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kchaudoin 3:44 am on February 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply

Taking Time for Recovery

Taking time for recovery is always an important part of a successful training regime. Whether you are taking time off one or two days per week to recover from training blocks or taking an additional amount of time off because of sickness or overtraining, it is all crucial. At the moment, I am exercising the “taking time off because of overtraining” form of recovery. Starting a new program can be tough and it’s almost like you have to consider yourself a “freshman” or “rookie”, even though everyone on our team has been training years and years even before they joined CXC Team Vertical Limit. Generally when joining a professional team you are introduced to much more travel, more intensity, more training hours, new weight lifting programs, new coaches, as well as new teammates (that may be older leading to potentially having a larger training base than you do). Because you are trying and adjusting to so many new elements of the sport, a skier new to the professional ski racing scene may have a standout year, or they may need a year to adjust, as is the case for me.

At Gustavus Adolphus College I was so used to either training the same amount as my teammates or even doing a little more. During the academic year I was never able to put in too much more training than my peers because of academics, so it was much harder to overtrain in school, than it is out. Joining CXC was totally different because I was suddenly the youngest, and my training plans always were a little less than everyone else, whether it was 15-30 minutes shorter in distance workouts, or 1-3 intervals shorter during intensity workouts. Because just a year ago I was so used to doing the same amount of time or intervals as everyone else, if not more, it was really hard for me to be as in tune with my body as I was at Gustavus. It was hard to think I may be doing a little too much, when I was already doing less than others around me. And because I haven’t had the responsibilities of school work and I worked minimally, it was easy to push over the fine line of being in peak physical condition, or overtrained. For me, the overtraining came on pretty slow. I felt great all summer and fall, but after having multiple races that were further and further from expected results this winter, I realized what was going on.

I confirmed that I was overtrained by taking some advice from a fellow teammate and doing an orthostatic heart rate test. This is a great test for monitoring how your body is recovering from training. It is very simple, the first thing you do when you wake up (without getting out of bed) is take your heart rate. As soon as you have found that, you stand up and take it again. The difference of your heart rate lying down, and your heart rate after standing should be no more than 20 beats difference.

To recover from my fatigue I have taken some time off. Now I am at the point in my training where I am going for very easy training sessions, that are also pretty short, 45min-1hr in duration. My current goal is to be rested and recovered in time for the Birkie. I figure all of my extra training this year gave me a great base for a marathon ;). Throughout this whole thing I am trying to be really positive. I am definitely not the only professional skier who has ever overtrained, and even though I have been training for 10 years, I continue to learn more and more about myself as an athlete which will make me even better in the future.

Luckily, I have been able to keep myself busy during my time off and recovery period. Our coach, Bryan Fish, wanted me to take up knitting so that I could knit him an afghan or a scarf in my spare time, but fortunately I never became that bored. I’m just kidding, I like knitting, I’m just not very good at it. Anyways, here are a couple pictures of activities I have taken part in during my time off:

See you at the Birkie, rested and recovered!

A snow sculpture in the park during Ely's Winter Festival. The sculpture is a troll skiing!

My fish tank I just set up a few days ago full of guppies! Most people give me a hard time for liking guppies, but I think they are awesome.

kchaudoin 6:15 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply

Three Days of Quarantine

Well we’re back in Alaska, ready to race the four races that comprise Senior Nationals this year. The first race was a skate sprint, the second will be a 10K/20K skate, the third will be a 20K/30K classic, and the last will be a classic sprint. The skate sprint went really well for the team, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to partake. Two days before the sprint, at 10:30PM, was when the unrelenting torture started. Torture may sound like an exaggeration, but it definitely is not. I have never had the flu so badly. I will leave out the details for the sake of the reader…but it was not fun. So, the next day wasn’t much better, so I made a trip to the clinic. Four days later I am eating and drinking just fine! I even felt pretty decent on my ski today, so I am crossing my fingers that the race tomorrow (10K skate) will go smoothly! I hope so, especially because it is my favorite race :).

Because of the quarantine that I gave myself for a few days, not much else has happened in Anchorage, AK yet, but it should become much more eventful once I get to start racing.

Here are some photos of the ski trails (Hidden Valley) in Ely that I took a couple weeks before traveling to AK:

The Hidden Valley Chalet

View of the ski trail

A tree along side one of the trails that gets decorated every year.

