Final Race, Home Sweet Home and Run Club

50km US National Championship American Podium (Noah Hoffman 1st, Erik Bjornsen 2nd, Me 3rd)

My 2014/2015 ski racing season concluded last week with the 50 km Freestyle National Championship.  This is one of my favorite races and one that I have been focusing on for the second half of my ski season.  I finished on the podium as the third american, but I actually finished 8th overall in the race with the foreigners mixed in.  I am content with the result but was looking for a stronger finish.  I had a better result two weeks earlier at the Holmenkollen World Cup 50km that I was looking to match at the US National Championship.

One of my favorite things about racing the circuit together with Caitlin is getting to help her with her race preparation and watch her race.  She was still on the fence about racing the 30 km after hitting her head and having headaches for the prior week but she had two days headache free and went ahead with her original plan of racing.  The snow had transformed more than we predicted the day before so we introduced a new pair of skis to test before the race.  They felt great in the transforming snow and she decided to race on them.  Thankfully Fredrick and the University of New Mexico had an Iron and he was able to burn in some JetStream Yellow 2.0.  I still wasn't sure that Caitlin was going to race until the gun went off.

She took the lead a few hundred meters in and I was happy to see that she looked relaxed and confidant.  Her skis looked competitive on the downhill too which is a great testament to Fredrick as he is a one man show competing against teams with a greater ability to test multiple waxes, skis and structures.  I couldn't believe it when they came back into view in the field 4 km into the race that she had a 30 second lead.  Her lead extended to 40 seconds at the 5 km mark.  It is a gutsy move to make a break so early in a race and I spent the next 25 km skiing from point to point cheering Caitlin on and giving her back splits.  It was really fun to ski her ski so well and cap off such a strong season. Only on the last lap did I finally relax as she had a 2:41 second lead.  I know that the 30 km freestyle is perhaps her strongest race and I was really sad that she wasn't selected to the Olympic Team in Sochi for it despite winning the 2014 20 km Freestyle National Championship by 3:36.  

Her win in the 30 km should put her in the top 30 distance FIS points ranking too, which is one of the objective criteria for the National Team.  We won't know this for sure until the FIS list closes on April 26th.  We had hoped that a medal at the World Championships would be part of the objective criteria but that is only the case for World Junior Championships or U23 World Championships.  For now the National Team coaches have told us that it will be discussed when they meet in several weeks.

30km National Championship Podium: Caitlin Gregg (1st), Liz Stephen (2nd), Sadie Bjornsen (3rd)

Caitlin and I stayed out in Sun Valley for a few days for a photo shoot with Madshus and for a school visit on Monday.  It sure is great to back home in Minneapolis.  The weather greeted us with a high of 82F our first day back.

Caitlin sharing her World Championship bronze medal with the Boys and Girls Club kids

It is Boys and Girls Club Week this week since it is Spring Break for Minneapolis schools.  We had Run Club practice each day.

Destinee, Azaria and Kayla

Charting our miles run in the Club.  The kids are off to a great start on day 2.  You need to run 3 miles to get in to Run Club and make the board.  The board is a source of a lot of pride at the Club.

While in Sun Valley, Caitlin found the perfect running race to kick off Run Club.  The Timberwolf 5km and 1/2 mile with Crunch, the Timberwolves NBA team's mascot.  In addition to a fun run, each racer receives a ticket to the Timberwolves game on April 15th.  It will be the first NBA game for many of us.  Plus as an added bonus I received a basketball signed by all the Timberwolves for winning the 5 km race.  The Timberwolves signed ball will be the prize for the runner who runs the farthest in Run Club this Spring.  

Jerry Gamble Boys and Girls Club kids for the Timberwolves Fun Run

Holmenkollen Opportunity

"Lose Yourself"

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Yo

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs,
But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down,
The whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking how, everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up, over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no
He won't have it, he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that but he's broke
He's so stagnant, he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again, yo
This whole rhapsody
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him...

-Eminem

One of my favorite songs over the last two years has been  'Lose Yourself" by Eminem.  Caitlin put it on my phone a few days before the 2014 National Championship 30 km.  I had a great race, finishing 2nd just a few seconds off of the win.  The race essentially put me on the Olympic team. I then flew over to Europe a few hours after the completion of the race to race the period 2 World Cups.   They were my first World Cup starts since 2010 and I knew that if I was going to the Olympics in Sochi and I needed the additional experience.  I took the opportunity, however my first race was terrible and then I caught a cold.  Still, looking back I don't regret taking the opportunity.  

