Making Ready in Montana

For the past two weeks I have been in Montana preparing for the new season. I began my western swing in West Yellowstone, Montana the traditional starting place for the US Nordic sport season. West Yellowstone has a network of cross country trails near town, and a backup training location on a plateau south of the city. This season there was not enough snow in town to ski, so training was moved to the plateau. Skiing on the plateau is challenging due to its elevation- 8,000ft above sea level. It was great to be skiing again after a long summer and fall of dryland training. During my time in West Yellowstone I contested a US Supertour Series cross country ski race. The race was an excellent opportunity to tune up for the more important competitions to come, and put in a hard workout on snow.

The skiing on the plateau was excellent by week’s end, however the plateau rests on US Forest Service land and the access road closes on December 1^st. With our days on the plateau numbered and a grim forecast ahead, the team and I moved to Bozeman, MT to take advantage of the snow at Bohart Ranch. The local biathlon club, Biathlon Elite a collegiate program based in Bozeman has been very accommodating.

Next week I will be moving to Minnesota for a shooting and intensity camp designed to put me in top form for the upcoming IBU Cup Trails.     

Lobster Roll

This Photo shamelessly stolen from Katrina Howe  

This past Sunday I travel to North Haven Island off the coast of Rockland, Maine to take part in the Lobster Roll, a rollerski race contested by the Nordic ski teams of Maine's colleges and universities. I am not a member of a Maine collegiate ski team, however the CEO of the Maine Winter Sports Center-Andy Shepard, organized the event, so my teammate Katrina Howe and I where able to take part. The race was 15 kilometers long with one racer going out every 15 seconds in the  skating style. The roads on North Haven are ideal for rollersking, they are perfectly paved with nice rolling terrain and almost zero traffic. Best of all the event took place under sunny skies, with a light wind making the 65 degree day feel just a bit brisk. I am in the all black in the video below.

October 2012:Setbacks, Sunshine and Snow

This October has been eventful and challenging. Following my camp in Fort Kent I took a week to recover from the heavy training load of the preceding 10 days. I also participated in a fun 5k cross country running race a few miles from my home in Yarmouth, Maine. The plan for the workout was to get dropped off at the race site, run the race, then run the 4 miles back home. This race would be my first cross country 5k since high school. I wasn’t an outstanding runner in high school, and my running abilities have not improved with 3 years of full time ski training. I was able to hang with the front group of racers for the first half of the race, until I fell back into a chase group. At the penultimate moment in the race (a sharp downhill corner followed by a steep uphill) I slipped and turned my ankle badly. I was able to literally hobble to the finish, edging out the top women. Though I didn’t want to admit it to myself at the time, I knew I had seriously hurt my ankle.

The timing for this injury couldn’t have been worse. I was due to travel to Soldier Hollow, Utah for a 2 week training camp with the US Junior National Team. I was optimistic about my recovery; however, I was forced to alter my training for the majority of the camp. Because of the condition of my ankle I could not run, classic, or skate ski. This left me with double poling, biking, and strength as my only training methods. Initially, I was pretty bummed about these circumstances. Thanks to the support of my friends at camp, and the great training environment in Utah I was able to find the motivation to turn my misfortune into opportunity. I doubled poled a great deal during the camp, and by the end I saw great improvement in my technique and specific strength. Double poling for so many sessions back to back also gave me a new perspective on the upper body’s role in skating. In addition I was able to go on two really nice mountain bike rides, thanks to a loaded bike and kit from the Ellingson siblings. My ride took me into some beautiful areas of the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. Fortunately, at the end of the camp I was able to begin skating again, just in time to participate in a rollerski time trial with the US World Cup team. I was happy about my performance, despite having to take the skiing a bit easy, and struggling with strong wind on the range. I was eager to end the camp on a high note by performing well in a second time trial, scheduled 2 days from the first. As fate would have it, 4 inches of snow and tight travel plans kept me from starting the second time trial. As consolation my ankle improved enough for me to join my friends on a great hike/snowball fight/romp up to the ridge behind our condo.

Right now I am in an intense phase of my training, with hard workouts coming nearly every-other day. I plan on returning to Fort Kent for a final dryland training camp, before traveling to West Yellowstone, Montana with nearly every other serious American skier for a training camp, before heading to Minnesota for the first important races of the season.    

Le Fin de Camp d'entrainement

For the last 4 days of my camp in Fort Kent I was joined by the friends David Gregoire and Vincent Blais for Quebec Biathlon. David, Vincent and I are all very close in age and ability and it was beneficial to train with other athletes at my level. I have competed with David and Vincent on the NorAm Circuit and at World Juniors. In many of the closest races I have contested, I have been battling with one or both of them.

Sprinting with Vincent at Canadian Nationals last March

Battling with David at Canadian Nationals 

 David and Vincent are both very fast and accurate shooters (See video) and I definitely had to raise my game on the range over the course of the weekend.  Besides having great training partners, I was really cool to talk about the differences between our training methods, share our goals, and get to know each other a bit better.

I am now back in Yarmouth, recovering from my biggest training block ever (79 hours, 2,220 shots) before I fly out to Utah for a training camp at the 2002 Olympic Venue in Soldier Hollow. At the end of the camp I will be contesting two rollerski races that will serve as the last set of qualifiers for the first period of World Cup racing. I am looking forward to seeing how my fall training has positioned me, and getting in a few more races before the snow flies.   

Time Trial With Russell

This morning I did a sprint time trial with my MWSC teammate Russell Currier. Russell is on great form and really took it to me in the skiing. I had a tough day on the range and let my expectations and emotions get the better of me. I have another chance tomorrow, when Russell and I will run through the same workout again. Thanks to Katrina Howe for the awesome pictures. You can find her blog here: http://katrinahowe.blogspot.com/

Ramping Up

With the fall in full swing I have begun to ramp up my training. The hours, intensity, and specificity of my preparation have all increased. I have been focusing on volume training for the past week, and next week I will start a 10 day camp in Fort Kent with an intensity focus. During the camp I will be training with a few different people.I will be training with members of the strong Quebec Biathlon Club and my teammate Russell Currier. In addition I will be on hand for the Maine Winter Sports Center junior shooting camp. This will be a great opportunity to hang out with the next generation of biathletes from Maine. It’s hard to not be pumped for training when you are surrounded by motivated and enthusiastic young athletes.

Its a long drive...

Following my time in Fort Kent I will be heading out west for a 2 week training camp in Heber City, Utah. Utah camp will include lots of rollerskiing and shooting at the 2002 Olympic venue in Soldier Hollow, in addition to some long hikes in the high mountains. Since I live almost literally at sea level here in Southern Maine, it is important to spend some time at high altitude a few times a year in order to prepare for competitions at altitude, and to absorb some of the physiological benefits of altitude training.   

Fort Kent From the Air 

Fort Kent Camp #2

I just returned from a great long weekend camp in Fort Kent. While I was there I focused on rollerski combos in Level 3, (just below race intensity) precision shooting, and easy combos to hone my range procedure. I did two Level 3 workouts carrying my rifle and shooting. The first session was 5x16min with 2 shooting stages per interval. This workout is long and challenging, but it is a great opportunity to improve fitness as well as mental toughness. The second workout I did was less grueling (10x6min), but allowed me to ski a bit faster. In total I shot just under 1000rounds in 2.5 days. 

Most importantly I identified a few key parts of my shooting and skiing to work on before my next camp.

I saw some great improvement in my skiing from Jericho, along with better shooting percentages. One morning I headed out the door for training to find that it was -2 Celsius outside! The season is coming on soon, and I am looking forward to honing my race fitness and shooting throughout the fall.