LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Sept. 22) - U.S. cross country athletes are winding down a training camp designed to take advantage of closer-to-sea level elevation while they cranked up the intensity on their daily workouts.

"It's been a good camp - very intense, getting a lot done," said Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT), a 2002 Olympian who collected his first two U.S. championships last season.

The camp, which concludes Monday, is the first since the U.S. Ski Team returned from its annual three-week August camp in New Zealand. Johnson is joined by Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) and sprint specialists Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) and Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) while veteran Carl Swenson (Park City, UT) is training independently in Norway.

"Since we live and train in Park City and that's about 7,000 feet [elevation], this is an excellent opportunity for us to get down to sea level and turn up the intensity," Head Coach Trond Nystad said. The athletes roller-ski or have a morning run daily and usually spend a couple of hours in strength and conditioning workouts in late afternoon at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Lake Placid is at about 1,750 feet elevation; Nystad is running the camp with Sprint Coach Vidar Loefshus and World Cup Coach Pete Vordenberg.

"The facilities and food are great here at the OTC, the roller-skiing is good and it works out well for us," Nystad said. "We get a different environment and can take advantage of allthat Lake Placid offers."

He said Swenson was expected to rejoin the Ski Team shortly and blend back into the daily training regimen before the team heads to Alaska for the start of the SuperTour schedule with back-to-back weekends of racing - Nov. 5-6 in Fairbanks and Nov. 12-13 in Anchorage.

"Then we'll come home for a short time," he said, "go to West Yellowstone [MT] for those races [Nov. 25-26] and then head to Canada for the World Cup races" Dec. 10-11 at Sovereign Lake near Vernon, B.C., and Dec. 15-18 at Canmore, the 1988 Olympic venue west of Calgary in the Canadian Rockies. With additional quota spots for North Americans for the World Cup allocated by the International Ski Federation, Nystad said those places will be filled from the SuperTour races.

"Olympic year...World Cup opportunities - we're expecting some strong fields for those races," he said.