Back to School

It's been a while since I last wrote, so what better time to catch up than sitting in a coffee shop across the street from my alma mater?

This weekend is Dartmouth graduation, and an easy training week for us before the national team camp begins on Monday. It seemed like a perfect time for Zach and me to get away for a little break from the OTC and to catch up with a few people here on campus. So far, it's been a nice visit. Today's rain is definitely putting a damper on things, but the weather looks much better for Sunday's commencement exercises: it's going to be 90˚F! I suppose summer really has arrived, despite the recent dreary weather.

It has been a busy last few weeks as training has ramped up and things have gotten back into full swing. Last week was a volume week with 25 hours of training for me. It was my biggest week ever, and though I did miss an interval session because I was feeling a sore throat coming on, I felt great about the training I put in. Making the decision to take the day off is tough, but you have to know when to rest. Training through sickness can just make you more sick and then you end up missing even more training. It was a good lesson for me: with a lot of rest and forgoing the intervals, I was able to stave off my cold and finish the training week. Knowing when to train is important, but knowing when to rest is perhaps even more important, and certainly more difficult.

It's not been all training these last few weeks, though. During our last low volume week (3 weeks ago), Zach and I went to Rhode Island to paint my Grandpa's house for him. We were lucky with the weather and were able to get a lot done. It was also great to spend some time with my Grandpa and my aunts, uncles and cousins. As an added bonus, we got to get all dressed up and go to the Providence Opera. It was amazing, and definitely not something we have the opportunity to do very often!

Safety first!

Just like new!

Off to the Opera. We clean up pretty nicely...

So, that's the cliff notes version of the last month. I'm really looking forward to the national team camp over the next two weeks. It's going to be great to get to work with the "A" team coaches and train with everyone for a while. This is a real "kick off" for the season, and I am more than ready to put in the work.

Spring!?

With a wave of unseasonably warm weather, spring has arrived in more ways than one. This week is the first week of training in the 08-09 season. It seems strange that we've already come full circle back to the beginning. There's one big difference, though. Whereas last year at this time I was finishing up school with a whole month of classes left, this year I am beginning to train full time. It's going to be a huge advantage to have a whole month more than last year. And after a nice break from biathlon, I'm really looking forward to training again and kicking this season off right!

End of the Season

Vacation!

The 07-08 competition season is done, and it ended with a bang for me! Canadian Nationals was a huge success, as I finished 3rd overall and top US athlete (again!) in the Sprint race. I was really happy with my race. I skied hard and shot well, with only 2 penalties for the day. It was a great end to the individual race season.

Women's Sprint Podium

The relay was the last competition for the year and it was a great race. Though my legs were tired from 2 weeks of racing, I felt pretty good and had a lot of fun in my first relay competition. The way the teams worked was that there was 2 men and 1 woman (although some teams had 2 women and 1 man-our setup was the faster choice), and as with all relay competitions, you had three extra rounds to hit the five targets at both shooting stages. My teammate tagged off to me in 2nd place, but I was quickly passed by a team who had chosen to send their men in the first and second positions rather than first and third as our team had elected. I skied well though, and used 2 extra rounds to clean my target both in prone and standing and tagged off in 4th place to our last leg. Although he had some trouble in the first shooting stage, he skied well and moved us up to 3rd place. It was pretty neat. Getting to stand on the podium three days in a row was definitely a great experience, and a great end to the season.

Getting into position in the relay.

After the races, my parents, who had come to see me race, and my boyfriend Zach and I drove down to Seattle where my parents flew back to Boise to work and Zach and I continued down the Oregon coast for a little vacation. It was a bit rainy and cold, but very nice to have a break from skiing. We had nowhere to be and nothing to do; it was great.

Zach and me on the Oregon Coast.

Now I'm home in Boise for a week and then back to Lake Placid to get going on next season...

Canadian Nationals Day 1

Wow! It's been an amazing week here at Canadian Nationals so far. In addition to being able to ski at an absolutely breathtaking venue that will host the 2010 Olympic Games, I had a fantastic race on Thursday. The Individual race (15K with 4 shootings and 1 minute penalty for each miss instead of the usual 150m penalty loop) went very well. I was able to ski each loop a little faster than the previous and had only 3 penalties for the day, putting me into third place overall! It was definitely a great result for only having 1 year of focused biathlon training.

