February 22, 2022

Olympics in China!

February 22, 2022

This is gonna be the day-to-day type blog. Uploading pics takes forever but it’s worth it. More descriptive blog next up.

Mascots Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon welcoming into the village plaza. (Some shops, lounges, and tourist things)

First impression of the trails: hard. Long hills and slow snow. Sunny though!

Village cleaning guys. The stick brooms were everywhere.

Olympic rings bridge. Chinese engineers do not mess around.

Boys opening the 3 DUFFELS of clothes. Crazy. Great trading material.

Vermont catamounts on a jog. Had to stay in the village. Lots of loops.

Early days under-glove thermal layer testing.

Our apartment in the background. All the US xc guys were in one together.

It actually snowed quite a bit while we were there (for the area). Wind blew everything off the hillsides very quickly though.

Covid tests every day. In our building if we were down before 10…

…but usually near the dining hall because we were sleeping IN. Kinda just gradually went to sleep and got up later and later as it went, because we’d never go to the venue before noon really.

Stick brooms making an appearance at the entrance to the dining hall.

Not exactly top-quality food, but it wasn’t too bad. The lighting/presentation doesn’t really do it any favors. Ended up eating a lot of dumplings, steamed + filled buns, rice, chicken, and pumpkin (actually not a ton, but more than I’ve ever eaten…tastes a little like sweet potato when steamed hard). Really looking forward to well-cooked stuff, and more sauce variety. Soy only goes so far.

Ben showing off his head size and enjoying more dining hall time.

Had to flex the fits. Hit me up if you wanna buy anything ;)

Failed water run. No drinking water on tap in the apartments

Making sure matt doesn’t have a gun in his pants

The guy that maxes my skis: Karel Kruuser

This guy grinds for me all winter to give me fast skis, and he does really well. He also gives me a lot of these Estonian chocolate bars, sometimes when I really need them, and sometimes when I just want them. Best one was when I had to drop out of the tour. “Oh well if you’re done then here’s this!!” Saved the day. Huge thanks to all he and the full wax staff does. It’s such a big part of our sport and it’s very comforting to know I’m not being held back by skis (just slow because of myself). <3

Kevin and I got treated to nice food at the hotel near the village (where the techs stayed) on the last night.

Pretty sweet landscapes here! On the bullet train to closing ceremonies.

Tons of bags on the charter flight Beijing to Helsinki. With the Finnish gold medal hockey team and a lot of skiers and other stuff.

The Olympics were a crazy, great experience! Got to hang out with my friends a bunch and get closer to some other ones from different nations. Got a bunch of cool clothes and got to ski at a crazy venue. Also got to visit China! Really thankful to the organizer and volunteers for being really friendly and making everything smooth.

Pretty bummed to have not raced that fast, but it didn’t come totally out of nowhere. Haven’t gotten back to fully normal since my Christmas-time cold, and I gotta take that into consideration. Still did everything I could, and put absolutely all of my energy out there, so I can’t be too mad. Looking forward to many more years of racing and more shots at this huge event.

Now onto Norway for U23s!

Gus Schumacher

January 5, 2022

Le Tour! (de ski, ever heard of it?)

Gus Schumacher

January 5, 2022

The tour de ski is one of the coolest events in elite cross-country skiing, in my opinion. With as many as 9 races in 11 days, it can be the most physically demanding endeavors in which any of us participate. This year (with participation and the Olympics in mind) FIS shortened it to 6 races in 8 days, which is still super hard. 3 distance races, 2 sprints, and 1 hill climb will take it out of you no matter how fit you are.

Even knowing this, I entered the tour feeling pretty rough from a cold that I got over Christmas, and hoped to take the first stages in Lenzerheide “easy”, with the idea that I’d be better and feeling rested by the later stages of the tour. I really only did this because I felt like I needed some more distance point to stay in the top 50 for making the Olympic team. In hindsight, I probably would’ve been safe without racing the tour, but these decisions are not easy to make because you never know which direction your shape will go. I ended up actually feeling alright in Oberstdorf (stage 3), but had one of the worst races in my last 2 seasons in Val di Fiemme. That was especially a bummer because of getting 8th in the exact same race there last year. Moral of the story is that you should react to how your body feels, instead of trying to make something happen.

Now I’m going to Seefeld, Austria to try to fully kick my illness and feel strong again. I’m confident I can get back to feeling like I have before!

