So this is going to be a pretty condensed blog post considering the amount of time it is covering, but I’ll do my best to cover it all. It’s been probably a couple of months since my last post, if you’re wondering a few posts got deleted in a Fasterskier crash, but not much was missed. I haven’t really been wanting to post because I didn’t have anything good to say. In short, I’ve had a real bad season this year. I’m pretty bummed considering I had some high hopes for this season, but there is always next year, and then the year after, and they year after, etc. If you read my posts from the first couple of Eastern Cups you know that I wasn’t super psyched with my first races, but I still had hope. Unfortunately, it only got worse form there. My goals went from a podium or win at JNs, to then just qualifying for JNs, to now a podium at the Stowe Derby. So I guess you could say they may have actually increased since the Stowe Derby is pretty prestigious. I think that the biggest factor in my lackluster season is my massive increase in hours. To be honest, last year I was pretty inconsistent with training and didn’t quite have the motivation I should have, but then this year I took an entirely new approach and did all the training plus more. With an increase in training hours like that it is not uncommon to see a weak season followed by then stronger ones. I don’t want to make excuses, but when I look back on my year thats all that I can really see. My technique has improved and my strength increased, but my fitness just didn’t follow. Throughout the season I was definitely lower energy and with a few sicknesses in between Eastern Cups I was out of the running. Looking at it now I see that it is really pretty insignificant in the long term, I mean I’m a 2nd year J2 in a sport where some people don’t hit their peak for another 10 years. Even though that is true its still always hard to not reach the goals you set for yourself and especially when its missed by that much. I’m doing what I can to stay motivated and continue training until the actual spring time here in Vermont. I’m still happy about my decision to come here for the year and wouldn’t change a thing, regardless of the results. I’ve learned so much and developed so many different abilities that the year has become invaluable.

To move on from the disappointing stuff, everything else has been going well! East Burke has been getting some snow, still no base but its something, and the weather has been significantly improved from earlier on. We’ve had countless bluebird days and have been using tons of Extra Blue kick. These are the days that I thought I’d never find here out East. I must say that now with my season being over I have a pretty big sense of relief and am beginning to enjoy the workouts again. I’ve gone on a couple of adventure skis and spent most of my time doing distance skis and catching up on homework. This past week Burke actually had a break, but the Nordic team opted to use it as a training block. Tara and Coach Kate are headed to Junior Nationals and Warren to Eastern High Schools. Since I’ve decided not to do Eastern High Schools or J2 Champs I’ve had ample time to get in some alpine skiing and re-settle in. Many hours have been dedicated to catching up with recent events and following the current #ForwardonClimate campaign. I’m looking forward to getting in some good turns up on the mountain and enjoying the rest of the year. HUGE shoutout to all the skiers at WORLD CHAMPS! Kate and I were up at 6:45 this morning watching the feed. Still plenty more races for the Stars n Stripes and for you Petter Northug. I have faith.

I’ll probably start resuming my posting more frequently now that I’m on better terms with things and maybe start taking a few photos. Until then, Enjoy the Snow!

-Peter

Turns out all this school stuff is getting pretty taxing on the body. For the past 5 days, and then the next 3, we’re on Fall Break! After 3 weeks of rough ski school life, I got to relax and hangout. Unfortunately, my parents don’t love me enough to actually fly me home for the week so I had to schmooze around and bum a place for the week. Luckily, my dad just so happened to be at Middlebury  visiting the other siblings so he headed up for Parents Weekend just before the break!

Runs in the family!

After Parents weekend the Lorenze Family, Paige Lorenze’s Family, was gracious enough to take me in for the week. What a week it has been! The daily grind down here in Guilford, Connecticut has consisted of sleeping in late, eating crepes, rallying their go kart, eating food, going in the pool, doing nothing, going in the hottub, watching a movie, going to bed. Sometimes training could be thrown in. *Thumbs up Kate*. The only time we wavered from this plan was 1.) We took a day trip over to Boston and Nobles Academy. And 2.) Our most recent trip just today into the Big City, NEW YORK CITY. And 3.) I occasionally messed around on my SAT Question of the day app. Makes me feel way smarter than I am. If the questions on the SAT are like those on the app, I’m going to Harvard baby!

