Who wants a PPP?

Everyone enjoys a Pizza Party, especially when you can have your own Personal Pan Pizza (PPP). Caitlin and I hosted a party for the neighborhood kids last Thursday night. The original plan was to host the party at the Harrison Community Center but things fell through so we held the party at our house.

The kitchen is small to begin with so the 9 of us decided that we would have to be very clean and orderly. We washed our hands and set up stations to prep our ingredients. I stayed in charge of the oven but the kids did all the chopping, mixing, creating and cleaning.

What is that green stuff? ... Spinach

Gerry, Javaree, DJ and Adanis enjoying their Personal Pan Pizza

We learned proper and fastest way to chop onions, how to carve a fresh pinapple (on sale at Aldi's this week for $1.69), shred cheese, spice up canned tomato paste, slice mushrooms, cut apples, and cook sausage. With all of our ingredients ready to go we were ready to make some mean pizzas.

We sliced specialty breads in half to create the crust and everyone built their own creation. The bread came courtesy of the Salvation Army and Target. Target drops off bread that is older but still good and amazingly the whole grain and speacilty breads are the ones still sitting there at the end of the day. The breads looked pretty scary to the kids but once we convinced them that the carraway seeds were not bugs and the olives not giant raisins we decided that the bread was pretty good. It is good for you too.

Dinner time for Thomas Ave N

Recovering with a 3.5 hour run in the Mountains

One of the worst things that can happen to an athlete during training camp is to catch a cold. Red leaves and the promise of snow in the future also bring around the common cold. Combined with tougher training in preparation for racing season and sickness can be tricky to avoid. Three days in to our second week of high altitude fall training camp I found myself with an itchy throat and a water faucet for a nose.

For many people the common cold is simply a nuisance but for an athlete it can be a big deal. During the racing season when I get a cold I generally take time off from training until I feel I have recovered, however since it is only October I decided to try and train through my head cold. The risk in training through your cold is that it can move from your head to your chest and then go from days to weeks before you recover.

I am very fortunate to have my teammate and wife, Caitlin

to help take care of me at home and on the road.

I backed off my weekly training load by decreasing the intensity in my workouts. I think the blood moving around in my body when I trained at a distance pace and heart rate actually helped flush some of the sickness out of me.

It is hard at training camp to ski easy and slow when your teammates and friends are working hard in intervals and time trials but the patience paid off. I woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful fall day and the ability to breath out of my nose.

Noah, Caitlin and Mikey and I set off for a nice long run in the mountains.

One of my favorite things to do in addition to ski racing is to run, hike and climb in the mountains. I grew up in the Cascades of Washington and my passion for the mountains has for the most part been put on hold as I pursue my ski racing goals and dreams. I am grateful for the opportunities I do get throughout the year to play in the mountains and train for skiing.

The mountains have always had a rejuvenating effect on me.

I finished our run on Saturday tired but feeling healthy and fresh.

Chicago XC 2011 Clinic

Caitlin, Karl and I headed down to Chicago this weekend for the 3rd Annual Fall Rollerski Clinic. With over 30 participants the weekend was a huge success. Our host and clinic coordinator Tom Devoratchek picked us up from O'Hare on Friday afternoon and we headed downtown to check out the lakefront.

The windy city lived up to it's name with some wild weather. 22 foot waves were recorded in the middle of the lake and part of the boardwalk was closed down after a bicyclist was blown in to the lake. We waited for a break in the clouds to get out for a nice recovery run.

Who needs the fountains of the Belagio when you can watch the waves roll in to the break-wall.

We had beautiful weather with morning and afternoon sessions. We kept busy in the evenings watching the US Nordic Combined National Championships (contested on rollerskis) and giving a presentation at Benedictine University.

I am having a bit of tech troubles, but you should be able to click below for a great video of the clinic put together by Chris Wilson.

Anwatin Ski Team Practice

In 2008 Anwatin middle school started a cross country ski program through the support of the US Olympic Committee's Urban Development Program. Anwatin middle school rests on the edge of Theodore Wirth Park. With running, biking and skiing trails the school is an ideal location for a ski program. The goal of the program is to help introduce more inner-city youth to skiing.

John, the coach for the past two years, recently moved to a new job in Michigan leaving the program without a leader. With two weeks left to train for the City of Lakes Trail Loppett 5km, the program Caitlin and I helped run a few practices.

Ingrid, Muah, Mike, Issac, Anja ,Adia, Glory, and Caitlin

We found the world's largest dog on our pole hike

Seriously, have you ever seen a dog this big?

You never know what you might find out on the trails in the woods.

Agility and Plyometric training with jumpropes

Check out the City of Lakes Loppet website for a nice write-up on the training sessions: http://www.loppet.org/blog/2011/09/06/the-greggs-guest-coach-the-anwatin-ski-team/

Neighborhood Running

The 600 Block of Thomas Ave is getting a bit more fit this fall:

Me, Lahti, Javari, Quinn, DJ, Anja, and Gerry

Gerry ready to go in his new jogging shoes

Our group of 5 grows as we run around the block. The neighborhood kids see us come down the street. They yell "Hey, what are you doing?" We respond, "We are jogging!" "I want to do that. I want to go jogging. We finished our lap with about 10 kids. It is awesome to have the group get bigger as you keep running.

Settling in to the Big City

After a solid 50 hours of training in two weeks of camp Caitlin and I are enjoying three weeks at home in Minneapolis. The three weeks here at home is the longest we have been in one place since April.

With an easy recovery week of training I was able to visit the Jerry Gamble Northside Boys and Girls Club every day. Although I am certainly the only red head at the Club it has bee great to be with the kids consistently so that they know that I am not just some random skier guy.

Cooling off and enjoying the fountain at the Mississippi Regional Park

Alexandria and Paige warming themselves up after a big splashing war

The neighborhood kids stop over every day to practice street skiing. It seems like every time I open the door there are a few kids standing there waiting to see if they can practice street skiing. They are getting pretty good at going around the block and it is fun to start and end many workouts with a few cheers.

There is still plenty of work to do around the house here, but the kids have been happy to help out. Gerry and Quinn came over and we picked up all of the sticks and branches from our house and the neighbors house. One of our neighbors has three little girls but the yard was so full of sticks and trash that they were never able to play in it. Not it looks great.

Gerry earned a pair of Salomon running shoes for his neighborly service.

Obstacle Course Races

Practicing Back Flips

Foosball is a serious game at the Club

Afternoon field trip to the Roller Garden. We had 78 kids on roller skates

Can 90 Kids Play Dodge-ball at Once?

Basketball is king at the North Minneapolis Boys and Girls Club. We have six hoops and ten balls and there is always a game being played.

Alison teaching me a few things about Basketball. Research has said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something and the kids at the club are working their way there shooting hoops.

I have some practice still to make with my shooting, but I have been able to teach the kids the importance of being fit and moving on the court. We have also been working on playing fair and honest.

We close the gym down after snack each day to play some sort of new or different game. This week we played the largest game of dodge-ball I have ever played. It was awesome. We had about 45 on 45, but there is a good chance there was more than that. Everyone had a blast.

It is Hot and Humid out so most of our activities have been outside. The LCO Club made their annual trip to the zoo and I met up with the crew to show them around and share with them my love of animals. The Minnesota Zoo has a new Penguin exhibit which was a big hit. It was the first time anyone in my group had seen a penguin. Of course we spent a lot of time in the fountain to keep cool.

Yes, that is a tiger. Only 400 Amur Tigers live in the wild according to a 2005 survey. It is important that we do our part to be good the environment and help protect animals.