Multiple sports to get better at one! (for Skipost)

I wrote this for Skipost ! They’ve got lots of articles from lots of people on lots of topics.

Other sports.

It’s a bit of a personality trait for many skiers (especially the ones I know [Zak Ketterson]) to do different sports in the spring. This is mostly to give the mind a break from skiing all the time, and do some alternative training. Definitely helpful stuff! However, the benefits of doing other sports (as a skier) go beyond a mental break. Moving differently helps your body stay resilient and keeps you good at learning new things. 

Zak balling so hard. Logan Diekmann pointing out that you can always hoop!

Personally, I’ve had a great time alpine skiing and playing hockey this spring, but also really like biking and swimming through the summer, and playing basketball when I can. I’ve realized that skiing often feels easier after doing these things, and I think the reason is because in doing these actives I get slightly out of my “rut” of ski movement and allow myself to play with different movement patterns, which allows me to be more flexible in how I ski.

Gotta go up to come down

I think this is beneficial to everyone, especially master athletes who have been skiing a really long time and maybe struggle to make technical changes. When you teach your body a new thing, even if it’s totally unrelated to skiing, it develops an awareness that’s required to make changes in an activity that your body “knows” really well. For example, the arm “pull” in swimming might give you a refresher on how to engage your lat to apply power, which could then transfer over to that double pole technique that has felt too tricep-heavy lately. 

Love biking

My point is, don’t be scared of doing other active things for ski training, even during race season, because it can get you out of your rut juuust enough to make some good changes. And it should be fun! For me, those extra activities are ones I like and also tend to get me a little involved in other communities, which I think is really cool. If you don’t know where to start, maybe just see if you have any friends that are into slightly different activities and see if they can show you around.

Wakesurfing!

By the way, this is absolutely an anecdotal piece about a topic I’m sure is studied in depth, by professionals. I don’t know any of these things for sure but I apply the ideas to my own training, so give that as much credibility as you think it deserves.

Try some new things!

Gus

Right on schedule

Are you kidding me I always write these all the time!

Right now I’ve been home for almost a month, just chilling and doing school like a normal person! The school aspect has been a big part of the no blogs. This spring my classes are a bit harder than I’ve done with travel, but they’ve been fun to put my energy into. I’ll take ya back a little ways into the end of the racing season…

Oslo

lil singletrack

Havard Moseby took Ben, Scott, and I on a nice loop around Nordmarka, above Oslo, one of the days in the week before Holmenkollen. We skied some lakes and little trails, and stopped for a bun at one of the little cabin restaurants.

Bun station

My mom and sister came to Oslo to watch Holmenkollen! Such a fun World Cup for them to do as their first time watching me race a European world cup. The crowds and weather was great and it’s just generally a cool thing to experience.

Post 50k with mom and sister

Celebrating Hunter’s last world cup!

Then the sprinters went to Drammen for the Tuesday city sprint, and the distance skiers went straight to Falun.

squad dripped out in the $80 nike gore tex kicks

Then I got sick right before the Falun race which was really sad, but at least JC got sick the same day so we had each other. Never wish for a teammate to get sick but if there’s ever a time it’s nice when they get sick with you so you don’t have to be sick AND alone.

Getting our checkup!

Then the sprinters got to do another city sprint field trip, this time to Talinn, Estonia, while the distance skiers camped out in Lahti. They found a cool little coffee shop and got to do another cool midweek/nighttime race with a great atmosphere. Then we finished it off in Lahti, celebrated Ben as the green bib winner, and had a little party!

That’s our guy!

Then we went home and didn’t worry so much about getting sick anymore!

And JC had to try the Baked Beans in London

Hatcher Pass touring!

Front Range Chugach touring!

Spring in Alaska tends to be pretty great, and this one has been consistent with that. Some good weather, some bad, and tons of fun events.

I also got a sick bike from Intense that I’m psyched to race on a bit this summer!

NordicX! Epitome great spring event. Skicross course on a little aline hill with a big jump, great music, and tons of cool prizes! Great place to work on the skills too.