A treat tupperware under the tree :)
kchaudoin 4:11 pm on November 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply

Two Days & Counting…

When I first took a look at my schedule for the year back in June, October and half of November looked like they were pretty wide open. Throughout summer and the beginning of fall I was so busy attending training camps, working on the side, and attending to other responsibilities that I was looking forward to those two months for a little down time. It has turned out to be the complete opposite! Since I last wrote about the Ski and Tea Clinic that Kristina and I held, I have worked at the Super Fit at Hoigaards, the Super Fit at Finn Sisu, and held a “Get Your Nordic On” Birkie Clinic with some of the Ely High School skiers, all of which while balancing some pretty intense training weeks. Now I have two days at home to finish up waxing some new Salomon skis (which I am extremely excited to ski since so much time has been spent selecting them) before I head to Hayward on Wednesday morning to complete a VO2 test with Bryan, and start our drive to West Yellowstone Thursday morning. Though life has been extremely busy, I feel like I am juggling responsibilities well and with no sacrifice to my training, which was something that was very difficult and sometimes even impossible to do while in college. While in Yellowstone I am looking forward to basking in the glory of a homework free trip!

Here’s something else exciting. At Finn Sisu, the Junior Devo van came bearing gifts! Kristina and I received our Swix poles, and fancy Vertical Limit team gear. I love my Gustavus apparel, but it is definitely time to start wearing CXC Team Vertical Limit gear, as well as sport the team’s sponsored things.

Also, a thanks to Finn Sisu who gave my classic roller skis a much needed fix. During my Ely High School clinic last Monday one of my classic roller ski shafts cracked after they were lent out to be used. My initial reaction was disappointment, but surprisingly after about five minutes, my disappointment was turned to excitement. I cracked a ski! I’ve never cracked a ski before…heck yes! Ok, so I didn’t actually crack it (one of the boys did, but that just means it would have cracked within the next few hours of me skiing on it)…and it was also delaminating, which made that area of the base start to soften, but I can still be satisfied with myself that I’ve put enough time and power into the ski that I cracked it ; ). It seems like obvious knowledge, but let your skis dry out after you use them in the rain…my bad habit of throwing them back into the rocket box of my car after every workout definitely was a huge factor in the ski breaking.

Time to get some things done before Yellowstone! Hope to see some of you there. Think snow!

Carved Pumpkins!

All lit up

Gustavus Team at Yellowstone last year (2008)
kchaudoin 2:59 am on October 21, 2009 Permalink | Reply

Ski & Tea Clinic #1

Well, the first Ski and Tea Clinic was a huge hit! The weather was amazing and the number of women who came was great too! A couple days before the clinic only 6 women were preregistered, and by the time we started at 9am on Sunday (Oct. 18) there were 18 skiers ready to trudge through 4 hours of technique work.

In case some of you aren’t familiar with the Ski and Tea group, they are a group of women who are all tied by the love for skiing and the outdoors. Their group meets regularly to put in some intense training as well as enjoy each other’s company. They are a truly inspiring group, and a ton of fun to be around. Throughout the fall and winter the women of the CXC Team Vertical Limit are holding 5 clinics for the Ski and Tea women to work on ski technique. The CXC women’s goal is to support the Ski and Tea ladies by helping them with technique, while the Ski and Tea ladies support us by donating all proceeds of the clinics to the CXC women.

For the first portion of the clinic, Kristina and I went on a short, warm-up jog with the group, and then completed a few coordination and balance drills with them. The next portion was dedicated to a ton of classic technique work, followed by a somewhat shorter version of skate technique (just a precursor to get the women ready to work on more skating during the next clinic). And finally, the clinic was finished off with an hour of roller skiing or ski walking. The clinic lasted for a little over 4 hours, and though technique work can become somewhat grueling after awhile, the Ski and Tea women kept it fun!

Here are some photos of the clinic. Looking forward to the next one : )

Loosening up with some leg swings

Kristina and I demonstrating the classic body position

Working on the classic "impulse" kick from the foot

Skate technique on roller skis!

Maria Stuber, and julie are discussing. Toggle Comments
- julie 3:57 am on October 23, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  
  how does one get the pleasure of participating with the inspiring and fun women of the Ski and Tea group? thanks.
  - Maria Stuber 3:56 pm on October 26, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    
    Julie,
    Everyone is Welcome at Ski and Tea. The next clinic is Nov. 7th. Send me an e-mail at mariastuber@xcskialliance.com and I will send you info on the remaining 4 clinics. Otherwise, e-mail Linda Cook at lpcook@chibardun.net to get on the Ski and Tea mailing list.
    
    Hope to see you there!
    
    Maria and the rest of the CXC Ladies
kchaudoin 2:05 am on October 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

A Change of Scenery

Roller skiing always becomes less appealing as a skier hits the months of October and November. The temperature starts dropping and the days become shorter and all you want is some snow to actually ski on! But before I could hit a real slump in training, the CXC Team Vertical Limit traveled to Lake Placid, New York for our last training camp on roller skis (hopefully), which is exactly what I needed!

