IN THE ARENA WITH CAITLIN

Monday, March 24, 2014

Still Racing (up in Alaska)

Team Gregg never too busy for a quick fist bump before the start!

My World Cup season ended on a high note with a top 25 finish in the final 10K Skate pursuit race in Falun, Sweden. The significance of this result is that it is the same format and race course for the 2015 World Championships less than 11 months away!

Psyched to be in Falun!

The Falun Ski Jumps rebuilt for the 2015 World Championships!

Awesome to run into Sarah Willis, who is from Minnesota and now working in Sweden, at the races! She was a huge help and awesome cheer squad!

Post 10K Apple Pie! MY FAVORITE :)

Andrea Dupont (of Cananda) also enjoying a POST-World Cup Finals treat! Yumm!

After packing everything up and heading to the airport in Stockholm I was surprised by Brian in Frankfort and enjoyed a wonderful 10+ hour flight sitting next to my husband rather than a stranger :) We then boarded another plane for a 5+ hour flight up to Anchorage, AK. Our season has been so incredible this year and with each passing venue and race we continue to look forward to our next adventure. The same held true for this final set of races. With the Super Finals being held in Alaska, Brian couldn't help but be excited and his excitement is contagious, so I was equally as fired up!

The Team Gregg band back together!!!

Missed my silly husband over the past two months!

The first race of the series was the 10/15K Skate races. This is our best event to be held this week and we both looked forward to the windy and hilly course. I had a fantastic result (best of the season) placing 3rd behind World Cup overall Sprint Champ Kikkan Randall and World Championship 5th place finisher (in the same format) Liz Stephens! Brian's race was solid but certainly not his best and he looks forward to rebounding each and everyday going forward.

Brian cheering me on as I approach the finish in the 10K Skate!

Our amazing hosts the Burkholders! SO much fun to hang out with them.

Women's Podium

After yesterday's Classic Sprint, which was honestly a bit of a struggle for me, I was able to secure the Overall Super Lead and will now have start rights to the early season World Cups next fall. I am beyond excited about this opportunity going forward.

Brian and I are busy working on the details of our summer training and work schedule and we are getting ready for some even better turnouts for our Run Club Workouts and 5K Event! With so much going on it's amazing to look back and remember how incredible our season was this year and how grateful we are for all of the support from those who were behind us! We love what we are doing and wouldn't want to be anyone or anywhere else in the World!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Racing on the World Cup... AGAIN!!!

I am very happy to report from Oslo, Norway this evening! I am getting ready for bed after a successful race at the legendary Nordic Hollmenkollen Venue that sits above downtown Oslo. The race was a 30K Classic and the course is relentless, apparently it is the hardest in the world in regards to total vertical climb. I felt a bit slow to get going off the line but I felt as though I worked into the race very well and passed a lot of racers continuously throughout each lap. Tomorrow morning we pack up and head off to Falun for World Cup Finals and I am psyched that there are some skate races there!!!

After the Birkie I had a quick turn-around before racing again on the World Cup in Lahti, Finland. I drove home to Minneapolis from Hayward on Monday and flew out less than 30 hours later for Helsinki! I was in Lahti for just about 30 hours before I was starting my first event, a skate sprint and less than a week after the long slow slog of the American Biekebeiner 50K at temps barely above zero! Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to the system to pack up and fly across the world and race on high speed ice in a sprint after this years super tough Birkie. I did it though, and although I did not have my best results I was pleased with my energy levels and ability to adapt to so many variables!

Oslo has been amazing! The culture, the food, the venue...everything has been ideal, except for the weather! Apparently is has been sunny less than a handful of days since Christmas and this past Friday was no exception. It rained harder than I have seen in a while and the visibility was less than two feet in front of you! Thankfully the morning of the Men's 50K started off with a beautiful cloudless sky for all to enjoy!

I have now been away from Brian since February 2nd and I am missing him a lot. When he left for the Olympics I went home and now he is on the OPA Cup circuit and I am on the World Cup circuit. 5 weeks is one of the longest bouts of time we have ever been apart from each other since we were married and I certainly realize how fortunate we are to both be cross country ski racing together! A little over a week to go!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Birkie, Birkie, Birkie

This past weekend was the American Birkebeiner in Hayward, WI. Although it took place on the same day as the Olympic 30K in Russia, the conditions couldn't be much different. While Brian was about to suit up in a t-shirt and no hat for his 50K, I was bundled up and read to face below zero temperatures with winds gusting up to 30 mph head on! This was by-far the coldest Birkie I have ever done. My feet are still red and swollen a day later.

