Silver Star it IS!

All four vans keeping in contact with the radios along the trek

making the most of it!

The past two days we did the trek across the western US up to Silver Star B.C for a training block before our next period of races. The skiing is amazing!! We did a two hour ski from the mountain down to Sovereign Lakes and back up and around the trails near the village today. Not once did we hit the same trails, and we probably skied one fifth of the total kilometers groomed around the area. This is what I love so much about Silver Star- it is truly a little Winter Wonderland. 

For the next week we will hit some volume and build up before we do two weeks of racing.(Silver Star Norams and then Rossland Normams) Following that I will head home for a week of family time during Christmas and then fly over to Maine for Nationals. 

Here are a few pictures from our awesome ski today-

Womans team in the "Village"

Down in Sovereign checking out the race courses.

APU Pre-Race Attitude

A little morning pre-race peek into APU-

Mannix

Smythski

Fitz

H Brooks

GA

Ronski

West Yellowstone Racing

We just finished our first series of racing in West Yellowstone, Montana this past week. APU threw down an amazing team performance as well as many amazing individual races. There wasn't a single race that APU didn't have a team member standing on the podium. It has been so fun to race as part of this group throughout the week!

As far as my week of racing went I came away very happy with the first series of racing. I got my first SuperTour podium in the Sprint races on the first day of racing. It was an interesting set up, as we had two prelims separated by only an hour. With temperatures down in the single digits, and little rest- it made for a very tough day. Regardless, it was fun to throw down and get the first couple of races under my belt. APU has had a few time trials already back home this month, and with so many competitive girls on the team, for once I wasn't stepping into these races with cold feet. 

My little cousins after the race- great little cheerers!

Friday and Saturday's distance skate and classic races had their high's and low's. I was pleased with the consistency over the week. One of the highlights was Saturday's classic race when APU took top five americans in the woman's race. It has been so nice to ski with a team with such depth- and then show up at the races and feel like any one of the girls on the team can pop an exceptional race and be standing on the top. A great example of this was Friday's distance skate race when Kate Fitzgerald won, finishing a second in front of Holly Brooks. Congrats to Fitz!

Fitz as the Distance Leader and excited coach Flora

Thanks to the coaches and wax tech's for all the work over the week. It is incredible, on this team the tech's know all 18 skiers fleets of skis and manage to pick the best ski for every skier. THANKS

Team after Racing- Cheering on the boys

We are now off to Silver Star, Canada for a week of training before we hit another serious of races next week.

Results from the week are posted here:

http://summittiming.com/races/race_results.php

WEST YELLOWSTONE- YEAH!

APU Group after hammering out some L3 (minus Katie and Holly)

Today was our first ski in West Yellowstone. The skiing is exception! There are tons and tons of skiers on the trails as always- SO FUN! Races begin Wednesday, so lots of race preparation and ski testing already beginning. Sounds like it may cool down a bit, but we got in a nice "western" sunny day today before the chill moves in. Lucky, LUCKY!

See you on the trails!!

TIME TO SKI!

IT'S TIME TO SKI!!

The past two days APU has been making the 1 hr drive up to Hatchers Pass for some amazing skiing! Tracks have been great, the temperatures low, and spirits high. Both skate and classic tracks are exceptional considering the couple of inches of snow pack on the road. Surprisingly enough, no rocks or pavement are showing (with exception to one corner). 

Perfect tracks!

Dark and cold- Gretta Anderson is still pumped to get started!

Lots of car and people traffic on the trails- have to watch out :)

Our first day up there, all the town teams were out there, so I got to ski some laps with my brother who is now skiing for University of Alaska- fun, fun!!

 

Nothing like early season skiing in Alaska. Hopefully the snow hits town soon so we can be skiing here.!

Morgan and I high on Alaskan Life

Gretta Anderson and I at the start of the cold morning

Yesterday was Halloween, so a couple of us got dressed up for our OD... FUN FUN!

2.5 hr. Halloween Ski- ladies working hard but still having fun!

