A classic adventure

My race skis never made it out of the car this morning. I did race however.
Today the Super Tour held a 5km classic race here in Telemark, WI. I was a little nervous to begin with since I haven't done a classic race in over two years. That was also about the last time I did any sort of intensity on classic skis .
I didn't have very high expectations for myself but was looking forward to giving it a whirl. That being said, I didn't think that the outcome would turn out quite the way it did.
We woke up to another bitter cold morning, with temperatures reading around -13F about an hour before the start. I had heard a roomer they were thinking of postponing it another hour. David and I skied over to the race officials to get the latest scoop on the delay. Two of the officials confirmed that they were going to delay it one hour. David and I then went back inside the lodge to warm up and wait out the next hour before I had to get ready to race.
Apparently the officials were just discussing whether to postpone while we asked them. In the end they decided against it. I didn't know this until about two minutes before my start while I was casually walking back outside to start my warm-up.
I have never gone so quickly from relaxing indoors to starting a ski race. I had only taken my rock skis out of the car to warm up on, so that is what I raced on. David handed them to me and I ran to the start. I was putting my gloves on while I shuffled out the start and about 300 meters down the trail I finally put my poles on. It wasn't ideal but I got out there and finished.
Skiing on rock skis, with who know what kind of wax, without warming up and shuffleing around for the first few hundred meters of the race, was all a little unexpected. It wasn't my best race but it was my first classic race in quite some time and I am glad I did it.
Tomorrow is a 10km mass start skate race. I am hoping to be a bit more competitive this time.
Cheers,
BethAnn

Weekend race update

This past weekend I left my rifle behind and jumped into a Nordic race in Minneapolis. It was my first Nordic race in over a year, and I could tell. it didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped but I am glad I did it.

The weather held off most of Saturday at Theodore Worth Park in Minneapolis, MN. It was wet and warm but not raining as badly as they had predicted. The course wound around a golf course and park area. It was full of quick transitions and a couple of decent climbs. Five kilometers flew by faster than I realized.

My body felt tired and pretty sore. Perhaps all the travel I did wore me out a bit more than I realized. Regardless, it was a good wake up call for me. Nordic racing is a different ball game from biathlon racing. I am looking forward to getting back into the mindset of a Nordic racer. I think the change and challenge of it all will be good for both my ski and biathlon racing.

This coming weekend I am heading to Telemark, WI for another weekend of Super Tour races. I will have the company of my husband on this trip. I am hoping some of David's classic abilities will rub off on me for the classic race on Saturday.

Happy skiing to you all,

BethAnn

My updated race schedule

It has taken me a while but I have finally put together my race schedule for the rest of the season. I have decided to jump into some Nordic races to fill in some holes where there are no any biathlon races going on. I am looking forward to a little change of pace.
Here is what things look like:
Jan 23 - Super Tour, Minneapolis 5km skate
Jan 30,31 - Super Tour, Telemark, WI, 5km classic, 10km skate
Feb 6,7 - NORAM biathlon cup, Jericho, VT
Feb.12,13 - NORAM biathlon cup, Lake Placid, NY
Feb. 20-21 - Super Tour Madison, WI sprint classic/10km skate
Feb. 27th - American Birkiebiner, Haward, WI
Mar. 18-21 - U.S. Biathlon Nationals, Fort Kent, ME
Mar. 24-28 - U.S. Nordic Marathon Nationals/Spring Series

It's going to be a lot of racing. Let's hope I have the energy to get through it all.
I am very excited to have a run season of racing in front of me. This is what makes the long hours of training in the spring, summer and fall worth it.

A picture update

I have had a pretty quiet week in my hometown of Grand Rapids. I don't have much to report so I thought I would post a few pictures from the last few weeks.
On our drive from Altenberg to Nove Mesto we stopped in Prague for a couple hours to check out the city. It is beautiful.

Here is Lanny before going through equipment control before the races. They want to make sure we are advertising in only the allowed areas on our rifles, hats, gloves and uniforms.

Before heading to the Czech, we wanted to make sure we recycled all of our bottles in Germany. Twenty five euro cents per bottle, well worth the extra stop!
The last photo here is shot of a neat store front in Geising, the town we stayed in while racing in Altenberg.

