A week to remember

I wish I could be writing this blog about what a great week of racing I had last week at National Champs, and how wonderful it was to break up my european racing with a little racing in the US... but sometimes things just don't work out as planned. Sometimes, you fall during your warm-up at the Olympics and break a bunch of ribs. Sometimes you fall running on Christmas, break your wrist, and are forced to race the Tour de Ski with a broken hand. And sometimes, you travel home to the US for Nationals, and you spend the week standing on the sidelines, cheering on your competitors, only wishing you could join them at the line. This is what happened to me last week in Rumford, Maine.

Christmas was a tough time for me. A long travel home from Europe, then shortly after, a trip to Seattle and back, and then soon after a travel to Maine that turned into two nights of no sleep due to some unfortunate plane cancellation. With so much travel, mixed with the excitement of being around my family, and taking care of a lot of stuff during the short two weeks a year I am home in the Methow- my health was what suffered. I managed to catch a cold about halfway through the break, but never gave myself enough of a rest to really fight it. With a rough travel to Maine, the cold that "just kept giving" managed to strike again shortly after arriving. Spending the first part of the week resting, somewhere along the way my sinus's took the brunt. I used to suffer from a lot of sinus infection problems a few years ago, but I haven't had one since, so at the first sign of sinus issues, I knew it was time to get serious. This was not just some cold that I could ski through. Sinus's are a funny thing, where if you ignore the infection, chances are it's going to come back and get you real bad in the near future. Having made that mistake a few too many times in the past, I made the hard decision to sit out the race, and hope I would wake up feeling better the following day.

Going into the week, as I realized my health was not in the right place, I decided to take one day at a time. I wasn't going to write the whole week off from the beginning, rather I was going to make decisions daily. In the back of my mind though, I was convinced I would be skiing with a bib by the end.

APU ladies with our new Swix uniforms and E'KLAAR hats

Lucky for me, I have a coach that understands and monitors sickness very well. Having lived mistakes before during his career, Erik has made it a goal of his to keep athletes from doing similar mistakes. Right from the start, Erik listened and watched quietly, allowing me to call the decision- but overriding when it was necessary. As the wise old lady said, "patience is a virtue", and thats what I had to go by this week. Near the end of the week, I was so frustrated, I couldn't take it anymore, and told Erik I would race the final race. While doing race prep the day before, the little voice inside my head silently shouted, "what are you doing!!". By the end of my workout, after a few silent tears, I knew what the right thing to do was, even though I didn't really want to accept it. Leaving for Europe shortly after this race meant that it was even more important to be 100% when I get on the plane.

Even though this week was emotionally very hard for me, there were some great things that came out of it. First, in order to not infect my teammates with my "cold that just kept giving", I moved in with my parents. This meant that I got to spend an extra week with them, which was super awesome! Even though they didn't get to watch me race after traveling across the country, at least we got some time together. The second thing was, in order to keep my mind off of the frustration of being sick, I spent my spare time doing French lessons on Rosetta Stone. I have a short break in school at the moment, so I took the opportunity to start learning the language that my boyfriend speaks. I have always been frustrated with my inability to speak any other language well, so now I have a good reason to actually change that. Third, I got to spend some time with my home team. APU has such an awesome team filled with lots of excitement! I always love coming back to spending time with them. With lots of new faces on the team it was fun to see the new dynamics and the new energy in the group!

Doing some cheering with an Alaskan group of ladies

I also got to watch some really impressive racing. When you are in the race, you never get to see what it looks like, and how your closest competitors are skiing. But standing on the sideline, I got a great view. It was fun to cheer them on, but at the same time emotionally hard. Luckily I was getting constant blasts of positive emails from my teammates over racing in Europe as well as good support from the APU crew. With so much positive energy, its hard to be down very long. So thanks everyone, I really appreciated it!

I got to watch one of my close friends, and teammate win her first US Nationals medal. The coolest part is Kate Fitzgerald would have never dreamt of winning a silver medal in a sprint race a year ago. So stoked for you Fitz!! Big Congrats!

I also got to break up my week with an annual Fast and Female event in Bethal, Maine. This time was a bit different than usual in that Jessie Diggins and I actually ran the event. Having always been an ambassador in the past, it was fun to take a bit more responsibility and take on a larger task. There was a good turnout, with around 80 girls- so there was lots of smiles, stories and inspiration.

