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Reporting from two great weeks in Bend. Every year we start the new training year on snow in Bend. It is the best way to get back into the swing of training; it’s beautiful and the “play” is high in the ratio of work to play. Bend feels like an adult playground with endless skiing, mountain biking, trail running, and even river activities. River activities aren’t always in the mix, but we experienced some incredibly nice swimming-weather temperatures. Honestly, it was maybe a little warmer than we would prefer up at Bachelor, but with that, we took advantage of training in slushy conditions as we often (and sadly, increasingly more often) race in them, but we rarely have the opportunity to train in them. Even though the work feels like play, we are still hard at work. And I think all of us can attest to our sore bodies after straining them again post a restful spring. It can be a pretty rude awakening to jump cold turkey into a 20+ hour week so we try to stay active in April and get back into the swing of things come May 1st. But even with that, I was still unbelievably sore. Maybe the sorest I’ve ever been in my entire life. It was quite comical watching us hobble around, taking baby steps around ensuring not to strain our sore hip flexors. It was a hip flexor heavy camp! We are a team, and even a country, that excels at skating, and many of us see the low hanging fruit of improving our classic skiing. So, the focus of camp was centered around classic skiing, especially because roller-skiing on classic skis doesn’t transfer to making skis kick. Therefore, the opportunity to train on snow in the non-racing season is rare and super important to take advantage of. Compounded with tricky spring snow conditions, it is a recipe for focusing on good technique. You can’t fake it in mushy, slushy, sugary, and slightly icy conditions! If you’re trying to improve your classic technique, here are some of the main drills we worked on. (a lot of these work for skating too).
Now we are all getting ready for an amazing summer in Stratton!! Please enjoy some pictures from a very very sunny Bend camp :)    
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My first time chasing the World Cup tour was extremely humbling! Good thing I was surrounded by two super experienced World Cup veterans! Jessie and Julia offer a pletheroa of experience on so many fronts. I was a bit outside of my comfort zone nearly the entire season. Even though World Cup racing is just ski racing when it comes down to it, I wasn't able to have that mindset all the time. And that's okay. The good thing is that they were incredibly patient and took me under their wings to show me the ropes of the World Cup circuit. Some of the wisdom I took away from spending the winter with them:
Most importantly, they knew how to pick me up when I needed it the most!   
I learned a lot from Period 1. You can read about it here. However, it took leaving Period 1 behind to realize what I needed: the race gear, edge, fire, or whatever you want to call it. I discovered this in the States for US Nationals in Houghton, MI. Landing back in the States was an emotional rollercoaster and dynamic duality. Sad while relieved, bummed yet excited, frustrated yet motivated. It feels like, "okay, we're sent home - how will we react to that? There are two options: 1. Feel bummed you couldn't hang in the big leagues, so now you're sent home. 2. Recognize that there's a lot of opportunity for growth and reassessment. Sometimes you need to be a big fish in a little pond. And with that, I chose growth, with some sadness, for sure.
If you know me, you know I'm quite competitive. My parents love to remind me that I would ask them to time me to do everything as a child. Including how fast I could get dressed/ready. I'm a board games feen, especially Settlers of Catan and Bananagrams. As I've aged, I've grown to turn my competitiveness on and off (thank goodness). However, I have an innately competitive spirit. Where was that during Period 1? Honestly, I don't know. I felt like I was racing with no fire, no spice, just in survival mode. I was nervous, scared, and I lacked belief in myself. I had the "do as best as you can" mentality, for better or worse (this is a coping mechanism for fear of failure). A switch flipped the morning of the skate sprint at US Nationals in Houghton. I read an interview with Rosie Brennan that morning. In this interview, Rosie said something along the lines of, "I thought to myself I can do so why don't I" after having a successful Tour De Ski stage. Combined with a pep-talk from Pat O'Brien, I thought, well, I should probably think like that too. I had a race plan I felt confident in, and I went and executed it. I was racing. I won the qualifier, and I proved to myself that I can. I ended up 3rd through heats, which keeps you hungry for more, something I needed. I forget how good it feels to ski confidently. Those are the feelings that get me to the start line; my competitive fire was lit. I got sent back over to Europe based on winning the qualifier in Houghton, and I thought we should probably 'keep these good vibes going' and believe in myself at the World Cup too. I