Classic technique for 90K, 57,000 registered skiers. Welcome to the 2010 Vasaloppet week.
Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
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Waxing for 57,000
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Waxing for 57,000
Classic technique for 90K, 57,000 registered skiers. Welcome to the 2010 Vasaloppet week.
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Pictured: The Norwegian Team Sprint Champions. (Oystein…
img src=”http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kyqn1rpUYh1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pPictured: The Norwegian Team Sprint Champions. (Oystein actually ate Petter.)/p
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A video for those having a tough time swallowing the results of…
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Off to Oregon
I want to help Nate out here with a little contribution since he does such a great job keeping the blog going:)br /br /First, if any of you haven’t skied since the Birkie, Theo Wirth was in amazing shape (front and back 9) as of 11am this morning. It’s great to have that kind of coverage and grooming in sunny 30 degree weather. br /br /Second, the Birkie was fun as per usual. Unfortunately I’m still unable to push to a good high max HR as things continue to heal post-sugery. But after really struggling up through OO or so (while very seriously contemplating a DNF), I found a little rhythm and hung on to a small group. I was at Mayo last week, and the surgeon said he believes everything seems to be healing (although they put me back on a rate control drug due to my 90-100bpm resting HR). Luckily, I snuck into a top 200 spot, so hopefully next year I’ll be fully recovered ready to go again. br /br /Finally, next Tuesday I’ll be defending my PhD thesis and then moving to Portland, OR to work as a circuit designer for Intel. Luckily there is good CC skiing one hour away at Mt. Hood (see pic below), and a little further than that in Bend. It’s a bummer to move away from such a great city with so many trails, but such is life. If anyone finds themselves in Portland and is looking to roller ski or ski, email jkeane3@gmail.com.br /br /Thanks to everyone who has helped me work on my form or whipped my butt in intervals. I’ll be following Vakava results from the Northwest!br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BHb-Q9fL1qI/S470miGvxeI/AAAAAAAACAg/eG5u6Ztnqt8/s1600-h/Teacup_Nordic_MtHood.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BHb-Q9fL1qI/S470miGvxeI/AAAAAAAACAg/eG5u6Ztnqt8/s320/Teacup_Nordic_MtHood.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444557942364816866″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-4530955791857814753?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Da Birkie
img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444539648039306690″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hvZteNu0E40/S47j9qbpxcI/AAAAAAAAAHk/US3XntMOE7M/s320/birkie.jpg” border=”0″ / Now that was fun! If there is one thing that will help mask a little lack of fitness, it is blazing fast trails on wicked fast skis (thanks Devin!).br /br /divAs expected, the field was pretty dang impressive. Like most people, I was 15 minutes faster this year, and also like most people (it seems) I was 10 places further down in the results. 28th last year, and 38th this year. I don’t think I could have finished any faster though. From the begining my legs were not feeling great. I was still with the lead pack through most of the power line hills, but I was not too focused on staying with them, and by the first feed stop I was off the back of the (very large) lead pack (side note: this was the first time in 4 years that I was able to get a feed at this first feed station, so that was one major benifit of having the classic skiers start first – it got the feed stations ready for us!). By the 7k mark I was caught by a good pack of skiers that included Bjorn Batdorf, Josh Korn, Matt Weier, and about 3 others. We worked together and caught Tyler Kjorstad and another skier that were a bit ahead of me, and from there we had a really nice pack that skied together for the rest of the race. I was very thankful for the pack. I skied most of the first 80% of the race at the back of this pack of 8 or 10 skiers just trying to get my legs to feel good. I always seem to have crappy legs for the first part of the birkie, but most years I am feeling good by OO, and feeling tired but very good by Bitch hill and have a good finishing kick. This year it took my legs until well after OO to feel ok, and still by Bitch hill I was not feeling like pushing the pace and was just trying to hold onto the group. In the hills after Rosie’s field our group started