May 1, 2011 - Update!

The off-season is only 4 weeks of freedom and it always flies by as I run around attempting to do 3 months worth of stuff. Fast and Female has been ripping it up and with events in Alpine skiing, Ski Cross, Biathlon and XC this winter all over North America you gotta check out our all-star new ambassadors such as Ashleigh McIvor by going to www.fastandfemale.com.

As for my spring, the outcome that matters is showing up rested and ready for a hard year of training, and this year I've improved upon my preparations by not getting as out of shape as I usually do in the spring.

This was accomplished by racing into April at the US Nationals in Sun Valley and starting up some intensity work after almost three weeks of general fun fitness stuff like backcountry skiing, alpine skiing, yoga, road biking, mountain biking, kayaking and hiking. Canmore is still buried under the biggest snow year since I was born here in the early 80s so it was wonderful that Devon and I scored a sweet trip to St Lucia through some friends and were able to properly celebrate his winning of World Champs and have a really restorative week.

Below are some photos from fun times staying at Jade Mountain in St Lucia, the most superlatively incredible place in the entire universe as far as I can tell. Our room had an infinity pool in it!! Hiking both Piton Mountains in a single day was a real highlight, as was mountain biking on sweet jungle trails.

Up next I have a busy training season with lots of cool camps that I'm really looking forward to. I'm taking organization to new levels now that I have an iPhone and iPad2 - my life is definitely better with these contraptions, I tell ya!

May 2-13: Tuscany, Italy Road Biking with www.GoldMedalPlates.com
May 21-June 1: Bend, Oregon training camp - snow and dryland with our team and the Americans.
June 9-13: Montreal B2ten camp straight to
June 15-26: Maui training camp (last fall our team had won no medals the previous year so Justin said "If you guys win 5 world cup medals we can train in Maui." super motivation!)
July 1-9: Haig Glacier
July 15 - August 15: Anchorage Alaska Women's Team camp + two more weeks of solid work with the dynamite US National Team Girls, Alaska Pacific University team and of course the inimitable Kikkan Randall.

Thanks for tuning in and keep an eye on www.twitter.com/chandracrawford for more frequent, though less informative updates.

Although Devon was in fact there he is always on the other side of his Nikon D200 so we have almost no record of him being there... scroll down to the last shot to catch a glimpse of DK.