Caitlin and Me at the Holmenkollen World Cup.  Note: A special thanks to the National Nodic Foundation (NNF) and Bjorn Daehlie who helped fund and support the Holmenkollen World Cup weekend.

Opportunities are out there.  They may simply be an invitation to a training camp, a specific workout, a chance to meet a specific person, an entry in to a race, finding yourself in the break at a race or any countless variations. The key is to be in a position to capitalize on the opportunities that come your way.  My focus over in Europe has been supporting Caitlin and racing the Engadin Ski Marathon. After a strong race at the Engadin I was given the opportunity to start the Holmenkollen 50 km freestyle World Cup. The course is hard with a lot of climbing and in my opinion is perfect for me.  My focus the second half of the ski season has been on long distance skate races and the Holmenkollen fit right in with the focuses of my training.

Gear all set up the night before, although I should have had my boots set out too as
I had to double back to get them on race day

My goal going in to the race was to finish in the World Cup points which is the top 30.  Unfortunately the USA men have struggled in distance this year and Simi Hamilton is the only one who has scored any World Cup points with a top 30 in a prologue during the Tour de Ski.   The mass start is seeded based on FIS points and I started 64th of 65 men.  At least the only direction to go was up.

I felt strong throughout the race, pacing off of my teammate Noah Hoffman the first 16 km of the race.  Although I did drop from the main pack I felt that I paced the race well.  I am most happy about skiing the final 10 km well and catching a number of other racers.  I didn't know what place I was in, but I just put in my head that if I passed the next skier or group of skiers up the trail that I would be top 30.  I ended up finishing in 35th, one minute out of top 30.  Although a minute seems like a lot of time, in a 50 km it is just over a second per kilometer.  This was a strong result for me and improves on my 39th finish from the last time I raced Holmenkollen in 2010.  Plus it is one of the stronger distance results of the US men this season.

Caitlin signing autographs for kids after her 30 km Holmenkollen

After my race, the focus went back to supporting Caitlin for her race.  It is pretty fun to be a part of what she has accomplished these last few weeks.  She raced much of the 30 km in the top 10, although faded a bit in the final 10 km to finish a still impressive 19th.  Her scoring of World Cup points also gives the US Ski Team an additional distance World Cup start for next year.

Several ticket changes but great to have our European Race block extended to include the Holmenkollen World Cup

Caitlin and I are now in Sun Valley, Idaho for the final week of ski racing of the season.  This week hasn't been the best for us with Caitlin suffering from a concussion that materialized after a feeding incident at the Holmnekollen.  I have felt good but did not classic ski or sprint well.  We are regrouping and focusing on our marquee events the 50 km and 30 km freestyle National Championships on Thursday.  The last two years has all been about being prepared to capitalize on the opportunities.  A huge thanks to everyone who has come together to help make year two of Team Gregg even better than the first.

Caitlin and the New Mexico ladies.  Fredrick and the University of New Mexico crew has played a key role in the success of Team Gregg.  Always fun to be around them.

World Championship Bronze

Historic Team USA performance at the 2015 FIS World Championships in Falun, SWE

Two weeks ago I watched live one of the most impressive athletic performances ever as Caitlin Gregg and Jessie Diggins skied against the best in the world to historic World Championship Bronze and Silver medals.  The first ever Women’s distance podium at a World Championship in cross country skiing. I am so impressed with both of these women. 

Caitlin in the leader's chair at World Championships! (with me in the background) 

As Caitlin’s husband I perhaps know better than anyone how special her performance really is and what she has had to overcome.  At some point I feel her story may need to be turned in to a book or even a movie.  

“I am so proud of Caitlin and what she has achieved, but I am even more proud of how she has achieved it” –Brian Gregg

Proud World Championship Bronze Medalist

Several of the world’s best cross country skiers are millionaires or even multimillionaires supported by national teams with budgets of millions of dollars.  I believe our national team, the US Ski Team, has a budget of roughly $700,000.  It is a testament to the hardworking Team USA staff and techs that we are able to compete with the top ski nations such as Norway and their budget of perhaps $7 million. 

One of my favorite movies is the film Money Ball based on the true story of the Oakland As 2002 season and their innovative approach to competing with the top teams on a significantly smaller budget.   They decided that they can’t use the same approach as their competitor’s, so they focus on developing their own approach through math and statistics.  In the end they ended up winning the same number of games as the New York Yankees, but the Yankees spend 1.4 million per win and the A's spend 236,000. 

