Summer Has Begun!
Hi again!
This is Julie writing and I am honored that you are checking in — thank you! We are already well into the new training season and I have a lot to update you on! May and June flew by so I will break it down with a few highlights!
In May we started off kind of “easy” with several normal weeks of good training in Minneapolis which included getting used to the muscular load of rollerskiing, running, and new strength routines! It was nice to feel re-charged and ready to go for the new training year!
As much as I love some time off to do whatever, I prefer routine and goal-oriented workouts ☺
One of the first things we did as a team this summer was to volunteer at the Theodore Wirth Trailhead to clean up the trails in preparation for the summer season. It’s pretty crazy how much trash builds up over the winter! We helped pick up food wrappers, kick wax tins, and lots of other interesting items. It was really cool to play a part in helping to keep our home trails clean for everyone.
Trail work at Theodore Wirth Trailhead! Social + doing something good for the place we love!
Also in May, we did lactate testing on Performance Running Gyms treadmills to determine what training zones we should move forward with this upcoming summer. Coach Leo and Caitlin have gathered data from previous testing, and it can be motivating and helpful to use numbers to work towards better efficiency.
In the winter most of us use running mostly as a recovery activity post-race, so it´s a brutal transition when you are suddenly trying to do intervals and distance work!
Zak and Xavier doing a lactate threshold test at Performance Running Gym.
In the middle of May Team Birkie attended the City Trail Loppet where we were all ready to bring out our competitive nature after a long break!
This race is super cool as you start right by the chalet at Theodore Wirth Trailhead, run on the ski trails and mountain bike trails before you make your way downtown to finish right by the most famous sculpture in the city, The Cherry Spoon!
Team photo before the start of the 10K race.
Abby Drach, our own fashion queen with a second place in the 10mile race.
Zak Ketterson 1st place, Brian Gregg 2nd place and Henry Snider 3rd place in the 10km race.
Ingrid Thyr 1st and me 2nd in the 10km race.
Our team did great, and it was super fun to see everyone that attended and how much positive energy present after an event like this!
Check out this link for complete results.
A week later, May 30th, Zak and I made our way to Park City, Utah where we were going for an altitude camp! I would argue that you do not need altitude training to be successful, but it is usually a great place to do a lot of volume without thinking about it as the scenery is so different and you usually have sun every day! You can also see beneficial adaptations in your body during and after an altitude camp which may require more work at sea level to obtain the same change.
Making sure we eat enough when training in such thin air.
After a week of being Zak and I, head coach Leo, Andrew and Tony arrived. In total the camp lasted three weeks with lots of good training, good food, great tv, and great company!
Smiling because we are at the TOP of the mountain.
It was sunny pretty much every day and we were able to train in terrain and nature that we do not have in Minneapolis. We went to Soldier Hollow rollerski track for quality intervals on a race specific course, did long hours of hiking, rollerskied up mountain passes, some of us biked and we just tried to do what we could to utilize the place we were in.
Tired, but happy after a long classic ski up Guardsman pass.
Altitude and travel in general can seem tricky, but we had great lodging, local guiding (thank you Steve), and a very hard-working coach who made it possible to do the training we came to do.
We ended the camp after three weeks and at that point I was really missing Minneapolis, my own bed, and less uphills, hehe.
When returning to Minneapolis in the end of June, we had some new team members!
Renae, me, and Erin during a strength session at the Trailhead :)
The new members will make an appearance on this blog and our Instagram frequently so you will get to know them all!
Their names are Erin Bianco, Renae Anderson, Gus Schatzlein and Xavier Mansfield.
We also have a large group of awesome college skiers training with us this summer as well as the Marathon team!
As I am writing this blog, I am in an air-conditioned room as the heat has finally arrived in Minneapolis! This week (June 27th) we are getting ready for REG which will take place in Marquette, Michigan next week and we are super excited to hang out and train with the juniors in the Midwest!
That was all for now but thank you so much for reading and please follow our Instagram and this blog for more updates.
My new and old teammates will keep you posted throughout the summer!
Bye bye.
