Erin Moening

We really got lucky with the snow early this year. We got to ski on the first day of practice for the first time ever in my high school career.  Now we are hitting December, we have no snow in the sky,  and it is warming up. Want to see Saint Paul's forecast for the weekend? This week I finally got to do my first high school race of the season, and I had so much fun. We went to Wirth, which only has a 1k loop, but we did a relay race, and I did it with my old friend, Mimi. Here is a picture of us from 4 years ago, when I was a 7th grader and she was a freshman. Me and Mimi! Not much going on besides this weekend, if the snow doesn't melt, my dad and I are competing in a race up at Elm Creek...... watch out for the Moening Mafia! Oh and next weekend is Maplelag! Some awesome team bounding on the way! Now lets just hope that they get snow! Not much snow for Maplelag..... ;( Cousin Party! Sarah and I Libby and I make the most out of the snow melting, tough 5

Entering December the ski season has been going on for almost a month now, and we really lucked out with the snow we got on the first week. It wasn't much, and is less now, but we've gotten to ski almost everyday. One bummer is we haven't really gotten to race yet. Well today my teammates get to… but I'm at home sick, so I'm hoping for a fast recovery so I can get back on the snow! My Cousin, Sarah and I Before I got sick, training had been going really well. I was skiing 6-7 days a week and doing about 6 strength workouts a week! While both of Highland's boys and girls teams need some work (and some endurance training! :) ) I'm thankful that I have some competitive teammates that have been pushing me this season. 

You know what my favorite time of year is? Guess..... The ski season!! And this post goes out in tribute of that, today the first day of the ski season, first day with awesome beautiful snow (Minnesota in November... let me just say ;) ) and the start of some exciting, thrilling times to come!! One of the first races last year! Just a quick recap, my State race didn't go as planned and I am bummed about that. It was an amazing experience and I was able to meet up with some friends that I haven't seen in a while. Shout-out to my awesome cousin Sarah (8th grader, BTW) and my just-as-awesome teammate Micah. They both had awesome races, even though they weren't feeling the best and I think that's really when you know someone is a good athlete. Its not always about how fast you go. Anyone could have talent, but the extraordinary people are the ones who whip that talent into shape and can just keep on going when times get tough. (Get ready for the pictures......) Super

Sections was last Wednesday, and it's been so busy that I hadn't gotten a chance to update until now! Sections was awesome and we got the chance to recognize our senior girls who've been with us for 4 to 6 years. The girl's team bought them flowers and gave them cards, it was so awesome to see them run their last high school cross country races, and we are really going to miss them next year!! Highland CC Girls' Section Varsity Team The girl's varsity race was first, so I got to cheer all of my teammates on after our race. I had a lot of energy and so I was pretty loud. The boys definitely heard me, but I may have bonked a little for the girls...... One awesome Cross Country and Skiing tradition we have here at Highland is Secret Sisters. At the beginning of the season we pull names and then give gifts to our 'sister' before every race. My sister has been awesome all season, but really did it when at sections she gave me........... PICKLES!! Exp

You know when you've had one of those really good races, where afterwards, you just can't stop smiling, well, I had one of those on Tuesday. I have to say it was probably one of the most painful races I have every been in, the course had some steep hills, and awkward wet spots, but I was enjoying myself so much, that I barely noticed! "I am too positive to be doubtful. Too optimistic to be fearful. And too determined to be defeated." It just happened that my awesome putting it all on the line race came just at the right time. The conference championship! I had a plan to win it, and had been visualizing for a couple of weeks, but the surprise came in when I didn't follow my plan. I was going to stick with 2 sisters who have been dominating our conference all season. They've been back and forth with each other, but are both extremely steady pacers, so I decided that I'd keep with them, then try to make a move at the last second. I have a probl

