Heart of the City 5km Race

Glacier Time! My first trip to the Eagle Glacier

Brian and I had a fantastic time training and testing our new Madshus Skis, boots, poles and bindings on the Eagle Glacier. It was my first time there and I could not believe how incredible the entire trip was. We trained hard, we skied for hours and we learned great info about our new equipment. I am very grateful for the opportunity to travel all the way to Alaska and ski on snow in the summer!

Brian and I have been back in Minnesota for a little over two weeks now. We filled our time with tasks around the house as we recovered from our large volume of training the previous month. Our work at the club also resumed and we hit the ground running, literally, as we gained momentum leading up to the Heart of the City 5K. I had the opportunity to go on live TV and do a feature on our work at the Jerry Gamble Boys and Girls Club and our training with the kids and our own training for the 2014 Olympics.

A little tv time on the Sunday morning news about Brian and my In The Arena project and our summer Run Club goal event the Heart of the City 5km race.

Getting ready for the RACE!
Leading up to the race we tried to gain excitement by decorating our "ITA Team Shirts." We wrote inspirational messages and had everyone at the club sign them for good luck!

One of the last practices before the race!
Despite some hot weather here in Minneapolis interest is still high for Run Club. With the new school year started there are even more new faces at the club! New kids mean new members of Run Club and more miles run! We are now at over 100 kids and over 500 miles!!!

Heart of the City 5K participants!
Saturday morning was one of the busiest mornings I have had before a competition ever! Usually when racing I have the luxury of focusing on my own needs and preparing how I need to. Bring 6 kids into that equation and all your time is spent making sure they are registered, shoe laces tied, porta-potties visited and at the start on-time. Brian and I warmed up by walking to the start with the kids! That was a first for both of us and made us forever impressed with competitors who have kids with them!

Isaiah after the race! Tired and Happy!

All the kids finished the 5K with a smile and enjoyed every moment of the day. After the race we all headed to Grand Slam and played for another 3 hours with bumper cars, lazer tag and mini-golf. The most important part of the trip was the concept of accomplishment, finishing the goal race, and enjoying the reward afterwards, a trip to Grand Slam. Every single kid said they wanted to run the next year and we hope they are back at practice to share their experiences with the other kids!

Family at Altitude

Enjoying the climbing out West!

The past two weeks have flown by! Brian and I have been training like crazy and I can tell it is making a HUGE difference in our fitness this summer...last summer I was in school full-time and working so I didn't even start training until August! I can't wait to race this season with a full off-season of preparation. It won't make the racing hurt any less but it should help me be more consistent! I put in another solid block of 3 weeks at 25+ hours of training (the most I have ever done in a month), and I am enjoying the last day of my recovery week. I am already chomping at the bit to get after my next block of training so things are going well and I am absorbing the load which feels great!

Beautiful evening wedding in the Sierra's! Congrats Kelly and Fran!!!

Party favors for adults! My Aunt Marcie blowing bubbles with me!

A beautiful hike with most of the family! It was nice to have a recovery week so I could spend a lot of time with everyone :)

This next phase of my training has me hitting big hours again but this time at altitude. Brian and I are in Truckee, CA for a family wedding and family reunion and we decided to stay an extra couple of weeks to maximize our adaptation. We will be heading up to Eagle Glacier afterwards to continue our altitude block as well as get some time on our new equipment.

Straight from NYC and a busy life as a coffee shop and restaurant owner yet still pumped to climb some peaks!

Speaking of new equipment...the press release came out that Brian and I will be switching to Madshus Skis, boots, bindings and poles this season. I could not be more excited about the decision to work with Madshus. They are one of the top ski brands internationally, and that is where we need to be competitive, and working with their staff has been one of the greatest experiences in my ski racing career. Brian and I are dialed in this season and Madshus is putting a huge amount of effort into making sure our switch in an Olympic Year is seamless! We have all of our skis selected and we will get to test them on the glacier months before the season even starts! YES!!! I had the opportunity to race on a pair in May at Mt. Baker and they were incredible!

