Jessie Diggins

Hey everybody! I realize I’ve taken quite the break from my blog, but that was necessary since the past few weeks have been a little crazy and it’s impossible to explain to other people what my plans for the year are when I didn’t know them myself.

For the last few years I’ve been proud to be a part of the CXC (central cross country) Elite ski team. It’s been my home club, based out of the Midwest and although last year I had to balance being on the US Ski Team and a club team at the same time, I think it worked out really well. The last two years in particular have been big steps up for me in skiing, and working with Jason Cork (CXC’s head coach) and Gus Kaeding (CXC’s assistant coach) has helped me a lot in between training with the USST coaches and athletes.

For me, a coach-athlete dynamic has always been a really important thing. It takes a long time for coaches and athletes to get to know how each other works. The athlete needs to get used to a new coaching style and understand the different analogies a coach uses when explaining technique, as well as trust the coach and follow their training suggestions. The coach needs to figure out what makes their athlete better and how they respond to training.

So it was a little overwhelming this spring when both the CXC coaches were offered (and accepted) new coaching positions with other teams. Gus moved back to Vermont to be the head coach of the newly formed Stratton Mountain Elite team, and Cork was offered a position coaching on the men’s side of the US Ski Team. I am psyched for both of them as they’ve put in a lot of hard work over the years and are very deserving of the jobs, and I think they’ll both do really well. But I’m not going to lie; the changes really shook up the athletes on the CXC team. This was the second time in 3 years that the staff has changed around and although last time it all turned out well, nobody was super pumped about another shake-up. Although it didn’t hit me as hard since Jason, although he’s coaching the men’s team, will still be writing my training plan and working with me this summer and winter. Which I’m very thankful for.

Within a week, it looked like there wouldn’t be many athletes on the team. There are a couple of reasons I chose not to remain on CXC, but the main one is that I wanted to stick with coaches that already knew me, my style of skiing, what I need to be working on and how I respond to training. I want everyone to know, however, that the time I spent with CXC was awesome. In no small way was CXC crucial to my development as a skier…and in some ways as a person, since I spent a lot of my time growing up on the road with the ski team.

So I decided to not remain on CXC. What next? I needed to pick another club team, since being part of a team is pretty huge in my book. And I didn’t want to spend all the time in between USST camps training by myself. However, I really love being in Minnesota and I have great community support from the Twin Cities area and lots of friends here. So I wanted to join a team where I could join them for training camps and be fully committed, yet not have to move full-time anywhere. Basically, I needed a really flexible arrangement, preferably with a coach I have already worked with. I spent a lot of time bouncing ideas around with coaches and family and looked at a lot of options, but one team really stood out.

I’m happy to annouce that I will be joining the Stratton Mountain Elite Team this year. I will be out training with the team in Vermont quite a lot this summer, as well as going to all the USST camps. I’m super excited about this team since I’ve already met all the athletes, and I know that they’re talented skiers, hard workers and really fun people to be around. Gus and Sverre Caldwell are great coaches, and the transition from USST to SMS camps should be smooth. I think the training and living atmosphere is going to be excellent and I’m pumped about being a part of it, and adding as much as I can to the team. And I still get to be living in Minnesota in between all these camps so my accent is going nowhere fast, don’t worry!

No matter how amazing the season is, it’s always so nice to get home and back into your own bed. I was definitely getting a little homesick towards the end of the race season so finally returning to Minnesota after being gone since Christmas was a really good feeling!

But wait, it gets better. The day after I got home, I went over to my friend (and high school coach), Kris Hansen and Peter Bohacek’s house to catch up and visit, and got a suprise party! I totally didn’t see it coming and almost fell down the stairs when everybody jumped out. A lot of my teammates from high school were there along with volunteer coaches and friends from all over Stillwater. It was so nice to see everyone after being gone for so long, and it was such an amazing welcome home! Special thanks to Kris and Peter for organizing and to their kids for all the posters and decorations.

Suprise party! (photo from Peter Bohacek)

It’s been nice to have a week to relax and not be racing and traveling nonstop, but I’m finding out that I’m much better at moving around than I am at sitting still. It feels profoundly wrong to not be racing this weekend and staying in the same bed for more than 10 days in a row. So I’ve taken to sleeping downstairs for a couple nights. Weird, but true.

