Training this time of year is bitter sweet… You are motivated to ski faster than ever but tired from training all summer.  The weather can suck for running/rollerskiing but there’s not enough snow to ski.  Athletes start traveling to get on snow and most everyone else tries to maintain fitness waiting for the white stuff or at least the sun to come out.  My life is defined by trying to balance getting enough on snow training before the opener in Kuusamo and not spending to much time on the road before the first comps getting stale.  Though it might sound weird two weeks in europe before a race can be bad if you’ve been doing this game for over a decade.  I’m going to chance it this year and as a result I find myself anxiously hoping to back country ski or skate or jump soon but in the meantime killing time and making my workouts by improv as illustrated below:

Best punch line for:

What do you get when you put a Biathlete and a Nordic Combiner side by side on a treadmill doing classic?

Win’s a 2010 Bjorn Dahlie jacket from me and some kind of squarehead triple stripped Adidas thing from Teela.

   So as the winter rapidly approaches I’m counting down the days to Kuusamo like every year.  Normally I’m looking forward to jet setting off to a nice cozy spot on the Arctic Circle just west of the Russian border.  Ok maybe not exactly looking forward to going to a place where the sun literally does not shine.  But normally I’d be looking forward to getting started on the new season and jumping the biggest hill (outside of skflying) and racing some of the toughest courses.  This year though I keep hoping to buy a few extra days…

   Truth is that as much fun as this summer has been I’m truely looking forward to skiing for a living again.  I’m hankering for Sochi and everything that lies between now and then.  Long ass bus rides, strange hotels, ridiculous foriegners yelling at you about something in another language and you have no idea what?!  Then the good stuff, awesome days racing, training, just out and about in other cultures.  I want it all (for at least a few more years) but right now I need like two extra weeks before Suomi. 

    This past summer I rebuilt my WHOLE(of a) house in Park City.  Somehow managing to toss that in between post Olympic madness on the road, a few NRC stage races, and of course slowing down for just a few to marry my sweet heart Katie Koczynski Demong!  New windows, doors, floors, additions, decks  all day everyday for many many days.

In any case, we finally got on snow.  5 days in a row even!  After doing a fair bit of skating out at Whitepine, a back country day at Alta and some intervals I’m starting to finally feel a flow that has been missing of late.  

Hopefully the snow holds up, I’ll do the best with the time I’ve got before heading out.  Regardless, I am amped about Worlds in Oslo and especially the prospect of skiing for four more years!

Enjoy this:

   So as the winter rapidly approaches I’m counting down the days to Kuusamo like every year.  Normally I’m looking forward to jet setting off to a nice cozy spot on the Arctic Circle just west of the Russian border.  Ok maybe not exactly looking forward to going to a place where the sun literally does not shine.  But normally I’d be looking forward to getting started on the new season and jumping the biggest hill (outside of skflying) and racing some of the toughest courses.  This year though I keep hoping to buy a few extra days…

   Truth is that as much fun as this summer has been I’m truely looking forward to skiing for a living again.  I’m hankering for Sochi and everything that lies between now and then.  Long ass bus rides, strange hotels, ridiculous foriegners yelling at you about something in another language and you have no idea what?!  Then the good stuff, awesome days racing, training, just out and about in other cultures.  I want it all (for at least a few more years) but right now I need like two extra weeks before Suomi. 

    This past summer I rebuilt my WHOLE(of a) house in Park City.  Somehow managing to toss that in between post Olympic madness on the road, a few NRC stage races, and of course slowing down for just a few to marry my sweet heart Katie Koczynski Demong!  New windows, doors, floors, additions, decks  all day everyday for many many days.

In any case, we finally got on snow.  5 days in a row even!  After doing a fair bit of skating out at Whitepine, a back country day at Alta and some intervals I’m starting to finally feel a flow that has been missing of late.  

Hopefully the snow holds up, I’ll do the best with the time I’ve got before heading out.  Regardless, I am amped about Worlds in Oslo and especially the prospect of skiing for four more years!

Enjoy this: