GRP: Where Are They Now? - Chelsea Little

Chelsea racing in an Eastern Cup at Craftsbury, December 2010. Photo - Flyingpointroad.com

[The GRP: Where Are They Now? series highlights Green Racing Project alumni and the different paths they have taken since moving on from professional sport.]

For this GRP Snow alumni spotlight, we checked in with Chelsea Little. Chelsea skied for Dartmouth and graduated in 2009 with a degree in Ecology. She wasn’t anticipating skiing after college and only had been applying to “normal” jobs toward the end of her senior year. When the Green Racing Project announced its inception that spring, she jumped at the opportunity, applied, and was accepted as an inaugural member. Chelsea raced for the GRP Nordic team from 2009 – 2011 and helped kickstart the homologation of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center race courses. Her passion for science then led her first to Sweden, where she earned her MS in Biology from the University of Uppsala, and then to Switzerland and the University of Zurich, where she completed her PhD last year. While pursuing her advanced degrees, Chelsea stayed connected to the world of Nordic Skiing by writing for Fasterskier.com, where she served as Editor-At-Large and was most intrigued by the weighty topics surrounding sports governance. Today Chelsea is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia. We’ll let Chelsea fill you in on the rest!

Why did you choose to come to Craftsbury? Why the Green Racing Project?

I was graduating from college with a degree in ecology, and I’ve been an environmentalist most of my life – my mother works for a conservation nonprofit, and so I was around it from a young age. The idea of a ski team that was dedicated to sustainability sounded so cool to me… I couldn’t really believe my good fortune when I was accepted onto the team. It felt like winning a lottery ticket.

What were your primary work contributions while at Craftsbury?

I worked a lot on getting the process started for homologating the race courses. That taught me a lot – I didn’t know much about homologation before then, and it gave a new understanding of ski racing and course design. I think it started my interest in the technical side of the sport. I’d like to become a TD in the future if I ever find the time. As part of that project (and others) I had also applied for a grant to get us GIS software from ESRI, which I used to look at the trail system and different course layouts. I use GIS in my job now, so that was great to keep up with a skill I had learned in college.

Did you have a favorite work project?

One of the most fun all-team projects was building the bread oven by the dining hall because it was really hands-on, but not too physically hard. I had a Toyota 4Runner and I remember driving it down into Elinors field, where we loaded it up with big rocks that would make up the bread oven’s foundation. It wasn’t a truck exactly but we decided to use it like that, which was kind of funny: how many big rocks can you put in an SUV? The whole process was fun and it was awesome when we finally made the first pizza in the oven.

What is your favorite training memory as a part of the GRP?

Lots of good ones, it’s impossible to pick out a favorite. But one fall we had a training camp out around Lake Tahoe, and we did a really beautiful OD run on the trails, through huge mossy trees and towards Donner Pass. I had never been to the area before so it was totally new to me – pretty special.

What was the hardest workout with the GRP that you remember?

I remember Pepa having us do short max intervals on the SkiErg before breakfast one morning. Then we had a short break for breakfast before we drove out to East Albany and hopped on our rollerskis and went for a really long time – in my head it was like 4 or 5 hours? Can that be right? Luckily, we ended at Lake Willoughby and the Sargents’ for a big lunch. I wasn’t a strong rollerskier before coming to Craftsbury and I was just amazed, once we finished, that I had even been able to do it. Sometimes when something is hard (athletically or just mentally) I still think of that, like, well, I did that crazy workout that one time which seemed insurmountable when we were first told the workout, surely I can push through this now...

Do you have a favorite memory of training with a teammate?

Sometimes Lauren Jacobs and I would go out in a double scull for a recovery workout. I am really happy that I could learn to row a little bit in Craftsbury. It was such a cool way to cross-train and being out on the water in the quiet was really special. In some ways ski training is ski training no matter where you go, but then there are some of these peripheral things that are different in different places, and that was one of them.

In what way did your time in Craftsbury change you?

Putting in the hundreds of hours of training changes your mental approach to things forever. It taught me that things that seem impossible, are possible, like that really hard workout. When it starts getting tough and you still have a long time left to go, your mind goes in a different place, you get through it, and then you have a new sense of self-confidence because you really did just do that.

I’m also less afraid of trying something hard or setting a crazy big goal. I think that’s partly because I look back and can laugh at the goals I set coming into Craftsbury. They were so unrealistic! Who did I think I was? I failed at them – I didn’t even come remotely close! – but I’m also fine. It seemed like the biggest deal when it was happening, but life goes on. Once you do fail at something you think defines you, other things seem less scary. Apply for that dream job you don’t think you’re qualified for! Write a grant to create the thing you’ve been thinking of all these years that doesn’t yet exist! Pitch a creative or maybe just harebrained idea to your smartest colleagues and see what they say! If it doesn’t work, you still have whatever you were doing before and you’re still yourself. Your family and friends and dog still love you. But you’d be surprised, sometimes it works.

What is your current professional pursuit?

Chelsea doing ecological field research in Switzerland during her PhD.

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). That just means that I have my PhD and am doing research (so, I’m not a professor). I am an ecologist, and my project here is focusing on animal movement between ecosystems. For example, do you know where deer go when they sleep? There have been a few of papers over the last few years estimating that if deer feed in agricultural fields and then retreat into the forest to escape from predators, they then basically move nutrients from those fertilized farm fields into the forest when they poop. But most of these have just been estimates. I’m working to gather data about movement and nutrient excretion by different kinds of animals in different combinations of habitat types all over the world. The cool thing is that if we understand how many nutrients are getting moved around this way, we can start looking at things like, how does that affect plant growth and even what kinds of plants are growing where these nutrients are deposited? I just started in September so I am far from having any results, but I’m really excited to explore this topic.

What goals are you working towards? 

Right now I’m really enjoying research. I have also being doing a teaching internship at UBC and surprised myself by finding it really fun, even though I never thought I would be a good teacher. So at the moment, I plan to stay in a university setting, perhaps ultimately as a professor (apply for that job you don’t think you’re qualified for...). But there are lots of other jobs I think I would enjoy, including doing research at a nonprofit or government agency. I also sometimes think that the thing I’m best at might not be research, but at the process of finding, learning, synthesizing, and communicating different types of information into one good story. So maybe a career in the media or policy would be play to that strength. At the moment I am actively looking for academic jobs and more keeping my eye out for interesting non-academic opportunities that pop up. But that could reverse sometime – life is long, who knows.

Do you stay active in your sport, or have you found a new athletic or adventurous endeavor that you enjoy? 

I still ski and race recreationally. I mostly do loppets/ski marathons. I went to graduate school in Europe and so got to do a lot of local loppet racing but also some of the WorldLoppet and Ski Classics races. That was a really cool experience in two ways. When I was in Sweden for two years I joined a local masters club, and that was my way into actually getting to know some Swedes – otherwise I would have just been in the university bubble. The races themselves are also totally different than anything you experience in North America. So many people!

This year I am also coaching the UBC nordic team. It’s a club team, not a varsity sport, so we have a really wide range of athletes: one guy named to Canada’s World Juniors team [through no fault of my own, he’s mostly supported by his club & provincial teams), other people who haven’t really skied much before. It’s definitely a challenge as a coach! But mostly it is really fun, and I’m trying to build an atmosphere where everyone is supporting each other despite having some pretty different goals… I am honestly so impressed at the level some athletes are skiing at despite a lack of funding or regular on-snow training opportunities.

Do you have any new hobbies?

I have also gotten into mountain running in the last few years. Skiing and ski racing is still my favorite thing, but it has been a decade since I’ve lived in a place where I can ski more than 1-3 (at best!) times a week, which isn’t ideal for ski racing. Trail running in the mountains is something I can improve at, and that is really rewarding. It’s also just fun. I started when I was living in Switzerland during my PhD – well, I guess I really started when we did ODs in the White Mountains at Dartmouth, but we didn’t call it that – but anyway, it took me to see so many amazing corners of the Alps. I did a race in Courmayeur, Italy, where everyone around me literally stopped to take pictures of Mont Blanc at one point. We then went back to trying to outrun each other. It’s a really fun atmosphere and always in beautiful places.

Between my research job, coaching, and trying to stay in some semblance of shape, I don’t have a ton of free time. I have a sourdough starter that I bake bread with – in fact I do a lot of cooking, gotta fuel yourself – and I read about a book a week though!

What advice do you have for current professional athletes worrying about future career?

When I was applying for my PhD position, in the interview I was asked if I was really serious about science. I had taken this time off to ski, so how could they be sure I was 100% committed? It freaked me out a little bit and also annoyed me – come on, couldn’t they just judge the science part of my CV and not worry about the gap in it? But when I asked my eventual boss and colleagues about it later, they said that actually they saw my sports background as a positive thing because sports teaches people hard work, teamwork, and mental strength. They just wanted to hear how I would answer. I’ve never felt like taking a few years in Craftsbury hindered me from my eventual other career choices. Everything is possible for you! Have someone look over your resume/CV though, and make sure you are highlighting all the relevant skills you are learning and using while at Craftsbury. I promise, there are lots of them.

What advice would you give to your former self on the GRP?

Ugh, take things less seriously. Don’t worry so much about being “successful”, about how your ski career looks to other people, or about getting results that “make it worth it.” Results also don’t matter as much as you think they do, so have fun racing, enjoy this time, and don’t put so much pressure on yourself. If you just did that, your results would be better anyway