Getting up to Speed...

I suppose its time to put up a blog post when I hear through my teammate that a junior skier approached her saying, "Katie hasn't updated her blog since November 25th! Tell her she needs to post again soon!"

A Silver Star in Silver Star, BC. An HBrooks photo.

Sometimes I feel as though there's so much higher-quality ski-racing media out there, so I push posting to the back-burner. But when I get positive feedback from others it rekindles my desire to post! As long as aspiring racers are excited to hear what I have to say and my friends and family enjoy hearing about my experiences, I will maintain this blog.

So, without further adieu, here's an update to fill you in on the highlights from the past month....

Here's the our team that was fortunate enough to spend almost 2 weeks training and racing in Silver Star, BC. Within the month of living together "on the road" there was been no shortage of good times...

And great racing too! As a team the athletes in the blue suits have been turning some heads.

Here's a shot from the start of the women's B-final at the Silver Star NorAms. We had three APU ladies in the heat-- Fitz, Wrecka, and myself-- going up against the Canadians. In the women's A-Final, we had Sadie, Holly, and Morgan representing in 2nd, 4th, and 6th!

Morgan Smyth. Rob Whitney photo.

From Silverstar we traveled to Rossland, BC to race in the 3-day mini-tour. The racing fields were small but stacked, since it served the Canadian World Championship Sprint Trials. The winner of the sprint finals on both the mens and womens side would secure their spot to race at World Championships in Oslo in February. Much of the American Supertour field also followed the circuit to these trials, because it was the best nordic competition on North American soil at the time. I think the more the top skiers in the US and Canada can challenge each other, the better we will become.

Here I am in the prelim. Thanks to Rob Whitney for all the great ski photos and cheering.

Here is the stacked quarterfinal I raced in with Taz (former National Champion), Britney Webser (2010 Olympian), Jennie Bender (3rd in Silver Star NorAm the week prior), Myself, Sadie Bjornsen (eventual race winner), and Caitlin Compton (2010 Olympian) L-R respectively. I was glad I could to advance to the next heat!

Here's my biggest fan out on course. After taking the Part-2 National Dental Board Exams early, Justin flew to Seattle, drove 7hrs through much of the night to get to the race venue, slept for a couple hours in the car at the trailhead parking lot, and was ready to enthusiastically cheer his lungs out for all 3 races. He also gave me some great tactical advice after watching all the sprint heats, which helped me win in the B-final.

Here are Casey and Erik, our coaches who are still smiling after many sleepless nights of waxing and testing our fleets of skis all month long. You wont find any harder working coaches out there.

After being on the road for quite some time, I was excited to get some R&R at home in Alaska. I was only home for a week, but couldn't have asked for a better break.

My brother, Nathan, also made it home for Christmas. Here we are cutting down our Christmas tree from my parents' backyard.

Jus and I after riding on the on our borrowed "fatbacks". The -12F temps resulted in some frosty eyelashes! I was blown away with how easy and fun it was to maneuver the snowy single track trails. I will always love skiing more than anything, but winter riding is an awesome way to mix things up and have a new mode of exploring and experiencing other trails! I am already hooked...

Nathan excited to slide tackle the 'flats.

My favorite playground will always be the mudflats behind my parents' house...

Here I am surrounded two of my favorite guys (Nathan and Justin), two of my favorite dogs (Coda and Bently), and two of my favorite features (the ocean and mountains).

Before too long, I re-packed my bags for the next racing tour, which will be at least a month long. We are staying at a beautiful farm house in "South Paris, Maine", which is about 50min from the US National Championship courses in Rumford. There will be many more updates to come, but for now I will tell you the dollar stores are awesome (we dont have those in AK) and I will leave you with this:

Happy New Year from our team at US Nationals!

That should "bring you up to speed" to where I am at right now. Im working on bringing myself up to speed as well. I've been doing some short speeds at sea level, will get a good night sleep on this New Years eve, do a solid "race-prep" workout tomorrow, and be ready to race fast in the US National Championship 1.3k Sprint on Sunday!

Check back for more updates! Good night and all the best for 2011,

Katie

Racing, Pig Noses, Deck Jumping, and Heaven

The past couple weeks "on the road" have included racing, pig noses, deck jumping, and landing in nordic ski heaven. On the racing front, I want to start off by bragging about my talented teammates. On each of the race days I had something to be excited about, regardless of my own results, because it was inspiring to see the friends I've trained with all year kill it!

