January 05, 2012 (Oberhof, Germany) – Holly Brooks, who racing at her first Tour de Ski, injured her wrist while on a run just before the Tour started. She’s been hanging in and doing exceptionally well considering her injury and posted this blog after Day 1 [which we missed] that provides some insight into how she prepared for the biggest event on the ski calendar this season.

I figure that a short post is better than none at all…. so here it is: The Tour de Ski started today. While I had a poor result – by far, my worst “distance race” since being in Europe, I have to be happy in that I felt as if I could ski.

Yesterday, in the training day, my wrist was incredibly painful and I have to admit; I was worried to say the least. Today I had a top-notch tape job done by Steph, our massage therapist and a double dose of pain meds. The duo seemed to do the trick!

Conditions today were icy, squirrely and fast – not my favorite. But, it’s snowing outside right now which makes me happy. Klister covered conditions are some of my favorite and I have an awesome pair of skis if the waxing goes that way. I’ll have plenty of girls to chase tomorrow in the pursuit start so it should be fun to “hunt some down” and try and improve my overall placing, not to mention, aim for a solid “day of” result.

Other than that, one of the big themes of the Tour is RECOVERY. With nine races in eleven days, proactive recovery becomes imperative.

Here is the plan: after the race, reach for my Boost – yep, the “old folks drink.” I may be the only person on the US team that likes the stuff. Me and maybe my grandma 🙂 Change clothes afterwards… get a good, short cool down, ice my hand, change into dry clothes, hustle back to the hotel for a shower, put my feet up. I’m sure we’ll start using the mobile ice bath as fatigue builds up. Also, Kikkan and Bird did a bit of personal fundraiser to bring Steph Caverhill, a massage therapist over for the team.

Most teams travel with a massage therapist everywhere. While we normally do not have one, we’re excited to have Steph here to help us out over the next week and a half. As I said above, she did an awesome job of taping my hand.

It’s cool to have a female on staff…. I can tell with the little things like the fact that she used pre-rap on my tape job so I don’t have to pull off half of my arm hair when de-taping. Thanks for that Steph!

Thanks for everyone’s encouragement! Go team USA!

October 27, 2011 (Italy) – A high altitude training camp of the Swedish cross country ski team is coming to an end and Swedish coaches are satisfied with it. Running, cycling, roller skiing and strength training at 1800 meters were on the training schedule of the first week in Livigno.

The camp continued with seven days at 2,000-3,000 meters altitude in Val Senales and glacier skiing every day. Thin air, hard work and stress – what it takes to become an even better national team.

“We have been constantly developing both as individuals and as a group. Autumn high altitude has given us a lot. We are looking towards the season with confidence. What we have seen and experienced by the active attitude and performance during the camp week in the Italian Alps makes us look forward to the season with confidence. It is a hungry bunch who bit down and have shown what they want,” head coaches Joakim Abrahamsson and Richard Grip said.

The training load has been calibrated so that athletes do not go over the limit. “It must not be too much. The athletes have different training backgrounds and differing abilities to handle heavy loads at high altitude over time. Therefore we have chosen to send home some of younger skiers. Calle Halfvarsson, Hanna Falk, Hanna Brodin and Jesper Modin had cut short the camp three days before the others who traveled home on Wednesday,” coaches revealed.

“We want our skiers to be fresh and active at the next camp, which begins the first week in November. The quartet went home and had done a good job. They will have a little more time to recharge their batteries,” the coaches say.

Anna Haag also left Val Senales, slightly sick. “It is the coach’s responsibility not to let the athlete “run down” or walk around with cold,” the coaches explained.

Weather was on the side of the cross country squad and the team could carry out the training program as planned. “Although we are now done here in the Alps and the athletes are tired, their minds are positive,” Joakim Abrahamsson comments while waiting for Marcus Hellner and Anders Sodergren to come back from a demanding long ride.

In the meantime, recovery of Emil Jönsson and Johan Olsson has gone well in Sweden. Emil Joensson pulled his thigh muscle in Livigno and Johan Olsson developed a problem with a shoulder before the trip to Italy. “Both of them are in training, but do not run up,” Joakim Abrahamsson says.

September 20, 2011 (Davos, Switzerland) – Already last winter discussed Swedish and Swiss national teams they could do something together. “We talked with Guri Hetland, sports manager of the Swiss Cross-Country team, and all the pieces fell into right place. I think both teams will have the pleasure of training with each other in Davos and its fantastic environment,” says Swedish coach Joakim Abrahamsson.

The Swiss team is well known and is led by reigning World Cup champion Dario Cologna. He, Remo Fischer, Curdin Perl and Toni Livers romped to first ever Swiss World Cup victory in the relay in La Clusaz last winter.

Swedish team left Livigno, Italy on Sunday after a wonderful week with various dry-land workouts in perfect weather. “The sun was shining all the time, we had optimal conditions there and we could carry out the whole training plan we had prepared,” Joakim Abrahamsson says.

Davos has been Swedish favorite resort for a long time. The town lies in a valley with Flüelaschwarzhorn as the highest point, 3146 meters above the sea level. The town itself lies in 1260 meters above sea level.
“We are confident that in Davos we will perform great workouts. Anna Haag and Emil Jönsson have been here, and Guri Hetland lives in Davos and the surrounding area is great,” Joakim Abrahamsson says. Anna Haag and Emil Joensson bought an apartment in Davos.

Unfortunately, neither Johan Olsson nor Marcus Hellner will team up with the Swedish squad in Davos. The two Olympic relay heroes have not fully recovered from their injuries.

“Johan needs more time to heal his shoulder bu he can do alternative training. The same applies for Marcus. At first he was slightly cold, and then he stretched his knee,” Joakim Abrahamsson revealed.

