Woof. The Lake Placid camp was great, but man I was one tired pup after the whole week. The week of intensity ended with a classic sprint simulation which ended up being really fun. At first I wasn't that amped on it--I was tired, a little bit cranky and my muscles did NOT want to cooperate. So the qualifier wasn't the greatest--I gotter done but in no spectacular fashion. But then I worked into the heats a little bit and got the super sweet chance to move up into the A final and that was awesome. I definitely need to work a little bit on sprint heat tactics, and there is no better way to do that then practice with the best in the country! It was really awesome to be able to be a part of that, so thanks NENSA and the USST! Below are some pictures from that day.
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| Here I am in the first heat I did. This was coming off of a decently sketchy downhill turn. No one fell which is super, but there were definitely some close calls. Maybe the most terrifying noise in the world is that off metal bearings scratching at the pavement as the skiers tried to make the turns. In the heats the girls were all pretty careful--we were choosing life over death. The boys were maybe a little more aggressive, but still no causalities so woo!. Faster skier photo (this one and then the next two!) |
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| Sophie, me and Ida (in that order left to right) lead off the pack for the start of our last heat. The course was pretty difficult. It started on a steep uphill that turned into a more stridable one, then shot down two really fast hills, followed by a bit of a double pole zone and then a nasty uphill finish. I think I need to work on my double poling the most, and it was awesome to be able to see where I need to improve vis-a-vis the top sprinters in the country! Shout out to Soph for winning the whole thing! |
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| Here we all are after just finishing the qualifier I think and getting our lactates tested. I was a big bleeder that day, and went through a whole lot of bandaids in an attempt to not blood stain my poles. yuck. |
After the sprint, Sophie, Erika and I all headed back to Hanover to hang out at Dartmouth for a little bit. I missed all of my dartmouth college buddies and so it was great to catch up with them and I also got to meet all of our new freshman which was awesome. I also did a real world activity and got my oil changed and my tires rotated. I feel like the Jiffy-Lube guy could sense that I knew absolutely nothing about cars, but I just kept saying that all I wanted was a tire rotation and an oil change. Every once in a while its good to do a real person activity :) Erika did a great job keeping me company during this grown up experience.
After staying in Hanover for two nights (and two off days which were well received) I headed back up to Stratton and went to the Peru fair! The delicacy for the day was a quail shish-ka-bob which was delicious. Erika and I also munched on some kettle corn, and waited for a very old man to read through 36 raffle ticket numbers. We didn't win anything. All I want is to win a raffle some day. Setting high goals for the future.
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| Here is me having a staring contest with an Alpaca at the Peru fair. If only those little guys knew how much their fur was worth. I wanted to pet them, but wasn't sure if that was allowed. And after the duck incident (see previous post), I wasn't about to take any chances. Erika Flowers photo |
Speaking of small animals, we have a mouse in our apartment. It scurried across my feet this morning at breakfast, and Erika and I are determined to get rid of that little sucker before Sophie comes back to us from Boston (hi Dan!). Erika and I are planning a wonderful dinner with some Raspberry Oatmeal bars for dessert (English Matrimonial or Princess bars are real baking names for them--whatever you call them they are delicious).
But basically my body is feeling a lot better after a couple days of recovery, and I'm looking forward to jumping back into some training. And my new skis came from Fischer! Christmas in September.
hugz and kissez!
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