On the move

It has been a while since my last blog post, luckily for you blog readers out there it was not because I had nothing to blog about but the fact that I was doing so much I had no time to blog. I am now back in Fort Kent and have some time to catch up.  My last post I was finishing up a big training block in Utah that went very well and I think will help me a lot this winter. 

After Utah I traveled home to Washington for four days where I did some training and did as much normal person living as I could before Winter sets in and I just live the athlete life. Now that I mentioned it I am not exactly sure what most peoples normal people living is, but for me it usually involves lots of work around the house and with the sheep. Every time I go home I am enjoying working with the sheep more and more so all of that "work" is a good thing. Some of the sheep work we did was trim the rams feet, kind of like trimming your toe nails, so that they are in good shape for breading season which is coming up soon. This task became a lot easier a couple years ago when we purchased a sheep hoof trimming table. The hoof trimming table is basically a big cage that the sheep walks into and then pivots so that they are mostly upside down. This way the feet are accessible and when the sheep is on its back it becomes more docile. Before we had the table we would basically just wrestle the sheep onto their back and then have to bend over and hold their feet up, I don't think words can really explain how much easier the trimming table makes this job. Another sheep related job I helped with was shipping the wool that we had shorn off the sheep in the Spring. We stuff the wool into these bigs burlap sacks then bundle two sacks together which weigh about about 50 pounds then take it to the post office where we ship it to the a woolen mill. In a few months the mill will send us back blankets that we will sell. 

While at home I also helped get, split, and stack more firewood as well as I got a load of hay and stacked it in the barn. Another fun thing that I did at home was go hunting with my friend Remington, we didn't get anything but it was pretty fun hiking around in the woods. 

Maddie striking a pose over the Heber valley on the last day in Utah

Trimming the rams feet, if you look close you can see the sheeps feet through the blue grate, its head is over by my dad and near the ground

A pickup load of wood with trailer of hay behind

The river near our house, I thought it looked nice so I had to take a picture

Clare Egan and I finishing ski walking intervals in the pouring rain

Taking wool to the post office

The post master labeling the wool for shipping 

Remington and I hunting

More hunting 

The view from the top of the hill that we got to while hunting

After my time at home I traveled to Winter Park, Colorado where I coached a masters biathlon clinic with my friend and teammate Raleigh Goessling. I flew from Seattle to Denver, and was pretty proud of how I got from my Grandpa's house in Seattle to the airport. Keep in mind I had my backpack, ski bag, and rifle case for all of this. So I started at the house walked to the end of the block where I got on the city bus. I rode the city bus downtown where I got off and walked about a block to the light rail station, I then took the light rail to the airport. I then had to walk about a quarter mile from the airport light rail station to the airline checkin desk, I was envious of all the other travelers with their small roller bags wheeling along while I was struggling but I considered hauling my stuff around my strength workout for the day.

The camp in Colorado went really well. There were a lot of beginners and new rifles but we got everyone started on the right foot and excited to learn more about biathlon. It seemed like everyone went home with more shooting skills as well as Raleigh and I made some money which is why we hosted the camp in the first place. After the camp I put together a blog page for the campers that has a lot of information about biathlon and training for biathlon. Even though I made it so that people at our camp could have all the info we talked about I want anyone interested in learning more about biathlon to be able to use it as a resource. The blog address is  biathlonresourceusa.blogspot.com

Driving over the Cascade mountains to Seattle

Riding the bus with all my stuff going to the airport 

The biathlon range in Colorado

Most of the campers in Colorado, a few had to go home early

After Colorado I traveled back east for the second set of rollerski trials races in Jericho, Vermont. These were the final two races to determine who will go to the first three World Cup races for the US. Because of the way the selection process works the only people that still had a chance to qualify after the August races were Russell Currier, Sean Doughty, and Annelise Cook. There was one spot for the guys and two for the girls, Russell struggled with his shooting over the weekend so it looks like Sean will be the fourth guy for the US and they will not fill both spots on the womens side and only take Annelise. I struggled with my shooting a bit in these races, I think that I need to do some more practice shooting during intensity sessions. My skiing was pretty solid both days, not great but not terrible either.

Results day 1 10km sprint

Results day 2 10km sprint

My new boots awaited my arrival to Fort Kent, THANKS MADSHUS!!!!!

Just Training

So far this week has been pretty straight forward, lots of roller skiing, some running and resting whenever I can. We started the week out with an intensity workout that was a combination of L3 & L4. First we did 12 continuos minutes of 10/20/30 which is 10 seconds all out, 20 seconds at 10km race pace, and 30 seconds easy skiing. After that we did 4 x 5 minutes of L4 switching between double pole and no pole skiing. Finally we did 2 x 10 minutes L3. This was a good workout, I had consistent shooting with only 2 misses out of 40 shots.

