Since getting home last Monday things have been going well. On Tuesday most of the UP got hit with a blizzard and Marquette ended up with over a foot and a half of snow. I’ve been skiing every day at Blueberry Ridge which is about 7 miles out of town. Sten spent most of the day on Wednesday grooming the trails so we had awesome tracks. I’ve been doing mainly distance skiing this week to get back into the swing of things. Next week will be harder with three days of level 4 intervals.
After Bozeman, instead of flying home with the rest of the team, I stopped in Minneapolis and caught a ride up to Grand Rapids, MN with some other biathletes to go to the biathlon world team trials in Mt. Itasca. I just couldn’t resist putting biathlete in quotation marks in the title, because although I’ve been practicing shooting quite a bit this summer and fall, I still feel like I have been training as a skier, and then practicing shooting on the side. My challenge here in Minnesota is to try to combine those two things, which can be quite a challenge when you ski hard and come in to the range really out of breath. What it comes down to is that there’s really just a lot more to a biathlon race than a ski race. It can be more exciting than ski racing, and also more frustrating, and certainly more complicated. To give you all an idea of what biathlon racing is like, I thought I’d share my yesterday with you.
8:30: Get up, eat breakfast, get everything together. Don’t forget your rifle, cuff, ammo, boots, poles (skis are already at race site where everyone’s skis were waxed by the coaches with the same wax).
9:45: Get ride to race course. The bank thermometer reads -14 F. Planned ski testing time is 10:30-10:50, followed by zeroing at 11:00,the men’s race at 12:00, and the women’s start at 12:45.
10:00: Hear that the whole schedule has been pushed back an hour so it can warm up more.
10:15-11:15: Play cards, snack, waste time.
11:30: Ski test time. Get your two pairs of skis from the wax room where they’ve been locked up over night, pick the one that seems faster, bring them to the start corral, where they must be checked in by 11:50. This is all to ensure that everyone has the same wax on their skis.
12:15: Go back outside for zero. Zeroing is when you shoot on a paper target to make sure your rifle is properly adjusted for the day. You have to do this in your race top, because you don’t want to adjust your arm cuff afterwards. So you freeze. Make sure to reload your magazines afterward, and get your rifle checked in at the start corral.
1:05: Head back outside to warm up. Even though you’ve been skiing on and off for the last hour and a half, you ‘re not warmed up.
1:45: Race start! Double check your rifle before the start, make sure bolt is closed and magazines are full.
First loop: You feel great! Lead the pack around the 2.5 k loop of man-made snow, and into the range for the first shooting.
First prone shooting: Shoot a bit slower than the other women, but you hit them all! No penalties!
Second loop: you should be in the lead, but instead you accidentally follow the men’s course right when you leave the range, and it adds an extra loop on, and about a minute of time. You feel dumb, and are now just behind the women who just did penalty loops.
Second prone shooting: Come in feeling more tired this time, and miss two targets.
Third loop: do two penalty loops, then try to stay motivated out on the steep hills.
First standing shooting: You feel really wobbly and take too long trying to steady yourself between shots. You miss three.
Fourth loop: Ski three penalties, then head back onto the course. You’re a bit further behind, but you know you only have one more loop left, so you try to stay motivated.
Second standing shooting: You shoot a bit quicker this time, and with more confidence, and it pays off! You hit them all.
Last lap: You bypass the penalty loop and head straight onto the course. You can see another girl ahead of you and try to hammer it in. You can tell you’ve gained a lot on two of the girls ahead of you, but don’t quite catch them. You come in 6th, only 12 seconds out of third.
Afterward: You feel dumb for going the wrong way, but otherwise are quite happy with your race. You skied and shot well. You just have to work on staying on course and shooting a bit quicker, and you’d be right in there.
So that was how my second race went. So far I’ve been 6th in both races, and have been quite happy with how they’ve gone. I feel like my shooting practice has actually paid off, and skiing back at sea level is feeling quite nice. I’m still working on remembering all the different things I have to do for biathlon though. I think its good practice for me–as many of you know, I can be a bit spacey at times. 
skifaster.net
Bring in the chains. Canadian sprinter Phil Widmer got me at the line to take the NorAm Skate Sprint at Sovereign Lake yesterday. Sprint racing is just plain fun and there was some exciting, close racing yesterday. Congrats to Phil on a great race. Kicking back in Silver Star today and getting ready to move on to Canmore tomorrow.
