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US Ski Team Park City Camp

October 22, 2022
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Hello all, this is Finn O’Connell with the latest BSF Pro Team update. For the past two weeks ,the team and I were in Park City, Utah for a training camp with numerous other teams from around the United States. For me, being a member of The US Ski Team, I stayed with and was supported by The US Ski Team. I was excited for this opportunity to live, eat, and train with all my friends on the team, but also a little sad because I have not been on a training camp with the BSF team yet this season. Life on The US Ski Team is also quite a bit more hectic than with the BSF team. But it also has huge rewards! The first week of camp was filled with meetings and testings, such as strength testing, blood work, sports psychology, and numerous team meetings to discuss anything from the next days plan, to world cup selection and criteria. However, while these meetings and testing days can be hard and not allow for ideal recovery, the team finds ways to go over the top to make sure our needs are met!

The entire US Ski Team after uniforming day. New KAPPA gear

For the two weeks we were there, we had a chef cook us lunch and dinner! This was a huge benefit and a huge time saver. Being able to finish your morning workout and roll right over to lunch helps tremendously in the refueling aspect, but also gives us a huge head start into the recovery process. On the BSF team, when we return from our morning workout, it can be a mad scramble in the kitchen to get calories down. And after eating you still have all the dishes to do and have to clean up the kitchen. With the US team, we finish eating, put our plate away and can walk across the hall of the USANA Center of Excellence or COE, to the showers. After a quick shower, there are numerous physical therapist and other tools such as Normatecs and Theraguns to help aid in recovery. I would normally get a little bit of PT done in the form of a relaxing massage or stretching before heading back to the house for some down time and a nap. Then the process starts over again with our afternoon training session. This normally was strength or an easy run or roll from the COE, which meant we would finish this workout and dinner was served.

All the athletes from the different teams at the beginning of a bounding session

Another amazing benefit was after our strength sessions, the COE has a protein smoothie bar! All the frozen fruit you could think of, protein powder, all different types of milk and yogurt and anything else you might need for a protein shake. Digesting protein directly after a strength session is key to not being sore the following day. You can also get in an ice bath or get the Normatecs going on your legs to help flush the lactic acid. Truly an ideal post strength routine!

The first 10 days of this camp I was with the US team and for the last weekend I moved to the BSF team! These last few days were so fun! While having all our meals cooked was nice, it is also fun to cook meals with my friends. I also was able to relax during the day because I didn’t have any meetings or obligations. Logan, Simon, Reid, and I played a lot of pickle ball the last two nights as a recovery activity from the  roller ski races in the morning.

Reid and Logan on the pickle ball court after loosing bad to Simon and I

The first roller ski race was on Saturday and was an individual 10k skate race. Initially the race was scheduled to be a mass start, but the registration list had grown to over 60 men! And the roller ski track at Soldier Hollow is just not suited for a mass start race of this size. The team had a very successful day, stacking up against the best in the US and against other teams. The top performance was Sarah Goble who landed on the podium in 3rd place behind Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins. Myself and Mariah Bredal were both 5th place. And Graham Houtsma was just behind me in 7th place! It was a very successful day!

Link to 10K individual skate: https://my.raceresult.com/223277/#0_930160

Sarah Goble on the podium after placing 3rd in the 10k Skate

The second race and final day of our camp was a classic sprint. For me I have been focusing on my sprint racing all summer. The first period of supertours consists of 3 sprint races and 4 distance races. For me to achieve my goals, I will need to score a solid chunk of points in the sprint races. Anyway, I had a solid warm up given that we had to start warming up in the dark, and I knew my technique had improved a lot for these quick powerful efforts. I ended qualifying in 8th place. I was behind 5 athletes who are starting on the World Cup this year and within a second of the others! Logan Diekmann qualified in first which is really exciting! In the quarterfinal, I set out on a hard pace and was able to hold my position through the entire lap. Graham, Logan, Reid and I all advanced to the semi finals. Logan and Reid ended up 3rd and 4th in their heat but scored the lucky loser positions. I ended up in a double pole sprint finish with Noel Keeffe and JC Schoonmaker. I finished 3rd and Graham was 4th. I was .5 seconds from gaining the lucky loser position. The final ended in a pretty big crash and Noel and Logan came away clean for 1st and 2nd. The others skied it into the finish easy as there was broken equipment and some minor injuries.

Link to classic sprint: https://my.raceresult.com/223371/

Overall, I gained so much knowledge from the US Ski Team coaches and all the support they provide. We are now 5 weeks away from the start of the season and the final period of training is underway. We will focus on power strength, and L4 skiing. As I write this, it is currently snowing and we will have to be flexible with our training. Stay tuned as we get closer to the start of the season!