I have some fantastic teammates, within my club, my sporting teams, even my cousins. I work with my club during the summer, and especially this summer I met some awesome people. At one of my cross country races last week, it was a tough course being soaking wet, and fairly crowded. And then again, when is Cross Country easy? Blaine Invite- Season CC PR 15:48 (4k) For me the hardest part of the race is just before 1/2 way. I can have great middles which carry on to the end, and before the 1.5k, your adrenaline is still kicking. But sometimes the excuses can kick in, and then its your job as an athlete to push them away and think 'happy thoughts'. Think of all the good workouts you've had, your big goals, who you want to beat, who you don't want to beat you. Being my competitive self, when I saw my EU ski teammate, Lili (who runs for Irondale High School) ahead of me, my first thought was, "I CAN NOT let Lili beat me, without a good fight". Now Lili and I a

This week has been so busy. Let me just break down the average day. Or the 2 average days… I guess. This week I started swimming with my school's swim team in their early morning practices. This for me includes waking up at 5:00am, getting all my stuff together, eating breakfast and biking the 2 miles uphill in the dark to my school. We workout for an hour, doing light core work, and some lap swimming.  What I feel like when I swim After I get ready for school, I sit 5 long periods before I get to my favorite class, strength and fitness! We work out for about 45 minutes and then I only have to survive one more class before Cross Country!! This week, because we had two races, our workouts have been fairly easy. Then I race home, rush through my homework and dinner, and then run up to my lifeguarding job. As soon as I get home I go to bed.  My other routine day involves light weight room workout 6th period and then right after school, a cross country meet.  We had 2 this week, Battle

I found this funny because of two things. Its a snowman (I'm a skier) and it has abs (and I'm talking about strength here). Once school starts (tomorrow ;( no!!!!!!!!) my weekly strength workouts will go up from 3-4 to 5-10. During the first semester I am taking a strength and fitness class and I am joining the girl's swim team's pre-school workouts in the fall. Plus adding in some cross country core and some extra 1/2 hours in the weight room (from CC also) I can predict that I will be waking up (super early for swimming) with some sore muscles. Of course I'm not doing the same routine everytime. Here is a peek at what I do for general strength! General Strength This is just as the name says, General Strength. Here goes my normal pull-ups, push-ups, bench press, crunches. Some stuff I'm adding onto it is energy prevention for running and skiing focusing on my hips and hip flexors. Just some throwback photos from earlier this summer. Rollerboard- Ski sp

For me, one of the most important things about Cross Country is balancing everything to not get injured. And thats the problem with being a biathlete. Right now I'm putting big hours on skis, increasing my hours in the weight room, and bringing more intensity, running and skiing. Gotta break it to you, I haven't been that happy with my running, too, which makes me even more determine to  do well in training. First CC race of the season One thing I'm exciting about (and dreading losing my endless summer hours!) is I got my class schedule, and I have a weight lifting class! Now I'll be able to spend a minimum of 5 days a week doing general strength, balance, power, and speed drills!!!  See! ;) Look at that strength! Besides training, eating, sleeping, and working my new job at the JCC as a lifeguard, I don't have much exciting news except for my family cabin weekend from a couple weeks ago, so I'll entertain you with some of those pictures.  The Girls c

If you ever get the chance, go hiking in the Tetons. It was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the U16 camp, and I'm so glad I was chosen for the camp because even though it was only a week, I was filled to the brim with new knowledge and ideas. It was an amazing experience and I am very excited to push the boundaries even more now.  Saturday morning we took an early start to get out on the trail. It was a gorgeous morning with a great big blue sky and perfect comfortably warm weather. We all started off together but ended up breaking up into smaller groups.  My fellow hikers and I almost to the top We ended up hiking for 4 hours to complete 15 miles. We summated 3 mountains and climbed up to around 10,300 feet.    Climbing up the 2nd mountain One thing I'm very happy about is I got to have a snowball fight in August! And we made snow angels, although the snow glacier was pretty packed down.    Snowball fight!!! We ended up eating lunch on the very top of the last