3,000' to the top

I recently irritated my Achilles tendon, skinning up 3,000’ of vertical here in Ketchum, Idaho. Apparently hiking isn’t ALWAYS good for you.

The upside to this injury is that when I am not in spandex or running shoes, I am usually in heels (stick with me here, I promise this is relevant). Wearing heels, although bad for posture, walking the dog, training for the Olympics, et cetera is really helpful when you irritate certain muscles and tendons. Wearing a heel gives the Achilles tendon a chance to rest since it is in a shortened state - apposed to when your foot is flat to the ground, the Achilles is engaged…you dig? So I just want to throw it out there: If Christian Louboutin happens to be looking for an American endurance athlete to sponsor, I am ready and willing. I will sign in ink today!

Louboutin heels shown, priced at $710 USD. To covet is one of the seven deadly sins but in this case, I think it is better to covet than to purchase!

The video below is from said assent; the final day of play before the real training began.

*Danny Walton is the other kid in the video. He is a sick-nasty dude with some killer moves. I am slowly learning from him. He has different sponsors than I have. I apologize for conflicting brands - I tried to make it clear who was on what so that everyone could get a piece of the action. Any questions, requests for future videos, articles or suggestions, please comment!

**Note the Scarpa boots that I am rockin’ circa 1993...if anyone out there has any clout with a telemark boot brand, I would REALLY like a new pair of free-heels (in addition to the aforementioned HIGH heels).

An eleven year-old once told me she was confused. She didn't know if she wanted to be a tom-boy or a girly-girl. My answer: Have it AND eat it; be both!

Off to Canada in the morning for the first on-snow camp at the 2010 Olympic venue. More from across the border.

5TH GRADE CHAOS

I was in with the 5th graders again today during a special lunch. Party Mom brought in a healthful homemade meal for everyone and the kids had their first encounter with the flip video camera!

This little sucker is incredible! It is the size of a cell phone and has about 4 buttons. I handed it to one 10 year-old and didn't even have to show her how to use it - she looked at me like I was the silly one when I tried to tell her that the red button was to stop and start recording. Of course it is...

The following video is the remainder of today's lunch and first part of recess, captured entirely by students under the age of 12. Note the section in the middle where I get yelled at by the teacher for encouraging kids to use balls in the classroom.

Thanks Professor Stansberry for letting me come make complete chaos of your classroom time and time again ~ I think I enjoy it more than the kids.

I am still trying to figure out how to download audio so I have put this video to a bit of Fiasco for the time being. Let me know what you think!

Skiing to Crue

The entire ITA gang recently received flip video cameras (stay tuned for visual updates from all ITA athletes), thanks Amory and flip!

Here is my first attempt to make my life look cooler than it probably is...I don't think Nikki Sixx would be very proud. If you don't know that I am a dork already, here is your first warning and proof to back it up!

I am having fun, are you?

Livin' it up

It is April 23, what did you do today? I woke up to a phone call at 7am: “Kate, I just read the avi report and there are 6 inches of new snow at the Summit! You in?”

I made a few calls, collected another adventurer and we were driving north within the hour.

Ashley & Justy - yeah, that reads 4WD! (click on the image to see it better)

Nicole De Yong (ITA athlete), Ashley & Colin nearing the top

Ashley, playing airplane

The sun came out just as we summited, both times! What a great way to start the day. If it is going to snow at the end of April, you might as well take advantage.

Back in town by noon, I had lunch with the 5th graders at Hemingway Elementary School. Pictures below of a teachers vs. 5th grade basketball game that went down last week (click on them to see full-sized images). Off to go for a run - enjoy spring, every day of it!

the fans (K-4th grades)


Brad (teacher) in the pink tutu


huddle

teacher's (26), 5th grade (23)

CLEANSE

I mentioned that I was going on a cleanse in a previous update. This is still true and I am 48 hours in, shooting for 72...and I am not hungry yet. A silly thing, a trendy thing, an pointless thing to do - maybe all of these things, but here I am.