Beautiful hotel in Lenzerheide (actually a school where they teach hospitality: cooking, hotel maintenance, etc)

I was only going for walks in the days before the tour in an effort to get healthy. Didn’t see the course until race day.

Damage control racing…just trying to get to Oberstdorf

Super pretty venue feat. interval start track for stage 2

Cooling down, topping off the stores with some Never2 sugar

Pre-race gel. Felt alright stage 2 but still wanted to not fully drain myself in an effort to bounce back later in the tour.

15k skate mass start (stage 3). Felt solid today, but still din’t have my usual energy in the last lap.

One of the coolest world cup venues. 2026 Olympics are here!

Zak talking out a tough race with his boys

I dropped out after feeling really bad in stage 5, so I got to watch both the men’s and women’s races!! Jessie showing how hard the finish to the tour is

Day after the finish just going for a walk. I’m gassed!

Stoked to chill now and turn it around. And very proud of the whole team, staff and servicemen and all! Everyone worked so hard to make it happen, and I can’t thank you enough.

Thanks for reading!

Gus Schumacher

December 23, 2021

Lillehammer, Davos --> Xmas

Gus Schumacher

December 23, 2021

Whoops…little delayed on this one. Got lazy messing around with the boys. I would say I was busy with school but that was done like 2 weeks ago.

We raced on the biathlon courses in Lillehammer because they didn’t have enough snow for the regular courses. The pictures look nice, but all of that snow came right before we arrived. Before that they couldn’t even make much snow. Climate change sucks, contact those representatives when bills come up!

It was a bummer to not race on those iconic Lillehammer courses (4 min uphill anyone?), but the other courses were also fun skiing.

About as Norwegian as food can get. Heart-shaped waffles and brown cheese.

Highlight of Lillehammer was the relay day! So fun to race a relay and be in the mix for most of it. That relay spark is real, and we felt it that day even if we fell off the pace near the end. We were close enough to that gap to make real moves with a little better speed in the future. Really looking forward to more relays with this crew.

Making use of a nice (vacant) hotel gym after the races. One of the hardest parts of being on the road is getting good gym access to keep that strength up. Gotta capitalize when you get it!

The Davos races weren’t that sick for me; I was about the same time back both days as I’ve been this season, but slightly better than last year. Bright spot for me was better pacing and technique in the distance race (compared to last year). I skied more smoothly and with more power, and felt like I started at a better pace. I still pushed a little hard in the middle and wasn’t able to finish as fast as I needed to. Bright spot for the team was a sick semifinal performance by Ben, and amazing show of depth by our women in the 10k with 5 in the top 30!

I had made the call to not go to Dresden before these races because I felt like I wasn’t moving quickly enough to race well there, and not going gave me a less-interrupted training block to prepare for the tour de ski.

Boys ski after the races. (L to R: Me, Luke, JC)

Some boys after intervals. Fear the deer.

Some skiing with the Canadian boys Graham and Russell

Tree shopping. Gotta make sure it’s the right size

Sweater shopping. Included because funny Luke hair

Peace! Thanks for reading/looking. Tour up next! Enjoy the holidays!

Gus Schumacher

December 2, 2021

RRR (Ruka Race Report)

Gus Schumacher

December 2, 2021

It was cold.

Jogging it out the night before the start of the season. Zanden.

The classic sprint went alright for me. Nothing crazy bad or good. Would’ve liked to be faster obviously but the good news is I have some rocket teammates that I can learn from for the future. When those boys’ names (Luke, Ben , JC) were showing up in the results at the finish, I was hyped! Especially hyped to watch them in the heats, because I knew they could really mix it up. JC went through and almost made the finals, and Ben and Luke were really close. Only gonna be a matter of time before they’re looking at podiums.

The next day (15km classic) was more my speed, and I was a lot more nervous for it for that reason. I was still able to chill out and remember it’s the first distance World Cup of the season, and was able to still start chill. I stayed up on the fast corner on the south part of the course (couple people around me didn’t), and was able to finish hard, so I was happy with it. And I was happy with staying strong and relaxed technically, and not being too far out of the front of the race was good for the Sunday pursuit.