Adjusting is hard, it turns out! I’ve spent the year wrapping my identity around who I am as an athlete, so now in the off season I’m finding myself with less to hold on to and a lot more time on my hands. Which is good – I need to get into a broader range of stuff and figure out exactly WHAT ELSE I like to do besides ski. I also spend the last three months living 24/7 with my “ski family” and suddenly I haven’t seen them in weeks! It’s quite the shift, and I imagine it’s similar to what most people my age go through when they come home from college in the summer. At the same time, a break was badly needed and it’ll be really good to reset before I get back to training in May.

Also…can I brag for a second? I get to see just how talented and artsy my little sister Mackenzie is, finally, now that I’m home! She’s been working really hard at her school play, “Starmites”, which comes out on the 26-28 of April, and I’m psyched that I’m going to be around to see it. As well as listen to her voice recital! It’s cool to watch (and listen) to her working her butt off and I’m super proud of all she’s doing.

Wow, that feels so nice to be able to say! I can’t imagine a better season; it’s been so much fun being on the road with great teammates, coaches and friends. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this year the adventure it’s been!

Painfest! With Liz and Holly chasing me down (picture from Elizabeth Simak)

Wednesday we had the hill climb up Jay Peak, and it was absolutely brutal. It felt really good in that sadistic way after you start to feel your legs again, but there was a lot of bodies in the snow right after the finish line. In 1.8 kilometers, we climbed 1,079 feet and some of the pitches were so steep that I just started “coach skating” and hiking. It took me 15:13 minutes! Liz posted the fastest time of the day, just motoring up the mountain. I was the first to cross the line which gave me the SuperTour Finals mini-tour win, and the Overall Supertour win. It was a great end-of-year present! Then we got one day off to prepare for our last race of the year.

The mass start went off without a hitch (all photos from the 30km taken by Adam Martin)

Today we finished the season off with the 30km skate mass start – 20 laps in the sun with some amazing, talented girls. It was a little crazy going in so many small circles, but also really fun.

Liz, Kikkan, Me, Holly and Chelsea early on in the race

Liz was my hero as she definitely led more than the rest of us, setting the fast pace we held as people dropped off the lead group one by one. I would lead until my legs felt too painful or I couldn’t keep up the pace in the front, as it was much, much harder to lead into the wind.

The hill got slushier as the sun warmed it up...harder every lap!

Kikkan reminded us all why there’s a crystal globe in her suitcase as she sprinted it out for the win, and I finished second with Liz third. There were so many people out cheering, and I heard “go Liz!” so many times that I’d be skating up the hill with the chant in my head perfectly matching my tempo! It was perfect.

Sprint finish!

So tomorrow I’m beyond psyched to be out cheering for the men as they race the 50km! Or as Jason Cork puts it; 33 rpm’s (revolutions per man) of the course.

This is shameful, but I happen to have more pictures from our tour of the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory than I do of the racing this week. Obviously, my priotities have already started shifting to vacation and “off-season” mode! However, the season’s not quite done yet, and we’ve still got two races left. And I’ve still got a little fight left in me for these last two skate races. So I’ll start with the race report from the week.

It's a CXC-APU sandwich! Prologue podium with Holly and Sadie (Erin Phillips photo)

After a few days of 80 degrees and sun, we showed up for the skate prologue and were suprised with a hard packed, icy fast course! It came as a bit of a shock after an all-running warmup (the course was closed to athletes). Everyone felt -and looked- pretty uncoordinated out there for the first lap but things pulled together the second time round the course.

