Cholula, Eggnog & 24 hours!

I'll make this quick because my beloved bed is calling..... my last night in almost five months!  I'm savoring every last minute of being home but at the same time, I'm ready to leave.  I love training and I love racing and it's time to put all this hard work to WORK! Astrid Jacobsen sent us pictures from Beito this AM (or first race stop in Norway) and things look great.  I have one sleep and 24 hours until I board the plane .... or FOUR planes to get to Norway. I have so many loose ends to deal with.  I owe many of you visits, Thank yous and all kinds of things but perhaps they'll have to wait until I am overseas - and perhaps via skype? It's always a balancing match trying to get every last thing done, prioritize training, and making sure that you don't get sick before you hit the road.  

One also has to figure out how to fit Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day & Rob's birthday into a duffel bag because that is exactly how long it will be until I return to AK! 

Speaking of that, here is a bit of my life right now: 

It's literally in PILES and lots of it must go.  Luckily I'm getting a packing/wardrobe coffee consult tomorrow from my good friend Najeeby. When you have to pick 3 t-shirts and 2 pairs of pants for a winter they should ideally be the right ones! My apologies to Rob who has been dealing with my house-disaster zone for quite some time now. Soon enough he'll have his bachelor pad back! 

Here are a couple of my World Cup edible essentials:

And a quick shot from my night tonight... drinking Eggnog with some of my best friends. (After a moose curry dinner). What a fabulous send off! 

Tomorrow will be restful & chaotic. I'm looking forward to some time with Rob & Buggz as well as a "phone date" with my parents.  

Thanks so much to everyone who's been SO supportive. I look forward to keeping ya'll in the loop more than once a week too! I have lots of writing to do on the plane including blogs, emails, my next ADN column, my next International column for the Nordic Skier.... 

It's been great seeing a white Anchorage before taking off! More soon - flannel is calling! 

Ciao! 

Holly :) 

The Power of 25 & Sochi Send Off!

Heyo! Happy Wednesday ya'll!  Just T-8 days until I pack my bags until spring time! Time is flying by and needless to say, it's busy with training, life & everything nearly a 5-month "deployment" entails :) 

My "leaving on a jet plane" time is quickly approaching but that's not the only thing..... The "Drive for 25" campaign is also 9 days from the end. Check out a note about the campaign that I sent to a bunch of folks this past weekend (below my first screen shot here) 

Dear Ski Friends, 

I'm writing with a quick favor to ask.  By now, I'm sure that many of you have heard of the National Nordic Foundation (NNF) and the "Drive for 25."  Basically, it's a grassroots engagement campaign to bring the US Ski Community & friends closer together - and draw support for the future of US Skiing. (Take note that I'm not calling it a "fundraiser" even though it is technically a fundraiser.)  

Instead, it's a chance to take ownership and contribute to the future of the sport.  SO.... when we have success in Sochi, you can say that YOU were a contributing factor!  Money raised goes to offset expenses for development trips and unfunded positions on the World Cup. 

It's funny sending this note to many of you because you ARE the Nordic community.  But, if we don't call on the Nordic community & friends to pitch in, who will?  As such, Rob and I also contributed $25 dollars each to signify that we support the future as well.   

So, I'm asking you to please consider pitching into the campaign.  My goal is to get 25 different donors at $25 dollars each.  I don't care much about the dollar amount but more about the participation.  If you'd like to donate more of course that is your decision.  My goal is to get at least 25 different people to pitch in!!!!!  

Also, to be clear - this is not a fundraiser for me. It's a fundraiser for the future of the sport.  Please consider joining me by donating, as I have done here: 

https://www.grouprev.com/hollybrooks 

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone on my page who stepped up thus far - you guys ROCK! 