to split up a little bit (I have heard that Bjorn may have had to take an unfortunate pit stop about this time), and I did have the legs to bridge a gap that formed and keep our pack together. On the last flats before the lake a skier from Canada (skiing his first Birkie) made a break, and once again I went to the front of the chase and brough the group together. Once we were on the lake the Canadian and another skier in his first Birkie (you can tell from the “1” written on the bibs) were pulling our group with my self in 3rd. I was perfectly content to let them switch off the leads, meanwhile trying to keep my left tricep from cramping. By the time we got off the lake and on to Main Street I knew that both of those guys were pretty spent. I pulled into the far right lane and sprinted hard to the line. I was the first guy in my pack to the finish (even though the results list Chad Tolbert in front of me).br //divdiv/divimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444539696958602450″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hvZteNu0E40/S47kAgq6_NI/AAAAAAAAAHs/vFWmOMtB7NI/s320/birkie1.jpg” border=”0″ / divWhich brings up the point: Why is the starting sensor at the 300m mark in the race? Has anyone done a race that starts the chips part way into the race and not at the start line? This just seems stupid. Why not have the starting sensor at… the start!?! My other suggestion is that they instead move the start sensor to the 15k mark for next year, since that is when my legs usually start feeling good anyway. /divdivbr /But despite the timing quirks, this was probably one of the best (if not the best) Birkies I have participated in (this was my 7th). It truly is an experience that every skier should do once (if not once a year!). /divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdivLooking at the results I think I can justify saying that I had as good a race as last year when I was 28th. Note: 9 skiers who beat me last year did not race (or were in the classic race). 19 of the skiers who beat me this year did not race last year (or were in the classic race). 3 of the skiers who I beat last year beat me this year, but I beat 3 skiers this year who were ahead of me last year. This seems to point to an extra 10 top elite skiers in the race, and I was 10 spots worse in the results. Makes since to me./divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdivAnother side note: for the 3rd year in a row (every year they have had it), the U of MN – Twin Cities was victorious in the Birkie College Team Competition. This year all three scoring U of MN skiers also trained with Vakava: Myself, Bjorn, and Allie Rykken. /divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdivThe Vakava team as a whole had a fantastic race (especially the ladies!)/divdivVakava skate finishers: /divdiv38 – Nathan Porath/divdiv67 – Derek Wallen/divdiv72 – Bjorn Batdorf/divdiv112 – Andy Schekel/divdiv154 – John Keane/divdiv160 – Dave Christopherson (age group win)/divdiv162 – Dave Bridges/divdiv171 – Paul Olson/divdiv296 – Brent Oja/divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv5 – Jojo Winters (in the money)/divdiv7 – Mary Beth Tuttle (age group win)/divdiv14 – Angie Robinson (age group win)/divdiv19 – Kathleen Dewahl (age group win)/divdiv24 – Cheryl Dubois (age group 2nd, because Mary Beth was in it)/divdiv30 – Mel MacMillan/divdiv36 – Michelle Oja/divdiv43 – Katie Splan/divdiv101 – Nichole Porath/divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdivClassic:/divdiv51 – Mark Ahlers-Moore/divdiv102 – Kevin Ivens/divdiv111- Pete Thurmes/divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv11 – Margie Nelson (age group win)/divdiv19 – Allie Rykken/divdiv/divbr /divThis year I unfortunatly was unable to take part in any post-Birkie festivities due to my dental board exams the following day. They went well. I will find out the results in a week or two, and hopfully there will have been no consequenses to doing a 50k race the day before the board exams./divdiv /divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdiv/divdivNow it is time to soak up the great spring skiing here in Mn. I took the dog out skijoring yesterday, and today it is supposed to be 45 degrees and sunny. Fantastic./divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-144373491200826882?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Big Brother
Security at the Olympics is a top priority and in Vancouver, you didn’t have to look far to see signs of the tight security. We were under a watchful eye for the entire duration of the Games. Compared to Salt Lake in 2002, where everyone had to take a drink out of every water bottle and take a photo with every camera upon entering a venue, it was a little more relaxed, but not by much.
