Semester Over! by Devon Spika

Finals week is finally over. That is simply incredible. Even with some busy study schedules, we have managed to get some good training in during the weeks since West. Snow finally came to Salt Lake and the ski areas got groomed. We skied up Millcreek, at Mt. Dell, and at White Pine. Eli drove people up in mornings and afternoons most days during finals weeks, which was nice because we all had different exam schedules.

I was super excited for my trip home on Saturday, but ended up getting stuck in Chicago for a while. I think my bags may still be there. Don’t really know actually and don’t think anyone does. I guess that’s what happens when you travel during the holidays. And there’s a storm in D.C.. Super brutal. Today I dressed in some way-to-baggy ski clothes, an old broken jacket and strapped on the very first pair of skate skis I ever owned… the only usable ski equipment I could dig up. The ski was good. My skis were way too soft and slid around quite a bit … but at least I got a good balance workout in, I guess.

I’m pretty excited to train here for the next few weeks. It’s nice to be at sea level and shred the trails I grew up on. Looking forward to some delectable home-cooked meals too. That’s probably the best thing about being home.

Can’t wait to get some solid training under my belt, as I’m sure everyone is. Our first college race is in under a month and some people are heading up to U.S. Nationals in Alaska before then.

So, yeah. Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! And, good luck to the team in Alaska!

Some Christmas Cheer from Karina Smith

Christmas Magic

Are we too grownup to feel a thrill

As we light the Christmas tree?

Are we immune to cookies,

Christmas cards and Christmas glee?

Are we too adult to "Ooh" and "Aah"

At the Christmas candle's glow?

Are we blasé about our gifts;

Do we shun the mistletoe?

Are we too mature for carols,

For merry or for jolly?

Do the decorations leave us cold,

The ornaments and holly?

Fat chance! We'll never grow too old

To love the Christmas magic.

A year without a Christmas

Would be boring, even tragic.

So bring it on! The candy canes,

The feasting and good cheer;

O Christmas, lovely Christmas,

You're the highlight of the year!

I hope every one got in Christmas mood after reading this lovely poem by Joanna Fuchs!!! Is Christmas time and the ski team is looking forward to the Christmas break. This week, we have had a recover week after the ski camp in West Yellowstone. We are so happy to finally have snow now! But before we can have a well-deserved vacation, we have to take ours final exams. J

AND our lovely Parker had birthday on Thursday, so again; HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hipp hurra..

KEEP WORKING AND GO UTES!!!!!!!!!

Great Skiing up Mill Creek!

West Yellowstone by Mali Noyes

Our trip to West Yellowstone began with a rap off, using walkie-talkies, between the three vehicles. These raps focused mainly on team characters, such as Benny Benny Benny or Parker Tyler’s Yoga experiences. Once at West Yellowstone the team quickly got out on the trails. The trails are all well covered, well groomed, and filled with well trained nordic skiers. Growing up as a nordic skier, the West Yellowstone camp is always an exciting time. It is in this week that you test your new skis, see your old friends, get in lots of km's on snow, and put on your first bib of the season. This year there are three different races. Most of the Utah skiers have chosen one of three races to compete in. The first race is a classic sprint prelim, the second race is a 10/15k skate race, and the third race is a 5/10k classic race. After the races, the team will have one more day in West before we pack up and drive home.

The food here has been great, all cooked by Tom’s mom, Monica Smith. Last night we had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner introduced by Tom singing “Amazing Grace” and Leland Brown kissing all the little girls (and Abi).

early cold morning at Solitude

West Yellowstone Race Action- Didrik Smith

Ben Fick, 10km Classic Race

Easy Run Near Campus

Sent from my iPhone

Soldier Hollow

DSC00123

October Break by Parker Tyler

October was one sick month. The Utah Ski team put in some solid training with a couple intensity weeks, a volume week, and fall break. The team split up this year for fall break. Some of us left to refresh our minds and have some fun other than ski training, while others stayed in SLC and had a mini-training camp. Some of the girls went on a trip up to Monarch, Montana. A small town in the middle of nowhere. We got some time skiing on snow, ate a lot of good food, and spent a lot of time chilling out doing little as possible trying to recover from a heavy fall training load and school.

When you go from having no free time to having all the time in the world your imagination and creativity can kinda go crazy, so the girls and I spent our time in Montana thinking of the most outrageous stuff we could think of, consisting of getting pulled by a huge truck across snowy roads on our skis going 30 miles per hour, pretending the be cowboys, teaching Scandinavians how to play American football, shooting guns, playing pool at the bar with the smoke jumpers, lassoing each other, trying to imitate the lift from dirty dancing, building jumps, jumping on and rolling hay marshmallows, just usual Montana stuff.

After fall break the team came together to bust out another solid cycle of training before our fall camp in West Yellowstone. Unfortunately after one week of training I got the swine flu. Typical since I manage to get really sick every fall at least once. But now that is mostly over with and I am feeling a ton better and getting really antsy to put on my roller skis again to get as strong as I can before season starts. But for now I have to rest, which is all good. All in all it seems that the team is looking really fit after the Steinbock Invitational that was held last weekend. I think we are all really fired up this year to grab number 12 and so far we are on the right track.

