Kris Freeman's going the distance

In spring 2008, during his first off-season training block, Kris Freeman trained 80.5 hours over 21 days - or close to four hours a day on average. For hard training sessions, the cross-country skier did intervals on his roller skis and three 100-mile bike rides.

One of those rides was the hardest one he could map out. Starting from his condo near Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, he hammered up and over at least three passes in the White Mountains and climbed over 5,000 feet total.

Later in the summer, he headed out for a six-hour run on a hot day. Although he primarily trains alone, his brother, Justin, had time to join him for part of the workout, so he opted to run a 21-mile loop twice rather than do a hike/run in the nearby mountains. That's 42 miles. Running.

His long-time coach Zach Caldwell has noted that Freeman is willing and able to train himself into an early grave.

"He trains hard enough so he has to plan his grocery shopping so it doesn't waste too much energy walking around the store," said Caldwell.

Perhaps this is what it takes to be a cross-country skier who excels at the 15-kilometer classic event and is trying to win the first U.S. cross-country ski Olympic medal since Bill Koch took a silver in 1976.

But what Freeman and Caldwell have learned - especially in the last year - is that the cross-country skier's best results have come almost despite his high training load. He finished fourth in the 15km classic race at the 2009 World Championships last February after resting for almost a month, no thanks to a flare-up of Compartment Syndrome - a painful condition where the muscles in the shins' anterior compartments outgrow the fascia.

And in December 2007, he finished fifth in a World Cup 15km classic race after taking a few days off to recover from illness.

With rest in mind, the skier and his coach have tweaked his training plan this year. As Freeman's third Olympic Winter Games approach, the 29-year-old is focusing on energy management - more quality workouts, "as opposed to banging-your-head-against-the-wall-type training," explained Freeman.

By reading some of the accounts on his blog on Fasterskier.com, as well as a training blog at Krisfreeman.net, it becomes apparent that Freeman has always had a propensity to push his limits. And to compete with his brother.

As a kid, when he and Justin, who is four years older, and their dad would work out together, Freeman wrote that "my dad never slowed down for me on runs" on his training blog, Krisfreeman.net.

"If he dropped me, he dropped me," he wrote. "If I looked haggard and useless, he would make fun of me. Both Justin and I recall putting in four- and five-hour ski days when we were eight years old!"

This explains in part how both Kris and Justin became elite cross-country skiers. Justin is also an Olympian, having competed at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games with Kris in the 15km classic race.

But Kris added in his blog that he wouldn't have wanted their father to treat them any differently.

"Parents coddle their kids too much on the ski trails," he wrote. "My dad made us tough, if slightly sadistic when it comes to one another being tired on training expeditions."

Justin skied at Bates College, graduating in 1998, and was named an NCAA All-American in both Nordic skiing and running. He also raced on the U.S. Ski Team. Now retired from full-time training and competition, he teaches math and science at a private school in New Hampshire.

Kris started college at the University of Vermont in 1999. He finished eighth in the sprint at 2000 World Juniors his freshman year and was named to the U.S. Ski Team. College could wait.

Shortly after making the USST, during a routine blood test, team doctors discovered that Freeman was a Type 1 diabetic. His ski career appeared over.

But Freeman proved otherwise. He often gave himself up to 12 insulin injections a day when racing and has competed at the highest level. At the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, he helped the U.S. team to fifth place in the men's 4 x 10km relay. He also finished 14^th in the pursuit and 22^nd in the 15km classic race.

In 2003, he won the inaugural U23 World Championship 30km classic race and then took fourth at the 2003 World Championships a week later. At the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, he came down with the flu but still managed to finish 21^st in the 15km classic.

Since spring 2008, he has worn an Omnipod insulin pump that adheres to his skin and delivers insulin at a more accurate dose than injections can. Freeman, who is sponsored by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, fills the pod with three days worth of rapid-acting insulin and sticks it anywhere he can find subcutaneous fat - the back of his upper arm or above his hip, but he said that sometimes it's difficult finding fat on his lean frame.

The adhesive sticks on wet skin, so he can wear the pump during his hardest training sessions and in the shower as well. The insulin in the pump does not need to be refrigerated but should not be exposed to temperatures higher than 98.6, says Eli Lilly's website.

A small needle punches a tube into his skin beneath the pod; the needle retracts but leaves the tube, which delivers the insulin when he needs it. "It hurts less than a finger prick," he said.

Using a hand-held device that resembles a PDA, he can change his insulin dose more rapidly than he could with injections. He credits the pump with some of his good results last winter.

As the first athlete with diabetes to compete at the Olympic level in an endurance sport, Freeman said that he has no path to follow. "It's a constant learning process," he said, especially when it comes to nutrition. Training load and sugar management are strongly linked.

