A lot has happened since I last updated this blog on May 4th.
I moved to Craftsbury Common, Vermont, joined the Craftsbury Green Racing
Project team, gained new coaches and teammates, added the backing of the
Craftsbury Outdoor Center, and made a plethora of other changes to my sporting
and personal life.
Being a supported professional biathlete on the best private
team in North America is a privilege I am grateful for every day.
The training year has whizzed by and I am now in the thick
of the competition season. Here is a brief summary of the training year and the
first trimester of the race season.
Spring 2018
I arrived in Craftsbury and began training in earnest. The most
difficult parts where adopting a new style of skiing and adjusting to the sheer
volume and intensity of the training. I took each challenge in stride and
improved with every workout.
Summer 2018
The most intense period of summer training was punctuated,
as it is every year, by rollerski races in Jericho, Vermont. These races would
play a role in selecting who raced in Europe in December. I realize this seems
like an odd way to select athletes for a winter sport, but this is how US
Biathlon likes it, for some reason… I produced flashes of quality during the competitions
but was left frustrated and off the pace of my peers.
Fall 2018
I continued to make incremental gains both skiing and
shooting. I got the opportunity to attend a training camp with the National
team which was a huge boost to my training because it allowed me to get new
perspectives on shooting and skiing, while exposing the areas I needed to
improve most.
The focal point of the fall was a 3-week training and
competition trip to Soldier Hollow, Utah. The purpose of the trip was to spend
time training at high altitude and qualify for the first period of European
Competition via rollerski competitions.
I trained well in Utah but came up just short of making a
team for December. I was very disappointed in myself, and this feeling was
compounded by all my GRP teammates qualifying to race in Europe. I was happy to
share in their success but felt like I was letting the team and myself down by
not making the cut.
November 2018
In November my GRP teammates and I traveled to Foret
Montmorency, Quebec for two early snow camps. Each a week long these skiing
focused periods where very helpful for me. After Foret, I focused on preparing
for December IBU Cup Trials which took place in Soldier Hollow, Utah, this time
on snow. I tried to keep focused and realize that most of the season was yet to
come.
December 2018
December brought the defining moments of the season in the
form of IBU Cup Trials. These races ran in conjunction with US World Junior
Championship Trials. The coming together of different age groups and biathletes
from around the country was very cool, the passive behavior of the organizers
was not. Huge thanks to the heroic efforts of the few individuals to made the
races happen. The races where very challenging for me, but I overcame some bad shooting
and poor ski selection adversity with a renewed belief in my ability and good
ski form.
My efforts earned me a place on the January IBU Cup team.
Qualifying for these races was the culmination of my career to date.
January 2019
I raced IBU Cups 4, 5 and 6. In Poland, Germany and Switzerland.
During the trip I had the opportunity to be promoted to the World Cup, but I
was not able to perform at that level. I enjoyed the trip immensely.
Even on days when I did not perform well, I was grateful for
the opportunity to race in Europe and improve my biathlon. My best result was
40th place in Germany, which qualified me to race at the Open European
Championships in Minsk, Belarus this February.
The journey back to the international level of biathlon has tested me far more than I expected, but the feeling of finally breaking through was well worth the effort. By qualifying to race at the senior level in Europe I feel like a weight has been lifted from my athletic conscious. The duration of my absence was notable enough for two IBU officials to question if I was eligible to race, “Is it possible that your last race was 7 years ago??” In fact, it has been 7 years since I last raced in an IBU race, it was January 2012 at World Junior Championships.
It took longer, and was much harder than I expected in 2012,
but I’m back to the international level, and I don’t plan on leaving anytime
soon.
