Blowing the Dust Off

 As a coach, I watch a lot of racing. With this comes nostalgia for my own racing and the question, should I race again? It's been a while since I did an endurance event. I've been scratching my competitive itch through sailing. As a member of the crew racing on Wednesdays nights on Lake Superior is a great competitive outlet but doesn't test ones body in the way that endurance sports do. Because of that I've been toying with getting back into a physical (more physical) sport. 

With a busy winter of ski coaching it's not realistic to be a competitive ski racer. This leads me to think of the other sports I've competed in. There are quite a few but none that I took as seriously as skiing. The only other one that comes close is rowing. I've been toying with the idea of resurrecting these skills and as seasons go it fits very well with the busy winters of a ski coach. 

Rowing is a sport I really enjoyed as a high school athlete. It also combines physical exertion with time on the water, two things that I crave. As someone that hasn't participated in a team sport in quite a while it will be fun to work as a unit with others trying to move a boat 2000m as fast as I can again. 

Rasputitsa

Spring is officially here. If you are like me this is not great news. Ski season is over and yes, summer is coming but it's definitely not here yet. It may still be possible to find some great skiing if you know where to look, though that too will be quickly fading into into the mud. This time period has its own word in Russian, rasputitsa, and we all deal with this time of year in different ways, I like to get out of town to warmer climates and generally ignore the problem as much as possible. It can't however, be avoided in it's entirety so here are some ways use this time of year productively.

For those of us that are coming off of ski season (fatbike season, snowshoeing, etc) it can be a great time to take a few weeks to decompress. Don't worry about training, spend time with your other hobbies and catch up on reading! Reflect on your season and look at what you did well and what you want to improve on for the future. Create goals and discuss strategies to achieve them with your coach.This important physical and psychological break will help you reset and be ready to start fresh.

If you can't sit still or your priority is in the spring/summer you have to find ways to train. Many of us participate in endurance sport to get out of town. We relish time on the deserted country road or winding trail in the woods. Both of these options have some challenges during mud season. Drivers are not thinking of cyclists or runners on the road yet. Often the melting snowbanks and debris that have piled up change routes and force you to take a risky line. Be careful! No workout is worth tangling with a car. If you do choose to train on a paved road or path work into it slowly. If you are coming off of a winter of skiing or running on a treadmill your joints are not ready to pound pavement. Starting by mixing pavement and treadmill running, gradually building to primarily running on the pavement.

For those like me that are super excited to get on the trails DON'T. They are sopping wet and the rutts your tire tracks and footprints make take time and money to repair. Leave no trace, just like camping. Nobody likes ridding rutty trail just like no one likes trash at their campsite. It is much better to spend precious fundraised money on new trail instead of repairing easily avoided damage.

This leaves a couple options, train inside or find some pavement and possibly gravel. The trainer, treadmill, rowing machine are all excellent workouts. Work with your coach to come up with creative workouts that utilize these machines and minimize the tedium. The precision and mental toughness that can be developed during these workouts will be instrumental in keeping you focused during a competition.

Don't let rasputitisa get you down, mix it up and be patient, summer will come. Hopefully soon. 

Routine on the Road

One of the most important aspects to saying fit and healthy is creating a routine. This is much less daunting when at home, in an environment that you are familiar with and can control. While on the road it is best to create a routine of flexibility. You need to take the opportunities that your schedule provides and plan ahead to do some exercise each day.

While traveling I commit ahead of time to a 10 minute strength workout every day. This is not much but I know I can find 10 minutes each day to workout. By making this easily attainable it ensures that I will do something each day. I hope to add some skiing to this to create a good week of exercising but trip itineraries can quickly get packed with activities so I will hope for more but be content with 10 minutes a day. 

Coach Collaboration

Yesterday I gave a lesson to another coach in town. Initially I was surprised that he wanted to take a lesson from me. He's been coaching for quite a while. We have never worked together before in any capacity so it was a request that I was not expecting. As we got started I was not sure how it would go. A coach can have a pretty delicate ego. It was actually one of the best lessons I have given this winter. Not only was he receptive to my suggestions but we had great discussions about why I made those suggestions and how we could relate that information to our athletes.

Coaches spend a lot of time recruiting athletes and trying to differentiate themselves from other programs. This causes a lot of opportunities for collaboration to be lost. I was excited that this opportunity came up. None of us are the best at everything. Many other coaches can give us great insight into a part of coaching that they excel at. The short of it is no matter how much you have learned you can always learn more and everyone has something to offer us as we strive to be the best athlete or coach we can be.

