Yesterday morning Scott, myself, Brian Gregg and Sadie Bjornsen piled into Scott’s Eurovan and made the seven and a half hour drive to Bend, Oregon for our first official MOD Team training camp. For the next seven days we’ll eat, sleep and train in the glorious tradition of cross-country ski training camps. We’re lucky enough to be hosted by Scott’s good friend and U.S. skiing legend Dick Hunt, who has a spacious condo only twenty minutes from the mountain venue.br /br /Today’s morning on-snow workout couldn’t have been more ideal. We arrived at the Nordic center and greeted the other U.S. athletes who have showed up to get this last bit of winter. The US Ski Team, along with various Regional Elite teams like ours are all in attendance and the trails are buzzing with the familiar excitement of the race circuit. The difference, however, lies in everyone’s relaxed attitude: only a few weeks into the 2009 dryland season we are all focused on low-level intensity, building volume and strength for the upcoming months. Racing is the farthest thing from anyone’s mind right now and it shows in the periodic greetings and trailside chats that occured during the morning’s ski. We were able to spend two hours working on our classic technique on the softening corn snow, with most of us using the newer “Zero” model classic skis, which boast a synthetic kick zone ideal for warmer and wetter snow conditions.br /br /This afternoon’s workout involved some lactate testing to establish our base training zones for the season. Another bout of dinner and relaxation, and it’s go-time again tomorrow morning. Stay tuned…div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-9165170615448227415?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’//div
