The Best part of my Job!

Moving from Manhattan to the Warren Elementary School was pretty awesome for a kid who loved snow!

This past week Brian and I finished our season's in Craftsbury, Vermont. I have been looking forward to getting back to Vermont since the World Championships ended last year and I knew this was a great opportunity to visit as many schools, teams and Bill Koch Leagues as I could fit in. I don't have family in Vermont anymore so getting back is always a little more logistical. This year Brian and I flew straight from Calgary so that we could spend a solid 4 days in the Mad River Valley.

Brian leading one of our numerous BKL practices!

 I was lucky enough to move to the Mad River Valley from Manhattan when I was around 10 years old. I remember telling all of my friends in New York City that moving to Vermont would mean that I could actually reach my goals of competing in the Olympics someday. I was already very focused on my dreams.

 I was very fortunate to have an absolutely amazing community behind me and most of the businesses in the Mad River Valley either employed me or sponsored me so that I could compete at the Junior Olympics. Since those days the Mad River Valley Bill Koch League has been founded and the Green Mountain Valley School has a growing team as well. Of course I couldn't go back without spending sometime at Harwood Union High School and visiting with my old coach John Kerrigan. I know a lot of coaches who can make only one or two athletes great but John has made hundreds of incredible athletes and helped more kids than anyone I know fall in love with endurance sports, improve their grades and behavior in the classroom and earn athletic scholarships to college. I never heard him discourage a student from joining the team no matter how slow they were. To John it was always about the desire to work hard!

Three of Kerrigan's athletes (and their kids) still spending time and working out together! 

Visiting my friend Jesse's Health Class at Spaulding High School in Barre, Vermont.

My friend Jesse who convinced me "try" Cross Country Running and Skiing! Thank you!

Erin Harwood's new Record Holder!!!

Brian and I spent a lot of time hanging out with our CXC Teammate Garrott Kuzzy at his new job as head Nordic Director at G.M.V.S. Katrina Howe is the head coach for the program and we had a great time learning about the opportunities the school can provide (an amazing new training and waxing facility) as well as trying to help them grow the team for upcoming seasons! We were excited to get to spend a number of days training with the team and sharing our stories with the entire school.

The GMVS Ski Team rolling out in the new training facility stretching room!

Garrott and Katrina helped us arrange to join the Mad River Valley Bill Koch League for their final practice and it was a blast! 

Brian teaching everyone how to crab walk in the GMVS training center gym.

 We also spent time at the local Waitsfield and Warren Elementary Schools! I got to visit both schools when I returned to the Valley after the 2010 Olympics! I had a blast returning and sharing my medal winning race from the World Championships too. One special perk growing up in a state filled with ski areas is that if you live close enough many schools have half days on Friday and the entire school goes skiing!!! I know this was the coolest thing I had ever experienced when I moved from the city!

Sharing our stories with the Waitsfield Elementary School.

Sharing stories and answering questions at the Warren Elementary School.

I loved the energy of the kids once they realized I went to school their too!

Jane, my babysitter when I first moved to Vermont, now has a daughter (Libby) who Cross Country Skis! Libby was one of the lucky girls who I worked with 3 times! It's crazy how life works out!

The Craftsbury Green Team hosted a Fast and Female and I was excited to once again help out! This was my third Fast and Female Event this year and I am always impressed with the enthusiasm of the participants to try new things! As a coincidence my group (the purple team) happened to be all ladies from the Mad River Valley! For some of them it was the 3rd time they got to hang out with me and learn about skiing, health and goal setting! I know these ladies were psyched!

The Mad River Valley Gals!

The Warren Gals!!!

I was also invited to join the Montpelier Bill Koch League practice where one of my dear friends who convinced me to make the jump from High School Racing to Junior National Qualifiers (and also gave me a ride and helped me waxed my skis!) now has a daughter who is in the program. I was honored to bring the friendship full circle and have her come watch me in Quebec and then for me to join her at her Bill Koch League event!

Working on coordination and range of motion drills!

Alligator walks

Sharing stories about Dreaming Big, Working Hard and Having Fun!

Signing a bib for Mirriam from the Quebec race she came and watched!

 All in all I got to work with over 650 kids while I was in Vermont. I had an absolute blast re-connecting with so many important people from my life and making new connections with the next generation of skiers! This is by far the best part of my job as an athlete!