Bridge building in Structural Analysis. This was a fun project, it’ll get cut out of a sheet of steel next week and get tested. I’ve got roughly a year more work until I can graduate.

Alyeska Hill Climb with the great Lin Hinderman. Girdwood trails are so good and the ski club takes great care of them! This one wasn’t quite as much fun as NordicX…

Dog #2 chillin

Dog #1 chillin

Ekltuna crust skiing on a great day

Hitting some crust and singetracks in Far North Bicentennial Park

Skookum Glacier crust

Alyeska alpine skiing on slush cup weekend

2 more weeks of kickin it around here then I’ll be done with school and kickin it in Bend, Oregon at the first US Ski Team camp of the year. Cheers to spring!

Period 1 is OVER

Starting with the photo dump, with little captions to hopefully make a story. Some insights into early racing at the end if you so desire.

Walking over to training with the ski jumps in the background. First day in Ruka

Back with the boys!

Testing classic skis with Karel. 3rd year working with him!

View of the apartment after getting back from skiing.

Afternoon sunset running with Scott

We had great meals in Ruka thanks to a very generous donation from the Curran family to support Chef Tanya! She cooked us great stuff in the tiny kitchenette that was in each apartment. Such a pro.

Jet lag is the real deal.

First race prep day! With zak ketterson, fellow rossignol hero

First team meeting

First race! Ended up 48th. Not the best start, but I wasn't planning on much.

Post skate 20k pursuit with the boys. Moved up to 35th!

Unwinding with some cards

Ben flexing the new Kappa in Lillehammer

Easy training with Kevin

Walking the main street in Lillehammer. Very cute and christmassy!

Lillehammer 10k skate. Up to 32nd. Good trend! (photo by Sarah Brunson)

With Zak post race (photo by Sarah Brunson)

Core too because there was a day between races here

Just hangin. Kevin, Maja, Luke, JC

Race day ski picking with Karel (photo by Sarah Brunson)

20k classic, trying to stay relaxed in the pack (photo by Sarah Brunson)

17th in this one! Big step up! It felt really good. I was able to feel relaxed in the pack the whole time, and had good energy in the end to finish fast!

Cool down walk and debrief with Ben

Methow Valley fans! Stoked to have a great cheering squad at this one

Busing to Beitostolen. Into the mountains!

Nice view from a nice apartment!

Walking to skiing in some beautiful morning arctic sun!

Luke classic skiing. Beauty!

Really sweet place. This is about 20 minutes of skiing from the venue. In the mountains.

Farther along, but more in the trees

Quite the view!

Just a good place to ski

Post-intervals with Kristen! She’s our new D-team coach and it’s so great to have another super elite coach to help with lactate testing in 5ºF and video and technique discussions!

Plenty of lasagna in Beito. We were getting dinner catered, but there ended up being enough leftovers so that it was basically breakfast lunch and dinner if we were fine with 8am lasagna.

Hangin with the boys. Sweet to be in apartments here!

Not all days were great sun and light. Gotta remember to post the clouds and snow too

Often very pretty though

Definitely a troll-loving area

Sunny Beito ski with logan and zak

No racing pics from Beitostolen, but it was cold! Flew Oslo-Zurich, so it was an easy travel day.

Davos Hotel Kulm!

Little coffee station in the new wing of the hotel

Cheers!

The classic Davos lake loop <3

Pretty cozy place to do Sediment Transport homework

Again, no racing pics, but Davos went great! It was the first 20k individual start, and I felt like I skied smoothly, both in terms of technique and pacing. That’s pretty key on this rolling altitude course, if you go too hard at any point, it can be hard to bring it around. I also got lucky because I got a ride behind Holund and Krueger for a little bit, but still felt like I struggled to push super hard at the end without fading in terms of speed. That last bit takes a lot of sharpening!

The trucks all packed up for the holiday break

We’re all ready too! Living with Ben and Jessie, and we already got our tree all set up.