Here's Kate Fitz, coach Flora (standing in for his brother), and Holly Brooks with the leader bibs for the weekend. Bart, Iverson, and Sadie also made impressive podium performances. It's pretty awesome to be apart of the most stacked nordic ski team in the country.

The racers with the best points get to start first in the sprint race. Above is Sadie, Holly, and myself (R-L) as the first female sprint starters in the festival which fell on Thanksgiving Day (Reese Hanneman photo). We had 4 individual races in 3 days. Here are a few pictures of me in the individual distance races, courtesy of Swix Sport.

Ronsse in 5k Classic (Andy Canniff photo).
At the top of the course in the 5k Classic race (Andy Canniff photo)
10k Skate Race (Andy Canniff photo).

Each evening after racing we go for an easy 30min post-race walk-the-dog paced jog to promote recovery. Here's Kasandra, myself, and Kate (above) in our "pig nose" masks that are used to help protect our lungs in cold weather. Prior to the cold weather, West Yellowstone got a gigantic dump of snow. One morning, when the roads weren't plowed and we couldn't get the van out of the driveway we had snow fights and jumped off the deck instead.

Playing in powder will never get old no matter my age...
Front flipping Wrecka and ninja Fitz.

As soon as the racing wrapped up in West, we packed up our skis, gear, and boxes of non-parishable food and hopped in the team vans for a 2-day drive up to Canada. We are currently doing a little training camp in Silver Star, BC, which is one of my favorite places to ski in North America. Whenever Im here I feel like I'm living in one of those shakable Christmas snow globes.

Here's Greta Anderson walking the doorstep of our pink house to the ski trails this morning. I'm told that at one time there was a law that each house must be painted with at least 5 different colors, so there are some very creative color combinations and designs.

A bunch of blue smurfs ready to hit the ski trails.

HBrooks, Sadie, Ronsse, and GA.

It doesn't get much better than this. Silver Star is an easy place to get in a solid amount of volume in an "off" race weekend, and we're all looking forward to racing on the World Cup quality race courses next weekend.

Ronsse, Fitz, Tazmannix, Sadsarue, Morgo, Hbrooks, and GA. Life is good!

Racing Season Kick Off and Early Season Schedule

We have made our annual pilgrimage out to West Yellowstone and are excited to be here and get the racing season underway! Skiing and racing in West, or "Jellystone", is a tradition for a large portion of the American Nordic skiing community this time of year. Similar to everyone else out here, we are psyched to try out the gear of the new season, get in some k's in good tracks, and test our fitness after a year of training.

Here is most of our ladies team strutting our are stylin' NEW Swix uniforms, and E'Klaar buffs! I'm also enjoying the new modifications to Atomic's latest skis, boots, bindings and Swix's new poles!

One of the bonus features of the new skis is they come with an edible tip!

... Just kidding. That's just Sadie getting some H20 hydration on her 21st bday yesterday. Although in all seriousness, we have been making sure we are well hydrated since we went Anchorage's coastal climate at sea level to Montana's drier western climate at altitude.

We are also aiding the acclimatization process is by adjusting our training accordingly and taking plenty of iron throughout the week. Today was our third day at altitude-- the day when O2 saturation levels are typically the lowest-- so we skied easy and only trained once. I have also been making sure I eat plenty of red meat in conjunction with vitamin C-rich fruits or vegetables to help aid iron absorption and to help prevent any symptoms associated with anemia.

Luckily, there are no lack of food options in the APU house. Our 19 athletes and coaches will not go hungry.

Here is Morgan Smyth checking out our mountain of food in the living room before we put it away. This 3G Costco run of bulk food items and produce will hopefully last through this entire week and will help supply our cooking in the month to come.