Victory laps on the go kart

Yeah, I’m a country boy, what can I say. Having never seen NYC before I was stoked to say the least. It was fun, even though majorly condensed. We took a train from New Haven down to Grand Central Station(SO AWESOME!), then we walked up and down the streets for a while until we somehow ended up on an American Eagle Mega Screen right in Times Square!! I’m not going to elaborate much on that so that people don’t quit assuming I’m America’s Next Top Model. Regardless, we eventually made it to SoHo, not Soldier Hollow?!?!, for a short few minutes and had to rush back to catch the train home. I didn’t really buy anything other than a few minutes on a payphone,we even got lunch at Hard Rock for free!, but you can bet I’ll be ordering up some packages to be shipped to me at Burke in the next couple days.

As seen on JohnnyKlister.com
(ps anyone else getting a malware detection warning on JK? Keeps telling me it’s going to give me viruses or something. Luckily I proceed anyways, I figure Macs can’t get viruses, right?)

Well, that pretty sums up the recent happenings and what not. Obviously missed quite a bit, but I must get back to the much less strenuous life style I’ve come accustomed to. Too much typing, too much work.

Although school has started and Pete Phillips is my English teacher, don’t let the title fool you into thinking this post is going to be anymore intellectual than the others. The Winston Churchill quote I’m referring to is, ” I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. That was a pretty accurate description of my most recent rollerski up Whiteface Mtn in Lake Placid for Climb to the Castle. Unfortunately, I don’t think that that was enough for that particular race. C2C was brutal to say the least. I’d vouch for 9k of consistent uphill being one of the more frustrating races there is. Marred by some shoulder muscle cramping pretty early on, I ended up skiing one-armed for the last mile or so. Regardless, I was happy to have finished it after realizing that I don’t even race 9k races as a J2 yet.

Heading home from C2C on the Lake Champlain Ferry

That’s been one of many physical challenges so far at Burke. Some of the others include some strength testing, gymnastics, 2 3000s(one on the track and one on a road), biking, and many more. The ones  mentioned are worth elaborating on a bit. In fact, Gymnastics could probably be put on a similar level as C2C. My extreme lack of flexibility/agility was definitely a disadvantage for that. At Burke they’ve decided we should go to a gymnastics gym once a week and work on things like rolls, balance beam, rope climbing, trampoline, and a couple of others. The rolls were killer, so painful. I swear I may have dislocated my shoulder and relocated it several times doing side rolls. Next up are the 3000s we did. The first one was just the Nordic team, 3 strong, on a local track. I ran a 10:46 I believe it was which was a solid 20second improvement from my last run. The other 3000 was a much more fun, alpiners and Nordics, race on a nearby dirt road. This is the time you gotta really lay it down, impress the ladies at school and show the alpiners how awesome nordies actually are. Neither of those are easy feats, but I think I made some progress. Given the course was mostly flat/downhill the times were much faster, and much closer.

Executing a perfect front…kind of

I ended with a 9:46+/- a few seconds, which is much faster than the track. In the race I was genuinely worried/impressed with the alpiners though. I wasn’t able to actually break away from the front group of them and get the W until we hit the sole hill on the course. Since coming to Burke my respect for the alpiners has definitely grown exponentially. The ones here work a lot harder than I expected, but then again these are many of the best in the country. School has been pretty sweet in general. It’s been super weird starting pretty much fresh somewhere new. Definitely gone through a few periods of homesickness, but luckily there’s not much to be bummed about out here. I’ve spent probably 90% of my free time in the library, but doing almost no work. I’d be quick to call the library my main social scene.

Have to give East Burke some credit for the nightly sunsets

Take a seat on the couch, make yourself look like somewhat of an intellectual, and the ladies will flock(eventually). That last part has yet to happen…but eventually! It’s getting colder here and I’ve heard rumors of snow back in Jackson(along with a constant flow of photos and facebook statuses about a pretty scary fire there). I’m stoked for the winter to come and our recently confirmed 1 month Sun Valley trip to happen. We’ve got a week long fall break right off the bat here at the end of September so I’ll have to coax one of my newly made friends into letting me stay with them.

