snowPRO: Mike Sinnott

Mike Sinnott is a force to be reckoned with, especially when it comes to Nordic racing. Sinnott has had one fabulous season and he shared his thoughts on racing, his season and Sun Valley with Plum.

How long have your been Nordic skiing?

I've been Nordic skiing for just about as long as I can remember. It must have been since I was in first grade or so. All I know is that I committed full time to skiing, and quit the alpine thing, around middle school. It's been uphill ever since.


How did you get into it?

My parents weren't necessarily avid Nordic skiers, so I think my brother Patrick is the main reason that I became interested. He's six years older than I, and all his friends and their families were Nordic skiers. Naturally, he followed their lead, and I followed his. I remember starting out as a young kid skiing at Sun Valley on the golf course. There were various races offered, but more importantly there was a kids' loop with wooden rainbow and mushrooms to ski around and through. Thats my first real memory of Nordic skiing-- skiing through giant mushrooms as people gave me candy. The clincher though was Nordic Man. I was fortunate enough to grow up in his era. For those who dont know, Nordic Man is a super hero of enormous prowess who would wear a cape and tights and travel the valley with candy bribes for young children. I think he used underwear for a face mask. He was the real reason that I fell in love with skiing; I had a superhero offering me candy. How beautiful.


What do you like about it?

What's not to like about it? Nordic skiing is such an amazing adventure/exercise/experience. I love the physical limits and the agony of finding them. I love the long skis down the boulder trail under a warm sun. I love the spring crust cruising and exploring places I've never seen before. I love the travel and people who migrate towards the Nordic lifestyle. There is the technical side with waxing and form, then there is the physical effort and dedication side to racing. I love how the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It can be fast or slow, simple or hard, up or down, hot or cold. The sport just lends itself to so many moods. With the changing terrain and venues, I always have a new experience to look forward to, yet there is the familiarity to a skiing properally. I love skiing for hours and learning to pace myself, or skiing all out in a sprint and going as fast as humanly possible. For me, I could find a new reason to enjoy skiing every time I step on skis.


What was it like leaving the west to go to school on the east? How has it been returning?

Going to college on the east coast was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I think growing up requires experience. Staying in one place or even one region greatly limits that natural development. It's true for many things. The east coast has a different breed of person. It's hard to say just what exactly that means, but I think most people can sense it. To me, it was important to come into contact with those people and people from all over the country whom I went to school with. That's not to say you won't find such diversity in any school (and believe me, my school was hardly a melting pot), but I mean that I had a low concentration of people whom I would normally come into contact with here in Sun Valley. Plus I could observe them in their own habitat. Four years out east taught me quite a bit about dealing with different kinds of people, but also about what kind of person I enjoyed and what kind I wanted to be. So I had the people aspect, but I also had the skiing aspect of development and growing up. They dont really have winter out east. There is a "winter" season, but it rarely involves snow. It is more of a late fall than a winter. For skiing, it was very important for me to come into contact with that. I needed the humidity and sweltering summer training sessions. I needed the sheet ice on down hills and the dexterity to dodge brown spots. I needed the carnival aspect of changing courses or venues at the last minute. I needed the running in a month of rain. In short, I needed the unpredicatbility that eastern skiing brings. It's amazingly fun. Sun Valley is beyond doubt a wonderful and beautiful place. It can spoil us that way. So I like to think of my four years on the east coast as a chance to broaden my skiing horizons and learn to roll with the punches. I had a new coach, new training philosophy and really a whole new world. I believe it has made me a tremendously better skier just in the range of skiing experiences I ran into. But I'll tell you one thing: it's great to be home. The east is a fantastic place to visit. It has nothing on the Sawtooths.


What is your training schedule like all season long and after the season? Where do you spend most of your time training?

The training schedule is pretty hard to define. I train almost every day, taking a break one or twice a week to recover and many days I train twice. We start again outright on May 1 with a trip upto Whistler, Canada. It's important to keep the on snow coordination in tact. There will be various other on snow camps through the year either to New Zealand or Bend, Oregon or Eagle Glacier in Alaska. Plus we try to get some dryland training with other programs in Lake Placid or in Salt Lake City, for example. So there are a lot of camps going on through the year. Most of the time, however, I'm right here in the Valley. I do a lot of trail running and a lot of roller skiing (which i like to call death sticks due to the lack of any concievable way of stopping them). I spend a little time on my bike and a little time lifting weights. We like to train hard through the summer, building an aerobic base, then start to add more anaerobic sessions as the competition season nears. The training sessions can be 4 hours or 45 minutes. We have 5 levels of intensity and innumerable ways of mixing and matching the training methods. So like I said at the onset, it's hard to define how I train. Once the competition season starts, the training is cut back substantially. It's never wise to be tired for a race. I think an important thing to realise is that I am always adapting the training program to how my body feels and to how my schedule is playing out. This year I did a lot more running in the winter to keep my legs in higher fitness. It's an ever evolving game increasing total training hours between years and finding the model that works best for you. My personal secret is to maximise my time playing soccer.