May 14, 2011 – Vacation is over for the Swedish Cross-Country squad. The team travelled to Spain to gather at the first joint training camp in the off-season. However, Charlotte Kalla, Marcus Hellner and Co. are not enjoying spring on the south coast of Spain. Monte Gordo is indeed a tourist paradise, but the place is also ideal training base for skiers during the summer months.

Sweden’s Cross-Country team plans to kick off work to get back into an appropriate pace after a month when most of the athletes took a vacation. “We have here nice and hilly roads suitable for roller skiing and biking and the countryside offers us great trails for running. Our sprint team was here last fall and was very pleased,” commented Swedish head coach Joakim Abrahamsson.

Between training sessions, the head coach is working on putting together all the pieces of the Cross-Country team to gain success both in short and long term. “We have no World Championships next winter and Tour de Ski is going to be our biggest goal. The following years will be filled with hard battles at the 2013 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, in 2014 at the Olympics in Sochi, and finally in 2015 at the home World Championships in Falun. It is important that we prepare goof strategy how we should develop both as individuals and as groups,” explained Abrahamsson and Rikard Grip.

Both Swedish coaches are convinced that the training camp in Monte Gordo will do the team good. “It’s something new and we believe it will inspire the team and rejuvenate the skiers with new energy,” the coaches said.

Cross-Country team at Monte Gordo, Portugal 12-18/5

Men
– Anders Södergren, Östersunds SK
– Johan Olsson, Åsarna IK
– Jens Eriksson, Dala Floda IF
– Emil Jönsson, Årsunda IF
– Teodor Peterson, Åsarna IK
– Robin Bryntesson, Sollefteå SK
– Marcus Hellner, Gellivare Skidallians
– Daniel Richardsson, Hudiksvalls IF

Women
– Ida Ingemarsdotter, Åsarna IK
– Maria Rydqvist, Östersunds SK
– Hanna Falk, Ulricehamns IF
– Hanna Brodin, Åsarna IK
– Sara Lindborg, Östersunds SK
– Magdalena Pajala, Piteå Elit
– Charlotte Kalla, IFK Tärendö
– Anna Haag, IFK Mora SK

January 06, 2011 (Cortina, Italy) – She may have had difficulties in yesterday’s sprint, but Poland’s Justyna Koxalczyk quickly sealed that chink in her armor by winning today’s 15km freestyle handicap start in Cortina, Italy, at stage 6 of the Tour de Ski

Kowalczyk took a page from the men’s race earlier in the day where winner Dario Cologna (SUI) got out of gate hard and never let up, staying out front from start to finish. Italy’s Arianna Follis and Marianna Longa claimed 2nd and 3rd at just over 22 seconds behind while Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla claimed 4th ahead of Petra Majdic (SLO) in 5th.

The USA’s Kikkan Randall also had a good day, moving up from 17th to 15th overall, a very solid result for the American sprinter.

“It was a really hard race and I am satisfied,” said Kowalczyk in a FIS XC post-race interview. “I hope the next race in Val di Fiemme will be OK as well, and then there is only Alpe Cermis left. Last year’s race in Val di Fiemme was not good for me, I hope this year will be better. Kalla, Follis, Longa, Majdic and Lahteenmaki are all contenders that can win the Tour de Ski, but I hope I can beat them.”

From the gun, it was clear this would be a race to catch Kowalczyk and it would not an easy task. Majdic also started hard, trailing Kowalczyk by only 39 seconds and ahead of Kalla who was 1:08 down.

By 5km Kowalczyk was still powering ahead while behind a small chase pack of four skiers had formed including Kalla, Majdic, Longa and Follis. About a minute behind them were two more chasers with Anna Haag (SWE) and the young Finn Krista Lahteenmaki hoping to bridge to the quartet.

The four chasers worked well together at first and were slowly chipping away at Kowalczyk’s lead until about 7.5km, when they started to lose ground.

By 10km Majdic couldn’t hold on, and was dropped as Kalla pushed hard at the front, trying to close the 51.8-second margin to Kowalczyk. Behind Haag shook off Lahteenmaki but the Finnish skier regained her composure and latched on to the Swede again soon after.

Kalla’s efforts paid off, as she, Follis and Longa cut Kowalczyk’s lead down to 25 seconds, leaving Majdic scrambling to recover with only 2.5km left to go.

Ultimately Kowalczyk proved too strong, and preserved her lead to take the win. On the finishing straight teammates Follis and Longa overtook Kalla, who had done most of the work, putting the Italians 2-3 behind the Kowalczyk. With that effort, Follis now moves into 2nd, at 27 seconds down on the leader. Longa holds onto third, 33 seconds down with Kalla and Majdic rounding out the top 5.

“It was a fun race today,” said Randall now in 15th overall. “I ended up in a big pack of 10 or so, so I tucked in with them for most of the race. In the last few kms I put on a few surges, which strung things out a bit.”

Over the last part of the race Randall found herself skiing close to Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren who just barely nipped her at the line. Ironically it was Johansson Norgren who crashed in yesterday’s skate sprint women’s final and took down Randall as well.

The women’s races have been relatively short and incredibly high-paced, making for some grueling racing. That’s something that Randall said didn’t change despite today’s longer course. “The way the course skied with the climbs there were lots of surges followed by little recoveries, so it was still tough,” she continued in a phone interview with SkiTrax.

With a rest day tomorrow, the athletes will be preparing for Saturday’s classic race and Sunday’s final hill climb up Alpe Cermis.

“We’re planning on previewing the courses tomorrow,” said Randall. “We’ll check out the final climb by skiing it downhill and sort of see what’s in store for us.”

“We are very excited with Kikkan’s race,” said US coach Chris Grover in an email to SkiTrax. “She looked great. Fighting hard with lots of energy for so late in the Tour.”