In the 15 years since Caitlin’s first World Junior Championship she has never received direct financial support from the US Ski Team.  8 years ago after competing at the 2007 World Championships Caitlin was told she was too old for the US Ski Team and their pipeline. Caitlin lives, trains and competes on a yearly budget of less than $30,000.  How is that possible? well for one we live in a house that cost $25,500 in an area with one of the lowest cost of living in the country, she cooks almost every meal from scratch, we spend a lot of time researching every purchase and expense, and a ton of families have hosted us through home stays and loaner cars throughout our travels.  Honestly we still feel that we lead a very luxurious life despite sharing a single car and training on bikes with down tube shifters.  I believe Caitlin is the first cross country skier ever to win a World Championship medal without ever having been a member of the National Team.  Although we hope that credential may be added next year.  We are very proud of Caitlin's success as a bit of an outsider and the inspiration we hope it gives others who may be just outside the traditional pipeline to success.

Caitlin coached me to the 2014 Olympic Team.  Unfortunately she was not selected to the team.  Instead of becoming discouraged and quitting she came home, shared my story with our kids at the Boys and Girls Club and set her goal on making the 2015 World Championship Team. 

Over the seven years Caitlin and I have been with In The Arena we have worked over 2,000 hours with a lot of kids.  Most of them coming from lower-income families.  I am so happy for the hope that I know Caitlin's bronze medal will bring in to these kids lives encouraging them to dream big, work hard and believe.

Caitlin sharing her Dala Horse and World Championships with a group of Swiss kids

Thehigh of the World Championships Bronze medal in the 10 km Freestyle was met the next morning with the blow of not being selected for the freestyle 5km leg in the 4 x 5km relay.  We have a very strong group of USA Women and I don’t envy the coaches who makes the decision of who starts and who cheers on the course.  We turned the day in to a positive with one of the coolest training sessions I have ever had as an athlete.  With the World Championship course open one hour before the race we skied together and execute Caitlin’s interval session in front of over 40,000 yelling fans.  The fans in Falun are serious and many recognized Caitlin and cheered her by name around the course.  We were absolutely flying and it was incredible to share in that experience together.  

The Swedish Fans are amazing.

After cheering Team USA on to a strong 4^th place finish we packed up and traveled down to St. Moritz, Switzerland for the Engadin Ski Marathon.  

Caitlin Back in Bronze in the Engadin Ski Marathon

Caitlin had another historic race  with a bronze medal in the Engadin Ski Marathon with the best ever American womens' finish in a three way sprint tor the top woman within a huge pack of men.   Anouk Faivre (5th in the 10 km Freestyle at World Championships) won the sprint over Ritta-Liisa Roponen who (18th in the 10 km Freestyle and 8th in the 15km Skiathalon at World Championships).   

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am one very proud husband.  The last three years, my training has been the focus of our relationship and this year has been Caitlin's year. Unfortunately she had shingles this Fall so wasn't able to capitalize on her World Cup start opportunities as last years Super Tour winner.   She amazed me with how positive she stayed, she set up a plan that involved taking three weeks off from racing in mid winter to just train.  She wrote our her training plan, made minor adjustments based on her feelings during workouts and got the job done.  Coach of the Year?

While Caitlin has been the primary focus, I am also feeling great.  After a great start to the season, but a poor US Nationals we decided to put the US National 50km as my next focus event. I finished in the lead men's group in my first Engadin.  Next up we have both been granted discretionary starts by the US Ski Team for the Hollmenkollen World Cup 30/50km in Oslo, Norway.  We are ready to capitalize on the opportunity.  A huge thank you to all the supporters and members of Team Gregg, although we are only two racers we have one of the biggest and best team of people behind us.

Follow and support the journey at Facebook.com/GoTeamGregg or www.xcSkiLife.com

Owl Creek Chase and American Birkebeiner

I have had a little mid-season break from racing after a planned training block and an unfortunate race cancellation.  Thankfully I was able to add in a race to my schedule in preparation for the Birkie and that is one of my favorite races, the Owl Creek Chase.  The Owl Creek used to be a regular stop on the Super Tour as well as the college race circuit.  The race has become smaller and less competitive in the last few years but it always a fun event.  I am super impressed with Steamboat Winter Sports Club Coach Josh Smulin who waxed and coached his juniors for over three hours in the morning before hopping in the race.

1st Place Owl Creek Chase

Double Win for Team Gregg and a Madshus Sweep on the women's field.