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”– John Wooden

New Year, New Goals

The week between Christmas and New Years was crazy! Trying to pack a week's worth of work into three days made it hard to prioritize working out. While I was bummed about this I had a great time with family and friends over the holidays so it was okay. Creating a workout routine has been challenging since my life has very little in it that is routine. This is the main challenge I have when trying to be consistent with exercise. Just need to keep improving my time management and prioritizing my health and fitness. This is the main personal objective for 2017.

The new year weekend was active so that was a good start. Some friends and I rented a yurt in the UP of Michigan had a great time skiing lake effect powder all weekend.  for new years we skinned up the mountain (Midwest for very large hill) and skied down the main run right to our yurt. It was the perfect way to start the year.

Easing Into It

Athlete Jason Kask
This week is the first week in a long time that I have constantly worked out. These were not big workouts by any measure but they were workouts where I was there to train myself. No athletes to worry about, it was all about me (well one was about me and Tyr). This started on Sunday, a friend told me that she would and some mutual friends would be skiing at Korkki Nordic Center. This is a trail that I try to ski at least once a year. So why not on the coldest day so far this winter. When I was there it was not bad (-4 degrees F). I had overdressed but all in all it was a great ski. Just moving outside by myself. My friends got me out the door but I was pretty excited to ski by myself, something I rarely do. The woods were silent when I stopped moving. It was great. My second ski of the week was at another great trail, Chester Bowl. There I skied with Jennie Bender (amazing athlete and super cool lady), she was in town after Biathlon IBU Cup Trials at Mt Itasca. We had a great ski, three (Jenny Bender easy) laps of Chester is a solid workout when you are pretty out of shape. It is such a fun trail that any ski there is amazing. Jennie gave me some excellent technique tips. When you coach all the time you rarely take the time to really analyze your own technique so skiing with someone that is great at technique analysis was excellent. The third workout of the week was at Hartley Park. Jennie, Alena and I had a great classic ski. The tracks were amazing. Three days in a row was pretty sweet, up to this point it had been a bunch of coaching (that doesn't count) and walks with Tyr (which are great but at 8 months he is not supposed to run for extended periods of time). My fourth workout of the week was on Wednesday, Chris and I went for another great ski at Snowflake. With the little snow we have conditions are excellent there. We had a great ski, solved some world problems, solved more local problems and had a great time catching up. My fourth workout of the week (after taking a day off Thursday because I didn't prioritize working out) was on Friday. This one was short and sweet. Tyr went for his first ski! Pretty amazing day for me (they grow up so fast!) It took him a while to get the hang of it, we skied with Jennie as she warmed up for some intervals, and he would run in front of both of us, then jump out of the way as we almost mowed him down. After about a kilometer he figured out that behind is the best place for a dog. The next four kilometers went really well (astonishingly well) as he ran behind us. He would stop and smell (the snow...) then I'd call and he would be right behind us again. Everything went super smoothly and I was the greatest dog trainer ever until we got back to the chalet and there was another dog. Then all bets were off and I was thoroughly ignored. But, the first ski was an overwhelming success. That aside it was a pretty short workout for me, but I was OK with that because I had a lot of work to do. I got out skiing and had Tyr's first ski. Solid day. That makes us current. I don't know how much training the weekend will entail. There is a strong possibility of a run and maybe a ski on the lake but it's Christmas so I'm not going to worry about it.

I feel pretty good about this week. Four (legit, though easy) workouts in five days is good for me. I'm pretty proud of myself, to be honest. Hopefully next week the trend will continue and I will be in a good place to start working with a coach on the first of the year.


Coach Jason Kask

I know better than most one of the keys to success in sport is consistency. This was something that happened with this week's training. If any goals are to be met consistency is the key. The other thing that went well is scheduling and prioritization. Honestly this means I will have to work on Christmas Eve but all things considered it was worth it. Having a realistic approach to training is really important Athlete Jason did that well this week. He didn't try to go for workouts that he would have done in college, he did workouts that were what he needs now. This is hard to do as an athlete because we usually only think of ourselves at our peak fitness. It's also great to see Athlete Jason put his money where his mouth is and pay somebody to coach him. I shouldn't have to do that for free. 

The 2011/12 Ski Season: Short and ...

This winter has been an interesting one for me. I live in a place with no snow, and no easy access to snow. It requires a two and a half our drive to get to a ski trail. That is a lot of commitment to just go for a ski. I've done it before and never regret the drive because I love to ski. The problem is I also like to explore Colorado Springs and it gets expensive driving up to the mountains every weekend so I have not skied as much as I would like this winter. In general this is not a problem, there are lots of ways to stay active without snow, none quite as enjoyable as skiing but fun none the less. It quickly becomes a problem when I decide that it is a good idea to sign up for all the crazy races Colorado has to offer. In my current detrained state I can still ski race at a clip that would be a  solid performance in a local Wednesday night race and it would be a great training session. Again there is a problem, I can't drive 5 hours on a Wednesday evening, to be honest I probably could but the next day would be long and with my mountain bike sitting next to the door is never going to happen.