Human slalom from Saturday's race

This is the deal: I can have straight peppermint tea (no sugar/cream) in the morning and evening if I want it. The problem with tea, is that it doesn't taste very good. In fact, I usually just go for hot water with honey and cream (I typically skip the tea all together). Needless to say, I am not that psyched to wake up to tea.

I am also allowed to have water with lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper throughout the day. This little concoctions is one of the best tasting beverages I have ever had. I realize that this drink is to me, what dinner is to a hungry camper - it tastes wonderful because the opinion is coming from a truly hungry person - but for real, this little cocktail is really good.

That is it. I basically drink lemonade for 3 days. Sweet. Day one, I didn't get hungry once. I wanted to eat plenty of times, but I was never actually hungry. It made me wonder how many times I put things in my mouth because I am bored or because it is time to eat. I went to an hour and a half hot yoga class in the evening and figured I would be light-headed or maybe pass out...nope. I was fine.

Day two. I think that I have been taking for granted how good things taste. A sub called The Leftover, from the local subshack (again, this coming from a hungry camper) would taste so good right now! I wonder if I appreciated the last one I had enough. It is 8pm on day two, and I am just starting to get hungry. I went for a 40 minute jog today and felt fairly normal.

I rented a movie for tonight since all of my friends are out taking advantage of the 2-for-1 deals that the restaurants offer during slack. Maybe I picked the wrong time to do this...

If the hype is true, this little 3-day pain-cave will flush my body of toxins and get me ready to start fresh. Ideally some of my food allergies will be eliminated and my immune system will be energized. All of that for a reduced grocery bill this week - of course I signed up!

Best of luck with spring goals everyone!

Take your 2 weeks

I took my two weeks off, although they can't necessarily be classified as such. A typical day consisted of either being on the first chair up the mountain at 9am or driving out of town at to go back-country skiing. After a late lunch, I could be found visiting my 5th graders or giving a cross-country ski lesson before heading out for a run with friends/dogs or taking advantage of some of the fitness classes offered by the gyms that I work-out at (my current favorite is hot yoga)!

I raced in my first telemark race this past Saturday! Sporting shorts, I made it through all of the gates and skied from 10am-4pm while keeping all of my skin - the day was a success! (click on photos to see them full-sized)

The scene this morning, curb-side, getting ready to hike!

I raced in an event called the Ride, Stride, Glide yesterday. I was part of a team, all sporting figure skating outfits...I did not take any photos but will track a few down and post them in the near future. Chris Mallory, a Sun Valley coach of mine (his back-side shown above) did the ride, a 5k mountain bike on the cross-country trails at Galena, just north of Ketchum, ID. Abi Holt, another SVSEF coach did the 5k running leg (stride) and I completed the glide, which was a 6k freestyle ski. Nothing like ending my two-weeks off with a race!

Abi Holt and Chris Mallory stop to chat on today's hike

Today, we hiked! Mushroom Ridge, just north of Galena. The snow was not ideal, but the company couldn't be beat.

L to R, Abi Holt, Rick Kapala, Chris Mallory, Mikey Sinnott.

Check out the cornice in the back of the picture above. The wind blew it in a different direction every 8 feet or so - the contrast isn't ideal in the photo but dang, it was really cool!

So take your two-weeks! It does not mean sit on the couch and catch up on the latest episodes of Rock of Love II (that is for when the sun goes down)! These two weeks are for living it up and being active. They are so that you can do all of the things that you cannot do while 'in training'. I have worked out more in the past two weeks than I did in my biggest volume weeks this summer, but I did not train even one minute in those hours of working out. My body is tired but happy and my mind is a peace. I have put the season to rest and it is go-time again.

Full-on training will not start until May 1, but I am logging hours and starting specific workouts again. I also start a cleanse in the morning (more to come on this).

Today is not ever coming back, so live it up!