How Kendall Kramer Stays Mentally Fresh and Builds Momentum

Kendall Kramer is an excellent cross country athlete. In both cross country skiing and cross country running. As a recent graduate from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kramer was a Division I National Runner-Up in cross country. Now, her Olympic dream is coming true in cross country skiing. 

Kramer, the epitome of a multi-sport athlete, attributes her success on the snow to the work she puts in on the grass.

Cross country running does not require the technical component that ski racing does, but the aerobic strength remains the same. “The engine that somebody has cardiovascularly is so important and you can't work on that and replace that as well as you can work on the technique bit,” says Kramer. “Cross country training was so valuable in helping me amp up the intensity because it simply makes you a very fit individual.”

Though Kramer was away from her skis throughout the cross-county season, she’s the first to say that the nature of both sports is actually complementary. “Keeping the intensity consistent throughout the entire season because of the running has helped me in my success for both sports,” she says.

Staying Mentally Fresh

Being a dual-sport athlete not only expanded Kramer’s physical capacity, but also became one of her greatest tools for avoiding burnout. Switching to cross country each season gave her something rare: distance. Distance from routine and distance from burnout.

“You're around a fresh set of people. Cross country is really simple and it's a simple way of living and training. I always found it to be a really good break to help me stay fresh for both sports because then by the time it was done, I was super ready and excited to ski again.”

It’s this mental clarity that keeps Kramer’s mindset sharp. And its impact reaches far beyond sport, extending into every corner of life.

“If you can be mentally clear, your relationships will be better. You'll have more focus in sports. You feel like you can take on more loads of things such as school work and a job on top of everything,” says Kramer.

Building Positive Takeaways

Gratitude is another tool Kramer relies on to stay mentally strong in the face of adversity.

“If you're going to only take away how you did on the results sheet out of every single race, it's going to get really old really quick and there's going to be a lot of disappointing competitions,” Kramer reflects. “You can take away more than like the number on the results sheet and you can be grateful for some other part of the experience, whether you felt really good and you didn't get a very good placement, or you had a technique breakthrough, or you were really brave on a downhill, or you feel like you had good energy throughout.”

A placement is an outcome that captures a single data point on a single day. But what lasts far longer is the mentality you build along the way. Kramer believes that the resilience to keep showing up, the perspective to carry yourself under pressure, and separating self-worth from a number on a results sheet is what really matters. Helping athletes build a lasting mentality like Kramer’s is exactly why Back The Team exists.

Back The Team is on-site at the Winter Olympics going inside the Mental Game of the 2026 Games. Be sure to follow along at @backtheteam for our latest updates!