Everybody wanted front row seats!

Instead I show up at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail for a weekend of fun. There will be ski races, bike races, climbing competitions and outdoor concerts- a plethora of fun to be had!  It made for a great weekend. I saw they were hosting a 10k skate race and though it would be fun to give it a go.  And it really was fun.  The mass start (with $1000 on the line and a $100 prem for the first k) went out hard as could be expected.  It just so happens that the next day was a marathon in Aspen and everyone was eager to get their hands on an extra couple bucks for the weekend so it as the most stacked field I have raced in years.  I skied my race after going out way to fast and held on pretty well through the flats on the fist half. I had some good climbs on the second half and finished. Not much more to it than that. I went home took a nap and headed out to watch the climbing competition.

Mixed Climbing 

It was pretty amazing to see what those guys can do.  I then headed to La Cantina for some great food and went back out to the street concert- an 80's cover band that was putting on an excellent show. The next day I watched a friend ski the ski mountaineering race which looked very like an exciting challenge and spent the rest of the day skiing Vail. That evening I went to watch the bike slalom, and on snow criterium as well as the boot race, all were quite fun to spectate!

On Snow Criterium

When I picked up my packet for the two races I was entered in, the 10k and the Vail Uphill, I was surprised to learn that I the only person entered in the 'track ski' category. Then after skiing a day on the mountain I began to feel the dread seeping in that I had made a terrible mistake.  This mistake was confirmed the next morning when I show up with my skate skis (the only ones I brought) and the first thing said to me is "those aren't the skis your racing on are they?" I proceed to explain that I am and not only that I don't have any other skis with me. All that I have in my car is a pair of worn out running shoes with no tread left. After having this conversation a couple more times I put my toes on the line for the two mile endeavor from Lionshead Village to the top of the gondola, two miles of the steepest climbing I have ever done. Here is the course map. It took 45 minutes of herring boning to get to the top. At this time I think it was the hardest event I had ever done. That would change later in the season...

Boot Run

A few weeks after the Teva Games a friend called and asked if I wanted to do a race in Steamboat Springs.  The North Routt Coureur des Bois (Glide the Divide) is an ultra-marathon that covers 90 hilly kilometers north of Steamboat across the Wyoming border and back.

I had heard about it before and thought it would be the year to do it because I am living in Colorado. That is a terrible reason to do a race of this nature. Again it wasn't a nice little Wednesday night race. It was 90 kilometers of the most grueling terrain I have ever seen. At the start I saw a volunteer with a sweatshirt on that said 'America's Toughest Ski Race' and I thought that was pretty bold. The first 14k were pretty flat, we raced around a lake. I ended up at the end of this section with a group of five, including a coach from JO's that I hadn't seen in years. We didn't get a chance to chat much but it was nice to know one person in the group.

Then we got to the first road crossing (we had to take our skis off and run across the street). A few more k's passed and we started to climb...it lasted a long time but I still felt good at the top and then we had some flats followed by the bumpiest, iciest descent I have ever experienced!  It was the first of many sections that felt like I was water skiing on a day meant for sailing! Then we climbed a little more and came to an aid station at about 30k. At a third of the way through the race it was still fast and I was feeling good- my former coach and I were cruising along at a good clip.

It started to warm up in the next few kilometers but I felt good through the 40k mark. After that it got a little rough. I made it to the aid station at 45k in Wyoming. Here I sat down and had a bite to eat. I had a few Fig Newtons, a slice of bacon and some Snickers. I decided to pass on the shot of whiskey that was offered, I am quite sure that would have made my situation worse!  The friendly volunteers kept telling me I was quite relaxed, this was true but only because I knew I needed to eat and gather my resolve for what was to come. I saw a fellow skier from northern Minnesota leave the aid station so I decided I would follow and we could ski together.  This was wishful thinking on my part. He had a 100m lead and I could not catch up. In about five k he was out of sight. I went through the 50k mark and then began to climb. It was a long section to the aid station at 60k. The whole time I thought of how jealous I was of my friend doing the 45k race. In the beginning I was excited to have this race under my belt for what ever bragging rights would come with it, at this point I only wanted to finish because I did not know how else I would get out of the middle of nowhere other than  skiing out and I did not want to feel like I had to come back and prove I could do it. When I made it to the next aid station I sat down and had some more to eat. Here I exchanged glances with a friend that classiced past (miraculously with excellent kick!). There was nothing for him to say, we both knew that I was in a bad place with a long ways to go.  After he left I remembered what I should have said a simple 'good job'. It would have been fitting but I couldn't think of those words at the time, I was pretty out of it.