The weather here has been on the chillier side, but it is awesome wearing spandex again because that means that snow is just around the corner! The change in terrain has also been great and very refreshing. As to be expected, Lake Placid is pretty different from the Midwest for the reason that it is not lacking the solid V1/striding hills that the Midwest tends to. We are definitely taking advantage of the long, steep up-hills by focusing on the hill climbs for every interval workout we have had out here. As I mentioned before, the change in terrain is refreshing, but more mentally refreshing than physically! Luckily the Olympic Training Center has a variety of recovery options.

One highlight of the week, which Fish briefly mentioned, was the hike/run up White Face. An estimated 2 hour recovery run abruptly turned into 4.5/5 hours (for the girls + Igor) after receiving the wrong directions to get down. The adventure was surprisingly fun though, which I was very impressed with because situations like that can easily become extremely frustrating and stressful. The best part of the run down was seeing Fish appear out of nowhere from the woods, telling us that the van, which had food in it, was only a little over half a mile away. I’ve never been SO happy to see the van. Though the run wasn’t much of a recovery run like it was meant to be, it was still a lot of fun.

Only a couple more days left of camp in Lake Placid, and our 20 some hour drive home is waiting! The next camp for our team is in Yellowstone. Cross your fingers for early snow!

Me and Audrey at the top!

Not knowing the climb down was going to be so long...
kchaudoin 6:05 pm on September 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply

Fitting It All In

Instead of sending Fish a monthly training log, I think pictures of my increasingly awful sportsbra tanline will be sufficient.

Captain of the pontoon...

Huge fish!!! Unfortunately just a huge rock...

Well, we’re in Hayward again. It’s absolutely nuts how quickly the summer is passing! It’s September already and we can technically consider it fall, yikes. Don’t get me wrong, fall is probably my favorite season, with all of the leaves changing colors and the temperature dropping a bit, but I don’t think I’m quite ready for it. I’m pretty sure I can count the number of typical “summer days” that we’ve had on one hand…maybe two…but of course none of those fell on a Monday, which is usually our only day off each week. Oh well, I can’t complain too much. The weather has been optimal for training, and though not every day is perfectly sunny in the 80’s, I still found a few days to have some relaxed, fun-in-the-sun.

One of those days that I found was during my last two week period at home. One of the perks of working at Silver Rapids Lodge (where I work the front desk and waitress) is that employees are able to rent watercrafts for free. KP and I took advantage of that one of the Mondays that we both had off while he was visiting in Ely, and took out one of SRL’s pontoons. We were only able to stay out on the water for a few hours (due to a storm that was coming in) but it was still a relaxing, and awesome time. We packed a lunch, some fishing rods, and sunscreen, and were all set to enjoy the afternoon.

Another highlight of my time at home was the “Get Your Nordic On” Nordic Walking Clinic that I held in Ely. I was really nervous no one was going to show up…but I actually had a few make the clinic. Though I am not an expert Nordic walker by any means, the clinic went especially well. It is awesome leaving a clinic that everyone enjoyed, and over half the people are asking you where to buy the Nordic walking poles so that they can continue the sport that you introduced to them.

As for the Hayward camp, it has been going really well. As Karl was writing, we VO2max tested on Thursday. My test went well and it’s really encouraging to see on paper that I’m becoming fitter and just improving as an endurance athlete in general. As for the next couple of days we are taking it a bit easier than usual, getting ready for our second speed block of the year. It’s a week that not many people are ever REALLY looking forward to, but it’s just one of those times that you are have to be mentally tough and think about how much faster it will make you this winter. So…bring it on!
kchaudoin 9:15 pm on August 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply

Fun in the Northwoods/Birkie Master’s Camp

    The last time I wrote was in the middle of our speed block at the Hayward camp in July. Needless to say I survived my first speed block : ) and it wasn’t even as bad as I thought it would be! I have to see how I feel after a second, but I think I liked having so much intensity jammed into one week; it made me feel like I was getting some really good training in.

