US National Championships

If you asked me last March if I’d be racing another US Nationals I would have said it was very unlikely. I also wouldn’t have predicted that I would be ski coaching.

I guess the way things fell into place I am psyched to be where I am and grateful I’m still getting the chance to race. Last week I earned two second place results at the US Championships. Although I missed two nationals titles by a combined time of less than 5 seconds last week, I am still pleased with the results. It’s actually my best average from all the years past racing at Nationals.

Lasts week’s results were a cool accomplishment considering that I was coaching full-time and racing. I’d be lying to say that I’m not proud to pull this off, and it would not have been even closely possible without the efforts from Josh, Dan, and Eric who are the head coaches at SSWC and SSCV.

I didn't train at all this summer with skiing in mind. From late March-September I was focused on running, which was derailed by a heel fracture in May. After my heel injury I was stuck to a month on the stair master and road riding. After a month of that, I got to a place where I could uphill run on the treadmill as well as ride my mountain bike again. Mid-September I started rollerskiing, but the boot caused a bit of discomfort so I limited most of my boot time to coaching practice until mid August. My heel is continuing to improve today, and I hope that it will be 100% by next summer’s running races.

This experience has been valuable to me because I’ve learned so much about training. There has always been this idea that training needs to be ‘perfect’ or 'specific’, but my last nine months have been anything but that. All I have done over that period is train a ton! I love going out on long adventures on the bike, and when I was stuck on the treadmill I did tons of intervals to pass the time. Since starting coaching in early Sept I’ve done lots of training geared for high school kids, which has been a new stimulus, but is rarely the volume of intensity or duration I would preferably do.

I learned that an atypical approach can be successful as long as the work load remains high. I don’t believe there is a perfect algorithm to achieve results. I find this inspiring for both myself and others moving forward, as it's rare for an athlete to not face some sort of adversity or need to forge their own way forward- whether that be due to injury, illness, financial/time constraints, etc. I am psyched to continue pursuing ski racing as I move forward with my life on a different path. I hope others in the sport are motivated to take a similar approach as they phase into new chapters as well.

Steamboat Livin

As per usual it's tough to keep the ol blog current when times are great and even harder when I’m in a rut. Not that life hasn’t been groovy, but not being able to run and having my heel hurt with literally every activity I do this summer has sucked a lot.

That being said, my heel is starting to show some improvements. Good timing too cause Steamboat got its first snow this weekend and running is basically all I can do outside for exercise. And whether I’m training legit for a race or not I want to get out everyday.

And I guess since my last post I moved to Steamboat to assistant coach the 8-12th grade Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club xc athletes. Super cool opportunity to learn from experienced coaches and share my knowledge with the kids. I’m enjoying working with all the athletes here and I’m excited to see them ski race this winter.

And apparently it’s only been nice weather since I showed up…. basically the nicest fall I’ve ever experienced in my life :)

Plans have changed

Sunday the 22nd I was suppose to catch a flight to Spain to compete in my first international running race. Zegama is one of the most famous and challenging mountain races in the world and a race I have been dreaming of for years. I was signed up to race in 2020 before Covid postponed those plans and last summer I held off from pursuing running with my focus solely on ski racing and the winter Olympics. Skiing kept me from chasing dreams in running for the past ten years or so, but now I am all in and stoked to blend running and ski racing together. I don’t think it needs to be one or the other moving forward.

Spent the night in the ER. At least they put me on this bed and turned the lights off. I got about 3 hours sleep waiting to be seen.

Saturday before my flight I decided to go for a short bike ride to flush my legs. I had a really positive morning run so I thought an easy ride would be a nice way to get out of the house, sweat a bit, and relax before traveling all day on Sunday. Well on my easy ride I got bucked off my bike over weird rock, I spun side-ways off the bike and dropped off the side of the trail. The drop down was a few feet and I landed on my heel weird. I immediately couldn’t put weight on my foot. I knew I did something bad. I one leg-peddled back to the car, bought some ice on the drive home with my foot up on the dash, but the deed was done. I am lucky to say that the X-ray and CT scans showed no fracture, but my black and blue foot cannot bear any weight through it so I had to cancel my plans for Zegama and an awesome trip to the race with my sister and niece. I also had a leg full of cactus that I am still pulling out today.

The weekend wasn’t all bad. Before I crashed my bike I got to watch Jessica graduate with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. As she received several awards I learned that she was 1 of 3 students in her class to have a 4.0. Rockstar! Her Physical Therapy expertise has been awesome this spring as I upped my running miles. She’s gonna be a good PT

This bad luck happened only a few weeks after my presentation on ‘Success through failure’ and it is really tough to keep the positive self-talk alive, but I know I will recovery and come back strong. Some of those great one-liners I had in my speech are quotes I am trying to tell myself right now. This is one of those humbling accidents… just as I started to feel really confident in my running form and thinking I had it all figured out I make a small mistake and now I am on crutches. Tough experience for sure. Hopefully each day improves and my next post has me back training. For now I am rebuilding my race calendar, working a lot from the couch, taking care of todo list items, and trying to stay positive. Lot’s of bad stuff going on right now in the world for perspective and I didn’t hit my head or hurt my spine so I have lots to be grateful for.

I can limp around on crutches so I got my sourdough brewing again. Only took one feeding to get it rolling, which was pretty crazy for how long it sat in the fridge getting funky!

Feeling the Heat

I finally had my first hard and hot intensity session of the summer. The intervals combined with 85 and max sun killed me. I suffered and even had some of the goose bumps that happen when I am probably on the verge of some level of heat stroke :) At the very least I hope that suffering through some hot workouts now will prepare me for any hot races later this year.

My back is healing up and I’m returning to a normal load of training. As I resume training i’ve had a huge realization that I treat my body horribly. I generally train 4 hours a day split between two workouts and then I work at a desk between the two sessions. I rarely do self massage/foam rolling, stretching, or any kind of pre workout mobility. Im trying to create better habits now and it really feels beneficial. Im a believer so hopefully I keep up with it even after my last injury is outside my current memory.

The riding has been so good. Jess and I keep finding new trails with gnarlier and gnarlier features. Jess built up the confidence this week and hit a sweet step-up jump with a bit of a gap to the landing. It’s the type of hit that can be a solid mind block for sure. I’m still giving the 30ft drop a ride around and prob will for life :)

I shared on social that I’m running for On shoes this year. I’m super stoked about the partnership and the shoes have been great so far. First race will be in Spain at the end of May!!

Good rides bad back

Other than my back throwing out for no good reason the past ten do or so have been a awesome. The back has mainly made it so I cannot run, but i’ve been able to ride okay.

Over the weekend Jess and I made the 90 minute drive to Salida and checked out some rad trails there. Salida is pretty sweet! Dispersed camping so close to town and a ton of great running and riding to be had. We saw some live music and got groovy with the locals who came to support the band.

We got some moisture the past week as well! As much as I want some hot summer weather, the rain and snow was super good for the trails around here. Things were getting loose and dusty before the storm came through.

The back is healing up and life has been pretty good otherwise. This spring I've found a pretty good routine of work and exercise so I really cannot complain. I’ll keep doing my back exercises so the next report includes lots of running miles.