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

The final phase of recovery

After returning home from moving all of my belongs to Vermont I began the final phase of the recovery process. I have been cleared by the doctors to do anything as long as there is not a risk of taking a high speed fall like I did a couple of months ago, they said that I need rebuild and even out the strength on my left side. I figured the best way to do this was to do exactly the type of things that I did to get as strong as I was in the first place, working outside and training. For the month of June that is exactly what I did. Most days I would get up first thing and get 5-6 hours of work done while it was still nice and cool out take a long lunch break and then train for 2-3 hours in the afternoon. I did lots of fun work projects and had some really fun training days as well. I have pictures of some of the more notable work and training projects/adventures below. 

I collected most of the firewood to get my patents through the winter but first had to build a trailer to haul the logs out of the woods with.

 

A cool old gate I found along a hike run to the top of Milton Mountain. Milton Mountain sits next to Gardner Mountain in Winthrop and I stare up at it wanting to climb it every day... I finally made it!

One of three weight lifting platforms that I made with my dad for Pete at Winthrop PT and Fitness.

Putting the final screws in the roof of the barn that my dad and I build while I was home

I added some wood glue and screws to my broken stock and it is almost as good as new.

My mom and I were working on clearing a trail that had lots of fallen down trees, the first few times I carried the saw up on my back but after clearing enough of the trail that we had to hike UP the steep trail four miles we decided to borrow a horse to carry our stuff for us.

My mom and I went on a backpack trip to Fox lakes, the first day we hiked into the lakes did some fishing and spent the night. The second day we took the "scenic" way home traversing a ridge all day over 7,500 feet and climbing 5 mountains. 

Fox Lakes in the Pasayten Wilderness

The Amazing view we had all day

The last weekend I was home I helped my mom host a biathlon camp for out local Methow Valley Biathlon junior team, one day we drove to Harts pass and all the kids and my mom went one direction on a hike, I went the other direction on a 25 mile run to buckskin lake. It turned out the trail to get there was a little bit harder then I had anticipated and therefor it took me a couple hours longer then I thought but I had packed an extra power bar in my bag and it was a beautiful day making it pretty hard to complain. 

The trail to Buckskin lake... just another day at the office.

Looking down on Buckskin Lake.

I was greeted with watermelon by the campers, it tasted pretty good after my 7 hour adventure.

I am now off to Craftsbury, Vermont to start the real summer training.

More recovery and moving to Vermont

Over the past few weeks I have done quite a bit of traveling and its not ending now. I started out traveling from home in Winthrop back east to Fort Kent where I packed all of my belongings into my car and headed south eventually bound for Vermont. On the way I stopped at Acadia National park in Bar Harbor, Maine and spent the afternoon running and hiking around the mountains in that area. It was pretty cool to see and much different then the northern part of Maine where I have been living. From Bar Harbor I drove to Bangor, Maine where I spent the next four days working for Maddie's dad, Joe, at the Northeastern Loggers Expo. The expo is a huge trade show that Joe organizes every year, there are exhibitors there from all aspects on the logging industry and over 4000 attendees. The first two days I was helping to set up the fair grounds, setting up signs, hanging banners, and doing whatever else needed to be done. For the two days that the expo was going I was a cashier collecting peoples $7 that they would pay to enter the expo. Seeing all of the logging equipment was really cool!

After working at the expo I headed to Craftsbury, Vermont where I will be based out of for at least the next year as I train with and race for the Craftsbury Green Racing Team. On the way to Craftsbury I stopped in New Hampshire and climbed to the top of Mt. Madison one the the peaks in the White Mountain range. I spent 3 days in Craftsbury getting moved and settled in before returning home to Winthrop. 

