a few of the things about Val di Fiemme that I won't be forgetting.

1. Fans! After having my first World Championships in Oslo, my standards of World Championships fans was set sort of high. To my surprise though, these Italian fans lived up to the challenge. Maybe 70% of them traveled all the way from Norway... but regardless they were out there in full force. It was also special to have so many US fans as well. World Masters took place somewhere near here, so there was an extra bunch of familiar voices and faces out there that made it special!

One of the stands full of spectators! (Fasterskier photo)

2. Hills- Holy hills! This venue knows how to test your fitness, test your mental strength, and test your hill climbing. I remember many of my teammates warning me of this after they raced the final stages of the tour here last year... but I didn't experience the full feeling of it until racing. It was fun to test my hill climbing skills though.

UP we go- USSA photo

And more UP- USSA photo

3. Wax Crew- This week has been one of the most challenging weeks for waxing yet. With temperatures hanging around zero, and constantly changing... things get tricky and tough. The techs have been incredible at working hard and moving forward. The important thing to remember is just like an athlete, tech teams have tough days as well. Even if they are putting 100%, there will always be challenging days. So thanks techs for working your butts off and always staying positive.

Group Effort!!- USSA photo

4. Records- While the week started off with much less than our best, the following days were filled with records, bests, firsts and everything else. Kikkan and Jessie set the mood with winning the team sprint for US Nordics FIRST World Championship Gold. That was one of my more emotional moments of being a ski racer. As I watched the girls ski their hearts out and cross the line first, emotion struck. As tears rolled down the faces of all the US group… I may have spotted a tear rolling down the Norwegian coaches face too. Finally, US is a force to recon with. Over the years as Kikkan has set an example of believing that we can compete, the rest of our team has started following along!

A team celebration after Jess and Kikk win the first ever World Champs Gold!! (Fasterskier photo)

Making records and having fun! USSA photo

Fasterskier photo

5. Sunshine- It is hard to not absolutely love every second of the day when you are out ski racing hard in the sun. Black suits sometimes make that experience a little more miserable than it should… but for the most part, the sunshine always brings out the best in us! If there is one thing you can count on in Italia, that is sun!

soaking in the sun! USSA photo

USSA photo

6. Team Spirit- The team “spirit” has been great throughout the week. The success of the team just spreads through our group. I think this is one of the things that is bringing us to a higher level as a team. Because one person’s success is contagious, it helps us all believe!

Jessie- you did it!!!

Matt, the ladies, and the medals!

7. Relay- Yesterday I got to participate in my first World Cup 4x5 relay. Since being a young girl, relay racing has always been my favorite. There is something about the different pressure, and your collective effort… it just gets me in a new level of energy… as with all the US ladies. Aside from being fun, the US Team managed to finish our best result ever in history. Although we were just off the podium, we were extremely stoked with a 4^th place finish. This was a huge improvement from our last World Championship finish in 9^th. With our goals set on a medal of course, we came away proud and pleased that we had reached 4^th place! Everyone skied their hearts out, and our goal is certainly attainable in the near Olympic future!

4th!!

Using the relay socks for the first time ever- Fasterskier photo

All of these things have made this Championship week incredible and memorable. With two more races to go, the 30 and 50k, we will be back on World Cup soon. Next weekend we will be racing a 10k Classic and Team Sprint, so some more exciting racing in the near future!

Salomon photo- Classic Sprinting

USSA photo

Here is a funny photo from the local paper. I have been hoping all week to get in there just once, but I wasn’t quite expecting this one. This is what google translate says:

What the Photo Symbol of the World

Let's say that the scene was the most beautiful and the American athlete of the relay this morning (yesterday, ed), shooting as he undressed. Sadie Bjørnsen has affected all of us photographers, the femininity and grace of gesture, of usual when it comes to the masculinity of athletes.

Thanks everyone for the cheers and nice emails this week. I really appreciate it!! A few more days here, and then off to Scandinavia!

Sochi-DA!

One week in the Olympic Village, one week getting to know the Olympic Courses, and one week of figuring out the environment of Sochi! In this one week, I feel like I have learned a ton! Not only have I learned the race courses, but I have gotten to race them... and feel the true burn of what Sochi has!

