Park City Camp
Hi, all. Gus here checking in for the first time after a fabulous two weeks in Park City, Utah. This is my first year on Team Birkie after graduating from the College of St. Scholastica this past spring! It was also my first time training in Park City. The timing of the camp couldn't have been better, coinciding with perfect fall foliage!
The team after rollerskiing at the Soldier Hollow track.
This camp was super exciting because we had the opportunity to join many of the other professional ski teams across the country and The U.S. Ski Team for their final camp before the season starts in Ruka next month. Fortunately, this meant we were able to join Zak (who was recently nominated to the US Ski Team B squad!) for most training sessions. This camp featured some of the most focused and productive atmospheres I have ever been a part of. Thanks to the spectacular coordination between the pro teams, every group session was conducted in a welcoming but serious manner. This allowed me to see how other guys, some of the very best in our country, approached their training and allowed for the opportunity to really learn from people we don't spend much time around.
All of the US Ski Teamers, pro teams, and NTG+NEG before L3 bounding up Park City Mountain Resort!
A typical day of training during the camp usually started around 7am for breakfast followed by our big group morning session, which varied from long distance skis, speed sessions on the rollerski track, or beautiful mountain runs. After our morning session we would go home to our condo for lunch and some recovery before a shorter and easier afternoon session on our own. These were either short runs, skis or light strength at the PC MARC (municipal athletic and rec center). After our afternoon sessions we got to enjoy a nice team dinner and get ready to start the next day!
Renae (in black) and Erin demonstrating great recovery techniques between sessions.
Coach Leo showing the gains made in the PC MARC.
Some of the highlights from the two weeks were; a long skate ski into Wolf Creek Ranch, a beautiful ranch with quiet roads and scenic views, many awesome mountain runs, rollerski speed sessions on the Soldier Hollow track and dinners as a team!
Posing in front of the Wolf Creek Ranch Gate. This picture was followed by a whole 45 minutes of steep V1 climbing!
Skiing the quiet and scenic roads in Wolf Creek Ranch.
Pizza night!
The spectacular fall colors in PC!
To cap off our two weeks of training we hopped in the rollerski races at the SchutzenSki Festival for some really hard efforts! The first day saw Zak ski to 2nd place in a deep mens field during the 10k skate. The following day Erin skied her way into the women’s final of the classic sprint finishing 5th! This was an exciting way to end two intense weeks of training and has us looking forward to our next trips! Our first races on snow are coming up fast; with Zak heading over to Ruka, Finland for the first World Cup races, and the rest of the team heading to SilverStar for the first SuperTour races next month!
Zak on the podium of the men’s 10k skate!
Erin skiing her way to 5th on the day!