Yesterday I went to Wenatchee for some doctors appointments, they all went exceptionally well. First I had another EMG test which again was not very fun. The EMG test measures the function of your nerves and in order to do this they stab you with a needle then shock your muscle with the needle and measure your nerves response. Luckily this time I only had about 6 stabs rather then the 30 stabs I had last time. The results of this test came back really good and the doctor was very surprised to see my progress from the last test. The EMG showed that my nerve is functionally fully and normally. The neurologist said the amount of regained function I gained usually takes 4-6 months, it has been 6 weeks since I had the first EMG test. Such a quick recovery of my nerve and shoulder function I think is largely due to the tremendous help I received from Pete Dickinson at Winthrop PT he was keeping my on track and helping me almost daily to recover and regain my mobility, it clearly paid off. Thank you Pete!

After the EMG test I saw doctor Clarke who is an internal medicine specialist, I have been working with him as my general doctor through my entire recovery. Dr. Clarke reviewed a recent CT scan of my lung and looked at my overall well being. The CT of my lung showed that the large bruise that I previously had is almost entirely healed. He was very happy to see this as well as a little surprised that it healed so quickly. Looking forward I need to work on regaining the strength back in my shoulder and rotator cuff and recreate a balance of my upper body. 

Right now I am on my way to Boulder, Colorado where in conjunction to Colorado Biathlon Club I am hosting a spring shooting clinic. I will be coaching two days of intense biathlon shooting training at the Boulder Rifle Club's indoor range. I am pretty excited about this and think it will be a fun weekend. After the clinic I will return home to Winthrop to finish my recovery before heading to Craftsbury, Vermont to begin training. 

The car packed up and ready to move to Vermont

HIking in Acadia National Park

The view from the top of Mt. Cadillac in Acadia National Park

You know it was a successful run when...

Just a small sample of the equipment at the logging expo

A stump grinder/rototiller at the expo

Sitting inside a tree feller

Inside a log skidder

The top of Mt. Madison, New Hampshire

Arriving in Craftsbury, Vermont

The Future: recovery and new training opportunities

The last few weeks I have been busy working on my recovery and trying to figure out what I am going to for training for the next year. I have made really good progress on both. For next year I have been accepted in the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) in Craftsbury, Vermont and will be leaving the Maine Winter Sports Center. The Craftsbury GRP has had an elite level cross county program for several years and more currently added an elite level biathlon program. With lots of program changes happening at the Maine Winter Sports Center I felt that making the switch to the Craftsbury team would be the most beneficial for myself and for my training. The Maine Winter Sports Center has given me lots of opportunity and support and really helped me progress as an athlete. You can read more about MWSC happenings here and here. I am really excited about the opportunity to join the GRP! More info about the GRP can be found on their website: www.craftsbury.com

My recovery has been progressing very well! Three weeks ago I saw Pete at Winthrop PT for the first time and could not lift my left arm more then one inch, yesterday I was doing overhead presses with 15lb weights in each hand. I have been seeing Pete 2-3 times per week, he has been helping me break up the scar tissue and stretch my shoulder and back in order to regain mobility. The quick progress I have made has been really cool to watch, almost everyday I have noticed an improvement in my mobility and/or strength. In addition to PT I have been exercising everyday. I started out on the sit down stationary bike but since have progressed through the upright stationary bike and treadmill to being able to run outside continuously for an hour. This is a long ways from where I was 8 weeks with 20 broken bones, a punctured lung, and hardly able to walk in the hospital. 

At my last doctors visit I was almost given a clean bill of health, almost being the key word. After 8 weeks all of my bone fractures have healed pretty solidly and I can ease back into normal life paying attention to any pain that I have, especially in my shoulder. I cannot do anything hard intensity wise because of my lung and have to avoid anything that could leave me with a hard crash on my shoulder like mountain biking or roller skiing. 

At the end of May I will be getting another EMG nerve test to make sure that the function is fully returning like it seems to be. If the results of this test come back good I will be moving to Vermont in the early part of June to begin real training. 

Enjoying the sun flowers and snow covered mountains on a hike with my mom.

Helping pour concrete for a center pivot irrigation system, I was the head supervisor and photographer

The first baby lamb born of my family's sheep