Kicking off the Season in B.C.

After a three hour van drive, three plane rides, two nights and a lot of lost sleep, Colin and I finally made it to Vermont yesterday. Traveling during the holidays is always a gamble, but I was hopeful we wouldn't run into any weather or mechanical delays...unfortunately, that did not happen. Needless to say, it is nice to finally be here and unlike the people in front of us who were trying to fly to London and couldn't get a flight until December 31st, we were only delayed one day and will be able to enjoy Christmas with family.

The racing season kicked off for me in the last two weeks. The first weekend we raced in Silver Star British Columbia. I have now been there a handful of times and it never gets old! There is always an abundant amount of snow, good ski conditions, and the beauty of being able to step out of the front door to ski. The first race began with a classic sprint. I felt a bit slow off the line but was able to post a decent time to qualify in the middle of the pack with a 13th place finish. Going into my quarterfinal, I felt good and strong. I put myself in a good position but was not able to sustain my pace up the final hill loosing a place. I ended up 13th overall.

The next day was a 10/15k skate. We woke up to a foot of soft, new snow. These conditions are some of the toughest to race in. The snow was so soft that the groomers were not able to pack it down before the race began. Instead it made for a very slow long race. While I felt a bit bogged down with all the snow I reminded myself that everyone was battling the same conditions and feelings. It was not my best result, but I hung int here and ended up 13th.

A couple days later we made our way to Rossland, B.C. about a 3 hour drive. We arrived to quite the opposite of what we found in Silver Star...icey and glazed ski trails. They did a good job of grooming and mixing up the snow to make it skiable. Friday marked the start of a three day mini tour with a skate sprint race. It was a very fast course! I qualified 13th. I was skiing a great quarterfinal round, positioning myself in second place to advance to the semis, when on the last hairpin turn, a girl crashed in front of me and I was unable to get around her without getting tangled up. Bummer! During the time of the tangle-up, the other skiers got around us and our day of racing was cut short.

With the unfortunate sequence of events the previous day, I was psyched and ready to ski fast the next day in the 5k skate. I went out fast and tried to maintain a high tempo and speed the entire race...5k is a short race! I received some good splits along the way but knew that there were some fast skiers behind me. I ended up 9th... a result I was satisfied with (at least I didn't end up 13th like several of the previous races!)

The final day of the tour ended with a 10k pursuit classic race. This means that our combined times from the previous two days were added up to determine our start time for the classic race. I began 1:30 minutes behind the first starter. I bolted out of the start and caught the racer in front of me within the first 1/2 kilometer. At about 2.5 kilometers, I was feeling a bit heavy and bogged down...maybe I was a bit too excited at the start and started too fast? A pack of skiers from behind caught up to me and I tired to hang. I hung for a couple kilometers until a couple of them took off and I as left skiing with one other girl. We skied the entire second lap together. I began to feel a bit better toward the end, so I tired to gap the skier in the last 1/2 kilometer, but was unable to drop her. It came down to a sprint in the last 100 meters. Unfortunately, I did not have the strength in my arms to beat her in the double pole sprint...guess what place I ended up? Yep, 13th! Maybe if I knew I was racing for 12th place I could have mustered up the strength to not get 13th.

Hopefully, I have put all the 13th place finishes of the year behind me! I am spending Christmas in Vermont before I head to Rumford, Maine for US Nationals late next week. Getting psyched and ready...all for now!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Home Sweet Home

I arrived in Anchorage two weeks ago and was very excited to be home! From what I had heard, there was plenty of snow on the ground and the skiing was great! Well little did I know, I arrived just in time for a record breaking and unprecedented ice storm! As I was driving home from the airport at 2 am I asked my sister, "how can it be 24 degrees and raining?" I was perplexed.