Feeling the burn!

A lot of construction still going on EVERYWHERE! (Holly photo)

Over the course of the weekend, we had three races. A skate sprint, a pursuit, and a team sprint. The exciting news is I had a personal best on every single one of these races on the Olympic Course. Which means I walk away with a feeling of confidence, but also an understanding for what sort of improvements and skills I need to work on between now and the Olympic Games!

American Spirit!!

As far as the atmosphere here in Sochi, that was the true experience of the past week I have spent in Russia. It all begins with security and credentials. Credentials are like your magic carpet; you can't get anywhere without them. They are your pass for the five minute walk to breakfast, they are your pass to get to the race venue, and they are your pass to basically leave your house. At first, this seems annoying- but it is just part of the experience! And truly it is to our own safety. Sochi is about security. It is a wild and different scene here- like nowhere else I have ever been. Everything is new, everything is different, but in a good way. Based on the cameras perched every ten feet all across the top of this mountain, I feel safe! I didn't get much of a chance to experience the town at the bottom of the Gondola, but I am sure during the Olympics, we will hopefully get more time.

So much snow here in Sochi!!

Beautiful views right out the window of our cottage

Strength facilities are not so good yet... but you have to get creative sometimes (Hoff photo)

As for the racing, it was awesome. Every single person on our team had at least one shining performance! Starting with Ida making her first A-final, and Liz coming in 8th in the pursuit, and then both American teams winning their semi-finals in the team sprint and going on finishing the best results ever. It was a successful weekend for the Americans. What better way to leave the pre-Olympic venue the year before? It's fun, it's exciting, and we are all pumped! We are starting to truly believe in ourselves, and believe we can do it!

Me, crossing the line first in our semi-finals for the team sprint. (Hoff photo)

Ida and I stoked on hard efforts, and making history!! (Hoff photos)

chasing down those Russians and Norwegians!

So now, its back to Switzerland. We will have a short training block there, with one more weekend of World Cups before World Champs!

Back on the World Cup

After spending the first period in North America, I am back on the European side of the World Cup scene. My first stop was in Liberec, Czech Republic- home of World Championships 4 years ago. Things were pretty hectic for the first couple days back on this side of the pond. After finishing a big week of racing at Nationals- I hopped on a plane the day after the skate sprint and traveled over. Then, only a day and a half after arriving, I was back on my skis racing.

The town hall right behind our hotel in the heart of the City of Liberec.

The only way I can describe the feeling of skiing around after that sort of a time adjustment and exhausting week is.... drunk. I felt like I was looking through a pair of goggles where everything was almost delayed by two seconds. It was a wild feeling!! So, after blowing some of those poor feelings out of my system during the individual sprint the first day- I was ready to get back to some good feelings the second day. Since the second day was a team sprint, Ida and I got to combine efforts and put our skills to the test. Even after breaking her pole during the final exchange of the semi-finals, which included her skiing half way up the hill without a pole- we still managed to squeak our way into the finals. After practicing our exchanges a couple more times, and pumping each other up, we headed into the finals. To our surprise, each lap we moved further and further up the group. For the final three laps we were sitting in 3rd position, a place we would have never expected to be. Our our final exchange, again we sort of botched the tag. As Ida took off in the exchange zone full of excitement, it ended with her having to snow plow right before the end of the zone so I could jump out and tag her. With this small little set back, Ida took off in a fury, ready to catch back up to our position. After racing full speed around the loop now her sixth time- her legs struggled to flush out the instant excitement. Coming into the final climb, we slipped back a flew places... but only a few seconds. We ended up finishing in sixth- by far the best result the two of us have ever put together as a team. Even more encouraging, we skied the entire race in medal contention until 200 meters to go- so we are making huge progress! The last time we teamed up for a team sprint we finished 14th, not even advancing on to the finals! So it was a great way to start the year back in Europe!

A view over the city on the low part of the sprint course- FIS Photo

Ida holding a strong position during the team sprint- FIS photo

Following that we headed over to the land of the mountains- La Clusaz, France. When I arrived, I was reminded how much I love Europe and skiing here. We arrived early Monday- so we had a week to do some training in the beautiful Alps. The sunshine managed to bring out all the excitement and joy in all of us as we geared up for a weekend of racing.