Insights

My gut feelings about my racing this chunk of the season was that it was generally a little lackluster, but with some moments that really shined through! That’s been a little hard to deal with, mostly because it had translated to being a little on the bubble for Tour de Ski starts through Beitostolen. I’m really excited with my progression, though. I think my original plan (which I’ve had to remind myself of) is actually going well, and I’ve been feeling steadily fitter. I do still have to remind myself of that plan, or revisit my fall goals, because it’s easy to feel like I’m not getting the results I want. It’s a good exercise in patience and delayed gratification, and I still believe it’ll work out! But for now, I gotta just sit tight.

Beyond those feelings, it’s been a great start to the winter tour. We’ve had some amazing weather in some amazing places, and the team has had a great atmosphere and results to go with! It’s a really good momentum to feel a part of, and I can’t wait for all of us to really start popping big results!

I’ll have a tour review also, but for now thanks for looking at a bunch of pictures with not much thought!

My Season Plan and Goals!

I wanted to share my (ideal) travel and race plan this year, just to preview some cool places and events, and realized that I’d need to discuss my goals alongside that to really make everything make sense. I realized this would be the first time I was really publicly transparent with my goals, which seems a little scary but accountability is generally a positive thing with goals so I’m excited to share them!

I’m currently en route to Finland for the first World Cup weekend that falls over Thanksgiving. We’ll just be camped out in Ruka until the completion of those World Cups, coming early to give some time for settling in and shaking off jet lag.

Ruka Stadium after dark

Event #1: Ruka World Cup (10k C, 20k S Pursuit)

Getting ready for skiing in Ruka with Luke and JC

This is where we’ve started as long as I’ve been on the World Cup (this year is the 3rd! JC mentioned that to me as we walked into the airport together this morning. Pretty cool to have that shared experience with him). It’s a very traditional early season World Cup because it’s far north in Finland and tends to have reliable snow at the end of November. I really like it there. It’s dark and cozy, and we stay in nice little apartments that have a little kitchen so we can cook some meals (and rolls by Kevin) together.

A view of the apartment as we get ready to ski.

This year it’s not a mini tour, so I’ll just do the distance races. I didn’t get sprint starts for Period 1 (through Davos), but I’m kind of looking forward to focusing more on distance races. Super excited to try out the 10k/20k combo! he pursuit here is especially fun. This year my race focus is also more on the World Championship Events in February/March, so I’m coming into Ruka with a little less pressure from myself to race fast. I still want to do well, but I’m more confident in just being able to lay it down because I feel good and know how to do it!!

The apartments in Ruka are right next to the stadium and trails so we can just walk to skiing!

Event #2: Lillehammer World Cup (10k S, 20k Skiathlon)

The guys after a fun relay day last year in Lillehammer.

Such an iconic venue. Last year was my first time there in the winter, and it was great, but there wasn’t enough snow to race on the traditional courses, which are known for being big and hard! I really hope they get enough snow for it this year, but so far Norway has been really warm, so it’s not looking great. (Check out protectourwinters.org to make a difference!)

It’s also nice here because the hotel we stay at has a crazy big buffet with healthy food and tasty desserts. It also has a great gym that’s fun to work out in with other World Cup athletes, although it gets busy because many teams stay there.

Gym time with Luke

Event #3: Beitostolen World Cup (10k C)

I’ve never been here, but it’s a super popular Norwegian venue, so I’ve seen it on tv a good amount. You always wonder if the hills are bigger or smaller than you see on tv, but usually the better bet is to go bigger. It’s also Norway so I’m looking forward to more waffles and hopefully some fans + cheering!

More Lillehammer, but Norway all looks the same probably

Event #4: Davos World Cup (20k S)

Cozy beds at the hotel Kulm in Davos

Davos is great because it comes right as Scandinavia is getting to its darkest, and it tends to be sunny here so I’m about ready for more light. I’m an Alaska kid, but as I’ve spent more winter time in Europe, I’ve gotten a little spoiled with December/January Sunshine, and I can’t say I mind it! I’m excited to race a 20k on this course; it’s a little special in that it’s not actually that hard besides the lack of rest. It’s definitely a good one to pace super consistently, especially at altitude. The fact that it’s a 5k lap further than I’ve done here in the past means I really need to make sure I’m skiing smooth and relaxed.

