Germany & The Czech Republic

Hello from Altenberg, Germany. The past week has been a whirlwind of travel, training, and racing. This being my first time ever across the big pond, there are definitely a number of things that I've never encountered before. However, I think the transition was as seamless as could be expected.

Leaving the Range

It's hard to explain what biathlon means to Germany other than to say that it is pervasive here as the NFL is in the US. Just this past weekend over 5 million Germans tuned in each of three days to watch the World Cup biathlon events. And that doesn't take into account those throughout the rest of Europe and Scandinavia that were also watching. Needless to say, it's quite an experience to finally get the opportunity to train and race in a place where everybody understands what it is that I do.

Fans in the Stadium

The races this past weekend went extremely well given that they were my first ever European competitions. The field consisted of over 125 men and included elite racers from several of the powerhouse biathlon nation's World Cup teams. To finally get to step onto the same snow with many of these men is what I've been training months and, indeed, years to do. In the 20K competition the windy conditions contributed to poor shooting conditions for most of the athletes. Each miss automatically adds one minute to your overall finish time, so hitting targets is paramount in the 20K competition. With an unfortunate 7 misses I finished in the middle of the field. The 10K sprint went substantially better on the range. I only had 2 penalties and felt like I had a solid day on the ski tracks as well.

Sprinting for the Finish

Tomorrow we'll be leaving for the drive to Nove Mesto, Czech Republic to begin preparing for the two races there this coming weekend. It appears that Russia ended its gas dispute with Ukraine so the heat will be back on in much of Europe. We're very happy for that because the Czeck Republic has been without heat for the past week. That would have made for an interesting race experience. There's not much more to report for now, but hopefully I'll be able to find an internet source at some point during the coming week to get some more pictures up along with another post.

Europe Bound!

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were fantastic. I'm glad to finally be able to get a post up. I've tried several times during the last few days and for some reason blogger was having issues with posting from my account. But alas I think we're back up and running. I had a short break after the first early season competitions in Minnesota so I got to spend Christmas and New Years with my girlfriend and her family in Idaho. The last few weeks have been filled with travel, training, and racing and much has happened since my last entry. My last post left off before the rollerski races in Utah so I'll pick up there and provide a quick run-down of the more major events to date.

The roller ski races in Utah during our fall camp were a great opportunity for me to see how my training was stacking up against the National A Team and the rest of the top biathletes in the country. I had a couple of very solid races and was encouraged to see my progress compared to earlier races this year and, especially, against the same race series last year. My shooting was improved and my skiing was much better overall despite feeling a little tired due to the altitude.

Racing in Soldier Hollow, UT

At the conclusion of the camp in Utah I spent a few days doing lighter training in Idaho before heading back to Lake Placid to put in a two more focused weeks of training in preparation for the first on-snow camp and North American Cup races in West Yellowstone, Montana. Training proved to be a little tough in Lake Placid because we were dealing with fresh snow that was just deep enough to shut down rollerskiing and biking, but not quite deep enough to allow us to get out our skis. Suffice it to say, I spent lots of time running, riding a stationary bike, and doing intervals on the treadmill. While it's always a mental challenge to keep training focused during times of less than hospitable weather conditions, I think my years spent training and racing with the Dartmouth Ski Team served me well by conditioning me to get through the nasty transitions to snow that only the East seems to be able to consistently dish out.

We left Thanksgiving weekend for West Yellowstone to put in a week and a half of training on snow before the first races. Yellowstone 'always' has snow in late November, but this year was the exception. There was great skiing on forest service roads above 7500 feet, but we only got in a couple days of skiing before the forest service closed down the access roads from town. We were left with no other options except for running and shooting. The extended lack of snow forced an early change of venue to Grand Rapids, Minnesota where a second weekend of racing was already scheduled. Lots of man-made snow allowed for great skiing and better preparation for the first of two weekends of racing. While MN did have lots of snow, it also had lots of wind and cold.

The first race, a 10K sprint, took place in some of the nastiest weather conditions I've ever raced in. Fortunately for me, I hapen to like racing in tough conditions. During the race the wind was blowing and up to two inches of snow was falling each half hour so skiing and shooting were complicated. Eighty percent shooting and solid skiing netted me a first place finish, a fantastic way to start the season! The next two races, another 10K sprint and a 12.5K pursuit, were solid on the ski tracks, but I didn't shoot as well as I needed to get top points towards qualifying for the European Cup races in January. The last race, a 15K mass start, was run in temperatures that reached -30 degrees with windchill and saw wind gusts of 10-20 mph. I went into the race knowing that I had to win in order to guarantee that I would qualify to go to Europe. Everything went according to plan. I skied well but knew that only excellent shooting could keep me at the front of the race. I ended up hitting 18 of 20 targets and winning by nearly 40 seconds over the next competitor. The race netted enough points to put me in first place overall on the points lists.

Mass Start: Stage 3 shooting

Today, after a long day of travel and jumping several time zones, I arrived inFrankfurt, Germany. We're here in Europe to race in European Cup competitions in Germany and the Czech Republic. The two weeks of racing will be amazing international experience on their own, but I'll also be competing against two other American biathletes for one spot on the World Cup 6 Italy roster as well as the World Championships Team, which will travel to Korea in February. I'm very happy with how my training is progressing and I can't wait to get back on snow.

Training in Sun Valley, ID

NY, AK, & UT

The past few weeks were fantastic. The latter two weeks in August were spent putting in a block of intensity training as well as getting things ready to be away from the Training Center during September and October. I also completed a complete overhaul of my rifle stock so it now fits me much better and has a shiny new paint job. Check out the finished product...

My reworked rifle stock.

While in Lake Placid I had the opportunity to put in a few quality sessions on the brand new roller ski loop and rifle range at the Olympic Complex in Lake Placid. What a blast! The loop has a couple of screaming down hills and a tough steep uphill into the range. We now have the ability to do shooting with close to max heart rates, which is a huge asset for training. In my short tenure as a biathlete I’ve lacked consistent shooting with heart rates similar to those seen in races. That is now remedied.

Training on the new Lake Placid range.

At the beginning of September Sara and I flew to Alaska to spend a month with my family. It was a perfect time for a change of training venue and what better place than the mountains and trails of AK? The month we spent there was filled with numerous adventures starting with a short hunting trip a few hours north of Anchorage. Fall in Alaska is typically altogether too short, but this year was different. The aspen and birch were ablaze in hues of orange, yellow, and gold and were the perfect contrast to the red of blueberry bushes that carpet the North country and higher elevations.

Unfortunately the hunting trip only netted us pictures and no meat for the freezer, but it was a great time. Other notable AK moments were calling in a giant bull moose to within 15 feet while on a training run in the mountains and having a grey wolf eye check us out for several minutes from a ridge on the edge of the city.

The trip home to AK was a well needed break before the season starts getting really busy. It was fantastic to spend time with my family.

A walk with my niece & nephew

I'm in Heber City, Utah now for an altitude training camp and a series of rollerski races. Adjusting to the altitude has been tough, but I'm starting to feel better after a week of training. The races are this week so check back soon for an update.