SUNpolding!

See "Rainpolding" for contrast...

Greetings from SUNNY Bavaria! The first week of the Europe camp has flown by, and though the weather is always a worry, Ruhpolding has been cooperating fully by giving us bright, sunny days and thundering only at night. It’s been a great start!

So far, the team has been spending a lot of time on the roller loop at the Chiemgau Arena (where this season’s World Championships will be held) and running, biking and rollerskiing all around the Ruhpolding area. Thursday, we went on a 5 hour long bike/kayak excursion that took us into Austria and then over to the famed Chiemsee Lake before we circled back for delicious lunch.

Annelies getting ready for the kayak section of our adventure.

Biking in Bavaria...

Enjoying a well-earned Bavarian lunch post-bike!

Yesterday, after some technique combo work, we ran from the venue through a beautiful valley, ending at a ski resort hut where we had a quick snack while taking in the view before driving back to our hotel. This is an amazing place to train, not only because the people seem to think biathlon practice is a spectator event (it’s amazing how many people are in the stands just to watch us do L1 combos…and of course by “us” I mean Andrea Henkel and Magdalena Neuner), but also because of the sheer number of trails and roads just out the door for running and biking. It’s no wonder Germans excel at many sports – the atmosphere is just so conducive!

Andrea Henkel signing autographs while out at dinner.

This coming week will be our last in Ruhpolding. It will be a big week, including a time trial with the Italian, Slovenian, German B team, and Russian teams, and a much smaller hill climb time trial at the end of the week. It will be interesting to see how things shake out! Then off to Oberhof for some skiing in the ski tunnel there. It should be a great couple weeks!

Jericho, Take 2 and Other Adventures

Alaska Adventures soon to come... Photo Credit: Zachary Hall

It's hard to believe that August is already here and the "travel" season is beginning for me. I'm heading out to Europe for a three week A-team camp in Ruhpolding and Oberhof, Germany. It should be a great camp and a fun start to the fall training season (I know, August seems a bit early to be saying "fall," but trust me, it will be here and gone before you know it). But first, a short re-cap of the North American Rollerski Biathlon Championships last weekend in Jericho, VT.

True to Jericho form, it was HOT and almost unbearably humid. Saturday's race was around 83F with about 85% humidity, making the race a tough one for sure. Many of the national team athletes have had issues with the heat in the past, and the sprint race was no exception. I was happy with my performance, though, and felt able to push through 2.5 of the 3 laps before completely bonking. At the time I was bummed with that, but it turned out to be further than most of the other women made it, and with only 1 penalty, it was enough to take home the title for that day! I've never been much of a performer in the summer months, and so having some success in Jericho was a boost for me, though I'm quick to say that performance in August does not necessarily correlate with performance in December...and December is the goal.

Heading out in the Sprint Race. Photo Credit: Judy Geer

The pursuit on Sunday saw no respite from the temperatures, and unfortunately for me, no repeat of the successes of Saturday. My skiing just wasn't there...I was not able to find my rhythm and my standing shooting was terribly off. But these things happen. I know you have to have bad days in order to learn and get to the great days. And as I said before, it's August, so not to worry.

After Jericho, most of the A-team headed back to Lake Placid for a week of solid, but relaxed training before leaving for Europe. After our three weeks in Germany, I'll be back to Lake Placid briefly before heading out to Alaska to train and see Zach. By the end of that trip, it will be October and Utah camp...and ski season is just around the corner from there! It's always amazing how quickly time goes when you're training. I'm looking forward to the traveling and adventures of the next couple months, but am being sure to stay focused and healthy as we creep up on December.

A Day in the Life

I'm often asked what exactly I DO as an elite athlete every day. The answer is never as simple as one might think...it really depends on what kind of training week we're in (high volume, intensity focus, rest week, etc) and what time of year it is. In the spring things are much more free-form and less ski-specific than in the fall when we're gearing up for competition season. Nevertheless, here's a little peak at what a fairly typical August training day looks like (it happens to be my day yesterday, Tuesday August 2).

6:45am - wake up (remember to take morning heart rate!)

7:00 - Head down to the OTC cafeteria for breakfast (cereal, yogurt and fruit).


7:25 - Head back to room and get ready for training. This morning is a ski walking L3 workout at Whiteface Mtn, so I need to be sure to have extra clothes and water and food for post-workout. Don't forget bounding poles!

7:45 - depart with coaches and teammates for Whiteface.

8:15 - Arrive at Whiteface and begin warm-up (30min) followed by 5min L2 ski walking and then a 20min L3 block. After 20min, we meet up with our coaches and take lactates to be sure we're in the right zone. My lactate was 2.7 mmol/L, which is perfect for a L3 workout. However, I was feeling pretty tired so my coach and I decided that instead of 20 more continuous minutes of L3, I would do 4x5min. After the level 3, we did 3x1min of harder bounding (about L4) just to get the heart rate up a bit more. We then hiked/jogged back down the mountain to the van where we changed and stretched before heading back to the OTC.

11:00 - Arrive at the OTC. Shower and change before heading down to lunch.

