From Winter to Spring

It’s mid-March here in New England and what with the early turning forward of the clocks and the particularly vernal weather we experienced this past weekend, folks ‘round here are understandably getting excited about the onset of spring and –more importantly –the fading of what has been a long and persistent winter. Happily, evidence of the imminent change of the seasons is at-hand as the embedded photo –taken on my morning run –attests.

Here at In the Arena this transition brings with it its own peculiar set of rites: it’s when the winter athletes wrap up their ski seasons, usually with a barnburner of a World Cup or a National Championship; and it’s when the summer athletes begin to test the fitness they’ve so dutifully been building since the beginning of the year.

I’ve borne witness to both of these types of events the past few weeks –albeit at a distance –as the full roster of Arena Athletes continues to pursue excellence in their chosen sports fields, as well as, of course, in classrooms, gymnasiums and community centers around the country and for the benefit of today’s youth.

Here’s a brief look at the competition highlights posted by Arena Athletes in the past few weeks as winter fades and spring approaches.

Brian Gregg notched his first SuperTour win of the season –along with CXC teammate Bryan Cook –in the Freestyle Team Sprint at the Madison SuperTour. A few days later, he capitalized on the confidence from that race to win a sprint finish for 4th place at the American Birkebeiner, the country’s largest single-day Nordic ski race.

After traveling over to the Czech Republic for the World Championships, Caitlin Compton returned stateside to do some domestic races, including the hometown City of Lakes Loppet, which she won in front a hugely –and understandably –partisan crowd. Given Caitlin’s propensity to dominate the longer distances, look for her to have a serious impact at the upcoming US Long Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, AK at the end of the month.

Sporting a new affiliation with the esteemed Oregon Track Club, Gabriel Jennings proved his early season fitness with a 3:58 mile at a recent meet at the University of Washington. To his credit, he said he’s taking the result as just one step along the road to running really fast this spring and summer. He has since decamped to Tucson, AZ with the OTC for some warm weather training prior to settling down in Eugene for the race season.

If ever there was a buzz forming around the development of an athlete, that would have to be Karl Erickson who –after relocating from his hometown of Minneapolis, MN to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA –has put in a superb winter of training and is very much the talk of the elite athletes gathered there. We all look forward to seeing the caliber of results Karl produces this spring and summer.

Kate Whitcomb admits that she hasn’t had quite the season for which she had hoped and prepared; a back injury left her with no choice but to settle down in ID to pursue various PT treatments. But now she’s on her way back to being healthy –and fit, no doubt. And the good news? All that down time left her with an abundance of energy for “her kids” at Hemingway Elementary, where she is a regular fixture.

As Laura Valaas herself writes in her most recent blog post: “There aren't too many days when you laugh when a teammate tells you your place because you're both happy and unsure that she's telling the truth, or when your first glance at a results list your own name jumps out at you from the very top.” Well, that pretty much sums up Laura’s past few days of competition. After returning from the Continent and a few World Cup races –including an appearance on a sprint relay team with silver medalist Kikkan Randall at the World Championships in Liberec, CZE –Laura turned her attention to some North American races and has been decimating the competition. Currently installed at the Canadian National Championships, she’s won two of the three races she’s entered and is going for her third Canadian title in four tries later today. Go, Laura!

Coming off of a New England winter in which he wasn’t once able to get outside for a training session, Matt Chisam posted his best-ever finish in a post-collegiate National Championship when he placed 4th at the recent USATF Indoor Multis National Championship in Durham, NC. He’s now en route to his sunny home state of California for some warm weather training and a few more early season competitions.

Mike Hazle gets the award for number of miles traveled this season (although he might have to arm-wrestle Torin Koos for the honor). He’s just returned from a banner six-week training trip to Scandinavia where he ate, slept and trained with some of the world’s best javelin throwers. Some might say it’s counter-intuitive to leave sunny San Diego to go to cold and dark Norway for a bout of training; but Mike has a keen sense of precisely what he needs to do to succeed and there’s no doubt he’ll be raring to go come this outdoor season.

After earning a much-coveted World Cup start earlier this winter, Nicole De Yong settled down to contest a series of North American races. Hampered by a cold of late, she’s only raced one of the three events at the Canadian Nationals. But when she kicks her cold to the curb, watch for her to have a stellar performance at the US Distance Nationals in her home state of Alaska.

Sara Hall rebounded from a nagging winter injury to score back-to-back top-three finishes at the USATF Indoor National Championships in Boston last month. She earned a 2nd and a 3rd place in the 3000m and 1500m, respectively. Those strong finishes, especially among that caliber of competition, bode well for the season to come. Hopefully we’ll see her in Boston again soon when husband Ryan Hall competes in his first Boston Marathon on April 20th.

Like Mike Hazle and Torin Koos, Sarah Groff has been racking up some frequent flier miles. She kicked off her season in Hawai’i before returning to Colorado Springs, CO for some more altitude training and is now bedded down at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. Happily, she’s been able to catch up with two ITA colleagues while there: the aforementioned Karl Erickson and Mike Hazle. It’s good to know that our virtual community occasionally becomes real…and enjoyable.

Of all the news that is happiest to report, this particular tidbit tops my list: Tim Broe is running. He may not be running very fast, and he may not be running great distances; but he is indeed running again. Having a keen sense of Tim’s talent and determination, I’ve no doubts that he’ll be a force with which to be reckoned in the coming months and years.

Truth be told, I can’t recall the last time Torin Koos was on US soil. Christmas, perhaps? Such is life on the road with the US Ski Team, which Torin represented for the fifth time in this winter’s World Championships in Liberec, CZE. In addition to racing well at that venue –and doing a superb job of chronicling the experience for fans near and far, including his rapt fifth-grade youth charges back in Wenatchee, WA –Torin has also competed in a full slate of World Cups, posting an impressive 12th-place finish last weekend in Lahti, FIN and an 8th-place in Valdidentro, ITA (his best-ever freestyle World Cup finish) in mid-February. With just a few more races ahead of him, including a race around the King’s Castle in Stockholm, SWE and the US Long Distance Nationals, Torin has surely earned a trip home and ample R&R.

After battling giardia in the early part of the season, Zack Simons rebounded to post some impressive results, including a win at the Boulder Mountain Tour, some strong sprint finishes and a well-fought race at the Engadin in Switzerland last weekend. Although I know Zack was planning for a more robust season, he did a great job of working with what he was given and will surely be aiming to have an impact on the ski scene next season.

Zoila Gomez and her longtime coach Damon Martin have decided to spend the spring and early summer going after a new 10k PR before focusing on a fall marathon (possibly the World Championships in Berlin). To that end, Zoila has assembled a slate of shorter races, including a recent appearance at the US Cross Country Nationals in Maryland and some upcoming events on the track. Something tells me that 32:47 is going to fall by the wayside as Zoila rolls her way through the 2009 season.

Here at ITA we wish all the Arena Athletes –and the kids who work with them –the best in their pursuit of excellence.