Getting Lean

Sometimes you need to burn off a little extra fat. My most recent training partner and I have been working on this. After our September training camp I took advantage of a $59 Sun Country flight to Washington for my brother's second wedding. Pork is on the menu, we are down to one bag of food and the pig Chad and Alieta bought in the spring should feed about 140.

Pigs are intelligent animals and it is relatively easy to train them to walk, turn, and stop with a cane. Pork has a rather high fat content so taking a pig for a walk or run and leaning them up before they go to market can make a big difference.

Back in high school, the Gregg kids had a little known talent for raising, fitting, showing and selling hogs.

The pigs gained about 200 pounds in 4 months (photo from June 1)

Tara and I gave the newlyweds a RolyPig Composter to help ease the loss of the real pig. These things are pretty cool. Check out the demonstration video atwww.RolyPig.com

Fall is a busy time of year for me, hence the lack of posts. The more serious and focused the workouts the fewer pictures I take. The wedding preparation and celebration is done now and training this week is relatively easy so more updates are coming soon.

What does a cross country skier do in September?

I stopped by 'The Club' on friday and Kiera asked me when I would be back to stay for a while and hang out with her. What do I do when I am not at 'The Club'?'The Club' re-opened for the fall this week after the bi-annual two week closure for in-service. This week, all of my teammates are in town for our monthly training camp. The harder training of camp makes it so that I have only been able to stop by 'The Club' for a few minutes to say hello before taking off to meet my team for afternoon training.

When I am not at 'The Club' I am usually: running, biking, roller skiing or strength training. I am a ski racer and in order to be fast and improve I must train a lot. Sometimes, I work out 2-3 times a day and it takes all day. These are my hard days, on my easier days I may only train once or not at all and these are the days I am usually at 'The Club.'

My teammate Gus doing a strenth workout with 90lbs added to his waist.

That is the same weight or more that many of the kids at 'The Club.' Maybe I will try to do a pull up with you on my back next time we are at 'The Club.'

Waxing skis in September?

Skis are an important part of ski racing. I have over 10 pairs of skis. Athletes and coaches spend a lot of time on their skis. It is not unheard of for a pair of skis to have over $250 of wax put into them for a single race. Right now I am only working on my skis so that I can flex them and see how them compare to the new 2010 Salomon skis.

Kevin Johnson of Salomon USA flex testing skis

I am looking forward to being back at 'The Club' this fall. Unfortunatly I have some travel scheduled for the next few weeks so I won't be back at 'The Club' until October 10th. Still, I am excited for the trips. I am flying to Washington State tomorrow to visit my family and for my brother's wedding. My brother is a good person to have an adventure with and I will post some pictures of my trip.

After two weeks in Washington I fly to Lake Placid, NY for a 10 day training camp at the Olympic Training Center. I will post pictures and stories from my trip on this blog so keep checking for updates.

Flip Video from Copper Falls Hike

Check out the video from our adventures in and around Copper Falls State Park. Click the image above or click here.

Copper Falls State Park Trip

Which one is Brian?

We had a great trip to Copper Falls State Park. My twin brother joined me for the adventure. We had a good time switching up with kids. Late in the afternoon I shaved my beard and we both wore In The Arena shirts to make everyone really think.

10 of us took an Epic hike which included 2 miles of river hikining

Brandon, Me, and Sequia leading the charge

For a Twenty you won't have to go the long way

Actually Leroy was all about going for the full adventure. I brought my backpack to keep a few of our things dry. Including Leroy's cash.

The 'Epic Adventure' Group all went for a 3.5 hour hike.

Everyone had a great time hiking, swimming, and scrambling the big loop around the park. Thanks Chad for joining us. Also, thank you Becky for waiting for us to get back and having lunch ready for us. Hamburgers never tasted so delicious.

I pulled the photos above from my Flip Video. I will post the video tomorrow.