Sunny!

This is also where I’m planning to spend Christmas, living in an apartment with Ben and Jessie. Looking forward to that! Hopefully Santa will know I’m not at home and can get me all my presents. At least I know I’ll get plenty of Christmas cookies with Jessie in the house.

We’ll have a good time

Maybe get ourselves a tree

Maybe sled

After that, I can’t be sure of my plans, because the Tour de Ski team is picked in the middle of Period One. This is where my goals come in. My main season goals are

• Top 10 at World Championships in Planica

• Win U23s in Whistler

• Top 20 in Tour de Ski

made possible by…

• Maintaining/touching on higher training volumes mid-winter to keep fitness

• Taking some time to slow down at home, and making a conscious effort to really taper for those events

The thing with the rest of the season is that I can’t know what races I’ll do because I need to race fast to qualify for them, but my ideal plan after Christmas is…

Tour de ski

Hoping to enter this with good fitness and finish strong, then go home and have a few weeks there of resting, then training, and hanging out with the fam and dogs the whole time. :)

Finished it once, hoping to do it again.

Dogs naps to recharge my batteries

U23s

I could qualify for these through World Cup racing, and it’s my last year as a U23, so I’m pumped t hit it hard and win in my last chance. It’s nice that it’s in Whistler, which is only 1 time zone different from Anchorage! I’ll be able to travel here pretty late to maximize time at home. And then fly back to Europe for the pre-World Championships camp.

Whistler last spring for spring series

Countdown til Milan-Cortina 2026!

World Champs

This year I’m really excited to place emphasis here and train with those races in mind. I’ll also focus more on distance racing here, which seems like an easier thing to manage than last time putting a lot of pressure on myself for the team sprint.

Skiing with Simi before the team sprint at world champs in 2021

Spring World Cups

These ones are all in Scandinavia, and I’m hoping to have hit all my goals by here, and race out the rest of the season with a little less stress but still having a ton of fun. My mom and her friends are thinking of coming over to watch some, too, which would be so great.

NordiX in Anchorage

If Lauri Bassett and Reese Hanneman are reading this, they better be getting ready! Last year was the first annual NordiX event at Hilltop, a nordic ski-cross race that’s net downhill. I wasn’t able to do it last year, so I’m really hoping I can get on that start line this year.

I know there’s some ambitious stuff in there this year; it’s a product of a really good summer of training and a hunger to lay down some speed this winter. I also feel a lot of momentum just being around my American dude teammates, and I’m excited for us to make some jumps here!!

It’s also obviously an unsure plan, but I’m getting better at rolling with whatever happens and doing my best no matter what.

Stoked for the year ahead!!

More of this coming right up.

My Digital Kappa Runway

Got a bunch of cool new Kappa gear at camp and I thought I’d share it! Kappa is an Italian clothing brand that signed a 12-year deal with the whole US Ski Team so I’m pretty stoked that the stuff is cool!

Kick it off with a little basic summer training kit. Comfy and clean!

That, but with a light jacket.

A little casual coming at ya now…cozy joggers and a trendy white tee.

Similar, but now with better lighting and a zip up hoodie

Alright so this one is a trench coat. A little left field I know. Should be good standing around in bad weather.

Kinda the alpine skiing kit. Always love snowpants with suspenders! Kinda shell material.

Shoutout Simi in the background!

A hoodie that makes sure no one forgets where we’re from.

Michelin man puffy and sweat shorts. S-tier combo.

An actually great rain jacket! Not the easiest thing to make well. And it’s visible!

The finale. Highlighter outfit. Hi-vis is important to us.

Thanks for bearing with all the mirror selfies! I also hope you enjoyed seeing what my bedroom looks like!

