Nature's Playground

Check out our Fort. Helena, Caitlin, Idanias, Brian, Jayden, Shaina.

I am settling back in to life in Hayward after Lake Placid and Chicago. This is an important recovery week for me to absorb all the training from the last three weeks. With several afternoons off I have been enjoying spending time with my kids at the Boys and Girls Club.

Enjoying a good meal around the table: Jayden, Kaynen, Brian, Idanias

We built a little village out in the woods. Complete with living quarters, kitchen, table, cupboards, gates, doors and windows. We braided grass for rope and used it to tie the sticks together.

The kids loved having Caitlin come to visit

My favorite playground is nature’s playground. It is amazing what you can build with just what you find in the woods. I think more playgrounds should be like this one…

http://www.methowvalleynews.com/story.php?id=4125

Climb to the Castle Rollerski Race

We awoke to a crystal clear day here in Lake Placid for the Climb to the Castle roller-ski race. On Wednesday we had to move out of the OTC and it rained for 48 hours in a nice reflection of our disappointment to leave the comfort of the cafeteria, laundry, ice baths and warm showers. We did move in to a really cool house though. Jenny has a college friend with a beautiful place on Lake Placid. I wish we had played hide-and-go-seek there, it was huge. Each of us had our own bedroom. On the downside the place had already been winterized so we were without water and such a big place took some time to warm up. (Thankfully we were able to flush one of the toilets by filling up buckets of water from the lake)

Beautiful Day in Lake Placid

It was fun to ‘race’ again today. Newell, Liebsch and I skied most of the race together. We had a fun last kilometer to the finish with the strong headwind. The draft was pretty intense and it took awhile for us to break apart. After several failed attempts by each of us Newell was able to pull away. When he went it was very decisive and impressive. The guy is fast. It was great to race again. The day also marked stage 2 of the Liebsch/Gregg Tour de France (Stage 1 was the City of Lakes Half Marathon). Matt has the yellow jersey by just 2 seconds.

Results

The Finish

Karl and I are enjoying the free wireless in the Albany Airport. Our flight is delayed a bit but we are hoping to make it to the second half of the Bulls/Wizards game in Chicago tonight. After a solid 17 days of training camp I am looking forward to taking a break.

Karl and I will be leading a clinic for Chicago XC on Saturday and Sunday. If you are in the Chicago area come to our presentation Saturday night at the Univerity. Email me for details. Brian.Gregg@xcSkiLife.com

Work Hard, Play Hard

Cooling down with the boys after a Classic Sprint Simulation 4*3min All Out.

The Boys and Girls Club is closed for staff in-service these past two weeks. I have taken advantage of this 'vacation' time between Summer and Fall to train hard. My days have been increasingly busy and it was nice to be at home in Hayward and enjoy some good recovery between sessions. One night the mercury dipped to 33 degrees. The colors are changing and Fall has arrived.

Weight Vest Strength

Our next training camp is in Lake Placid, NY at the US Olympic Training Center in 11 days. I have found that it is important for me to take some time to recover after hard training camps. This weekend I have been enjoying spending some time down in the Twin Cities with my girlfriend.

Cherry and Spoon at the Walker Art Museum

Caitlin and I have been having a great time in Minneapolis enjoying some creative dates. We kicked things off by cutting each others hair. This might make many people nervous but check out the picture above, I think we both did a pretty nice job. There are a lot of things you can do that cost very little but are still a lot of fun.

Yesterday while at the local library we came across the Museum Adventure Pass Program and got free tickets to The Works: Hands on Minds on Museum. We played with gears, mirrors, lasers, robots, pulleys and more. Everyone at The Club would have loved it.

One of our friends, Audrey, had told us about how you can check out tickets to local museums at the Library. This is awesome. With your library card you can check out two adult tickets to a museum/organization which are good for 1 visit and can be used up to 7 days past the checkout date. Who wants to go on a free trip to the zoo? There are plenty of cool places to check out in the Twin Cities.

Which museums/organizations are participating?

The American Swedish Institute

The Bakken Museum

Bell Museum of Natural History

Como Park Zoo and Conservatory

Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary

Firefighters Hall & Museum

Foshay Museum and Observation Deck

Hennepin History Museum

The Landing - Minnesota River Heritage Park

Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Minnesota History Center

Minnesota Streetcar Museum

Minnesota Transportation Museum

Minnesota Zoo

The Museum of Russian Art

Walker Art Center

The Works: Hands-On, Minds-On Museum

The Museum Adventure Pass is presented by Macy's. Learn more about it at

http://www.melsa.org/MuseumAdventurePass/index.cfm

Eagle Glacier Camp

APU invited me to their summer home, the Thomas Training Center on the Eagle Glacier. The training center alone is a remarkable facility nestled on the ridge 5,500 feet above Girdwood, Ak about 40 minutes south of Anchorage. The real gem however, is the 7.5km loop of skiing meters outside the door.

Mikey and I super excited for our first helicopter ride.