I took screen shots of the 21 folks who have donated to the NNF via my page thus far (as of last Tuesday night.)  Thanks so much to these people for becoming STAKEHOLDERS!  It's funny in that I feel like a lot of people aren't donating because they are a coach, a groomer, an administrator, have kids or a family member that skis. It's so easy to feel like others will do it but please, take the bull by it's horns and help out this great cause! NNF has helped me fund trips in the past that I would have otherwise been unable to afford. Had it not been for those trips I might not be vying for my second Olympics! I'm not asking anyone to donate a lot (but of course you are welcome!)  The most important part of this campaign to me is ownership - as I stated above. So please, if the Nordic Ski Community means anything to you, please consider joining us!

Speaking of Nordic Skiing...... the skiing at Hatchers continues to be magnficent. The historic Independance Mine is so picturesque, I just love skiing there although it is incredibly challenging skiing. While the drive is a big time suck I am so thankful to have snow to kick & glide on.  My plan is to roller ski this afternoon but after that I might be hanging them up for the season.

#storyofmylife, Fast & Female + running with chickens!

Another insanely fun, busy & productive week... I'm going to share a bunch of pictures and they are going to be out of order..... because I'm too tired to re-arrange everything. Gotta keep ya on your toes! 

We had our 5th annual Fast & Female Anchorage event. I have to say that I think it was the most fun ever. The APU Ski girls were joined by UAA Gymnastics & BB... as well as a rep from Women's ski jumping and more. It was AWESOME. 

We had a photo booth where girls could dress up and get their pictures taken together - what a hit!  Here are a bunch of girls - trying to look serious but I promise (or at least think!) they were having fun :) 

 After a busy week Kikkan and I needed to get some R&R and focus on training. We did a mini-camp up at Hatcher's Pass Lodge. Being mid-week and bad weather we had full control of the place. It was awesome, restful & just what we needed.  They even had the Shining on VHS although we opted out of that. We spent one morning drinking coffee reading over the surveys from Fast & Female in front of the fire place. It was near heaven... 

 This is bar-none the most hilarious comment in the entire stack of 200 surveys! 

 I took some photos & video with Rick & Levi up at Hatcher's Pass for Kendall - stayed tuned for that! (Thanks for the fun shoot you two) 

 I think Buggz has SAD..... because he's been sleeping in this chair, in this position for what seems 20 of 24 hours lately. Anyone else's pets acting overly lazy? 

 Recording PSAs with the Girl Scouts! And being paid in Girl Scout Cookies! (Perhaps selling 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies when I was young helped with my work ethic?) 

Me & Kikkan with Mary and Bonnie - our SUPER FAST AND FEMALE VOLUNTEER! We couldn't have done it without her!  A special thank you also goes out to Joey Cat! You ladies rock! 

 Tons of activity stations at FF where girls got to try all sorts of cool things! 

 Sling shot biathlon - with tootsie rolls! 

Thanks so much to all the sponsors for Fast & Female - we had great community support for the event which made it possible. A special shout out to one of my long-time sponsors, the Rhyneer Clinic which kicked in for the event!  

Also of note is that BP donated 10K to Fast & Female!  We're really hoping to build the programing and dream of being able to hire more staff so we can expand and have more programs.  This donation is a great start to that. 

 Linda Cresap had the team over for a meal.... it was AMAZING surprise surprise. I felt like I was in high school again having a teammate's parent cook for us. Why can't this happen everyday? 

 This past weekend we also had the APU FUNDrun benefiting both NNF and the Alaska Winter Olympians Foundation.  There were some AMAZING costumes. Special thanks goes to Jim Jager for the vision & for organizing! 

 It's important to note that Lex ran the ENTIRE 5k with a LIVE chicken. Yep. 

 Go Eva! 

 Teammates at an early am session at Hatcher's Pass 

To create good skis one must keep klister in their pants :) 

Until next week!  Happy Halloween everyone. Be safe out there! 

Holly 

.... What day is it?

I can't believe that I already flunked my "blog every Wednesday" test.... I thought athletes were supposed to be good at setting and achieving goals. After all, isn't a blog a week (delivered on the promised day) a whole heck of a lot easier than a top ten on the World Cup! You might think.....