Thanks for reading!

Altitude!

I’m 2 weeks into camp at altitude in Utah. The first week I was in Salt Lake City living with my brother and some U.S. teammates (Luke Jager, Walker Hall, Bryan Bushey) to acclimate a little bit and hang out with my boys. I also wanted to get some extra time in thin air because lots of studies indicate the best stimulus from altitude comes with 3-4 weeks or more of exposure.

Some fun drawings at the college house

Gonna talk a little bit about my altitude training approach and process in this blog, so it’s not just a diary!

Running above SLC. Getting that sun!!

Got to go to my first big football game. Pretty crazy how big these are!

Altitude training is a method of improving aerobic capacity through your body’s natural production of red blood cells, and it has a lot of history in endurance sport. It is proven enough that athletes continue to use it with consistency, especially at higher levels or sport. A general recommendation is to spend 3-4 weeks living and training at around 5000-7000ft, and there are many nuances, but that is a basic outline. The only problem is that the training needs to be executed well to get the full effect. 

Did some popping up to Park City to get up higher in my first week.

Also enjoying some great fall colors.

I’m now in my 2nd week in Park City, Utah (7000ft) doing an altitude training camp with the US Ski Team and many pro teams from across the United States. We come here to boost the oxygen-carrying capacity of our blood (and train together!) before the season gets underway. BUT, it’s possible to do more harm than good, and that’s why I make changes to my training routine to capitalize on this opportunity!

Skiing together <3

These are my top 4 things I focus on when at altitude camp.

Getting some mega-altitude with Scott and Matt (Guardsman Pass)

1. Train less

   This is a general rule of thumb I follow when I come up to altitude, because it’s harder to recover, and training is more stressful overall. It doesn’t need to be a huge drop, but making sure to pay enough attention to how you feel after each session will help you not get overloaded. I’ve gotten too excited at this camp in the past and come home pretty wrecked, even at a similar amount of training that I’m used to at sea level. Now I really try to keep training on the safer side, in the hope to come home with good energy and the same blood boost that I’d get otherwise. There’s a lot more nuances to altitude training specifically besides training less, but they are not as important as simply managing your energy to keep the quality high. 

2. Eat more

   This goes along with training being more stressful. When it’s harder to train, making sure you get enough food is huge! Good food makes the recovery that much easier, and keeps you farther from that edge of overdoing it. This especially goes for long training sessions, where I make sure to eat a bunch of carbs throughout the workout. 

3. Iron

   Iron, or ferritin, is the body’s building block for red blood cells, so it’s really important you have enough stored to capitalize on the altitude stimulus. Before and during my altitude camp I always supplement with iron pills and make sure I’ve got some intake of red meat. It can also be a good idea to get your iron levels tested before going to altitude to understand what your needs are, and afterwards to make sure you’re still in a good place. 

4. Take it slow

   One of the hardest things to do when coming up to altitude is making sure you don’t go too fast. When you’re used to your easy speed at sea level, it’s hard to make a big change feel natural, but if you continue at your sea level pace, you’re gonna get smoked!! It helps to do some sessions with people that live at altitude, because they have that pace much more dialed. 

   This actually ends up being one of the most fun things for me at altitude for me, because you can really crawl! It’s so fun to be able to just walk hills and chill and still be in a good training zone. A good way to keep it in check is to make sure you’re able to comfortably talk.

Keeping it easy.

Thanks for reading, and if you're interested in altitude training, I'd say maybe do a little more research, because I am not an expert; these are just from my experiences. People who live at altitude might think I'm totally wrong, but also this is geared more towards the sea level dweller who takes a trip out west. Whoever you are, I hope you got something out of this and maybe have some more guidance if you plan to go to altitude in the future!

Getting some great team training. With Zak Ketterson on this one. (L3 classic/skate intervals at soldier hollow)

JC, rollin in to aprés time

Bounding with a huge crew! This is USST, NEG/NTG (junior camp), Team Birkie, BSF Pro, APU, SMS T2, University of Utah, and more teams all coming together to work together. USA has some great momentum!

