Kyle Bratrud: Final National's Training

by Kyle Bratrud
January 2, 2014

We are down to two days till the first race of US National’s 2014. The weather has been gorgeous here with sun every day and highs around 32F degrees and lows at night much closer to zero. Yesterday I did some classic threshold intervals to get my feeling down for how I plan on opening my race. I have found I race best at altitude if I start the races very relaxed and build up the speed like gears in a car. My intervals felt smooth and quick. Today will be an easy skate ski and an afternoon shakeout jog. Tomorrow I will run through my pre-race routine and then I will be ready to rock and roll!

Since my last post a couple things have happened. First and foremost, Simi Hamilton won a world cup! I could not be more excited to see an American man on top of the podium. I think it gives the country hope on the men’s side, something that we may have been previously lacking. We also rolled into 2014 so Happy New Year to everyone!

More and more big names arrive to the trails every day here and the courses are beginning to take shape. It is awesome seeing so many people I have come to know over the years. I have always loved Soldier Hollow as the courses are challenging, fun, and beautiful all at the same time. I have heard the distance course will be the Olympic 5k, a course that wasn’t used at Nationals last year, nor was it used at Junior Nationals two years ago. If that is the case I would be very pleased! I have heard the course is very hilly and something new is always exciting. Regardless of what course we end up racing on, I am very excited to get the first distance race underway and test my fitness.

On another note, NMU has stayed at the Lodge at Stillwater the last two years for Nationals and since it is a bit of a drive from the race course, us, along with Michigan Tech, are the only teams staying here (that I know of). Therefore, in order to better pass our time we have invested in some Nerf guns. The battles have been intense and I must say I am very satisfied with our purchases. I always enjoy little things like that to take my mind off racing when we are here this long before the first event.

My coaches have done an amazing job helping me wax and test my skis and I look forward to putting all the hard work to use on Saturday! I will hopefully get a post up after my first two races, the 15k classic and the skate sprint!