As always, it has been too long since my last post! To pick up where I left off, after break I had a few days of classes before Jenna, Jane and I picked up for a four day camp in Jackson. With the Hills as our wonderful hosts, we were able to stay right on the trails and weren't they superb! The night we arrived there was a 6 inch snow fall and so the conditions for training were perfect. We ended up logging about 115k's and 3 good intensity sessions over about 11 hours of training. And, we went night skiing every night! I knew that the camp would be fun, but I am still impressed with how successful it was. Even though we were without a coach, we didn't just "make due" with the situation. We collaborated very smoothly on scheduling and ran high quality workouts, keeping the atmosphere focused yet really enjoyable. And we sure ate like we were working hard! (Breakfast, snack, post-workout snack, 1hr grazing period (lunch), post workout snack, dinner, 2nd dinner).
Cruising through the woods
Handing the tag off to Jenna during a relay workout
Pizza night!
Psyched after another great night-ski!
We returned to school excited about our camp and got some great skiing in at Mt. Hor before I headed over to Bretton Woods for the Mt. Washington Cup race. It was 11k course and I had great cheer leaders, but unfortunately I missed the glide wax and suffered on the glide in the woods. Live and learn!
The next weekend I drove over to Mountain Top in Rutland to cheer on Jenna, Jane, my sister and a bunch of friends at Eastern High School Championships. It was very warm and the crew up there had some tough conditions for a ski race, but they pulled off a pretty good event. It was fun to cheer and see friends that I met racing in NH.
Enjoying the evening sunshine
The week after EHSCs we had that wicked warmspell and campus came alive again (before everybody headed out West for alpine spring series). One thing that is so great about Burke is that everybody loves to be outside, so during those nice days people literally spent all day outside; it was so much fun!
All lined up for the Men's 15k classic
L-R Women's A-Final: 2012 World Cup sprint champion Kikkan Randall (APU/USST), 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist Chandra Crawford (CAN), Jennie Bender (CXC), Ida Sargent (CGRP/USST), Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST), Liz Stephen (BMA/USST)
Before we new it, spring series and the end of the season were upon us. I did the prologue, classic sprint and hillclimb. The prologue was a fun race but very challenging, as we were unable to ski the course or ski at all before the start, and there were different types of snow around the course. I found myself feeling quite unstable on the skis, but it was a very good experience. My best race was the sprint. Though I didn’t qualify for heats, I felt strong and fast! The last race for me was the hillclimb up Jay Peak, and it was very difficult. The course was straight up from the start and just as you thought it couldn’t get any steeper, you hit another headwall. But the ski down was really fun! I’d like to do another one sometime, now that I know what they’re like.
Veteran World Cupper Liz Stephen (BMA '05) looking good in a Burke suit!
Working the hill climb
The whole week was a great experience because there truly was an international presence and first-class field. There were racers from as far as Japan and Brazil, and the North American world cup field was well represented with Chandra Crawford (Canada, 2006 Gold Medalist) and the full US team (Kris Freeman, Kikkan Randall, Liz Stephen (BMA!) etc.) It was really awesome to be able to cheer and race against some of the best in the world!
Burke gals meeting Chandra Crawford and Kikkan Randall! So cool!
Happy spectators.
After the races, I headed home for two weeks for some R&R, biking, and hanging out with friends and family. I never quite realize how tired I am until I go home and I sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep! It was fun to see everybody and eat home-cooked meals and cook for myself. Now campus is almost full again, and I am excited to start training again and to enjoy the spring and the beautiful weather that comes with it.
Cheers,
Emilie