I am now back home in Minneapolis, MN. Brian is up in Alaska for Skiku and I am putting the final touches on our Run Club training plan for the Jerry Gamble Boys and Girls Club kids. Our first meeting will be tomorrow and I can't wait! Practice for LNR also starts up soon and I am really looking forward to another solid year of training with everyone.

Living The Dream!

Brian and I are now in Canmore, Canada for the final 4 races of the Tour de Canada. It's been an incredible experience to race so close to home. For the first four races Brian and I were cheered on by my Uncle Kelly my friend Kurt and Brian's mom Jan. For the final four races we will have Jan as well as Brian's dad Jim, his twin brother Chad and Chad's wife Alieta

After these races we will be heading straight to Vermont to participate in numerous local community and youth events. This means a lot to me because although I love Vermont my new home is in Minnesota and I do not get to visit Vermont very often and even more importantly I do not get to give back to the community that taught me to ski as much as I would like to.

Stay tuned for some updates about the next series of races and our Team Gregg events in Vermont.

Always having fun when we are together.

Thanks to Austin Caldwell for taking time to join Team Gregg and wax for us in Canada!

The Bus Rides have been numerous but also a lot of fun!

Catching up with long time World Cup Friends!

Feeling good!

Living a Dream!

Brian and I are now in Canmore, Canada for the final 4 races of the Tour de Canada. It's been an incredible experience to race so close to home. For the first four races Brian and I were cheered on by my Uncle Kelly my friend Kurt and Brian's mom Jan. For the final four races we will have Jan as well as Brian's dad Jim, his twin brother Chad and Chad's wife Alieta

After these races we will be heading straight to Vermont to participate in numerous local community and youth events. This means a lot to me because although I love Vermont my new home is in Minnesota and I do not get to visit Vermont very often and even more importantly I do not get to give back to the community that taught me to ski as much as I would like to.

Stay tuned for some updates about the next series of races and our Team Gregg events in Vermont.

Boulder Mountain Tour

After the Tour de Ski I knew I wasn't racing to my potential and that I needed to adjust how I was training, recovering and racing. I decided the best way to do this was hit a bit of a re-set button. I had the option to stay in Europe for a couple of more weeks and race the 10K Skate in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic or return home and get back into my groove. I chose to come home to Minneapolis where I had the opportunity to train with my LNR teammates, visit my Boys and Girls Run Club kids and race in a local 20K race with amazingly inspirational people. I spent the two weeks absorbing the load from the tour and sleeping in my own bed. I did get the chance to travel to Hayward, WI and participate in the Birkie Tour over the weekend which also helped me find my motivation again. As I have said many times before... I am forever grateful for the incredible ski community I am a part of.

Once recovered it was time to start training again and preparing for the Tour de Canada. With a higher number of skate races I am psyched to try my hand at "tour" racing again. I traveled to Breckenridge, CO and lived at 10,000 ft while training at the awesome Nordic Centers in Summit County. I owe a huge Thank You to Emila Wint and her family for letting Brian and I stay at their condo which is directly across the street from one of the centers.

After 10 days of very high altitude I boarded a plane to Sun Valley, ID. I missed out on racing the Boulder Mountain Tour last year when it was canceled last minute but I had a fantastic time and couldn't miss the opportunity to try it this year. Since the race is also at altitude the previous 10 days allowed me to acclimate and although I put in some very high hours and intense workouts I was able to arrive in Sun Valley feeling great! It helped that I actually dropped 4,000 ft in elevation too!

Halfway and having a blast.

Longtime Sponsor and friend Ian Harvey

Coming back home also allowed me to catch up with and help promote all of Team Gregg's fantastic sponsors. Without their support we couldn't do what we do and we wouldn't be able to be as fast either! 

Signing posters at the BMT expo with Madshus.

One of my favorite Ketchum residents and skier Berkeley!!!

Excited to race!

As with all events the volunteers are the people who are the real stars of the weekend. A huge thank you to the entire BMT volunteer and organizing crew. A special shout-out to the VAMPS who make the whole experience even better!

Still rocking her signed VAMPs jersey from last spring when I was in town :)

 In addition to the BMT and the half BMT the Sun Valley Nordic Festival also has a Team Sprint Event in downtown. Last year Brian and I were partners but this year Brian was at the Eastern Super Tours so coach Tom jumped in and rocked it.