Caitlin gets ready to go through security for the first of many times during the Games. According to our bus driver, each bus was equipped with a GPS. If the bus deviated more than 10m from it’s scheduled route or stopped for an extended period of time, police were notified to investigate. Upon entering every venue, buses were checked by security using mirrors to identify any potential hazards.
In the athlete’s village, we were always under the scrutiny of the “eye in the sky,” a small blimp with a camera that followed all movements within the village. Throughout the village, we were surrounded by security guards and Canadian Mounties.
Are there even cameras in that moose’s eyes? It wouldn’t surprise me!
There was even an eye in the sky at the Nordic venue in Whistler. Simi and I came across one on the ground during an evening run. These things are enormous when you see them up close! After the Olympics, these blimps will be sent to Hollywood for use in the next James Bond movie. . .
In case the athletes ever needed any extra amenities, there was always a helicopter available to drop them off. Here, the chopper picks up athletes right from the village to go Heli-skiing on a powder day in the Whistler back country.
Perhaps the toughest crew at the Olympics were these guys in the Canadian Army who lived in the woods and kept us protected during the Games.
While skiing on the tourist trails one afternoon, Simi and I came across a troop of 5 soldiers with AK-47’s walking down the trail. Sim had the audacity to tell them that their green camo didn’t blend in very well with the snow. I just showed them my credential and told them it was okay for us to be out there!
In the above shot, Torin and I pose with the troop. “Will you be able to watch tomorrows Gold Medal final hockey game?” I ask. “We’re not supposed to, but we’ll round up a satellite so we can listen to the game.” These guys haven’t spent a night indoors since weeks before the Games started.
Of course, Compton makes their day by posing for a photo!
Afterwards, it’s time to pack up camp and head off into the wilderness. “Sweet ride!” Kuzzy says. “Yeah, but it doesn’t go very fast,” is the response. “What, are you guys in a hurry to get somewhere?!”
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“Ever since I was a teenager looking at the photos in the “HALL OF FRAMES,” I wanted to win this race…”
“Ever since I was a teenager looking at the photos in the “HALL OF FRAMES,” I wanted to win this race and be forever immortalized…”br/br/ – emRebecca Dussault articulating the significance of Birkie winning (and how it is similar to canonization, greek history and biblical heroes./em
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“I was really surprised and relieved when I gapped the pack. I had excellent, fast Salomon skis and…”
“I was really surprised and relieved when I gapped the pack. I had excellent, fast Salomon skis and was able to pull away more as I glided through Duffy’s Field on my superior Toko wax job.”br/br/ – em Dussault, again, delicately inserting every sponsor possible into her quote./em
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ski mountaineering world championship
Hello from Canillo, Andorra.
The US Ski Mountaineering Team is looking forward to tomorrow’s rest day in the middle of these championships. The team of 8 men, 5 women and 1 junior has completed the vertical race and the senior individual race.Each of the 23 countries is allowed 4 entries in each category (senior male, senior female, espoir (under 23) male, espoir female, junior male, junior female) of each race. The first race of the week was the vertical race. This is a hillclimb of 880 meters (490 for the juniors) that took place at Soldeu el Tarter. While a race of this length is not exactly a sprint, you wouldn’t know it when you saw the racers jump off the start line vying for position in the pack. The course started fairly steeply then traversed a lower angle cat track before steepening up on the upper ski runs to the summit of just over 2700m.The women started 30 minutes before the men and a lead group quickly formed, with a chase group trying to close the gap. Monique Merrill, of Breckenridge, CO, moved into this chase group about 5 minutes into the race. She was able to pick off a couple more competitors before topping out at the finish. She finished in 52:52, 4 minutes behind Roberta Pedranzini of France, the winner. Merrill finished in 9th place. Jari Kirkland, of Crested Butte, CO, finished in 61:10. She was followed by Nina Silitch, an American who lives in Chamonix, France, at 63:43. The fourth American was Molly Zurn, a Reno, NV resident competing in her first world championship, crossing the finish line in 68:46.After cheering the women and getting pumped up by the Euro techno-beat blaring at the start line, the large field of senior and espoir men gave chase to Kilian Jornet Burgada, the Spanish Espoir who led start to finish. His winning time of 39:50 was barely enough to hold off Dennis Brunod. The Frenchman was 6 seconds back, with his teammate, Florent Perrier, another 7 seconds back. The top 6 men were all separated by less than 50 seconds. The US team had their own tight battles, albeit a bit further back in the field. Cary Smith, Jackson, WY, was 9′ back, Jared Inouye, SLC, UT, had a great second half of the race to finish 40 seconds behind Cary. Bryan Wickenhouser, Crested Butte, CO, was one minute behind Jared. Ben Parsons, Whitefish, MT, finished just under 2 minutes behind Bryan.Well, it’s 8pm, time for another huge, late, delicious dinner. The team is adjusting to European eating schedules but it’s definitely taken a few days. -
ski mountaineering world championship
Hello from Canillo, Andorra.
