Life in Park City

Happy 4th Anniversary Brian :)

Happy to be in the Mountains again.

My first couple of weeks on the US Ski Team have been amazing. As an athlete I am overwhelmed by the amount of support and opportunities that have been presented to me in just two weeks. My teammates have been incredible and I am constantly inspired by their hard work and talents everyday. Although I wasn't too psyched with my fitness coming into this first camp I was blown away by the performances and technical proficiency of the athletes who I now call my teammates. I am really excited about the year to come.

Testing classic skiing Max VO2 on the treadmill.

The amount of support here at the USSA Center of Excellence or the COE is phenomenal. I have had my fitness tested, my body symmetry tested, my strength tested, my weaknesses revealed, access to a fully loaded weight training facility complete with expert coaches. We have a PT department that is integrated with the strength and conditioning staff as well as the medical staff as well as our coaches. We have our blood looked at, our nutrition looked at a chef who prepares nutritious meals everyday at lunch and sometimes even dinner too! I am beyond impressed and excited to continue working with so many people who can support my training and recovery.

A small part of the weight room.

Jim Stray Gunderson also has a facility at the COE. He is an expert in the field of altitude training and I look forward to talking to him about my training and travel schedule so I can maximize my benefit of living up so high for so long combined with my time at home at almost sea level. Jim let Brian and I hang out in one of his "ice bath" nitrogen chambers. It was amazing and I felt great the next day!

Ready to freeze :)

Our first camp was a mix of testing, distance workouts, speed and a few small doses of higher intensity.

The whole crew out for a distance run.

We had social time too and got to get creative at the Adam's house while we were there for a Pizza Party! 

I made a spicy turtle.

I also made a monster themed calzone (he is on the left)

Brian and I are pretty lucky to get to spend so much time together. We had a fun couple of days once camp was over too enjoy some relaxing workouts, some time with friends and get organized for the massive year of training and racing ahead of us.

Enjoying reaching new heights (peaks)!

Brian and I made the drive down to Salt Lake City for our first lower elevation (4,000 ft) workout. We both felt great which lets us know that the living high concept is actually helping. More on the science and theories behind this in my next post. We have a massive week of training next week with great weather so we look forward to being good and tired! We have multiple sessions on the treadmill at the COE working on my classic and double pole technique. More on this next time too!

Back to work with L-3 running intervals down in Salt Lake City.

Representing Madshus! Always!!!