Välkommen till Sverige!

I have arrived in Östersund, Sweden! Aside from needing to get a bit more snow, things are going well. Not all the trails are open here, but what is open is pretty good. So far, I like the course, and the area is beautiful. I haven't had a chance to take any pictures yet (it is getting dark around 3pm!), but I'll be sure to post some soon. We have one week of training here before we move away from the venue into town and settle in for racing. I'm so glad to be on snow, and really looking forward to starting to race. Until then, I'll be staying focused and relaxed, and trying to simply enjoy my time here in Sweden!

Almost Winter

At the end of the week, the team will be scattering throughout the world in search of snow. I will be off to Sweden for a week long camp before the first World Cups. While many skiers find it imperative to be on snow in early November, I have been having great, focused dry-land training here in Lake Placid for the last couple weeks. The temperature has been dropping, but the sun has continued to shine and make rollerskiing fantastic. Those of us here have counted ourselves lucky that even though there hasn't been any snow, the pavement has stayed dry and clean for us to continue rollerskiing. This time of year, skiers can often be relegated to running and indoor workouts because of the weather, so we really have had a good situation.

Making the best of some inclement (but short lived) weather last week.

Even so, I'm looking forward to getting on snow. The next couple days will be spent getting ready to head over seas and packing, and then I'll be off! I've never been to Sweden, so definitely excited to see some new places. As always, I'll be sure to keep you updated! Think Snow!

Les Bois, Les Bois!

Fall in Boise

I'm back home for a brief visit in beautiful Boise after a tough three week camp in Utah. It was a great training camp, with some solid races, but it's so nice to be relaxing at home now. There's really no better place to be on an off week than at your true home where you can be with family and really enjoy doing nothing. This is my favorite time of year in Boise, when the trees are changing colors and losing all their leaves. I'm especially looking forward to Halloween, since my house always gets tons of trick-or-treaters.

As you know, an off week for me does not mean completely down. I took a couple days at the beginning of the week to catch up on sleep and truly relax, but I do have a couple workouts to keep myself in shape. Today I joined in the Idaho Nordic practice for some plyos and strength. It was fun to connect with such a motivated group of local skiers, and it was a great workout! It was one of the harder strength workouts I've done recently, and certainly better than going out for a jog and doing strength alone! Thanks for letting me join you guys!

I'll be finishing out this week at home and then diving back into training for the last dry-land block before the World Cup in December. It's crazy that Sunday will be November, but I'm feeling fit and ready for the season. November is when skiers start to search the sky for flurries, but it's important to stay focused and get in quality workouts regardless of the weather. So while I'm looking forward to snow, I'll be putting my head down and focusing on the work at hand. But still, THINK SNOW!

Zach and I on a bike ride in Utah.

View down into the Heber Valley, our October home.

Utah Fall Camp!

The women's team is all together for one last dry-land camp in Utah. We've been training at the beautiful Soldier Hollow venue (site of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Nordic events). It's been great to be all together again, but unfortunately the internet at our house is spotty at best, so I've been unable to get a post up until now.

Today we had our first "test" of the camp with and 15K Individual time trial. It was a good race for me. I felt I skied strong and shot well, with only 2 penalties (out of 20 shots). I ended up 3rd, and feel I'm just where I want to be at this time of year. The last couple weeks of fall are going to be important, but I'm already getting psyched for snow!

Racing at Soldier Hollow

Since there are no World Cup trials spots up for grabs this year for the women, everyone seems much more relaxed than last year, and I feel I've been able to focus more on getting in one last big push of training. We will have a Sprint time trial on Monday and then one more week of training before we all scatter. I'll be home in Boise for a week before heading back to Lake Placid for a couple weeks of training and then off to Sweden for the pre-World Cup camp and racing.

Soldier Hollow Panorama

It's been great to be out here with (mostly) beautiful western fall weather while our friends out east contend with not enough snow to ski on, but too much to rollerski with. Everyone is eager to get this season rolling, but we'll have to stay focused on training for just a few more weeks before we can switch to race mode.

