The Canadian Rockies - Paradise on Earth?

Two weeks ago I arrived in Canmore, Alberta, a beautiful little town nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. We're an hour and half from Calgary, twenty minutes from Banff National Park, and not far from Lake Louise. If you're looking for a great laid back town, amazing scenery, friendly people, and some of the best skiing in all of North America, Canmore will blow your mind. I know definitions of 'paradise' vary, but for those that include mountains, snow and Nordic skiing and Biathlon, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a more scenic locale. It's hard to see the details in the pictures below, but click on them to get a larger version.

I came to Canmore with part of the team to get on snow in preparation for the Olympic trials, the start of which are now less than one week away. If you refer to the picture of skis in my last post you can see that it takes a lot of skis to compete at the elite level. That picture is a sampling of the athlete skis, but is probably only one half of the number actually used by the 20 or so athletes in the program. Anyway, that's relevant because part of my job while here in Canmore has been to get my skis ready for racing. Each pair of skis has a different flex pattern to it and then is stoneground. Stonegrinding cuts various patterns onto the base of skis to give them optimized gliding properties for various snow conditions that range from cold, dry, and sharp snow crystals to warm, wet, pellet-like snow. Getting a pair of skis ready to race after stonegrinding requires many layers of wax and numerous miles of skiing to 'work in' the bases. I calculate that I skied about 110 miles in the last week and a half to get my skis race ready. Lots of work, but well worth it when the racing gets underway.

The Canmore Nordic Centre - Biathlon Range

Last week I came down with a head cold so my training has hampered somewhat. I did feel well enough to race the sprint race last Saturday. It was a great opportunity to go hard and work on putting a whole race together on snow. My skiing was good and I had 1 prone and 1 standing penalty so I was pretty happy with the effort. My cold has cleared up this week so I was really looking forward to the sprint race that was held yesterday. While these races don't matter for anything they were a great opportunity to go hard and make a few final adjustments before the Trials kick off next weekend in MN. I felt good skiing and only had 1 standing penalty. I feel good going into the races in the coming two weeks.

Views of Canmore from the Nordic Centre

I travel to Grand Rapids, MN tomorrow where we'll spend just a few days more preparing for the official start of the season next Saturday. The racing kicks of with a 10k sprint Saturday and a 15K mass start on Sunday. The following week we race two more sprints and one pursuit race. The field is deep this year because of the Olympics so there will be great competition.

Fall Training & Olympic Trials Warm-up

September and October passed quickly. As the real racing gets close the remaining fall weeks always seem to fly by faster and faster. After returning to Lake Placid from Alaska I spent a couple weeks training in the east. The weather was unseasonably good considering how nasty things can get in the east starting in September. I was more than happy to only have to deal with rain a time or two. At the end of September I headed west to get ready for the final dry-land National Team Camp in Utah at the 2002 Olympic venue, Soldier Hollow. Soldier Hollow is an hour from Utah in the Heber Valley. Since that area is high desert the the weather is typically fantastic - cool at night and sunny and mid 50's during the day. Perfect training weather as far as I'm concerned. Kind of reminds me of summers spent training in Alaska except for a lot less moisture. The four weeks I spent in UT were a great last opportunity to train with the A Team. We spent hours training on the paved roller-ski trails at Soldier Hollow and also did a fair amount of training in the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. See the pictures below.

The Wasatch Mts. in beautiful Utah

Soldier Hollow, Heber City, UT - site of the 2002 Winter Olympics

Training day.

Team skis ready for snow.

During the camp we had two competitions. The first was a 10K sprint race and the second a 20K individual. In the 10K I had a nearly perfect day, shooting clean for the first time in my career and finishing second behind Tim Burke, the top US Biathlete. That was a fantastic result and gives me confidence going into the Olympic season. In the 20K I again had great skiing and shot very well putting me in 5th place overall.

Clean shooting in the sprint race.

Rewards of a two-hour uphill ski!

After finishing the camp at the end of October I made a brief stop off in Boise, ID before heading back east for a few more weeks of training on my own. While eastern weather in September is always iffy, November weather is typically nasty. Usually we see rain and snow mixed on several days and daily precipitation is almost a given. I'm not sure what was going on, but of the three weeks I was in Placid training we saw temps in the mid 40's and 50's and only one day of rain. That's no fun for the locals because they want snow to come early, but dry, cool weather was a gift as far as we biathletes are concerned. We'd prefer to have great roller-skiing than have to deal with the in-between mess that happens when snow comes but doesn't stick. Needless to say, training was great and I was able to get in a solid block of volume training before heading to Canmore, Alberta to get on snow for the first time.

