House, Scenery, and Self Portrait

(Almost) End Of Summer

I realize it’s only the end of July, but for all practical purposes summer is over for me. Summer in biathlon training world ends after the Jericho Summer Festival, which begins next week. This week marked the end of a tough 6 week training block and began a much needed rest week. During my rest week I will only train 8 hours, less than half of an average training week. After my recovery week I will be hitting the training hard once again with the Jericho Summer Festival and a MWSC camp in Sugarloaf Maine. After those two camps I will head home for a week, before the fall training cycle beings. Since I’m not training this week I have the opportunity to get things done around the house and enjoy some local culture. Ben and I are planning on seeing the University of Maine Fort Kent Kent’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (review to follow) also this week is the Southern Maine Biathlon Team’s camp here in Fort Kent where I will be an assistant coach. Check back for a critical piece on local theater and updates on the Jericho and Sugarloaf camps.

3 Periods down... 9 to go.

3 Periods down…
Life has settled into a pretty steady pattern here in Fort Kent. Training is ramping up and the summer is rolling right along. Over the last period (4 weeks of training) I put in 70 hours of physical training and shot over 1,700rds. Since my last post the Maine Winter sports center hosted the Maine Team camp, a group of aspiring high school athletes who were selected based on their results from last season. The MWSC biathlon team assisted at the camp providing shooting and ski technique coaching to the campers. The highlights of the camp were a skate time trial at 10th mountain, where I saw some significant improvement over my last effort in June, and a now infamous speedball (a game combining soccer and ultimate Frisbee, NOT the injection of cocaine and heroin) tourney which saw me and my roommate Ben taking on all comers and going undefeated to claim the title of World Speedball Champions of the Word. Yeah! On tap for the remainder of the summer is the Southern Maine Biathlon Team Camp, the classic summer training camp in Jericho Vermont, and an all MWSC camp in Sugarloaf Maine. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

"Summit " Picture

All 5,267 feet of it.

Katahdin

On June 30th the Maine Winter Sports Center Biathlon, Cross Country, and Youth Development teams hiked to the top of Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest point. The locals don’t call Mount Katahdin “Mount Katahdin” because Katahdin means Great Mountain, so it’s like saying Mount Great Mountain. The hike itself was an adventure. After a fairly uneventful hike to the summit, the descent turned into a bit of an ordeal. At the summit we all took a break and enjoyed the view. During this time my Achilles tendon began to tighten up. I thought nothing of it and began the technical descent down the Knife’s edge, a narrow band of rocks that runs along Katahdin’s main ridge. My Achilles slowed by progress considerably and I was soon way off the pace of the rest of the group. After some rather scary bouldering on the Knife’s Edge I met up with some of the group who where nice enough to wait for me. (Thanks Corrine and Leif) I was also joined by my roommate Ben, who was struggling with a hip injury he acquired on a running adventure the week before. As the trail became easier my ankle began to loosen up and Corrine, Leif and I began to make our way down, assuming Ben was close behind. At a turn in the trail I waited for Ben, while Leif and Corrine continued down. After waiting for about 10 minutes I knew Ben’s hip must be giving him some trouble. When I met up with Ben he let me know that he was going to have to take it really easy on the descent. We walked the rest of the way in, with me helping Ben through some of the tougher sections. All in all it was an eventful 8 hour (yes 8 hours) adventure.