Summer

Summer has arrived in northern Maine, bringing with it hot and humid conditions. Training has been going well and we are just finishing the first week of the 3rd training block of the year. This week was an intensity week, meaning hard training at high heart rates was the focus. The final had workout of the week was an 11k rollerski time trial. I was happy with my performance, despite being over a minute slower than last July. I believe this is a function of little time of rollerskis more than a disparity in fitness. In other (non training) news I will be heading a youth mountain bike night on Mondays here in Fort Kent. I’m really looking forward to this opportunity. Summer is rolling right along and I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am.

Getting Started

After my arrival on the 10th of June life has been pretty busy. I have moved into a MWSC house here in Fort Kent, and completed one set of rollerski intervals, two long bike rides, a strength session, and two accuracy shooting workouts. The highlight of these workouts was shooting off my front sight cover, which was a stupid mistake that will cost me about $100. That’s definitely the most expensive shot I’ve ever taken. Today is my day off for the week and the start of a new four week training cycle. This will be one of the toughest blocks of training I’ve done, and will hopefully be super fun as well. My teammate Ben Greenwald arrives on June 20th along with the rest of my stuff. We will have a great training group here for the year. Now all I’m waiting on is my mountain bike to arrive, when it does I will be able to ride the new skills trail at the 10th Mountain lodge. Pictures will be posted as soon as I can find my camera cable.

Eat

I'm here and eating. Pretty normal.

Set

It has been awhile since my last post and a lot has happened. In late March I raced at US Biathlon Nationals and took home a 1st place in the Pursuit and a 3rd place in the Mass Start. After nationals I was totally exhausted and settled in for the NCAA basketball tourney, which is really the only major sports event I follow other than skiing. During the numerous commercial breaks I had a lot of time to reflect on the season and think about next year. After a lot of thought I decided to commit to a full year of Biathlon training with the Maine Winter Sports Center. I am totally psyched to begin my year in Maine. After watching Butler lose in the championship (bummer) I pulled myself off the couch and back to training. After a few weeks of re-acquainting myself with biking and running the training year started for real on April 20th. Now I am nearly back to full on training and I am wrapping up high school. I graduate from Esko High School on June 4th and I head back out to Maine on June 10th. Look for regular and interesting (I hope) posts soon.

State and Local

Following a disappointing relay which featured me crossfiring in standing and shooting poorly in prone I was quite frustrated and ready to go home. On the plane back I decided that I still have a long way to go in biathlon, but I have made good progress in the last year and quality performances are attainable. After a delayed flight in Oslo I didn’t return home until 1:30 am; the morning of the regional meet. I managed roughly 5 hours of sleep after a solid 24+ hours of travel. I had a very good regional meet, winning by roughly 40 seconds in the 10k pursuit race. It was great to race with my friends again. The following week I had another great race at the Minnesota State High School Championships (States if you’re from the East). After a good skate race that saw me 3 seconds up on the field I had a great classic and skied to a 25 second win. State was great; it featured excellent competition, a great venue, awesome weather, and a positive atmosphere. I was really pumped with my state result and the congratulations I received. After State I competed in many local Biathlon and XC races. The most interesting of these races was the Mass Start race at Elk River. I had some serious competition at this race in the form of Garrott Kuzzy (www.garrottkuzzy.com//?p=780) and Matt Leibsch (www.mattliebsch.com/2010/03/still-looking-for-that-job-and-trying-biathlon/). I was able to hold these two off with some good fast shooting and good skiing. Racing with an Olympian and Birkie champ was a real treat. Now I am watching it pour rain here in Esko. I head back to Fort Kent for US Biathlon Nations on Tuesday. This will be a great set of races, now if only I could get out and ski before I go!

Since Fall

Right now I'm in Torsby Sweden for the Junior World Championships, with marginal results to show for my efforts. The fall and early winter preparation for these races went well. I trained hard through the fall, despite not getting on snow until December. November is one of the hardest months or training because it is the biggest volume training month, its dark, and the dryland training methods are very worn out. After finally getting on snow I was felling strong. The first two races of the year took place at Mt.Itasca in Grand Rapids Minnesota. These races took place a week before Junior World Team Trials. I was not completely happy with my results, but these races where largely preparation for Trials. Trials went well. I had a major breakthrough in the Pursuit race shooting 18/20 and posting the fastest ski time. I was 4th 1st and 3rd in the Trials races. With good skiing and shooting I was optimistic about World Juniors. After 24 plus hours of travel I arrived in Torsby Sweden in good form. The first race was an individual format. An individual race is 12.5k long with four shooting stages, in the individual one minute is added on to your time for every miss so shooting is crucial. I shot 70 percent. This was good enough for 45th place of the 90 competitors. I wasn’t happy with this race mostly because I had a great race going, but blew any shot at a good result in the first standing stage. My shooting misses where 1,4,0,1. I was looking to improve in the Sprint, but I ran into some food poisoning. I was puking and very fatigued during my race. With 60 percent shooting I did not qualify for the pursuit. I was 69th, with 60th being the last qualifying spot. I was very frustrated after this race. My final race here will be the relay race. My goal for the relay is to have a race on par with my potential. After the relay I fly back to Minnesota, and the next morning I race the high school regional championship race. One week after the region meet I should qualify for the State meet, and then I have a break until the next set of big races which will be US Nationals in Fort Kent. Thanks for checking in and I apologize for my blogging hiatus.

CRUNCHHHHH

That’s the massive time crunch faced by all student- athletes in the fall. Between training, school, sleeping and eating there is little time for anything else. The current training period is winding down, so next week will be my recovery week. After this month both the volume and intensity of my training will increase. I am really looking forward to getting on snow this November. T-minus 2 months till race time!