I hope everyone had a merry xmas!
I’ve been in Minnesota for the last week, and I’ve been keeping busy with family get-togethers (after 4 holiday celebrations I am done). On Christmas eve I cooked up a broiled flank steak dinner with blue cheese stuffed portobello mushrooms and a roasted beet and apple salad. (The meal got rave reviews)! My final Christmas party was a taco dinner at my mom’s house. It was a first for me, but everyone likes tacos… so why not?!?!

I’ve also been training hard, getting ready for Nationals up in Anchorage next week. This last week I had 2 days of interval sessions, followed by a day off, and then two more interval days. I’ve been feeling strong and fast down here at sea level, and I’m excited to fire it up next week!!!

Family and skiing has kept my time pretty occupied, but I did manage to go to the 3-D movie AVITAR last night with my sister and some friends… I recommend seeing this movie! And if anyone can get me a flying dragon to ride, that would be great.

This weekend was a back to back classic sprint races on the tough Canmore race course. I felt pretty good both days in the qualifying rounds… and both days I qualified in 19th place. I want to be racing faster than that, but things are heading in the right direction. So now its time to train smart, rest smart, and stay positive!!!

It’s been a great month and a half on the road, but tomorrow I am headed back to Minnesota for the holidays. Its a bit sad to have this ski trip come to an end, but I hear there’s awesome skiing in Minnesota. It will also be great to get to spend some time with my family and friends before heading back on the road for some more ski racing!

I am now in Canmore… and its amazing here!
Its sunny and warm. I’m feeling better, and the skiing is spectacular!

This last month on the road I have been able to use my culinary skills and be the US Ski Team’s chef. When I’m not on the ski trail working out, or in the wax room working on my skis, I’m usually in the kitchen making sure we are eating delicious dinners every night!!!
So far there has been no complaints!

When I woke up on race day morning with a headache, somewhat sore throat, and an achey body my first thought is to ignore it. So I ignored it, and I did what I would normally do on race day morning, drink coffee, eat breakfast, and ski… I did my warm up around the race course, but it was getting harder to ignore all the signals my body was trying to tell me. My body is fighting something, and it doesn’t need the stress on ski racing on top of that. It was huge bummer to not race today, but I think it was the smart thing to do… I want to fight off whatever bug is trying to get me down so that I can get back to health and race really fast next weekend in Canmore!!!

Today the SuperTour Bozeman sprints were held in Lindley Park! We arrived at the start at 7:45 am to start warming up for a race start at 9:00am. The wind was blowing, the temperature was dropping, and the snow was falling… but that didn’t stop us from stripping down to our bright little spandex racing suits to hammer around a twisty, turny mile long race course!
I felt pretty good racing this morning… unlike last week, I felt comfortable on my skis and actually felt like I could ski fast and stay in control of my body… and it felt great! I love the feeling of pushing yourself harder than most people think possible. And the metalic taste of blood in your mouth after you cross the finish line, and the light-headed lack-of-oxygen feeling is priceless.
So after a short cooldown, we headed back to our house (a 10 minute drive down the road) to throw some sweaty clothes in the dryer and to eat a sandwich and relax for an hour before we would go back to the race course for the afternoon heats. (I qualified and would be racing in the 3rd heat which started at 12:10pm).
The gun went off for my heat, and we were off down the course! I felt good, but since it was windy and to move to the semifinals you just need to be the in the top 2 of your heat, I wanted to take it out relaxed and take advantage of a draft. So I didn’t try to make any crazy break-away move, and stayed right in the pack… but the course was narrow and my skis got tangled with someone else’s skis… before I knew it I was on my face and everyone flew by me as I was trying to untangle myself and my equipment. I got up, and didn’t give up! I managed to pass 2 people before the finish line. But that still put me in 4th for my heat, and I didn’t move on to the semifinals.
I am happy with my effort and I felt fast. Though I was hoping for a better result today I’m not dissappointed because I can still say “I did the best I could today”!