Skiing with Sadie! (Herb Swanson photo)

The next day we had a 10km/15km mass start classic, in the slush and rain! It wasn’t a super great day for me as I picked the wrong pair of skis and ended up doing more running than cross-country skiing. I tired out really quickly and although I pushed my hardest, it sure didn’t look that way on the results sheet! Sadie skied a really impressive race, pushing the pace from the second lap on and winning, with all results and race information for the week at http://www.2012supertourfinals.com/home/

Doing a little more running than skiing...(Elizabeth Simak photo)

Today, however, the sun came back out and we got our classic sprint on. I was super psyched to make it to the final and get to follow Chandra and Kikkan through the course – trying to keep up with them is hard but fun! Chandra showed us how it’s done by winning both the qualifier by a ton and then the final…all after winning the sprints and 30km at Canadian Nationals! Sooo impressive. And Kikkan came back from Red Bull Finals, which I’m putting here:

Red Bull Nordix 2012

If you’ve never seen skier cross done on cross-country skis, you need to watch this! The video highlights the jumps and rounds of this year’s Nordix in Oslo at the Holmenkollen venue.

Quarterfinal #2, with Holly and Sophie (Simak photo)

The course today was hard and fast and icy, till the sun warmed up the tracks and it slowed down a bit. But it was still fast enough to make the twisting, winding downhill a very interesting experience!

Chandra gracing the top of the classic sprint podium with me and Jennie (Simak photo)

On our day off in-between the 10km and sprints, the CXC team went on a little tour of Vermont, which was AWESOME! We saw maple syrup being made in the sugar shack, visited Lake Champlain Chocolates and saw Cabot cheese, and got hot cider at Cold Hollow Cider. And the we went to the Ben and Jerry’s factory!

Yes, I would definitely describe ice cream as "euphoric" (Simak photo)

This part of the tour really made my day. Week. Heck, it made my whole month better.

Waylon and Adam goofing off...(Simak photo)

Did you know that the top 3 best selling ice creams are: Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Chunky Monkey?

That's a LOT of sweet stuff! (Simak photo)

I’ve always dreamed of holding a tub of ice cream that’s bigger than my head. It was fun to try the Vermonster challenge but even with 6 of us, we couldn’t take down the entire tub in one go! It’s a gallon of ice cream with bananas, cookies, and various other toppings that all turn to soup by the end. We all got serious stomach aches later, but some things are just worth it. There are some people who would raise an eyebrow at my pre-race strategy of eating my weight in ice-cream…but I happened to have my best classic race in a loong time today, so obviously the sugar-high pays off big time!

Good times with the crew (Simak photo)

Then the sugar high set in. And I couldn’t. stop. moving! It was pretty funny actually.

Setting speed records grocery shopping...and we haven't even gone inside yet! (Simak photo)

Tomorrow we’ll go do some serious hill climbing!

Right now I’m in Vermont, soaking up as much sun as I possibly can (and yeah, getting burned too) and getting ready for the upcoming slush-fest known as spring series. I can hardly believe that it’s gotten up to 80 degrees here and somehow the Craftsbury Outdoor Center has saved enough snow for the Supertour Finals to go off…but it’s happening! Tomorrow we start with a skate prologue, then a mass start classic 10km on Sunday, and tuesday we have classic sprints and wednesday’s the hill climb. Then next weekend we’re supposed to race the 30/50km skate but we’ll have to see how long the snow can last. The Kaedings have been amazing hosts and I’m staying at their house, along with the rest of the CXC crew. I’ve been skiing in shorts and a tank top, which is always awesome until you fall. Ice-snow-slush really burns! Though I’m excited to be in Vermont and see all my friends again, for me the season ended (mentally at least) in Falun, and I’m just racing on adrenaline now. It’s too late to change anything, I just need to race it out with whatever I’ve got left!

photo from Salomon

The last World Cup race in Falun was such a fun experience, and a great way to end the season. I was really happy to have my last World Cup race be a good one, where I felt like I got in the zone and pushed as hard as I could but also enjoyed the excitement of the pursuit race format. I started in 17th place and right before the start I talked with Finnish skier Riitta-Liisa Roponen, and we knew once she caught me we’d work together to reel in a pack of girls starting ahead of us. It was great because Roponen was much more experienced and stormed past me with a ridiculous pace that I wasn’t sure I could hold for 10km. But I hung on and we’d trade leads, and after the first lap we caught 3 more girls and skied in a pack of 5. The last time up the Mordarbacken, I tried to break away but it didn’t work, and I ended up leading the gradual down into the stadium, which was a very bad idea. Because when it came down to a sprint, I got passed right and left with no energy left in me! But I don’t regret it; it was fun to try and the race was really exciting.