The US Ski Mountaineering Team is looking forward to tomorrow’s rest day in the middle of these championships. The team of 8 men, 5 women and 1 junior has completed the vertical race and the senior individual race.Each of the 23 countries is allowed 4 entries in each category (senior male, senior female, espoir (under 23) male, espoir female, junior male, junior female) of each race. The first race of the week was the vertical race. This is a hillclimb of 880 meters (490 for the juniors) that took place at Soldeu el Tarter. While a race of this length is not exactly a sprint, you wouldn’t know it when you saw the racers jump off the start line vying for position in the pack. The course started fairly steeply then traversed a lower angle cat track before steepening up on the upper ski runs to the summit of just over 2700m.The women started 30 minutes before the men and a lead group quickly formed, with a chase group trying to close the gap. Monique Merrill, of Breckenridge, CO, moved into this chase group about 5 minutes into the race. She was able to pick off a couple more competitors before topping out at the finish. She finished in 52:52, 4 minutes behind Roberta Pedranzini of France, the winner. Merrill finished in 9th place. Jari Kirkland, of Crested Butte, CO, finished in 61:10. She was followed by Nina Silitch, an American who lives in Chamonix, France, at 63:43. The fourth American was Molly Zurn, a Reno, NV resident competing in her first world championship, crossing the finish line in 68:46.After cheering the women and getting pumped up by the Euro techno-beat blaring at the start line, the large field of senior and espoir men gave chase to Kilian Jornet Burgada, the Spanish Espoir who led start to finish. His winning time of 39:50 was barely enough to hold off Dennis Brunod. The Frenchman was 6 seconds back, with his teammate, Florent Perrier, another 7 seconds back. The top 6 men were all separated by less than 50 seconds. The US team had their own tight battles, albeit a bit further back in the field. Cary Smith, Jackson, WY, was 9′ back, Jared Inouye, SLC, UT, had a great second half of the race to finish 40 seconds behind Cary. Bryan Wickenhouser, Crested Butte, CO, was one minute behind Jared. Ben Parsons, Whitefish, MT, finished just under 2 minutes behind Bryan.Well, it’s 8pm, time for another huge, late, delicious dinner. The team is adjusting to European eating schedules but it’s definitely taken a few days. -
Australian Pursuit, Retro Suits, 33 and Snowing
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47V4vC2SLI/AAAAAAAACgc/pIXw9kwcsng/s1600-h/IMG_3106.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47V4vC2SLI/AAAAAAAACgc/pIXw9kwcsng/s400/IMG_3106.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444524170215311538″ //aWe had a great Australian Pursuit practice today. Older boys skied 15 km, older girls skied 10 km and the J2’s skied 5 km. Math geek, Sverre, seeded everyone with the slower skiers first and the hope that everyone would finish together. Winner takes all to the first across the line. It was a little tricky because we had not raced this course before (a tough 5+ km loop), people were going different distances( we had to guess at when to start the 10 km girls so that they would have an adequate lead on the boys as they came through for their first lap) and the waxing was tricky. To add to the fun, everyone was in charge of waxing and adjusting their own skis. The temperature was around 33 and there was a light snow falling onto variable tracks.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VvgTsNSI/AAAAAAAACgU/INSOBHHCL7Y/s1600-h/IMG_3108.JPG”img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VvgTsNSI/AAAAAAAACgU/INSOBHHCL7Y/s320/IMG_3108.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444524011640599842″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VoQ4i3qI/AAAAAAAACgM/9BgtsQsX68I/s1600-h/IMG_3109.JPG”img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 275px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VoQ4i3qI/AAAAAAAACgM/9BgtsQsX68I/s320/IMG_3109.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444523887241125538″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VhlUySII/AAAAAAAACgE/YQ4SD9b_oVk/s1600-h/IMG_3116.JPG”img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VhlUySII/AAAAAAAACgE/YQ4SD9b_oVk/s320/IMG_3116.