Taking a little break after my finish, watching the race

Venue in the background by the jumps. We stay in the apartments on the right side of the picture

Sprint boys doing some apartment strength

I felt even more ready for racing on Sunday, as I usually do in the early season, but it was super cold, and the race directors kind of tempered expectations on whether the race would happen or not. The women ended up being delayed by 40 minutes, and then again by a few hours, so they warmed up 3 times. Rough! We got to go at our race time, but didn’t know for sure until 30 minutes before the start. Some drama at the actual start with Norway and a couple other big names not starting. Apparently the timing crew didn’t know about this until they didn’t show up, so they had to delay and restart the clocks a couple minutes later. Good going with the flow practice.

This race last year was so much fun for me, because they use the 2.5km course that has good rest and hard work, and the 6-lap 15km just flew by. This year was the same. I started right with the British guys, and Andrew Musgrave was having a good one, and pushed the pace the whole time, which helped pull me and others around me through the field. Got a little rest over the top of the course on the last lap, and blasted it in to 11th! Pretty stoked with that result (5th fastest of the day too!) but the best thing was just enjoying the tactics and fun of pack racing.

Ready for more of that this season!

Lil late on this post, so Lillehammer is already tomorrow! Starts with a skate sprint, then 15km Saturday, relay Sunday. They’re using the biathlon courses because there’s not enough snow for the regular courses. Kind of a bummer to not ski the iconic courses here, but the backup courses are really fun! Time to go again!

Gus Schumacher

November 25, 2021

Ruka...time to go!

Gus Schumacher

November 25, 2021

I left Anchorage on November 17th, and if everything goes well I won’t be back until late March or early April. It’s a big winter ahead, but I know I put in good work this summer, and I’m excited to see how it’ll go!!

Last sunrise over the Chugach. Cold last days at home!

Leaving seattle, 8 hours since leaving my house.

Keeping the blood flowing a little on the place with the Lyric massage gun

24 hours into the travel, bus ride to Ruka. Watched skyfall

First ski tests of the season with Karel. Day 2

Hunter and Luke on a cold day. A little sunlight though!

One of the biggest differences this year from last year is the big crew of younger guys we have over here. Last year was awesome, but it’s so much fun to have the guys here that I’ve trained and gone to camps with since I was really young. We’ve got a really good energy and team atmosphere, and I’m so excited to see how we can put that chemistry to use.

Ben and JC doing some classic intervals. Low point of the sprint course looking up towards the finish.

Repping my new headgear sponsor on my second interval day. Did some short skate L4.

This summer, NeverSecond reached out to help me with sports nutrition, and if you read https://fasterskier.com/2021/09/dialing-in-performance-fueling-gus-schumacher-explores-continuous-glucose-monitoring/ , you can kinda learn more about how I changed my fueling during my training. Our collaboration went really well, and this fall we started up an actual partnership, and I’m very excited to continue working on and improving my performance nutrition. NeverSecond makes great carbohydrate products, and they’re 30% off through 11/29 if you use code BlackFriday30 at checkout. Give it a shot!!

We had a great team race prep workout today on a super busy sprint course. Tons of energy out there and I can’t wait to get this season started!!!

Another black friday deal. don’t miss it!!!

Gus Schumacher

October 27, 2021

Turning 21 and feeling old: My introduction to regular PT

Gus Schumacher

October 27, 2021

My whole career in skiing, since I joined AWS at around 10 years old, has been pretty smooth, if I'm being totally honest. Not too many big problems, which I am very grateful for (especially now, looking back).

Skiing is a tough sport, and to do well, you need to be tough. I am very grateful to have that skill, as well as having access to Jan’s ability to encourage that skill in his athletes. However, toughness can be a problem when applied to everything, including injuries and sickness. As I get older, I've gotten much better at noticing when an injury is developing, and stopping whatever is bothering it, however inconvenient and annoying that can be. Sometimes this has meant walking the rest of the way home when my calves get tight, or stopping a speed workout because my shoulder was getting sore (and missing the next skate sprint TT)…(last week). Even better, I’ve started to prioritize “prehab”: all of the things that I can do to prevent those nagging injuries from popping up again. For me this means foam rolling, mobility, and some stretching, and I’ve even taken the step to approximately weekly meeting with a PT this summer.

The PT that I’m working with is Zuzana Rogers from Runner’s Edge. They’ve been doing home visits so far, but are moving into their own space soon. It’s been super convenient for me to have her come on an easy day and check in or we go through what’s been bothering me and how to help. This summer she’s helped me with a sore ankle from spring skiing, getting my calves strong and balanced enough for running, and getting a stiff shoulder working well again with some back mobilization. Without her, all this stuff would’ve taken me way longer to figure out, and I gotta train, man!! Working with a PT has been one of the biggest steps forward I’ve made this summer, because all that recovery work goes a long way in making training more effective.

