IBU Cup here I come!

Today I was telling my mom that I felt bad because I have not written a blog post in a long time because I have not been very inspired to write lately so she said just put up a bunch of pictures and let them tell the stories. So thats exactly what I am going to do.... with a little bit of writing. 

I finally made it Canmore, Alberta where the skiing was great especially compared to the 1/2km loop in Craftsbury.  In Canmore I did a Noram race and a couple of time trials and we had our IBU cup trials. The IBU cup trials started a little rocky and I was a ways down the results page mostly because my skiing was not super fast. With each race my skiing felt better and my shooting stayed consistently good. The last two races I placed 3rd and 1st. I was really happy to finally pull things together at the end. My results were just good enough to get me named to the IBU cup team so I will be leaving on January 4th to race in Europe on the IBU cup circuit for 3 weeks.  I am now at home for Christmas enjoying the amazing winter we are having in the Pacific Northwest.

Enjoying a nice ski with my mom in Winthrop

Doing so shoveling on the ski trails behind my grandpas house

Revisiting the crash site in Canmore was pretty crazy, I flew threw the air much further then I thought probably about 50 feet before hitting the tree. The red arrows show where I left the trail and the tree that I hit. 

I went snowmobiling for the first time in a year and it was AMAZING, I couldn't have asked for better conditions 

Getting ready to start a race in Canmore, I started right behind Ethan my teammate

Skiing with some of the GRP rowers in Craftsbury on the manmade loop

The 1/2km loop in Craftsbury

Ethan and Mike shooting in Canmore

While in Canmore we watched Lindsey Vonn win the GS World Cup at Lake Louise

Racing in Canmore

The whole Craftsbury team enjoying the sunshine in Canmore

Wishing and waiting for snow

Skiing is coming soon and I couldn't be more excited!! The last two weeks we (the GRP biathlon team) did a training camp with the USBA X-team or development team. For the first week of the camp we traveled to Lake Placid where we were able to train on the rollerski loop. This is an important training tool that we do not have in Craftsbury so it was very beneficial to put in some training where I could rollerski and shoot together. Unfortunately in the middle of the camp in Lake Placid I caught a small cold and had to back of on training for a couple days.  I was unable to do one of the interval works that I was looking forward to as one of the key workouts while we were there. Luckily I kicked the cold and was able to finish the week with some quality training. The second week of the camp the X-team came to Craftsbury and again we did some fairly quality training. 

Training with the X-team had two real benefits, one was we were able to work with their coach Jean Paquet. Jean used to coach the Canadian National team until last year when USBA hired him. I really like him as a coach, I think he has lots of knowledge and insight about biathlon to offer as well as he is always pushing you trying to get you to the next level. Hopefully I will have more opportunity to work with Jean in the future. The second benefit of the camp with X-team was that there was three more guys to train with so we were able to create a competitive atmosphere during workouts. Shooting in a competitive atmosphere is much more challenging but that atmosphere can be hard to create when not at competitions so having these extra guys around was some good practice. 

This coming Tuesday, November 3rd the team will be traveling to Foret, Quebec where they have saved snow from last winter and we will be able to ski!!! We will be there for four days doing intensity training. Hopefully we will be able to ski in Craftsbury soon after we return. 

The weather station on top of whiteface mountain in Lake Placid. It was a bit frosty. 

Running back down the from the mountain with Emily and Ethan

The last two days in Lake Placid we got some snow. First of the year!!

Back in Craftsbury we turned wood stacking into a race for the up and coming biathletes. It was a pretty fast way to get the wood pile moved. 

Our Halloween biathlon race. Costume required. 

Stacking hay and wood (aka time at home)

My time at home was pretty great and I really enjoyed it. The first half of my visit I slacked off on my training a bit but I was still very busy. I cut up and stacked about three quarters of the firewood that my mom and dad will need to get through the winter and I hauled stacked enough hay in the barn to get the sheep through Christmas in other words enough hay until I come home again and can haul more. Usually getting hay and wood aren't the most fun tasks but I was so excited just to be at home that I was totally okay with doing them and bummed out that I didn't have enough time to get more. 

At the end of month two of my best friends Marc and Matty are going to take the Winter and ride motorcycles to the tip of South America. They were both at home getting ready to leave. Another good friend Remington who is living is Seattle came over for the weekend as well so the four of us had quite the reunion. 

Another highlight of my time home was a three day backpack trip that I went on with my mom. We started at Harts Pass and hiked to Shellrock Pass and then Johnny Lakes which I have been wanting to go to for a long time. I wouldn't say they were easy to get to but were worth it. I caught several nice fish and shot a grouse which we feasted on for dinner. 