My was was a huge success! I wanted to ski well on 2/22/14 for a long time and whether it was at the Birkie or the Olympics I would be happy as long as I reached my goal. I was able to hang onto the passing lead group of guys and separate from the rest of the Elite women's pack. I realized that with such a strong headwind, getting away any other way would be impossible.

This was my 3rd Birkie win and I cannot begin to explain how great it feels! I think the best part about the entire weekend was how much fun I had, how many friends I saw and getting up at 1AM to watch Brian race the 50K at the Olympics.

Today I hosted a Fast and Female Event here in Hayward and it was a HUGE success. We had over 75 girls attend and we went over the importance of goal setting and when you muss one goal you canoalways start focusing on your next one.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A Full two weeks of Training, Travel and Racing!

Wow! What an incredible two weeks I have had!!! After we found out that Brian made the Olympic Team and I did not we got to work hashing out our next plans. Brian was headed to Sochi to represent the USA at the Olympics and I was headed back to the US to get people excited about Team Gregg and hopefully win some races and make some money :)

Before I left Europe I had the chance to spend another 10 days with my favorite training buddy (Brian). We explored the Italian Ski Trails that meandered through the valleys of the Dolomite Mountains and spend hours running and at the gym! Although one goal was met we still had more racing left to prepare for!

After Italy I dropped Brian in Munich for his Olympic processing and I hoped a plane to Vermont. It was probably one of the hardest good-byes I have ever had to say to him but I am so happy for him that it quickly subsided. I quickly met up with some old friends, the Mallorys, from my high school racing days in Vermont and we traveled together all the way to their house near Burlington.

I just finished a full week of high volume and a weekend of high intensity racing here in Vermont and I am hoping that my solid results will help me secure the Super Tour overall so I can re-join Brian on the World Cup again this spring :)

I head home tomorrow and I am excited to sleep in my own bed for the first time in 4-1/2 months! I am also thrilled to get to watch the US Ski Team ladies make history on Tuesday at the Olympics!!! Go Team USA!!!

Some photos from the past few weeks below:

Interval Day at the Toblach Stadium!

Beautiful Over-distance Ski

Psyched to be together!!!

More intervals, testing and coaching each other.

The reward for a long ski up the mountain

The grooming was perfect everyday! These guys get it done early!

Happy to be getting a coffee!

Holly Brooks my roomie from the 2010 Olympics

Goal Reached!

The Mallorys who were the best travel partners I could have imagined coming to Vermont from Munich too!

The Midwest gals all racing for East Coast colleges/ Universities

Dick Drissengacker and Judy Geer (below) the owners of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center! Their generosity this week was amazing!!! Thank you!

Jen Rolfes who I used to coach all grown up and graduating from Harvard this spring!

The Alberta World Cup Academy from Canmore, AB who helped me wax all weekend! My skis were rockets and I am so thankful!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Proud Wife!!!

So much about being an athlete seems to revolve around a selfish need to constantly be focusing on yourself! You have to train well, sleep well, eat well, etc...and your biggest advocate is YOU!!! The Olympic Games are the pinnacle event for all athletes in their lifetime! The experience is nothing less than magical and the memories are worth every bit of effort and sacrifice along the way!

How could something in an athlete's career ever top their trip to the Olympic Games? In 2010 when I was named to the Olympic Team I wasn't sure there was anything greater I could achieve athletically! I soon realized I was completely wrong! Qualifying for the Olympics was a huge goal of mine and a huge accomplishment after many years of dedicated hard work, but when I reached Vancouver and began the process of getting "outfitted" for the Games I realized there was so much more than just being an Olympian. At opening presentation we, the athletes, were asked what we wanted our "Olympic Legacy" to be. We kept these words to ourselves but mine still sits on the card by my beside. I suppose many could use performance or process goals, pleasing coaches or loved ones or even the ability to meet as many new people as possible in the two weeks of the Games. I thought long and hard about why I had spent so many years chasing my goals and committing myself to such a lofty dream.

I soon realized it really wasn't about me. Sure I had spent a good portion of my life focusing on me and how my training, racing and recovery was going, but at the end of the day I realized that Olympics or not it was more about the achievement of everyone in my life up until that point! I realized it was just the beginning of the opportunity to motivate and inspire others!

