Grinding

Summer is over. Crisp mornings and changing leaves. This week I am enjoying a few days off after the summer base period and before the intensity kicks up next week. A little time to look back.

Two big pieces of news for the summer. We moved into a new house in the mountains. After two years living right next to the airport the quiet is amazing! The running from the house isn't too bad either. And the big one is I have a new sponsor! Alaska Waste. Alaska's recycling and waste management company. I recycle. Do you? alaskawaste.net

Training has been rolling along quite well, although last week I started to feel like a flat tire so the time off started a little earlier than planned. With the Olympics coming up and looking at the Pursuit and the 50k as my best events this summer has been filled with a lot of what I like to call grinding. Nothing overly complicated just steady, hard training to get ready for the long stuff. A few interval days thrown in but simply put, as fast as I feel I can go and be ready to do it again the next workout. Pretty simple. The glacier is fantastic for this and the three camps up there were outstanding for both the fitness and technique. Extra blue in August would be nice but it's hard to get many days of the kind of tough klister skiing that can be found on occasion in Whistler. It's a different kind of skiing and I've got 75 hours of it so far this summer.

I've got one more month of dryland now here in Anchorage before I head to Park City for my altitude camp in October. Now some pics.

The glacier

The new neighborhood

The baby girl