I woke up later that morning and the roads were a complete sheet of ice! School was canceled, cars were in the ditch, people were falling on the ice...it was a mess! I was quite tired from traveling so I didn't plan on training much that day. I kept hoping the rain would stop and turn to snow...but that did not happen. Unfortunately the next two days was much of the same! I didn't loose hope, but I was beginning to wonder what I was going to do if I had to put up with the ucky weather the entire time I was home. The conditions outside were much to treacherous to do any activity, even walk! I took advantage of the indoor running track and even did some speed intervals, and I began to take a liking to swimming once again.

The forecast called for "snow likely" on thanksgiving day. I went to bed the night before just praying there would be snow when I woke up...and sure enough, there was!!!! I woke up to a winter wonderland and it continued to snow all day long. It felt more like Christmas to me than thanksgiving. I was sure thankful for the 8-10 inches of snow!

The skiing since then has been wonderful! It has been nice to catch up with friends and family. I am headed to Silver Star on Wednesday to prepare for the races this coming weekend. They will mark my first races of the season! I am feeling excited and ready. I will keep you posted on how they go!

A Recognition for Change

In order to be the best athlete you can be, it is important to listen to your body, your mind, and your heart. It is easy to get caught up in the daily or yearly training plan and do what you are “supposed” to do, but if your body isn’t responding, or if you mind isn’t in it, or if your heart isn’t there, you will not achieve what you are set out to do.

I came to this realization a couple months ago and recognized that I was going through the motions day in and day out but I wasn’t physically or mentally in the game. Instead of just grinding through it, I accepted the fact that something had to change. Since then, I’ve switched up a few things such as my training plan- listening more to my body and doing workouts suited to the way my body is feeling. I’ve also worked on finding balance in my life- between training, work, and rest. And lastly, I’ve opted out of some training camps to get a change of pace. Things are starting to come around with these few adjustments. I am enjoying skiing, especially now that we are on snow, and my body is responding.

So, instead of riding in a van to West Yellowstone for the first races of the season, and not to mention the 7^th year in a row, I am on a plane headed to Alaska. I plan to get a couple more weeks of training in before I kick off the race season in Silver Star, B.C. As I was packing today, I forgot what it felt like to pack for two months. No matter how hard I try, I never seem to be able to pack “light.” My bags always end up 50 pounds even! I guess it’s hard to pack light when you have 12 pairs of skis in your bag. Aawww, the joys of being a ski racer!

The Season is Just Around the Corner

Since my last post two weeks ago, I was able to get in a good week of on-snow ski training! The skiing, only 15 miles north of town, was absolutely wonderful! Ten inches of fresh groomed trails. The good skiing lasted about a week until some warmer weather rolled in and melted south facing sections of the trail. As of Thursday, it was still skiable but several sections were a bit bare. However, it snowed again last night and there is more snow in the forecast. It is definitely nice to have some early snow and to be able to transition from dryland roller-skiing to real skiing with plenty of time before the first races of the season.

Nice freshly groomed trails!

A big smile on my face for the first ski of the season!

The Community School cross-country running season wrapped up last weekend with several successful performances in Soda Spring, Idaho. The girls ran their way to a team first place finish in the small school division, with Annie Pokorny leading the team with a 4th place finish. The boys team, led by Max Crissman finished 4th place. Congratulations to both teams!

The girls, 1A state champions!

That is all for now, but I will keep you posted as the season hastily approaches!

Cheers!

It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like...

WINTER!!!!!

I woke up to the first snowfall of the season this morning! 33 degrees and dumping snow...the wet, mushy kind. In this type of weather the number of activities you can do are fairly limited, meaning you can't roller ski because conditions are treacherous and you cant ski because there isn't enough snow. The options are 1) run 2) spin (indoors) or 3) swim . I was quite antsy this morning and felt the urge to be outside in the fresh air, so I chose option 1. The higher I ran, the more snow there was, surprise surprise:) It was such a peaceful and quite run in the snow. I would much rather run in snowfall rather than rainfall! Tomorrow, I quite possibly will get the boards out and head up north to check out the skiing. I'll let you know how it is.

A look outside the window this morning!

