I picked up a few new pairs of 2011 Salomon skis this year while I was racing in Europe. They are awesome. Chuck, you have to try this wet klister ski. Mark and Nordic Ultratune help me manage my ski fleet each year. Mark does some of the best stone grinds in the world including many skis that [...]
I used to think that there was very little technique in running. Then, I met this guy named Andrew on the back porch of Winthrop Mountain Sports and he helped me go from a 10:01 3000m to a 9:17, thats 7.5%. Andrew Nelson owns and runs Altius Physical Therapy in Winthrop. Okay, so I have done [...]
Huge thanks to Nordic Ultratune for sponsoring an excellent camp to Sovereign Lakes for some great spring skiing and training. Summer skiing made a huge difference for me last season. After the CXC May Camp I flew out to Spokane, WA and met up with Mark and Margaret for the trip to Vernon, BC. Sovereign Lakes Nordic Center groomed 10-15km [...]
The first CXC Team Vertical Limit training camp of the 2010-2011 was the first week of May and I am finally catching up on web posts and pictures. Expect a number of posts in the next few days as it has been a busy and exciting May. We got right after it with a VO2 [...]
The Birkie Foundation had a little work party on Saturday to get the expanded Double O parking lot ready to be seeded. 10 of us enjoyed catching up on spring adventures and left the lot smooth enough to be a soccer field.
I usually like to go someplace for at least a week or two. This spring has been busy, but I was able to take a long weekend to celebrate my good friend Andre’s wedding. Thanks sis, for helping me out with some airline credit and thank-you Sun Country for the 4-hour fare sale that just happened [...]
The springtime in the Midwest has been beautiful. I alway enjoy playing outside but the warm sun of spring draws you to do everything outdoors. The last few weeks I have had the chance to be at the Club everyday. It is great to be with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club regularly. My main goals [...]
What better way to experience a new piece of fruit than to buy it and bring it back to the LCO Boys and Girls Club. Together we goggled ’spiky fruit’ and were able to find images and information about the Durian. The fruit doesn’t smell very good. One article mentioned that in some places the fruit is banned in [...]
I spent the past weekend in the Big Apple. I really have never lived in a big city so everything was pretty new to me. Experiencing such a different lifestyle was fun and a great way to mentally recover and relax after the race season. The train was a great way to arrive into the city. [...]
The sun finally burned off the clouds and rain and the last few days in Vermont have been beautiful. I believe the high the other day was 82 degrees. We decided to stay a bit longer in VT to enjoy the great weather.
Having a great time out in Vermont. Everyday we visit a classroom or school to give a talk about skiing and Caitlin’s Olympic experience. The community is way into it. Thanks to Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) for hosting us. Most of the kids here in town have Caitlin’s signature. Some on slips [...]
It has been a busy March. 10 races in 18 day including 2 50km and a trans-atlantic flight. I am thankful that I was able to stay relatively healthy and felt good through all the races. One of the reasons I race all the races at Super Tour finals was to defend my Super [...]
Saturday: 50F and Sunny, Sunday: 6″ fresh snow Sunday couldn’t have been more different than Saturday. It snowed really hard most of the morning and the groomers were running laps all the way up to the start of the race. Handicap start meant that racers started based on there finishes in the prior 3 races. My handicap [...]
After Saturday’s race I talked to a photographer, who I believe is Leif Lillandt. I was kind of upset and a bit out of it at the time. He sent me a link to these photos from his picasa site. He has some great photos from the race. Check them out at http://picasaweb.google.se/Leif.Lillandt/FISWCFinal2010FalunMarch20th#5451237728880957698
The entire pack was more or less together at 4.5km going into the bridge. Then things got messy. This made me so mad. I have been feeling really good in my classic skiing and had great skis. I was sitting around 40th and skiing comfortable. I am usually pretty good at anticipating the flow of traffic [...]
The big climb here in Falun is called the Mordarbacken. Todays race went up it 1.5 times. We will race up the hill in the next two races also. I look forward to hills. Eespecially long steep ones like this. 3.3km Prologue I felt good today. The coaches and techs did a great job helping [...]
Focused on racing as fast as I can, +16 seconds out today. My goal was to be ahead of some of the ‘distance’ skiers so I am a bit disappointed. Still, I minimized the damage today and I am looking forward to the next few races, especially the 20km and 15km. The remaining races are [...]
The World Cup consists of all the best skiers in the world. World Cup Finals are even more elite. Competitors must be: Ranked Top 50 on the World Cup, U23 World Champions or Continental Cup Leader. As the Continental Cup (SuperTour) Leader I have the good fortune of being able to compete as part [...]
Congratulations Kikkan on 2nd place, earning another US Podium. Newell finished moved on to the semi finals with a really good final lunge and finished 10th. Marit Bjorgen has had an impressive month, including winning all 3 World Cup races in Norway. Racing a sprint the day after the 50km was different. The race felt very [...]