I left the aid station and proceeded down a huge hill that was snow plowed out, I was amazed that I didn't fall during the entire event. I descended for a while which was nice except that I could not tuck for digestive reasons so I just stood there going fast in the shade and very slow in the sun trying to stay on my feet.  At this point I though I would finish, I wasn't feeling good but now I was more upset about starting than I was worried about finishing. There was a large valley where I saw a building and seriously though about skiing over to it for a nap but decided against it. I made it to the woods again and started to climb. Here a woman caught me that asked if I knew where the next station was. We had just passed the 75k mark and the previous aid station said that was where we would have the next one. I told here my friends that had skied it in the past told me it was at 80k after a huge uphill, they were right.  She said she was a little worried because she was coughing up blood. I though that was a legitimate thing to worry about but had no way to help her. We were still a long way from nowhere (aka the finish). We proceeded to the base of the large hill my friends described and took off our skis and started hiking. Once at the top we were at the aid station. This was the last one, 12k to go. there was a race official here taking someone back to the finish that had dropped and the woman coughing blood told him of here situation. He was very concerned (as any race official should be) but she refused to drop. He asked me how I was doing and I said I would finish, I had come this far and didn't want to have to do that again to remove this from my bucket list.

After leaving the aid station we descended and I started to feel a little better (though I still could not tuck). Again it was super bumpy and with my legs on the verge of cramping made for a few sketchy pitches. Once it flattened out I skied my way uneventfully to the finish. Here my friends were waiting with a warm coat even though it must have been over 50 degrees it felt nice to put it on. We sat at the resort that comprised the finish and had some food and something to drink. We shared the stories of our ordeal and how it compared to other races and previous years. As always the great company after any race makes it easy to forget the immediate pain. It was concluded that it was deserved to describe it as "America's Toughest Ski Race".

This will conclude my race season of 11/12.  Next year I can only promise one thing, if I remember how I felt during this race I will not sign up again. It was concluded at the finish that if you had a bad experience it takes about 4-5 years to forget it and sign up again, hopefully my memory lasts much longer than that! While it is always a bummer to see the snow melt, I am happy that it has led to longer days and great riding in the Springs. 

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!

Thanksgiving: Great Snow, Great Skiing, Great Friends

Thanksgiving was a great time this year. It always is but this year is especially awesome. It began with a drive to Vail for opening day.  I arrived the Thursday before Thanksgiving to surprisingly little snow. On Friday the mountain looked a little bear and it would be a madhouse with everyone there for the first day of the season Kristen and I decided to head to the Nordic center. It was the first time I had gone cross country skiing in Vail. There were some bare spots but it was all in all a great ski! Getting on snow the first time of the is always a little shaky but it was fun to get out. We spent the rest of the day walking around Vail Village. That evening we headed over to Minturn for some live music.

On Saturday I continued my journey north. As I left Vail it began to snow. This seemed to be a trend for most of the drive. About an hour north of Vail I encountered a semi that had rolled over and was across the entire road!  At this point in the road The cab was hanging over the guardrail and we had to drive on the shoulder to get around the accident. The drive remained snowy until I reached the interstate. On I80 the road cleared up a bit until I was 3 miles from my exit where the road was closed! After I left the freeway I headed north again up to Jackson, WY, from this point until the far side of Teton Pass the drive was beautiful!  At the the top of Teton Pass there were lots of cars parked and people skinning up the mountain. The snow looked amazing! The drive continued uneventfully until I was 60 miles outside of West Yellowstone when it started snowing hard. The last few miles took about two hours to drive but I made it. The best pert is that there was some warm Wild West pizza waiting!

The week of Thanksgiving was filled with skiing, coaching and catching up with friends and family. It is always great to spend that week in West because EVERYONE is there. I am especially lucky because I get to spend the holiday with my family. The week turned out to be one of the most beautiful weeks I have ever spent in West Yellowstone, warm and sunny with plenty of snow, it doesn't get any better than that. We had some great coaching sessions. All the athletes were excellent, they made great progress technically while getting in some great volume over the week. It is amazing for them to be able to have the opportunity to spend an entire week focusing on training. I remember how great that opportunity was when I was in high school. The amount of work that goes into the trip behind the scenes is astounding. The trip leaders and parents that accompany these athletes do a great job making sure the kids are able to not only have a trip but an affordable trip which is equally as challenging.