I am now back in Craftsbury and trying to get and stay excited about training. This weekend is the second set of races that make up the trials to determine who gets the final start spot in the World Cups before Christmas. Based on the August races there is myself and three other guys who could qualify for the spot. Ultimately the choice for the spot will be based on discretion and I have learned that the only thing you can expect from USBA is nothing at all, regardless I am still going to do my best in the races and see what happens. After the races we, the Craftsbury biathlon team, will go to Lake Placid for a training camp. This will be good for me because I always train better and am more excited about training when I am in the training camp setting and environment. 

The barn my dad and I built this spring stacked with hay. 

The woodshed filling up with wood

Tomatoes that I picked from the garden

100% homegrown dinner of lamb, carrots, peppers, zucchini, and beets

Freds lake on the backpack trip with my mom, the larch trees had turned color and were beautiful

Some trout and the grouse I got

Austria part 2

Week two of Austria was full of good training and lots of fun but unfortunately not much skiing. After the first week the weather got very warm and sunny causing all of the fresh good snow to melt down to glacier ice and we were unable to ski. Even though we couldn't ski we did some very fun hike/runs in the mountains and did some good rollerski workouts on the rollerski track. Overall the training camp was a success, I really enjoyed being able to ski. Skiing on snow helped me get in some good technique training that I will hopefully be able to carry through the fall and into the winter. 

The last few days of the camp were pretty interesting in terms of current events, if you have been watching the news at all you have probably heard about all of the migrants traveling through Europe. Being in Europe close to where this was happening made a little bit of an unknown what the travel home across the normally open easily passable Austria German border was going to be like, I was hoping that the masses of migrants would hold off a few days before getting to Austria so that we would not have problems at the border. For the most part we were fine, driving to Munich we were in stop and go traffic for about an hour near the border but ended up not having the stop. The German border police was doing random car checks but luckily we were not selected. 

I am now headed home to Washington to visit my family and hopefully have some good adventures in the mountains there as well. 

On our mid camp off day we drove to Hallstatt, Austria to tour the town. It is right on the Hallstatt see and very picturesque and touristy. It was fun to see.

The side of a hotel in Hallstatt with a pear tree growing up the side. All of the branches were so close to the tree that all of the pears could be picked from the various windows. 

The last day of skiing things were a little bleak on the glacier, besides being a little wet the skiing was still quite good

The Stang Alm that we passed by on an adventure run

A nice mountain lake along one of our adventures.  Mike, Liz, and Ida

Mike and I enjoying the view of Schladming. Next time I want to bring my alpine skis and hit up the slopes.

Liz, Kate, Mike, and Ida trying to figure out where to go next

Mike and Liz enjoying some beautiful grassy mountain trails

The traffic at the Austria Germany border on the way home

Austria Part 1

So far our (The GRP teams) trip to Austria has been amazing. The first couple of days was kind of rainy but since then it has been beautiful every day. We have been skiing on the Dachstein glacier which has been really fun. Ski conditions have been very spring like with the tracks starting out a little hard but softening up and getting nice a little later in the morning. To get to the glacier we take a tram up the mountain, the tram ride is quite spectacular with a really good view. Coming into the tram station at the top you are so close to the rock face you look like you are going to crash into it, it was a little scary the first time but after that you realize your not going to crash into the mountain it is not to bad. 

Besides skiing we have been doing some fun run hike adventures into the hills and mountains around Ramsau. We have done two intensity sessions both which have been on the rollerski track with shooting. The first time around the rollerski track was pretty intimidating because there are some big downhills with corners that are lined with crash pads. The crash pads make you think that the corners are going to be very sketchy and dangerous but because the corners are banked like a race car track you easily get pulled right around and they are quite fun. 

Since I have only been to Europe in the winter it has been pretty cool to see what it's like in the summer. There are cows and sheep out grazing in all the fields and farmers cutting hay preparing for the winter. Being here for a training camp and not races is pretty fun too, even though I love coming over here to race, the overall atmosphere is much less stressful and more relaxed. 

We have one more week of training here before we return home. Hopefully it will be filled with lots of skiing and fun adventures. 

Passing the down tram on our way up the mountain. You can see the tram station perched on top mountain above the rock face. 

The ski track loops back and fourth around an open area on the glacier and makes for about a 3km loop. 

Beautiful ski tracks with the tram station in the distance. 

The biathlon range at the rollerski track. 

Looking down into the valley of Ramsau. The Guttenberg Haus, a mountain rest stop where you can get lunch and beer in foreground. In the background you can see the Schladming ski area, home of the 2013 alpine ski world championships as well as according to my uncle Steve the fastest downhill course he ever raced during his racing career. 

Sheep grazing in the mountains near the Guttenburg Haus. 