Yep - the skiing at Hatcher's Pass really is this good... 

But it's been BUSY since I got home. I feel like I'm trying to stuff the next five months of life into the 3 weeks I have in Alaska.  There have certainly been a couple of times where I really have to think about what day of the week it is - seriously.  Athletes don't work Monday-Friday and we certainly don't have weekends off.  Lame excuses for botching the blog Wednesdays I know but I promise I'll make it up!

This is one reason I've been so busy.... the 5th Annual Fast & Female is TOMORROW! We still have spots open so if you know of a girl between the ages of 9-19 send her to East Anchorage High School tomorrow!

 If Friday nights are always going to be spent in the weight room at least I have a good training partner... 

Scout rocking the box jump! 

My third "Road to Sochi" article was printed in the Anchorage Daily News on (blog!) Wednesday..... Here's the link in case you want to check it out

Road to Sochi: Olympians ramp up training for final hundred days

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/10/22/3138027/ramping-up.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.adn.com/2013/10/22/3138027/ramping-up.html

Nicole at Hatcher's Pass - bluebird! 

Me at Hatcher's Pass! 

Alright, that's it for now - gotta get back to F&F work! 

More soon - thanks for cutting me some slack! 

Cheers, 

Holly :) 

Wednesday Whereabouts and Anti- Doping Tribulations

Holly & Kikkan roller ski training at SOHO - Tom Kelly Photo

Speaking of “Whereabouts” Anti-Doping efforts have been quite active lately, collecting urine samples from athletes far and wide.  Last Sunday was our much-anticipated day off from training and an opportunity to sleep in after a week of busy, consecutive 13-hour days. I nearly jumped out of bed at 6am when I heard a loud “knock, knock, knock” on the condo door.  Not knowing how long the person had been trying to wake us I sprinted to the door and nearly ran into Kikkan who was equally half asleep.  As it turns out the DCO (Drug Officer) was testing on behalf of FIS and Jessie was the only name on the list. 

But don’t worry, the rest of us got our turn too.  Just two days later came another knock on the door, this time at 7:30 in the morning, literally 5 minutes after I had gone to the bathroom. Liz lucked out by hitting the snooze alarm that morning and she could “provide the sample” on command.  I, however was not so lucky. Upon their arrival I realized my predicament and started pounding liquids, alternating between water and coffee. We were due to leave for practice at Soldier Hollow at 8:25 meaning that I had less than an hour to provide an ample sample, get through the paperwork, and ready myself for morning training. On my first attempt I could only squeeze (yes, I know…) 45 ml into the cup for testing.  45 is only ½ of the required 90 ml so after 5 minutes of trying with the sink water running for inspiration, I provided a partial sample.  This brings about an additional layer of paperwork.  Then, the sample had to be within my sight the entire time and I had to be within sight of the DCO the entire time until my "test" was complete. This resulted in my running around the condo, drinking water and packing for the roller ski workout, drinking coffee, and worrying that my inability to pee on command was going to make everyone late for training - all while toting around a jar of my own pee. (Sorry if this is a bit rough around the edges... I'm just trying to paint a clear picture of a realistic situation!) 

Needless to say, I was able to deliver and we were less than five minutes late to practice!  Apparently all "Olympic hopefuls" must be drug tested at least once within a 150-day window before the Sochi...... 

That's it for now.... expect a longer post soon! Thanks for ready & have a great day! 

Cheers, 

Holly :) 

Zuzana Rogers Photo

Pain faces and the meals to make up for it!

