Park City Camp

Park City, UT is at altitude. Minneapolis, MN is not. That is why Team Birkie and I just spent the last week living and training at 6,500 feet. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to stay at Susan and Steve’s house in Park City for the week. They are big fans of Midwest skiing, as they are originally from Milwaukee, WI. My week in Utah was part of a three week altitude training block that will be followed by two weeks in Canmore.

The view from my bedroom at in Park City. It was a cold and rainy day when we first arrived.

Our first workout in Park City was an easy 2 hour run in the mountains. I brought along poles for this run, as I find it helps make the transition to skiing a little easier when you’ve been involving your arms during runs. It was a very pretty run and there was even a bunch of snow on the ground — at one point up to my knees.

Running in the snow on the Midmountain trail.

A few days later we headed to Soldier Hollow (the site of the 2022 US Nationals races in January) for a classic rollerski speed workout. It was super valuable for me to ski the race course again, even if it was on pavement instead of snow. The workout consisted of 12 speeds of 15 seconds apiece: 4 double poling, 4 striding, and 4 “running” on skis. It was a great way to wake up the body after a few easy days earlier in the week. I try to be really careful when I do speeds at altitude by taking a lot of rest and holding back a little more than I would at sea-level.

Running on skis.

My other intensity session in Park City was an L3 skate rollerski workout. We did 5x9 minutes, once again at the Soldier Hollow track. It is super important to go a lot easier than you think when you do L3 at altitude. Even if you think you’re barely moving, your body is working much harder than normal due to the decreased oxygen intake. We actually monitor our effort level by testing a blood-sample for lactate content. Lactate is a substance your body creates when you are using less oxygen for fuel, so we make sure it isn’t building up in the blood too much as this would indicate we are going too hard.

Taking off my warmups before the first interval.

Overall, it was an extremely productive camp that was only made possible by our generous hosts. It really warms my heart when people are excited about Team Birkie and what we are trying to do to advance skiing in the Midwest. Up next, Canmore!

Our hosts Susan and Steve’s dog Peaches inside of our team Jack-o-Lantern.