After a great Thanksgiving dinner I headed back to Colorado Friday morning. Instead of heading straight back to the Springs I went to Steamboat Springs to spend some time with my cousin Fred and his wife Penny. It was great to see both of them and see the sights of Steamboat. Fred and I went backcountry skiing on Rabbit Ears Pass on Saturday and Sunday with Buster. Both skis were great. I also got to see Howelson Hill, the home of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. It looks like a great facility. Alpine, jumping, cross country all housed in the same location. They even have a weight room  on site. Not only does it look like a sweet facility it works.  This club has produced 79 Olympians! The number only becomes more impressive when Steamboat Springs' population is 12088. Saturday evening Fred, Penny and I went to the hot springs just outside of town. It was awesome!  Looking up through the steam and seeing the stars was sweet. Luckily we were able to stay on our feet because the areas around the spring were treacherous with all the ice on the ground.

After a great trip I headed back to the Springs. It was tough to come back to the lack of snow, but it was good to be home. 

2011 USOC International Altitude Training Symposium

This past week I was lucky enough to attend the USOC’s International Altitude Training Symposium. The opportunity to listen to some of the most renowned researchers in the field was pretty awesome! The presentations were a mix of hard science and practical experience from coaches, researchers and other practitioners. Speakers included Dr. Levine and Dr. Stray-Gunderson, researchers that first experimented and found the efficacy of living high and training low. Some of these presentations were quite technical but they have led to improved performance because of their practical significance.

When I arrived at the symposium on Wednesday afternoon I ran into one of the U.S. Ski Team coaches who I have known from racing in the Midwest. Not only was it nice to see a familiar face, it was great to catch up with him and talk about how coaching at the international level compared to his past experiences at the club level. I also ended up sitting by one of the coaches that I met in Buffalo at the USAT Coaching Summit. The three of us spent most of the three day symposium together. It was really neat to be able to compare the different models used by triathlon and skiing to produce great Olympians. I kind of felt like a mediator because I had the most insight into each but the people I was with were definitely more versed in the intricacies of their respective sport that I so it was great to be be able to learn from each of them.

At this point in the game I am a fan of the skiing model. There was a great presentation by the Nordic combined coach and a few of the members of the combined team. They not only discussed how they use altitude but the structure of their team. The residence program they have in Park City creates a team environment that fosters competition and camaraderie that creates champions, as was exemplified in Vancouver. The success of the Nordic combined team at these Olympics was previously unimaginable. They are also using a different periodization model than I have seen in other ski programs; while this is an important part of their success I believe that the team atmosphere created by the residence program allows this model to be successful.

I have heard that more business takes place on the golf course that in the office. This after hour’s business was demonstrated at the symposium. Each day at least one of the presentations contained the phrase “last night we were discussing this during dinner and…” While the only golf course I saw during the symposium was abandoned, which is a good thing because golf is not my strong suit! Each day after the symposium everyone went out for dinner. The first night the group I was with ran into a contingent from USA Speed Skating. It was interesting talking to them about the differences and similarities of speed skating and skiing. I also met people from swimming as well as a couple of coaches from Spain and Brazil.

After the symposium concluded on Friday a few of us went to the incline. The incline is a one mile hike that gains 2000 feet over that distance! It was a pretty sweet experience made better by great company. The hike up was quite challenging to say the least but once at the top there was a great view of Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs. Instead of hiking down, which I have been told is quite taxing, we took the Bart Trail down which is a four mile trip. It was a great conclusion to an awesome few days!

Colorado Springs and USA Triathlon

A few weeks ago I moved to Colorado Springs to work for USA Triathlon at the Olympic Training Center. I’m sure it will take a while to get used to working for eight hours in my cubicle but there are millions of other people doing it in the United States so I should be able to survive. So far living in the ‘Springs’ has been uneventful. I have begun to explore some of the parks and trail systems which seem pretty nice. There is a definite southwestern feel here that is obviously absent in Minnesota. Colorado Springs is said to be the most dog friendly city in the country which is quite apparent. There are dogs everywhere! It is pretty crazy.

Today I went for a ride and was passed by a group of riders from the Garmin Cervelo Team. It is pretty amazing how many elite athletes reside here (though it is not surprising as it seems to be a great place to train). Working with the elite triathletes has been interesting. I don’t get much interaction with them outside of swim practice but that time has been fun. Watching them train is the same as watching any other group swim, be it the U of M, or a high school practice, these guys just go faster and farther. This brings up the statement that there are no secrets to training. People claim to have them but they are not out there. Great coaches are able to identify what workouts and periodization will allow each athlete to reach their potential. They are good at using the information at hand, no secrets. Central Cross Country Skiing has the motto of ‘Dream. Plan. Execute’. This motto is applicable at every level. The difference with the athletes at the OTC is that they dream a little bigger, make their plan harder, and execute it with more precision that most other athletes. These factors coupled with the drive and ability to handle this amount of stress allows them to be the best in the world.