The Owl Creek served as a great tune up race and a cap to our altitude block.  We were met with some pretty awful traffic and weather on our drive to the Denver Airport but were able to get Caitlin on her flight to Sweden.  The Alpine World Championships at Beaver Creek had just concluded and every team seemed to be on either Caitlin's Iceland flight or the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt which checked in right next to it.  This group of skiers don't travel light and the airport crews were slightly overwhelmed.

I was happy to have Caitlin aboard her flight to Europe and for myself to head home to Minneapolis and then to the American Birkebiener.

Love these smiles

Unfortunately I came home to a 28F house.  A guest had accidentally turned the heat off and the AC on.   Usually I can control the temperature wirelessly through my phone, but a squirrel had eaten the internet connection.

Thankfully everything worked out just fine.  The house eventually heated back up and the water starting flowing and draining.  I did have one pipe burst at 4 am on Tuesday but it couldn't have been in a better place and I was able to fix it for under $5.  A big potential disaster avoided.

Here are some photos from the Birkie.  Text will be coming after I arrive in Sweden.

Thanks, Brian

Birkie Expo

BMT Lemonade

The Boulder Mountain Tour is one of the largest ski races in the western United States.  It is a scenic and fast 34.3km with 1100 vertical feet of drop from Galena Lodge.  I am a big fan of hilly courses and I have always thought that I would enjoy the race even more if it were run backwards.  Still, the race has a huge history and this year was the 40th anniversary race.  Not to mention the race puts forth one of the better prize purses in US Ski Racing: 1st- $2500, 2nd - $1000, 3rd - $500.  

First day in Sun Valley, with plenty of Sun

Testing skis at the finish line of the race prior to the big day

Meeting old friends and new friends at the Bliz sunglasses booth at the expo.

Signing posters

We love ski racing and sharing the excitement and nerves with all the other racers.  Testing skis and various wax combinations and how well they might help your current level of fitness.  The big question mark for the weekend was the weather on race day.  The forecast called for an 80% chance of rain on Friday, howerver that turned out to be just blue skies and sun.  Saturday called for 100% chance of either rain or several inches of snow.  We woke up to the sound of rain pounding down on the roof.  The conditions were certainly on the nasty side of things.  I immediately was thankful to have the rain poncho I had teased Caitlin about picking up the night before.  As we prepared for what would certainly be a wet and cold race we received the phone call that everyone hates to get on race morning.  The Boulder Mountain Tour was cancelled due to weather and road conditions.  Over 12 trees had fallen on the course and the last 6 km of trail were closed due to high avalanche risk.  

I am pretty sure Sun Valley only has about one day during the winter where you couldn't hold the race and sadly the timing couldn't have been worse. This was a lose-lose situation as the racers were without a race and the race organizers essentially had all the costs of putting on the race with out the satisfied end product of a bunch of happy racers.  

As professional ski racers the majority of our income comes from race winnings, win schedules and sponsorship.  We took a huge loss this weekend.  A race isn't won until you cross the finish line and anything can happen in a race, but it is a real bummer to not even have the chance to race. 

What is one to do?  We decided to help make things a bit more positive for the organizers and other racers.  It turns out the skiing at the start was great up at the start near Galena Lodge.  We hosted a free clinic for BMT racers with fellow elite racers Lauren Fritz and Torin Koos.  

Although short notice we had over 50 participants who had a great time learning how to become more efficient for next years Boulder Mountain Tour.  Today we did intervals to make up for not racing this weekend and will return to Colorado for another week of altitude training. 

Skiing with the Community

Caitlin and I dropped down to Hayward, WI after US Nationals for a week of training on the American Birkebeiner Trail in perfect mid winter conditions.  After a solid few days of training the weekend kicked off with the Seeley Hills Classic 42km.  This is one of my favorite races and one that I have won twice.  The competition was really good this year with Matt Liebsch and Tad Elliot also in town.  We finished in the same order as in the American Birkebeiner in 2012 with Tad taking the win ahead of Matt and then me.

Race Organizer, Friend, and Champions of skiers Dennis Kruse

On Sunday we skied the Birkie Tour which is a non competitive, fully supported tour of the Birkie trail.  We both opted for the 45km freestyle tour and it was a blast to ski a big loop with friends and plenty of food and drink along the way.  It was amazing how many people were out for the tour and it was fun to be able to chat while we skied relaxed and enjoyed the north woods.

