I am humbled to have something I wrote, put up on the Dr. Oz Blog. Check it out at:
http://blog.doctoroz.com/oz-experts/olympic-sized-advice-for-joint-health


More to come after the weekends' comps in Sapporo! 

As I sit here in the Laundromat washing my entire stack of clothes and race suits, I realized I have just about reached the halfway point in my trip.  Shonach and Chaux Neuve were successful for me.  Last week in Chaux Neuve, France I was able to ski to a 20th place finish as well as an 8th place finish. The second day was also made special because both Taylor and myself were inside the top ten.  Taylor has been working very hard this year but has not had the results to show for it, and last week he finally created an opportunity for himself and took advantage of it.  Taylor skied a blistering fast race finishing 5th just a few second ahead of me.  We had a great time in France this year, the lack of snow made the competitions very interesting but I think it only added to the fun atmosphere of the competitions.

This week is the Seefeld Nordic Combined Triple, three events in three days! The snow conditions here in Seefeld are great, we are back to winter on the world cup tour.   This jump & course are very challenging; it very well could be a fight for the podium each and every day from all of the competitors in the field.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to ski the new redesigned course here, and I have to say they took an already hard course and made it even harder.  It will be very exciting to see how it races compared to the old one.  Each day of the triple takes into account the previous day.  The first day is a one jump 5k race, after the event only the top 50 will get a start on the second day, which is a one jump 10k.  The third day will be a 2 jump 15k race with only the top 30 competitors from the previous day.  So hopefully if all goes well everyone on team USA will make it to the last day of competition!  Last year I had my seasons best result finishing 5th in the triple overall.  It would be a dream come true to repeat that this season.  I am not overly concerned with the result however, my goal this year is to continue building on my competition strength and performance.  My goal is to have just three solid days on the jump hill!  If I can accomplish that, then the weekend was successful!

Outside the hill, our team has been playing some really good games of Canasta, A rummy type card game to pass the time. We have also enjoyed learning some new card games from our Swiss counterparts.  I am not the biggest card guy but the last two weeks I have certainly played my fair share. Today’s day off will be spent enjoying the views from the Laundromat.  School has also started for ¾ of our guys so it seems like that will start to fill up more and more of our time as the semester ramps up. 

Another treat for our team this week is we have Dave Cieslowski, a former competitive skier turned PT.  Dave worked with us for the first time last season, and this year he is back for not only Seefeld, but world championships as well. This season we have not had a PT traveling with our team regularly so after two weeks of hard competitions it will be amazing to get some work done and correct all the abuse we have thrown at ourselves.  Thanks Dave!

The last thing I want to chat about is my friend and colleague Nick Fairall.  Nick had a horrible crash in the four hills tournament a few weeks back.  He was immediately taken to the hospital to have emergency surgery and is now recovering from that.  As you can imagine he will have a hefty bill along with long road to recovery ahead.  I want to encourage every one to please donate to his Rallyme to help offset costs and give him the best possible chance to make a healthy recovery! Please just go to this link to donate: https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/1342/nick-fairall

So there you have all my news for the week! Thanks for reading and hopefully next week I will have some very exciting blog posts from Japan!  

Blog Thursday is here again! Today’s entry will be short and sweet.  Last weekend in Shonach, Germany was a blast.  We had a ton of fun racing in the rain and the Shonach organizing committee did a great job putting on the event with the tough weather conditions.  The team event was a cold and miserable rainy day; our team embraced it and raced with smiles on our faces.  Day 2 in Shonach the weather was much better.  Jumping for myself was another step in the right direction, I jumped to 33 and was able to put together a great race to finish 9th.  I am extremely relieved to have another result inside the top ten going into this big block of competitions. 

Shonach was the first of five weekends in a row of competitions for me.  Moving forward, I am very excited for this weekends comps in Chaux Neuve, France where we will have a team sprint as well as an individual comp.  This jumping hill has usually been pretty friendly to me, so I hope to continue building in the right direction here.  The XC course is extremely hard and I know it will be some tough, tough racing.  I am in good shape though so with some luck everything can come together.  Next weekend is the big Nordic Combined Triple!!! The event is in Seefeld, Austria which is always a fun stop on the tour and I am sure will yield a large crowd.  Last season the Triple was the highlight of my season where I finished 5th overall. Obviously it would be amazing to improve upon that this season.  Seefeld yields probably the second largest crowd only second to this weekends comp in Chaux Neuve.  For many athletes this is their favorite stop on the tour for exactly that reason.  I cannot deny that it is a very special feeling when there are so many people in attendance, lining every inch of the 2.5 km course. 

For team USA this weekend in the roster we have Bill Demong, Taylor Fletcher, Adam Loomis and myself as our four guys.  The weather looks like it maybe another rainy one but Chaux Neuve never disappoints and I am sure we will have some great competitions!  

Additionally up in Norway we have our COC team gearing up for competitions in Hoydalsmo, Norway.  So I would like to wish them good luck! Kick some ass boys!

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Twitter: @skifletch

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2015 is here!!! I partied so hard last night it was insane…. Ok so maybe that is an exaggeration. Right now I am in Shonach, Germany and since we have comps this weekend I rang in the New Year by going to bed at 930.  (Jetlagged) I did however wake up to the fireworks that started around 1150 pm and lasted until around 1 am Non-stop.  It was no Steamboat spectacular, but it was constant and most definitely loud! Our hotel is in Triberg; a small town nestled into a tiny valley so the fireworks really resonated! I was happy they woke me up; it gave me a moment to reflect on the year past, as well as gave me some positive motivation moving into the New Year.

I guess because this blog falls on New Years day I have to give a few highlights of last year as well as what I am looking forward to in the New Year. So in 2014 there were two major highlights in my mind. One is obvious; it has gone down as the best night of my life thus far! Marrying Nikki, in my mind, is the greatest accomplishment of my life… I can’t imagine my life without her and I am really looking forward growing and sharing our lives together. The second highlight of 2014 was making the Olympic team.  To be able to check that off my list and call myself an Olympian is an amazing feeling.  I am very happy I was able to reach that goal. 

Despite having a pretty good 2014, I am very excited for 2015 to be here. I am happy to move forward with all the new and exciting adventures in play. In skiing I hope to make some progress on the jump hill and move back up to the level I am capable of. With good performances I hope to complete this winter season with some strong results.  Falun is definitely a big goal for me. To walk away with some Hardware from there would be a dream come true.  I without a doubt have some work to do, but I really do feel I am figuring things out and will be a contender when the time comes. 

The grand scale of the year aside I am excited to start this weekend in Shonach with probably the best snow conditions I have ever seen here. A great way to start off the New Year compared to the usual strip of snow in a green field.  The weekend’s events consist of a 4-man team event on Saturday followed by an individual event on Sunday.  Our team this weekend consists of rookie Ben Berend, who is pumped to be up on world cup for the first time since making the national team! Adam Loomis who has already shown some great promise so far this season, Taylor Fletcher, and myself. So there you have it! GO USA