Media day with a sharp-lookin team!

Next post is gonna show some of the new Kappa US Ski Team gear…it’s drippy.

Summer Update: My Biggest Training Focus...

One of the biggest questions I get in the spring and summer is “What’s going to be different about your training this year??”. The first few times I got asked this question, I almost worried about not having a big change. I would look for something that was slightly different, or manufacture one because I felt like it was important. Recently, I’ve realized this didn’t make a ton of sense, and I’ve gotten much better at embracing the type of training that I’ve done for years and have confidence with. The cycle that I’ve used for years has worked for me, and I’ve been able to continuously adapt using it.

Skiing with Luke, Zander, and Kevin! (L to R)

Given this, I’d say my biggest change or focus this year is to stick to that cycle, and weekly/monthly layout. I’m really trying to be great about the bit of recovery in between also, which I’ve grown into. The advantages of really embracing this training schedule are that 1. I know how hard I can push myself without overtraining in this structure, 2. I can keep working with my home club (AWS), and 3. I’m confident that it works for me. All of these things together have lead to a summer of content and true confidence in what I’m doing. I have a super solid structure and flow that I love, and I have my rigid recovery days that save me from overdoing it. A downside of doing it like this is that I don’t have as much flexibility to work with other people, but there’s still little ways I can move stuff around, and it’s worked out enough to join people on different programs. Check my “links” page to see a sick speed session I did the other day with Kevin Bolger, JC Schoonmaker, and my AWS teammate Zander Maurer! This was one that wasn’t exactly how my plan goes, but it was a really worthwhile session watching some of the best sprinters in world fire off speeds, and doing my best to keep that pace and relax.

Zander and myself after a running treadmill lactate step test

Now that part wasn’t entirely truthful; I am altering one part of my training: L3. I wouldn’t say I’ve been horrible about it in the past, but I’m making a concerted effort this year to truly pace my threshold training better. I, like many young skiers, want to be as fast as possible in every workout, but this doesn’t help so much in L3. I’ve done more learning about lactate and the different energy systems, and started to really pay more attention to my lactate during threshold sessions. My goal is to increase my time in that L3 zone, but make sure it’s truly 3, or under 4 mmoL of lactate. Pushing harder than that will definitely help improve speed by also training your anaerobic system, but it greatly increases the load on your body and limits the amount of training you can do at that higher speed. To be transparent, a lot of these workouts have been in the 70-90 minute range of total interval time, and while that may seem like a lot (it did to me in the past), if you’re well-trained and going the right speed, it actually doesn’t feel that bad. People with sport physiology knowledge are going to scoff at my revelations, but it’s hard to know what to do when you don’t know exactly why to do it!! Young athlete education is super important for stuff like this, and I think it’s something we might need to step up a little in the U.S. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying that close of attention…

Checking lactate levels after a time trial. (Not L3 I swear!!)

It’s fun stuff, and so far all of these things seem to be working and trining is going great!

Here’s the photo dump part of the summer update…

L4 classic with Johnny Hagenbuch

Active recovery wakesurfing!

Also with John Steel

+ the fam. Celebrating Heidi catching a grape

Then kevin got here and bonded with Lucy (feat. writing a SkiPost article: check my “Links” page)

It’s been hot here!

Too hot for us

Did a running race…

…did some homework…

…rode my bike…

…did a puzzle…

…got some sun…

…diced Kevin’s hair up…

…and hung out outside.

Loving it! Check out my links page for more stuff…training videos and articles.

5 steps to the new season (Written for SkiPost)

So maybe you read my last SkiPost article: Winding Down from Winter in 5 Steps, or maybe you didn’t, but wound down from winter anyway. Either way, I hope you took some time to chill and do things that make you happy, because returning to summer training is done best after a productive down period. The whole basis of “starting” the training year is that it had to stop at some point, and having a transition period in there is what enables you to build into another year of progress. 

