April 25, 2008 (Hayward, Wisconsin) – Minnesota’s Garrott Kuzzy just completed what can simply be called ‘one heck of a racing season’. In just his second year as a member of the CXC Elite Team, (Central Cross Country Ski Program based out of the Midwest) the Middlebury College grad won the US Super Tour Sprint title. Perhaps even more impressive is that Kuzzy notched a top-10 finish in his first ever World Cup start in the 1.4 km Skate sprint in Canmore, Alberta, a result that earned him a trip onto the World Cup for the second half of the season. Kuzzy was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions for us about the keys to his successful season.

First off congratulations on such an outstanding season!
Garrott Kuzzy: Thanks!

When you were writing out your goals in the off-season last year did you see your season playing out as it has?
GK: To a certain extent, based on many of our dryland tests, I had expected to see improvement this year. I was stronger, running faster, and rollerskiing faster in the fall, but I didn’t know exactly what effect that would have on my ski racing. To my surprise, my sprinting had made the biggest gains. It was really fun to have the opportunity to mix it up in so many sprint heats and grow more confident as the season progressed. That experience is something you can’t always gain in daily practice.

It truly was a breakthrough season for you. What changes did you make in the off-season that might have contributed to the success? Was it simply being with the CXC program for a second year?
GK: There really weren’t any major changes to my training this past summer. As you say, getting more comfortable with the CXC training program really helped. This was the second season for the CXC Team; we all learned a lot the first year and were able to tweak things to make them even better last year. Making a number of small adjustments helped more than any one specific change. In general, I focused on having good technique in the weight room, rather than just trying to jack as much weight as possible. I took that philosophy into my skiing as well. As a team, we ended all of our workouts with a Tour de France inspired “lead-out” (not endorsed by our coach) where we line up in a peloton for the final, no-holds-barred, sprint to the end of the workout. Those were really fun. Of course, life on the road was made a lot easier by having a reliable team van this year – if you saw our old team van, you know what I’m talking about!

Did you bump up your yearly training hours? If so, how many did you get in this past year and what was the increase from the year before?
GK: In the 06/07 season I trained 690 hours. My 07/08 training cycle ends in a week and it looks like I’ll be at almost exactly 700 hours. At first glance, that doesn’t look like a big jump, but the quality of those hours certainly improved. One of the highlights for me this past season was staying healthy from start to finish. That shows my body is adapting to the training load, which is a big improvement from the year before, when I got sick several times during the season after having jumped up my training by about 200 hours. I don’t expect to bump my hours by more than 25 this coming season.

On the Super Tour you were dangerous in both the sprints and the distance races. Are you training specifically with one of those disciplines in mind?
GK: My goal is to be the fastest skier in any discipline. As such, I’ve got some work to do on my classic skiing right now. Ultimately, my goal is to ski with the pack in distance mass start races and relays and be able to throw down in the sprint finish. I foresee a distance focus in the coming year so that I can be more competitive in mass start races.

What was it like to come away with a 9th place finish in your first ever World Cup sprint?
GK: That experience gave me a real taste for truly skiing with the best in the world and a lot of confidence in myself as well as North American skiing. Surprisingly, I was disappointed with my qualifier at Canmore. I made a lot of mistakes skiing that course and was lucky to make it onto the heats. Again, I was lucky in my heat that one of the other skiers was disqualified and I made it to the semi-final. I made a “rookie” mistake in the semi, not lunging at the finish and I barely got nipped out of the final spot in the A-final. I was happy to have a little gas left in the tank for the B-final and was able to hold onto a spot in the top-10. That race raises the bar for me and makes me hungrier to get into the A-final next time!

There is that ever-popular debate within US skiing about skiing success at the World Cup level and pursuing skiing at the NCAA level. Any thoughts about that? You have obviously been able to do both.
GK: I couldn’t ski at the level I am today without having skied in college. Period. I wasn’t ready or capable of skiing full-time before I went to college. The skills I gained skiing at Middlebury and on the Eastern NCAA Circuit helped me step up to ski well at the national level. I’m still working on achieving success at the international level.

Skiing for an NCAA school is a great opportunity to receive world-class support for skiing and get a quality education. However, skiing in college is not the only way. There are a lot of skiers who are ready to ski full time as juniors. I think that question needs to be tackled on an individual basis. Perhaps taking a post-grad year at a ski school or in Europe would be the best way to find out if skiing full-time is right for you!

Wish to share any goals with us for next year?
GK: If the snow is as good in North America next year as it was this year, I’ll be stoked!

Thanks.
GK: See you on the trails.