Posted by Hannah Rudd on Oct 26th 2020
Checking In From Bozeman with Hannah Rudd
Hello! Hannah here, checking in here from Bozeman, MT. The snow is starting to fly, and I’m getting stoked for the season to begin! This fall as flown by insanely fast and has been filled with lots of intensity, some quality training hours at camp, a good amount of work and coffee, along with some time for rest. |
At the end of September, I was able to compete in my first (and only) running race of the summer/fall. The Jim Bridger Trail run was a 10 mile, point to point race in the Bridger mountains right above Bozeman. It felt great to put a bib on again and got me excited for races this winter! |
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(Start of the Bridger Trail Run: Grayson Murphy, Me, Erika Flowers) |
At the beginning of October, my team (the BSF Pro Team) drove to Park City for a two-week training camp. In Utah we were joined by the Sun Valley Gold Team, the Crosscut Pro Team and the skiers from the University of Utah. During this camp we were able to do a lot of great interval intensity sessions, log some quality training hours, and gear up for two time trials at Solder Hollow. My time in Utah was one of the most valuable training camps I have ever been to. Being around so many fast skiers and fun energy really helped me to make some nice improvements in my fitness. I was also able to nail down and fix some technique problems that I have been struggling with all summer long. Although training camps are not completely necessary, I think that getting yourself out of your normal routine and into a new environment can prompt and inspire you to push yourself and make changes in your skiing that you otherwise wouldn’t have. |
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(10k Skate TT at Solder Hollow)
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(Some easy Distance before our sprint day)
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(Recovery Day Pancakes made by Chef Andy)
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After camp was over, I was sufficiently tired and in need of some rest and recovery. This year, I am trying to make a better effort at prioritizing my recovery- especially after big training blocks like the one I just had. I’ve been working on going to bed a bit earlier, taking naps (which I’m still so bad at doing), not overscheduling myself, and making sure I am getting enough electrolytes and fuel. After making some of these small adjustments over the past few months, I have been recovering a lot faster, have more energy, and am able to train more in the long run. After some covid testing, I ventured up to Alaska to visit my college teammates. And I arrived just in time for the first snow in town! |
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Now I am heading back home to start training with my team again and hopefully get on snow soon in Bozeman!!
Some Questions from SkiPost: SkiPost: What does “living the Nordic Spirit” mean to you? In what ways do you feel you live life with “Nordic Spirit”? The term “Nordic Spirit” is something that I have never thought about specifically before, but now that I am sitting here pondering it, I can imagine what this spirit is all about. I think that, to be a Nordic skier, you have to be a little different that the general population- you have to be tough, self-motivated, passionate, and willing to go far out of your comfort zone to accomplish your dreams. To be a good Nordic skier, you have to sacrifice a lot of things that a normal person would never give up and find joy in in the hard things that a normal person would usually detest. From my experience, skiers truly love all that the sport brings to their lives- the fun, the hard, the beauty, the pain, the tactics, the challenges, the success and the people. I think that, to possess these qualities is to live with Nordic spirit. SkiPost: If you could describe one method or idea on how to get more girls and young women to feel more confident and competent in sport, what would it be? Getting girls to be more confident in sport is a challenge that many have been working to overcome. When I was super young, I didn’t really like skiing and I felt slow when I was out on the trails with only boys. As soon as I got introduced to a group of skier girls my age- it all changed for me. Being able to ski with other girls was fun, encouraging, comforting, and allowed me to find cool friends. Me and my squad of skier friends named ourselves the “Groovy Girl Gliders” and we had more fun together than you could imagine. Most of the girls in this group continued skiing in high school and college and some of them went on to ski professionally as well. I think that a great way to get girls into sport and to keep them at it for a lifetime is to develop more female groups. From my own experience, as soon as you feel comfortable, not judged, and have a sense of community, the fun factor goes way up, and you get hooked for life. |
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(The Glory Days: Skiing with Alayna Sonnesyn and Maria Schoening)
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Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see you all on the trails soon!
-Hannah Rudd |