Close finish. Photo: Julie Melanson – Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre
On Saturday, we hosted our first race of the season in Craftsbury. We were lucky to have enough snow and a sunny day. The Opener actually drew a pretty big field, including the GMVS and Colby teams. Matt was psyched to reunite with his fellow Mules.
I am still trying to recover 100% from a cold that kept me from racing the last SuperTour in Bozeman, so I didn’t race. Instead, I had the opportunity to lead the “lollipoppers” (J6 and under, or any skiers 7 year old or younger) around their 200 meter race course. The kids were awesome – two 7-year-olds and two 4-year-olds. About halfway around the “racecourse” the kid who was in the lead told me, “this is really long!” They all got tootsie pops at the end as prizes.
The winning lollipop racer.
After the lollipop race, the “big” BKL kids got their chance to do a mass-start, 2 kilometer skate race. Two boys from Mount Mansfield basically blew the field out of the water. The top Craftsbury finisher was Jacob Morse (J4), followed by Lauren Gillott (J3). I always like to see a girl beat up on the boys, so go Lauren. All the kids did really well though, especially considering that for some of them, like Ani and Xav, it was their first time on snow! It was fun to see them all out there racing after working with them all summer.
Kestrel leading a group of racers. Don't look at us, Kestrel, just ski!
Benjamin going for it at the finish. He beat the boy behind him.
Melanie sharing a moment with her father after the race. Hers was my favorite race suit of the day!
You guys absolutely need to check out this new video that some of the SMS boys put up. Click “Contrast Bathing” in the links side bar.br /br /We have been discussing the importance of recovery. If you want to be able to take full advantage of all the multi-workout days and time away from school during a camp, you have to recover well. Otherwise you need to skip workouts to rest. That equates to wasted time.br /br /After taking about the post training glycogen window the boys took it to a new level with speed chugging a 4:1 carb:protien beverage. Next we were on the topic of contrast bathing. The basic premise is to create a pump though constriction and dialation of the vascular system. This occurs through an extreme differential in ambient temperature. By submerging the body in a liquid you can maximize the conduction of the temperature deep inside the fatigued muscle fibers. By opening and closing the “pump” you can flush out metabolites, and possibly alleviate minor muscle trauma and inflamation, all of which remain from previous workouts. Once Mac and Magnus got wind of this idea they once again took it to a whole new level.br /br /What you see in this video opens a whole new realm in the area of recovery. This kind of breakthrough recovery performance is typically only seen at the highest levels of athletics. It is kind of like Mac showing up at 5k J2 race and finding out it is actually a 6k! He just shrugs it off and cranks out that extra K like nobodies business and dominates the event. br /br /Don’t try this at home or anywhere for that matter without first consulting a physician and your coach.br /br /Enjoy.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-4176885886386057270?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
You guys absolutely need to check out this new video some of boys the SMS put up. Click “Contrast Bathing” in the links side bar.br /br /We have been discussing the importance of recovery. If you want to be able to take full advantage of all the Multi workout days and time away from school during a camp, you have to recover well. Otherwise you need to skip workouts to rest. That equates to wasted time.br /br /After taking about the post training glycogen window the boys took it to new level with speed chugging a 4:1 carb:protien beverage. Next we were on the topic of contrast bathing. The basic premise is to create a pump though constriction and dilation of vascular system. This occurs through an extreme differential in ambient temperature. By submerging the body in a liquid you can maximize the conduction of the temperature deep inside the fatigued muscle fibers. By opening and closing the “pump” you can flush out metabolites, and possibly alleviate minor muscle trauma and inflammation, all of which remain from previous workouts. Once Mac and Magnus got wind of this idea they once again took it to whole new level.br /br /What you see in this video opens a whole new realm in the area of recovery. This kind of breakthrough recovery performance is typically only seen at the highest levels of athletics. It is kind of like Mac showing up at 5k J2 race and finding out is actually a 6k! He just shrugs it off and cranks out that extra K like nobodies business and dominates the event. br /br /Don’t try this at home or anywhere for that matter without first consulting a physician and your coach.br /br /Enjoy.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-4176885886386057270?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/SyZasJWBLZI/AAAAAAAABDE/GcKBmCuVQrw/s1600-h/Four+hour+club.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/SyZasJWBLZI/AAAAAAAABDE/GcKBmCuVQrw/s400/Four+hour+club.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415115316428615058″ border=”0″ //abr / We’re back at school and (mostly) recovered from our long hours of skiing in Silver Star. Some of the guys, like David, Ryley and Hans logged two, four-hour skis. Here they pose in front of Alder Point, one of the far reaches of the Silver Star Trail System.br /br / As we returned to school winter seemed to magically follow us home. We had three solid days of skiing last week, including the Craftsbury Opener.
