August 20, 2014 (Alaska) – Summer on! Somehow this Alaskan summer just keeps summering on!! Normally when I think about summer in Alaska I think of missing the warmth, I think of training hard, and I think of avoiding the rain. Not this summer!!! The amazing weather, the fun training, and the fresh atmosphere just keeps coming!! I have had another “best ever month” here in Alaska. Best month of training, best month of fun, and best month of just living the life!

Backtrack to getting off my first glacier camp of the summer a few weeks back, and jumping into the full swing of July 4th in Seward. With temperatures up in the 80s, Mount Marathon was going to be more challenging than ever. Having never made it more than 100 meters up the Mount Marathon track… I didn’t really appreciate what this “hot weather threat” really meant.

So, this year I finally made my way up the mountain for the first time. I was in disbelief!! Suddenly I had 100 times the respect for those racers than ever! Not only was it incredibly technical and crazy going both up and down- but the strength of the sun on the side of this bare mountain was unmeasurable!

As I lay there between the men’s and woman’s race constantly re-applying as much sun screen as possible and saving my water to pour on the racers, I thought I was going to turn into a raisin! Holy, heat!! Congrats to awesome races by my teammates Lauren and Holly, and of course the amazing Erik Strabel!!

With one week to rest and rejuvenate from our first glacier camp, we were back at it for the annual North American Womans Training Alliance Camp. This year our mystery international guest was Celine Brun-Lie from the Norwegian National Team. Celine has been a good friend of the American Team for the past couple of years after she took in Liz Stephen last summer when Liz went to join the Norwegians for a camp.

Ever since, we have been encouraging her to come join us. So, a few months back, she jumped on board the ship and booked her ticket. She has been staying with me for the past three weeks of camp, so it has been fun and awesome getting to know her. We learned that we have more than a few things in common – with our similar training approach and ‘need to keep this fun’.

I think we both learned a lot from each other. Many of our afternoons of training we spent talking about the team atmosphere, the personalities of different Norwegian stars, our academic goals, and our life outside of ski racing. Meanwhile I also had a French Biathlon National Team guest visiting at the same time, Marine Bolliet. Between Marine, Celine and I… it was an international mixing pot of ideas and laughter!

So our NAWTA Camp began with the usual first week of dryland camp in town. We were blessed by the weather gods as usual… with lots of amazing days of skiing in our tank tops and soaking in sunshine. We had one amazing day of rollerskiing up Hatchers Pass, a few days of running in the mountains, and one hard day of intervals around backwards Spencer (our 30k race course from nationals).

From there, we headed to Girdwood, waiting for the helicopter hop up to Eagle Glacier for the second week of training. As usual, the day of flying to Eagle quickly clouded over. Weather moved in, and we were forced to wait for an opening. As Deb Essex of Alpine Air kept us finely entertained, around 9PM an opening appeared. I jumped on the first trip up, and we made our usual trek up the valley, up over the ridge, and then suddenly, it was clouded over!

So, the pilot, Andy, did the next best thing, dropping us in a clump at the bottom of the glacier. Erik Flora came racing down glacier on his snowmobile, probing a little circle for us to stand on, and left us there to wait. by 10PM, the weather cleared out, and we could see the building about two miles above us.

The remaining three helicopter loads were dropped at the building as we waited for a jump back up. Trying to keep warm, the six of us turned on some music, and had ourselves a little Eagle Glacier dance party. It was hilarious! By 10:30PM, Erik headed back down glacier in the Pistenbully to pick us up. Not the normal entrance into Eagle Glacier, but a good one to remember!

From there, it was another great week of training. Weather wasn’t great, but I always think that is a blessing! It keeps us from getting soft. Life isn’t allowed to be too plush on Eagle Glacier…. I mean we are training on a Glacier only 45 minutes from Anchorage, in July!! It can’t get too good to be true! The final couple days it warmed up, and we were able to do a few afternoon workouts in our shorts and sports bras!

The warmer conditions all week and ‘lack of clearing overnight’ left the snow softer than ever. I think it is safe to say we got some good practice in what our coach likes to call “Championship Day”, otherwise known as the most challenging conditions in the world to ski in. I often just refer to it as mashed potatoes. The kind of skiing where you feel like you are sinking and working harder than ever just to keep moving! But the true story is – it is actually great practice!

The final day decided to test our true patience and strength. As we headed out for our last day of training, often a 3-4 hour workout, temperatures hit 38 degrees and there was a torrential downpour! The kind of raining that will literally soak you to the bone in 3 minutes. Not having been in that for at least a year on Eagle Glacier… I forgot how you dress appropriately for the weather. You always need at least three layers on your legs and you need a true rain jacket.

Aside from that, you need at least one change of gloves and hat for mid-training! Un-prepared, I headed up to the building after 1 hour, stripped every layer off my soaking wet body, and started over. This time I layered on the long underwear, put on my gore-tex rain jacket, dumped out two loaves of bread on the counter in order to cover my hands and gloves in a bread bag jacket…. and headed back out. I managed to finish my three-hour workout in a much better place than those first 45 minutes!

And that was a wrap! Another amazing NAWTA women’s camp! We had tons of fun, we had great weather for the most part, we had more productive training than ever- and it was a blast! So thanks ladies and coaches for one heck of a great two weeks!

I am now in my much-needed week of recover where I get ready for another four-week training block of training.

On another note, to everyone back in the Methow dealing with this terrible fire, I have you in my thoughts! It has been hard to watch from afar. I hope that is it for the summer fires, and everyone is able to recover from such a disaster!

Summer on!

Lots more photos here.