Below: Morgan, Holly, me, Kikkan and Katie getting after it :)

Topping 'er off

This period of the season is my favorite part of the entire year of training. With the combination of the cold weather, the snow in the mountains, and the building anticipation for the racing season quickly approaching us- there is no way to show up or leave training without unusually high levels of energy. I am beginning to get the feeling that every single workout I am putting in is directly effecting how hard I will be able to push over the steepest hills throughout the season.

Things are shifting here in Alaska. Starting a couple weeks ago- we drive to training in the dark and do our warm-up in the dark, but we are lucky enough to be doing the true "work" just as the sun rises over the mountains! It sure makes for some awesome views as we speed through the icy streets and trails of Anchorage.

The past month and a half I have been able to shift back into lots of foot workouts. It has been great to do some exploring on foot over the weekends, and to mix up the rollerskiing throughout the week. Last week I decided to put one of my "alpine" friends through some pain and brought him on an OD over the weekend up to Symphony Lakes and the surrounding peaks in Eagle River. It turned into quite the adventure :)

 Symphony Lakes Below.. and lots of white mountains that I wish I knew the names of!

I am screaming because the ice just dropped and broke right under my feet!

We also had TT's last week just to test the body and get it used to "racing". Though maybe a bit rustic, I was happy with where I am right now. The first day consisted of a sprint day simulation. With a team of 6 or 7 of the top skiers in the US, this simulation is quite accurate... it truly resembles a race! The next day we did a 35 min Hill Climb skating from the ocean to one of the highest access roads in Anchorage. In the past, I would have normally despised a race like this, as who wants to put your head down and climb to the peaks, but I actually enjoyed it.!! I have a video posted below that Erik took near the top of the climb. Check out the sweet houses and view in the background!

It's hard to tell because everyone is wearing pink and blue. But I am wearing blue tights, pink shirt, white helmet and white boots. 

3 more weeks until departure for the season..... YEAHHH!

Until then.... topping 'er off!

Snow ON THE WAY!

Hiking above Anchorage

For the past couple of weeks we have been in our transition stage here in Anchorage, where its cold enough to snow, but it just isn't quite ready yet. We have made bets on our team when there is going to be enough snow to ski up at Hatchers Pass, and I have my money on Saturday. The precipitation is coming, and the temperatures are low enough... so its on its way! 

I suffered from a knee injury all summer that stuck around and continued to cause problems throughout the early part of the fall. Skate skiing is finally back to 100%, so I have been putting in some hard uphill skate intervals, trying to get the legs back in the grove of skating. I haven't felt the skating butt burn in a while, so I have been loving every minute of the intervals lately.! Running was also causing lots of issues, so one day when I was super excited I started mindlessly skipping down the road. After a couple of minutes, I started thinking and realized it wasn't hurting my knee. So the past month and a half I have taken up skipping... which gets lots of funny reactions when I am passing people.! Especially when I am out on the trails, because not only am I skipping, but I am also singing to warn the bears I am coming. Let me tell you, it is a sight to see. Fortunately, I have been able to shift back to running- so I am not making such a scene trekking through the woods.

Sweet view of Anchorage- Ky Eiben has MAD hops!

APU has this weekly workout that we run/ski-bound 1 hour uphill from a ski area down in town up to the mountains. The gas line trail cuts right through "bear country" central, so every 1 hr. pass up this trail I am counting my blessings for making it up without being chomped. As I get over my bear fears, this has become one of my favorite training workouts of the year. You just turn you engine on, and brain off- similar to racing.

Making it to snow yesterday!

Powerline Pass snowed in!!

School has been consuming all of my hours that I am not out training. I have managed to make friends with the library again- I did actually miss that last year! The schooling here at APU is great, I now understand what "active" learning really is. Each of my classes has between 4-8 people in it, so there is lots of focus on the students as well as real world application, rather than just learning the text book. There is no lack of challenge, but a much different focus then UAA for example. I much prefer this over public, state universities!

6 more weeks until we take off for our first racing series in West Yellowstone, the focus is on! Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!