West Yellowstone, Montana

Becca the Wrecka Rorabaugh showing off our new uniforms.

We have spent the past week training, testing skis, and racing in West Yellowstone, Montana. There was not enough snow for skiing on the trails in town, but the skiing on the logging roads (at around 8,000ft) was really nice…not to mention the sunshine!

Our coaches have done an amazing job and an unbelievable amount of work getting things ready for us. Our head coach Erik Flora skied with each of the athletes to help us test our skate skis, which by the end of the day added up to 53k on a 400m stretch of snow...and he's still recovering from his surgery. Our wax tech, Casey “duck dog” Fagerquist spent 110 hrs in the wax room the week before we left for this trip, he flew to Seattle early in order to drive our cargo van full of skis to us in Montana, and has also been busy non-stop in the ski and wax preparations. These guys sacrifice just about everything (including sleep) so that we can race as fast as possible. Brent Knight "the BK Broiler" had some impressive results this weekend.
Congrats to James Southam on becoming a father last week and for finishing in the top 5 both days.

They West Yellowstone ski community was able to put together some great races for us, despite the lack of snow. APU had a solid showing in a very deep field. Kate Arduser put it well when she said something like, “if you were to pick three skiers from the top thirty on the results list, they would likely be the podium finishers in most other races around the country”. Duser and Becca the Wrecka

The Supertours in Bozeman, Montana and Soldier Hollow, Utah have been canceled due to lack of snow so we have a major change in plans and will be making the 14 hr drive to race in Silver Star, B.C. instead. Skiers definitely must learn to be flexible in this day and age. I have heard great things about Silver Star and I can't wait to check it out and get back into sprint racing! Our #1 Anders Haugen

Exhausted

If you train so hard it makes you want to scream or cry, then you know you've trained enough.

This is how I felt today:(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Magazine)

Mid-way through our afternoon practice I felt like I begging for mercy--for no good reason, other than a high training load is taking it's toll. The near break-down was sparked by a med-ball landing on my leg, which torqued my swollen ankle. This was something trivial which somehow bothered me today, because I'm so exhausted from training so much. I guess I no longer have to wonder whether I have been training hard enough!

I think it's important to keep a high training load this time of year so when January/February rolls around I can be fit and fresh through weeks containing 4 races/week (...hopefully). Thrashing your body around can easily become too much of a good thing, however, so I feel fortunate to have a coach watching over me, to make sure I'm on the right track. It's nice having an objective opinion on when it's good to train harder and when it's best to rest.

Rock Solid Earrings

This fall had the chance to revisit my creative side and rekindle my love for rocks. (I know, I may not be normal --but yes, rocks!) As a little girl my parents would enforce a “5 rock rule” on our hikes, so that I wouldn't attempt to bring home an entire mountain. I had an extensive collection and would paint, tumble, or leave them in their natural state. To the amusement of my neighbors, I would ebulliently travel door-to-door selling these rocks. During my teenage years my fascination with rocks was latent, but in the past couple months I have been immersing myself in podcasts of "Ask Dr. Dawn", as well as pieces of malachite, moukaite, jasper, serapherite, agate, unikite, turquoise, Swarovski crystals and other beads. I got a carried away and made a bunch of earrings (some of which were inspired by the work of my amazingly talented friend, Anna Barnwell). I promised my Aunt in Kansas I would take some pictures so she could pick some out for Christmas gifts, so decided to post my efforts to the public. So, similar to the past, I am going to spread the love and sell these little pieces of heaven...this time in the form of earrings.

If you are interested purchasing hand-crafted earrings, 100% of the proceeds will go directly to my race entry fees and travel expenses from racing. The earrings styles are numbered and range from $8-17. Click on the album to view the captions which will soon be updated with prices and stone types. For an additional $2 I can switch them to Sterling silver hooks. Disclaimers: I try to pair the rocks as best as possible, but not all of them will be identical in size and pattern. Also, I can not guarantee multiple pairs of earrings for each earring set pictured. My wiring techniques aren’t perfect, but I can try to fix something if it bends or breaks. Lastly, I will be traveling on the Supertour/NorAm circuit from Nov 22-Dec 15, so I may be slow to respond during that time frame.