I am really really tired.  It's been lots of 12 hours days at the COE (Center of Excellence) full of training, meetings, activity & excitement.  Yesterday we wrapped up fall testing and I'm happy to report it went well.  In my classic max test I stayed on the treadmill longer than the spring and my proof of a hard effort is in the "treadmill" burn on my knees that I got from collapsing hard onto the treadmill while it was still moving. Luckily I fared better than these people:

Then yesterday in my classic double pole max test I held onto the treadmill once again with my teeth. Yes, you heard me right, my teeth.  Protocol for the treadmill is that every minute the gradient increases and as you fatigue, it gets harder and harder to keep up. If you get behind for even a split second you're in trouble as it's virtually impossible to move your way back up the treadmill.  We wear chest harnesses, have our noses plugged, and are connected to oxygen.  I fell behind and was literally hanging on by biting the mouthpiece connected to the O2. I never said max tests were pretty...... 

Yesterday we also had strength tests. This includes FMS or "Functional Mobility Screening" and strength tests. Ida and I partnered up and we captured some real pain faces. Hopefully she doesn't mind me putting them on the Internet. Mine are just as funny if not worse than hers! 

HOLY cow Ida can squat a lot!  Actually we are standing on a force plate here which measures the pressure that is going through our feet. 

 The one-legged force plate max push is much harder and more awkward than Ida is making it look. 

 We also measured lots of jumps.... 

After all this hard training we need some serious recovery.  Tonight we cooked up a fall feast in our condo.  Thanks to Morgan Arritola for the recipe inspiration!!!!! 

Via Mo's recommendation we made Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Onion with Tahini and Zaatar. I'm sadened to report that we couldn't find Zaatar but we tasked master chef Cork into googling substitutes for the spice and whatever he did turned out excellent! 

Try out the recipe for yourselves here.... it's fantastic! 

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2013/02/roasted-butternut-squash-and-red-onion-with-tahini-and-zaatar.html

Also, I posted a bunch of pictures from camp on my athlete site, "Holly Brooks - Dare to Dream" if you're interested in checking them out. LIKE my page for more regular updates!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.594221177281298.1073741835.165326413504112&type=1

In the meantime, I'm happy to report that this is the second Wednesday in a row I've been successful at posting!  Check back next Wednesday if not before for more updates on the team and the last big training block before the "winter of SOCHI!" 

Have a good one & as always, thanks for reading, 

Holly :) 

Wednesday - CHECK!

I did it!  A little Wednesday update... probably my shortest blog yet!  Things in Park City have been pretty chill but they're starting to pick up fast... it's going to get busy really, really soon. With what you might ask? Meetings, USOC training, pictures, uniforming, more pictures, presentations, Fast and Female Park City, Fundraisers, Testing, blood tests, goal meetings, technique, more pictures.... training twice a day.  

To complicate things the USST Team always stays up at Empire, near Guardsman Pass while in Park City.  I believe it's close to 8600 feet - basically at the top of a mountain.  We have a few cars .. but we have more people so we joke about how every day is a carpooling jigsaw puzzle with everyone's slightly different schedules, meetings, and PT appointments.  You can't exactly walk to or from town  unless you want it to be one of your training sessions for the day! (For the record I am NOT complaining) 

 As you can see, Fall is in full effect here in Park City. We've had some gorgeous days but this weekend is forecasted to get colder and snow, rain, or thunder - we shall see! 

 I spent today in Salt Lake City; I had an airport workout, airport workout sandwich plus some.  I enjoyed the change of pace and got to mix things up with my good friend and old training partner Katie Ronsse. Katie has less than a year left of PT school at UU. She took me out on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Katie and I have done lots of adventures in Alaska together and we are always Bear Aware. But today we found a new predator..... 

This snake was just chilling across one of the bike paths we encountered.  We didn't really want to bike by it so we stopped and threw things at it like total amateurs. We thought it might be dead because it wasn't responding but then we saw the tongue... Needless to say it was a great ride and we survived the snake encounter! 

Last but not least - SAVE THE DATE! 

Fast and Female ANCHORAGE is going to be Saturday, October 26th! We'll be signing up participants & gathering volunteers shortly. We hope to see you there! 

More from Park City soon! 

Thanks for reading, 

Holly