In
The XC Ottawa links section lists these athlete websites, but here is a short summary to whet your appetite.
Olympic gold medalist Chandra Crawford (Team 2008) updates us two to three times a month with great stories about her travels, racing, and training. Her positive have-fun attitude and commitment to women's cross-country skiing are evident in her posts.
Dasha Gaiazova (Team 2010) wrote frequent updates
throughout her 2006-07 ski season, often posting same day race reports, allowing
readers to get an in depth view of the racing action. Let's hope she keeps up the momentum for her 2007-08 season.
Sprint specialist Sean Crooks (Team 2008) posts fairly regular updates on his racing and
training on his fancy website. He currently describes getting back into high hours of training, and how he has a "sore body most days of the week" (somehow it's reassuring to hear that even the fastest get sore . . . ).
UNITED STATES
Wonder what it's like to train 20+ hours most weeks of the year, with freqent 5-hour workouts? Check out Kris Freeman's website, where his eloquent coach Zach Caldwell details his training, racing, and the reasons Kris thrives on this volume-based training.
Laura Valaas wins the award for the most consistent and frequent writing. With almost daily reports and pictures, she talks about her training, writes detailed and timely race reports, and shares whatever else is on her mind. Last year's readers could follow Laura's stellar season and progression as an athlete, where her sprinting abilities earned her a trip to the World Championships and spot on the US Ski team this year.
Keep up with
Besides skiing VERY fast, Andy Newell is also into making XC ski movies, as is reflected by his website. Although mainly dedicated to his movies, Andy also provides updates on his life and training.
ELSEWHERE
North American XC skiers certainly aren't the only ones talking about their training and racing. Here's a sampling of athletes from other countries:
Australia: Paul MurrayFinland: Virpi Kuitunen
France: Vincent Vittoz
Germany: Claudia Kunzel
Itlay: Piettro Piller Cottrer