Speaking of which, below is my Early Season Travel and Competition Schedule:

American Supertour

Nov 24: Cl and Sk Double Prologue, West Yellowstone, MT

Nov 26: 10k Skate, West Yellowstone, MT

Nov 27: 5k Classic, West Yellowstone, MT

Canadian NorAms

Dec 11th: 1.4k Classic, Sovereign Lake, Vernon, BC (CAN)

Dec 12th: 10k Skate, Sovereign Lake, Vernon BC (CAN)

Canadian NorAm "Mini Tour"

Dec 17th: Skate Prologue, Rossland, BC (CAN)

Dec 18th: 10k Cl, Rossland, BC (CAN)

Dec 19^th: 5k F, Rossland, BC (CAN)

Christmas Break

Dec 21-28 Anchorage, AK

US National Championships

Jan 2nd: 1k Classic, Rumford, ME

Jan 4th: 10k Classic, Rumford, ME

Jan 6th: 20k Skate Mst, Rumford, ME

Jan 8th: 1k Skate, Rumford, ME

American Supertour (continued)

Jan 16th: 5k F, Lake Placid, NY

Jan 17th: 1k C, Lake Placid, NY

...And then we will see what the season brings from there!

It's going to be a well-earned adventure. I'm looking forward to the highlights, challenges, and fun experiences and hope to "take you with me" in a way!

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading,

Katie

Inspiration

If you want to be inspired, check out this video of Joan Benoit Samuelson and her brave move to become the first Olympic gold medalist in the women's marathon.

When I first saw this video years ago I had to watch it a couple times because it made me eager to give my best to training and racing. And somehow, through my racing travels and pursuits I found myself receiving generous hospitality at the Samuelson family Sugarloaf condo last spring (thanks to Sylvan's friendships and connections). The places ski racing can take you and the people you meet never cease to amaze me.

Which is why I'm looking forward to being back "on the road" once again! First stop: West Yellowstone, MT. Yahoo!

The Northern Fruit Company

I am proud to announce that Northern Fruit Company will continue as my financial sponsor for the 2010-2011 racing season! I feel honored to represent a company that promotes health and encourages community development as much as Northern.

The Northern Fruit Co. is located in Wenatchee, Washington, and is committed to providing customers with the highest quality of fresh fruit. At Northern they grow and ship over 1 million boxes of the best apples, cherries, and pears each year.

Here I am, Northern's proud Nordic skier pictured with boxes of "Nordic" apples I found in my local grocery store in Anchorage. With Northern's highest quality standards and state-of-the-art fruit preservation methods, fresh, healthy fruit can be available year-round.

Doug Pauly, a leader on Northern's production team, is a former teacher from the Yup'ik village of Kwigillingok, AK. It was there he gave my parents their first introduction to Nordic skiing. Since Doug moved back to the "Apple Capital of the World", he has helped Northern excel and has continued to be a leader in advocating Nordic skiing, healthy lifestyles, and community development.

I am incredibly grateful for Northern's support. I will represent the Northern team to the best of my ability this season!

Happy Halloween from Hatcher Pass

It was a very happy halloween up at Hatcher Pass this morning!

HBrooks, Bjornsenator, Kikkanimal, Smythski and Ronski. Goofy girls psyched to have just done a 2.5hr SKI!
Thanks to Mark for the great grooming (An H.Brooks pic from yesterday).

The "Thing with Wings" Randall flying on her 1 pole drill.
We all can't wait to fly, really. The racing season is less than a month away. Bring it on!

Double Poling in "The Pit"

The snow in the mountains has been teasing us....there's a nice dusting although there hasn't been enough to nordic ski just yet. As the dusting has crept its way down, so has our rollerskiing. Not the intensity or duration-- just the altitude, so we can use the least icy roads! Here is a 4x(45", 60", 90" L5 double poling) workout we did yesterday in the former gravel pit.

For my relatives who dont get to watch a lot of skiing- double poling is the primary flat-terrain technique for classic skiing. I know we all look alike in the video, but Im the only female in blue tights with white strips and the black/red Atomic boots.

I must say it's awesome to get to hammer around with such a cohesive and hard working team. There are so many strong skiers that on any given day a different person can be in the leading charge, which makes it fun.

These videos can be useful for analyzing aspects of my teammates' technique, and then we can try to emulate each others' strengths. Also, I can see what I am doing and compare it to what I felt and I think I was doing. For example, I imagined I was coming more forward and up with my hips, however, I could stand to open up my body a bit more. In our next double pole session I will practice doing this better, and if Erik/Eric video tapes it I will share it with you.

Until then, do your snow dances! Thanks for checking in,

Katie

Park City Training and California Playing

This fall I had the perfect opportunity to mix up my typical routine. I did some altitude training with the US and Canadian National ski team members, spent some much anticipated time with my bf, and explored some extraordinary places. This training camp and change in scenery was perfect in every way and is exactly what I needed to feel prepared, motivated, and excited to start the new ski racing season.