Day 1: Awesome

Several Sun Valley skier: Mike Sinnot, Colin Rogers, and Nicole Deyong and I joined up with the APU team. It was really fun to catch up on everyones summer training and endeavors. Through years of training and racing together we are all good friends. I think I spent a bit too much time reading the trashy Cosmos laying around the Thomas Training Center (yes 30 minutes is too much time). In addition to staying in tough with the feeling of snow one of my main motivations for this camp was to train with the many strong athletes who make up the APU and SVSEF elite teams.

Most mornings I drank my tea outside and enjoy being surrounded by mountains

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The beautiful days are burned into my memory, but 75% of the time the weather was more akin to this. We might not have had good weather, but we had great skiing every day

The drying room, important to staying comfortable and staying healthy

We had beautiful days for our first and last skis of camp

Is that a Thule rack?

Last season I felt I made a big jump in my ski racing. There were a number of factors contributing to that but I felt getting on snow in the summertime was huge for me. Last year Matt and I went to the Haig glacier. Classic striding has been a focus of mine and skiing on snow in the middle of the dry land season has helped me make some major efficiency improvements.

It was a challenging decision for me to miss the first 10 days of the CXC Team Vertical Limit camp in Ironwood, MI. Especially when the glacier camp cost about $1,000. It is an investment in my ski racing which I hope to regain this season. I did make it back for a few days of August camp. There is a V1 roller ski climb in Ironwood which is worth flying in from Alaska for.

Go Training! Classic Intervals in Afton before heading up to Ironwood. We don't have a lot of big climbs in the Midwest be we have some and they are awesome

Waxing Every Month of the Year

I skied every month of the year last year, this year I have waxed each month. I haven't skied in July or June, but today is August 1 and and I am going skiing tomorrow!

Grinding everything this spring at Nordic Ultratune

I have always had a good ski quiver, but this year a goal of mine is to have a really good quiver. I worked with Mark and Nordic Ultratune to touch-up all of my skis with fresh grinds for the 2010-2011 ski season. I have a big ski bag this year but feel good about everything that is it. I am really looking forward to trying the new pair of zero skis Salomon sent earlier this week. they are a bit shorter (201cm) and softer that what I have used in the past.

Yesterday on the Eagle Glacier

I flew up to Anchorage, AK yesterday thanks to my United Airlines credit card miles and $10. My good friend and college roommate Paul picked me up from airport. Paul is the man. He picked me up right on time and brought me back to his place for some left over steak and potatoes. Something about flying and airport food is that pretty much the first thing I want to do after flying is go get some regular food. After a quick lunch we wasted no time and headed out for a run/hike up O'Malley. I love being back in the mountains.

We are going to try and fly in to the glacier this evening and get settled before getting after 7 days of solid training. Casey and Erik are up on the Eagle getting everything ready. It is overcast and drizzling in town here, but Casey sent me these photos from his iPhone from last night.

Thomas Training Center, ready for skiers!

Canoeing to Disney World

Mondays and Wednesday afternoons are special days at 'The Club,' we get to go canoeing on the Namekogon River. Many of the kids have experienced canoeing in the fall on the lakes surrounding the club, but that doesn't even compare to the experience of canoing down a river which eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico. We have been going for the 3-4 hour afternoon float but I am already looking forward to the first kid who follows their dream of canoeing to Disney World.

The Boats more than ready to go. Thanks Mario for catching the escapee.

The girls were in a canoe for the first time ever and although they flipped several times they wore some big smiles by the end of the day.

At the halfway point we take a little snack and swim break.

Shaylena, Cheyenne, and Me full speed ahead

Kiera and Shana enjoying summertime

A canoe trip down river requires many more logistical challenges than lake canoeing. Thankfully we have had the additional support of community volunteers and our summer teen staff to make it happen. Thanks especially to my sister Tara, who was in town visiting and joined us for the day. Kiera and Shana had a great time sharing a boat with you sis. I have witnessed the kids talking about a lot of big ideas and dreams while we are out on the river and it makes me smile. The Namekogan flows into the Saint Croix River which makes its way to the Mississippi river, there is a lot of river to explore and adventures to be had.

We're Going to Valley Fair!

'We are going to Valley Fair!' The kids have been talking about it since April. The weather was beautiful and everyone was up early for the big 'Club Trip of the Month.' Over 40 kids packed into the school bus at 6:45am for the drive to Minnesota's best amusement park Valley Fair.

Shana, Michela, Paige, Soriah, Kiera, and Brandon up early and exited for the trip. It is a long 4 hours on the bus to Valley Fair when you have so much energy. Thankfully my brother Chad helped provide me with plenty of riddles and car games to keep everyone thinking throughout the trip.

Cheyenne, Shaylena and Aaron ready to get wet on the log ride

My group The Blue Eagles spent most of our time on the water rides and in the water park. My clothes were soaked after the first ride and pretty much stayed that way until we loaded back on the bus.

Valley Fair is Fun, but now I am tired. The entire bus pretty much took a quick nap before it was time to stop at McDonalds for dinner and a game of tag.