Winter Travels

Over the last few months I have spent a lot of time traveling. In the middle of December I went to Boston for a meeting. After that I headed home for Christmas and was hoping to spend as much time as possible skiing. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans- I only was able to ski four times!  Other than the lack of snow it was great to be back in Minnesota for a few days. I was able to see  my family and spend some time with my friends. My family spend Christmas at the cabin which is always a blast. There was just enough snow on the lake for perfect lake skiing! For New Years I headed back to Colorado to spend some time in Vail with friends. We spend a few days dodging rocks on the mountain. There was enough snow to ski but it was pretty thing in places.  On New Years Eve we decided to hike into the mountains. We cooked dinner over the fire, and looked down at the fireworks. It was an amazing vantage point to see the fireworks from, being able to look down on them from the top was awesome!  Once it was too cold to stay out any longer we began our hike home.  It was a great way to spend the New Year!

I left Vail and dropped some friends off at the Denver Airport, from there I headed back the the Springs where I repacked and headed to the airport myself. My flight headed to Orlando, from there I drove to Clermont. USA Triathlon sent me to help with the Elite Triathlon Academy's winter training camp. It was a great opportunity to work with some of the best up and coming triathletes in the country. They had a great week of training in Clermont, a hot bed for triathletes in the winter months.

After a little time in the Springs I went to Denver to help coach a camp there. It was a great group of athletes to work with. They were from all across the country and most of them had not met before. I have never been to a camp with such excellent group dynamics.  Everyone trained hard and looked like they got a lot out of the time they spent in Denver. Each night after dinner one person in the group gave a presentation on a topic that was important to them. These led to excellent discussion from topics ranging from psychology, altitude, nutrition and lessons learned from years of racing. All in all it was a great time all around.

The travels continue next weekend. I am headed to Houston to watch my grandpa play his alumni baseball game in Houston, Texas.  It will be great to see the family and the game!