The group of Fast and Female ladies

I am now training in Craftsbury, Vermont before taking off for Milan, Italy tomorrow. This place is like the skiing mecca of the east. Great skiing, good food, great living conditions and awesome people. Lars Flora and I just got back from coaching a junior group. Craftsbury has a great system where you work off your living costs by volunteering for various things. What better way to make your trip affordable than to coach little kids!! They all came from Liz Stephans town, so I got to teach them all of Liz's best tricks so that they can beat her when she comes back. Thanks Craftsbury for the hospitality!!

Next up: We will race a city sprint on Saturday, and then a team sprint on Sunday, both skate in Milan, Italy. Hopefully the short turnover for time adjustment and travel will not get to the best of us. The sinus's are feeling better daily, so think it will be time to pull the bib on this weekend finally!

More updates to come from the "city of fashion" this weekend.

Happy New Year!

The past year has been a whirlwind of greatness, excitement, firsts, disappointment, learning and much, much more. When I think back to everything that has happened in one year's time, I realize how lucky I am to do what I get to do. Six months of the year, I pack up all my belongings in a 50 pound bag and I travel from place to place and country to country. Not only do I get to see the world, but I get to meet many amazing people along the way. Aside from racing my heart out, seeing the world, and traveling all around, I also get to go to school. APU has such an incredible set up with their distance education program. This will be my second year now that I am training full time, racing full time, and also going to school full time! So most importantly, thanks to APU for providing an awesome ski program, and an awesome education program!!

So a little review of the past year and some of its highlights.

January- I won my first National Championships in Rumford Maine, and podium in two other events, making my best National Champs ever, and also qualifying me for my first World Championship team.

February- Aside from other races this month, I raced at U23 World Championships in Estonia, where I will be competing in a World Cup almost exactly a year later (coming up here in a couple weeks). Here I am, blowing kisses to the crowd on TV.

March- I join 100,000 screaming norwegian fans for the World Championships in Oslo, Norway. By far the most exciting races I have ever taken part of. This will probably be my motivation for the following 10 years! Here I am giving out some of my first autographs to some of my first fans.

April- I join back with the APU crew to attend distance nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Here I finish the season nice and tired, going to the point of collapsing on the final day of racing up the alpine hill. Fitz took the award for the day pushing herself so hard she passed out at the finish line.

May- I discover the backcountry spring skiing in Alaska. On nordic skis and on the fat skis. My boyfriend, Jo, finally gets me on what he calls "the real" skis, and I discover a whole new world!!!

June- Glacier Camp number one of the summer. Eat, sleep, train... and repeat for seven days. Put in my largest week of my life with 23hrs... all on snow!

July- North American Woman's Training Camp. Top Canadian and US ladies gather together for a week of dryland training in Anchorage, and then a week of skiing on the glacier. Lots of good girl energy, and lots of great training!

August- Fourth glacier camp of the summer followed by a little five day break in Washington.

September- Season starts changing in Anchorage. September is also the only month of the year that I am not skiing on snow at all. Makes for a good time for lots of hiking and lots of hard training!

October- Final US Ski Team Camp down in Park City. Here we have a huge Fast and Female Event where a variety of winter athletes, and olympic medalists gather to inspire the younglins. Here I am talking about nordic skiing to the kids, sporting my pink pride!

November- I have my first period one of World Cup racing. Lots of good and lots of learning from weekend to weekend. I come six seconds from scoring points in Kuusamo, in a distance skate race.

Flyingpoint photo

December- Kikkan and I get second in the team sprint at the Dusseldorf World Cup, making me the second american to ever win a world cup medal!!!!! I do a lot of smiling, a lot of screaming, and a we both do a little dance on the podium in honor of all our teammates back home!

The final week of the year- I get some family time back home in the Methow. Between putting on a kids camp and visiting my grandparents in Seattle, there is little time to just sit and relax. But lets face it... thats rarely possible!!

So after reviewing a year of lots of joy and excitement, I just want to say thanks to all the people that have helped me throughout the 2011 year, and the many more to come. Happy New Year, and here is to a new year filled with resolutions, goals, good health, and lots of speedy skiing!

