IN THE ARENA WITH CAITLIN: Collaboration

The National Nordic Foundation is the leading grassroots Nordic sport development organization in the country. We are transparent in our funding, from revenues collected to the allocation of our funds.

The NNF Mission is to support athletic excellence in developing Nordic athletes in the United States

You can read more about Team Gregg's experiences BEFORE and AFTER the National Nordic Foundation was created in this piece written by Brian: Caitlin's Story

Thank you to the National Nordic Foundation for believing in Team Gregg and helping us reach our goals!

Brian and I are forever grateful for the support we have received from the National Nordic Foundation. We will support this organization and it's mission for the rest of our lives.

Brian and I are still in Canmore, AB. We have now been here a month and we are both feeling great! The focused training and even more importantly the focused recovery has allowed us to make huge gains as we enter the season. With less than two weeks to go we are both excited to see where our fitness currently is.

Last week we encountered some of the warmest weather ever recorded in Canmore during the month of November. Frozen Thunder was beginning to show some large dirt areas and rocks were starting to appear. We switched back to our training skis and even decided roller skiing would be the best workout option one morning. Although we also wanted a sustained v1 climb for intervals.

Of course as soon as we brought the roller skis and road ferrules out...it started snowing!!!

Back to the Rollerskis :(

We had a great group of athletes join together for the workout. Athletes from Capitol Regional Training Group, Rocky Mountain Racers, Enevoldsen Sports and of course Team Gregg. The workout was 6 x 4 mins at L-4 uphill. There is a great road called Silver Tip that was steep and allowed us to get in 2 intervals before we hit the top. Thanks to Camille Cheskey who once again stepped up and supported the workout as our awesome driver and photographer!!!

Starting the interval.

Re-grouping before the second interval of the set.

Brian was on fire and charging hard!

AHHHHH!!!!!! No wonder why he was skiing so FAST!!!

By the end of the workout the snow was coming down hard!

Adam, a junior from Edmonton enjoyed watching the older athletes breathing hard while he finished a distance ski.

Finding a dry spot in 'Timber' to test my lactate.

By the last interval the road was starting to get pretty slick but we finished the workout!

By the next morning we found winter once again and were blessed with tons of fluffy snow! Apparently our roller ski snow-dance worked.

Since we arrived in Canmore, Brian and I have been welcomed and included in numerous workouts and adventures with the numerous teams based out of Alberta as well as athletes who were in town for the Biathlon and XC trials two weeks ago.

This week CXC arrived and it has been awesome to have them in town to train with. They made the drive out just before the storm and timed it just right to have their first couple of skis be absolutely prefect out in Lake Louise! We spent 3 solid weeks training in Marquette this fall with CXC so it was fun to catch up with everyone.

Kyle Bratrud, Andy Keller and Oscar Friedman. Not shown are Jan Ketterson and Felicia Geisor who are also in town.

Kyle Bratrud and Oscar Friedman.

Karen Messanger ready for some intervals out in Lake Louise! She is taking on some inspiring marathon racing around the world this winter!

Mike Mappin and his wife Judy (who was training in the gym this morning) are some extremely talented ski fleet analyzers. I have been having a blast sharing my knowledge and passion for all of my Madshus skis with them and the Canadian athletes who race on Madshus :)

Robin McKeever the head coach of the Canadian Paralympic XC Team and his brother, Gold Medalist Brain McKeever have been huge resources for technique and training advice.

Annika Hicks and Patrick Stewart Jones of the Alberta World Cup Academy. The Alberta World Cup Academy has allowed us to join in with their athletes for workouts and been very supportive with video from those sessions.

The Rocky Mountain Racers and my awesome friend Andrea Dupont (who has perhaps taught me more about sprint racing than anyone else!?!?) let me join their group for a challenging Classic Sprint workout last weekend! Luke McGurk coached the session and Camille supported me with dialed classic kick!