Since my last post life has been pretty sweet. I spent until the 24 in Jackson training with the team and enjoying the last of Jackson until I returned from school. All was well until my jaw started to hurt. I was puzzled for a few days trying to figure out what it was. Finally I connected the dots. Earlier in the year I was told I had to get my wisdom teeth removed soon, but I had ignored the warning and forgotten about it. At least I had forgotten about it until now, when it started hurting, 2 days before I was flying out east. So quickly we made the call and scheduled the appointment for Thursday with us flying out on Friday. Seemed like a pretty reasonable plan, I mean how bad could it really be?

A Little Lost in Boston

Well I found that out pretty soon. After coming down from the ridiculous high associated with the drugs used to knock me out, the discomfort kicked in. I wouldn’t say that flying was a breeze considering it was my mother, who just got her rotator cuff fixed and can’t use that arm, 4 very large bags, a few carry-ons, and then my wisdom teeth-lacking self. Fortunately, we made it. My Mother and I then continued to hangout around the East Coast with friends and family for a few days. We went to Boston for a day and then headed over to my Aunt’s house on Nantucket for the rest. Minus my eating disabilities it was awesome. I haven’t spent much time out here, but so far it has been quality. Since the 29th I have just been trolling around the “bustling metropolis” of East Burke, VT with miss Kate Barton and Mitch Prevot waiting for school to start.

Siasconset, Nantucket

Some of the activities of East Burke can, but not necessarily, include long hours spent trying to rebuild a shipped bike, mountain unicycle rides (this really deserves more of an explanation, but that would be a whole new post. Let’s just say it was lots of walking for me and Kate while we watched Mitch shred the mountain bike trails with only one wheel), some nice grilling, and more. Kate and I actually drove down to GMVS to join them for a Classic Sprint simulation which was super fun. Unfortunately for me, that whole day wouldn’t be constituted as “the best”. I woke up a little later than intended, my boot slightly broke, I forgot and had to borrow a helmet, I lost a bolt on one ski, I broke the fork on the other ski which ended my skiing, and on top was just a tad tired. Nevertheless it was a great experience!

My Dorm house in the background here at Burke Mountain Academy!

I’m now on to the start of school. Today was orientation and moving in so it was mostly filled with just hanging around and meeting new people. Tomorrow will be the first day of actual classes so we’ll see how that goes, but I assume it’ll be solid. So far I’m loving here. The campus is incredible. Just minutes away from the mountain, a couple seconds from the food and weight room, classes all in walking distance, and the place is as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional. Everyone I have met has been super nice and excited. I’m looking forward to be living with and going to school with 100% skiers, even if 98% of them are alpiners. My room is a bit cramped, but totally manageable. I must say though looking at the other rooms ours is comparable to Harry Potter’s little staircase abode. I’m looking forward to getting classes started and getting more situated with the school. You’ll be hearing much more about it soon enough, but until then I’m going to go try and make some friends. Hope everyone else is easing into fall and, if applicable, school easily. Post Soon,

Peter

As J2 camp has wrapped up, I am beginning to see the end of the summer fast approaching. J2 camp was awesome with lots of new training tips and facebook friends. When I last posted on site in Craftsbury we had just finishes our harder 2 days. After those days the camp got more focused on technique and training skills rather than where you were at physically right then. I was happy to hear some new perspectives on training from various coaches and get some time to ski with some of the best J2s in the country. It was cool to put a face and personality to the people I was racing at JNs.

Was also nice to put a face to this Kitty after hours of hard labor in Craftsbury

Before they were just some random person that I was bummed beat me, but now I realize that we’re all pretty much in the same boat. It was pretty motivating to be around the whole scene and be working my way through the pipeline. Hearing Bryan Fish talk about how some of the best skiers in U.S. were in our same spot back in the day was pretty cool as well. It made me really think a bit harder about not only my short term goals for this next year, but also my long term goals and what I really wanted to get out of this. With Junior year coming up this year college is going to start becoming a much more common topic which really just translates into some larger decisions that need to be made.

