this is a quick video from Saturday. It basically sums up why I love Vermont. sorry… the volume is a little messed up at the start.

The leaves are starting to change here in Southern Vermont despite it being warm enough to train without a shirt on the past few days. It’s still getting pretty cold at night though which is good for that wood stove burning smell you get around here this time of year that gets me really fired up to train. It lets you know that winter is coming soon and will be here before we know it.

The past week of training has been decently tough coming off a recovery week just following our camp in Whistler. Whistler camp marked the start of our intensity training period so I’ve done 4 sets of intervals in the past 9 days including two threshold, one level 4, and a lactate tolerance. Tolerance workouts are something that we don’t do that often. Basically because they’re wicked hard… and take a lot out of you. But we still try to fit a few in during our fall months to get the body ready to race. So I had my first session like that on Saturday and did them with some Stratton kids on Golf School hill. We hammered out 2 minutes intervals as hard as we could with short rest in between. Anyone who has been around stratton knows that it doesn’t get much steeper than Golf School… The section on road that goes past SMS is perfect for uphill hammering. So that was a sweet workout. Didn’t boot-it but I think I was pretty close by the last one.

On sunday the SMS team did a 3 hour skate/ run combo that I joined them for. It was a pretty epic weekend for weather so it was awesome to finish the workout on top of Stratton. And this time the gondola was running so we didn’t have any big time bonks. It was a sick weekend though… We get about 3 weekends a year in VT that have weather like this so I made sure to have the top off the Jeep and to rally some back roads and watch the Patriots game with the guys.

it’s Zombie!! we had to put my cat on another diet. The other day he ran up the stairs after me and I could hear him breathing heavy. Think he might be in danger of a heart attack.

So what does Snoop Dog use to wash his clothing? BLEEEATCH!
I can’t take credit for that one, but it gives you an idea of the joking around attitude our team brought to the two day training trip in Tofino. It’s all about having fun with each other and building a positive team atmosphere. After a grueling training camp in Whistler it was awesome to be able to make the drive over to the coast with the team and kick it for a few days. It was anything but restful though, and with the waves pumping for a few of the afternoons it became a vicious train, surf, train, surf cycle that can tire you out like nothing I’ve ever experienced. On the last day there I hammered through a 3 hour run in the rain and then directly into a 3-4 hour surf session. I was haggard by the end of the day.

Tofino is a pretty remote area, so the evenings there turned into everyone chilling around the camp fire taking turns telling jokes. As it turns out Kuzzy is like the joke masta and was coming up with all kinds of stuff. On one of the nights we completely lost power for the entire evening so the team just sat around the dinner table with our head lamps and talked for a few hours. Thats what it’s all about. Anyone who’s been part of a team knows that building a strong bond between teammates is a unique thing especially in an ‘individual’ sport like xc skiing. But we all know there’s nothing really individual about it, and our teammates are the ones who train, sweat, and suffer with us all year round. I’m actually pretty sure that over the past 4 years I have spent more time with my teammates than anyone else…. unfortunately probably more than my lady friend. But it has put us in a good position leading into the olympic year. Everyone’s stoke and in good spirits.

So it was a tiring few days at the coast. the first afternoon Cox bay was firing at head high and the swell kicked back up again for our last afternoon there. I think everyone was so fired up to surf that nobody even thought about taking any pictures, but everyone for sure had a good time. On the way back to Vermont I had to make a stop in Chicago for the Team USA Media Summit. Basically it’s a chance for NBC, CNN, and a bunch of other media types to interview Olympians so once we’re in Vancouver we don’t have to deal with all that. It’s also a chance for a lot of publications to get some pictures and stuff. It was kind if fun…. had to dress up in some crazy stuff for a Men’s Journal shoot though and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be taking shit for the rest of my life if it ever gets published because they made me wear a man scarf. bad news.

Anyway… I’m back home in Vermont now and looking forward to actually being in one place for a few weeks. I’m fired up to get in some training in the fall weather and hopefully skate the bonville bowl a little bit. SMS is in full session now so I’ll be training with the team some days and throwing down the hammer a little bit with those guys. check back for updates. here are some random pics.

Pat and YT….. Rock Band

Ferry to Vancouver Island

1 hour into a 3 hour run in the rain

half of the run was on the beach              Quote from Mo…. “it smells like sea weed”

Nature….

Gearing up…… water actually wasn’t that cold

Justin…………. Stoked