The cows next to our hotel waiting to be milked. 

Austria bound

Two weeks ago were the Jericho rollerski races more formally known as the North American Rollerski Championships. These races were the first two of four which help determine who will fill the last World Cup start spot come November. As well as they basically mark the end of summer training. Like last year the races were very fun and the most competitive biathlon races that will take place in North America this year other then the two World Cup races that will be taking place in Canmore, Canada and Presque Isle, Maine this winter. At the beginning of the summer I was questioning if I would even be able to rollerski by August, that was not a problem and the races went quite well. The first day was a 10km sprint race. I shot clean (hit all my targets) and was 4th place behind athletes who have been consistently racing on the World Cup for the last few seasons. I was also first out the athletes in the selection trials. The second day was a 15km mass start race, this race was really run, I like mass start races because there is way more of a competitive feel, you are head to head with people and it is more of a tactical and mental race then an individual start race. This race I placed 7th with 4 misses, 1 prone and 3 standing. My skiing felt tired compared to the first day but it was still a solid race.

After the races I returned to Craftsbury to continue training. We had an easy week followed by a big volume week. It was nice to put in some good volume/distance training after having a few weeks of lots of intensity to prepare for the races. During the easy week I did my first ever V02 max test, this test measures how much oxygen your body can process and use. To do this you put on a mask connected to a computer that measures your breathing and then go as hard as you can in some physical manner. We did the test on the skierg double pole machine as a 5km time trial. The test took me just under 20 minutes and data was being collected the entire time.

Today I arrived with the rest of the Craftsbury team in Ramsau, Austria. We will be here for two and a half weeks training, the big bonus about coming here is that we will be able to ski on the Dachtein glacier. I have never had the opportunity to have real skiing during the training season or ski on a glacier. So far it is beautiful and I am super excited to be here. Our first day skiing wont be until Sunday so check back soon for pictures of skiing and snow!

Starting the mass start, I am the first person on the far left side #4

Lap 3 of the mass start race, skiing in a good pack

Doing the max V02 test on the skierg

Some technique video

Fishing with Mike and Ethan during some rest week off time

The team cooling off after a long distance workout

The view from out hotel room in Austria

VT Living

I've been in Craftsbury and training full swing for a little over a month now. It took me the first two or three weeks to get in the groove and figure out how things at the outdoor center work, the training, work hours, and eating. Since then things have been going smoothly. The whole set up of the Green Team and Craftsbury Outdoor center is pretty ideal for high level athletes. The Outdoor Center is basically a destination resort, in the summer they host 3-5 day long rowing and running camps where people from all over the country, mostly the east coast, come to eat, sleep, get technique coaching, and relax. At any given time there is usually 40-50 "campers" at the center. We (athletes) are basically employees of the center and we must work an average of 10 hours per week in exchange for our room and board, training, coaching, and travel costs. We get to eat lunch and dinner in the dining hall at the center so we don't have to cook or do dishes which is really awesome!

Some of the projects I have been working on for my work hours around the center are helping build mountain bike trails, making difficulty markers for the mountain bike trails, building a new woodshed, and most recently building an information kiosk. There is a pretty broad range of projects that are available to do, pretty much anything that is improving the Outdoor Center can be counted as work hours. 

Training has been in full summer mode, I have been trying to get in lots of hours and build up a good base for the winter. I don't think I have trained quite as many hours through the mid-summer weeks as I did last year but I am trying to make all of the training I am doing as high of quality as possible. It is really nice to have a team to train with especially during intensity workouts, it makes it easier to push yourself more. I like working with my new coach Pepa, she knows what she is doing and has a good overall handle on training. She has been working with me on my ski technique and I think I have made some good improvements. 

Coming up this weekend is the first two of four rollerski trials races. In March everyone including myself assumed that I would not be racing this weekend because of my crash but I have been doing hard intensity rollerskiing for the last three weeks and have not had any issues so I will be racing. 

The trials are technically selection for the fourth and final World Cup start spot but that spot is also a discretionary pick spot so I guess that by doing the races USBA will be able to survey athletes that aren't on the national team and see if there are any shinning stars. 

Coming up on September 3rd the Green Team, myself included, will be traveling to Ramsau, Austria for a training camp where we will be skiing on the glacier. I am really excited for this trip because I have never been to Europe in the Summer and never skied on a glacier before. 

Shooting drills with the National Guard team in Jericho

Finishing up a hike run at the top of Jay Peak

Rollerskiing near Craftsbury with an fake imitation gun to get used to skiing with the extra weight

The completed woodshed at our house in Craftsbury

Green circle (easy) marker on the Woodward's Wheelie bike trail

The finished information kiosk still in the shop

Bridges on some new bike trail that I helped build