On the running side of things, I have some exciting news...both Cutthroat girls and boys teams qualified for state!!! whahoo! It was definitely a close call, but they did it! Congratulations to all twelve runners on the team. We head to state, which are in Soda Springs Idaho (yes, that's where Napoleon Dynamite takes place) on Friday. We compete on Saturday, so please send some positive thoughts our way.

The girls at the start-line with their "fighting faces"

Running is Underway!

The cross-country running season is well underway! Once again, I have the privilege of helping with the Community School cross-country running team this fall. We have a very talented team whom has a very good chance of winning districts and qualifying for state! We've had three meets thus far, and have produced some great results!

The start of the girls varsity race

All smiles after placing 3rd, 1st & 6th

The boys team proves to be quite strong as well. We are short one guy to race as a team. Five runners are needed to rank the team as a team. We are in search of a fifth guy before the district meet in a 1 1/2 weeks! Luckily we have our eye on a soccer player whom we hope to recruit:)

Max finishing strong, ended up winning!

Eric getting psyched and ready for the race

This week our team is a bit disjointed...we have several runners who are skiers as well, so five of our runners are in Lake Placid, New York for a ski camp. Once they return, we are headed to districts. Wish us luck as we head into some big races these next couple weeks!

Smells like Fall

Today officially feels like fall! The leaves have reached their prime for changing colors, the rain is drizzling, and warm, yummy, comfort foods are stewing on the stove. I found this great recipe, thanks to Fine Cooking, that is perfect for the changing seasons! It is an easy one-pot meal, filled with many wonderful spices!

South Indian-Style Vegetable Curry

2 Tbs. canola oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 Tbs. tomato paste
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup light coconut milk
1 3-in cinnamon stick
4 cups cauliflower, broken into 1 1/2-inch florets
3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups tomatoes, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 cup carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 oz. baby spinach (about 4 lightly packed cups)
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. finely grated lime zest
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

In a 5-6 quart Dutch oven or other heavy-duty pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium (or medium-low if necessary) and cook until the onion is richly browned, 5 to 7 minutes more. Add the garlic and ginger, cook, stirring, for 1 minute to blend the flavors. Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne; stir for 30 seconds to toast the spices. Add the tomato paste and stir until well blended with the aromatics, about 1 minute.

Add broth, coconut milk, cinnamon stick, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low or low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots. Raise the heat to medium-high and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.

Stir in the chickpeas, spinach, lime juice, and zest; cook until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes more. Season to taste with salt. Serve garnished with cilantro.

Yum, yum! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Happy Fall!

U.S. Ski Team Camp in SV

The first week of camp with the U.S. Ski Team just finished up today. The week was filled with intensity, distance, speed, strength and over-distance work-outs.

The week began with a speed workout where we focused on good technique at high speeds. This entailed 3 sets of 6x15 sec speeds focusing on our starts in the first set, skiing smooth transitions around corners in the second set, and over-speed drop-ins in the third set. It is a very focused workout that sees improvements each time it is done.

Much to almost everyone's dismay, it poured rain for our 2 hour run! Now, I know this is Sun Valley, but it does rain occasionally. Everyone was a good sport and we had a great muddy and wet run!

Friday we had a tough workout...a skate sprint time trial. It was set up to simulate a real skate sprint race. Because of the limited number of areas to roller-ski here, we were not able to ski the rounds in heats. Instead, each round was started individually with 15 second intervals. Ultimately, it was a race against yourself each time.



Without much rest, we had a hard double-pole interval workout the next day. 5x3min double-pole up a gradual hill. I was pretty tired from the previous days workout, but it was good to get another hard effort in. Later that afternoon, the SV ODT and the U.S. Ski Team were invited to play field games with the Sun Valley devo and prep team, ages 6-12. We played flag tag and had fun with relays.

Today we went on a great run in the Sawtooth Mountains, at Redfish Lake. The weather was beautiful and the workout was fun. To top off our three hour run, we stopped at Mikey's cabin at Petite Lake and enjoyed a barbecue of great food, thanks to Carol Sinnott, swam in the lake, played bochi and horse shoes, and enjoyed hanging in the sun! Thanks you Sinnotts!