Coach Louis (CAN), myself, Daria Gaiazova (CAN), Kikkan Randall (USA), Sarah Daich (CAN), Chandra Crawford (CAN), Liz Stephens (USA).

I was with some mighty fine company here as a number of these women have already gone down in history. Chandra is an Olympic Gold Medalist and founder of "Fast and Female", and Kikkan was the first American woman to win a World Cup to name a few! But they are also some of the most unpretentious, welcoming, and friendly women around.

Myself, Dasha, Kikkan, Chandra, Perianne Jones, Sarah: JUMPING for our dreams with smiles on our faces. Like any pursuit, there are periods of hard-work and focus in addition to the high moments.

Katie Ronsse (L) and Dasha Gaiazova (R) in a bounding interval workout of 5x6' L4, 4' easy (Pete Vordenberg photo). We built into the interval sessions and made each interval faster than the previous one. A huge thanks to Justin Wadsworth and the rest of the Canadian National Team staff for including me in the camp workouts!!

My impression from the Canadians National Team members as a whole, was they are very professional in the way they manage and monitor their recovery. They do a great job at keeping training consistent and being proactive when dealing with injuries or challenges. Most of all, I was impressed by their attitude. An attitude that is open, encouraging, and supportive....

This same attitude is something Kikkan (above) brings to our team in Alaska. My interpretation of her attitude is, "I want you to be better, because I know it will push me to be better too. So, lets work together. If nothing else, it will be more fun."

Here's another Pete Vordenberg photo from our mock sprint time trial. Pete and Matt Whitcomb (US Ski team coaches) came to several of the interval workouts to take video, lactates, and offer encouragement. It was awesome to have that support. Many of the videos are posted on the USSA's link on dartfish.

I went to Ogden, UT to cheer on Emma Gerrard in the XTERRA US National Championships and visit Rick Halling at the Atomic USA headquarters. Rick gave me a tour and made sure I am set with the best skis, boots, and bindings on the market.

And then there was this goober I found on a Rocky Mountin High Wheel in the streets of L.A. ... Oh wait, that's Jus! Behind Jus you can see Gary, a mt. bike racing extraordinaire and toy designer who is bubbling with creativity and good energy. You can also see Gary's own toy-- his refurbished ambulance that takes him to compete with the best in bike races around the west.

Jus and I drove from California to get to Utah. Along the way we got in some incredible riding, hiking, and running. Here's Jus making some fallen trees his natural playground along Tahoe's epic "Hole in the Ground" trail.

I thought the 17.5 miles of single track riding was challenging enough, but Jus always teaches me to think outside the box and realize what else is possible.

A huge thanks to Mark, August, Kara of Truckee, and Gus and Elias of UNR ski team, for taking the time to share your incredible back yard with us and help us get the most out of our time there. We loved it!

El Capitan (Jus photo). The scenery in Yosemite was magnificent. I can see why masses of tourists are drawn to this paradise. Jus and I were too accustomed to a pitch-a-tent-anywhere-anytime attitude after growing up in Alaska. We underestimated the traffic that would be going through Yosemite mid-week on the off-season and couldn't get a camp site for our night before our planned ascent of Half Dome. Justin suggested we begin hiking in the evening and pitch the tent at 12:01am, and then we would still abide by all the rules. Then we could reach the summit at sunrise and beat the crowds to the top. Brilliant!

Happy campers on the summit at sunrise!

The "diving board" part of the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite (Justin Libby photo). I was honing in my "Barbara School of Dance" moves I learned in my 3rd grade acrobatics class.

I'm feeling very greatful to everyone who has helped me have the experiences mentioned in this blog post. In particular, thanks to Deb Lovci for opening up home and her generous hospitality, which made training in Park City financially possible. Also, I should give a shout out to Jus for driving me half way across the country, stopping along the way for me to train, and making the trip so memorable.

Im back in Alaska now and I'm loving being home and making the final season preparations with my APU teammates. Everyone is looking fit and we are excited to get back on snow again. My camera was submerged in two inches of syrup when my Hammer Gel flask exploded in my Swix belt during my first long run at Utah's altitude.... but it is in the process of getting fixed, so I hope to continue to be able to post pictures again soon.

Thanks for reading and for your support!

Katie