CXC Elite Team Blog

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• Brian Gregg 5:34 pm on September 5, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Neighborhood Running 

  By Brian Gregg

  The 600 and 700 Blocks of Thomas are getting a bit more fit this fall. Why? Because it is fun, plus it will help you be a better athlete whether you are a skier, football player or basketball player.

  

  Getting out the door is important. Gerry excited to use his 'newish' Salomon running shoes

  

  Brian, Lahti, Javari, Quin, DJ, Anja, and Gerry

  

  Simply Awesome

  Our group of 5 grows as we run around the block. The neighborhood kids see us come down the street. They yell “Hey, what are you doing?” We respond, “We are jogging!” “I want to do that. I want to go jogging. We finished our lap with about 10 kids. It is awesome to have the group get bigger as you keep running.

  

  Thank You Rochester Nordic for the new plyo boxes. With 1st, 2nd and 3rd place sizes

  

  Caitlin and the girls stretching out after their run

  Audrey, Mike Mandli, and Elton Brown are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Elton Brown 12:24 pm on September 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply

    Fabulous! Keep up the good neighborhood work! See you at West?

  • Mike Mandli 3:34 am on September 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply

    This makes my heart smile. This is giving back.

  • Audrey 10:16 pm on September 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply

    This looks so fun! Sadly, there are no kids on my block. Let me know next time you all are out playing and I will jog over.

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• Brian Gregg 2:16 am on August 7, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  The Caribbean of the Midwest 

  By Brian Gregg

  Wouldn’t the ocean be better if it wasn’t salty?  There are times and places where Lake Superior can beat the Carribean.

  

  My favorite run in the Midwest

  The CXC Elite team is in Marquette, MI staying at the United States Olympic Education Center (USOEC). We are staying with the resident athletes: weight lifters, speed skaters, boxers and grecko roman wrestlers.  The USOEC has a wing of the residence halls here at Norther Michigan University.  The living arrangements are simple but it is fun to pretend to be back in college again.  This time around I have my wife with me which is awesome.

  One of my favorite parts of the camp is the meal pass to the NMU cafeteria.  This week is one of my biggest of the summer and it is great to start the day with a huge bowl of fresh blueberries, oatmeal and anything else you might desire.

  

  On Wednesday we headed out to Picture Rocks National Lake shore for an over distance run

  

  Karl and I enjoying a quick drink break

  

  Winter is coming

  

  tuckered out (don't let Karl know this pic is online)

  We have one more workout here in the UP before heading down to Telemark for the second week of our August volume block.

   
   

• Brian Gregg 5:43 am on February 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Mid Season Altitude Camp 

  

  Everything is better when you are skiing

  After the Houghton Super Tours, the next stop on the Super Tour circuit is Aspen, Colorado.  My season goals changed this year after US Nationals.  I decided to stay stateside and pursue the Super Tour Distance title.  With Aspen at 8,500 feet, the Boulder Mountain Tour offering $3,000, and a cheap Southwest Airlines flight into Boise a trip out west was born.

  

  Previewing the finish of the Boulder Mountain Tour. Course Description: Slightly downhill and flat

  The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation hosted a co-ed sprint race on Thursday before the BMT.  It was a great spectator event consisting of 3 rounds of 2*300m laps.  Bonfires, a band, and $1,000 on the line brought a big crowd to the park downtown.

  

  Me and Kate Whitcomb skied to 5th place. Thanks Kate for coming out of 'ski' retirement and a full work day for the race

  

  I am not sure how Ian took this picture of me by myself. I spent the entire race in a pack of skiers until the finish. Photo: Ian Harvey

  

  Boulder Mountain Tour Champs: Sylvan Elefson and Evelyn Dong

  

  US National 50km Course and Super Tour Finals Venue

  I will be back in Sun Valley in March and it was great to preview the courses and hammer out some intervals on them.  I skied the 50km course clockwise my first day in town and it was ridiculously hard.  Thankfully we go counter-clockwise in the 50km.  Still the course has two ‘A’ climbs, one with 50m of climbing and the other with 37m of climbing. We will do each 7 times.  It is going to be awesome.

  Now I am in Aspen.  Feeling good about the Altitude and ready for Saturday’s 5/10k Classic Race.  The RMISA Collegiate crew is here and a good crew of Super Tour racers.  Game on.
   

• Brian Gregg 3:15 am on October 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Rollerskiing Chicago 

  By Brian Gregg

  Skiing the pineapple powder in Hawaii is pretty unique.  I have skied in some pretty awesome places, Norway, Methow, Italy, Hayward, Alaska. Watt and a few others I know have roller skied Vegas, and that is still on my list.  Rollerskiing 15km on a sunny fall afternoon along the 26 miles of public lake shore in downtown Chicago… pretty cool.

   

  

  Not your everyday ski trail

   

  Karl and I flew into Chicago after Climb to the Castle for a weekend ski clinic.  After a big block of training we were looking forward to a change of pace and the opportunity to connect with some of the most dedicated skiers in the country.  Did you know there is cross country skiing in Chicago? The weekend was really going to start off with a bang as Tom was able to get his hands on Bulls/Wizards tickets but unfortunately our plane out of Albany was delayed.  Maybe next time I can see my first live NBA game.