Last weekend I went to the Elite National championships in Buffalo, New York. It was fun to travel with my co-workers and get to see an ITU draft legal race. It definitely plays out different than your typical non-drafting tri. After the race three of us ran back to the hotel to grab our swim suits and headed back to the course for a swim. This made Lake Erie the third of the great lakes I have swum in. After a quick lap around the course we headed to the Anchor Bar to experience the original buffalo wings. We got there and there was an hour and a half wait! We decided to skip it so we would have time to visit Niagara Falls. The falls were less impressive than they are from the Canadian side but still fun to see, especially at night. The next day we scheduled plenty of time for the Anchor Bar!

After the triathlon Sunday and Monday were filled with a coach’s summit. It was very interesting to sit and listen to the coaches of national team athletes and how they all interact with each other and their athletes. After a day and a half of meetings we tried to head home but were delayed an hour on the plane in Buffalo. We made it to Chicago just in time to miss our connection but finally made it back to Colorado Springs. We were the lucky ones; one of the people in our group was delayed overnight and did not get home till Tuesday!

Shootin' the Breeze

This weekend got off to a great start. After driving up to Duluth Wednesday night I headed to the Ridge Thursday morning to help wax for Duluth East Nordic. Luckily the temperatures did not change much because it was already tricky enough without having to guess what the temp would be at race time. The even better part was we nailed it! On a tough day we had great skis, fast and sticky all at the same time. At one point on the course while I was testing it was easy to look around and see that I was the happiest coach on the trail! The great wax helped but the both the boys and girls skied great races. Both teams were just ahead after the skate race and solidified their victories with a solid performance in the classic. While the girls were expected to be in the mix the boys came into State ranked 5th so they pulled off an 'upset' to those who underestimated them. It's funny because after being in the cities every coach I talk can't impress upon me enough how difficult their section is but when it comes down to it Section 7 has been a dominant force almost every year. It was great to see Duluth East win the boys and girls titles for the third time (of the six times it has happened).

After the excitement at the State meet I stayed up north and coached with the Duluth/Cloquet CXC Master's Chapter. We had an excellent ski Saturday at Snowflake Nordic Center. The course was quite fast but much more skiable than I had anticipated. As always the volunteers did and excellent job grooming. After the ski I headed to Carlton for the Trampled by Turtles Concert. Having never been inside Black Bear Casino I was surprised to be engulfed by a cloud of smoke when I stepped inside. Luckily the conference room did not allow smoking. The concert was awesome! Trampled has put on a great show every time I have seen them. Their skill on their instruments is hard to beat. They play at tempos that are extremely fast but never miss a note!

During the session with CXC on Saturday I heard there was going to be a biathlon race at Snowflake Sunday. I decided to dust off my rifle and give it a whirl! Luckily for me it was quite windy on Sunday. This is a huge advantage if you haven't shot your rifle in three years. After the first shooting Phil Rodgers and I were in the lead. During the second shooting Phil left the range quicker than I did and was about a penalty lap ahead. On the third shooting we came into the range for our first standing shooting. It was next to impossible for me to keep my sights trained on the target. The gusts were blowing my whole body around! Phil kept his lead and I knew I would have to hit at least one to catch him in the next shooting. During the next lap we both came to the conclusion that it was better to just shoot fast and get on with things instead of waiting for a good shot. I cam into the range just as Phil took his first shot. During the quick succession of shots that followed he managed to hit one. I fired quickly and missed all five as Phil clinched the win.

After the race I headed to Cloquet for another session with the CXC Master's. There was an excellent turnout! We had a great ski in the wind and twigs that had blown onto the trail. After skiing and talking about the Birkie for a few hours we parted ways and I headed into the blizzard that was engulfing the Twin Cities. Luckily I made it to Forest Lake before it got really bad. All in all it was a great weekend of waxing, coaching, racing and hanging out with friends and family!

West 2010

After a long trip on the bus ninety skiers including myself safely made it to West Yellowstone, Montana. On the way we saw twelve cars in the ditch. One of which was one group from St. Olaf. I was extremely happy to be riding the bus! After a slow night of traveling we make it to West in just under 24 hours after we left Duluth.

On our first night a few of the adults and I decide to go out for pizza. On our way there we were pulled over by the overzealous WYPD for jay walking and not walking in single file! We almost talked ourselves into a ticket but more about the police later. We finally made it to Wild West Pizzaria. Its reputation of best pizza in the west is well deserved!

