Dryland, Dryland, Dryland...

Just thought I would check in before leaving for NDS. I came back from Europe and got right back to work in the gym. Like everyone else I did my Physical Assessment. Box Jump, Shuttle Run, Vertical Jump etc. Everyone who has done these knows what I'm talking about. Not that fun, but when you get the results they can make you smile. I have put in a ton of work this year and my skiing in October really showed the effort.

I am packing tonight for camp in Colorado. I heard that it is really good and I'm stoked to be back on snow. I also heard that it is really cold. Bring on the ice.

Train hard and remember to have fun.

.)) Lena Andrews

Welcome to Team SRD Molly!

Copper Mountain Colorado

Hello, my name is Molly. I am a first year J3 racer in the IMD division on the Park City Ski Team.

I recently got back from Copper Mountain in Colorado for a fall training camp with my team. The conditions were superb due to a huge snow dump the week before we arrived. Fall camps are great because you do not have the stress of an upcoming race and can focus purely on making improvements in your skiing. Other distractions such as school and family are non-existent. As well as being beneficial to your skiing, they are a blast, as almost all ski-related things are.

This fall camp was a great time to get a feel for my new equipment. I have gone down two sizes in ski boots, so breaking then in before the season starts is essential. This camp was only slalom because our team summer camp was mainly GS. GS can come back quite quickly while slalom takes lots of practice before reaching the point you left off at the end of last season. I feel I benefited greatly for this camp and would recommend fall camps to all.

Back in Park City, we continue dry-land. Today was below freezing and snowing as we were working out. Due to the conditions, we have been doing more workouts in the gym. This year is my first year doing weights and it has been really fun. The Park City Ski Team has its own gym full of the old equipment from the US Ski Team after they built the new Center Of Excellence. Only a few weeks of Fall conditioning are left, then ski season will begin. This weekend three resorts in Utah are opening! Solitude, Brighton, and Snowbird. The other resorts are soon to follow. Park City is busy blowing snow and plans to open November 20th.

The link below is to a video series about ski racing I thought was funny. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/skirace802#p/a/u/2/xJH4ZYrLIvE

.)) Molly Leavens

Our best from the Midwest...

I moved to Marquette, MI this past weekend so I could live and go to school closer to where I train with Great Lakes Ski Academy at Marquette Mountain. Today, 11/8, was my first day at my new school, MSHS or Marquette Senior High School. Everyone was very friendly and all my classmates welcomed me into their school. It wasn't like going to a school where I didn't know anyone, most of my teammates from GLSA go to this school too. Its funny because for my classes to switch over between schools, the counselors had to match classes and at my new school I am in a junior and sophomore class where back home they are freshman classes. I'm in a junior world studies and a sophomore biology even though they were both freshman classes at my other school. So a lot of the people think I'm like some brainiac student or something which is kind of funny.

Yesterday I took my second physical assesment test. It was just as "painful" as the one I went to earlier in the year but I was determined to do better even if it wasn't a drastic change. I did better in every category so I was happy I did it again. What I don't really get is, why we don't just do the box jumps and/or pacer first so we have all the energy for those two excersises.

It will be a lot different living up in Marquette only minutes from training every day compared to a 5 hour drive one way to train a couple weekends each month if I was lucky. I am really excited to be with all my teammates that I have raced with for like 10 years or something. We don't have snow here yet so I'm doing all I can to help my skiing whether its working out or helping out around the house. I cant wait to get back on snow and promote SRD in the ski racing world! I leave for 2 weeks of camps at Loveland and Copper next Wednesday, I hope to run into some of you if you are there too.

.)) Colin Vogel