   

  

  Karl and Tom on an 85 degree October Day

   

   

  

  Navy Pier. This is home to the huge Ferris Wheel you always see in movies.

   

  One of the must do’s of Chicago is to experience Portillos which I believe is the most efficient restaurant I have ever been to.  We went twice and both times there was a huge line and I thought we would be there forever.  We were in and out in about three minutes. These guys must do a lot of volume.  Not to mention their beef and cheese croissant is fantastic.

  It is nice to have a little change in pace after a solid training camp.  In 17 days at the US OTC in lake placid I trained 45 hours.  After a busy but fun weekend in the big city I am back in Hayward and ready to get back to work.

  BG, Bruce, and xcSkiLife - Brian Gregg's Cross Country Skiing Adventures are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Bruce 2:12 am on February 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply

    Hi Brian: I’d like to try Rollerskiing and am looking for a place to rent them in Chicago but can’t seem to find anyone. Do you have any suggestions or advice? I searched on the Internet with no luck.

    Thank you.

  • BG 2:20 am on February 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply

    Hi Bruce,

    The ski shop for the chicago area is King Keiser. Check out their website. http://www.kingkeyser.com/

    I believe they rent rollerskis. Also, my friend Tom Devoratchek is the guy to talk to about getting set up with a group and getting some technique help. I included him in on this email.

    Best of luck to you, Brian

• Brian Gregg 2:24 pm on August 20, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Sleeping with the Enemy 

  APU invited me to their summer home, the Thomas Training Center on the Eagle Glacier.   The training center alone is a remarkable facility nestled on the ridge 5,500 feet above Girdwood, Ak about 40 minutes south of Anchorage.  The real gem however, is the 7.5km loop of skiing meters outside the door.

  

  Mikey and I super excited for our first helicopter ride.

  

  Day 1: Awesome

  Several Sun Valley skier: Mike Sinnot, Colin Rogers, and Nicole Deyong and I joined up with the APU team.  It was really fun to catch up on everyones summer training and endeavors.  Through years of training and racing together we are all good friends.  I think I spent a bit too much time reading the trashy Cosmos laying around the Thomas Training Center (yes 30 minutes is too much time). In addition to staying in tough with the feeling of snow one of my main motivations for this camp was to train with the many strong athletes who make up the APU and SVSEF elite teams.

  

  Most mornings I drank my tea outside and enjoy being surrounded by mountains

  

  The beautiful days are burned into my memory, but 75% of the time the weather was more akin to this. We might not have had good weather, but we had great skiing ever day.

  

  The drying room, important to staying comfortable and staying healthy. Most of the time the APU skiers were smiling, I am not sure what Becca is doing

  

  We had beautiful days for our first and last skis of camp

  

  Is that a Thule rack?

  

  Last season I felt I made a big jump in my ski racing.  There were a number of factors contributing to that but I felt getting on snow in the summertime was huge for me.  Last year Matt and I went to the Haig glacier.  Classic striding has been a focus of mine and skiing on snow in the middle of the dry land season has helped me make some major efficiency improvements.

  It was a challenging decision for me to miss the first 10 days of the CXC Team Vertical Limit camp in Ironwood, MI.  Especially when the glacier camp cost about $1,000.  It is an investment in my ski racing which I hope to regain this season.  I did make it back for a few days of August camp.  There is a V1 roller ski climb in Ironwood which is worth flying in from Alaska for.  This climb was

  

  Go Training! Classic Intervals in Afton before heading up to Ironwood. We don't have a lot of big climbs in the Midwest be we have some and they are good.

  Thank you to APU: Erik and Casey, and all the athletes for inviting me as a guest to your camp.  I had a great time and am a better skier because of it.
   

• Brian Gregg 3:40 am on July 21, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Wausau Camp: Storm Strength 

  After last week’s speed block I am ready for a few recovery days and am taking a few days to work with my Adopt-an-Athlete community in Wausau, WI.  It is fun for me to take a break from focusing on my own training and coach the next generation of athletes.

  

  A little rain only makes ski practice more fun

  

  Gotta love dead-end roads with no houses

  Tracy Gorzek does an excellent job working with the Wausau juniors year round.  Igor has been spending 1-week/month in Wausau this summer too and you can tell that everyone is getting good.

  

  Ashley, Emily, Anna, Paige, Tracy, Anna, Erin, and Megan not afraid to work on full weight transfer even if it means a few scrapes and bruises

  

  Ashley getting forward and more comfortable

  

  Teammates and competition help make you stronger

  

  Training needs to be fun

  

  ... and creative (Russian Balance Wrestling)

  

  Who wants to train tomorrow?
   

• Brian Gregg 3:33 pm on June 14, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Marine on St. Croix, MN Training Camp 

  By: Brian Gregg

  School is out for summer and the entire 2010/11 CXC Team is together for the first time. We have a big crew this year with 18 athletes on the roster. Unfortunatly the marathon team athletes are not at training camp a solid group of 10 athletes and 3 coaches have been pushing each other and having fun this week.