     After the Hayward camp, I spent about a week in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, training with my boyfriend, Kevin Patzoldt, who is a biathlete. We got some really good training in (though my week was pretty small since it was a rest week after our intensity block), while also attending a wedding and spending a day or two on the lake swimming and fishing on off days. Once I left Grand Rapids, I drove back to Ely for about a week, where I spent time with my parents, worked, and of course got some more solid training in. The week in Ely just flew by, and by the time I knew it I was traveling back to the Cable/Hayward area to help coach at the Birkie Master’s Camp August 7^th through the 9^th. Throughout the camp there were several technique sessions, evening lectures, and even one videoing/analyzing session. Matt Liebsch and I also led a trail run and bounding/ski walking session Saturday afternoon. A planned 1:30 trail run quickly turned into a 2:15 session…yeah…Matt and I aren’t from the area ; ). But the run was great, and luckily we didn’t make TOO many wrong turns in the woods, thanks to a GPS unit on a heart rate monitor that Aaron, one of the masters, had!

     All in all the camp was great! I learned a lot about coaching and found even more respect for my coaches for all of the hard work they put in every day. I am very thankful for the experience and also for the chance I had to meet so many talented and hardworking master skiers from the area. I look forward to looking up their results in the next Birkie!

     Now it’s off to Ironwood, Michigan for another CXC Team Vertical Limit training camp. Kuzzy and I are taking off from Cresthill Resort in a little less than an hour.

Enjoying the view of Lake Superior

Training Time
kchaudoin 6:42 pm on July 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

- Speed Block -

Igor and Nick Powers working on balance

     Well it’s the start of the second week of the REG/Elite camp here in Hayward, and it’s been going great so far! It was a ton of fun to have Matt Whitcomb and the younger skiers here for the first week. Because Matt was here and also all of the coaches (both Junior and Elite), we spent a substantial amount of our workouts working specifically on technique, which was a ton of help. Not only were we working on technique by simply skiing and being critiqued, we also did a lot of dry-land work, agility drills, skipping on skis, and even being hooked-up to bungees and pulling coaches up-hill.

     Entering into our second week of camp, we are starting a speed block; almost every day this week has an intensity workout, if not two. Yesterday morning we had a track workout (600’s for the ladies, and 800’s for the men), and then in the afternoon we had a two hour weight lifting session. Today everyone had an easy endurance workout, and then this afternoon we are looking forward to a hard, hour-long circuit strength workout. For the rest of the week we have a bounding time trial, skate thresholds, single-stick/double pole intervals, a 5k skate time trial, and then some other easier workouts thrown in between those. The week is going to be tough, but also very satisfying when it is over and I am able to relax all of Monday (our off day). : )

     Stay posted to find out how the speed block goes! I’m sure the other Elites will be commenting on its success.
kchaudoin 1:59 pm on June 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply

Induction

Hey everyone! For those of you who don’t know me yet, my name is Kelly and I am one of the newest members of the CXC Elite team! I am 22 years old and just graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College on May 31st.

Right now, I am back living in Ely, Minnesota with my parents, training full time and working at Silver Rapids Lodge at the front desk and also waitressing on the side. Throughout most of my college career I primarily waitressed in the summers because it was a great way to earn a good amount of cash in such a small amount of time. But as I grew more and more serious about ski racing, I realized that waitressing was way too demanding of a job to be doing five days a week while also training. So, as of now I work the front desk at the lodge on the weekdays that I work and waitress on only the weekends, when I am able to make the most money in tips. I think it’s a pretty good plan, and seems to be working. Of course I would rather not work at all and focus JUST on training, but being on tier 5 doesn’t exactly allow that…oh well, just one more motivator to get fast, right? : )

Enough about working for now…I want to talk about being new to the CXC program. My first camp with the team was in Marine on the St. Croix just short of a week ago. From the moment I was accepted onto CXC and on I wasn’t nervous at all, just really excited, until I woke up on the day I was driving to the first camp. Then, to say the least, I was pretty nervous because it was actually real! I really was on the Elite team and I really had to attend the camp in Marine. It was such a weird feeling to be the youngest and all of a sudden having to be shown and explained what to do since just a few months ago I was the oldest (on the GAC team) and the one responsible for looking after the lower classmen. But as the week progressed I quickly caught on and by the end of the two weeks didn’t feel new at all. The camp was great and I learned so much; not just about training but also about myself. The coaches and the team are awesome! I’m really looking forward to spending more time with everyone in and out of training.

I’m already leaving for the camp in Hayward in just over a week! My goal before then is to get in some solid training while also working on the specific technique tips that I was given at camp in Marine (that is the one thing I need to focus on the most!). Stay posted for news after the Hayward camp, which starts on the 4th of July.

koskier is discussing. Toggle Comments
- koskier 4:25 pm on June 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  
  i was so totally going to make fun of you for writing induction instead of introduction…but then i looked it up on webster, and turns out i’m the dummy.
  
  1 a: the act or process of inducting (as into office) b: an initial experience : initiation c: the formality by which a civilian is inducted into military service
  
  And here I thought it was something to do with electric fields… ;)