I had a free day to do a long ski this weekend, so I rounded up some friends for a trip to the Susitna Valley. Bill, Rachel, JT, Scott are all either doing, or thinking about doing, the White Mountains 100 race in March, so they were eager to get out of town and ski some snowmachine trails.
Today’s sprint race was a lot of fun. Full results from the qualifier can be found HERE and the heats are HERE. hen they are posted. I don’t remember many places, but I think Kuzzy was 2nd. We had 3 boys make the heats (Kuzzy, Gregg and Liebsch) and 4 girls (Rebecca, Caitlin, myself, and […]
““-16F”… really? Is that even worth putting up?”br/br/ – em Reese Hanneman on his Twitter space. Answer: Yes. It is./em
img src=”http://16.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kum23b25Eq1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pa buffalo, actually/p
I was planning on racing the span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Pre/span-Season Physical today. I wanted to get a few shorter, easier races in before the bigger, longer races start in January and thought I may as well start with that one. The problem was that I’d had a very disorganized week and ended up doing very little training early in the week due to weather and whatnot and tried to cram in a bunch on Friday and Saturday. By Saturday afternoon by body was very tired and I was feeling my legs quite a bit when trying to sled with my son. I figured I’d do the race anyway even though I was tired and hadn’t prepared my skis just so I could get on a starting line and get used to the whole race thing again. So I got all my clothes ready for morning and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke from a dream about the race. I was in the middle of the race skiing nice and easy and feeling good. I figured it was time to pick up the pace and took off. I quickly started getting more and more tired. Soon I was dragging myself along on my belly through the snow until I finally ran completely out of steam and just lay there in the snow, exhausted, unable to crawl any further. When I woke up, I figured by body was trying to tell me something and that it was best to listen. I reached over and turned off the alarm. As hard as it is to back off sometimes, I’ve learned that it just doesn’t pay to ignore your body. It knows best. I’m a little disappointed that I missed it, but feel it was the right span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″ class=”blsp-spelling-corrected”decision/span. I still have a few opportunities to get some races in this month and hopefully I’ll be able to plan ahead and be better prepared.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-2784954311080785594?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
When I woke up on race day morning with a headache, somewhat sore throat, and an achey body my first thought is to ignore it. So I ignored it, and I did what I would normally do on race day morning, drink coffee, eat breakfast, and ski… I did my warm up around the race course, but it was getting harder to ignore all the signals my body was trying to tell me. My body is fighting something, and it doesn’t need the stress on ski racing on top of that. It was huge bummer to not race today, but I think it was the smart thing to do… I want to fight off whatever bug is trying to get me down so that I can get back to health and race really fast next weekend in Canmore!!!
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU4IkXE58I/AAAAAAAABt4/5L-ragBqxak/s1600-h/IMG_1452.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/SyU4IkXE58I/AAAAAAAABt4/5L-ragBqxak/s400/IMG_1452.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414795846833465282″ //aCarbo loading last night.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU32vYtf2I/AAAAAAAABtw/B41VCxE0kVI/s1600-h/IMG_1458.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/SyU32vYtf2I/AAAAAAAABtw/B41VCxE0kVI/s400/IMG_1458.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414795540555464546″ //aMegan and Sophie welcome Izzy to Dartmouth.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU3qNMPXwI/AAAAAAAABto/79EfL8DaVpw/s1600-h/IMG_1461.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/SyU3qNMPXwI/AAAAAAAABto/79EfL8DaVpw/s400/IMG_1461.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414795325217922818″ //aBrooke chilling before the race.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU3cQemzrI/AAAAAAAABtg/zGID5Qc_8mk/s1600-h/CIMG4507.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/SyU3cQemzrI/AAAAAAAABtg/zGID5Qc_8mk/s400/CIMG4507.