Some of the NAWTA (North American Women's Training Alliance) training group! photo from Margo Christiansen

So keep your fingers crossed for the snow to stay in Craftsbury – we race tomorrow!

World Cup Finals! As if simply earning the right to be here and race wasn’t enough, there have been some amazing results coming from the North American crew! World Cup Finals started in Stockholm with a classic sprint, then the mini-tour moved to Falun for a prologue, mass start 10km classic and today wraps it up with a pursuit start 10km skate, with your time back from the leader coming from the results of the previous three races. To compete in Finals, you have to be either top 50 in the overall World Cup standings OR be a Continental Cup leader. So the competition has been amazing here with so many talented athletes fighting for their final places of the year!

Happy after a good prologue day! (photo from Matt Whitcomb)

The course in Falun has held up really well despite sunny days and temperatures hovering betwen 5-10 degrees C! The “big deal” about the course here is the Mördarbacken…the “killer hill”. It runs alongside the ski jump so basically it’s like winding your way up a jump; the first 2/3 of the hill are a gradual, grinding climb and then you turn a corner and it pitches up. It’s actually really hard not to kill your momentum there, but the real trick is to then naviate the downhill corners without wiping out because your legs are fried! There are three bridges you go over during the race, and two of them get you going really, really fast. The first time I went down them in warm-up I did’t know they were coming and I caught air off them! In the races I’ve remembered at the last second to pull my knees up so I don’t go flying off the bridges, but it’s still pretty scary when the course gets icy or when ruts form.

Up the mordarbacken right behind Kikk (photo from Margo Christiansen)

Our first race in Falun was the 2.5km prologue (3.3 for the dudes) and it was such a tough distance to race because you can’t flat out sprint the entire thing, but you really can’t pace it either! I tried to go out smooth and controlled but planned to leave only enough energy at the top of the hill to get myself back down in one piece. I ended up with the fastest last kilometer of the day so props to the Salomon boards and our techs for doing such a good wax job! Alex Harvey won the men’s race, with his Dad there cheering him on 25 years after he won here! What a cool day.

The 10km mass start classic was another solid day for us; I was quite happy with how close the main packs stayed and it was my best “slush race” ever! I tend to struggle with classic klister days so this was a great way to end my classic World Cup races. The exciting part of the day came in the men’s race, when Len Valjas of Canada placed 3rd! It’s super cool to see a “sprinter” kick it in a distance race.

So now it’s off to start in our last World Cup race of the year! I start in 17th place, but mostely I’m excited to go and skate as hard as I can, and then see what happens. Wish North America luck!

Stockholm is my favorite European city right now. Partially because I got to sprint around the royal palace, but also because after running around the old part of town on twisty cobblestone streets seeing so much history and cool old buildings, I realized I was super sad that we only got to spend 2 days there!

We had some amazing sunny warm days

Last minute set-up of the course!

We went for a run with Anna Haag and Emil Jonsson from the Swedish team. They are so fun!

The classic sprint around the palace went up and down the palace steps, and ended on an uphill. It was the first stage in World Cup finals; right after the sprints the athletes took a bus from Stockholm to Falun, Sweden for the 2.5km prologue, 10km classic mass start and 10km skate pursuit start.

Up the finishing hill

Gotta love those huuuuge tv screens!

For me, classic sprinting on the World Cup has been a bit of a struggle but in Sweden I had my best result! It was hard to finish 31st by only .12 seconds, but it’s also good to know that the speed is there and there’s hope for me as a classic sprinter someday! Although the warmup was quite the experience. There’s a 180 corner right after you go down the palace steps, and in warmup I decided to try taking it at speed without snowplowing or skidding the corner. I somehow caught the klister on my ski and went down hard, flying right off the course, onto the cobblestones and partially under the gates! OUCH. I had to run my skis to the techs, terrified that I’d somehow “stone-ground” them by hand! But the skis were fine as was I, although I’ve accumulated some ridiculous bruises over the past few races.