An unexpected ending

First I will apologize. This post is long overdue. Next, I will be honest. I've had a hard time coming up with right words to explain the events of the last couple weeks.
Our Olympic trials ended a little prematurely in Altenberg. We were suppose to have three races. Everyone's best two of the three races would be scored and the top three women and top two men of the group would be named to the Olympic team. After the first two races I wasn't overjoyed with where I stood but I knew I had one more big, four stage race to perform to show myself, and everyone else, what I was made of and put myself on that Olympic team. For reasons I will never know, this was not meant to be.
Sunday's weather was looking like it had all week in Altenberg; overcast, snowing lightly and foggy. It wasn't until we reached the range that we realized just how foggy it really was. And after delaying the race for a short while, we all started to zero. The fog was so thick, at times, that it forced the coaches to move their scopes up to the firing line in order to see the zero shots on paper. In the end they had to cancel the race. Visibility was bad enough to turn shooting into a guessing game.
We all went back to our hotel disappointed that we weren't able to compete in one of the most important races of our careers. From what I observed, the general assumption amongst the six of us girls competing, was that we would have a time trial the following day in order to finish out the qualifying process. A time trial wasn't ideal, it's never quite the same as an international competition, but it would have to do, or so I thought.
Our team meeting at 7:30pm Sunday night informed us that the ICC committee decided against holding another competition and took the results from the first two races to decide the Olympic team.
I am not trying to hide my disappointment in this decision. I am obivously very disappointed by it. I can't say that things would have turned out any different had we had the race but now no one will ever know if they could have. It is left unfinished. An incredible amount of time, planning, pain and hard work was put into training for these races, by all the athletes. I think we all deserve the trials that were planned.

What is done is done and it is time to move on. I would like to wish all of the athletes on named to the 2010 U.S. Olympic biathlon team the best of luck.

Now to figure out what my next step is; I am planning on jumping in a few of the Super Tour Nordic races in the Midwest to start. I am looking forward to a little change of pace and am very happy to be still racing. I do love it.
Many more adventure and posts ahead...stay tuned,
BethAnn

Time Trial

The ball is now rolling. We had the first of our three qualifing races yesterday . It was actually a time trial with only the 6 American men and 6 women. We will be racing in an actual IBU Cup race this coming weekend. There will be quite a few more people out on the course. Last I heard there are 160 men and 130 women racers. You don't see that too often in the U.S.
Yesterday's race was a little bitter sweet. I missed my first shot prone and my last shot standing. Shooting 80% isn't necessarily a bad day for me, but of course wish I could have knocked down a couple more. I struggled a bit with my skiing, feeling pretty tired and run down. I am not sure what this was caused by. I'm hoping the time trial worked it all out of me and I'll feel better by the weekend.

The course here is pretty challenging, with one steep, wall of a hill, in addition to a number of other climbs. We lucked out yesterday with sunny skies for the first time since we have been here. The sun didn't stay out for long,however. Right now, as I look out the window, I see a lot of gray and a waterfall of tiny little snow flakes. The forecast is calling for snow for the next 24 hours, in addition to high winds. That will keep things interesting on both, the range, and the ski trail during tomorrow's race. Tomorrow is a sprint and that is followed by a pursuit on Sunday.

Lots of opportunity lies ahead in the next couple days. I will be working hard to make the most of it.
As always, thanks for checking in,
-BethAnn

Here are a couple of photos I took while walking through Geising, the little town we are staying in. It's always neat to look at the different buildings around town and see how well kept they all are.

On to Altenberg

Who doesn't love a good snow storm? I know that I do. Our last two days in Ruhpolding were snowy ones. All the newly fallen snow made for one SLOW intensity session and one beautiful classic ski. The land all around the venue is covered with walking trails that convert into classic ski trails in the winter. The amount of trails is truly amazing. You can ski from village to village all day long. A true Nordic skiers paradise.

We have now moved to the location of our final Olympic qualification races in Altenberg,Germany. It is on the Eastern side of Germany, right on the Czech boarder. The area is covered with pine forests and always seems to be in the fog. I don't think I have seen the sun since I arrived here but the trees are covered with a hard white frost making everything look beautiful.

I've had two days to train at the venue now. They are in the middle of fixing trails and setting up the range for the races this weekend. We start things off early with an American time trial tomorrow. It will be a sprint competition, meaning it will be 7.5 km for the women and 10km for the men and have two shooting stages. It is the first of three races to be counted in the final Olympic qualification.

I am excited and anxious to get things rolling. Right now I have to rest up for the exciting days that lie ahead!

Cheers,
BethAnn