National team nominations and more recovery

Yesterday came the much awaited phone call from the US Biathlon national team where I learned if I will be named to any teams, receive any support, or get the attend any camps where I could train with the national team athletes and coaches. I found out that I will not be receiving anything, no coaching, no training group, no support, nothing, they have totally dropped me. This was very frustrating to hear, especially because there are several athletes who I beat in every race all season, except for one, who got named to the national team and are getting full support, full national team coaching, and full opportunity to have the top level training group. I was told that these athletes were named to the national team because they did well at the national championship and showed promise for improvement. This makes me wonder if USBA remembers that won the IBU cup trials in December and had one of the best single results of any American on the IBU cup this season. Additionally I can say with confidence that if I did not crash and was able to complete the season I would have been one of the top US athletes in Canmore at the IBU cups and at nationals.

I could go on and on with reasons and statistics of how I have proved myself and have better results then the athletes USBA is naming to the national team and supporting but that will not help the situation. From here I look forward to making a full recovery and becoming a better faster biathlete.

In much more positive news my recovery is continuing to go very well, I had another doctors visit and have started physical therapy. My lung, ribs, and back are continuing to heal well and I have been cleared to increase my activity level, 1 hour continuous up to two times per day of walking or stationary biking. My shoulder is what the doctors are still concerned with most but it seems to be getting better and they are unsure if I will need surgery, like they had previously thought. For now I will begin to rehab it and we will re-access in June if I need surgery or not. My first "official" physical therapy appointment went really well I was able to lift my arm all the way over my head!! A week ago I unable to lift my arm at all. Pete Dickinson and Winthrop Physical Therapy has been very helpful and supportive of me and I look forward to continue working with them through my recovery process.

In my spare time I used our BBQ as a smoker to make smoked lamb shanks for dinner one night

I have also been making Dr. Betsy's Lamburgeenie dog treats, for sale at Winthrop Vet Services

Doctors, Adventuring, and Shearing

Last week I had another doctors visit which I considered to be overall successful. I saw Dr. Tornabene a neurologist,  Dr. Clarke my primary care doctor, and in the parking lot happened to run into Dr. Thorson my orthopedic doctor. Dr. Tornabene gave me and EMG test which I wont lie was not fun at all! You lay on your side while he repeatedly stabs you with a needle for about 20 minutes, the needles with some electric currents measures your nerve functions. The results of this test came back saying that my super scapular nerve is pinched which limits my arm (rotator cuff) function. The good news is that the nerve is probably not completely severed and we know that there is a problem so we can begin to find a solution. The way that my nerve is pinched is a very uncommon problem and so there is not a specific fix. The team of doctors has been researching the problem trying to find the best possible solution, I will see Dr. Thorson again on Monday to make a plan of action.

My visit with Dr. Clarke was much more promising. He had another CT scan done on my lung and did a general examination. The lung, ribs, and back are continuing to heal well. He said that it is okay to do easy physical activity (keep my heart rate under 150) as long as I am pain free. As far as what activities I can do, I cannot rollerski for a few months because of the high risk of falling which could re-injure my shoulder. Depending on how my shoulder heals I could maybe bike in two months if I am able to safely control the bike with two hands, again I can't crash and re-injure my shoulder. Within the next four weeks I can begin to run on the treadmill as long as I am not pailful anywhere.

Before I crashed my girlfriend Maddie and I had made the plan that after nationals in Truckee, California we were going to take my parents truck camper and go for a road trip along the coast of California and Oregon for a few days before coming home to the Methow where we ski, snowmobile, and adventure the mountains. Obviously this didn't happen, but Maddie still came to visit anyway. We had to scale back our adventures but were still able to have some fun. She chauffeured me around and we explored some places of the Methow she had not yet seen. With the help of my friend Matty (bro Matty not girlfriend Maddie) the three of us took our four wheeler to the top of Washington pass before it was open for highway traffic. I put on a big jacket and enjoyed the smooth ride up the paved road into the mountains. Even though I couldn't really play in them it was nice to at least see the mountains.

Yesterday we sheared my family's sheep, this is a pretty big event and it is planned so that I am home after ski season to help. I couldn't help much this year but was still out in the barn for entertainment if nothing else.

I figured out how to do some air rifle shooting with only one arm

Maddie and I out exploring the Methow 

One the the giant Kodiak Northwest snowblowers at the top of Washington Pass

Some more exploring with Maddie 

Martin the sheep shearer with one of our sheep 

The woolless sheep after being shorn

Resting healing and a visit to the doctors

I have been at home now for a little over a week and things are continuing to get better. Every day I notice little improvements for example standing up and sitting down or how much I can move while sleeping in bed. Things are gradually starting to get easier and less painful. This week I also made the trip to Wenatchee to see some doctors. First I saw Dr. Thorson who is an orthopedist, he looked at my shoulder and all my broken bones in general. He said that things are looking good and continuing to heal and just need more time. Next I saw Dr. Knox who is a lung surgeon, he took some x-rays of my lung said that since my last chest x-ray in Calgary things have been improving. I had an air pocket in my lung that is now gone. A big improvement. I still have some very bad bruising on my lung that will take more time to heal. He said it is almost impossible to tell how long it will take for all of the bruising to go away, anywhere from 3-12 months for complete recovery, but it should heal completely and I will not need any surgery on it. Dr. Knox said that as far as my lung is concerned despite the bruising it is okay to do some light activity and get the lung working some.  An interesting thing Dr. Knox said was that considering the lack of bone damage I have one of the worst bruised lungs he has ever seen. He said that this was probably because I am young and in good shape so all of my bones more or less flexed when I hit the tree and the lung took a lot of the impact.

