Post Trials and Pre Canmore

Less heat, less humidity, and more colors makes racing in Jericho possible. 

        Not unlike the old days I'm sitting here making the most of the brief time between one trip and the next. It was a close one; a few more misses in the mix and it would be just me sitting hear getting ready for another month of training on my own. Fortunately, that is not the case as I was able to put together a decent enough cluster of races to snag a spot on the Canmore, AB national team camp. The races in Jericho were not what I was hoping for, but there is room for hope.

        The changes in set up for prone that I made a few weeks back were making an undeniable difference. Still, there were enough moments of failure in training to suggest that I wasn't immune to bad stage in an important race situation. My fears came true when I missed the first three of five in the sprint race last weekend. For a brief moment I felt sick to my stomach as the thought missing four or five became a possibility. I missed another two in the following standing stage. With 50% shooting it was down to damage control mode. Thankfully the old ski speed was on good form. Despite a cold and sore throat three days before trials the energy and snap was solid enough to help the cause. It never felt like I had all five gears skiing, but at least 4.5.

Thanks to some good contacts I was able to stay in the coolest house I've ever seen.

      The second race was an exact replica of the race 24 hours earlier. A sprint format using a 2km, 4km, and 2km loop. I took my time in prone, but was able to keep it down to a single miss. Hopes were high going in standing, but a light breeze and tense nerves gave me another two misses. 70% is better than 50% but still under what I know I can do. Similar to the previous race, ski speed was strong for October. I ended up second overall. It was nice to see the results back in the mix with Tim and Lowell like the old days.

      From here it's all about working with the new shooting process more and more. Since I'll be around the rest of the team I can work with it under pressure. On top of that Canmore will have snow. The first week has a bulk of volume in it. Enough to get the legs back into the feeling of skiing on snow in place of pavement. From a more immediate time frame it's all about packing, Russell's favorite activity. It will be nice to ditch the roller ski pole tips for snow baskets, but dealing with check in employees after a five hour drive to the Portland airport, not so much.

The forecast for Stockholm next week. May have dodged something here. 

       In case you were wondering a possible start for the December WC team is very much possible. What I have to do is keep my whit during this coming training camp and it shouldn't be a problem. Shooting wasn't what I wanted last week, but I'm still feeling good about it. Everything was solid for yesterday's intensity session, shooting, ski speed, energy, absence of rain. There is plenty of reason for optimism.

     Since I live in northern Maine my trip westward starts Sunday afternoon and ends what I hope is before Tuesday morning. Shortly there after I should be skiing on snow.

Zeroing Through the Fog

        Quick update here. Training is going well. Fall is in full swing. The training camp in Lake Placid went well. I set a new PR for the Mars Hill Climb this last Saturday. Tomorrow I head south for Jericho, VT. This time it's the second round of trials. Shooting is still feeling well. In the meantime here are few pictures from the past few weeks.

There is World Class A licensed Biathlon range somewhere in the fog.

FREE FOOD

2nd Place in the Climb to the Castle again this year. 1st for the non blue wheeled Marwees category

Am I the only one who see the giant billboard next to every apple tree this time of year? The glowing one that says "FREE FOOD IS HERE." Why are more people not capitalizing on this?