We have a day off scheduled for tomorrow before we head into another week of full-on training. Definitely looking forward to it!

Adventure

After a hard week of training on the glacier, a recovery week was much needed. I took advantage of an easier week and went on some fun adventures in Alaska with my sister, Kristy. We drove 7 hours East of Anchorage to the McCarthy Kennecott area, located at the foot of the Wrangell Mountains. The drive there is not an easy one, seeing as it takes over 2 hours to drive the last 50 miles. We loaded down the car with bikes, backpacks, rain gear, tent, food, water, and everything else we thought we might need for the next five days.


In order to get to McCarthy, you have to park at the end of the road, cross a foot bridge and walk or bike 1.5 miles. Even though the town is quite small with a population of about 40-50, it is a popular tourist destination in the summer. Five miles up the road is Kennecott mine. This area is full of artifacts and history from its mining days in the early 1900's. Copper was discovered in Kennecott in 1900 and the mines and the town of Kennecott were built quickly after the discovery. By 1938 the copper deposits in the mountain were gone and the town was completely abandoned. Over the 30 years that the mine was up and running, $200 million in ore was extracted, making it the richest concentration of copper in the world!


We had fun exploring the old mining town and reading about the history from that time. We ventured out on some cool hikes that took us to a couple of the mining sights. As you can see from the pictures, several artifacts were left by the miners long ago.


Despite some pretty wet, rainy weather and a few run-ins with bears, we had a great time!

During my time in AK, I went on several hikes in the Anchorage area. It does not take long to drive out of the city and be in the middle of nowhere. Kristy and I took advantage of a beautiful sunny day and ran back to a lake called symphony lake. The views are always beautiful there, rain or shine.


I am back in Ketchum and looking forward to a 10 day training camp with the U.S. Ski Team in a week. Fortunately, the team is coming to Sun Valley to take advantage of the great facilities and the endless trails we have in this area. Looking forward to some good training! I'll keep you updated!

A Big Week of Skiing!

I just finished up a 26 hour week of skiing on Eagle Glacier! The glacier is located just outside of Girdwood, Alaska and sits at 5,500 feet. Thanks to Alaska Pacific University Ski Team, I and a few other guest athletes were invited to train at their August camp. We spent the week focusing on skiing and skiing only. Days were spent skiing twice a day, reviewing technique, resting, eating (a lot!), and sleeping. The accommodations were nothing fancy...25 people bunking in one moderately sized building with one kitchen, and two bathrooms. But I do have to say that we ate like kings and queens up there!

The skiing was great! In August the snow is usually a bit wet and slow and crevasses become visible. These conditions are not always the most fun to ski in, but it is good to practice in because you never know when you will have to race in them! (The conditions were similar to those found in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics.) Our first couple days were filled with sunshine, but that quickly changed to clouds, fog, rain and wind. The weather changes very quickly up there...you might begin a workout in the sun but it might change to rain and fog by the end. While the sunny days were fewer than the rainy and foggy days, it was those sunny days that made up for the less pleasant ones. I have to say that it is one of my favorite places to be on a nice day!

A great advantage of going up to the glacier is getting the opportunity to train with new people and a different team. It is always interesting to see how other teams train and to try new things. APU has a great team of very talented athletes, so it was fun for me to get to train both easy and hard with the girls.

After being surrounded by white snow and lots of white clouds for a week, it is fun to hike down into the lush green forests. A two hour hike across the glacier, down scree, glassading on snow, and bush-wacking through thick brush brings you to Crow Creek road.

Overall the week up the glacier was very successful. Many hours of good hard training were put in the bank. I am sticking around Alaska for another 10 days to enjoy some fun adventures and to spend time with friends and family.

Up to the Glacier I Go!

I flew into Anchorage Thursday evening and I am headed up to Eagle Glacier this afternoon to ski for the next week. It is always nice to spend a week or two on snow during the summer. In the midst of all the summer time roller skiing and training, getting on snow is a good reminder of what I do and why I do it.