How was the race in Alaska?

Alaska was fantastic. I went into the races a little hesitant. It was the end of the season, we were in northern Alaska and I had pulled my back in weight training a couple days before heading on the road trip. Even still, I had reason to dream big. My early season was a plagued with heavy legs, but by the end I was skiing in good form while others were worn out. I usually try to find some mental edge for the races, something that will make this race THE race. For Alaska, I kept telling myself that most people were tired and didn't want to be there. Not me. So I started the first race, a sprint race, and used it as a warm up. I didn't feel like I worked hard and was a little flat, but I still skied well. To me, that's a promising sign for things to come. I had a bad race physiologically, but still placed well compared to other people. The next race was US National Championships- a 30km duathalon, which means we ski 15km classic, then switch gear and ski the last part skate. In these kinds of races, the pack usually stays together through the classic part. What was especially cool was that the race started at 7pm. We were in the land of the midnight sun. It went out mellow and picked up near the last lap of the classic section, as I was expecting. I had stayed in the midst of things, without pushing myself too hard. When we switched over to skate, a couple top guys had made a small gap, but I was near the front of the next group of maybe 8 or so people. I put my skate skis on and knew they were fast; sometimes luck just falls that way. So I put an initial push on out of the stadium and dropped a few people. With only 15km to go, I wanted to weed out a few more people. From there I skied in a pack with 4 other guys, and we'd make little cat and mouse games with accelerations here or there to test the others in the pack. At the top of the climbing, one kid made a move and I tried to chase, but quickly realised I still didnt have much pop in my legs. My max speed just wasnt there. Luckily, the two that skied away were both from distant lands. I was still skiing with two guys, and we were the top two Americans (plus one Kazakastani). In the end, my lack of zip cost me, and I couldn't hold on as the other guy took off with about 1.5km to go. I had out gunned him at the Boulder Mountain Tour, so I suppose it's fair that he beat me on this one. I ended up 6th overall, but the silver medalist, which was a great result for me. It was fun, hard fought, and I know there is more in me.


What is your proudest accomplishment?

It's hard to choose a proudest accomplishment; its not my style to rank the things I've done. It was cool to represent the USA in a relay race at my first World Junior Championships in 2003. I was glowing when the ski team won our college's first outright NCAA championship in 50 years. The college was ecstatic and it was finally cool to be a Nordic skier. I could list the Boulder Mountain Tour victory as a highlight; winning the hometown race is always a source of pride for me and the community. I'd also rank up there my college degree, my staying clean as a racer and seeing the US begin to shock the world of Nordic skiing. Just to be a part of that, even if it;s not my personal results makes me proud. And Id like to think that the best is yet to come.


Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years, if all goes according to plan, I'll be in the same place, doing the same thing. Only better. I'd love to keep skiing as long as I can. Nordic skiers peak as athletes at a lot later age than in other sports. There needs to be gross physiological adaptations and changes in the body. Five years will just begin to put me in my prime. I will keep skiing as long as I am competitive and am passionate about the sport. I don't want to hold onto a dream when everyone sees I've strayed from it, but I do want to take this as far as I can. I don't forsee myelf leaving this valley to pursue that dream, it's too ideal here. What I do forsee is more time outdoors and more time skiing in Europe. I think there is a glass ceiling with the competition here. I'll need to race more in Europe inorder to truly push myself.


What do you love about Sun Valley?

Sun Valley is probably the most supportive and beautiful ski community in America. I'm not just saying that. I talk to friends and their jaws drop at my description. There is endless wilderness at our doorstep. There is a vibrant community that loves to be outdoors and that cares about each other. We have fantastic facilities, coaches, and families here who believe in the idea of skiing and ski racing. Perfect snow, perfect sunshine. I love the friendly, fun people who call Sun Valley their home. The icing, however, is the Sawtooth mountains. I've been to some outrageous places, and I still rank the Sawtooths as some of the most inspiring mountains I've laid eyes on.

Congratulations to Michael Sinnott! We are more than lucky to have him call Sun Valley home.