In 2010 my husband Brian was beyond excited for me to compete in the Games. He called and checked in everyday, he followed the live feeds and sent motivating messages and photos to my email. He was an incredible support network for me and he made my whole experience absolutely awesome! Fast forward four years and there have been numerous school visits, clinics, lessons and mentoring moments. I loved being a part of all of them! I absolutely LOVE sharing my passion and drive with all those I meet! I Love the concept of challenging yourself and aiming high with your expectations, of putting yourself on the line when there is a similar chance you could loose as there is you could win!

Brian exemplified all that I could ever hope for! He saw my success and realized if I could do it he could too! After working with so many youths, as a part of In-the-Arena, and hoping that you are successful at planting a seed of inspiration for them to chase their own dreams, I am so proud that perhaps the most inspired person was the one I shared almost everyday with for the past 4 years!!!

Brian qualified and was officially named to the 2014 US Olympic Team last Wednesday! I am beyond proud and I am more excited for him than I ever was for myself! He has been so dedicated and thorough with his training, so dialed and precise with his equipment and most of all so humble and gracious of his achievements and success! Watching his progress over the past 4 years has been an honor to be a part of!

I wish I could be there with him when he enters the greatest sporting arena of all time, but he knows I will be there in spirit and love!

Best of Luck to Brian and all the In-the-Arena athletes who will be competing in Sochi! I am so honored to be a part of such a wonderful group of athletes and people!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

I can't believe this is happening!!!

Wow! What an exciting couple of weeks for Brian and me. Sometimes when making decisions it is easy to look at the most fun and entertaining option and hope that the rest of your plans fall into place. With this being an Olympic Year, Brian and I have often had to look the other direction when opportunities arise to visit friends, family or spending long hours in large groups. For me the idea of forgoing social situations is easy since I like my quiet time, but for Brian, a very family oriented and social butterfly, this decision has a major impact!

The goal of the weeks over the Christmas and New Year's Holiday is to recover, train and prepare for our most important races, US Nationals. With low snow, travel and the potential for a lot of distractions I suggested to Brian that perhaps we should head straight to Utah to start getting used to the National's courses and altitude. Brian was very torn and ultimately spent his first Christmas EVER away from his family. I know this was a major impact for him and I was beyond thrilled when the new opportunity arose for his parents and sister to join US in Utah the week of Nationals!!!

Brian's family has been a huge part of his love for skiing. I can still remember heading out for an easy family ski and 3 hours later finishing with the whole group! They have been such a major support group for us that when we formed "Team Gregg" we knew it meant way more than just Brian and I.

Team Gregg consists of so many people at this point, that it is hard to really say who we know that isn't somehow a part of the success of our Team! I have to express how incredibly grateful I am to be a part of the amazing Gregg family! Between West Yellowstone, Silver Star, Bozeman (driving to the plane and dispatch), Rossland and US Nationals Team Gregg has been behind us all the way! Our Logo was designed by Brian's Sister Tara. our patches were arranged and sewn on by Alieta (our sister in-law) and Brian's mom, our Technical Support and Media operations have been lead by Chad, Brian's brother and our splits have been handled by Jim, Brian's Dad! The entire family provides help with ski testing, transportation, race logistics, feeds, equipment transfers, bib pickup, clothing gathering, food preparation, point calculating and of course crazy loud CHEERING and HUGS while we are racing and when we finish! Those who aren't at the race provide incredible support and encouragement from where ever they are! and we feel the positive vibes :)

Brian and I had an amazing US Nationals and we know it was due to all of "Team Gregg" and our supporters! We are know living a dream by traveling the World on the World Cup with the US Ski Team for the next two weekends before the 2014 Olympic Team is named! We cannot express how thankful we are for this opportunity and how fortunate we feel to be on this journey TOGETHER!!!

We are currently in the Czech Republic after racing a sprint race on Saturday that was a bit of an eye opener for us! We are getting used to the time change and change of pace here in Europe now and we are very excited for our next races in Poland!

Our dream since we got married was to make the Olympic Team together! At this point we have done a darn good job putting ourselves in the right place at the right time. Now we must wait, train well and race well before we find out! It is nice to have each other during this "waiting" period and these are the days that we will remember and cherish for the rest of our lives! This year will certainly become a favorite Christmas time topic for many years to come :)

I know I have said it before but THANK YOU to everyone who has helped make this DREAM SEASON possible for the both of us!