By: Eric Wolcott

After being in a variety of places over the last six weeks I am finally back in Hayward and am excited to settle down before we head west. This current week of training is relatively light in volume and I am trying to take advantage of my free time. Yesterday I tagged along with Brian as he went in for an afternoon with the kids at the local Boys and Girls Club. Having been there before I wasn’t a complete stranger to the place, but it took about half an hour for the children to warm up to my presence.  After that though I jumped right into the swing of things and started playing math fraction card games with a group of third grade girls during educational power hour.

Once that was finished it was onto the Wednesday night run series. Throughout the course of the summer and fall the kids participate in a one mile challenge every Wednesday. Yesterday was the final run and although it had to be carried out in the gym the kids were fired up because it was the last of the year and a spaghetti feast followed. It is quite the spectacle to watch forty little rascals sprint, walk, scream, and trip around a gym sixteen times. It is also questionable as to how many of the participants actually did all the laps. All in all though the run and feast was a huge success.

After a bit of digestion and recuperation the gang was ready to move onto the next activity. Brian organized a big game of last man/woman standing, a form of kickball. We played this for a while and slowly boys and girls started to trickle home. After five hours of hanging out at the Club I was pretty tired, however I look forward to getting back and spending some quality time with a great group of people again.

Although the rest of the week won’t be as action packed as yesterday, I look forward to continuing the routine of training, resting, and working. Next week I crank up the intensity again and put in one final period of dryland.

By Jason Cork

A couple of months ago, I cobbled together a blog post entitled “Not Wants, But Needs: Van Edition”. [And yes, I'm going to keep linking to it, hoping to drive up page views up past Gus's.] In it, I promised a Home Edition. So here we go:

Gregg and Kuzzy just got one of these from Kuan, who is the hero of the week.

Boot dryer. You need this – it’ll make your boots dry (duh) so your feet don’t freeze, it’ll make them last longer, it’ll keep them from stinking so much that your teammates hate you. OK, it might only reduce how bad they smell, but every little bit help.

Ro-Tel, Hatch, bulk reds. Not pictured: Onion, garlic, cumin.

This is a pressure cooker. If you’re a skier, you probably don’t have a lot of money, but you like to eat a lot. When I was training, I ate a lot of beans — high in protein, cheap, tasty, filling. With a pressure cooker, you can go from dry (read: cheap) beans to eating in about an hour. Your aunt probably has told you some story about a pressure cooker blowing up and blahblahblah … I’ve never had mine blow up. [Knock wood.]

If you’re eating beans, you might as well be eating beans and rice. I don’t want to blow a potential blog post (“On The Road Edition”), but if you don’t have a stove, you can cook lentils and split peas in one of these things too.

Coffee? Yes. Espresso? Yesyesyesyesyes.

Four of these things will be used today.

That last one might actually be more for coaches than athletes, but whatever.

“The Wire.” Netflix. Recovery time is important.

Kitty cat. Only recommended if you have a roommate who will take care of food and water while you’re out gallivanting around at ski races. This one is a lazy git who hogs the heat, but he talks a lot and plays with toys like a dog, so he’s OK.

Wax area? Of course. Ideally, you would have some nice matting on the floor, and ceilings would be high enough that you aren’t constantly bashing ski tips overhead, but you take what you can get. As long as there’s enough G’n’R in the area, things will be OK.

If I was an athlete, this would be full of clothes. But I'm a coach …

Washer and dryer – of course. [No picture on those; use your imagination.] Drying rack? Way handier than hanging stuff off the shower curtain, and your expensive ski clothes will thank you.

We’ve got a LOT of travel on tap for this winter – next blog post will be out of West Yellowstone, where I will answer the most pressing question of the winter: How desperate must I be to pay $5 for fries at McDonald’s after the Ski Festival?

Jasmine before the kids arrived

“Elpis Enterprises (Elpis is Greek for hope) is a youth development organization focusing on youth employment training and small business education. Participants “work” all areas of the business and learn, earn, and profit as they go. Operating business enterprises include a four-color screen-printing operation and a woodworking shop that utilizes only reclaimed and recycled wood products. In addition, Elpis’ young staff conducts hands on workshops at its facility for youth groups from throughout the area as well as conducting community-building activities at offsite locations”.

Jasmine giving instructions for the birdfeeder project using recycled wood.

Jasmine is homeless but you wouldn’t know it. She has a passion inside and the motivation to follow her dreams. Jasmine is a member of the US World Cup Street Soccer Team. A worldwide event that brings the positive influence of sports to the lives of those who are homeless.

A group of homeless players has more inconspicuously joined the list of nationally recognized soccer clubs from Minneapolis. The YouthLink team — which is part of YouthLink, a transitional homeless facility for teenagers and young adults. This year, seven players from the club have been selected for the Homeless World Cup, which started on Sunday and will go through Sept. 26 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They include three on the U.S. women’s team, called the Lady Salamanders.