The best feeling in a race is knowing you have a VERY fast pair of skis on your feet!

The wedding and family reunion are now over but one of my brothers and my sister are staying an extra day to hang out. It's great be with my with family again, although I don't get to see them very often, I am always amazed how quickly we re-connect and love being together. My siblings are all very different and very independent. Each of us has our own passion and each of us are on our own to pursue our passions. I am excited to go to the gym tomorrow with them and introduce them to my world of training for the Olympics!

My "little" brother Calan curling me after dinner.

Somehow all of my younger siblings are much taller than me!

Back in Hayward

This past week I packed up the car and drove up to Hayward, WI. I have been traveling up to Hayward almost every summer for the past 8 years as part of the CXC Team. Hayward has become a bit of a second home, with so many familiar faces and training locations. Brian decided not to join me for this trip, although he LOVES returning to the Wisconsin Northwoods, because he was working and finishing up a pretty big week of training. I planned my trip to coincide with the CXC REG Camp which brings together the top juniors from the Central Region every year around the 4th of July. I had a lot to do before I left and didn't end up leaving the Twin Cities until about 7:30PM on the 4th of July which meant that I was driving through Siren, Spooner and Hayward at just the right time to see a part of each of their fireworks!!! So much fun :)

The next morning I woke up and joined the Ski and Tea Ladies for a workout on Boedecker Rd. The workout was a "personal time-trial" and since I was racing the following day in the Arts Fest 5K Run I decided to be a cheer leader and helped motivate the ladies to push their comfort zones! It was a beautiful day and I had a great time with wonderful conversation and inspiring performances to witness! I can't wait to visit the girls again!

The Ski and Tea Ladies (Minus their Leader Linda Cook who is taking the photo)

The next day I competed in the Namakagon Arts Fest 5K and ran a PR and set a new course record. The past two years I have been struggling with a torn hamstring and have not been able to run at full capacity. Running is one of my favorite things to do, so I have been psyched to be able to push myself and see the running fitness returning this summer. The course is super hilly and the grass was a bit longer this year making the footing a bit uneven but the adventure all the better! Thanks to all the volunteers and spectators for the great support and cheering out there!

Finishing stretch of the 5k Race. I ran a PR and set a new course record!!!

 The week was filled with Time-Trials and hard efforts! Later in the evening the REG, CXC, XC United athletes and myself competed in a sprint rollerski race in downtown Cable. It was a lot of fun to jump in for a heat with the boys but my legs were pretty toast from the morning and I could only hang on for one lap of two. I had a great time racing with the ladies too! I was impressed with some of the starting speed the ladies had, especially Kelley Jackson! Yikes!!! She could be a seriously good sprinter someday!

Lining up with the boys for a sprint heat later in the day!

Hammering as hard as I could in the OO Skate Time-Trial.

 After an OD, specific strength and a long run the following days we had a OO time-trial. I hadn't "tested" on the OO course for over two years and it was fun to go into the uncomfortable zone once again. The course is mostly uphill and although the pavement has been re-done, I can't say it felt much faster. Once again I set a PR and a new Course Record for the Skate. I was so tired at the top I had to lie down for a bit (I love that feeling!). Everyone else skied really well too and there were a lot of improvements from earlier in the season as well as a Course Record for Matt Liebsch.

Goofing off while we waited for the REG Kids to Arrive.

 After another day of 4.5 hours of distance training on Wednesday we hit the intensity hard again with L-4 double pole intervals on Thursday. I have been working a ton on my double pole this summer and I can tell that I am much much stronger than in the previous couple of years. I had a blast skiing with Nichole Bathe, one of my teammates from last season for the workout! She is such a strong double pole skier it was all I could do to stay in the right zone behind her! I am super excited for her to be racing and studying at UAF next season with Scott Jerome! She is going to kick butt!