Liz outside the Nordic Museum

After the qualifier, Liz and I ran our cooldown by running across the river to the Vasa Museum to see this ship! We only had about 5 minutes in the museum before we had to book it back to the venue to cheer, so I didn’t get to learn much of anything about the ship, sadly. But the Vasa was a Swedish warship that sank after sailing less than a mile in 1628, and was pulled back up 1961 and moved to a museum.

That's a crazy old ship! Super cool looking.

Next update will be from the final World Cup races in Falun!

Across the river from the palace sprint venue

I’ve always heard of how famous the 30/50km Holmenkollen World Cup race is, but never got to start in it till last Sunday. And wow, it was crazy! The pace was unreal, as Marit, Johaug and Justyna opened up a gap before the first 1km marker. (?!?!? Someday I’d love to know how it feels to be able to ski that fast for that long). My body wasn’t having it that day and when it came time to dig deep for some energy I found none. I’ve never drank so much gatorade and coke during a race in my life! But, it was sunny and hot and slushy out and the crowds were absolutely out of this world. Even if you’re having a bad race, it’s pretty impossible to not be having a good day out there. And finishing the Holmenkollen 30 was a goal of mine that feels good to be able to check off!

Prime cheering spot, on the last steep pitch before the sprint preem

The crowds are so enthusiastic (and somewhat intoxicated) and they camp in tents right alongside the trails! Some people take the train and hike in just for the day but the hard core cheering sections set up shop for the whole weekend. They know the names of so many skiers, and during my race I heard my name being chanted and shouts of “USA, ALL THE WAY!” really made a difference during the long grinding climbs.

Headed back from training overlooking the stadium with Sadie, Ida and Liz

The ski switching was a new thing for me; I’ve never skied a distance race where you get to switch out skis multiple times. I made the mistake of not switching my skis on the final lap because my #2 pair were actually kicking better, but after 13km they were super, super slow. It was pretty hard to have people you skied the tough climbs with rip by on the downhill and put 15 seconds into you that way, but there’s not much you can do! However, the main way I lost time out there was by falling down…a whopping 3 times. Ouch. I hooked the tip of my ski in the slush on corners and the second time I fell, I smacked my head pretty hard on the snow and got slush in my ear. Which would have really sucked since with the heat and dehydration I was pretty out of it, but at that point in the race I knew a super good result just wasn’t going to happen so it was easy to roll with it and not let it bother me that I set the record for 3 falls in the first 15km.

The noise level gets pretty unreal when the pack comes through!

I got to help out in the feed zone during the dudes race, which was pretty fun. Although it was fast paced; you stand there for what feels like forever, until you hear the roar of the crowd creeping over the hill. Suddenly the lead pack comes hammering down the track and people are grabbing bottles and gatorade is spashing all over and then they’re gone, and you wander around trying to find the bottles. The super awesome athletes really huck the bottles down the track, too!

Working the feed zone

Oslo is such a cool city, and it was great to get out and explore a little bit while we were there. It’s so easy to get stir-crazy if you stay in the hotel room too long! Which is hard since the best way to prepare for the really long and hard races is resting, not wandering around the city, but sometimes you just need to have a little bit of fun. I went down to the harbor with Alysson and we had a good time scoping it out, but our shuttle never showed up to take us back to our hotel, which was way up the hill by the stadium! So we took the trains back, which was funny for me because last year Sadie and I got really, REALLY lost in Oslo and we ended up on a train to somewhere in Sweden before realizing we actually wanted the subway station. This year it went a little smoother, and we made it back to the hotel having asked for help from only about 3 people. Doing good!

We took a day trip to go hammer our brains out today in Drammen, Norway! The weather was less than ideal, since we got the full spectrum of “wintery mix” ranging from hail-type snow early on our morning run to straight up rain. However, a ton of really awesome things happened for North America today!

Kikkan locked up the crystal globe Sprint Overall title today! Even though she had a rough go in the semifinal; after a crash her ski binding ripped off and she had to scooter her way around the course to finish the race, she still placed 11th! And Chandra got 5th, one of the many career-best finishes today. Dasha placed 8th and Sadie got her first WC points with a 27th place!