I’ve already had to start making some very difficult decisions in this past month. I’ve been debating whether or not I would go to Burke Mountain Academy for this upcoming Fall Semester. Fall Semester does seem to be a strange time to go to a ski school, but because of their schedule and setup there are times that I could use to make the most out of my Fall. It’s been a super tough decision mostly because what I realized is that there aren’t really cons to either decision. Jackson is such an amazing place and our team is doing really well, but on the flip side Burke is also a pretty cool place that really supports skiing. I have come to realize that either way it would have been a winning situation. Having said that I have made the decision to go to BMA this Fall. It was a pretty late decision so I have to cram a few books in real quickly, but I’m pretty excited. It’s going to be an awesome experience living and training out East in Burke. I’ve been a West Coaster all my life so this can give me a small insight into what I could expect from the East. Until Sep. 1, however, I will be out here in Jackson training away and enjoying the rest of the summer.

Eliot, Dylan McGarthwaite, My Father Bill, and I headed out for a hike around Jackson Hole Mountain Resort a couple days ago. Was great until Father was called in to save a chopped off finger.

Today we had a 5k Classic Rollerski Time Trial which happens to be my favorite TT of all time. I wasn’t feeling super hot in the morning, but with a pretty brisk morning and a small tailwind it turned into a pretty great day. Nick Lovett has had the Course Record on it for a while now, being something like 45 seconds ahead my time, but it’s been my goal to finally catch and beat it. I expected it to take a bit longer, but today I finally surpassed his time, I think(Still haven’t seen an official email with times, but I’m maybe 98% sure), with a 15:15. I am still ecstatic about it and celebrated after practice with some good ‘ol french toast. Awesome day with a break this afternoon. T-15 days until I have to worry about school, but it is coming fast. No huge plans in between now and then, but I’ll make sure to update some. Thanks for reading!

Peter

So far so good here on site in Craftsbury, VT. I left Jackson on the 3rd flying into Burlington where I stayed with The Hegmans for the night. Big thanks to them for picking me up at the airport and then letting me hitch up a ride with Bill and Ben the next day since Ben was headed up here toJ2Camp as well.

The Lake just down the path from the Training Center. A Sculling camp is here as well flocking to docks each morning.

The camp has started off pretty well with some brutal workouts and an unruly amount of Lion King watching and references. The strength test was quite the time. It’s a minute on minute off doing as many pull-ups, sit-ups, pushups, box jumps, and then dips as you can in the given minute period for each. I would be lying if I said I was the strongest, or really that strong at all. I started off with a PR of 14 pull ups, but things went a bit downhill from there. I ended with my score being 186 total with pull ups weighted x3. For those who don’t know, that’s not a very substantial score putting me (tied for) second to last. I was pretty exhausted and a bit disappointed afterwards, but (luckily?) there was plenty of time for some redemption this morning.

The common area and main building in the back. Some friends on friends in the foregound.

This morning was a time trial run up Elmore’s hill, or mountain depending on where you’re from. It started with an easier road section, but quickly progressed into a pretty steep single track. I felt as if I could’ve gone a bit harder on the road section, but overall thought it went well. My two goals for the run were to 1. Not walk any of it and 2. Not reverse podium again. The first goal I was stoked to have succeeded with. There were definitely a few parts that I think may have been faster with a quick walk, but I didn’t cave and made it through with no walking. The second goal I cruised through coming in 7th. I was pretty content with that considering there are some pretty talented 20-something athletes here. The times ranged a pretty big gap from 16:00, being the new record set by one of the Craftsbury Green Team members that came along, to about 28:00. Jericho tomorrow and much more to come. That’s all for now with an easy double pole workout in a couple of hours. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week and there’s bound to be some more post-worthy events you’ll be hearing about. Adios till then and check back later for some more exciting J2 camp updates.