From Thursday to Tuesday West Yellowstone has gotten four feet of snow! Yesterday we were experiencing a true blizzard. The two roads in out of town were both closed. The streets were lined with stranded semi's. With up to 30mph winds and heavy snowfall it made for some exciting video technique sessions. As I walked to the trail head with the CXC Masters we had our second run in with the WYPD. We were yelled at for 'obstructing traffic' which meant that there were four masters walking side by side with one truck following us. The police SUV was in the oncoming lane with his lights on and started yelling at us for our inconsiderate behavior.

Today when I woke up it was negative 17 degrees. By the time I skied it warmed up to negative 4. It was the first day I was able to ski more than 1km from the biathlon range! I met up with some of the CSS guys and skied Windy Ridge.

I have yet to check out the Mexican restaurant that is located in the school bus. It has to be good because it looks so sketchy! I will hopefully get to eat there before we leave on Friday.

I will put up some pictures later in the week. It is hard to take photos of the same landscape that I have photographed for 11 years!

Fall 2010

When working races in Duluth you get to see some beautiful sunrises!

Lots has happened since my last post, but that is to be expected when it was in March! This fall I have started school at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. It is a much different experience than that of St. Scholastica. The reasons for this are the size of the institution, the courses, and living in a large city. While I enjoyed my undergraduate experience immensely I am glad to get another perspective on my field of study. The U of M has such a large variety of course offerings it makes the curriculum very specific for what I want to do. At the same time I am very glad to have such a strong background in physiology. If I didn't have that I think I would spend all of my time trying to catch up and understand the material instead of being able to apply it to sport and endurance performance.

Enough about school. This fall I have been racing a few of the cyclocross races in the Minnesota circuit. They are super fun for anyone that has not experienced them. It has been fun riding my bike regularly again. That hasn't happened since I was in high school! A key aspect of sport specific training is when you change sports to change the mode which you train for them. Until this fall I have dabbled in triathlons and a few mountain bike races but have never seriously ridden my bike.

Jake rocking some Superior Performance bibs!

The final weekend of October brings us to the Halloween Hustle. This year it was an even bigger success than it was last year. With a 50% increase in participation and many more elaborate costumes it was a fun morning. Luckily it was a beautiful day for October in Duluth. Eric Hartmark posted the top time for the men, and Amanda Lepisto for the women. For the costume contest the winner was a ghost that would have passed for an actress in a Steven King movie. In second place there were some very scary clowns, and in third was Captain Underpants. For photos and results visit www.superior-performance.net. The most inspiring scene of the day was the participant that completed the 5km course with Cerebral Palsy. He is an inspiration to all that were there. In the world of sport we get wrapped up in faster, higher stronger and tend to forget there are those that do not have a choice when it come to being their best. They are required to go to extraordinary lengths to accomplish the tasks that most of us take for granted. Thanks to all that participated. A special thanks goes to all the volunteers and sponsors, without you the race would not have been possible!
Captain Underpants!

After the race my attention was turned to pumpkin carving. With only a few short hours until Halloween myself and a few friends broke out the knives for the 10th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party Contest. There were many brilliant pumpkins (and watermelons). After the carving was completed the judges chose the Vikings helmet as the winner. The artistic license that was taken by the watermelons was also awarded! Miraculously for the first time in 10 years nobody burned the pumpkin seeds- I guess it helps to have them cooked by a professional.

Moab

This year for spring break some friends and I again traveled to Moab, Utah. This year after a massive advertising campaign we were able to entice more people to join us! It was a great time. In stead of talking about it check out some of the sweet footage we were able capture!

Sibley

This past weekend some friends and I traveled to Thunder Bay for what is now the Sleeping Giant Loppet. We all had a great time! Mason won the classic 50km and Jeremy was 11th in the 50km skate. Andre and Nikolia went one-two in the 50km skate! Joe and I had an epic showdown over the last 500m. I went out very conservatively and didn't see Joe after 4km into the race. At about 30km I felt good so I decided to step it up and push it into the finish. At the 40km mark the course became very wet and slow, it was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. As I came to the final kilometer I saw a skier in a white headband, exactly what Joe had been wearing. Since I had only 1km to go I decided to catch him. As we cam to the final 500m I came along side him and we sprinted to the line. Here Joe make the mistake of lunging the foot without the chip attached! In the results I beat him by about a second but since there were no cameras we will never know where Joe's other foot was.

The next day we skied at Lappe, during another beautiful day! It was a great course, fun climbs and some exciting descents. All in all a great weekend!

Bond Uni

It seemed like the first time arriving on campus after my stressful day on Sunday. After moving into my room and unpacking a few of my thing I walked over to campus and took care of some administrative business, registering for classes and the like. After this was concluded I took a campus tour.