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444523772469201026″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VT8-L6TI/AAAAAAAACf8/adKrm4aadcU/s1600-h/IMG_3118.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47VT8-L6TI/AAAAAAAACf8/adKrm4aadcU/s400/IMG_3118.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444523538298693938″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47U6XfZmUI/AAAAAAAACf0/y1XTubFI3G4/s1600-h/IMG_3124.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 392px; height: 400px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47U6XfZmUI/AAAAAAAACf0/y1XTubFI3G4/s400/IMG_3124.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444523098740726082″ //aBridger and Austin duked it out for the last 12 kms. Austin managed the victory because he had the track at the end and the track was faster.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47UpyEzzhI/AAAAAAAACfs/Z6OcKhbA7tM/s1600-h/IMG_3126.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47UpyEzzhI/AAAAAAAACfs/Z6OcKhbA7tM/s400/IMG_3126.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444522813819178514″ //aSnow was great, tracks were great, course was tough and waxing was tricky.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47UZupjpFI/AAAAAAAACfk/CCPbPQHAULM/s1600-h/IMG_3129.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47UZupjpFI/AAAAAAAACfk/CCPbPQHAULM/s400/IMG_3129.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444522538021659730″ //aFirst across the line wins…here is a heated battle!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47UHHLbkcI/AAAAAAAACfc/ZOWsCnKxFJk/s1600-h/IMG_3138.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47UHHLbkcI/AAAAAAAACfc/ZOWsCnKxFJk/s400/IMG_3138.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444522218188673474″ //aSky-dog used his zeros. They were great for the first lap, but then he started slipping…br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47SVXjdrFI/AAAAAAAACfU/fdwkxqiyFeU/s1600-h/IMG_3144.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47SVXjdrFI/AAAAAAAACfU/fdwkxqiyFeU/s400/IMG_3144.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444520264079354962″ //aIzzy C striding to victory.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47SGZi1jLI/AAAAAAAACfM/10EjhR999zc/s1600-h/IMG_3157.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47SGZi1jLI/AAAAAAAACfM/10EjhR999zc/s400/IMG_3157.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444520006915558578″ //aPost race clean up and story swapping.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47Rzu1iUUI/AAAAAAAACfE/l5jEZe1Bv6I/s1600-h/IMG_3170.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S47Rzu1iUUI/AAAAAAAACfE/l5jEZe1Bv6I/s400/IMG_3170.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444519686213620034″ //abr /Team “retro” pauses for a picture after the time trial. We found some old team suits and the team is having fun with the one piece uniforms.br /Everyone gave a great effort and it was a fun event. Ski waxing and selection played an important role and therefor the finish times were not quite as close as we had hoped, but everyone still finished in a 3 minute window and there were some excellent battles.br /Here are their actual times (remember that waxing was tricky):br /Format is lap time(s) and then totalbr /Bridger 16:58, 17:13, 17:01 51:12br /Austin Ca 16:37, 17:13, 17:01 50:51br /Magnus 17:00, 18:08, 18:03 53:11br /A Cobb 16:32, 16:41, 17:09 50:22br /Skyler 16:24, 17:47, 17:30 51:41br /Hallie 20:20, 21:02 41:22br /Issy P 20:25, 20:04 40:29br /Rachel 19:30, 20:21 39:51br /Gage 18:24, 19:16 37:40br /Cam 19:15, 19:43 38:58br /Izzy C 17:52, 18:09 36:01br /Brooke 19:56br /Heather 19:00br /Mac 17:56div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-585438909487283783?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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The Real Thing
Well, the ice is broken on my first international biathlon racing experience! And it was definitely an interesting one. To begin with, it was a new type of race for me, what is called an individual race in biathlon. That means that you shoot 4 times—prone, standing, prone, standing—but instead of doing penalty laps, you get one minute added to your time for each missed target. For this reason it’s known as the shooters race, since it’s highly beneficial to hit lots of targets. For the women, it was a 15k race made up of five 3k loops.