The next day we did the French shooting test, if you don't know what the French shooting test is I explain it here. As some incentive to do well one of our coaches, Jean, said that if anyone has a score of 500 or better he would buy them a coffee and a treat in the airport on the way home. Scoring a 500 is never easy in this test but it was going to be even more difficult today because wind was blowing pretty good, about half a flag to the right. Then as soon as we started the first part of the test the wind changed directions and started blowing about half a flag from the left. The precision part of my test was not terrible, but not my best either. After the first part, precision, I took an additional 5 shots to re-zero before the speed parts. This helped me to do pretty well in the test but not quite good enough to get treated by Jean. I scored a 497 only 3 points short of the sought-after 500, none the less it was still a good score.

French test scores

Wednesday we did our second intensity workout of the week. This workout was long! It was also one of those workouts that when you finish you can honestly say this particular workout made me a better athlete. The workout was 6 x12 minutes L3 with shooting. The 12 minute loop included Solider Hollow's famous Hermods hill which tops the limits set by the FIS for length and steepness of hills on a ski course. When it was all said and done I did over an hour of L3 and three hours of total skiing. Below are my shooting scores with times, the first number is the time of the first shot and the second number is the total shooting time. We also used spare rounds like you would use in a relay race. The first number is the number of penalties you have and the second is the number spare rounds you used, for example no penalties with 1 spare round is 0+1. We also had our lactates taken after the 2nd and 4th loop those numbers can also be seen below.

Shooting scores

Utah Week 1

The first week of training in Utah is finished and was very successful. I did lots of volume training as well as some intensity toward the end of the week. The majority of the training was roller skiing and running with one strength workout and one long hike.

On Friday we did a head to head speed workout with the Canadian National Team, this is basically a mass start race but with short ski loops, only about 1km rather then the standard 3km that you would do in a real mass start race. I thought this was the most fun workout we did all week, I really like head to head workouts because you can push yourself to keep up with people better then you and there is an additional mental challenge of actually racing the person right next to you and knowing that if you are ahead of them you are beating them. I shot really well in this race with only one miss in my first prone stage. I finished 4th overall and was the first American, I was pretty excited about this because it was the first time I have beat the guys on the A team in any race of time trial.

Full results from head to head workout with Canadians

An afternoon run with Maddie above our house in Midway, Utah

A view of the venue at Solider Hollow

The range at Solider Hollow

Another highlight workout of the week was climbing Mt. Timpanogos, the second tallest peak in Utah. I always enjoy getting to the top of any mountain but this one was extra cool because anytime I come to Solider Hollow I see Mt. Timp towering above the venue and think about how it would be fun to get to the top. Now I have! The hike took me 4 hours and 45 minutes, there is a pretty good trail that went all the way to the top of the 11,752 ft summit, there was a snow in a few places and we had to use a little extra caution but overall it was a super fun hike.

View of Mt. Timp from the driveway of our house 

Hiking up the trail to Mt. Timp

Hiking toward the top of Mt. Timp

The top of Mt. Timp with an observation deck/shelter

This guy came up to say hi at the top

Coming up October 18-19 Raleigh Goessling and I will be hosting a masters biathlon camp in Granby, Colorado. This will be similar to the camp that we hosted last year in the Methow Valley and is open to any masters biathlete interested in improving their biathlon skills before the season starts. We are hosting the camp to earn money for our upcoming race season and as a way help improve the level of biathlon knowledge in the US. The event registration can be found here. 

Raleigh and I at last years masters camp in the Methow Valley

Welcome to Utah and hello Bliz

This past Sunday I traveled to Utah for the start of a two week camp with the national team. This will be my sixth year coming to Utah for an October training camp and I am very excited be here again! The Utah camp is one of favorite training camps of the whole year, especially since I have moved to the East. It is the last official dryland training camp which means I will be on snow soon also the weather is usually quite nice, it will be cold in the morning when you first start training but by the time your done it is sunny and warm. Out west it is much less humid then it typically is in the East so you don't get as sweaty. Here is Utah I also have more of a sense of training at home then I do in the East, which is just a little more comforting, I am really looking forward to the next two weeks.

Maddie and I on an afternoon run in Utah 

My room in our house in Utah. Even though it is small and has no door there is more privacy then the six person bunk room that started in and then took the mattress from. 

Even though I am excited to be here in Utah I was sad to leave home, as always my time there was to short. After living the life of an athlete where you have lots of "down time" I appreciate going home even more, there is always sometime to do and never a dull moment. While at home I got quite a bit of firewood for the winter, helped with moving the sheep one day, and helped my Uncle straighten up a barn that was falling over and probably would not have withstood the winter.

Straightening up the barn... notice the chain from the bumper to the barn.

Opening the gate for the sheep

Our sheep grazing on a new pasture

The view from the airplane of the Columbia River when flying out of Wenatchee, the most scenic flight I have even been on. 

Lastly but certainly not least I am proud to announce that I have a new sponsor, Bliz! Earlier this summer I submitted an application to the company and just found out that they decided to sponsor me with sun glasses. I have never had any kind of eyewear sponsorship and am pretty excited!! I can't wait to try their proflip sunglasses/snow shield, sunglasses that just flip up out of the way for shooting. I have seen lots of biathletes using these I think they will be quite effective. Check out their website for the full product lineup... http://www.blizeyewear.com.