took that belief in myself to Period 3 of the World Cup. I woke up the morning of the Livigno sprint and told myself the same thing: "Today is the day, Lauren Jortberg, that you are going to make World Cup heats." And I did. Manifesting?? My first time making heats on the World Cup, and it was easily the most incredible day of my life. I qualified 24th that day and picked heat 1; knowing that heat 1 is usually the fastest, I wanted to see if I could hang. I skied an almost perfect quarterfinal, almost making it to the semifinals. I imploded just before the line and quickly went from fourth to sixth. Although it's a bummer to move from 24th to 29th on the day, the day was a turning point in my ski career. The belief in myself that I can and, more importantly, that I will. But, I have to believe in myself. Although I hate to sound like a quote on the wall of your grandmother's bathroom, the power of belief is truly incredible. There's a balance between being kind to yourself and believing that you can do hard things. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to how to manage this balance other than recognizing that it's okay to "fail" but more on that later. Many thoughts
Race day hair by Jessie :) <3 A Pre-season tail familiar to manyChaotic is probably the best word to describe the last month or so. A week of cabin life recharging in Beitostolen, Norway, was exactly what the doctor ordered. After returning from Park City camp in late October, life felt a little rushed in sleepy Stratton, Vermont. To many, including myself, that might sound a bit shocking. However, it turns out packing up your life into one duffle bag for six months (for the first time), training 20+ hours a week, working remotely part-time, and life itself leaves very little downtime. This was heightened by the stress/excitement of gearing up for Period 1 of the World Cup, something I’ve never done before! The days filled with getting from Point A to Point B, without forgetting 88, idealized a week of cabin life in a sleepy little town in Norway. And that’s exactly how I spent the last week in Beitostolen, Norway. A large exhale of relief might have been heard throughout the country of Norway. On November 8th, Alyana and I settled into the cabin-life lifestyle in Beito; our days consisted of sleeping in late, skiing many loops around the very hilly 4 km man-made loop, eating yummy food, drinking lots of tea, face-timing friends and family, and working from our computers. The days were slow as we adjusted to Europe time and the feeling of skiing on “real” snow. It was exactly what I needed, especially heading into a long winter of the most travel I’ve done. Ten days spent in Beito was a great pre-camp to the real pre-camp in Ruka. This allowed our bodies to get a headstart on adjusting to Europe time and training on snow. The on-snow training in Beito offered plenty of challenging terrain and snow conditions. The first few days were wintery, and the skiing was excellent for early November. A large chunk of the available 4.4km man-made loop is part of the World Cup course, and the TV does, in fact, not do it justice. It was fun to get a sneak peek of the race course because our third stop in Period 1 is in Beito, so we could do some intensity on the courses we'll be racing on come December. The courses are courses I really like; minimal flats and tons of climbing with technical descending. However, the tough courses made training hard without flat or "tourist" trails to rip around on during easy skis. It was good practice ensuring that my heart rate was in level 1, even if the pace felt so slow, like walking on skis slow. This is the challenging time of year because it is so exciting to get back on snow, and it is easy to go too fast during easy training and train too many hours. One of my goals going into the week was not to get too excited about skiing too fast and too much, and I'm happy to report that I was successful! Slowing down this past week allowed for an easy adjustment to our next stop: Ruka, Finland. I met up with the rest of the US Ski Team in Ruka a few days ago. We are all settled in cute little cabins right beside the race courses. The courses are slowly coming together each day as truckloads of snow spread around us, but I have yet to ski on the sprint course. I do have to say that everyone says the hills in Ruka are crazy, and the TV doesn't do justice to them. They are, in fact, correct. The hills are the biggest ones I've ever seen on a cross-country ski course. We love the challenge! I'm hopeful that slowing down over the past two weeks will help me find that extra race gear here in a few days :) Some of the highlights from Ruka so far include: seeing the sun (!!), baking lots of yummy treats, amazing homemade dinners by our very own chef Tanya, getting to know US Ski Team staff better (mainly wax techs), and way too much giggling with my roommates Jessie and Julia. We are having fun!!          Park city version
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Lauren JortbergFollow along for updates about ski training, traveling the world, and the ups-and-downs of being a professional athlete. Archives
May 2023
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