Fall, Briefly

The temperature is dropping and the leaves are changing here in Lake Placid. Despite the almost unbearable heat and humidity of the August camp, September has left us with no doubt that it is truly fall. However, on Sunday I'll be headed out west (home to Boise for a couple weeks, then off to Utah for our fall camp) until early November. As I write this (6pm mountain time), it is 83 degrees in Boise. So, it will be back to summer for a little while, which I don't mind at all. Though fall is wonderful, and there's nothing like red leaves and the crisp scent the air gets here in the east, dry western summer weather will be welcome before I'm ready to really welcome the chilly weather and snow that will soon follow.

Training has been continuing as usual, and as the weather turns, the attitude is starting to get a bit more serious. The upcoming season is creeping up on us quickly, and it is important to make these last couple of dry-land training blocks very high quality in order to get the most out of the quick transition to snow and racing. I have been making some huge strides this summer in technique and shooting, and so am very happy with where I am right now.

I've posted a couple video below from the last couple training sessions at our roller loop at the Lake Placid ski jumps. The shooting video (sorry it's so small!) was shot with our new "EyeOn Performance" video technology that shoots video from four different locations simultaneously. It's a pretty neat tool for us to have, and we have only begun to scratch the surface of what it can help us with.

Next update will be from west of the Mississippi. Enjoy the beginning of fall or the end of your summer...depending on your location!

Quick Update

We've just begun our second (and last!) camp of the summer. All the women are back together in Jericho, VT for two weeks (including two races this weekend) and then we'll be off to Bethel, Maine for a week long distance camp. For these first two weeks we are staying on the Ethan Allen National Guard base, which of course means-barracks! That's right, the women's B and Development Teams, the entire Junior National group, a small contingency from Minnesota, some athletes from both the Northern and Southern Maine MWSC groups, and the Gunstock, NH Nordic team all together in two big bays in the army barracks (men on one side, women on the other). It's quite the party! And though it may sounds crowded, it's a great opportunity for us older women to get to know the young ladies just coming up into biathlon and stay in touch with that group.

I always remember being so excited at camps to meet the older girls and get to talk to them, so it has continued to be important for me to get to know the young girls when we have a chance (which, unfortunately, is rare). This week is the perfect time. Not to mention, the young girls always seem to have the best collections of DVD's and card games to keep us busy on an otherwise isolated army base! We're soaking up the occasional chaos, because come next week, it will be just the older women and a few MWSC girls left.

So, between bonding time, races, and getting in some quality training all together, it's going to be a busy three weeks. We're already into August, and so it's getting close to crunch time for all of us. I'll be using this camp to continue with solid training and getting ready for fall. Keep checking back and I'll try and keep things updated!

(And finally, some pictures from the June camp and off time with my family!)

Post-mud run in Fort Kent (you can't see it to well, but we were MUDDY!)

The magical place in Westport, MA. A fun time in a beautiful location with my family!

They had a kitchen, which is a novelty for me, living in the dorms at the OTC! I took full advantage of it and (along with much help) made some delicious pizzas one night!

"How does this thing go together again?" Grilling at a Dartmouth-owned cabin in New Hampshire.

Women's Camp Wrap-Up

The first women's Team camp of the year is over, and, minus the weather, it was a great success. After spending a slightly rainy week in Lake Placid with heavy emphasis on hard intervals, we headed to Fort Kent, Maine for two weeks of focused combo work (skiing and shooting combination workouts). Unfortunately, the rain followed us, and we spent two weeks with only fleeting glimpses of the sun and clothing that would never dry. Despite that, though, we had a great camp: we got some real quality workouts done on the range/roller loop and some great team bonding over traditional Aroostook ploys (buckwheat pancakes) and chicken stew and Taco Tuesday on Thursday night. (BIG thanks to all the local families that cooked for us!)

In our first week in Maine, we had a time trial, which happened to fall on the one day that was full of sun and extreme heat and humidity. Dealing with the elements is just another part of the job. It was made a little better by the fact that the local sports reporter came out that day to check out what we were doing. Below is a link the video story, complete with some good rollerski footage:

http://www.wagmtv.com/newssource8/story/2009-06-29-olympic-dreams

It was a tough three-week block of training, but well worth it. I am now enjoying some well-earned relaxation at the Massachusetts coast with my family. I'll be heading up to Dartmouth's Moosilauke Ravine Lodge this weekend for the lodge's 70th birthday, and then it will be back to the grind in Lake Placid. More pictures to come once I get back to Lake Placid and get them downloaded! Check back soon!

8x4min uphill intervals in Lake Placid...plus our four-legged friends who joined us mid-way through!