Namekagon Art Festival and the CXC Summer Championships

This past weekend the CXC Team put on a one day event that include the three different types of racing that we encounter throughout the ski season. These races included a running distance event (in place of a distance ski event), a prologue classic ski, and a sprint skate ski with rounds.

The goal of the event was to get the community involved in our time trials and allow the kids who are up at Telemark with us the opportunity to go head to head with World Championship and Olympic Athletes! Pretty Sweet!

For me the event was my first attempt at racing since the end of the ski season in March. I have been pretty busy with life and while I have maintained my fitness I have been very careful about pushing myself too far, for fear of overdoing it. The plan seemed to have worked out well. While I was not the fastest in any of the three events, I have a great starting place to build from.

The results from the 5K trail run (aka Hill Climb). Here

The double pole (classic prologue) is my weakness. I have been focusing a lot on improving my double poling, as it relates a lot to my lower results in classic skiing, and feeling like I have been making the technical gains I need.

The last event was a skate sprint that was held in downtown Cable, WI. The town is very small but hosts some of the biggest endurance sporting events in the country for Cross Country Skiing and Mountain Biking. These events are the Chequamegon Fat Tire Mountain Bike race and the American Birkebeiner Cross Country Ski race.

We woke up the small town on Saturday night with skate sprint heats. The heats were based off of the classic prologue (not typical). Unfortunately I had a nasty crash in my first round. Jessie broke a pole and the pole fell right between my legs. I went down hard but bounced back up and moved onto the final. In the final I was able to ski aggressively and move from fourth up to second in the finishing straight. I held onto second and learned a lot about tactics and racing from the entire day's events.

Moving forward... I have some work to do... I look forward to the challenge and will report back about how my results progress!

Working with Andrew Nelson

A few weeks ago I had the chance to work with Andrew Nelson. Andrew Nelson is a Physical Therapist in the Methow Valley of Washington. Brian and I were visiting his parents and finalizing wedding preparations after our final races in Sun Valley. Brian has wanted me to work with Andrew for quite a while and this was the time when he was available.

When I went in to see Andrew I learned a lot about bio-mechanics and how your foot alignment can altar the rest of your alignment in your entire body. Andrew looked at my feet extensively and found a number of weaknesses. I have been able to use my muscles in my lower leg to compensate where my feet failed to support me. My feet seem to collapse as soon as I put pressure on them. This leaves me with a lack of balance and coordination that is crucial for Nordic Skiing.

Andrew developed a kind of Footbed/ Orthodic for my feet that puts me into a more stabilized position. I can now generate much more power off of each step, stride, etc... when my foot has a more rigid platform to push against.

The results have been awesome in my training as well. I have never used a Footbed or Orthodic before so I was a little nervous about how my body would feel and how my knees and other joints would respond. So far everything has been excellent. I have found my balance and stability increase and my glide and power on skis to be extremely positive.

I never wanted to think that I would have a deficit in my alignment or ligaments that would inhibit me but I guess this is all a part of being an athlete and growing older :)

Wedding Bells ringing in Washington

Just over a week ago fellow ITA and CXC member Brian Gregg and I were married high above his parent's house in Winthrop, WA. The entire day was incredible and having so many friends and family there was the best part of the entire event. I got to reconnect with people who I had not seen in years and share the most important day of my life with both Brian's family and my own. My sister was my flower girl and even though there is 16 years between us and we do not get to see each other more then once every 3-4 years, we bonded and became great friends.

Refinishing hardwood floors!!!

After our new house closed on Wednesday Brian and I decided to start work immediately. The house has no shortage of projects to yet Brian and I do not have a ton of time. We quickly realized that we had a deadline of Monday morning looming over our heads as we prepared to conquer the hardwood floors in the living room and bedroom. While I was outside with Lahti, Brian yelled excitingly for me to meet him in the kitchen.  Brian was kneeling down over the linoleum peel and stick tiles with one of the tiles lifted up at the corner. Underneath the tiles was a  very dark brown linoleum floor. We looked at each other and began to ripped the tiles up one after another.

After we had taken most of the tiles out I couldn't help but be overcome by the noxious odor. The tiles were stuck down to the wooden floors with a sort of glue that smelled absolutely terrible and the left the floors incredibly sticky even after the tiles were removed. After scrubbing the glue with all kinds of solvents and using a ton of elbow grease we were able to "bust through" the layer of glue with a hand sander that we had rented!

It's now been over 30 hours that Brian and I have put into the floors at our house. We were able to rent the sanding equipment for free from the neighborhood association and we saved thousands of dollars and increased the value of the home. Here are the after pictures that show what the new place looks like.

Same kitchen but different angle. This is the floors before the oil-finish was added!

Beautiful! Phew, I am tired!!!

Back Home and Ready for the Next Season!