I am currently laying in bed in Rumford Maine, trying to get healthy. I have been plastered with a series of cold's for the past three weeks. With the tough travel back from Europe, and then the travel to see family, followed by the travel all the way back to Maine (cancelled flight means 48 hours with about 2hrs of sleep), I can't get rid of the cold that just keeps giving. Sometimes its hard to admit you are sick, but I have learned that having a long successful season means keeping your body healthy!

The weather here in Maine has been crazy as usual, so after a night filled with warm rain, the races have been postponed until they can doctor the snow up enough to ski on. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, as I may have more time than expected to get healthy. If not, hopefully I will be back by the end of the week!

For now it's rest and good, positive vibes.

On a side note, the Tour de Ski is going on right now over on the World Cup circuit, and it has been amazing to follow. The North Americans have been showing a strong force. With the time change only 7 hours from the east coast to Europe, we get to wake up to live ski racing every morning. And since it is 10 days of racing, that literally means every morning!! Kikkan has been proving that she is going to be in position for the podium!!! The others have all been impressive as well, especially since its a first tour for many of these guys!!! So keep on keepin' on guys!!!

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope you all have a happy and safe holiday!

Cascade Challenge Camp

Yesterday Erik and I hosted the first Cascade Challenge Camp in the Methow for all the young kids of the valley. For a while Erik and I have been talking about how many talented young kids come from this valley, so we were wanted to fuel that fire a little bit by giving back some inspiration and direction to these young children. At that age, I can remember how much it meant to me to ski just five minutes with some of the older successful members of the team; so we were hoping to give a little bit of this "fire" to the younger generation.

the younger girls teaching me a thing or two :)

It was incredible, there was nearly 50 kids that showed up for a our camp, ranging from Canada to the US. Thanks to some to the older elite athletes of the valley, Brian Gregg, Kelsey Dickinson, Casey Kutz, Casey Smith, Erik and I were able to lead such a large group.

The camp included kids ages 7-13, so we had quite the range in ability level, interest, and knowledge. Luckily every kid that showed up yesterday was fired up to ski and have fun, so we had no problem keeping the energy rolling. We started the day out talking about US skiing, and some of the best athletes that are competing for our country. We then moved on to teaching them the different levels of racing, and what each level means. With so many different races, and different types of races, we educated the kids on the various disciplines that all of us older athletes are participating in. I was surprised to learn that many of these children following ski racing, whether it be through the Olympics, through their parents, or even sometimes on TV.

The older athletes giving a talk at the beginning

The goal of the day was to teach these kids some of the necessary skills to become a good ski racer; but to also teach them that it was an enjoyable process. With a range of skiers from Canada and all the way in between, it was fun to see that all the kids were also making new friends and getting to know some of the skiers they would maybe race against some day. The ski began with a warm-up, then three stations. Biathlon station, drills and technique station, and then a start/finish station. I think the big hit seemed to be the start finish station, where Erik and I set up lanes, finish lines, and start lines similar to that you would see on the racing circuit. As we taught the kids that lunging is extremely important in racing; many times it can even win you a race, the kids were instantly entertained. Once they learned to start on command and race to the finish, they all had no hesitation as they put in a massive lunge/fall to the finish.

Me demonstrating to the kids what a lunge looks like

Following the ski we headed in for a few more lessons on taking care of your body and you skis- the two most important parts of skiing success. Brian gave a basic talk about the functions of basic food, and good recovery tools. With a young crew, we didn't want to go into too much detail, other than to teach them "there are good sugars vs. bad sugars", and "what does your body need immediately before and after workout". Following our nutrition talk, Erik went on to give a wax clinic where he allowed some of the kids to even try out the different steps. Hopefully they will start taking extra good care of their skis throughout the winter, waxing them more than once or twice in a year.

leading a group of younglins

The final part of our camp was giving out posters and signing autographs. In all honestly, I think this may have been many kids favorite part. There is something about a posters and autographs that have "greatness" written all over them for a kid!

mesmerized by the posters!!

It was a great day, and hopefully we were able to inspire these kids to follow in the same direction that some of the elite athletes of the Methow have achieved. They all seemed to have a great time, so hopefully they will continue to follow racing, keep developing in their training, and one day be teaching their "younger generation" to love the process.

skiing with Cooper Klein

Erik and I were hoping to make this an annual thing, so look for it to be coming again next year!