My warm-up buddies for the evening sprints!

My new favorite pair of skis! This does seem to change depending on the weather ;)

A successful week in Sun Valley and fun to see such strong performances from the college skiers. I am a huge fan of college skiing as it was such an important part of my development and success as a skier and person.

Celebrating with Berkeley.

Training has continued to go great. 

Even Tom has been getting in some solid altitude training. Two races worth and a 3 hour classic OD!

I love meeting Olympians who were so inspirational in my dream of making the Olympics. I was psyched to meet up with Besty Youngman for a portion of my workout today.

 Tomorrow I head back "UP" to Colorado and will meet Brian at the Denver airport for our final 10 days at altitude. My heart-rates and lactates are back to normal and I am re-energized to finish the season off strong! Thanks to everyone for their support and I look forward to seeing 10,000 of my friends at the 2016 American Birkebeiner in less than 2 weeks!!!

Better and Better

This past weekend was a great way to hit the refresh button for me. After almost a month on the road I was joined by Brian for the World Cup weekend in Davos, Switzerland. We feel so lucky to have the opportunity to be chasing our dreams together.

Aside from a rocky start to my first World Cup races I have been having a blast being a part of the US Ski Team and love hanging out with my teammates on and off the trails. It seems like we always have a great result on the team with each race so there is always a reason to cheer and celebrate!

 Even though I am surrounded by great supportive teammates I also really enjoy seeing my friends from all over the world who also compete on the World Cup! I simply love learning about their lives and how the balance competing at the highest level with the rest of life. I hope to stay in touch with these awesome ladies for a long long time!

The races in Kuusamo were a bit of a blur. I was able to give it my all, especially in the 5K Skate, but my body didn't respond the way I was accustomed to! I was happy to have the courage and tenacity to leave it all out on the course and I am proud of my efforts. After the last race of the weekend I started the process of recovering and reversing "off" feeling I was having. 

After two weeks of heavy and lethargic legs I was psyched to start feeling a bit more like myself in Lillehammer. I used some advice from Sten when I was in racing in college at NMU. He always encouraged us to never under estimate the power of rebuilding easy volume back into our training to aid in recovery and regeneration. With his advice I spent each day skiing incredibly easy and avoiding all intensity. The following weekend my 15K skiathlon went well and I was able to ski my best classic portion ever on the World Cup. This was important because Tom and I have been working a lot on my classic skiing this fall and after 4 years with a torn left hamstring, I am finally able to use my left leg completely again pain free :) Even more importantly I scored my first World Cup point of the season!

 After Lillehammer we traveled to Davos at an altitude of about 5,000 ft. After only racing once in Lillehammer my body was feeling pretty good so in addition to extremely easy sessions I was able to do one threshold session on the race course. Having Brian around was so much fun and although we enjoy being together on the World Cup we are still very focused on our training, recovery and racing.

 Brian flew over to Europe after a successful weekend in West Yellowstone and he was psyched to test his fitness on the World Cup. He felt like although his result was not what he wanted he still raced as well as he had the weekend he was in Yellowstone. He left today with a renewed appreciation of the fitness level on the World Cup and a strong motivation to prepare for US Nationals in a couple of weeks!

My race went well and I was able to ski into the top 20 for the first time this season. Although my body was feeling better I am still not 100%. I am looking forward to Toblach next weekend and another classic start as well as the Tour de Ski in only a few weeks. Hopefully all this volume training I have been doing along with some recovery over Christmas will keep me fresh for the grueling week of racing during the tour!

Last but not least, it was great to have a coach with me on the World Cup for the first time ever!!! Tom did a great job assimilating into the USST group and was a huge asset to many of the results throughout period one so far. Tom headed back with Brian today and will be supporting him in the US for the next couple of weeks including US Nationals. Thanks to everyone who have made these opportunities possible and stay tuned for more race reports and results from the entire team!

Less than two weeks till Sweden!!!

After an incredible training season which include half of my time at home and the other half up above Park City, Utah (plus a short stay in Truckee and Norway) I am now 10 days away from flying across the Atlantic for my first season as a member of the U.S. Ski Team!!! It was sad to say good-bye to some members of the team who will be staying in the U.S. for the start of the season in hopes of qualifying for some World Cup starts (Brian is in this boat too!) but also exciting to realize that we will have some Super Fans back home cheering us on!

The Team!!!