Training, Racing, and a Trip Home to Alaska

The past several weeks have seen lots more training, a little racing, and a fair bit of travel. During the first week of August I had some downtime thanks to a muscle spasm in my back. I've been focusing most of the summer on a few technique changes that, for whatever reason, seemed to precipitate me being laid up for a few days. As unfortunate as forced breaks typically seem, there is usually a silver lining. This time was no exception. I was able to get a few projects finished up and at the same time I rested more than would have been possible otherwise. August 8th and 9th were the US Biathlon Summer National Championships so I was doing everything possible to be ready to race. While still not yet 100%, I was able to race and posted very good ski times. My shooting was less than stellar, but taking into account the events leading up to the races, I was very pleased with my races.

Shooting Prone in the Sprint Race.

Headed for the Finish.

The day after Summer Nationals concluded in Jericho, VT, I got on a plane bound for Alaska. The last time I was home was in September of 2008 so it had been almost a full year since the last time I saw my family. I am very appreciative of all that the US Biathlon Development program offers for athletes in Lake Placid, but I wish there was some way to spend more time training in Alaska. The state has so much to offer its distance athletes and we even have a brand new world class biathlon range sitting in the middle of Kincaid park (unfortunately no roller loop yet). For better or worse though, my coaches are in Lake Placid, the US Olympic Committee provides room and board at the Olympic Training Center, and we have one of the best combined rollerski loops and shooting ranges in the country so the current situation has been great. Anyway, I'll get back on topic. I spent a full three weeks at home. While in Anchorage I got to spend lots of time with my family and was able to do great training in the mountains and on the trails that are both in and surrounding Anchorage. Talk about a well set up trail system. It is possible to get from one side of Anchorage to the other without having to deal with traffic. No cars and no lights to contend with. Just great multi-use trails that support the thriving outdoors community. An added benefit too, if you're lucky, is the chance run-in with a moose or bear. No worries though. They are far more interested in what's to eat off the trail than, in the case of the bears, the spindly-legged runners with PowerBars sticking out of their pockets. Speaking of animals, check out the beautiful bull moose that I nearly ran over while doing intervals on the Coastal Trail in Kincaid Park.

Share the trails!

Downtown Anchorage from the Coastal Trail.

While in Alaska I had opportunity to do a few great hikes in the mountains. One of the hikes was a 15 mile epic that I did with my dad and brother. We thought we were headed to a high mountain lake to fish for grayling and trout. Unbeknownst to us though, we had directions to the wrong trail head. We had a beautiful hike instead that took us up a long valley towards a huge glacier. No fish, but the scenery was fantastic and the weather couldn't have been better. Check out the picture below of Eagle River and the Eagle River glacier in the background.

Exploring the AK Backcountry with my Dad.

To top off a great visit home, my family planned a weekend camping trip in the Matanuska Valley. We took canoes, bikes, dogs, and, if my recollection serves me, a kitchen sink or two as well. :) It's one thing to eat freeze-dried meals on a backpacking trip, but 'road' camping with my family is a happening - complete with eggs and bacon, gluten free muffins, and other tasty treats. Beautiful weather graced us until the last day of the trip so we had plenty of opportunity to wear ourselves out. Between training sessions in the mornings, chasing my niece and nephew around all day, and hanging out around the fire, my 'vacation' was nearly more than I could handle. It's a rare treat to spend so much quality time at home.

The Hall kids!

I've been back in Lake Placid now for a couple of weeks. Training is going well and I feel on track to have a great season. I set a personal record last week in a shooting test and another PR today in a time trial so I'm feeling good going into the fall training. Of course, the leaves have already begun to change and the air is crisp in the mornings, two key ingredients that hint at the snow and racing that will be coming in the not too distant future. I'll be leaving in a week to spend a little time training in Boise with Sara before heading to Heber City, Utah - host of the 2002 Nordic and Biathlon Olympic races - for the fall National Team camp. While there I'll have two races that will help decide the 5th man to be named to the December World Cup team. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks of training and the challenges that they will bring. I'll do my best to keep you updated with all of the nitty gritty. Until next time...get out there and enjoy the fall.