Heading to the start of the Birkie Tour felt very similar to heading to the start of the race

Skiing with Travis and Vince

Caitlin having fun on the Birkie Trail

Touring Life Link III's Koala Helicopter and Air Ambulance

We decided to go big for the weekend and after a quick recharge from our 3 hour ski we met up with 145 kids from Nordic Kids.  This group of kids were amazing in how fearlessly they took on the challenges we presented them.

Can you make it to me in less than 5 kicks by gliding on your 1 ski?

Caitlin signing Autographs for the kids after our ski

After a busy two months of racing we decided that we needed to take a break from racing and put in some needed training time.  My results and feeling the last two weekends have left me realizing that I need to put in a bit more distance and threshold skiing and fewer harder efforts.  We are doing a little high altitude training camp now in sunny Colorado.

Yes, let's take that trail.

US Nationals Championships in Review

Selfie with Blizzard the Husky and Head Michigan Tech University Coach Joe Haggenmiller

Last year I had my best ever US National Championships with a 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 8th (sprint) place finishes.  This year my goals were podiums and I finished the week disappointed with a top finish of 11th in the Classic Sprint and poor results for me in both distance races with a 14th and 21st.  On the bright side my Classic Sprint finish is a personal best classic sprint finish at Nationals and I qualified 7th in the Freestyle sprint which is a strong qualification position for me.

A close finish in my quarter final.  I actually finished 3rd, but advanced to the semi finals as a luck loser since I had the fastest time of all the 3rd place finishers.

After the 2010 Olympics, and our engagement, Caitlin made it one of her goals to help me make the 2014 Olympic Team.   Competing as a husband and wife duo is awesome, but it is not easy.  Success as an elite level athlete requires a ton of support from sponsors, friends, family and community.  It is rare to have two elite level athletes be in a relationship who are both still competing.  We are often tired, stressed and hungry at the same time which makes supporting each other even more draining.  A huge advantage we do have as a married couple is our ability to know how best to support each other.  We know the words of encouragement to say at the right time, we know how we can be the most helpful during training or recovery.  We also get to be together throughout many of our travels, races and training camps.  One thing that we work towards is excellence in everything that we do.  One of the safeguards that we put up is that we name one of us as the priority going in to each year.  This allows the decision of who does the dishes when we are both absolutely exhausted a little bit easier.  Over the last 4 years, and especially the 2013/2014 season Caitlin has made me the priority.  She did a pretty amazing job of this, supporting me to the Olympic Team and numerous wins.  She didn't do too shabby herself winning 3 American Birkebeiner titles and 2 more National Championships.  She even made a real good case for herself to make the 2014 Olympics last year when she won the 20 km Freestyle race by an unheard of 3 minutes 36 seconds.  This year that margin was the difference between 1st and 21st in the Women's 20 km Classic.  Caitlin won the Overall Super Tour last year which granted her World Cup start rights for the first 4 weeks of the season.  This year Caitlin has finally been the priority.   

Caitlin winning the 10km Freestyle National Championships

A huge highlight of the week came through supporting Caitlin to her 5th National Championship. Caitlin was diagnosed with shingles a few days before her first World Cup this Fall and put on anti-biotics.  She was cleared to race, however she did not perform at the level we had seen this summer or were expecting.  She returned from Europe slightly discouraged and tired.  She took a number of days off before returning to really easy and short training.  Back in 2008 US Nationals were in Houghton and Caitlin won the 5km freestyle.  This win was a big one as all the National Team athletes were also there.  The 10 km Freestyle is one of Caitlin's best events and it is her goal race for the 2015 World Championships.  Then men raced the 15 km Freestyle first and unfortunately my race did not go well.  We became worried about our ski and wax choice and spent the 2 hours prior to the race working with our wax team on ski and wax selection.  Thankfully Caitlin started near the back of the A seed (as opposed to bib 1 which we both were last year).  It is advantageous to start near the back because you can receive splits on your competitors.  I ran all over the course to give Caitlin splits at three different locations.  I like to think that my yelling and screaming made a difference as she skied herself to a 12 second win over Rosie Brennan who has had an impressive season and has won nearly every race she has entered this year.

The race took a lot out of Caitlin and she decided to not race the Classic sprint the next day.  Feeling that she was on the edge, she made the smart decision to sit out the 20km classic race as well and focus on winning the freestyle sprint.  She won the qualifier by over 2 seconds and went on to advance to the A final where she made a tactical mistake in her final heat which required her to pass the other 4 girls in the final 400m to secure 2nd.

We are back in Hayward now to take some time to absorb last weeks racing and prepare for the second half of our season.