I was pretty excited and a bit nervous before my start, primarily because I was worried that I would somehow forget to do something important, or otherwise make some dumb mistake. But I zeroed my rifle and warmed up without getting too distracted by all the colorful uniforms and foreign languages around me. I was starting last in the field of 55 women, and decided that my goal was to place higher than my bib number. Secretly though, I was hoping to shoot reasonable well and actually be somewhere in the middle of the pack.
But alas, it was not to be. To begin with, the range here seems to be in a wind tunnel. Even when its not windy anywhere else, the range is windy. And I’m just not very comfortable shooting in wind. On top of that, the flurries that we’ve had pretty consistently since getting here decided to pick up into a full-fledged blizzard just in time for our race. The big fat flakes made the skiing slow too.
I skied a pretty hard first lap, trying to keep up with the girls lapping in front of me, and then missed two in my first prone shooting. Which could have been worse, I thought. I knew that everyone would be missing a lot on a day like this. But then in my second standing I did what’s called “dirtying”—I missed all 5. It was sort of embarrassing, but I also had to sort of just laugh. As I skied by the penalty loop, I was at least happy that it wasn’t a penalty lap race! After that I’ll admit it was hard to really stay super psyched, especially as I was getting passed every few minutes, and struggling along in the slow snow. 15k felt like a really long way to ski with a rifle on my back!
In the end, I finished with 11 penalties—tied for the second worst shooting in the race. I was also almost 16 minutes off the leader—meaning that I also skied and shot a lot slower than the leaders.
But with a whopping 53rd place, I beat my bib!
It certainly wasn’t the most exciting way to make my international debut, but it was definitely a learning experience! I’m definitely realizing how fast the girls are here—it’s a whole different league! And its impressive and inspiring. Its also made me realize how important it is for U.S. athletes to race over here—the level of competition is just so totally different, and its hard to comprehend that difference until you see it.
And now I have three more races to try to have some fun and hopefully improve upon this one! Really its not a bad starting place, since I can only go up from here! -
30,000 feet up and headed North!
!–StartFragment– br /div class=”MsoNormal”(Just a warning – this is a long post – I hope that I don’t put too many of you to sleep….. sorry!) /divdiv class=”MsoNormal”br //divdiv class=”MsoNormal”While getting to the airport (with 5 bags to check) was stressful, now that I’m mid-flight, I have some time to reflect on the past two weeks before hitting the ground (running) in Anchorage. /divdiv class=”MsoNormal”I am one of the few athletes returning home after the Games.span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp; /spanMost of my teammates are en route to Europe to compete at either the spring World Cups or The “OPA Cups.”.span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp; /spanWhile I would have liked to continue racing, I know the limit of my body.span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp; /spanI need some rest, plus I am going to coach Junior Olympics in Presque Isle Maine as part of Team Alaska’s coaching staff!span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp; /spanI made the commitment to coach in October and I want to keep my word.span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp; /spanPlus, I’ve been missing all of the people back at home that I work with on a daily basis.span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp;nbsp; /spanThere has been plenty of cheering and encouragement for me the past month.span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”nbsp; /spanNow I look forward to reciprocating! /divdiv class=”MsoNormal”br //divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”