My fellow rookies Julia (left) and Katherine (right) have been really fun to get to know. Although there is 15-17 years between us we still have a ton in common and I love absorbing their contagious excitement and attitudes!!! I can't wait to see these girls on the World Cup circuit soon!

Head Women's coach Matt Whitcomb and the "rookies"

Before leaving I had one last altitude block in Park City. Last season I found that a few weeks up high in altitude (Frisco before World Champs, etc...) made a huge difference in my fitness and this year we decided to try it throughout the preparation period. I think the time living up at Deer Valley (8,300 ft) worked really well and as soon as I returned to the condo we have been renting (much thanks to the generous owner who has helped make the location ideal and affordable) I immediately felt like I could acclimate quickly and easily. This was a huge bonus as we had a number of intensity workouts and a Mini-tour at the end of our USST Camp combined with lots of long workouts and hard strength sessions throughout. 

Start of my sprint heat! Photo: Tom Jorgenson

Our USST Camp (plus lots of other speedy club skiers) came to an end but Brian, Tom and I stayed for another 5 days to complete a solid 3 weeks of living up high. Since our camp ended with the Mini-Tour we opted to take advantage of the remaining days with so many beautiful places to train and we put in an additional 18 hours of mostly volume training to absorb all the intensity. I felt great for the Mini-Tour and practiced all of my recovery, refueling, racing and re-focusing strategies that I have been working on this fall. We have a number of "Tours" on the World Cup this season and I think the format will really suit me well! One of my biggest goals is to get an opportunity to compete in the Tour de Ski this coming January!!! Without an Olympics or World Championships it will be a huge focus for many athletes!

Training around Park City Photo: Tom Jorgenson

First, however, I need to start the season with a bang! I have been feeling great lately and Tom, Brian and I have been spending countless hours on planning our training, working on technique and reviewing our sessions to make sure we get the most out of them.

Following Tom and learning how to glide!

Classic skiing has been a huge focus for me this summer and fall and after Norway I knew I still needed lots of technique and power application work. This most recent camp confirmed that our hard work is paying off! I still have a ways to go before I consider myself a classic skier over a skate skier...but I am happy that I can finally use my strength and fitness when I need to go fast.

Climbing one of numerous canyons we skied for our volume block. Photo: Tom Jorgenson 

Although skating is a strength of mine, there is always room for improvement. Tom has helped me refine and dial in my skating even more and I cannot be more excited. This fall has been all about technique and speed development. I have been putting in a lot of accelerations and speed varying workouts in hopes of increasing my overall neuro-muscular comfort and ability to deal with lactate acid during races. We had a skate a sprint during the Mini-Tour and I was really excited about how good it felt!

Still climbing! Lots of V1 Photo: Tom Jorgenson

Since we have been focusing so much on changing gears and adapting to undulating terrain (thank you Mid-West terrain!) we decided to throw in a few canyon climbs! We skated up Big Cottonwood Canyon and classic skied up Immigration Canyon. Getting into a rhythm and just working on V1 and striding felt amazing. I really like to climb and these were some epic workouts to put in our bank of training hours and technique focus, not to mention they had some of the most beautiful backdrops and scenery I have ever seen!

Still climbing but now surrounded by snow :) Photo: Tom Jorgenson

Working with Tom has been incredible! Each workout (even distance sessions) has a goal and purpose. 

My camp was a huge success thanks to the awesome support of Brian, Tom and all of our amazing sponsors and partners! Brian has been working very hard on our sponsor-ships, partnerships, fundraising and the business side of Team Gregg while Tom has been focusing on helping us have our best season's yet. I have been working hard too, but for the first time the majority of my energy can be focused on training, recovering and preparing for the start of the World Cup season. Thanks to the countless individuals who have donated to our Fundly Campaign we are stressing much less about the costs of the upcoming race calendar!

Ready to start racing! Photo: Tom Jorgenson

The season is fast approaching and I am feeling more prepared and more confident than ever before. I am headed home to Minneapolis for my final sea level preparation phase and some serious packing. As much as I love traveling and training in so many beautiful places, nothing compares to my favorite training routes and training buddies in the Twin Cities. Thanks for following and I promise to leave it all out on the courses this winter! My season will start with FIS races (Classic Sprint and 10K Skate) in Galivarre, Sweden on Nov. 21st and 22nd and for many reasons...I love training and racing in Sweden :)