The holiday and the racing season is here…ROCK(s) ON!

A Hatcher Pass Sonnet

I was cleaning out my room and came across this sonnet I wrote in high school. I'm not claiming it's quality poetry, but it may be fitting for this time of year for many Anchorage skiers.

Early we meet, while the city's asleep.
We pile our ski gear into the car,
get comfortable, and then pump up the beat.
It's another long drive, under the stars,
that takes us to snow in our search to ski.
When we arrive, we get to re-unite
with friends from rival teams we rarely see.
As we slip on our skis, a ray of light
illuminates the snowy mountain scene.
Secluded from stress we can ski freely,
then return to the car for hot chai-tea.

Today I watch snow fall in the city.
I rejoice because it has come at last,
but know I'll miss skiing at Hatcher Pass! Holly Brooks, enjoying a moment of bliss up at Hatcher's. Holly is usually hard at work in Anchorage as a full-time coach for the APU junior and master programs. I know she's excited to get her athletes skiing on a regular basis again!

There is at least 3.5" of fresh powder at my house, and it's still coming down hard. Even though Hatcher's is one of my favorite places to ski, training up there 4-5 days/week is time consuming. I may be one of the lucky few who can ski up there mid-week, but like the rest of the Anchorage community, I can't wait to have groomed skiing in town! Katie Ronsse enjoying the fresh snow (a Jeff Ellis photo).

No More Soccer in November

I wish I could say that I never make the same mistake twice. Apparently, this is not the case. Two years ago I ended up with a sprained toe from playing soccer barefoot on the beach with Fijian locals. One would think that I would learn to never play in another soccer match again, unless I had adequate footwear and shin guards. But if you would've been at the APU juniors practice Monday night, you would have witnessed me playing soccer in a boys vs. girls match in the snow covered field—-without shin guards. I ended up with some colorful bruises and a sprained ankle. (The ankle is actually nothing to worry about; it's luckily a 3-4 day type of deal and it happens to be a recovery week, so the extra rest is probably a good thing).
Even though the injury was minor, I still spent a moment sulking in my own stupidity-- why did I chose to play soccer this time of year? When I sprained my toe in Fiji two years ago at least it wasn’t so close to the racing season. Or was it? I couldn’t remember... so I whipped out my trusty logbook to compare the dates. To my surprise, I discovered late October was spent taking finals, traveling the west coast of the south island (training, camping, and learning how to surf). Early November was the bus and hitchhiking trip up to the Abel Tasman track, which included a 25 mile adventure run along the coast, a kayak trip, and living off orange trees. The "layover" in Fiji wasn't until mid-November. Winter had fully faded into spring in the land down under, and skiing everyday felt like a world away. Looking at my old logbook made me realize that the level of preparation I am putting into skiing now is entirely different from what I have done in the past. The amusing part about the entire situation is that when I was living in New Zealand a few years ago, I *thought* I was training well. To give myself a little credit, I was a full-time student having the time of my life in a foreign country, so squeezing in 45-55hrs of training/month was not bad. But when the facts from training logs are compared, the training I did while studying abroad was far from ideal. Running for 5 hours at a snail's pace is my favorite way to explore a non-snowy area, but if sub-50 minute ski races are the goal, then those epic over-distance workouts will just make a person tired with a limited training benefit. My teammates and I are currently splitting up the training load to 2 sessions/day almost every day to keep the quality and intensity high. Every workout is under 3 hours. I feel like the training I did this summer and fall is exactly the type of training I need to do more of, in order to reach my ski racing potential. The first Supertour race of the year is 21 days away. I can't wait!

APUNSC Featured on the Nightly News

The local Anchorage news station, Channel 11 KTVA, decided join the APU Elite team for a morning of skiing at Hatcher Pass. Check it out!

The team posed for a photo shoot this weekend at Hatcher's. The pictures wont be nearly as exotic as what the Canadian athletes have come up with, but there should be some really sharp skiing shots! I will be sure to share some of the photos if I can get my hands on them.