Nearing the end of skiing at home

Full on down time

The traditional “Skiers’ New Year” has historically been May 1st, and some people are itching to get going by then, and others not, but either way you have to remember that it’s a long time until racing starts again, and likely even longer to you target races of next season. The first step is more for the person that is ready to go full blast again.

1. Ease into it

If you did at least a little activity during your down time, then this will be a little simpler. If you’re coming straight off the couch, keep that in mind. One mistake people make is hitting training too hard right off the bat before their body is fully ready to absorb training. You get faster by absorbing training, not just by doing it, so making sure you’re doing as much training as you can handle and bounce back from is going to be the best way to build to a high level in December, January, even March. I like to make sure I’m running with some frequency, and doing a wide diversity of activity types to spread the load out among my body. This is to make sure that I have a solid foundation when I want to start loading up more. I also generally try to do the same number of sessions I would do in mid-summer, but keep the intensity and duration lower. As you feel yourself adapting to the new training, you can gradually increase the intensity and duration.

Easing into it with some chill rides.

2. Revisit those goals

Hopefully you checked in on how your year went at the end of the season, but if not, it’s not too late. Talk to someone that knows you and your training and just go over what went well and what you want to improve. Knowing this will help guide your training, and this time of year is great for setting the tone and emphasis of the rest of your summer. For example, a couple of my big targets for this season are to bump up the L3 volume a little bit and work on increasing my mobility. This time of year I’m not doing much L3, but I can still start thinking about how I want that to look in my schedule. I can also really start ingraining mobility habits like sitting down after each session and going through some range of motion, especially while I’m not training so much that I feel too tired or time-constrained to do it.

3. Make plans

It’s hard to know exactly what you’ll be up to all summer, but this is a great time to figure out any travel or big summer event so you can work your training around that. I think it’s really important to have solid structure in your training, so the more you plan ahead, the less you’ll have to accommodate events that may interfere with your training. For example, if you know you’re going to have to travel for a wedding in September, maybe schedule a recovery week that week so you can take the travel and time off without messing with your body’s rhythm.

Find the people you want to train with!

4. Find your place

For some people this may be obvious, they’re going to be where they live. However, some people (looking at you, college kids) don’t really know where to go. This is a great time to iron out your living plan for the summer so you don’t have to change it much once training is in full swing. I’d say the biggest things to consider when thinking about where to set up camp are: who will be there, can you stay in one place, is it comfortable, and are the training facilities good. Some of this is obvious, and the biggest thing is that you’re happy and content wherever you are. Making sure this home base is solid and takes care of your needs is the base of the pyramid for training success. 

5. Get psyched!!

One benefit of taking time off is you tend to get antsy to train again, and having this drive is super helpful! There are tons of ways to develop motivation for a summer of training though, and it’s up to you to find your own. Some people always want to train, some need a team around them that motivates them, and some just need to line up some good goals. Whatever it is, being excited about training is one of the biggest tools you have to push those limits. Maybe it’s skiing edits on YouTube, maybe it’s new gear, who knows. Just get stoked!! (And if you feel like you need to take some more time off to let your body and mind fully recover, do that. Starting the season happy, healthy, and energized is going to be way more beneficial than an extra two weeks of “blah” training.)

Looking forward to this!!

I hope your off-season was great, your gear all works, and you’re all set to get better! This is one of the best, and most rewarding times of the year—enjoy it!!

U23s in Norway

Finished off my season with a very nice week in Norway. Races were at Lygna, and it was awesome to see some great results from the young Team USA. Jr Boys got us back in the medals in the relay! Stoked for them.

Cruising wtb!

Really nice skiing around here

Wax/team area

Stadium hill from the parking lot

Boys put it together!! It definitely takes a lot of strength and some good luck to be up there in this race, these guys skied real well.

Zander Maurer!

Such a refreshing change of scenery from the Olympics. It was a much chiller atmosphere, even with a ton of races and logistics. Young teams are lots of fun, and these boys know how to keep it light.