As I continue training a lot, I know these problems are only going to grow and develop, so I’m doing my best at starting the fix to a problem right when I notice it’s even becoming a problem. It’s fun to feel so much control over this stuff, because overuse injuries are preventable (100% cure pro tip: do less).

…but I can’t do less, so I do PT and emphasize big sleep and recovery!

Massive thanks to Zuzana for all the help this summer! It’s not the first time she’s helped out big time, and it definitely won’t be the last. Hit her up!

https://runnersedge.physio

Gus Schumacher

October 21, 2021

Abilica Vid + first impressions

Gus Schumacher

October 21, 2021

Starting this off by saying that this summer I got an Abilica rollerski treadmill through my great sponsor, Enjoy Winter. They have been massively helpful with all my gear, but I’m especially thankful for this amazing training tool.

This was the second time I’ve ever skied on a rollerski treadmill, and never a classic-only one, so it took a little getting used to. The hardest part was fast striding, which ended up only taking a couple sessions to get comfortable with. Since that it’s been smooth sailing.

Some sessions I’ve done on it:

Bounding: 8x3min L4, 6x8min L3

Classic: 8x4min L3-L4, 5x8min specific strength, lactate test

These are all really useful sessions, and mostly I can compare them time after time, but with some of them I haven’t recorded the exact speeds and inclines, because that makes it more stimulating. The most comparable test I’ve done is the lactate test, which I do at 14kph and increase incline by 2% on each 5min stage. I test HR and lactate levels, and go until my lactate gets above 4.0 mmoL. This makes it easy to know empirically if I’m working harder or not at a given speed.

It’s also super helpful for other things, like bad weather and technique work. I’ve especially had a good time doing technique with Jan (my AWS coach) there, because we can make such quick adjustments in real time, in a quiet environment. It’s made it a lot easier for me to change what I’m doing.

That’s about all I’ve got for now, so here’s a quick video showing it off!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cpaYingCK8&t=302s

Gus Schumacher

May 28, 2021

Bend Camp!!

Gus Schumacher

May 28, 2021

Our first camp back as a team since October 2019 was a massive success. You wouldn’t believe the excitement everyone had coming into it, fully vaccinated, with an energy to work together more than I’ve seen before at a camp or race. This camp is conducive to this great camaraderie because of so little stress around racing, and amazing weather and training conditions here in Oregon.

Day 1

Briefing in the lodge. We watched a 3min clip of some World Cup skier before almost every ski to get technique ideas flowing.

The focus of the camp was on-snow volume, with an emphasis on technique. Beyond that, it’s a great opportunity for us to take advantage of a big staff to make sure we’re ready for a long summer of hard training. This means physicals, mental health support, informational meetings, and training plan conversations. We’re all very thankful to our coaches for setting all this up for us in a very convenient manner, and not letting it consume the camp. We just had a few key meetings after dinner, and got tons of time to enjoy time with our teammates and talk about other stuff we felt was important. This involved natural conversations about stuff from technique to movies. Sometimes we just needed to chill; those big days really take a lot of energy!!

We did a ton of skiing together. This facilitated learning from one another by watching and talking about how we ski.

You’re gonna see a lot of sunny pics, because that’s when I had my phone out more, but it wasn’t always perfect!

Rain :( The skiing was still amazing though!!

…with a surprise sighting of Mogul, Bernie, and Dakota!

Easy to smile big when it looks like this

More time spent chilling when the sun comes out

3x5km classic intervals (pacing project) (photo: Matt Whitcomb)

Casual debrief, athlete-athlete (Matt photo)

This was my favorite workout of the camp ^ (3x5km L3). This format started last year as a way to practice individual start 15km pacing, and I think it’s a really good way to experiment with different styles of skiing and efforts, with the goal to produce good times on a set 5km lap. This makes it really similar to many 15k races we do in the winter. The day we did it was sunny, so the snow slowed down appreciably as the workout progressed, but I still really enjoyed trying to start controlled and finish a little faster like a race. Most of us skied alone to work on our own tactics, but it was still productive to talk afterwards about our individual approaches. There’s a lot to learn from your teammates, and we figured that out in a big way at this camp. There was always such a positive flow of information between us, even without pushing from coaches. I think that’s really a testament to our current team culture: how we feel comfortable enough with everyone to get really in depth about our thoughts on any given day. I really enjoyed everything about working with the team these last two weeks; the level of commitment, professionalism, and fun was extraordinary.

