Canmore training

For the past week I have been training in Canmore, Alberta in preparation for the upcoming IBU cups. The training has been really good, I have been able to get in ski, shooting, and strength training. The skis trails are in great shape with plenty of snow and it was been pretty nice out. Perfect temperatures and a mix of sun and snowy days. This morning I raced in the Canadian IBU cup trials it was only a one day race but a good prep for the IBU cups. My shooting was below par with 3 misses 1 prone and 2 standing but my skiing felt pretty good. My ski speed was similar to all of the top Canadian guys so I was pretty happy about that. The race was a 10km sprint, the same course that I will be racing for three of the IBU cups. It was good that I had the opportunity to race this course because it is a tough one and if your not careful you can burn yourself. 

full results can be found here... http://zone4.ca/results.asp?id=7331

I would like to give a big thanks to Rita Kenny at Winthrop Mountain Sports who donated all of the race wax that myself and the entire Methow Valley Biathlon team will need for both the North American Championships and US Nationals. Rita is continuously generous with her support to me and the nordic community. If you ever are in Winthrop you must stop at her store, she has everything for any kind of outdoor journey or adventure you could possibly imagine. 

Walking up to the nordic center

Results from the IBU trials race

Racing today photos thanks to Katrina Howe

More of me racing with an awesome backdrop

Standing shooting

Another mid race shot

Racing in Canmore

Shivering in Lake Placid and sun tanning in Canmore

I spent all of last week training in Lake Placid, it was great! My fellow MWSC teammates and I were able to stay at the Olympic Training Center which makes training and living to easy. Everything you could possibly need to be a professional athlete is right there at your finger tips and you have access to all of it. Food, beds, biathlon range, perfect ski conditions, laundry machines, internet, a strength gym, a triple sized basketball gym, a physical therapy staff, and a recovery room, basically anything you need is yours to use. I got in a really good much needed week of midseason training. I think it will help to propel me through the rest of the season. 

Over the weekend there were supposed to be two noram races, a sprint then pursuit. The forecast for the races was supposed to be cold, right around legal limits (-4f ). These forecasted cold temperatures caused to race organizers to cancel the sprint race the day before the race. I was disappointed with their choice to cancel the race so soon especially when the next day it was sunny and the temperatures got above 0f and we could have raced. Granted it would have been cold but we are winter athletes and the few months of racing is the reason we train all year long so we need to make the most out of every opportunity we have. The second day the race was changed to a mass start because there was no sprint to base the pursuit off of. This was okay with me because I enjoy mass starts, they are the most fun. The first loop I skied in the middle of the pack came in cleaned my first shooting and was the first out of the range. I proceeded to lead the rest of the race by a good distance until the last shooting stage when I struggled with my standing. I ended up placing 2nd and my shooting misses were 0,1,3,3. My skiing felt good but the shooting was very unlike me. The conditions were windy which made shooting difficult but my standing still felt "off" despite the wind. 

Canceling the race early when it would have been warm enough to race falls in line with the way the entire race weekend was run. I would describe the races in general as being run very unprofessionally and for the highest level race circuit in North America that is not acceptable, unless the organizers get there stuff together I wouldn't waste the money to come back again. That being said I am still thankful for all of the volunteers who spent their day in the cold and windy winter conditions to make the race possible. 

After the races in Lake Placid I traveled to Canmore in preparation for the IBU cups coming up next week. I am staying with a host family who has a 13 year old son in the Canmore junior biathlon program. They are super friendly and welcoming, I am enjoying staying with them. The ski conditions in Canmore are ideal right now. It has been very warm here for the past few weeks and there is almost no natural snow but because they do such a good job of making snow at the Canmore Nordic Center there is 15-20km of trials with plenty of snow on them. It is warm during the day in the mid 30s-40s but freezing overnight making fast fun skiing. 

The IBU cups here in Canmore start next Saturday and Sunday with two sprint races. More info can be found at biathlonworld.com

The smallest ski jump in Lake Placid. Not much of a lip at the bottom but it looked pretty fun, I wanted to try it on my nordic skis.

The top of the K120 ski jump in Lake Placid, I was scared just looking down it there is no way I would jump.

Training at the range at Mount Van Hovenberg in Lake Placid

The flight to Calgary 

The mountains look the same as they did in November, BEAUTIFUL!

Back to the US for Noram racing

 Traveling back to the US turned out to be quite a big trip with lots of logistics. First we flew from Estonia to Munich where we spent the night. The next day I got on the plane back to Albany, New York. Leaving for Europe traveling through Albany worked really well because I was staying at the OTC in Lake Placid where they offer shuttles to the airport. Coming home I hoping to fly back into Albany get an OTC shuttle stay at the OTC for two nights and then get a ride to Jericho, Vermont, for the Noram, with Max who is a biathlete living at the OTC. This is where USBA left he hanging high and dry. When I asked USBA if they could make arrangements for me to stay at the OTC they told me that it was no longer in the budget this year for me stay there and they offered me no other help or advice on how to get home, or Jericho in this case. I was at a loss with what to do. When I arrived in Albany I got a hotel room to buy myself some time to make a plan and figured out that I could take a bus to Burlington the next day and hopefully find a place to stay for one night until MWSC arrived and I could move in with them. While this would have probably worked I was still in search of a plan that didn't involve me riding a bus for five hours will all my skis and rifle. After coming up with lots of different ideas and calling, texting, emailing, and facebook messaging anyone I could think of to help me I got in touch with Matt Forshey who is a high school aged biathlete that lives near Albany and was going to the race in Jericho. Matt talked to his parents and they graciously picked me up from my hotel, welcomed me into their home, fed me, took me skiing the day I was there, and made extra room in their car for me to get to Jericho. A big thanks to the Forshey's for saving me.

After finally arriving in Jericho I was excited and ready to race. The first day was a 10km sprint. The race started out well, my skiing felt strong and I was moving right along. I came into shoot prone and things took a turn for the worse, I missed all five shots. I was very surprised by this, after the first two misses I double checked the wind and it had not changed and I thought that I was taking good shots, I am not sure why I missed. After the race I found out all of my misses were low left on the edge of being hits. Something must have changed with my position or my shooting point. In standing I missed 3 and eventually finished the race in 4th. Just about as soon as I finished I tried to put that race behind me and think about the next days pursuit.

The pursuit race was the North American style where we each person starts five seconds behind the person in front of them in the order that you finished the sprint, the first person to cross the finish line wins. I started 20 seconds back and in the first 1km the first four of us had all packed up and were skiing together. We all came into the range together I cleaned my shots and was the first one to leave the range. After that I was about 1 minute ahead of everyone and held that lead the entire race. My eventual shooting was 0,0,2,1 and I placed 1st. Overall it was a good race.

After Jericho I traveled to Lake Placid with the MWSC for another weekend of Noram racing. We have been training all week and were supposed to be racing today but the race was cancelled last night due to forecasted cold temperatures. Personally I think it was a little premature because as I right this it is very sunny outside and only needs to warm up 3 degrees to make the legal race temperature. But it is what it is. Tomorrow is a mass start race, hopefully it warms up enough to race tomorrow.

Coming up next I will be traveling to Canmore, Alberta to race IBU cups at the end of the month. Also to note this next week the Junior World Championships will be going on in Minsk, Belarus. Where my MWSC teammates Maddie Phaneuf, Mikaela Paluszek, Brian Halligan, Hannah Strienz, and my Methow Valley Biathlon teammate Paul Everett will be competing. Results can be found at biathlonworld.com.

All of the Juniors from Euro Champs leaving Estonia

Free baggage carts in Europe is quite the luxury 

The pursuit podium in Jericho