Madison Winter Festival 2010

This past weekend David and I went into the city for some Nordic races. Downtown Madison, WI was the home to many great winter festivities on both Saturday and Sunday. David and I took part in the Nordic races held around the capital building. After bringing in over 100 truck loads of snow on Friday night, the course was ready for races by Saturday morning.
The different race formats made for some tricky racing and perhaps not my best. But I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the change in scenery.
Saturdays criterium grew a fairly big crowd. Nearly all of the 3/4 of a kilometer loop was lined with spectators cheering on all the racers as we looped around and around. While warming up around the capital streets I was able to view a few of the other events going on. There were snowshoe races and obi scale courses for kids, a biking loop on snow, a huge snow covered ramp for snowboarders and later on snow tubing. On Sunday there was a great snow cross bike race and some very talented snow sculptures hard at work and a sit ski tour for folks to try too. It was a great atmosphere with all kinds of winter fun and excitement being had.
The folks of Madison know how to put on a good weekend of winter fun. Many thanks to all of those that worked hard to put this all together. If my circumstances allow, I will defiantly be back next year. Hope to see all of you there too!
Cheers,
BethAnn
Here is a video of the start of the men's criterium on Saturday. They had too many racers to all start at once, so the men had to do a qualifier before hand. What you see here is the top twenty men starting the final 12 lap race.
2.22.10

A competitive couple

The trouble with having a husband who is also a Nordic racer is, my chances of ever beating him in any sort of physical competition are slim to none. Unless I cheat of course, which I might consider doing next time I am standing at a starting line with him.
Yesterday I had great interval session at Mount Itasca. Blue skies and warm sunny weather made for a great morning. David and I finished our workout with a few head to head sprints. He was classic skiing and I was skating. And he beat me every time. Granted I had just finished intervals and he was only skiing EASY, he won hands down every time. I would have kept challenging him but he seemed to get faster with each one. It seems I have my work cut out for me if I want to beat him on skis EVER!
Thankfully I've got beat on the shooting range! I think that was my mistake with the sprints yesterday. I let him shoot my rifle before doing the sprints. I think this put him into a more competitive mode since he can't put up too much of a fight against me with a rifle. Next time we will sprint first and shoot after!

I'll end this update with an Olympic note, today is the Individual competition for both men and women! Go USA!!! While I was in Lake Placid a few of the other girls and I spent an afternoon making a few posters for our teammates competing in Vancouver. I think they turned out pretty well. They are going to have to do since I don't think my cheering will reach the ears of anyone up in Whistler while I am sitting here in Minnesota! That doesn't mean I won't try. :)

Until next time, ski fast and shoot straight.

-BethAnn

Thanks to many

2.13.10

The Olympics have begun. They are always exciting. While I am disappointed I am not competing there myself, I am still excited to see how everything unfolds. One of my favorite parts of the Olympics is the attention that is put on more obscure sports like biathlon. I am obviously biased, but I feel biathlon and may other great winter sports are too often overlooked in the eye of the American sports fan. The Olympics is a great, and short, exception to this.

So my Olympic pursuit didn't come through this time. But the support I received going into this pursuit has been great. I would like to recognize some of the great support I have received throughout this entire process. There are so many people involved in sport on an elite level. I wish more recognition was given to all those folks that are working behind the scene, supporting the athletes.

The Pressure Positive Company, Icebreaker clothing and Grandy Oats Granola have all support me well before the Olympics were being broad-casted on televisions across the world. I owe so many thanks to each of these companies for their support.


The Backnobber I am using in this picture is from Pressure Positive Co. It is at the top of my packing list no matter where I go. Icebreaker's ski socks I am wearing here have replaced all others! They are amazing. And thanks to being made out of 100% merino wool, they keep my toes toasty warm and always smell fresh! No joke!

The biathlon report will continue here shortly...stay tuned!

Cheers, BethAnn

Required Rest

01.08.10

After the mass start 10km state race a week ago Saturday, I was a little disappointed in my performance. It was a great reminder of what it is like to ski in a big pack again. I admit I missed shooting a bit but was plenty challenged with keeping my ski speed as fast as possible. I ended up 12th overall and left feeling motivated to keep working hard to improve in the races ahead.
I had a slight set back last week when I came down with a pretty bad cold. It knocked me off my skis and into bed for most of the week and reminded me just how much I hate being sick. Thankfully. I am finally feeling better again. I am off to Lake Placid tomorrow for the Nor-Am races this coming weekend. I am looking forward to meeting up with my teammates there and of course shooting again!
More to come this week from Lake Placid, until then, have fun playing in the snow.
-BethAnn