A Long Trip Home

We had a great trip to the Haig Glacier with ideal conditions and great weather...Joel and Matt looking off at the French Glacier

Except our final day. We woke up early so that we could get in a quick ski before the 18km run back to the cars. When I opened my eyes and looked out the window I knew we would be sleeping in. The strobe of lightning made me nervous to walk from the bunk house to the dinning house. This meant no skiing, but more unfortunatly it meant the helicopter wouldn't be bringing our gear. Thankfully my friend Kit who was also on the Glacier lives in Canmore and let me spend a few days with him.

Kit about to enjoy our post glacier camp Ribs

The clouds hung low for several days and I had to miss my original flight back to the midwest. Thankfully I awoke to beautiful blue skies on Friday and was able to make it home for my Cousin's wedding.

Our skis and clothes are wrapped in these big nets for the helicopter to fly them to the glacier. 40 skiers have a lot of stuff so it took several trips.

This has been a busy week for me. Helping my brother get ready for his wedding. I will post pictures from our trip to Copper Falls State Park soon. Plus some picture from the wedding. I will be curious if you can tell Chad and I apart when we are all dressed up.

Chad, Brian or Bullwinkle?

Mt Jellicoe (10,640) aka The Big Guy Above the Ski Trails

Our workouts have been very focused but one can't help but to look around at the awesome mountains. Mt. Jellicoe shades the ski trails in the early morning keeping them semi-firm. It is pretty wild contrast between skiing in the sun or the shade. We have been talking about climbing it all week but have been waiting for a good time. Each Day at Altitude Matt and I have been feeling better and better. Yesterday we tried a few threshold intervals and both of us felt the best we have all week. We kept them pretty relaxed and controlled testing just under 4mmol blood lactate for 8x5 minutes. Today we felt good after our morning over distance ski so decided to give it a go. John led us up the scramble for our afternoon workout. We had a great time. Although my legs are looking forward to a good stretch and roll, I think hiking mountains is my favorite mental recovery workout.

Matt

Our home every morning for the past week

This is a classic John smile. Thanks for taking us on a Canadian Rockies Adventure

The ridge is a fun scramble, but you don't want to drop off either side

Enjoying the Mountains

We made great time getting down the mountain by Glissading on the scree and snow

Taking a swim after a great week.

Skiing on Snow in July

The other day I only made it to 'The Club for our quick Treasure Hunt. I had to take off early though in order to catch a plane to Canada. My teammate, Matt and I are joining a group of Canadian skiers to the Haig Glacier where we can cross country ski during the summer. We are looking forward to a great volume block with eight days on snow.

Thanks to Steve for putting us up in Canmore. It is great to get to know your family. Your alligator is pretty cool too, I wish we could take him with us to go sledding on the Glacier.

Kit and Matt at the trail head ready to run in. We dropped our gear off to be flown in by Helicopter so we only had to carry water and a light jacket for the 18km run in to base camp.

The Canadian Rockies are beautiful

Matt Ready To Ski on the Haig Glacier (background)

Our home for the next week. 45 minute hike to the trails/snow.

We have a 45 minute hike to get to the snow each morning. This is a long hike to do before the real workout even starts.

Beautiful Conditions and Excellent Training.

Matt testing out this years new Salomon boots

We are skiing nice and easy up here. I have been trying to keep the heart rate low. The altitude (2700m) makes it feel really hard up here. We did some lactate testing today and I am pleased to be at 1.0mmol for 130bpm. We are looking to stay under 1.5-2mmol.

The afternoon the weather really cleared up and we enjoyed a nice run followed by a stretch on the heli pad.

Thanks John and Joel for the excellent grooming

The trail loops back and forth on the glacier for 7.5km

Prepping skis for tomorrow

This has to be the coldest water I have ever iced my legs in

John prepping the mussels for dinner.

John and Joel have been treating us really well. I have never eaten so well at a training camp. My appetite has been suppressed with the altitude but everything is so good that I have been getting enough still. It is luxurious up here with great food and warm showers. I am off to see which movie is playing tonight. Let me know how what you all are up to at 'The Club.'