Last day OD skate. Skied with a bunch of different people, finished it with Zanden.

Something about having each other’s backs?

I want to give a huge thank you to all the staff that made this camp a massive success! Thanks T for strength, Jen for PT, Alex for sports psych, Jess for nutrition, Dr. Heather for medical consultation, Megan for amazing cooking, and of course our incredibly hard working coaches Matt, Chris, Kate, and Jason! Without them, this camp wouldn’t be nearly as smooth or productive. Also a big thank you to Sue Foster, Rion, and Mt. Bachelor nordic for the above-and-beyond hospitality and grooming! The training on snow there is as good as it gets. if you ever have a chance to visit, take it, you won’t regret it.

Now I’m going back home for some rest and extra time to catch up on school. Summer classes started on the second day of camp…gotta get on that work.

Still hoping to get a World Cup review blog up at some point, maybe when I have a little easier school/training week.

Gus Schumacher

April 8, 2021

200km? In a row?

Gus Schumacher

April 8, 2021

Alright sports fans here’s my play-by-play of skiing 200k (126mi) on Wednesday, April 7th.

But first…In hindsight, it feels like this was a big enough event that we could’ve raised money for something, but we were too spontaneous about it. Instead, I’m just going to mention Citizens Climate Lobby (citizensclimatelobby.org). They are a group I’ve been involved with recently, mostly in helping to lobby our Alaskan congress members to cosponsor their Carbon Fee and Dividend act (information at their website and if you just look it up). There’s lots of ways to get involved with them, most as easy as sending a note to your representative. Thanks!

To preface this, these long skis started (for our group in Anchorage) last year when Covid locked stuff down. We saw some posts of people doing 100 and 200k in Norway, where I’m sure they’ve been doing it forever, and thought it would be fun on the interconnected trails around town. So last year we had a big weekend where seemingly everyone was skiing wayyyyy too long. The snow and weather was perfect so it was just the time to go. My achievement last year was 3 days in a row of 60k, then 100k, then 130k, which is not the same as 200k, but still big. Another friend did 250k but that’s another story. This spring on the World Cup, JC and I were planning all the fun things we were going to do when we got home, like parties, snowmachining….and skiing super long. So we’d been loosely planning it for a while, and did 100k last week on a nice day. The motivation I guess is just to accomplish something with low pressure, and maybe feel a sense of cameraderie in commiseration. So it was really on the radar, we we’re just looking for the right snow and weather window. It got really warm and then froze hard Sunday, and we knew it wasn’t going to snow Tuesday or Wednesday, and our races coming up are on the weekend, so we pulled the trigger on Wednesday. There ya go, the backstory.

Packed a bunch of snacks the night before. This was probably the most fun part, making little tortilla PB&Js and tossing a handful of halloween candy…then another one…and maybe another into the bag. Grabbed a bunch of fruit too which ended up being one of my favorite snacks. Leftover fried rice for lunch. Thermos ready for coffee, to be consumed in a darker hour. Truly was so excited the night before that I didn’t sleep that well, woke up at 6am to be there at 7am. Got there a few minutes before the gate got opened, and JC showed up without his boots.

0km: JC forgets boots, we start. About 15ºF and freshly groomed, with the sun just starting to rise.

7:16am. Starting crew: Finn, Espen, Brandon

0.5km: We get to the first junction to see Elliot’s not groomed…Mize it is.

1.5km: Second junction, Sisson not groomed?! Oh boy. Session is the flat, fast loop that we were planning on using mostly. We finished up Mize to check back to see if JC was there yet, then went out on Lekisch 2.9, then skied a few more laps around the stadium until JC arrived.

10km: JC now in the group at 0km, we head down to check on Sisson and decided it was worth a go, even though it was hard and icy.

24km: First water break, JC kept skiing around the stadium to “catch up”

55km: We just did 4 laps of Sisson (each lap about 6km, doesn’t include skiing there or back). Ready to change it up and check out some other, hillier, trails.

10:17am. Snacking it out after a bit of a Sisson grind. Time to head to Jodhpur.