Thanks to Mazama Community Center for letting us host, and Methow Nordic Team for helping us organize!

Casey and I demonstrating sprinting.

Thanks to Pat Leigh for all the great photos from the day!!!

Davos preview video

Here is a little video of life in Davos. Thanks to the boys for putting it together. A little glimpse into the life at the Kulm and the ski venue in Davos, Switzerland

Come one, come ALL! Kids Camp!

Link to sign up

Erik and I will be putting on a camp for all the younglins while we are home, so tell everyone you know and encourage everyone to come!! It is going to be tons of fun!

Email me at sadzarue_21@yahoo.com if you have any questions!

Davos training and my FIRST WORLD CUP MEDAL

Last week we spent the the week training for a small altitude period before coming down to Dusseldorf for the World Cup. With this coming weekends World Cup in Davos, it worked out perfectly to try to get some training on the course, and also get used to the lack of oxygen. Unfortunately there is no snow anywhere in Europe at the  moment, so we spent the week searching for the snow.

APU ladies skiing some loops together

Holly, Kikkan and I with some beautiful BROWN hills behind :)

After spending the first couple of weeks in the Scandinavian area, I was so excited to finally make my way down to central Europe. I love everything about central europe. I love the small, homey hotels, the smelly cheese, the sound of the language, the small towns, the smell of cow poo all the time... I just feel at home here. Maybe its because I have raced here so much and spent so much time, but every time I come back, I feel like I have come home.

Holly and I looking to do some grocery shopping in the mini Coop

And this is what skiing in Europe looks like now

I have never been to Davos before, but a few years back when I was racing with the MOD team, we were  basing our travels out of a valley only about 40km from there... so the landscape was similar. Only this time, there is NO snow. One day I actually went for a hike up the nearby mountain, which I found out is an alpine resort. The first day we skid around a little man-made loop near town, which was great, but the loop was only taking 4 minutes... which made it a bit boring. The second day we drove over a mountain pass to a new ski area called Pontracina. Here we were able to find about a 4km loop, so loops were taking closer to 10 mins. That was much more exciting, plus the sun was out, and I was loving life! The final day we jumped on the sprint course, which was only 800m of trail.. so I think we maybe did 50 loops for the workout that day. I am starting to get used to this lack of snow, I think when I finally ski on natural snow, I am going to get lost or something!! The Europeans do a great job of making it work though. It's amazing they manage to make it possible even!

A little old school mixed with some new school. These babies are traveling the world with me :) The marks on them show that they have been in all the same venues I am racing in now! How cool. (Nina Kempel skis)

Getting my business law study on. Learning about torts and crimes!

The week in Davos was really nice. I spent the time out in the sun mixed between walking around the town, getting some homework done, catching up with my family since we finally have internet, and learning some swiss german. I have been struggling to get in the mood to do school work when we are constantly on the run with all the travel and skiing, but finals are coming up next week... so it's time to crack down :)

Friday afternoon we took off for Dusseldorf, arriving only the night before the race. Because Dusseldorf is a city, there is of course no skiing. In fact, I would compare it to Seattle. Warm weather, lots of rain, and a huge city!! What this means is training consists of running!

My portable closet. This is my suitcase of clothing for 5 months! What to wear...what to wear.

My roomate Ida enjoying the warmth of the city!

I stole this picture from Holly, but this is right outside our hotel lobby. Our hotel is connected to this huge stadium where there was a race car competition going on. Saturday night we went out and watched.. waiting for a huge crash. We were of course screaming for the American cars- super fun!! Something I have never seen before!

The minute I arrived here, I was beyond excited. The atmosphere of sprinting downtown in a huge city is incredible. It somehow just makes you feel like a movie star. You are skiing around on this loop of snow laid down in the middle of the streets, with so many people screaming and cheering... its just incredible! It makes warm-up and warm-down a bit different when you are switching between running shoes and ski boots constantly, and its raining out, so you are soaked to the core. All this put together makes it so fun!

A little preview of the crowd on the far corner of the course

Getting a cartoon drawn of me at one of the booths in the celebration at the venue.

The first day was an individual skate sprint. Since the course was so short, and so quick, I was determine to do well on Saturday. During warm-up I felt excellent, and was ready to go. As we hit the course for our qualifier, the course iced up a lot, so throughout my qualifier I spent the entire two minutes just trying to find my grove. I never got that comfortable strong feeling, and it was over before I knew it. I managed to finish 34th, my best world cup finish, and only three tenths of a second from qualifying for the heats. At that point I was excited, but disappointed at the same time. I knew I could do better. Knowing I would have another chance the following day, I put my disappointment behind me and watched as my teammate, Kikkan, win the race. That girl is incredible, it's so fun to watch her race. She is just so smooth, so fast, and a tactical queen!

Ida and I cheering for Kikkan from on top of the bridge. Athletes had access to some sweet cheering spots!

That night I heard word I would be starting the following days team sprint with Kikkan. At that moment, the nerves shot through my body. Having only done one team sprint before, last year at World Champs with Kikkan, I knew the format, I was confident.... but I was now starting with the previous days winner. For some reason, that made me more nervous then I have been in a while. If I didn't have enough motivation before to ski my heart out, now I would! I knew that it was possible to do well, but I also knew that would entail some miracles.

Racing out of the start

racing the boat in the background (I am the one in black with the pink headband)

As the gun went off for our semi-finals, I quickly got in the mind set for racing. It was like a war zone out there. 10 girls fighting for every corner, fighting to keep their ground, fighting for every bit... it was crazy! It was pure luck if you managed to finish the race on your feet! Luckily Kikkan and I crossed the finish in second, qualifying us on to the final round. As I waited in the wax cabin for the next hour before warming up again, I worked to calm my nerves. We were one step closer to making something happen. As I ran to the start for the finals, I looked up at the norwegian bus, which has a picture of five of their athletes yelling.. I told myself those guys are cheering for me at this very moment. After a brief introduction of each athlete, and a wave to the TV crowd, the gun went off. I took off in good position, going into the first corner... and then bam, the swedish girl fell down on my skis. I waited as I was sure I was going down with her. Somehow I managed to pull my leg out, but I watched as the pack seemed to ski away in front of me. At that moment, the feeling ran through my head "crap, I just ruined our chances". I quickly tried to race back up to the pack, but remained off the back. For the following round, Kikkan did the same. For the next round, both of us tried to conserve our energy as we inched our way back up to the group. On the third round, I gave every last bit and kept saying in my head "kikkan is counting on you". As I tagged off to Kikkan for the final race to the finish, I watched the TV screen as I jumped up and down cheering for her. From that point on, Kikkan did some amazing stuff! By the end she was crossing the finish in second place!!

Thats the Norwegian bus with all the cheering athletes! This is me out screaming Petter!

Canadian girls and us, all smiles! They too had a great day!

I screamed and jumped with joy. Second place, we just won a medal!! That really just happened... I couldn't believe it. I was all smiles, I just couldn't believe I just got my first world cup medal. What a dream come true!!!!

Hugs to the guys giving us speedy skis! Thanks Casey and the crew!!!

Kikkan and I, soooo pumped! All hugs!

The best part of that race, was somehow we came from the back, and managed to make it happen. Our skis were fast, our hearts were there, and our entire team was out there screaming their heads off. Even with the loud sound of the crowds, I could still hear every person on the team screaming for us!  At that finish line, as all the girls ran up and gave a big hug, choked up. I was so happy. It was the combined effort yesterday that made it so special! Thanks to all the service team, all the people screaming either at the TV, at the computer screen, or out on the venue! What a special day.

As we headed up onto the stage, Kikkan and I decided we were going to do a dance for our teammates back home, Jessie Diggins and Jennie Bender. As we jumped up on the podium we waved and did our dance.! What an incredible feeling. Check out the picture, I think the Norwegians are worried we are from another planet hahah.

Now I am spending the day here in Dusseldorf, trying to get some homework done before heading back to Davos tonight. From there, I will spend the week training before the World Cups this weekend. Saturday is a 15k skate, and then sunday is another skate sprint. Hopefully the snow will fly in the meantime and we won't be racing on a 1km loop!

Thanks to everyone for all the great emails and notes. I appreciate it so much. Thanks to everyone that has helped me get over here, and most of all thanks to my teammates for pushing Kikk and I on yesterday. You all are wonderful.

Thats a day I won't be forgetting for a bit!

More soon!