Last year let me with big decisions to make and a lot of options and opportunities but without the desire to hang up my skis and pole jut yet. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and realized that my only option was to focus on working throughout the summer and start training more full-time during the fall. As the summer unfolded I found myself accepting that I was not going to be able to workout even as much as I had hoped. After an Olympic year there are a ton of requests from other to make appearance give talks and just be an ambassador to sport. I found myself with numerous engagements and meeting incredible people and children but also feeling as though I wasn't doing the work I know would be needed to make the World Championships in Oslo.

Fast forward to today and I am fresh and ready both physically and mentally for next season, which officially starts tomorrow!) I have been extremely busy the past couple of weeks with wedding planning and home buying. That's right!!! Brian and I are buying our first house! It fits us perfectly! The house was a foreclosure and Bank owned when we aw it listed for sale. Due to the poor housing market (great for buyers! Bad for sellers), we were able to get the house for $25,500. There isn't a 1 or a 2 missing from the front of the price. Last year despite my busy schedule I also volunteered with the Harrison Neighborhood association and learned a ton about the North Minneapolis Community (where I live and mentor my youth!), and the programs that are available to get first time home buyers into homes that they can afford. So Brian and I applied for two great programs that have allowed us to receive $15,000 in forgivable loans. We do need to live in the house for 7 years though! The house is small, only a one bedroom, and in an area of Minneapolis that gets a bad rap for it's violence and condemned or vacant properties. To us, however, it is a prime location. We are less then a few hundred meters to the running and bike trails in the spring, summer and fall and even  more exciting... less then a few hundred meters to the ski trails in the winter!!!

The Living Room/ Dining Room

Me in the Kitchen!

The Kitchen looking towards the Breakfast Nook.

Lahti Checking out the House after hanging in his new yard.

Lahti's Approving Look!

I have also been in to see the kids at the Harrison Park but have had a hard time seeing any familiar face from last year while I am there. That's not to say I haven't been hanging out with the neighborhood kids. Last week Brian and I saw my friend Molaki at the Boys and Girls Club in North Minneapolis and the next day we saw his brother Kolanghi hanging out in the Alley behind my apartment. I was psyched to give Kolanghi the pair of shoes I had been saving for him all winter from Salomon!

Kolanghi and I showing off our new digs!

I have also seen my park kids hanging out around the Library and in the fields near the park. I am not sure why the kids haven't been visiting the park lately. We have another new Director there, the third so far this year, and I was excited to hear that he felt strongly about working with the City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation and the Adventure Camps they hold during the summer. I am hoping to recruit some kids from Harrison to be a part of the Awesome opportunities available with the COLLNSF!

Today was my first day back on the short skis (rollerskis) ad I loved every minute of it. I am so pumped for tomorrow and the rest of the year. I am feeling confident that I can greatly improve on my results from the 2010 Olympics and I can't wait to try!

One week in the Methow Valley

Spice and Advice Shower

Lots of good advice!

and lots of good Spice!!!

Staining the Barn before the wedding.

Just starting the epic 6 hour tour!

Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen!

The family and friends all meet up!

Matt Firth's jewelery studio, where my ring was made.

The final ski of the season (maybe???) Absolutely amazing conditions and great company April 10, 2011

US Nationals 30K Classic Race

Today was the US Nationals 30K here in Sun Valley, ID. The conditions were perfect and the weather was beautiful! Sun Valley lived up to it's name with tons of sunshine throughout the morning. I woke up this morning feeling better then I had the night before. I had a rough day yesterday and was pretty tired from all of the excitement. I had to take a quick trip to the ER because I almost passed out. This is a little crazy but I have had this happen a few times before. As women athletes, we put our bodies through a lot,  sometimes our bodies respond wonderfully and sometimes they act totally crazy. I sometimes experience menstrual cramps so badly that the pain actually causes me to pass out! Now it's bad enough that there is no way to really stop the pain, but I also cannot tell when and where it will happen. Once it happened in the Prague airport and now at our team condo here in Sun Valley.

I was at the condo with Jessie Diggins when the pain got so bad I was on the verge of passing out. Jessie phoned for help and as I was being taken away she stayed back at the Condo very scared for me. After talking to the doctor for a while it was determined that I was OK. A few minutes later I had my two teammates there with me to cheer me up. Jenny and Jessie were hilarious and we made the best of the situation.

I owe the girls a lot! I am so grateful for all of there help and support! Today as the gun went off I started in Bib 3 and felt great. A few K's later and a number of slips on some long uphills and I could feel my body suggesting that I rethink the race. I don't like to drop out of races but I could tell today that I was not going to make any progress by being tough and sticking it out. I skied 15K with my friend Evelyn and then we called it a day. We have 4 races in 5 days coming up so there is lots of time to feel better and better.

The best part about today was how great Jennie and Jessie skied. They both were in the top 10 and were happy with their races! I am so glad that the distraction yesterday, although it affected me, didn't seem to impact them!

On to the next race!!!