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Crashing the CSU camp

By July 12, 2013 No Comments

I’m guessing that you’re reading this blog because you’re genuinely curious about what life is like as a full time skier. Either that or you lost a bet, are really bored, or are currently furious with your StumbleUpon browser for bringing you here. Whatever the reason, this post is mainly about what we’ve been doing the last week in Vermont and what happens when we’re NOT training.

The SMST2 team did a short trip up to Massachusetts this week to jump into a few workouts with the CSU team during their summer training camp. Fun fact: the USSA Cross Country Coach of the Year award has been given to Sverre, Cork, Rob and Gus all the last 5 years. We are some lucky athletes! There were about 40 juniors at the camp, which is huge, and they had a number of dedicated coaches and counselors running the show. We stayed at the Winchendon school, which was described as “a boarding school where rich parents send their kids when they are struggling with academic focus”. Right on. The food was good, the beds comfy, and the school was very nice, but mostly I was psyched to jump into some training sessions with the juniors.

Lets take a look at how safety-oriented the CSU team is! Wow! (SMS pic)

Lets take a look at how safety-oriented the CSU team is! Wow! (SMS pic)

We had a sprint workout, and I definitely got beat off the line by more than one person! We also did some technique work and a distance classic roll, and gave a talk about how normal we are and what it’s like to ski full time. Some of my favorite questions were “what do you do in your free time?” (Simi’s answer: make fun of me) “how tall is Jessie” (answer: 5’4) and “what do you think of during a race?” (initial answer: ummmmm…….)

The SMST2 team giving a short talk (SMS pic)

The SMST2 team giving a short talk (SMS pic)

This was my first time in Massachusetts (and New Hampshire – we rolled over the state line) and one thing I noticed was that almost every downhill ended with a stop sign! But other than that, the skiing was good and had some nice terrain with relatively low traffic. Except for the afternoon we did speeds – we must have hit rush hour dead on, and someone called the cops because of “all those darned ski-board people in the road”. So the cops came over, but after a couple of the vans had left, so it looked like there were only 6 of us skiing. And they could only talk to Gus’s van because the other van was parked over the state line – we somehow straddled the boarder exactly. Wow. Couldn’t have planned that better if we’d tried! CSU was a great host, and after the last workout on Wednesday we hopped back in the sprinter van and drove home.

Doing some double pole speeds with Erika and the CSU juniors (SMS pic)

Doing some double pole speeds with Erika and the CSU juniors (SMS pic)

And lets not forget what the rest of the SMS crew was doing back in Vermont while we were gone! Sad we missed this:

Field strength time! (SMS pic)

Field strength time! (SMS pic)

 

I suppose it sounds like I’m always jumping from camp to camp…and sometimes, I am. But this is my third week back with SMS, and there’s been lots of time just chilling at home base. So, what does a professional athlete actually DO with their day? We can’t train all the time! Here’s a pretty typical day (although depending on the training week’s load, some days have more intense training and therefore much more lying around on the floor afterwards).

  • 7-8 am Wake up and make breakfast
  • 8-10:30 Drive to wherever training is for the day (or ski/run out the door), train and – this is the most important part – get food, drink and dry clothes right after
  • 11-3 Get back to the house, shower off and make an awesome lunch. When you have time on your hands to make good food, I think it’s fun to get creative, so we’ve seen some pretty gourmet salads, sandwiches and omelettes coming out of the kitchen.
  • In the afternoon, I’m not a big napper (although many of my teammates take a daily power nap, and it looks awesome) so I work on my Psychology Class, write blog posts (there’s a shocker!), read a good book, play guitar or hang out with friends. Depending on how sore I am, I’ll also take time to stretch and/or foam-roll to work out some knots. If I’m not too tired, I might do some yoga.
  • 4-6 Drive to the afternoon workout – usually a recovery workout so slow skiing or running, or strength at the SMS gym. It’s actually pretty amazing how much of our day gets eaten up in transit from preparing for the workout, driving, and chilling around after we’re done.
  • 6-8 Cook up more food with the team! We do a “family dinner” most every night with whomever’s in the SMS house that day, and I love the atmosphere of everyone cooking together and taking time to talk over dinner.
  • In the evenings I’ll either watch a movie with the team, catch up on some emails or just straight go to bed – we’re not a huge bunch of night owls here.

So there you have it – it seems like there should be a lot of time to just sit and do nothing but I feel like I usually stay pretty darn busy. And I like it that way! Cork also surprised us by ordering a slackline, and I finally tried it out on the deck. However, I’m used to balancing over the trampoline at the COE, so when you fall you can just…fall. Apparently, this strategy does not work quite as well on a wooden deck. Kids, don’t DEFINITELY try this at home! But put the line near the ground.

don'tfalldown...don'tfalldown...don'tfalldown....

don’tfalldown…don’tfalldown…don’tfalldown….

Yesterday we had the day off, and I was so happy to spend the evening at the Caldwell’s house since I won’t see them while I’m gone in Alaska and Canada. It’s always such a fun time there, and the dinner parties Lilly and Sverre host are delicious! I realized the other day that the SMS team house here in Vermont is really starting to feel like home to me, since I’ve spent enough time here to get to know everyone and the area really well. It’s always nice to feel settled into a place, not just from a training perspective but also a just plain happiness perspective! So when I get back from my 4 week trip to Alaska for the USST girls camp, to Toronto for my cousin’s wedding and then to Thunder Bay for some R&R at the family cabin, I’ll be coming back home.

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