Jasmine Morris, 19, will represent Minneapolis on the U.S. women’s team. Morris left home two years ago due to conflicts with her mother’s boyfriend and played soccer for the first time with YouthLink beginning in 2009. Morris said she was surprised to make the U.S. team for the Homeless World Cup. “I’m so excited and a little nervous. It’s my first trip outside the United States.” She speaks eloquently and shares her visions about the future that have been shaped since joining the team. “This opportunity gave me a second chance. I am working hard towards a goal now and I know that soccer has helped changed my outlook. I continue to practice everday and give my all, with the hopes of earning a soccer scholarship to the University of Minnesota.”

The building begins…

I left work yesterday with the greatest respect and admiration for what Jasmine is doing and how she does it. I will be cheering for Jasmine and thinking about what she is doing as my season starts in less than two weeks.  Sometimes inspiration doesn’t come from the Olympians you meet but intead from those who have nothing but the will to compete.

Keep Hammering Towards Your Dreams!

Now that I’ve been at the OTC in Lake Placid for about a month, I’ve been frequently asked what exactly I DO to entertain myself in between training sessions. So here’s my answer: my top 10 favorite things to do at the OTC.

1.Go around the rollerski loop at the Olypmic Jumping Complex again…and again…and again…

And when life hands you lemons (in the form of rain on a sprint day)…just hammer it out and make yourself tougher!

Photo credit to Fasterskier and NCCSEF: their coverages of the event are linked.

2.Experiment with the different modes of recovery – foam rollers, ice baths, contrast baths, “moon boots”.

Even if the ice baths aren’t always fun

Izzy Caldwell taking it easy.

3. Find ways to spice up the strength routine – making jumps fun (and dare I say stylish?)

……….even when it doesn’t go quite as planned……

4.Going to the top of the jump towers

5. Joining the hundreds of “leaf peepers” and enjoying the fall colors.

6. Arts and Crafts projects – I went into town and found a dress, embroidery floss and a needle, and spent some quality time sewing and watching trashy TV shows!

7. Stack up the weights and try not to look too wimpy in front of the crazy strong bobsledders!!!

8. Yes, this is a plant on my windowsill. It is basil. The fact that I’ve been growing plants in my room shows how much extra time I’ve got. And it’s been very nice.

9. Sit and scheme up ways to get onto the extremely large trampoline reserved for the aerialists. The cable chained across the middle of the tramp is quite a problem.

10. Stroll into town and enjoy the tourism, pumpkin spice lattes, and fresh air.

Below is the hockey rink where the US took down the USSR. It’s sorta kinda famous.

So am I sad to be leaving? Yep. But I’m also really looking forward to seeing my family and just being home again. Minnesota, here I come!

Karl Nygren

Brian Gregg and I spent last weekend in the fine city of Chicago working with the highly motivated, dedicated skiers of the greater Chicago area.  With the amazing help of Tom Dvoratchek and the Chicago skiers this clinic was the  highest quality,  most comprehensive clinic I have ever done.  The clinic kicked off Saturday morning with an extensive 3 hour classic session.  We started with dry land drill and then transitioned to roller skies with a large emphasis on the double pole and a strong core crunch.

One on many breaks to refuel throughout the clinic.

With the temp close to 90 we were highly appreciative of Powerbar for sponsoring the event and providing drinks and bars to help keep energy and moral high.

After lunch the focus of the clinic shifted to skate.  One of the man ideas here was getting the hip forward and getting a complete weight shift from side to side.   We played around with really throwing our hips to each side to establish a great gliding position.

Later in the afternoon we split up and worked both V2 and V1 in smaller groups.  In was really fun to see the tremendous progress people were making.

The group heading in for the day after a lot of V1 work on Capone’s hill.

To cap off the day we gathered at Benedictine University for a meet and greet ski presentation.  With the help of Regina  and the Sports Phys department the presentation ran extremely smooth and we were able to answer a broad range of questions about life as a skier over pizza in the college lecture hall.

Demonstrating single sticking before giving it a try.

With a large amount of drills and technique work on Saturday we decided Sunday would have a more training based approach.  After going through our typical warm-up with the skiers we moved into a sampling of workouts.  We started with a speed workout giving people the chance to try starts, transitions and drop-ins.

Afterward we moved to specific strength and single sticking, core only double pole and double pole.  I hope this gave people a good idea of new workouts to incorporate into their training.

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped make the clinic a huge success and a great experience.

Skiing the pineapple powder in Hawaii is pretty unique.  I have skied in some pretty awesome places, Norway, Methow, Italy, Hayward, Alaska. Watt and a few others I know have roller skied Vegas, and that is still on my list.  Rollerskiing 15km on a sunny fall afternoon along the 26 miles of public lake shore in downtown Chicago… pretty cool.