It sounds like conditions are good up there and hopefully the weather will cooperate! On a sunny day it is the most beautiful place in the world....if the wind, rain and fog set in, it can get a little old.

Sorry for the briefness of this blog, but I will be sure to give a full update with lots of pictures when I return in a week!

Looking out over the glacier

Mixing it Up

My oh my...the summer is slipping by way too fast! It is already the middle of July and it feels as if summer just began!

The past couple weeks I have been enjoying some new modes of training. Despite my cautious timidity on a mountain bike, I've been biking more to work on getting over my fear of falling. Luckily, mountain biking is one of those things that the more you do and the more you work on it, the better you get! I am getting better at riding more technical trails and I'm actually riding over all those roots, rocks and stream crossings. I have yet to improve on my downhill speed though.

Along with mountain biking, I've enjoyed a few road bike rides as well. Now, just to give you an idea...there is one highway through town, so you have two options: 1) ride north OR 2) ride south. While the terrain options are few, I've learned that it's a great alternative to running and roller skiing and helps to mix up the training. It probably helps when you are borrowing someone's road bike that's worth $10,000!!!

I've incorporated some swimming into my recovery workouts, although let me tell you....I got suckered into swimming with the masters swim team the other day, and they are FAST!!!! whew! It wasn't much of a "recovery" workout. After a 500 m warm-up, we proceeded to do 5 sets of 3x100m and then 10x50m every 45 seconds! After swimming about 2,500m in an hour, I was exhausted! I am still deciding if I want to go back this week.

We tried some new resistance speed training at practice. Our speed workout on roller skis consists of a 30 min warm-up, then 3 sets of 6x20 sec speeds with various techniques. We tried something new this time...we put a bungee around our waist and then pulled our coach behind us on a skate board. While it sounds and looks a bit bizarre, it was a good way to add resistance while trying to keep the tempo up. Hopefully it will make us strong! Here's a picture to give you an idea...


I am looking forward to a trip to Alaska in two weeks! A couple teammates and I am joining the APU team and skiing on Eagle Glacier for a week. Should be some good training!

Until next time!

Happy Forth of July!

Usually the 4th of July finds me celebrating and enjoying the company of friends and family in Seward Alaska, but not this year. I am currently in Sun Valley, Idaho in the midst of moving! I have to admit that moving is not much fun...lots of cleaning, throwing, lifting and not to mention really exhausting! I am trying to get it all done as fast as I can, so I can put my feet up tonight and enjoy some dinner with friends and go to the fireworks!

A lot has happened in the past two weeks! To begin, last week we celebrated Olympic Day at the YMCA. Olympic guest athletes, Morgan Arritola and Jon Engen joined in on the fun. The day opened with a video from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. The video got the kids really excited! Morgan gave a talk about her Olympic experience and the importance of respect. We've been trying to instill the YMCA core value of respect, so it was very appropriate. We preceded to go to the park and play games, do relays, and enjoy some cookies and lemonade. The kids had a great time and it was fun to see their excitement for the Olympics.


Now that summer has finally sprung, our team decided to hike a peak last week. Not much to our surprise, we tromped through a lot of snow! We hiked Hyndman Peak, approximately 12,000 ft. We knew we were going to run into a lot of snow, but we didn't anticipate post-holing for 2 hours! Despite the long trek through snow, we had a great time! It was a beautiful, sunny day, so there wasn't much to complain about.

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Have a happy 4th of July!
Cheers!

It's beginning to feel like SUMMER!

I was beginning to wonder if summer was ever going to arrive here in Sun Valley. It has been a long, cold spring. This past week felt more like summer and it looks as if more sun is just around the corner...just in time for summer solstice, tomorrow!

With the longer days of summer come some busy and fun-packed days! While I am in the thick of training, I am also spending much of my time at the YMCA summer camp. Last week we enjoyed taking a tour of the world, exploring and learning about a different country each day. This week we had fun finding treasures in scavenger hunts all over town! We have 20-25 kids each day, and they arrive every morning with a bundle of energy. It's been really fun to work with the kids day in and day out.