11:30 - Lunch (grilled cheese sandwich, split pea soup and a salad).

12:15pm - Head back to the room to relax and nap before afternoon training. This time can be filled with any number of activities, including errands to town, writing blog posts, and calling family and friends. Yesterday, I updated USADA with my whereabouts for the coming weekend in Jericho and our upcoming training camp in Germany, then I took a nap.

3:30 - Meet teammate Annelies Cook for a run and strength workout. We did a short warm-up jog (30min) then 3x10min of circuit strength together. This is a great workout to do together; we were able to push and motivate each other and the workout was done before we knew it.


4:45 - Return to room. I'm having a small foot issue right now, so I was sure to ice it after my workout and stretch before showering. I then had a small snack since I wasn't going to head to dinner right away.

6:30 - Resident Athlete meeting. All OTC residents are required to attend these monthly meetings to discuss issues and events. They don't usually last too long and are usually pretty entertaining.

7:00 - Head to dinner (grilled chicken, wild rice, and LOTS of steamed veggies).

8:00 - Back to my room. Evening activities vary just like our off time during the day. Sometimes we have dry-fire work alone or with a coach, or updating your training log. Yesterday I worked on getting somewhat organized for Jericho and did some laundry while I watched a movie.


11:00pm - Bed! A good night's sleep is imperative for getting through tough training day after day!

Hopefully this gives you a better perspective of what life as a biathlete is like. More questions? Head to my facebook page and ask away!

Jericho, Take 1

Last week the women's team headed over to Jericho, VT for a week of training on the rollerski loop and range there. Usually, Jericho is either unbearably hot or incredibly rainy, but this time we got (mostly) lucky. With only one day of rain, and a couple really hot days, the week was pretty pleasant. It was also the first time that the whole women's team has been together in a while. Laura Spector came over from school for the weekend, and all of us were back from our various vacations and off weeks. It was great having a solid group again, and gave us a short window to make a video for the US Ski Team Women's Video Challenge. Check out our entry here. The week culminated in a ride back from Jericho to Lake Placid. Nearly 100 miles on the hottest day of our camp was a bit brutal, but we survived and actually enjoyed it. At the very least, it was some great team bonding!

6:45am...heading out!

Heading up the Keane Hill...almost home!

We now have a bit of a break before we head back to Jericho for the National Rollerski Biathlon Championship races. For most, it will be the first part of trials for the December World Cup and IBU Cup races. Since I'm already qualified, it will just be a good chance to check up on the training I've been doing all summer and get that racing feel again. After the races, it's off to Europe for our August camp! It's amazing how fast the summer is flying by. I'm not quite ready for the training season to be done, but I think we're all starting to feel the slightest hint of that winter itch.

Home

After a good training block in Lake Placid, I headed home to Boise at the end of June for a friend's wedding and to hang out with my family. Of course, I was still training, but it was nice to have a break from Lake Placid and have some different training venues and adventures to mix things up. Perhaps the biggest adventure was going on a hike in the Sawtooth Mountains with my mom and running into a black bear. He was probably more scared than we were, and quickly ran away...but it was enough to get our hearts racing and keep us talking loudly for the remainder of the hike. Clearly, I had no chance to get pictures of this encounter, but here are some I was able to snap on my trip.

My good friend Courtney got married while I was home and I was so excited to take part in her special day!

Post-bear encounter at Hell Roaring Lake. So beautiful!

The view from the top of Mount Baldy in Sun Valley. It was a great place to do some L3 ski walking...

...especially because once on top, you can ride the chair lift and gondola down! What a fun way to end a tough workout. :)

I'm now back in Lake Placid for a few days before our team heads over to Jericho, VT for a week of training. It will be nice to get in some solid skiing and shooting training...and to have all the women back training together for a while!

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Hello June!

Hiking in the Adirondacks a few weeks ago...things have become MUCH greener!

I've been more than negligent in my blog posting recently, but luckily that has not extended to my training in general. We're currently in the middle of a 22hr training week, and looking forward to a short shooting-focused camp next week. This will be the second National Team training camp of the year, and it's amazing to me how fast things have gotten underway. In fact, it's not just this year that's flying by...

Four years ago, I graduated from college and began pursuing biathlon full-time. It doesn't seem like that long ago, but I was recently reminded just how much can change so quickly. My time in biathlon has been full of trials and triumphs, not the least of which was making the 2010 Olympic Team. One of my biggest supporters along the way has been my younger brother, who, incidentally, entered into his own journey 4 years ago when he started college. A couple weeks ago, he graduated with a degree in Architecture from Yale University. I couldn't be more proud of him and what he's accomplished. Congratulations, Luke...and thanks for all your love and support! I can't wait to see where you go from here.

Luke, heading to Graduation!

The good news is that the rain has been letting up, and summer seems in full-swing. I'm looking forward to a trip home, and by the way June snuck up on me, July will fly by and our August camp in Europe will be here before I know it. Keep checking in...I'll be training hard as always!

My family celebrating Luke's graduation. What better excuse to get us all together?!