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414795085582094002″ //aWaiting for the wax reccommendation.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU3LOboGdI/AAAAAAAABtY/76K6b3iaElk/s1600-h/CIMG4513.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/SyU3LOboGdI/AAAAAAAABtY/76K6b3iaElk/s400/CIMG4513.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414794792974948818″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2-FjKjEI/AAAAAAAABtQ/pABM4hYv2JU/s1600-h/CIMG4532.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2-FjKjEI/AAAAAAAABtQ/pABM4hYv2JU/s400/CIMG4532.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414794567252347970″ //aWe had a time trial with Dartmouth this morning. The girls raced 5.5 km and the boys raced 11km. Conditions were near perfect and a good time was had by all (esp. the timers who enjoyed the 20 degree temps).br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2zDR6usI/AAAAAAAABtI/R7NNXTmD_qg/s1600-h/CIMG4533.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2zDR6usI/AAAAAAAABtI/R7NNXTmD_qg/s400/CIMG4533.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414794377664576194″ //aThe Dartmouth team beat us fair and square but our kids all raced well. Here are the results:div1) Katie B 19:27, 2)Ida S 19:45, 3) Sophie C 19:54, 4)Heather M 20:30, 5) Gage 20:35, 6) Steph C 20:46, 7) Izzy C 20:55, 8) Rachel H 21:26, 9) Brooke M 21:30, 10) Megan Killigrew 21:44, 11) Hallie G 22:07, 12) Julie C 22:19, 13) Kristen B 22:43, 14)Rosalie L 22:56,15) Emily B 23:12, 16) Nancy D 23:49.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2kE2yKgI/AAAAAAAABtA/81hSRJq3E_8/s1600-h/CIMG4537.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2kE2yKgI/AAAAAAAABtA/81hSRJq3E_8/s400/CIMG4537.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414794120389601794″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2TCx_YUI/AAAAAAAABs4/2FmODbyG9Rk/s1600-h/CIMG4545.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2TCx_YUI/AAAAAAAABs4/2FmODbyG9Rk/s400/CIMG4545.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414793827774849346″ //aBoys:/divdiv1) patrick O’B 33:07/divdiv2) nils K 34:30/divdiv3) Eric P 34:31/divdiv4) Gordon V 35:42/divdiv5) Sam T 36:37/divdiv6) Skyler D 36:57/divdiv7) Bridger T 37:05/divdiv8) Ethan D 37:52/divdiv9) Sam M 38:12/divdiv10) John Gers. 38:23/divdiv11) Alex S 38:31/divdiv12) Matt T 38:36/divdiv13) Luke P 40:09/divdiv14) Wiley D 40:27/divdiv15) Eben S 40:30/divdiv16) Eli L 41:40/divdiv17) Cody D 43:39br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU2D-Kqt9I/AAAAAAAABsw/pTvuKb4gRlM/s1600-h/100_5789.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/SyU2D-Kqt9I/AAAAAAAABsw/pTvuKb4gRlM/s400/100_5789.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414793568838137810″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU1xFW0UeI/AAAAAAAABso/3ZLnGN3b1ZE/s1600-h/IMG_1478.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/SyU1xFW0UeI/AAAAAAAABso/3ZLnGN3b1ZE/s400/IMG_1478.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414793244350632418″ //aTyler 19:43, Mac 20:45.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU1neLIWGI/AAAAAAAABsg/Jw0rV4bXb58/s1600-h/IMG_1474.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/SyU1neLIWGI/AAAAAAAABsg/Jw0rV4bXb58/s400/IMG_1474.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414793079213807714″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU1SAlzE6I/AAAAAAAABsY/ToHTQ5Tq8Ns/s1600-h/100_5782.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/SyU1SAlzE6I/AAAAAAAABsY/ToHTQ5Tq8Ns/s400/100_5782.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414792710495343522″ //aOfficial photographers.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/SyU1AMQx1fI/AAAAAAAABsQ/k1mqET-PnEk/s1600-h/IMG_1484.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/SyU1AMQx1fI/AAAAAAAABsQ/k1mqET-PnEk/s400/IMG_1484.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414792404390761970″ //abr /Bridger worked hard!/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-4765336181583030630?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
Great day for the men – and women – in black. Four CXC in the Top-6 on the mens side, two in the Top-5 for the women. Kelly took the top spot in the womens open race at ABR, along with our juniors posting some solid results. Podium shots: Bryan Fish images (man, that guy knows how to work!).
Taz, Compton, Dasha, Holly, and Rebecca
Cook, Gregg, James, Kuz, Chuck
In the words of Dennis Hopper, “Like a freight train. Choo-choo, baby, choo-choo.”
We’ll be racing a Skate Sprint during the Packer game tomorrow.