New Strength Record!!!

 After the intervals I jumped into the car and headed back down to the Cities. I was sad to leave Hayward and the beautiful scenery but I had to get back for a family wedding and STRENGTH!!! I love heading to Horsepower Strength a couple days a week and I am already seeing huge gains in my quickness and power. I had a hard session of 1 REP Max lifts but I managed to hit new loads on every lift we did. Matt, my strength coach, put up a new record board with different high marks for the gym! I actually got on the board for my double broad jump, never thought my name would be near something that had to do with jumping...but I am happy with the trajectory! We will see if the mark lasted the weekend :)

Busy Sunday

This past weekend was filled with more skiing intensity on the Coulee a PR for Brian in a 5K road race (I was cheering him on with Lahti) and a 22 mile trail run in Afton! I am maintaining very big hours through this time of year and I am very happy to see that despite the load I am setting PR's and making big improvements in my strength training.

Back to Work!

 Tomorrow is a much needed rest day from training which means a full day of work with the Kids! I have gathered Muesli, yogurt and bananas from the past couple of races (we always ask for the leftovers after the event) and I am excited to bring them in for the kids. We will be back ticking off the miles in Run Club and we now have a goal race we will be training for this fall!

Rest Week Over and Ready to GO!

After an enormous week of 30 hours and lots of intensity I was still feeling good but after so many years in this sport I have learned that you get stronger and faster during the rest and recovery time. It was hard to chill out and sit back, but Brian and I always manage to fill our time with tons of "to do" items.

An "easy" week can still mean doing a local triathlon! Happy  and Dirty  together!

I took two days completely off and then jumped into training with Loppet Nordic Racing on Tuesday Morning. We had a great group of guys (the girls were lactate testing) and coach Sara to bike along side us. I am super lucky that I always have tons of great training partners when I need them. The workout was solid and my technique felt good! 4 years ago I was blessed to have an amazing group pf girls training here in the Twin Cities with me. They all worked and did tons of other things but we got together multiple times a week to get in some quality sessions. I am sad to say that although everyone is still active we have all moved onto new adventures...well everyone but me ;) I had a great time catching up with the ladies for breakfast one morning this week and missed all of their company even more during my ski afterwards.

First day of summer practice! I have been working with Coach Piotr for the past 9 years! He is an incredible guy and  LNR is super lucky to have them lead the group!

The Competition Team Ladies and I during our run! They helped motivate me to  finish my 3 hour morning workout!  I still had another 2.5 hour workout in the afternoon!

The "teammates" I would have never made the Olympics without these wonderful ladies. They are a huge inspiration to me! So fun to share a 3 hour breakfast with them :)

Later that afternoon I went to Horsepower strength to work with my new strength coach! Matt Miller is a genius when it comes to strength! I am so happy I found him and I know that working with him is going to raise my level of fitness immensely. Matt coaches all kinds of athletes, many at a very high level, but he has a huge following of Ultimate Fighters! I have been in awe watching them workout and extremely impressed with how friendly and humble they all are! Surrounding myself with motivated hard working athletes has always been a major ingredient to my own success!

Work is the word here! You can't accomplish your goals without good old fashioned work. There are no shortcuts!

Serious amounts of weight to be lifted.

Box jumping at 54"

Brian and I went into the Boys and Girls Club and started rallying the kids about the Tri-Loppet Festival. The Tri-Loppet festival was a huge success this year and included the famous off-road triathlon, paddle races, orienteering, kubb tournaments, slack-lining, mountain biking and running, Brian and I both participated in the Triathlon and finished 4th and 3rd respectively. Brian and I don't paddle ever so the 8 mile

Huge group of kids at the Club for summer.

