Busy Week by Matt Liebsch

Matt Liebsch is a member of the CXC Elite cross country ski team and a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He is an Olympic hopeful and had a very successful 2009 season… 3^rd Place at US Nationals, Mora Vasaloppet winner and American Birkebeiner Champion. When Matt is not training and racing he is helping out at Gear West or spending time with his wife and one-year-old son.

So this past week was quite eventful. I started the second week of training camp only to get a call from Marybeth after the first workout. She was heading to the hospital with her mom to check things out… she stated that she didn't think she was in labor and said I should stay at camp and finish my second workout with the team… I ignored her and got in my car went to meet her in labor assessment.

Good thing I did because we had a little girl later that evening. Check out my website www.mattliebsch.com for her picture and stats. She is a mellow baby compared to Grant and is very sleepy. Marybeth is recovering quickly and our parents have been helping out a lot… I even got in a few workouts last week.

I'll be hanging low for the next few weeks as our family adjusts to a new little one but then the training hours will get ramped back up. It's not worth training hard if the sleep (recovery) isn't there. Remember it is the recovery that makes us faster and stronger. I learned this the hard way when Grant was born.

Train hard, train smart

Matt

Training Hard by Matt Liebsch

Matt Liebsch is a member of the CXC Elite cross country ski team and a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He is an Olympic hopeful and had a very successful 2009 season… 3^rd Place at US Nationals, Mora Vasaloppet winner and American Birkebeiner Champion. When Matt is not training and racing he is helping out at Gear West or spending time with his wife and one-year-old son.

I am currently one week into the 2^nd CXC training camp of the year. Last week my training load was the largest I've done in quite awhile… 24hrs of rollerskiing, weight lifting, running, intervals and some paddling. Sunday my team concluded the training week with a 4 hour classic rollerski… lots of double poling and about 45 miles covered. I am surprised at how well my body reacted to the training load. Usually after a week of high level training I am ready for a message and a few days off.

Right now I am enjoying my Monday (off/rest day) without any excessive tiredness or soreness. I attribute this to tapering a bit coming into camp and carrying out my passive and active recovery methods daily. I've been doing some active recovery jogs, stretching and self message along with proper nutrition during and after workouts.

This week is the last week of camp and won't involve quite as many training hours. Hopefully the weather stays nice.

Also, our baby girl should be arriving any day now. Soon I'll have two kiddies to chase around!