Peace Out~

Up

Down

LCC Intervals

Last Week Before Fall Break by Rolf Figi

After the hard weekend with the time trial and the soccer game versus the former athletes, which we lost unfortunately, we were looking forward to the last week of school before fall break. It was a busy week for all the Utah skiers because we had a lot of midterms and training. This week was also the first week with the new ski shed! It looks nice and almost everyone put some stickers on their locker, or someone else put them on. The only thing where a couple of us are struggling was to open there lockers. But after a week of trying it every day, everyone knows how to open the lock.

The training was nice this week because we could enjoy the fall weather and saw the fresh snow up in the mountain every day which tells us that were getting closer and closer to the start of the season. But first we have week off and all the athletes are working out by them self and wherever there are right now. A couple of us went home to visit family, and others left to Moab or Montana for an adventure. So right now there is just a small training group in Salt Lake City with a few Nordics and Alpiners.

Picture: Rollerski workout from the shed up to Mill Creek. And after we got lost first we finally made it and enjoined the beautiful colors of the forest.

Long pole bounding intervals

Sent from my iPhone

Running Technique by Sarah MacCarthy

Although I ran cross-country for two years in high school, I have never considered myself a “runner”.


I feel as though my legs do not move as quickly as everyone else when we run the 3000 meter test or 5 kilometer running race. When Wendy and I were climbing this summer, she told me about her family friend Tom Miller. She told me that Tom was a professor at the University of Utah, has studied running for many years and every Tuesday morning he ran at a location around Salt Lake to help people with their running technique.

So last Tuesday morning was the day that Wendy, Rose and I went to run with Tom. Rose and I rode our bikes to the Avenues to meet Wendy. From there we went down the hill, to City Creek Canyon to meet the rest of the group. As we pulled up we knew that there were runners of all ages and they all looked fit. As we gathered Tom sent everyone on their way but asked the three of us to stay around so he could give us some ideas to think about. In the one hour run I learned so much but I am going to share what I think helped me the most.

Running uphill:
• Does not have to be hard all the time, especially when you are trying to go easy
• Arms: keep your forearms parallel with the ground and move them quickly in a planar fashion
• You do not have to have a big arm swing, the farther you move your arms the longer your stride, keep it short
• Keep it light, try to run so lightly that the person in front of you cannot hear you coming
• Stick out your chest to get gravity on your side, fall forward onto your foot (just like classic skiing)

Running downhill:
• Is fun and fast
• Gravity is doing the work here, just move your feet quickly
• Get the forward lean going again
• Run with loose ankles
• Run in what Tom called the “trash”, the loose rocks because if you are off your feet quick enough it does not matter where or how you land
• You want to be in the air longer than you are on the ground

Every time I have ran in the last week I have thought about my running technique. These tips can only make me a better runner, which is exciting. Our goal is that if I learn to be quicker off my feet in running that I could carry that over to having a quicker kick when I am classic skiing. The clinic was helpful and I learned a lot about running technique. Tom often referenced many famous runners and told us to look at how they run. Below are some pictures of those runners.

Frank Shorter, Olympic Gold Medalist 1972 Olympic Marathon

Tarahumara Indians from Northern Mexico are renowned for their long distance running ability and technique.

UteSkiGirls on the rocks

Lone Peak. Sunday morning adventure.

Running Race by Ben Fick

So, on Saturday September 5 the Utah Nordic Ski Team participated in a small cross- country running race in Logan, Utah.

Weber State, Utah State and the U of U girls team were the teams in attendance. We arrived right when the girls started warming up for their race, which started at 9 am. The girls all warmed up and got to the start. Zoey lead the team beating the majority of the U of U cross-country team for a strong performance. Marta, Parker, Sarah, Rose, Devon, Karina and Maddie followed in good form. The girls were generally in good spirits and there was little complaining.

The men's race began at 9:45. Tom and I had been warming up and nearly missed the start. We threw on our new lime green singlets and got over to the start. Both Tom and I felt awful. We had just gotten through a rigorous lifting workout only a few days prior and were terribly sore and battered. Running felt awkward and was not enjoyable. The race began as soon as we got to the starting line. Tom blasted out of the start area in an effort to get pictured ahead of all the runners. Unfortunately, this effort was in vain as Eli later told him. Captain Ian opted out of the running race to rollerski down the valley into Logan and watch us after he was done. I started in the back and stayed there until Tommy Boy wore down in the last few k's where I passed him. Rolf ran well and turned in first for the team. SMiles was next, then myself and finally Tom. The race was hard, not because of distance or course environment, but lack of necessary high volume running and lactate threshold pace running.

Nordic Girls at the Start. First bib of the 2009-2010 Season!

Tom winning the start...not a recommended race strategy!

Fall Meeting Time- Eli telling Zoe some very important stuff

Lactate testing

Sent from my iPhone