Testing for the sprint in some great conditions

Getting a little rubdown after the qualifier. Made the heats for the first time since Davos in December 2020!

Heats are so fun! That might’ve been the highlight of my trip (photo: Steve Fuller flyingpointroad.com)

Pretty on the drive home

Relay pre-start area

Double poling with my Japanese friend (photo: Steve Fuller flyingpointroad.com)

Double poled my 5k relay leg, first time doing that in a race in a long time! They’ve generally limited that well with hard courses and technique zones, but thankfully this course didn’t have a technique zone because it was pretty flat. I’d way rather them just try to do hard courses and never put in technique zones because it feels forced. It’s fun when it can go either way, and people end up doing different things. In the relay a Czech dude and I were the only ones that double poled, and I think it was the right call for me. It felt good!!

Mixed relay team. Cool format, I’m really looking forward to watching it in the Falun World Cup in a couple weeks. Wish I could be in that one.

Packing ‘em away. Big thanks to these ski techs for working so hard all week. These races are rapid fire, and these guys are testing and waxing the whole time.

hand hygiene. nice.

In Seattle. Almost home after 3+ months!

Definitely not stoked about having to end my season like this, but I’m glad for what I got to do, and it was really fun to go out with a good week in Norway. Now time to rest so next year can go better!

Not meeting expectations (And, going home!)

In a dark place in those races! (photo: Getty Sport)

The Olympics are amazing because they feel like a really big deal, especially when you’re there. There’s rings and Bing Dwen Dwens everywhere and tons of staff and attention. This makes it a great event, but also amplifies any results you have. It makes winning that much better, and losing that much worse. I had a great time, don’t get me wrong!! But I was still super bummed to not race as well as I thought I could. It’s not easy to line everything up to be fast at the right time, and for me it just didn’t really work out. 

I got sick over Christmas, and raced the Tour de Ski before I was fully healthy because 1. I thought I could recover during the tour and 2. I thought I needed a few more points to secure my Olympic spot. I didn’t know the World Cups in France would be canceled, so it turned out I didn’t need points, but I didn’t know that at the time! In hindsight, I wouldn’t have raced the tour, but that’s easy to say now. I didn’t feel like I got fully healthy before the Olympics. I had some good workouts at our pre-camp in Livigno, but the dry altitude in China seemed to aggravate anything that was still hanging out in my lungs.

Sucking pond water: Relay day. (photo: Getty Sport)

I’m describing all this partly because I feel accountable for taking up a coveted Olympic team spot, and want to be clear that I did everything in my power to be at my best, and thought I did alright. I’m proud of myself for taking advantage of this opportunity with everything I had; but, when I started racing, my lungs were still that couple percent off, and at altitude at this level, that means a lot. 

Putting this on to keep it real. This shit sucks!!!!!

What I learned from this is to take illnesses more seriously (especially when I haven’t been sick for a couple years!), even if it means sacrificing something that seems so important. I’d rather be really good in the long run than mediocre because I did damage to my body. Because of this I’ve decided to stop racing with lungs that don’t feel perfect, and go home. I’m still going to U23s because it was logistically super hard to get a good itinerary from China, and because I want to see my U23 teammates in Norway! I’ll race the sprint and possibly relay if I feel alright there, but I’m not too worried about performance there. Then after that I’m going home to fully recover, and hit the reset for next season!

My goal is to get rested and healthy in time to train hard for next year, and Milano Cortina in 4 years! I know I have the tools and capability to have a much different Olympic racing experience there, and I want to start that journey from a clean, healthy slate.

Thinking about rest and restarting the road to next season. :)

Thanks to everyone for supporting me though a tough middle of the season, and I’m stoked to come back next year stronger than ever! I’m also very thankful to my teammates, coaches, wax techs, massage/PT peeps, and other staff that made the Olympics and the whole season so smooth! We couldn’t do it without you.

Chocolate at just the right times from Karel. very thankful for everything he does for me and the team.

Having these guys makes it better!