Interview: Alice Flanders

Alice Flanders is coming off her best season ever, posting strong results at US Nationals and collecting a number of victories in freestyle events in the Midwest collegiate races last winter.  In April, it was announced she would be skiing for CXC this year.  We caught up a very busy Flanders last week ...

• Can you share with us where you are at with your collegiate life and work? 
  At the beginning of the month I finished up my 5th year at Michigan Tech, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering with a focus on Structural and a Structural Materials minor. I am currently about 1/3 of the way through a Master's degree at Tech and will be continuing these studies in fall 2015. The decision to continue with school was relatively easy since it will only be one extra year. However, even if it had been an extra two years, there is a good chance I would have continued going to school. It is extremely important in the Structural Engineering field to have a Master's degree. For instance the company that I am interning at this summer, WJE, requires a Master's degree as an application requirement for entry level positions. This is partly because the amount of information an employee must know to be successful in their position is drastically increasing and it is much easier to learn that information in a classroom setting. It also provided the company with the confidence that if you are given a task, you will know how to complete it, and if not you have the resources to figure it out.
• Where are you living these days, training full time or working as well?
  These days I am living with my parents in the Twin Cities. Although frustrating at times (which it always seems to be when you move back home), my parents live a short 15 minute bike ride from the office which has been a huge stress reliever. I am working full time for WJE and fitting in my training both before heading into the office and after work. Watching the sunrise during my morning jog and watching the sunset over Medicine Lake during an OD rollerski have become parts of the day that I look forward to. It sounds like a lot, and honestly, the being able to juggle both full-time training and full-time working is not easy. I'm really lucky though, in that my friends and family all understand how important my training is and are more than happy to spend time together while out on the mountain bike trails or while running around the lakes. I have yet to see a rule that says recovery time can't be spent in front of a computer doing engineering mathy stuff.
• What are your plans for this fall and winter? 
  This fall I will be heading back up to Michigan Tech. Joe has allowed me to continue training with the Michigan Tech Nordic Skiing and Cross Country teams. I am excited to spend another year training with all the wonderful people in Houghton. While in the cities this summer I will be training with a mosh-posh of skiers and friends. I'm hoping to sneak in a couple more workouts with the Greggs, meet up with some of the Tech Alum in the area, do some work with the summer training group my high school has started, and of course continue working with Kevin Brochman with MSC. There is also a chance I'll be able to do some workouts with my co-workers; I'm really excited for this. I've never worked in a place with so many people who understand how important it is to get out and play after work.
• How about the racing season, will you be racing with the collegiate crowd, traveling around the US circuit or perhaps racing some of the Midwest marathon series?
  This season the plan is to mainly compete in the Midwest marathon series. This is mostly because of my school schedule. Yup, they say grad school is going to be hard, and I believe them! That said, I am still planning on making it out for the West Yellowstone Ski Festival, US Nationals (Yay Houghton!), and sneak into some of the early season collegiate races if they let me. Last year was really long and stressful with all of the traveling we had, so having a couple of weekends off was a major goal for this upcoming season.
• How did you come to the decision to race for CXC this season?
  Andy Keller first approached me about joining CXC last year in West Yellowstone. We skied together briefly and he asked what my plans were for after graduation. I explained that I wasn't sure, but that pursuing Grad School at Tech seemed like a really good option. The next time we talked was after NCAA's. At that point I had confirmed I would be staying in the Midwest and that's when he offered me a spot with CXC. The hardest part about making the decision to race for CXC was figuring out if I want to continue racing at an elite level. There are so many other fun activities out there, and so many friends that I rarely get to see because of ski training, that taking the time to catch up with the rest of my life was, and is, really tempting. Once I made the decision to stay in school, it made a lot of sense to continue training and racing. I saw a lot of improvement this past season and I've already done the skiing and studying thing for 5 years, so why not continue and see where that goes. Joining CXC just makes sense.