After a short rest week where I put my bike away and dusted off my rollerskis, the US Combined team headed to Lillehammer, Norway. This camp was planned to bring together the US, Norwegian, and French teams for some training and some friendly comps to “check the level.”

It was a huge success from the start since we were able to bring some additional athletes and coaches to bring our total to 22 people and 16 athletes! This included the 10 members of the US Nordic Combined squad, comeback kid Todd Lodwick, and a promising group of junior skiers from across the US. France brought a four member A-team squad and Norway brought their entire NC nation with around 65 athletes! For the camp we stayed together with the Norwegians up in the mountains at Sjusjoen. Although a drive to the ski jumps, it was near the new roller ski loop that offers nearly 5km of challenging courses. Sjusjoen also has some great trails across the high open alpine hills and bogs for some fun workouts as well.

     So at last post I mentioned I would be riding in the Tour of Utah.  I was planning on doing some updates but in all honesty I was hoping for a great ride to blog about so I kept waiting…  Having raced Cascade Classic earlier this year I knew that the pace was going to be tough, but I had done some good climbing there and was feeling pretty good going into this past week.  Problem was I prepared for a 5 day stage race like it was a 15km skate.  Last week I did alot of intensity including two motorpacing sessions, a crit, and a four hour ride with multiple 20 minute climbing intervals.  I was flying!  I did do some rest days, but in retrospect could have a done a few more. 

 Well it has been great to get back home, but as certain friends of mine like “The Streetfighter” know I am usually bursting with energy when I arrive back on American soil.  A typical first morning off the plane starts with a cup of coffee at about 4:30am and by 7 the laundry is in the dryer and the mail is sorted and I am already contemplating a killer training session.  I don’t know why this is, but I just roll with it until about 2 in the pm when I crash test my face on the pillow. 
 This last Monday was the same.  12 hours off the plane I was just putting the last of my freshly clean clothes away when Gardie “Action” Jackson called and asked if I wanted to do a training ride?  Of course, lets go.  After a 20 min TT into Park City from the ‘burbs where I reside to meet a punctually minded Gardie, we hit the road to meet a friend of his for some motor pacing.  As John Gallagher (a local cyclist well known for his talent on the cross bike) pulled up on his Bahama 150 I noticed my heart rate was nearly 100 just sitting on the top tube, oh well high revs today.  After three 15 minute reps at 30-40mph, and 175-185bpm I was toast and it was off to read the inside of my eyelids.
 Motorpacing? You might ask yourself.  First Nordic Combined, then Inline racing, now cycling?  Well turns out my cycling team got into the Tour of Utah next week( www.tourofutah.com )  to race some pretty big guns who I am sure will have some teammates that make everything fun right from the gun.  So I am attempting to get my legs ready to survive this little 5-day jaunt around the Wasatch.  Should be fun (for at least an hour or so) so I am going to give it my best here starting next Wednesday in Nephi.  Hopefully will make for some good updates.  Of course after that I am going to have some serious double pole sessions to get my arms back from twig status!

So Summer Grand Prix is over!  Always a little cause for celebration to be in one piece after the blading races.  Oberstdorf was a bit tricky.  After multiple cancellations due to wind conditions last season we are testing a new format which qualifys 40 skiers based on a scored round the day before the comp.  Then for the comp day we have a new round of jumping with only those 40, the hitch is if the comp day conditions do not allow for a competition the “pocket round” can be used in lieu so the show can go on.  So the qualifying round in Oberstdorf ended up counting, which was not so good for yours truely as I was 33rd.  The race was again very tough with the 9 laps of 1.8km being competed in a mere 28 minutes, I ended up skiing with a good pack but we were unable to overcome the deficit and I finished 19th.

Oberstdorf start

Just finished watching the finish of the Tour on the Champs live from Paris, which means dinnertime for us here in Germany. We traveled this morning to Oberstdorf for Summer Grand Prix #2 which is Tuesday night. Our first comp was yesterday in Hinterzarten. It is always good to see the whole group in a relaxed summer atmosphere, although the comp was equally as serious as any world cup.

Saturday’s event was a single jump followed by a 15km inline race. This was meant to simulate in time the new format we will be using this winter: a one-jump 10km. The jumping was a great comp with long jumps from all and David Zauner emerged the victor with a huge leap of 106.5 meters on the k95 hill. I jumped 99, which placed me in 7^th position going into the race and starting 56 seconds behind the young Austrian.

Well first off, I am psyched to be a part of the blogroll on FasterSkier! I aim to entertain and keep those interested apprised of the current events on the Nordic Combined circuit, and especially give everyone an idea of how we train for our multifarious disciplines.

Being an NCer in the summer is a difficult balance of power and technical training on the ski jumping side and an appropriate volume and specificity of endurance training for cross-country. On the US team we have adopted a philosophy of “cross country skiers who jump” prioritizing the development of our engines over the long term meanwhile continually seeking to improve our jumping prowess. I personally spend a ton of time on the bike in the earlier part of the summer getting long hours and quality intensity in the form of races. But in general we run, roller ski, hike, bike, double pole and lift like cross country skiers. On top of that we spend 2-3 days a week doing plyometric exercises aimed at developing the neuromuscular snap requisite of good ski jumping, and another 3-4 sessions jumping on the plastic. Much like cross country skiing summer is the time to make technical changes and hone them into habits.