Skiing in the Alps

Skiing with buddies in the sunshine! Liz Stephen photo

Saturday was a mass start classic race, and after spending the whole week skiing in clear, beautiful, cold weather- we woke up to a combination of rain and snow. When this happens... things generally get a bit tricky with the waxing. So, saturday brought a stressful day for the wax techs, and a day of racing that tested your patience and determination. As I walked up the hills with stilts, and braced myself for the grabbing on the downhills- I kept reminding myself that the one with the determination on this day is the one that will do well. At that time, I had the feeling I was the only one in this boat, but as I listened in the finish line- we must have looked like a bunch of beginners out there. Scraping our skis sideways and poles and butts out.. waiting for the grabbing snow. Even through all this mess, I was able to score my first European World Cup Distance Points, as I finished 28th- just in the points. So even through all the frustrations, it was a day of success for me.

Spectators lining the fences on the high turn in La Clusaz Mass Start- FIS photo

It was also a special day, because my boyfriend, who is from France, got to finally come watch me race in person. He has been following on TV, but it was nice he finally got to stand on the course and watch!

Alaskan and US cheers from Jo and his roommates

Some of the skiers from Jo's home town who have become my favorite French Fans!!

Sunday was a relay, but I hadn't skied fast enough the day before to make it on to the team- so Ida and I put on our cheering game faces, wrapped ourselves in American flags, and put our lungs to use!

Womans US Team

From there I took a short training break for five days in Meribel where my boyfriend lives and works in the winter. I have been visiting him here or the past three years, so I have started to really learn my way around. I always love this time, because it is a period for me to relax my mind, and enjoy skiing alone. For five days it was just me and the snow and the wild animals. Meribel is the largest alpine ski resort in the world... so you can imagine nordic skiing isn't very popular. With that said, the trails and grooming are great!! I swear, its like the little secret land. But this is the greatest way for me to recharge my battery and get a little personal time before jumping back into a good period of racing.

Running into a few of my ski instructor buddies who have become good fans over the years.

Good skiing and beautiful views!!

Taking advantage of gravity and hitting the slopes... making my legs burn in a new way.

I have also been breaking up my mornings by attending class at 5:30, three mornings a week. This means that most of my free time at the moment is filled with school work, and taking naps trying to catch up on my missed sleep. Fortunately, all my classes are super fun and the professors are so passionate that they do a really good job of keeping me awake and not letting me fall asleep at that hour of the morning.

And that brings me to now! I am currently living and training in the Olympic Athlete Village in Sochi, Russia. We have World Cup races here this weekend, so it has been incredibly interesting getting to know the way of the land, the culture, and the trails of Sochi! I tell you, it is a different scene way up here in the mountains of Russia! I look forward to trying out some racing this weekend!

Loading up baggage for our charter flight to Sochi

This is our form of transportation up here in the athlete village. We are literally perched on the top of an alpine hill, so vehicles are only limited to construction vehicles... and I have yet to figure out how those got up here!

The Gondola Ride up from the Black Sea to the mountains- Hoff photo

My ski tech, Randy Gibbs and I. Randy has been working hard getting to know the unique snow up here!!

skiing up one of the big hills into the stadium... I think we will get to ski this beast 6 times on Saturday...YES!!

Holly and I above the Biathlon Stadium.. it is huge!! Like a huge football stadium. The Nordic Stadium is temporary, so nothing set up yet.

Finding some time to ski in a skirt!! Thanks Skhoop for all the support!

One last exciting note from the past couple of weeks is that my brother and I both just recently got named to the World Championship Team in Val de Fiemme, Italy!! This has been a goal of mine all summer, but I started loosing site of it while I hit bump after bump throughout the summer and fall. After racing into form throughout the beginning part of the season- I was able to accomplish my original goal- so I really look forward to teaming up with 12 others for one of the strongest World Championship Teams ever!! These races will take action the last weeks of February, so we have two weekends of World Cup races between now and then.

Pure Excitement... what will Russia bring next? Liz photo