Not your everyday ski trail

Karl and I flew into Chicago after Climb to the Castle for a weekend ski clinic.  After a big block of training we were looking forward to a change of pace and the opportunity to connect with some of the most dedicated skiers in the country.  Did you know there is cross country skiing in Chicago? The weekend was really going to start off with a bang as Tom was able to get his hands on Bulls/Wizards tickets but unfortunately our plane out of Albany was delayed.  Maybe next time I can see my first live NBA game.

Karl and Tom on an 85 degree October Day

Navy Pier. This is home to the huge Ferris Wheel you always see in movies.

One of the must do’s of Chicago is to experience Portillos which I believe is the most efficient restaurant I have ever been to.  We went twice and both times there was a huge line and I thought we would be there forever.  We were in and out in about three minutes. These guys must do a lot of volume.  Not to mention their beef and cheese croissant is fantastic.

It is nice to have a little change in pace after a solid training camp.  In 17 days at the US OTC in lake placid I trained 45 hours.  After a busy but fun weekend in the big city I am back in Hayward and ready to get back to work.

By Benjamin Lannin

Just a brief update on fall training and some of the strange things I’ve been doing to work around my knee.  My boy Nick Murray got me into surfskiing which is great core, cardio, super tippy,  fast and tons of fun to boot.  For those not in the know, a surfski is a 19′ open top boat with a pedal controlled rudder.  The last two weeks I’ve had a huge smile on my dome as I’ve been able to skate rollerski again and my knee is diggin it.  This is thanks in part to a stylish new knee brace that off loads pressure from the bad side of my knee.  Also new Marwe rubbers (thanks Finn SISU) feel like sticks of butter underfoot, smoooooth!  Finally to help lighten the stress on my knee I’ve been forgoing Ming’s Garden General’s Chicken in hopes to start the season around 10-15 lbs lighter than last.  Hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather and colors as much as myself.

Surfski

Our house on fire with autumn

By Jennie Bender

What do I think of when reflecting on many of my past fall to winter transitions? Camp at the Olympic Training Center at Lake Placid, duh. To my recollection, my past five to six October camps have been spent here, and I wouldn’t want to spend fall anywhere else.  The East has a lot of rainy gloom, yes, but it makes the sunny days that much brighter, especially as the leaves shine with a red, yellow and green glow. You have to observe the positive benifits, such as the magnificent water falls cascading down rocky slides, or muddy trail runs through the woods. The lifestyle of an endurance athletes provides an everyday outdoor experience that very few people allow time for. We go places it takes work to get to, and see things that hide when life is too loud and busy to notice.

We are only a small dot in the big picture. Bounding intervals up Whiteface Mtn trails

Even the chair lift is colorful!

Brian making his way towards the castle, where we will be rollerski racing to on Friday

By Gus Kaeding

The CXC Elite Team is in Lake Placid, NY right now for our last training camp before we hit the snow.  Over the course of these camps, the athletes and coaches get to know each other pretty well.  Here are a couple pics from camp and some fun facts about the CXC crew you may not have known.

-Go find a bar (of the round, metal variety).  Do as many pullups as you can.  How many did you do?  Did you get to 20?  Because Jennie Bender can.

-Don’t let the pink clothing and infectious smile fool you, Jesse Diggins is probably the toughest member of  Team CXC.

-Somewhere on Tad Elliot’s body, there are muscles and they are very strong.

Andy Newell (in front), has come over from VT to mix it up with the CXC crew for a couple workouts.

-Which CXC member recently raced in the Canadian Mountain Running National Champs which was moved due to too many bears in the area?  That would be newbie, Brooke Gosling.  Oh yeah, she took second place.

-If you haven’t seen this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ts7UYQXxts, Brian Gregg is in the red suit (#53).  I could watch this a thousand times.  Sorry Gregg.

Team CXC doing isometric strength in the AM. Santi was also in attendence, doing something…

-What, that wasn’t a fun fact?  Fine.  Brian Gregg loves polar bears.

-Garrott Kuzzy is an excellent cribbage player.  (Related note- he also happens to be the only person under the age of 67 who even knows the rules).

Some solid pack skiing during L3 intervals in Placid today.

-Karl Nygren is smart enough to build his own motorcycle.  Seriously.  However his map reading ability, not so good…..

-Oh Santi, Santi, Santi.  I could write a book on Santiago Ocariz fun facts.  Let’s start with the fact that he’s done 357 one armed push ups…in a row.

The setup in between intervals. Why is it that the ski jumps are surrounded by 15' fences? I know, because it's too cold for a crocodile filled moat.

-Post college, Eric Wolcott considered a career in Professional Tether ball.  After discovering he wasn’t very good, he opted for something with a bit more popularity (yunno, like cross country skiing).

Jesse Diggins has been having an excellent camp

Brooke is new to the team so she didn't realize that when I told her "the workout is skate" this morning. I actually meant "classic." Rookie.

-Matt Leibsch eats white rice before every distance race which, he seasons with a hint of Toko Jetstream powder.

-Quick what’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say “playing scrabble online?”  You answered, “Dork.”  Nope, unfortunately the correct answer is Cork.  Jason Cork.