All About the Books, Sargent Pursues a Master’s While Revving Up for World Cup

At 28 years old, Vermont native and U.S. Ski Team A-team member Ida Sargent comes with a well-rounded perspective and end-game. Her results from last season’s final leg of domestic racing in at her home course in Craftsbury, Vt., speak to that premise. In a loaded field, Sargent placed second in the 1.5-kilometer classic sprint and second in the 30 k classic mass start. 

On the World Cup, Sargent ended the 2015/2016 campaign ranked 23rd overall on the final sprint list. (Her best-ever overall final ranking on the World Cup was 22nd in 2013.) Since 2012, she’s earned 14 individual top 10’s.

Reached by phone in Craftsbury, Sargent, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), said she has focused her energies on high-quality training sessions this year, sounding like a mature athlete able to monitor when to rest and when to push.

“Just really doing a good job monitoring my recovery, making sure that I’m paying attention to how my body feels and when I can push it a little bit more and not being afraid to just doing a little more and knowing when to back off. Paying attention to those things,” Sargent said. “I am starting to have a much better read on my body and I am able to figure out what I need and trying to have the confidence to do those things and really focus on what I need myself.”

With experience, Sargent explained she believes she’s less likely to get mired in the training-numbers game.

“I think it is always something that is hard. You want to always do more and more and more and … you get this this feeling, but it’s just kind of like it’s easy to fall into the trap that more is better. And I think I’ve done decent amount of intensity and trying to really hit those and when its not working anymore I’m taking a break with that.”

This coming season, Sargent explained she is emphasizing the sprints but with an eye toward improving her distance skiing. She also thought of how to best position herself for the long World Cup calendar.

World Cup racing begins Nov. 26 in Kuusamo, Finland, and runs through March 19 with World Cup Finals in Tyumen, Russia.

“I am going to go home before Christmas which I am really looking forward to,” Sargent said. “Having a little time at home for Christmas this year to get that recharge, which is really important for me mentally. I will start the Tour de Ski [which begins Dec. 31 with a freestyle sprint in Val Mustair, Switzerland] but will probably drop out after a stage or two.”

Also on Sargent’s radar is a master’s degree in public health. She started her studies this summer through an online program at the University of Vermont.

“At first when I completed my undergrad at Dartmouth, it was great, but at the end, I was ready to just ski full time. And was very excited to do that,” Sargent said of her motivation to pursue another degree (in addition to her bachelor’s in biology and physiology). “I think it always gets to me, especially later in the winter when you get towards the end of the season, and you aren’t training as much and you are peaking for races, and you are training only for an hour or an hour and a half a day — and when we are on the road during that time, it’s a lot of time to spend sitting in a hotel room. And, I’m not a big fan of TV and don’t watch that much of it. I do a lot of reading. I kind of felt like, I love ski racing and I love this lifestyle, there are so many other things I want to be doing. If I have the time, why not do some of it at the same time? So I think I’ll keep it very part time, especially during the fall when the training is a little bit more intense, … in the winter, when I am settling into hotel-room life. I think it will keep me stimulated to have something else going on.”

It’s also worth mentioning Sargent’s more elaborate response to question 14 listed below: If you could change one thing about your sport, what would it be?

Like many endurance athletes across generations, Sargent was motivated by others chasing athletic dreams. Her’s was a perspective where doping wasn’t part of what she was witnessing on the ski tracks or athletic fields.

“When I was younger it was really just always so inspired by all the different role models that were competing and chasing their dreams and setting new records, chasing Olympic medals,” she said. “I was just continually inspired by one athlete after another. And wanting to be like that, it never crossed my mind. Maybe I was just really naive, but I always the last one to pick up on the potential dopers. I used to watch the Tour de France, and I was obviously very naive, but I was a Lance [Armstrong] fan to the end. I was like, this is such a great story.

“For me, sport has always been this inspiring pursuit and it’s only recently I’ve started to question,” she continued. “And seeing incredible performances like watching the 2016 [Summer] Olympics — it’s one of true, first times I would see an incredible world-record performance and the first thought through my mind wasn’t just, ‘Wow! Isn’t that amazing?’ but, ‘Hmmm, I wonder if that one is questionable?’ And so I just think it is really unfortunate that can even happen and I hope it doesn’t continue to a place where it becomes more commonplace and kids that are following in our footsteps and coming up to the junior ranks, are not seeing the sport as tarnished cheating and instead are filled with inspiration and passion and hard work.”

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We asked Sargent to give our ’17 Questions for 2017′ a go. Here are her responses:

1. Biggest change in your life in the last five or so months since the ski season ended?

I started working towards my Masters in Public Health.  I will be taking a couple online classes through UVM so while my focus will still be on skiing I’m looking forward to having some mental balance and using my brain again after a four year break from school.  I was inspired by [U.S. teammate] Sadie [Bjornsen] who went straight from her undergraduate to masters classes and I’m looking forward to having some study hall time with her this year on the road.