The campus is gorgeous! The photos on the internet do not do it justice. For a school with approximately the same number of students as the College of St. Scholastica, Bond Uni has easily twice as many buildings. The other amazing thing is that all the buildings are laid out in a precise order because they were all built at the same time. They are all (except the Health Science and Medicine building) built out of large blocks of sandstone. The facilities in this building look like a four star hotel as you walk into the lobby. The entire building is decorated with Aboriginal art.

The campus is built around the central lake/fountain called Lake Orr. The outskirts of campus are lots of pine trees while the interior is palm and eucalyptus trees. As I walk around campus I hear people speaking a multitude of languages, everything from the Asia to Europe is represented.

Over the past week I have been exploring the area as much as possible. On my runs I try to see as much of the surrounding communities as I can. It is a very confusing area. The streets are not laid out in any sort of grid whatsoever. The area of the Gold Coast is more like a county than an actual city. Each of these little areas are governed by the City of the Gold Coast.

Most of the areas on the eastern coast of Australia in Northern New South Whales and southern Queensland are governed by this principal. Brisbane is broken into communities all under the name of Brisbane but if measured by square kilometers it would be one of the largest cities in the World.

I started classes this week. They have been interesting so far. I have one every evening Monday through Thursday from 5-8pm. This is nice because it leaves lots of time for studying and exploring the area. This semester I am taking the following: Psychology of High Performance Sport, Leadership, Communication, and Negotiation in Sport, Project Management in High Performance Sport and Doping and Detection in Sport. The best part about the classes is that they are very usable! Not only will they be extremely helpful in my field but they will also provide useful skills in any aspect of life.

In my program there are only two students, myself and a woman from California. There is also on Australian man that is doing the program part time so he is in a few of our classes. All the professors say the Uni prides itself on small class sizes but this is a little extreme! All of my professors have been very helpful so far and are very knowledgeable in the subjects they are teaching.

Surfer’s Paradise

This excursion to Surfer’s Paradise was quite unplanned! I had expected to arrive at Bond University (Uni) on Sunday, January 10 at about noon. I then got the address of my residence and walked, about 800m, to my housing. There were only two catches, first I had about 150 lbs of luggage and the second they were closed on Sundays! The third party that I booked my room through failed to mention that while we had been talking about my moving in on the tenth that this would not be possible!

Luckily the woman that I spoke with at the Uni on campus accommodation center was extremely helpful! She booked me a room in a hostel in Surfer’s Paradise and called a cab for me. Before I knew it I was off! This hostel was far less desirable than the one I stayed in while I was in Brisbane. It was actually quite a dive but there were some very welcoming people staying there. After I was all checked in I walked about the town. There were some very nice canals that I walked along before I became oriented with the town.

I went to a nice bakery for lunch. It was located in a shopping center that bordered a nice courtyard that showed a movie on a giant screen above it each afternoon. People were sitting on this grassy opening in bean bag chairs just watching the movie.

I then made my way through the maze of shops until I finally came to the beach! It was quite a scene. The beach stretches as far as you can see. There were people swimming and sunbathing. It was neat to watch the Surf Life Savers in action. They made sure that everyone swam between the flags. All of the beaches are marked with red and yellow flags where the beach is safe to swim. Outside of the flags there are dangerous riptides. The Aussies and especially Queenslanders take their surf lifesaving quite seriously. I saw while watching for about fifteen minutes tow custom trucks, a jet ski and a helicopter all patrolling the beach!

After I hung out at the beach I made my back through the shopping centers to the hostel. There I hung out with some of the people staying there and read my book.

More Wandering

Today I filled the morning finding out when I need to catch my train to the Gold Coast tomorrow morning. After that I went the the Queen Street Mall and wandered around the shops. After that I visited some parkas and museums.

The first point of attraction I saw was the Botanical Garden. It is just outside of the government buildings. There are many ponds and wooded areas. The park runs along the end of a point that is surrounded by the Brisbane River. Other interesting features in the Garden are a very large outdoor theatre and a mooring for sailboats.

The first museum I looked at was the Queensland Maritime Museum. It was quite riveting. The history of Brisbane is directly tied to the water. The museum covered history from the beginning of the cities roots and but revolved for the most part around the dry dock that was built in 1881. There was also a lot of information on Australia and Queensland’s involvement in both World Wars.

This boat was used to sail from Canada to Australia. It is less than two meters long.

On my way from the Maritime Museum farther into South Bank I wandered through a market. It was neat seeing all the different local crafts. There are quite different than the ones found in the USA. After this I walked past the City Beach to the Queensland Museum. I got there just before closing and wasn’t able to see much more that part of one floor. Next time I am in town I will have to go back and see what else there it has to offer.

After the museum closed I went back into South Bank and had an amazing fish sandwich next the City Beach. I don’t have much experience with seafood but it was pretty good!