Julian, sporting his Samurai hat

This coming week we are exploring the difference between magic and science with some fun experiments. On Wednesday, June 23rd, I am organizing a celebration for Olympic Day. I'll be sure to update on all the fun activities of the day.

The girls having fun at the park

Until then....keep enjoying the summer!

Update

The last two weeks in Bend helped me jump-start my volume training for the season. We spent 2-3 hours skiing at Mt. Bachelor in the morning and did a dryland workout in the afternoon. My total volume was more than I had done since last fall. It was good to get back into the training schedule, despite the less than desirable weather. We experienced some snow the first few days, until it turned to rain. Unfortunately, our 3 hour over-distance ski fell on the day where it poured ALL day! Bend is usually known for its sunny days, but that was not the case this time.

We managed to have one sunny day!

I returned to Sun Valley just in time to help with the Sun Valley half marathon. While I was a little jealous not to race in it, I had fun helping with the Kid's Zone. There were several activities for kid's including the bouncy castle, face painting, relay races, karaoke, and a kid's running race. Here are several picture from the day's event:

Bend Bound

It's that time of year again...Bend Camp! Every year the season kicks off with an on-snow ski camp in Bend, Oregon. Fortunately, Mt. Bachelor gets a ton of snow during the winter and it holds through May and into June, making for some good spring skiing. Although, it's a bit difficult to tell its spring right now. Yesterday I woke up to a couple inches of snow on the ground and today on our drive from Sun Valley to Bend, we ran into some snow in Boise...CRAZY! Not too common for this time of year.

Its a good thing we came with our skis and we are ready to put in some hours on snow. I will keep you posted on the conditions and how the training goes the rest of the week!

More later!

Back in Full-Swing

Not only am I back in full-swing training mode, but I am back in full-swing at the YMCA Kid's Club too! It was nice to be welcomed back by so many hugs and smiley faces. I received a lot of "Nicole, where have you been?" "yay, you're back," "you're the fun one," etc. It definitely made me feel pretty welcomed.

These past few weeks have been filled with playing games, reading, swimming, arts and crafts, and much more. The kids definitely keep me busy and I enjoy spending time with them. Once the weather starts to get nice, we will spend more time outside, playing games and hiking. I'm ready for that!

Here's a look at our schedule for the rest of the week:

A New Season

The 2010-2011 season officially begins today! In preparation for a new season, there is a lot of evaluation and refection of last season. Today I filled out a goal sheet, defining what steps I need to make along the way to achieve my goals. These goals range from small tasks, such as improving technique, to testing goals and ultimately performance goals.

As part of my reflection on last year, I looked through my training log which details the training I have done every day this year. Through my analysis, I came up with some interesting statistics for the 2009-2010 training season. Here are a few:

Total training hours: 674 hrs
Number of races: 28
Number of hours skiing on snow: 167 hrs
Number of hours running: 245
Number of hours roller skiing: 143
Number of hours of strength: 67
Month with highest volume: September: 70 hrs
First ski of the season: October 13
Countries I raced in: U.S., Canada, France, Slovenia
Coldest race: -2F degrees, Bozeman, MT
Best results: 1st place: 20k Aspen Owl Creek Chase
6th place: 5k classic, Slovenia OPA cup race
6th place: 30k skate, U.S. Nationals in Maine

It goes to show, there is a lot of time and effort that goes into training. My training log is a very helpful tool that allows me to analyze what I did the previous season and helps me determine what I need to change as I begin a new season.

Let the new season begin!

A Little Break

Its been two weeks since the season ended and the gears have changed. After 4 1/2 months of none stop racing and traveling, it is nice to be settled in one place and enjoy a change of pace. A change of pace entails alpine skiing on the mountain, not worrying about what time I go to bed, treating myself to junk food, hanging out with friends, not training if I don't feel like it, etc.

April is considered our "off" month. While it is okay to do the things listed above, it is still important to maintain active training and recovery. I don't really like to call it training, instead I consider it having fun doing other activities, such as alpine skiing, back-country skiing, crust skiing, biking, swimming, running, hiking, and climbing.

