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.

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.