Canadian November

November is a bipolar month for biathlon training. In November some of the hardest dryland training takes place. The amount and intensity of the exercise increases. At the same time the amount daylight and enthusiasm for running and rollerskiing decrease at a nearly equal rate. On the other end of the November spectrum is on-snow training camp. After a 7-month separation from skiing, the first days on snow are among the most fun training days of the year.

This season I experienced the full range of November biathlon training. Early in the month I worked hard to improve on the weak areas I had identified in the October rollerski trials races, and tried to put in hours at my job to finance my upcoming travels. The hard rollerski sessions where driven in part by the light at the end of the tunnel with was skiing on snow in Canmore, Alberta Canada.

Following the October rollerski trials, I reached out to Patrick Johnson, a biathlete from California with the idea of sharing the cost of a training camp in Canmore and a race trip to the IBU Cup Trials in Minnesota (More in this in another post). I had only briefly met Patrick prior to coming to him with this proposal, but he gamely agreed! Patrick is a supremely talented biathlete and excellent person. We got along famously throughout the camp in Canmore and the race trip to Minnesota. I am very grateful to Patrick for agreeing to travel with me.

My time in Canmore was filled with quality biathlon training, some poor North American Cup race results, and lots of breathtaking scenery. Canmore is on of my favorite places to be, and I always enjoy my time there. The Bow Valley is #1 on my list of ski vacation destinations. In Canmore I was a guest athlete of the Auburn Ski Club (http://auburnskiclub.com/asctc/biathlon/)  and Team R.A.D. (http://www.canmorenordic.com/team-rad/). Both clubs welcomed me as one of their own and provided me with great coaching and training buddies. A special thank you to Rachel at team R.A.D, and Glenn, Lenka and Joel from ASC for their help.      

The training camp in Canmore allowed me to build some race form, get my skis legs under me and adjust to shooting on a regulation size biathlon range. I steadily improved my fitness and skills throughout the camp. After Canmore, I spent a few days at home resting and resetting before traveling to my home state of Minnesota for the IBU Cup/Olympic Trials races.

Check out the next post on this blog for a recap of these competitions.