75km: 3.75hr in, decided to ski 10 laps of a 0.4km loop by Jodhpur parking lot to break it up a bit. Skied hard there. Definitely starting to lose energy for hills after only 2 lighted loops (stadium to Jodhpur and back).

100km: 5hr in, absolutely grinding Sisson laps. It was so icy, it hurt my feet, shins, and all other balance muscles, and I hated it. But it was fast and mindless. Ate about a Kiwi a lap. Getting close to lunch though, really looked forward to that

112km: 5:35 in, lunchtime!! Espen and Brandon were done now, making us feel very envious. I was definitely ready for a big break. Switched my shirt and jacket and undid my boots for a little. And ate my leftover fried rice and a brownie and a capri sun (pacific cooler flavor). And Ari, who had just joined us, had some chips. Would’ve stayed here longer if it was warmer, but my hands got soooo cold. Had to switch to mittens for the restart. So hard to restart after a good meal and getting cold.

1:26pm. Lunchtime! Bro on the left is already done :(

130km: 6.5hrs in, did 2 Jodhpur laps after lunch, which I was loving because it was so much easier on my feet in the well-groomed snow. Now eating a snack (PB&J, see below) and heading down into the abyss of Sisson. Getting much harder now. The crew now is JC, Finn, and Ari.

150km: 7.5hr in, still at 3:00/km pace. Did some more Sisson grinding, really honestly not feeling good at all now!! End in sight kinda though, just a normal long distance session ahead. 3/4 of the way. Doing too many watch checks and percentage done breakdowns.

3:26pm, somewhere on Sisson around 150km. Sigurd joined us a little before this, coming from the coastal trail after starting at UAA.

It’s a little bit of a blur to 200k, but we left Sisson at 160km, had a little too long of a snack break, then skied a Jodhpur lap together. JC had clawed back like 3k by skiing around during our snacks, but was still about 6k behind. After the first Jodhpur lap, the boys wanted to go BACK to Sisson, and I didn’t want to, so I stayed and did 2 more Jodhpur laps. The hills were killing me on the second one (3rd in a row!) but my ankles were a lot better, so I took a little downhill cruise into Sisson to meet up with the boys.

188km: 9.5hr in, found the boys on Sisson. Hopped silently into the train. Grind time. Just dying. Ready to be done but 12km felt like soooo much longer.

7:11pm. Big moment. Still buried in the folds of Sisson because I was guilted into finishing with JC, so I had to ski MORE than 200k.

203.4km, 10 hours, 17 minutes, and 41 seconds of skiing later. (more like 12 hours even when you include breaks). Done. Moose’s Tooth Pizza in the parking lot. Emma is an angel for bringing it. Not sure what we would’ve done without that. Best Thai Chicken I’ve ever had.

Dude that’s a vibe. Legs just throbbing.

Went home, thought I was going to have to take a test but it was messed up so I didn’t, thank god. Hot tubbed, ate way too much more food and slept like crazy. Woke up and my legs just felt swollen and so stiff. Got my covid shot this afternoon, feeling a little better now. We’ll see how long that lasts!

Definitely a once-a-year thing, maybe less than that. Although I’m sure by next year I’ll only remember the good parts and forget how hard it was. When I think that maybe I come back here and read what I said. Who knows, done for now, thanks for tuning in. Thought this was good content that wasn’t race related.

Gus Schumacher

March 25, 2021

Home! Slowing down :)

Gus Schumacher

March 25, 2021

It’s been an amazing first 10 days at home. I’ve slowed down in the sense that I’m not racing every week or two, but I’ve been busier than I was almost all winter! The most relaxing thing about being back, and away from the World Cup, is that I don’t have a big racing coming up in the next week or two. I’ve realized it gets really hard to always be thinking about a race that I care about. Once I got home and realized I DIDN’T have a race coming up, I noticed how drained I was from always focusing and refocusing on a new venue, event, and team. That said, I had a great winter, which I’m sure I’ll write about more in the next few weeks, but for now, I’m just soaking in some amazing time at home with family and friends.

First night home…they left the christmas tree up for me!

Pretty great to come back to perfect snow and skiing!!

Did a 30k with the UAA boys…chill though because it was friendly and late planned. It’s still super fun to race, especially in low-cost events.

It’s been a lot of fun to see so many friends I haven’t seen in months! Really enjoy it.

I’ll probably do a year-recap blog at some point here, but expect less frequent blogs now. Not as much cool stuff going on now. :) Thanks for reading!