Getting excited about the Loppet Festival and hoping they can make it!

canoe was the biggest challenge for us. Knowing our weakness, we decided to ask some "pros" to help us out. I paddles with Andy from Hoigaards and Brian paddled with Erik who used to work at Hoigaards. We held our own in the canoe and made up some major time in the run and biking sections. Well I did...Brian ended up loosing his bike chain and running in almost 2 miles with his bike to the finish line! I was very impressed!

Andy Turnball and I looking focused in the Tei-Loppet.

Brian and I are also getting ready to announce our new Sponsors and Supporters for this upcoming Olympic Year! We are so grateful and excited about the products, companies and most importantly the people behind us! Stay tuned for some new uniforms and logos :)

Finished up the rest week with an OD run by Karl Nygren's house. It's been fun to watch Brian train with the solid group of guys training here in the Twin Cities! It's cute when they all show up in the same shirt!

After a visit to the Boys and Girls Club tomorrow we are back to putting in the BIG hours of summer on Tuesday! I am very excited to get after it again!

Life is Crazy sometimes...

Pittsburgh, PA

                                     
The past couple of weeks have been filled with lots and lots of action. Sometimes action can be good and sometimes action can be bad. After my last post I skied for one more day in Bend, OR under the bright sun and cloudless skies.Meanwhile My mom was at the hospital in Pittsburgh, PA undergoing surgery for a very rare type of appendix cancer she has had for the past 10 years. It was her initial surgery and chemo that brought me to Minneapolis over 9 years ago and I  am grateful that everything worked out and that I was able to continue my athletic career, start my married life, work closely with the community and spend time with my mom as she only lived about 15 minutes away in St.Paul!

Her surgery was long but the doctors felt they had extended her life another 10 years or so, which I am very happy about! It was during her recovery in the ICU that she suddenly suffered a stroke and my attention was immeadiately diverted from ski brands, racing teams and snow conditions, to my mom in and family in Pittsburgh. Within 6 hours Brian helped me book a flight for first thing the next morning and I was off to Pittsburgh to be with them.

The Steel City with lots of Culture and Places to explore

Travel went smooth and I was able to see my mom that evening. She was sleeping, upwards of 23 and 3/4 hours a day, but opened her eyes a bit to see me. I went to the hotel too exhausted for dinner and fell asleep instantly. I awoke the next morning at 5 AM (2 AM Oregon time) and got on the treadmill for an hour and a half workout before heading over to the hospital for a full day with my mom. The doctors filled me in with details and I sat with her and my grandmother for a long time.

My mom and grandmother in the ICU...this was a good moment!

The next week was filled with ups and downs in her health. I was able to connect with the local Cross Country Ski Community in the Pittsburgh area and the time I spent training was a good release from the stress of the situation. I am forever thankful to the wonderful people who made my trip so comforting.

Pittsburgh XC Skiers are great! A huge thanks to Richard for helping me with intervals on the hilly Pittsburgh terrain!

My new friend and musician Erin.

Some of Erin's friends we found Nordic Walking in the park.

Naomi and James were a huge support network for me teaching me where to ski and watching  me do intervals!!!

My mother's status continues to improve and I saw an opportunity to return home to Minneapolis to take care of some needed items, mowed the lawn, ran in a sponsor event, train with the local ski clubs and get back to the youth here in North Minneapolis! I miss the kids a ton and while walking Lahti yesterday a kid in the neighborhood said they recognized me from Run Club! Awesome!

Training has been going well and I am getting even more excited about the upcoming Olympic Season! Brian and I have had a busy spring of Team Selection and Sponsor talks. We are excited to release the names and organizations that we will represent in this important year! We have had the opportunity to work with some incredible people and companies over the past couple of months while making this decision and the final call will not be easy. It feels amazing to have so many people behind Team Gregg now and we can certainly feel the excitement and encouragement!

Staying motivated and getting after it! Training is going well and I am very excited for the season!

Brian and I look forward to sharing some more great adventures through our training and mentoring and of course keep people updated on the status of my mom.

