Transitions

Rabbit, rabbit (Happy September 1st)! Even though the transition into fall happens gradually, I always tend to think of September 1st as the first day of fall. We just finished up a recovery week, which was a great opportunity to soak up the last week of summer before everything starts to pick up very soon. Our camp in Lake Placid begins on Tuesday and then we will spend the majority of October in Park City and Canmore before heading to the first races of the season in mid November. That's still 2.5 months before the first race of the season (basically a 2nd summer!), but fall is the time of year when things really start to pick up and we're going to be on snow before we know it. So what is going to be different about fall training?

1. Camps - Since returning home at the end of June, I chose to spend my whole summer in the East. I think it ended up being the right decision for me and I've loved spending so much time at home with friends, family, and team. I will be spending 5 or 6 weeks of the next 2.5 months at camps, so I will mostly be using my time at home to recover in between. I got into a nice training routine this summer, but I'm excited to travel and go to camps while using the few weeks I have at home in between camps to recover from those harder efforts.

Lake Placid hill climb last fall (Jessie, Annie, Ida, Sophie)

2. Weather- The beginning of fall is one of my favorite times of year. I'm hoping the leaves will be changing by the time we get back from Lake Placid and they are already beginning to sell local orchard apples in the grocery stores! The weather gods are a little confused right now because we had beautiful cool dry fall weather a couple weeks ago and this morning I had one of my sweatier, hotter workouts of the summer, but hopefully they will straighten things out soon.

One last trip to Little Rocky Pond before it gets too cold!

A little rain never hurt anyone

4. Training - Fall training isn't too much different than summer training, but the workouts tend to be a little shorter and a little harder. We work towards building a good base all summer and fall is the time to fine-tune everything we've been working on while adding some harder efforts to prepare us for race season. The days aren't always as long, but they're generally just as exhausting!

3. Outfits- This may seem a little ridiculous, but when you spend the majority of your time in training clothes like we do, changes in workout gear become pretty exciting. The days of booty shorts and sports bras are about to be replaced with spandex and long sleeves. I believe this is the most comfortable weather to train in because you can choose from the various clothing lengths to find the perfect combination that will keep you warm without sweating! Unfortunately, rain coats and rain boots sometimes make the occasional appearance in our wardrobes, but that just prepares us for any inclement weather we could face this winter.

Goodbye shorts and tanks!

4. Family- I've been very lucky to spend so much time with my family this summer, but pretty soon I hit the road and only see them over Skype. The fall will be a nice transition period because I don't have to jump from seeing them every day to never seeing them, but this is where team becomes especially important. Hearing about the role of team as a second family might get repetitive, but it's so important in the months we spend away from home. Luckily, I have two pretty awesome teams who happen to be wonderful stand-in families. :)

I don't get to see as much of my sister and brother

Or my fashionable dad and mom

But luckily I have these girls!

and my SMS family 

In other news, we had an end-of-summer gathering at SMS last night and had a great turnout! I took my first rollerski crash in about 5 years, but at least there was a big crowd there to watch it happen. Thank you to everyone who showed up to support us!

Thanks to Marina Knight of T2 for our t-shirts

A little road rash

Good turnout of SMS alumns and US Team skiers!