On the men’s side, Lenny Valjas of Canada blew everyone away as he got a silver medal! That was so cool to see. Newell made the final, placing 6th and Simi got 7th! Harvey finished 16th, Kershaw got 23rd. I wasn’t able to stick around and watch the heats because it was getting wet and cold and there were very limited shuttle options back to Oslo. But I was so excited watching live results and tv coverage that I was literally jumping up and down on the hotel bed yelling at my computer. That’s one nice thing about living in hotels; it’s ok to jump on the beds, where I would never do that at home (my Slumberland mattress is too nice to wreck).

The sprint venue was pretty sweet, with the course making a loop uphill (the street was actually pretty steep!), around a really neat-looking old church, back down the hill, past the start and ending at the top of the hill. They brought in an impressive amount of snow for the course, and when it closed running was the warmup and cooldown option. Running down to the start in the rain in slippery ski boots was tough for me though, as I fell and sent myself and my skis sliding into the street. What can I say? I never feel as graceful as I do when I’m on the ground looking up at Norwegians laughing at me.

So wow, a lot of good things happening out in the streets of Drammen today! Personally, I did ok – I felt alright and qualified 43rd, and I think classic sprinting is just something I’m going to need a lot of work on! It’s a little disappointing because I want to be able to race every technique well, not just skate distance and sprints, but on the World Cup I’m learning that if you’re even a tiny bit off, you’ll get knocked out of the top-30 so fast you won’t know what happened! And classic races are the only ones this year where I haven’t finished in the points, so I know what to focus on for the summer. Boom! Summer plans locked up just like that!

I’m keeping this update short because I should be packing right now, since we’re moving up to a hotel right next to the Holmenkollen venue tomorrow. This weekend is the famous 30/50km classic race, and I’m so excited! I’ve never done a 30km here and only one 30km ever, so it’ll be an experience. I know the fans are amazing here, camping, drinking and cooking hot dogs on the side of the trails, so if I get tired and need a feed it should be no problem! Kidding, I would only accept brown cheese during a race, not hot dogs, don’t worry.

One more good picture from Turkey: Sadie and I with the Junior girls relay team: Stephanie, Corey, Emily and Mary (Sadie photo)

Lahti has been so fun! It’s been cool living right in the city, and getting to explore the mall and see just how behind I usually am on fashion. Kidding. Well, half joke. Sometimes you buy new clothes because washing your old t-shirts in the sink makes them fall apart and you’re tired of it. It sounds incredibly lazy, and I guess it is, but please don’t judge until you’ve lived out of a suitcase for a couple months!

Behind the stadium, there got to be quite a crowd buying food, beer, and crazy headwear.

Racing here was quite an adventure for me in terms of how ready my body was. The whole first half of the week I was still super tired and not recovered from being sick in Turkey. And my head just wasn’t into racing yet. But once I took away all my expectations for the skiathalon and just focused on racing to get the feeling back, I did much better.

The courses were pretty hard and hilly, with some steep climbs in the classic and lots of icy corners. I got off to a good start in the 15km skiathalon but took myself out in the first classic lap on a downhill corner, which killed my buzz (and momentum). I was immediately swallowed up by a big pack of skiers, which made navigating the course a good challenge for someone who likes to take her corners alone! But the skate part went much better for me and I was able to get back into a good race mode, where you know you’re body’s hurting but it’s worth it to try and catch just one more group.

Simi about to crush his quarterfinal!

The classic sprint didn’t go well for me, and I know it’s because my head just wasn’t into it. I skied a pace better suited for a 5km race! Oops. But I can’t change it now, only get motivated to make it into the heats in one of the two classic sprints left: Drammen and Stokholm. However, seeing Kikkan get 5th and Simi make the semifinals was so fun! I always get such a kick out of seeing someone have a really good race. They give off this happy energy, it’s impossible to not be excited with them!

After the races we had what should have been one of the more chill travel days of my life, only I managed to goof it up by not having a ticket. That’s right people – I actually walked into the airport to board a plane without a boarding pass. In my self-defense, I was sure I’d gotten the ticket weeks ago but there’s been so much travel I lost track! Luckily Oslo’s a fairly easy place to get to and I was able to buy another ticket there, arriving later that night. I really hope this was one of those mistakes I only ever make once!