February in C-eh?-N-eh?-D-eh?

After the World Cup races in Canmore, I made my way over to Silver Star to get in a mid-winter training camp, and cheered on my teammates and friends at the Olympic venue before heading over to Europe. I will see how many photos I can upload right now since my time on the internet is limited. Women's sprint heat in Canmore.
Silver Star always seems to impress me-- I can always depend on plenty of snow and perfect tracks set each day from the doorstep. I got in a high quality training camp where the focus was on volume and L4 intervals. A huge thanks to Carol King for letting me stay in her tasteful "Arnica Antique House" for the week. Andi Fancy, one of New Zealand's top nordic skiers, doing some tele turns down the mountain after we climbed to the summit. I couldn't have asked for a better training buddy, and tour guide, and friend to spend time with during the week. Justin Libby outside our hostel in Vancouver. Marit Bjorgen, Justina Kowalczyk, and Petra Majdic (R-L) racing to gold, silver, and bronze medals in the womens A-final of the classic sprint. I got to join the "Kikkan Crazy" fan club while at the US Olympics. It was pretty awesome to watch my teammate race to 8th place in the classic sprint. Way to go Kikkan!
Here I am in front of the the Canadian rockies on the Canmore trails. In Canmore I couldn't stop looking at the mountains and think, "I wonder if Swizerland is going to be this incredible". Well, I have made the travel overseas and I must say that from what I have seen, Swizerland is all that it is cracked up to be. More to come!

CAN(we ask for)MORE?

I've spent the past week in the nordic skiing paradise of Canmore, Alberta preparing for the pre-Olympic World Cup races. This is just my second World Cup experience, both as an athlete and a spectator, and I'm fired up to be here. The sunshine, warmth, and perfect tracks make it easy to enjoy the preparation process. In times like these I forget about all the days I spent rollerskiing on busy roads in the rain and sacrifices I've made for training and think, "there's nothing else I would rather be doing with my time right now". Here are a few Italian skiers making a climb up "the wall" which is steeper than it looks. We are staying in the same hotel as the Italians and are having fun picking out all the famous superstars skiers, many whom I've only seen in Olympic or World Cup videos. Canmore is the home of the 1988 Olympic games. They have completely reconstructed their trails since that Olympics and have created some of the largest, most sustained climbs I have ever seen. Katie Ronsse taking a breather. Its easy to train too hard during recovery workouts when surrounded by the World Cup buzz. Luckily I have discovered a few tricks-- either stop for photo ops when on the challenging trails or get lost on one of the more mellow trails in the woods.Holly Brooks ascending one of our favorite finds called the "Rundle" trail, which is just below Mt. Rundle. Im not sure if I like the trail more because of the serpentine turns through the towering trees or because of the Rumpelstiltskin type name.

Im sure it wont be all fairy-tale style fun and games once the racing begins tomorrow. There will be lots of suffering to fight for places throughout the spectrum of the result list. Also, the top World Cup nordic skiers redefine being fit and tough. It should be fun to watch and also a great opportunity to test my skills against the best in the world. More to come!