Canmore Pictures

Back to the M States

After another great week in Canmore I am back in Maine after a marathon 20 hour travel day from Canmore back to Fort Kent. Training in Canmore got better and better topping out with a long ski on perfectly groomed trails on a sunny relatively warm day surrounded by the striking Canadian Rockies. It was one of those workout that reminds you why you rollerski in the rain for hours in November, or suffer through bounding intervals in the summer heat. I have now reached the portion of the year where most all the hard work is behind me, I is time to execute and perform. After a week of training and organizing my life in Fort Kent I will head home to Esko, Minnesota for the month of December. I’m looking forward to an important race series in Grand Rapids, and generally being home(seeing family, friends, familiar places etc) . I am also pumped for the start of the biathlon World Cup season, which begins on December 1st in Sweden. My MWSC teammate Russell C. will be representing the USA. You can watch the 2010 biathlon world cup all year on www.biathlonworld.com. The racing time of year is here, and I’m ready.

Canmore 2.0

My first week of on-snow training here in Canmore has gone really well. I have done a lot of easy training, and two races with the US and Canadian Senior National Teams. The races where about what I expected, marginal skiing due to a lack of on snow time and improved shooting, shooting wasn’t exceptional on a percentage basis, but I felt in control and realized immediately where my misses where. It was really cool to line up in front of Jean Philippe Legulec from Canada in the Mass Start. (I got a higher start number because it was US World Cup Trials) Legulec was 6th at the Olympics in the Sprint and has been in the top 30 overall World Cup many times. Lining up with such high level athletes is a thrill and great race experience. I have one more week of training here in Canmore which should prove to be very productive.

Start

Canmore

I arrived here in Canmore Alberta Canada on Saturday after a seriously long trip from Fort Kent.
My Canmore adventure began last Thursday with a late night drive down to Caribou Maine, where I spent the night at the Farmhouse (a MWSC athlete house). My Friday started early with a 5:00am wake up to catch the 6:00am bus south to Portland. On our way down we had two encounters with the long arm of the law (not me personally) In Holton Maine the US Border Patrol asked everyone where they were born and questioned a very nervous Chinese man who was on his way south to get a new passport. Further down the line I had to change buses in Bangor Maine, this is where we encountered some of Maine’s finest. When everyone was settled into their seats a Maine state Trooper boarded the bus and asked for a woman to please step forward, finally, after some mumbled comments of “not me” the Trooper produced a picture and began going row by row. He eventually found the woman, lead her off the bus, handcuffed her, and then quickly drove away. Finally I arrived in Portland and me Connor, a MWSC coach and our host until our flight the following day. After dropping off our stuff at Connor’s apartment, we headed to Bates College with the Southern Maine Biathlon Club for a double pole test on a rowing machine like apparatus. The machine uses air for resistance, and with all the air we were pushing around we breathed in a lot of dust, and when combined with the very dry air had us coughing like smokers for the next 36 hours. After a great meal at the Bates dining hall we headed back to Connor’s apartment, watched a bit of a movie and went to bed. The next morning at 4:00am (!!!) we headed to the airport for what we thought would be a relatively short travel day. We expected one connection in Toronto and then a direct flight to Calgary and an hour drive to Canmore. I was really hoping to get on snow that afternoon. Instead our first flight was late, I got caught up in customs, and we had to get an additional connection through Winnipeg, then finally to Calgary. We didn’t get to Canmore until about 6:00pm local time. On the plus side all our baggage made it intact and the loop here while short, is excellent skiing. Training has been going well, and it’s great to be back on snow. Tomorrow is the kickoff to the North American biathlon season, but I will be sitting out the opener due to my lack of on snow time, and because these races are selection races for the US World Cup team, not something I have to worry about just yet. Hopefully I’ll have some killer pictures of the racing action to come shortly.

Almost Saved It

Transition Season and a Rollerski Weekend

The final weeks of dryland training are now rolling by. This time of year is very important for the racing of the season. The training is generally hard and very specific, things like biathlon and XC time trials, rollerski and shooting combination training and ski specific strength dominate the training plan. With specific training in mind the MWSC Biathlon and Cross Country Teams made the trip south to North Haven Island for the Lobster Roll, a rollerski race put on by MWSC for the college ski teams of Maine. North Haven Island is an hour ferry ride from Rockland Maine. The race was 15k interval start around most of the island. I was very fortunate to ski with a good group of skiers for most of the race. The flat course wasn’t well suited to me, but I found I have made some good improvements in my high speed skate technique, and overall ski fitness. I was 4th overall and happy with my effort. After the Lobster Roll the team and I headed further south to New Gloucester Maine for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club’s rollerski race/fundraiser Eyes on the Pies. The race was a great rolling 10k through Pineland Farms, a cool corporate retreat and farming facility. I felt good during the race and put in a good effort. The highlight of the race was my taking a high speed crash on a fast downhill corner (Video to come!). I wasn’t hurt and made a great effort to prevent going down. From here I have 2 more weeks in Maine until I head to Canmore Alberta Canada for the first skiing of the year. Hopefully Canmore looks like the picture when I arrive, because it is pretty brown now...