It’s back to schnitzel, lederhosen, and weissebier. I arrived in Austria yesterday after a reasonable day of travel on a direct flight from Boston to Munich followed by a two hour car ride to Salzburg. Just in time to move into Austrian Military Housing at the University of Salzburg’s Rif Campus, which seems extremely odd to me but it’s relatively normal for Austrians. All adult citizens (18 years old) are required to serve for six months. However, this military housing, situated just above Rif training center, is only for athletes. Either way, I’m here for a week of intense conditioning training and testing before I meet up with the U.S. Europa Cup Team in Pitztal (a glacier two hours away in Austria). It’s already been a difficult two days, but I’m really happy with the program legendary Austrian trainer, Thomas Stadler, put together for me over the summer and fall. Tomorrow in the first stage of testing we’ll see how far we’ve come.

Anyway, it’s good to be back in Salzburg, my home last season. I hope all is well, w