Training Camp in The Pacific Northwest

The past couple of weeks have been a lot of fun...but incredibly busy too. Brian and I headed out to Washington to compete in the Ski to Ski race and get a chance to ski on snow in Bend, OR.  We stopped by in the Methow Valley so we could work with Scott Johnston and move our second home, the fawn hut.

The very first day we arrived we started training hard. We met up early with Scott for technique and while Brian went to the gym...I got a run in before my race the next day.

The next morning I ran the Sun Mountain 25K trail race. I hadn't run very far yet this year so the 15 miles felt like eternity but on a brighter note, my injured hamstring is almost completely healed. It has taken two years of incredibly patience and diligence to get back to running full speed. The course was challenging but I loved it and felt great while earning my first victory in a trail race this season :)

After the running race I still had more racing to do. This time it was skiing though. Brian and I headed to Bellingham, WA to compete in the Ski to Sea race for our respective relay teams. I had a great race there too and came in 3rd overall with men. I got to meet up with another NMU alumni Kelly Ahern and we tested skis together and got ready for the event the day before!

After the race Brian and I raced back to the Methow Valley so we could attend a friend's wedding later that day. It was fun to be back in the sunshine and all dressed up after racing in the pouring rain and feeling like a drowned rat earlier in the day.

Once back in the Methow it was back to work the next day power washing the Fawn Hut we are soon to call home :) The hut was free because MVSTA no longer felt it was being used on the Rendezvous trail system, all we had to do was move it! After the move we have been busy cleaning and sorting all of the walls getting it ready for the re-build in a few weeks.

Brian and I are once again on the road. This time we are in Bend, OR looking forward to our biggest week of training coming up. I can't wait to start getting into a rhythm before we head back to Minneapolis and visiting with the kids at Run Club again.

The Best Yet!

 Every year at the end of the season instead of going on a roadtrip or vacation Brian and I rush home and start our projects with the kids at The Jerry Gamble Boys and Girls Club and Harrison Park. As much as I would love to head somewhere warm or hangout for a while with no responsibilities, I couldn't imagine a spring now without seeing the kids and telling them about our ski season and hearing about their winter.

Training and Smoothie Making!

That's not to say that Brian and I don't have fun...we just find ways to have fun in our own neighborhood. Last weekend we attended the Harrison Community Hang Out! I worked on the Harrison Neighborhood Board for a year and I learned so much about the City Planning Process and how many factors are involved in having a single business open up in the area. Harrison has had a rough time in the current economy and it is very obvious by the abandoned store fronts and boarded up homes along the main road, Glenwood Ave. In an attempt to bring the community together Harrison has been putting on events that promote friendship and joy for all the residents of North Minneapolis. There is a big push for bike commuting in the area, because it is a lot cheaper and cleaner than driving, and there were a number of stands promoting biking and bike share programs.

My proudest moment! The Run Club bulletin board and tally board filled with goals and  achievements

At the Boys and Girls Club I have been visiting Brian's kids because they are short-staffed and he has more regular attendees for our latest program Run Club. After a month we have had over 65 kids sign up and together they have run over 200 miles.

The kids are drawn to our energy and excitement for their accomplishments!

Everyday we are thrilled with the number of excited kids ready to run! Run Club is the "cool" program to be involved with!

The final day of Run Club...for now!

Julius has run 15 miles so far!

Happy to have Brian finish his workout during my race  so he could cheer me on!

Brian and I are now in the Methow Valley and I miss the kids a ton already. Today Brian skied an OD and met me at a trail race (the Sun Mountain 25K) I competed in. I won the race in a time of 1:59 and was 5th overall. I am so happy my hamstring has healed and I can run pain free again! Today's race was one of the first times I have been able to run with both legs :)

Working on the guns!!!

It's training season so after my 25K race I was back at it in the gym this afternoon for power strength and classic rollerskiing. I am feeling really good right now and I am ready to focus on "just training" for the next couple of weeks.