  

  Morning Exercises

  Everything is very green here in Marine on St. Croix, MN. We have had a bit of rain everyday. Some might complain about this, but it is just fine with me because it keeps the temperatures mild.

  

  lots of kilometers this week

  Volume has been a big theme for me this year. I am keeping many things similar to last year, but increasing the volume when I am fresh and feeling good. There are plenty of nice roads and variety around town to keep me entertained.

  

  St. Croix Falls OD 3.75hr
   

• Brian Gregg 5:49 am on May 21, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  I picked up a few new pairs of 2011 Salomon skis this year while I was racing in Europe.  They are awesome.  Chuck, you have to try this wet klister ski.

  

  2011 Salomons- these skis are awesome

  

  Mark has a really slick system to flex the pockets of each ski.  I mark each ski the same to help speed up the process of how best to wax them.

  

  Mark and the Mantec

  Mark and Nordic Ultratune help me manage my ski fleet each year.  Mark does some of the best stone grinds in the world including many skis that were used in Vancouver in February.  The Ultratune shop is a ski technicians dream and I could and do spend a lot of time in there.  You can tell Mark is an engineer; everything is very organized and exact.

  I spent the morning using feeler gauges to mark the kick pockets on my new skis.  After fresh grinds they will be ready to go for the 2010/11 race season. It was pretty entertaining to watch the stone grinding process and how excited Mark would get when each grind came out.  Each time he would bring the ski over to me to show how nice it looked, just like a proud father.  Mark is way in to it and a great guy to have working with your skis.
   

• Brian Gregg 1:07 am on April 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Right To Play 

  The springtime in the Midwest has been beautiful.  I alway enjoy playing outside but the warm sun of spring draws you to do everything outdoors.

  

  Get off the computer and play outside

  The last few weeks I have had the chance to be at the Club everyday.  It is great to be with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club regularly.  My main goals are to get them active, preferably outside.  This spring we have enjoyed all of our favorite games and a few new ones.

  Last Man Standing- A form of kickball.  The game starts with one pitcher (usually me) against everyone else.  The pitcher works to get  everyone out by tagging a base or hitting them with the ball.  When a player gets tagged out they join the outfield until there is one person left standing.

  Worlds Fastest Game of Tag*- everyone is it.  If you tag someone they must freeze.  If one or more people tag each other at the same time, they both freeze.  If you tag a person who is frozen, they are unfrozen.

  *I learned this game from Warren Elementary in VT.  Thanks guys, everyone really likes it.

  Soccer- Right to Play donated a mini-soccer ball for every kid.  In addition to playing games, we are enjoying working on our juggling and passing skills.

  

  Shana, Coral, and Zoe happy with their new soccer balls

  Right to Play is an Organization working with volunteers and partners to use sport and play to enhance child development in areas of disadvantage.  Learn more about Right to Play and how you can help at http://www.RightToPlay.com

  

  Shana found the most clues in the Treasure Hunt.  She won the Right to Play Ball signed by Beckie Scott

  

  Gabe

  

  Victor, Bahi, Joe and Koons

  

  First Day of the 6-week Spring Run Series

  Each Wednesday the Boys and Girls Club hosts the Spring Run Series.  Over the next 6 weeks the community will build from running/walking 1 mile to 5km.  It is great to see everyone out running.  The top 15 in both the short and the long run won baseball caps donated by the Madison Winter Festival.   Additionally, the winners of each race won a soccer ball signed by Olympic Gold Medalist Beckie Scott

  Winner of Short Run- Steven

  Winner of Long Run- Brandon

  Thank You to Right to Play, Madison Winter Fest and Becky Scott for your support of the LCO Boys and Girls Club.
   

• Brian Gregg 9:46 am on March 21, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Falun World Cup Crash 

  Excerpt from http://www.xcSkiLife.com

  If video does not appear, try this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ts7UYQXxts

  The entire pack was more or less together at 4.5km going into the bridge. Then things got messy.  This made me so mad.  I have been feeling really good in my classic skiing and had great skis.  I was sitting around 40th and skiing comfortable. I am usually pretty good at anticipating the flow of traffic in a mass start race, but everything went down very quickly.  Someone went down near the top of the bridge and I didn’t have time to get around the side of the group.   You can see Newell just sneaking by on about an inch of snow. Standing at a dead stop, I lifted my poles up so that they would have less chance of getting broken.  The next few seconds are kind of hard to remember,  someone hit me hard from behind and my pole snapped. The worst part was that we were so tangled up that we had to wait for everyone to ski around us before we could untangle.  It was a real mess.  Then I had to actually move the Sweedes ski because of how tangled we were.  We had some colorful discussions. I received a new pole within 400m but I lost contact with the group. I was able to chase down Teo Peterson (Sweeden)(who as you can see was the one who really caused the damage) and Noeckler (Italy) the OPA Cup Leader.  I skied the remainder or the race myself again trying to limit the time gaps for the 15km handicap start.