Well, the lack of snow in Poland has left me stateside as I cross my fingers and hope that the two-week postponement of the races will bring snow to the Szcyrk countryside. In the mean time, I’ve been keeping myself occupied in various tasks. Bowling tournaments (man am I a terrible bowler), skittle matches (only the greatest game…ever), and a new breed of cooking contests have been my vents for my endless competitive nature.

Most recently the entire ODT team came together for a Monday night muster, where yours truly, with the help of his faithful sous chef, Mikey, challenged –and beat no less –the dynamic duo of fellow teammates Taylor Sundali and Scott Krankkala in a Iron Chef competition. The secret ingredient was sweet potatoes, and we each had a fifty-dollar spending limit to create the best four-course meal one could concoct. The other members of our team served as judges for the heated battle, judging based on taste, creativity and appearance. Taylor and Scott put up a salad with sweet potatoes, spaghetti and chicken with a sweet potato sauce, sweet potato fries, sweet potato pie and an interesting but delicious sweet potato s’more. Mikey and I fought back with five courses. Starting off was our fried sweet potato shaves rolled with pancetta and manchego cheese, second came our roasted root medley stew in homemade bread bowls, followed by homemade ravioli with a sweet potato and citrus filling in a sage butter sauce. Next came our main course of pork tenderloin stuffed with sweet potatoes and dates with a cranberry mustard glaze, and rounding out our feast was a sweet potato crepe with fresh fruit and a sweet potato pie demi-glaze.

Yesterday was a treat. Not only did I have good energy during my morning intervals and felt that my return to quality racing is just around the corner, I also had the privilege to ski with the Sun Valley Prep team in the afternoon where they introduced me, and the other members of the ODT program, to a few of their favorite ski games.

The Sun Valley SEF has various programs to get kids in the surround areas out on Nordic skis. Starting with the Devo (Development) program with kids in 2nd through 5th grade getting out on skis for the very first time, and moving up to the Prep team, comprising of J3-J4 skiers, SVSEF instills the love of skiing into the community’s youth. Once older, SVSEF graduates their younger skiers to the Comp (Competition) team, where J2-OJ skiers really start to get after it, focusing more on the racing side of skiing. However, SVSEF doesn’t let skiing end there, recently adding the ODT (Olympic Development Team) consisting of post-grads who want to take skiing to the next level. The entire Nordic portion of SVSEF runs out of “the Hut,” which, unlike what its name applies, is anything less than first class. “The Hut,” located at Lake Creek on the edge of 10km of undulating Nordic trails, consists of a two story building which houses an enormous wax room, a first rate weight room, a spinning room –home to over a dozen spin bikes, and ski lockers for all of the skiers apart of the program. It is a skier’s utopia. However, even with everyone based under one roof, the different scheduling of practice times limits the amount of time skiers of different ages can interact and train together. Fortunately, every now and then the various programs are able to link up and ski together, with each program being able to learn something from the other.

Yeah, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted here on FasterSkier. I would like to blame it on the fact that I recently broke my computer and due to backorder issues it has yet been fixed, but I can really only blame it on my own laziness. Things have taken a turn for the better since hitting the wall in Soldier Hollow and the legs, while not at 100 percent yet, have recovered enough so that the skiing out at US Nationals was enjoyable.

Well, I discovered the other day I was human.  It was a rude awakening to say the least.  A slap across the face I feel a few times a year.  It is an epiphany, wakening me from my dreamlike state of immortality.  This time it wasn’t the common near-death experience, the unfortunate bonk in the middle of a race, or a season altering injury, but something new.  To put it frank, I finally got tired.  And no, not the “I want to go to sleep” tired, or the “wow those were hard intervals” exhaustion.  This time it is the slow build up over the past two weeks of increasing fatigue, to the point where the muscles are completely sucked dry of energy. 

I begin to wonder, as I sit down to write this post, just exactly how I got into this situation.  You see perched atop my head is none other than an iridescent pink Boston Red Sox baseball cap, shimmering with sparkles (jealous eh?).  The very hat many of you may have seen fellow teammate Noah Hoffman wearing in West Yellowstone due to betting against the Red Sox in the World Series.  So why exactly am I now wearing it?  And how can you get the chance to don this illustrious cap?  Well, to answer these questions one must first dive into the reason for my being in Sun Valley in the first place.