Pre-World Champs

Antholz!

How time flies!  Three weeks of racing already done in the new year, and World Champs just a week away!  Things started out great for me in 2013, with three top-40s and two clean races!  To top it off, we had our best relay result of the season (10th place) in Antholz.  It was the perfect way to end the trimester and head into World Champs. 

Pretty happy with our 10th place relay finish!

Now, we've been training and enjoying great food and sun in Antholz, Italy as we prepare for World Champs in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.  The first race starts a week from today (Mixed Relay on Feb. 7).  I'm looking forward to getting to Czech and getting back to racing!

Susan doing strength with a beautiful view.

Shadows only happen when it's sunny! Beautiful ski at Platzwiese, Italy.

Post-ski coffe and conversation in the sunny Dolomites...life is good!

Auf Wiedersehen, 2012!

I'm sorry, I've been pretty bad about blog posting.  I'd like to blame lack of internet, or slow internet, but while that may play a role, it's not the whole story.  The good news is that whenever I fail to post for a while, you get a photo update!  So here we go, the last month in pictures...

After the not-quite-winter of Sweden, it was off to Hochfilzen.  They had plenty of white stuff waiting for us.

Our view upon waking up the first day in Hochfilzen...winter!

Susan and me enjoying the snowy conditions post-pursuit race.

It was not only snowy, but cold in Hochfilzen...parkas for cool-down skis!

After Hochfilzen, it was off to Bled, Slovenia for the Pokljuka World Cup races.  Bled is beautiful, and consequently Pokljuka is one of my favorite venues.  Conditions were great for the training days, decent for the sprint, but the pursuit was run in pouring rain.  However, I had some solid results, scoring points in both races!


The beautiful view of the lake and church from our hotel in Bled, Slovenia.

SUN! The training days leading up to the Pokljuka races were sunny and beautiful.

But the sun turned to rain, turning my bed into a drying rack...

Wet and ready for some time off, I headed to Anchorage, AK for the Christmas break.  I'd never been there that time of year, and though I was warned the sun was never up for long, the short days were sun-filled and beautiful.  It was the perfect mix of relaxation and training.



Cold temps but sunny weather met me in Alaska...making for some beautiful skis.

The sun never got very high in the sky, but it was still more sun than I'd seen most of the time in Europe!

No visit to Anchorage is complete without seeing moose while on a ski!

And of course I did some biathlon training...in the dark.  Luckily the Kincaid range is well lit!

And now I'm back in Europe!  Oberhof was a solid start with my best result of the season so far (29th in the sprint), and after a slight head cold, things are kicking off in Ruhpolding.  The season is about half over, and things feel like they're heading in the right direction for me.  Antholz is next, and then we'll be prepping for an earlier-than-normal World Champs in Nove Mesto.  Stay tuned for more as the season progresses!