August 9, 2010
So after a week spent in Jericho, VT training and racing, I am now in Sugarloaf, ME for another week long camp. Jericho was a fun camp. It's definitely a staple of our training every year August, this time was the 4th year that I have trained there. Every year I get a little bit braver on the treacherous rollerski loop! The races were alright for me. I always like racing in snow much better than rollerskiing. The sprint race wasn't the best for shooting or skiing, but the pursuit was better since I only missed 3 targets total.
We are staying at the new Carrabassett Valley Academy dorms in Sugarloaf, which are really spacious and comfortable. Much better than the army barracks in Vermont! It should be a fun camp since all the MWSC athletes (both biathlon and xc) are training together.
Also I am currently writing a weekly article for the Fiddlehead Focus. You can check it out online at http://www.fiddleheadfocus.com/. The Fiddlehead Focus is a new newspaper, both online and in paper form, for the St. John Valley. Andrew Birden is the editor, and has done a great job of making it an interesting informative paper. It's turning out to be very popular among all the locals!
That's all for now, I'll try to give you another update on how Sugarloaf went! :-)
June 11, 2010
It's June already! Warm weather, sunshine, fun workouts with the team, and spending more time with friends and family who are in Maine for the summer. When I looked at the calendar and counted the months until the winter season back in early April, mid June seemed so far away. Spring was busy at times but mostly it was a relaxing new beginning for me. Really I look at May 1st as the start of a new year for me...a little odd I know, but it just fits with everything in my life. When January 1st comes around, I'm in the middle of the racing season and just focused on that and not too much else. At the time it doesn't really seem like a new year to me. So when May comes around with all of it's melting snow, mud, changing temperatures, and for me, change of focus, it seems like the whole world is changing it's seasons and having a new beginning right along with me. It's a wonderful feeling. Having a new beginning was so important for me this year. Last year was the hardest year of my entire life so far in so many ways. I know that I probably will have a few years in the future that will be just as hard or harder, but right now that's a little unbelieveable to me. So I am just really looking forward to having a fantastic 2010, right from May till next April. And so far, it has been better already, which is a really great sign.
In April I spent some time de-stressing and getting things organized, and then in May I started some easy training. I also went to the National Team camp in Lake Placid for two weeks which was a new experience for me. It was really fun and challenging, and I learned so much there. It was great to train with lots of different people and coaches. I was a little nervous before the camp, especially since I had only skate rollerskied once at home and there was quite a bit of rollerskiing on the schedule, but I gained my rollerski legs pretty quickly. No more epic crashes for me! However I definitely got my body worked over, especially during a 3hr bike ride in 90 degree heat where Andrea Henkel (Multiple Olympic and World Championship Medal winner) strung the girls out behind her. It was supposed to be an easy bike ride, but my heart rate went much higher than it should have during that ride! We also did a lot of shooting at the camp-shooting drills, shooting tests, dryfire sessions, and scat. Since I got a new rifle stock this spring I've spent some time getting used to it and shooting has been feeling good. After the camp I went to Vermont for a few days with my mom to spend some time with my aunt and uncle. My aunt and I made Rhubarb pie, my mom biked, and we spent some time just chilling.
Now I'm spending the majority of my time this summer in Fort Kent training with my lodge roomies Kat, Corrine, and Andrea. It's also been fun since we have been joining in with the xc athletes during some of our training sessions. Last week consisted of ripping up our new athlete house that Phyllis Jalbert (Thank you Phyllis!!) has generously bought for us to use, a few rest days before a hard intensity week, and finishing up with a bike to Eureka Hall. The athlete house is going to take a lot of work before we can move into it in the fall, but it is amazing to think that we will be able to have a whole house just for athletes to live in while we are training. It's almost unbelieveable to me when I look at the house and think about how amazing it is going to be!
Demolition Day with pink gloves
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Group biking
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Covered Bridge
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Fast and Female Group
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