"One of the reasons he's carried such a high training load at times in the past is that blood sugar management can become a big issue when the load comes down," wrote Caldwell on Krisfreeman.net after the 2009 World Championships. "And when blood sugar management goes bad, it's really easy for Kris to get run down and sick."

In the month before the 2009 Worlds, Caldwell noted that Freeman modified his diet more than he has in the past - "knocking back his carb intake quite a lot, and eating more protein."

"The Omnipod has also given Kris a tool to deal with the day-to-day, and even hour-to-hour dosing variations in a way that was impossible before," Caldwell added.

Freeman is currently the only male distance skier on the U.S. Ski Team's A Team, and his solo status has allowed him to move from Park City where U.S. Ski Team headquarters are located back home to New Hampshire.

"That's is where I grew up, that's where I'm most comfortable, and I feel like that's where I've had the most productive training," he said. "I'm not sure that would have been possible if we had had a full distance team. But because I was the distance team, I was able to do that."

"I like to be on my own schedule," Freeman added. "I like to be at my own pace. And I never have a problem staying motivated."

Caldwell agreed, noting that Freeman doesn't need peer support. "He's a total individual," he said.

But Freeman's solo endeavors may not be entirely by choice. "I am nowhere near being able to roller ski with him anymore," Justin said, "and frankly, nobody else in the country can really [keep up] either."

Justin pointed out that Norwegian legends Bjorn Daehlie and Thomas Alsgaard reportedly trained alone even though they lived 20 minutes apart. "A lot of the time, what works best for you is not necessarily what works best for anybody else," he said.

Freeman's hard training hasn't always led to the best results though - and not just because it has left him susceptible to Compartment Syndrome, a condition known to hit cross-country skiers who train intensely.

Surprisingly, his best performances have come after a sickness or injury, which forced him "to shut things down to rest," explained Caldwell.

His fourth at 2009 Worlds last February is one example. Diagnosed with his second bout of Compartment Syndrome last January, he had to make a decision - have surgery immediately, or rest for a month, then do only the classic races at Worlds.

"It was only one more month, and I knew I was in really good shape," Freeman said.

Caldwell instructed him to ski no more than one hour each day - although three weeks before Worlds, Freeman won the Craftsbury Marathon, a 50km classic race in Vermont, beating Justin by almost three minutes and the rest of the field by over 10. Not exactly true rest! But on his blog, Freeman said the race cheered him up and reminded him why he loves the sport.

On February 20, in the 15km classic race at the 2009 World Championships, Freeman finished fourth, just 1.3 seconds off the podium.

It was a confidence boost, he said after the race, and shows that he's a medal contender going to the 2010 Olympics.

He then flew to Vail, Colorado, to have surgery on his shins. Although he underwent a fasciotomy in 2001 (where the fascia were serrated to relieve the pressure in his anterior compartments), the fascia had re-grown and developed scar tissue as thick as an orange peel.

This time, he had an invasive fasciectomy. On March 3, 2009, a surgeon at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic "peeled about 60 percent of the fascia" - as Freeman described it - off the muscles in the anterior compartments in both legs. Without as much fascia to contain them, his shin muscles now have a slight bulge, or "bicep," as Freeman calls it.

For two weeks after surgery, he lay on his back and did nothing. One of his main challenges was managing his sugar after cutting his daily caloric intake from 5,000 to 1,800 calories. Then he began slowly rehabbing, first trying to write the alphabet in the air with his toes, then sitting on a training bike.

"The rule was I could be on [the bike] for 20 minutes, but I couldn't turn the pedals fast enough to actually turn the machine on," said Freeman.

This was a dramatic change for someone whose life has revolved around training. But it also forced him to rest and to begin his Olympic year slowly.

"In past years, I would train so hard that it would sometimes take me a week or even two weeks to recover from a certain training block," explained Freeman. "This time, we're never pushing so hard that it takes more than a day or two to get ready to race. I'm never more than three days removed from a good race effort, whereas last year, I could be weeks in the hole from really pushing hard."

But Freeman is quick to point out that he is still training 22 to 26 hours per week, as opposed to 26 to 30.

"He's grown into the realization that he doesn't need to win an Olympic medal in July," said Caldwell. "Everything needs to come together in February."

At the 2010 Olympics, Freeman plans to compete in the 15km freestyle, 30km pursuit, and 50km classic races. His best event, the 15km classic, will not be on the program again until the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games - a disappointment, he said, but he does plan on competing through the Sochi Games.

The best he has done in these disciplines is 10^th in a World Cup 15km freestyle in February 2007. But he reported on his blog that since surgery, skating feels natural, and the range of motion in his ankles has increased.

"The guy is a machine," said U.S. Ski Team nordic director John Farra. "He has perfect fitness. He has repaired his legs. I wouldn't count that guy out in any distance race."

But will the machine stay out of overdrive?

"I've trained huge, huge volume in the last three years," Freeman said. "You've got to cash in your chips sometime and go for it."

Peggy Shinn is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.