Leaving the range

Tomorrow is the sprint race, followed by a mixed relay on Sunday. Both should be great races, and I'm especially looking forward to the relay since I have never raced one before. We are all taking advantage of being able to train and race at this venue, but I must admit, I am looking forward to after the race on Sunday when the season will be over and vacation will start!

Close-up of prone shooting.

Women's Individual Podium!


Photos courtesy of Max Cobb. Check out more photos of US Biathletes in action at http://gallery.mac.com/maxkcobb#100148&view=mosaic&sel=0

Nationals Summary

Mass Start 2nd and 3rd place

US Nationals/NorAm Championships ended Saturday with the mass start competition. I had a good race with good shooting and skiing, despite a long week of racing. It was an exciting race, since it came down to the last lap.

Mass Starts are always exciting since you always know where you are and can often tell how other racers are doing. The first lap of the Nationals mass start was cool because the whole group of women pretty much stayed together, meaning we all entered the range at the same time. I had one penalty and left for the second loop with a small group of skiers, around 5th place. After clean shooting in the second prone stage I was just behind a couple skiers, and moving up in the standings. Standing shooting went well, as I had two penalties in the first stage and one in the second. By the last lap I had moved into 4th position, just behind third and within sight of second. I battled hard over the last 2.5K lap and took over 3rd position, and if the course had been another half kilometer I would have been able to catch 2nd place as well. It was a great race though, and very exciting to do well in the last domestic race of the season. Also, due to my races in Minnesota, I was able to take the NorAm Overall title for the 2008 season. It was a great first season as a full-time biathlete.

And it's not quite over! We are now just outside Vancouver, BC, Canada for Canadian National Championships at the 2010 Olympic venue. The area is amazingly beautiful, and the venue is fantastic. It's a great and inspiring opportunity to get to ski and race here now. It is the first large-scale biathlon events to be held at the Olympic venue, and so far everyone seems to really like the courses and the set-up. Some nationals team members are here, so I'm looking forward to spending time with some people I haven't seen all season. It's going to be fun to race here and end the season with such an exciting experience!

Range at the Olympic venue

US Nationals-2 down, 1 to go

The races at US Nationals are almost over. Today's Mass Start will finish off the competition and then we'll be off to Vancouver for Canadian Nationals. Overall I've been happy with my races so far. The courses here at Mt. Itasca, MN are in great condition and challenging, but very fun to ski. It's been fun to get to see some people who I haven't seen since the beginning of the season and get to race against a couple of World Championship team members.

Thursday was the 7.5K sprint race. I was pretty nervous going into the race and it took me the first lap to ski into the race. Clean shooting in prone and good skiing in laps two and three helped me to a 4th place finish (3rd American) despite three misses in standing.

Friday was the 10K pursuit format (a pursuit style start-based on our sprint results-but an individual result). I was in a much better place mentally for this race. I was very relaxed and ready going into the race so was able to ski well right from the beginning. I had only 1 prone penalty (in my first stage) and three standing (1 and 2) penalties. I ended up 3rd (2nd American), lossing out only to one World Championship team member and a former Belarusian world cup athlete. I also had the best shooting of the day, which I was very pleased with.

Today's Mass Start will wrap up competition here. I think my races thus far have been good, and hopefully I can end on a high note with the last race today!

Post-race

US Women's Sprint Podium

NorAm 7 and Nationals Run-Up

It's been a while since I last wrote, so lets catch up. The last "regular season" NorAm in Valcartier, Quebec went well. Although the sprint race was difficult due to lots of new snow and some wind, it was a good experience. I missed quite a few shots, but learned a lot about how to better tell wind values so I can better adjust my sights for wind in the future. The pursuit race went much better. Despite arriving only an hour before the race (the organizers had moved the race up an hour without making sure every team knew) and having a rushed zero, I hit 17 of 20 and won by 2 minutes. Overall is was a good weekend, but I was definitely looking forward to a bit of a break afterwards.

A break was exactly what we got last week. With three days off and then some easy training and one interval session, I'm feeling much more rested this week. We're now gearing up for US Nationals/NorAm Championships and Canadian Nationals. We leave Lake Placid on Monday for Minnesota where we will race Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Then we head to Vancouver and race Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. All together, I'll race 6 races (58.5 kilometers) in 11 days. It's going to be a whirlwind, so getting some good training in and then some rest leading up to the races is important.

After Vancouver, we'll be done for the season and I'll be heading home to Boise for a little relaxation before heading back to Lake Placid and getting ready to start things all over again.