Two weeks ago today I had all four wisdom teeth pulled. After five days of sitting on the couch reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, my face had shrunken down to an almost normal size and I was ready to hit to road again (training of course). I had been strictly informed by my orthopedic surgeon not to raise my heart rate for a while because blood pumping through my head in my current state, would not feel nice. On the 6th day after surgery I went for an easy bike ride with Jonathon Poole, to whom I apologize for the painfully slow pace. Getting on the bike for the next couple days would be a good option for me as biking tends to work the heart and the legs out of sync from each other. I could keep my heart rate down, while at least my legs would be in Level 1.

I felt good all this past week and took two rest days, but I logged a lot of hours on the bike and some very easy rollerskis. By yesterday I felt ready to do some hard work. Overseen by our coach, Pete, my teammate Lucas Milliken and I did 3×8 minutes at L3 up a long, fairly steep hill. I felt great, but my heart rate was about five beats higher than I wanted it to be. Lucas was in the 172-176 range and I was around 174-179 but the last 200 meters (the steepest pitch) I raised it up to 181 every time.

I am pleased with how the intervals went. It was a good indicator that even though I feel 100%, I am not quite there yet. Today is an off-day and then I will be taking it somewhat easy this week with a lot of strength before the Burke Camp in Keene, NY.

here is a short clip i put together while i had some free time after wisdom tooth surgery on Monday

            Summer can be a lonely time for Nordic skiers; family vacations and separation from teammates can be difficult even for the most diligent athletes.  No matter how much one loves rollerskiing, bounding and running, repetitive routine can become mentally strenuous.  I think it is essential to find a group of friends to train with, at least some of the time.

           At Junior Nationals last March, Alex Schulz, Chase Marston and I had the idea to group up with similar minded individuals at some point over the summer to train.  When the time rolled around, I sent out word that I would hold a 4-5 day training camp at my home on the coast of Maine.  Chase, Alex and some other friends arrived earlier this week and crashed in my basement.

            The company was much appreciated by everyone, I think, and we worked hard together. In our level 4 intervals on Saturday, it was a small reminder what it is like to go fast.  That is what group training can do, fast skiers working together to get faster.  A group can do that more effectively than an individual.  When one athlete is not feeling so great, the rest of the group is there to help them get back on it.

            We sweated through a grueling plyometric workout, fought through a coastal thunderstorm while rollerskiing, conquered the L4 double pole intervals, and had some fun enjoying the perks of the ocean.  Here are some photos to recapture some of our work.

n1

Road Rash Tally:

We are very sure of foot, no crashes here.

So it’s been three days since I’ve arrived and in this time I’ve just barely adjusted to the time change, altitude and language, gotten over jet-lag, and I’ve also managed to have my camera stolen.  How convenient!

I am living with my cousin’s family in Tignes which is a town in the Alpes just over the border from Italy.  It’s at 2000Meters so I can’t expect any summer weather up here.  But that’s okay - from what I’ve  heard, it’s been so hot in New England so I don’t think I’m missing out on anything spectacular — but I am a little disconnected from the rest of the world - so I could be wrong.

Anyway, there are tons of trails for hiking here and steep mountain roads for rollerskiing, so I will be able to keep myself busy.  Since only my cousin speaks english, I am forced to speak French which has been a little difficult, but it is getting much easier faster than I expected.  By the end of these next couple weeks I believe my ‘fr-anglais’ > français.  YAY!

 I will add some photos as soon as I can (hopefully) get ahold of a camera.

à bientot,

Corinne

I know people hate inside jokes when they’re on the outside, but I thought maybe this title would attract more attention to the post…thats just my logic. It was also a residing theme throughout the camp.

To Sam’s disliking, it took me almost a week to write this…I guess you will find out why as I share my summer. (I don’t know who cares but I hear the new thing is to tell everyone what you’ve been up to.)

We left for Sweden about a week and a half after Burke’s graduation so with SAT’s and trying to get into summer mode, it was hard to just pack up and leave again. Our crew started in Newark, was met by Annalies Cook in Stockholm, and continued on to Ostersund. Like zombies, we marched through the woods in

This was a really tough camp. Former Burkies Kevin Cutts and Caitlin Curran joined me in Lake Placid for this one. NENSA Director Janice Sibilia teamed up with USST coach Matt Whitcomb to head a great group of coaches from around New England. Thanks to all the coaches for a great camp!

Matt Whitcomb pushing me in L4 double pole intervals

Kevin Cutts (NMU) digging deep

Caitlin Curran (BMA ‘07) on a OD skate

David Sinclair (GMVS) leading a train of skiers

Fred Bailey and Joey Bard (MWSC)

Patrick O’Brien, multitasking

Nick Michaud (below) and I had some fun at the end of our hike

Photos by Paul Stone

The racing season is finally over, and after 25 races it is a little disappointing that the weather seems to be not quite as ready for spring as I am. Small and numerous snowflakes swirl past my window and cast a hazy cloud of mid-February aura around campus. It is difficult to realize that the muscle-numbing racing flings are over and the recharging period of the spring has arrived.

My mind was certainly still in race mode as our final race series at Canadian Nationals drew to a close. I could feel the exhaustion in my step wherever I walked but I could not get that feeling of flying up hills and driving my body to extremes out of my head. I needed one more go! My fingers tingled at the idea of a 15km mass start skate race at Lake Placid, a low key spring jaunt promising to feature US Biathlete Lowell Bailey.

It’s been a wild couple of days for me, my teammates and some other juniors who made their way to Canadien Nationals after Junior Nationals in Alaska. I guess you could say we took Pat Casey’s words to heart and started our 2008/9 season directly after awards on Saturday night logging a good two hour sprint/agility workout on the dance floor. Shoutout to Reese Hanneman for getting lower than anyone else out there and “severely” spraining my foot. New England rounded out with 5 of the top ten places at the dance with strong performances made by Mike Mommsen(NE), Graham Egan(NE), Sam Tarling(NE), Gage Fichter(NE), NOAH HOFFMAN(IM), Erik Anderson(IM), Natalie Flowers(IM), Andrew Tillman(MW), Scott Krankalla(IM) and Parker Tyler(NE). Honerable mention for the evening went to Ian Havlick(IM) who unfortunalty dropped out in the home stretch.