I am back in Sun Valley and spring is approaching very slowly. Last week I arrived just in time for a snow storm, dumping 24 inches in the mountains. The sun finally peaked out two days ago, but temperatures are still a bit chilly. Normally I would be ready to put the skis away, but the fresh snow is very convincing. I've been alpine skiing, tele skiing, and cross-country skiing in mid-winter conditions! Unbelievable...winter isn't over yet!

All in all it is nice to have a break. I'ts going to fly by fast, so I am going to be sure I enjoy it!

My friend Noi and I, enjoying a spectacular day of skiing on Baldy

Super Tour Finals

The Super Tour finals concluded yesterday with the 5/6k hill climb. The format for the finals this weekend included a 5/10k classic race on Friday, a classic sprint on Saturday and a 5/6k skate hill climb on Sunday. To add to the fun, preems, both in the form of cash and time, were given to racers who crossed preem lines first in the classic race and racers who finished in the top 30 of the classic sprint. Depending on your finish time and the possible preems that were acquired, each racer lined up pursuit style for the final hill climb. This meant that since Kikkan had won all the races and preems the previous two days, she had a starting time of 1 min 23 sec ahead of the next racer, Rebecca Dussault.

I started with bib 10, a few places further back than I anticipated. I had a unfortunate mishap in the classic sprint, resulting in a low placing and a 1 minute penalty. After skiing a strong qualifying round that put me in 6th place, I entered the quarterfinals feeling good and ready to ski fast. As I was approaching an icy corner, with a little bit of a lead, my ski slipped from underneath me and I fell on my pole. I quickly got back up, after everyone had passed and realized that my left pole was broken in half. I did my best to ski up the long climb with one pole but I quickly lost more and more ground. Once I finally got a pole, at the top of the hill, it was too late to make up lost time. I ended up 6th in my quarterfinal, which put me in 26th place overall. Bummer!!!!

I went into Sundays hill climb fired up and ready to ski fast! After the first kilometer, I had already passed three girls...I was on a mission. Once I reached the 1000 meter climb straight up the alpine area, I did my best to catch the next girls in front of me. Whoa, it was a tough climb but I managed to catch another racer. With only 1k to the finish I gave it everything. I ended up 6th!

For some reason, 6th place was MY number for the week! I finished 6th in the 30k skate, 5k classic, sprint qualifier, and in the overall supertour final...all I can say is, at least I was consistent.

The season is officially over and I am already excited for next season...after a little break of course. I am headed back to Sun Valley where I will enjoy some R&R and will resume my work at the YMCA.

Fast & Female in Madawaska!

Fast and Female expanded it wings yesterday with a successful event in Madawaska, Maine. With over 150 girls, the day was filled with skiing, games, lunch, Q & A time, and autograph signing.


Fast & Female was originally started by Canadian skier, Chandra Crawford. U.S. skier, Kikkan Randall was inspired by the mission and values of the organization and launched a U.S. version of Fast & Female in Anchorage, Alaska two years ago. This wonderful organization promotes young girls to live an active and healthy lifestyle. Fast and Female hosts events led by athletic champions who serve as healthy role models and inspire girls to gain the confidence and leadership they need to reach their full potential in life and sports.

Me and my new friends in Madawaska

Yesterdays event was a huge success! Not only did we have a large group of girls, but the girls were very enthusiastic and excited to ski and to have all the US National women competitors ski with them. We had fun skiing, playing games, eating and signing posters.

Playing a game of sharks and minnows

The Supertour Finals kick off today. Here is the schedule of events:

Friday, March 26: 3:30pm- men's 10k classic mass-start
5:00pm- women's 7k classic mass-start

Saturday, March 27: 10:00am- 1.3k Classic Sprint Qualifier
2:00pm- Rounds begin

Sunday, March 28: 10:00am- men's 6k skate hill climb
10:30am- women's 5k skate hill climb

You can stay up to date with Live results on www.summittiming.com