Since my doctor visits I have met up with Pete Dickinson of Winthrop Physical Therapy and he has helped me to get started riding the sit down stationary bike. I started at 15 minutes and have worked my way up to 30. This has been very beneficial because it has allowed me to get the blood flowing and makes me feel better in general throughout the day. The sit down bike is very nice because I can completely isolate my upper body and it does not hut my shoulder or ribs at all. It is even easier on my broken bones then walking. Other then that I have been reading watching TV and doing some stuff on the computer. I have also had lots of friends and family stopping by to say hi and see how I am doing. Like I said in my last post I am very grateful for how many people are sending positive thoughts and prayers my way, it is very kind and defiantly helps!

The last few days in the hospital were getting tough with  the less the appetizing food, everything could be easily cut with a plastic fork. 

Things got a lot better when mom brought in take out for dinner the last two nights

More broken parts, cuff, magazines, and bindings

My broken stock and cut harness 

My dad rigged up a handle so that I can pull myself up to a sitting position so that I can in and out of bed my myself

Crashing into trees and the hospital

As many of you probably know I had a little incident with a tree about two weeks ago, right before the IBU cups in Canmore. On the official training day before the first race I was doing a prerace loop and going down one of the bigger hills on the course that has a rather sharp corner. The conditions were such that there was about two inches of corn/sugar granular snow on top of ice. As I stepped around the corner I had no trouble making the turn but there was just not enough friction with the ice to hold me on the snow and my skis slipped out from underneath me and I flew off the trail airborne down about 4 meters where the first thing I touched was a tree. My back hit the tree and I fell to the ground. At this point I was knocked unconscious and was awaken by my teammate Ethan who was skiing with me. Once I was awake he immediately went for help. I could not move and realized that I should not even try to move because I had actually hurt myself. Finally the event volunteer medical staff arrived with my mom who was at the event as one of the coaches. I was very glad she was there because she has been an EMT for many years and knew the right things to do. After what seemed like a very long time of laying the in cold snow the ambulance and paramedics arrived, they started an IV, loaded me on a backboard, put me in the tracked 4-wheeler, and drove me to the ambulance. From here I was taken to the Canmore emergency room where they inserted a chest tube into me because I had punctured my lung and had severe internal bleeding. I then received two blood transfusions and was loaded back into the hospital to be transported to the Calgary hospital which is a level 1 trauma center. I was on lots of good pain killers by now and everything was a little foggy but the doctor in Canmore told the ambulance driver to get to Calgary as quickly as possible, we went full lights and sirens. Despite my blurred state from the trauma and pain medicine when the doctor said, get to Calgary as fast as you can, I knew things were very serious.

After arriving in the Calgary hospital ER and getting lots of tests and scans done it was determined that I broke almost all of the ribs on my left side, my left shoulder blade in multiple places, part of my back; not the spine but there are some little bones off the side of the spine which I broke most of and I punctured my left lung. Luckily because of how the breaks were none of my bones were displaced and I did not have to have any surgery.

The doctors in the ER in Calgary were debating if they should put me in the intensive care ward or not but decided to put me into a special care room of the level 1 trauma ward instead, this trauma ward was one step down from the ICU ward but I was still monitored very closely. From here my recovery began. The first day I was in the hospital, the day of the accident, I only sat up in in bed but was not able to get out. The second day with help from the nurses I was able to get out of bed and sit in a chair which was much more comfortable then the bed. Each day I progressed more and more, the two big measures of how I was doing were how far I could walk and how long I could talk with visitors. The first time I started walking all I could handle was going to the bathroom and back, then eventually out to the nurses desk, by day six I was able to do a full lap of the ward which was about 100 meters long. Around this time I was moved out of the special care room and into a general care room but still in the intensive care ward.

After eleven days I was released from the hospital but spent another three days with a family in Calgary before I was allowed to travel home to Washington. Now I am just resting and trying to recover as much as I can at home, but this is still going to be a very slow process. For example this morning my big outing was walking around the driveway for about 10 minutes which was pretty much exhausting.

So many people have been very helpful with their thoughts, prayers, and visits. Having a huge support group has been very nice, thank you to anyone who has helped and continues to help.

Chilling in the Hospital

The hill I crashed on, I went off the trail where the orange fence is, unfortunately it was put up after my crash, I hit one of the trees on the left side.  

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