Another day, or two, in the cold

The trails were in beautiful condition at the 10th Mountain Ski Center for the
North American Cup #3 held this weekend in Fort Kent, Maine

As the season continues, winter seems to getting it's grove back up here in Northern Maine.  Fort Kent was home to the North American Cup this past weekend and winter was in full force.  I love winter and I love racing, but waking up to

 -23 F temperatures Sunday morning did not make me want to run to the start line.

In the end I didn't let the cold get to me, not to mention it thankfully  warmed up quite a bit by the time we raced.  An hour delay for both Saturday and Sunday's races allowed plenty of time for the sun to work it's way over the horizon and warm things up.  

The folks up in Fort Kent did an amazing job putting on this event, with endless volunteers, great organization, beautifully groomed trails and even lunch and hot drinks for everyone afterwards.  Hats off to everyone who helped put this great event on, with a special thanks to Nancy ;).  

Racing in biathlon for over ten years now has brought me all over the country and the world.  I have been lucky enough to race as so many venues in so many cool places.  And I absolutely love it all.  That being said, there is also something pretty cool about being able to sleep in your own bed the night before a race, even better sleeping in your own bed the night after your race.  I enjoyed doing just that this past weekend.

North American cup #3 was a two day event, starting with a two shooting stage, 7.5km sprint race on Saturday followed by the 12.5km, four shooting stage mass start race on Sunday.  Consistency was the name of the game for me, placing second in both events!  Despite the cold, slow snow, skiing continued to feel pretty good.  I was a bit tired on Sunday, but held in there and was happy to walk away in second place for the second day in a row.   I was even more excited to feel my shooting become more and more solid with every race.  

That is it for racing I will do close to home for the year, which is actually more than most years.  I am excited to be traveling to some other great events in the weeks and months to come.  Next weekend I will be visiting our friendly neighbors to the North. I'll be competing in North American cup #4  in La Patrie, Quebec.  After that a little rest and a short training block will lead into a few Nordic races in the Mid-West.  Snow permitting, I'll be going the distance in the Mora Vassaloppet, then shortening things up a bit in Madison, WI for the Capital sprints and will wrap things up with the American Birke!  It'll be my third year racing the Birke and I am really starting to believe that third time really IS the charm.  It's going to be a great one.  Now we just have to send more snow to the Mid-West! Keep doin' the dance. Winter isn't over yet. We still have the whole month of March too!

Cheers, BethAnn

A change of plans

Just a great view from inside the 10th Mountain Lodge
in Fort Kent.  Not a bad place to enjoy a hot meal

It's good to be flexible, in a scheduling sense that is.  I am enjoying the beautiful view out the windows of the 10th Mountain Lodge in Fort Kent, Maine as I eat my lunch and write this update.  I was not expecting to have the time to do all this in my original plan for the day. 

 I drove the 45 or so miles North to Fort Kent early this morning, stopping at the boarder to get my rifle papers in order and to get a training session in before our schedule departure time of 11:00 am.  We, the Maine Winter Sports Center Biathlon Team, are headed to Jericho, Vermont this weekend for North American Championships.  Our first race is Friday, so I wanted to get one more intensity session in before the long drive and start of the weekend races.  But before I could even begin my workout, I received a text from my coach telling me we are going to have a little later departure time because he hit a moose last night.  Hitting a moose is never a good thing, but I was under the impression he didn't hit it head on, perhaps only clipped it  since he was only delaying the start of our trip by a couple hours.  Well it turns out the moose hit the windshield and caused the mini van to roll.  Not good.  I am only writing all this because, thankfully, my coach was fine.  Even so, it is still a scary deal.  

Things are looking very winter like in Fort Kent these days.
It was especially feeling that way this morning, with temperatures
staying below zero for much of the morning.

In the end this very scary event my poor coach went through, caused for a very minor shift from the original plan.  This kind of thing is easy to adjust to.  I am actually quite content here at the 10th Mnt. Lodge, having taken a nice, long, hot shower after my workout, eating lunch, checking on emails, paying bills, sipping hot chocolate.  I have the latest New Yorker and Outside magazine that I am anxiously awaiting time to read and of course my bottomless bag of knitting projects with me, that could keep me entertained for days, or more like months.  My car is packed full of ski gear, bed sheets, blankets, food, shampoo, you name it.  Simply stated, I have all that I need with me and am always ready for a change of plans. 

So goes for the rest of my winter "planing".  Going into my racing season, I knew where I would be through Christmas.  I knew where my races were and what my focus was.  I was able to work out these details by the end of October, no sooner.  It was right around the holidays when I was able to piece together what my schedule for January would look like; U.S. X-C Nationals in Rumford followed by North American Championships, Jericho, VT and finally North American Cup, Fort Kent, Maine.  There is a chance I will race in another event or two the last weekend of the month, but that is left undecided until closer to the date, when I know what racing I have beyond January.  

My month of February is mostly up in the air, besides the Birkie, which I will race towards the end of the month.  And March,  I don't have a clue, yet.  While to some this may seem crazy, but to me, an athletes whose opportunities change with racing results and by how fresh or tired my body is feeling at any given time, it is just the way it is.  I can't say this is an ideal set up, but it is the way things are, at least for now.  So I will continue to pack enough clothes, equipment and additional means of keeping myself entertained every time I pack my bags, which is almost weekly. 

And as long as those moose stay clear of me and all the rest of you out on the roads, I am feeling pretty lucky. 

Happy and safe travels to you all, 

With a little more time to kill, I stopped to enjoy the scenery after my workout.  It was brief however, given the chilly temps. 

Happy to be out skiing

-BethAnn

Rumford wrap up and catching up with life

The start of the rounds in the skate sprint race.  I am on the one
on the left with the pink hat on. 

While the weather didn't appear all that into hosting a Nordic skiing event last week in Rumford, the event did go on!  A 3.26 kilometer man made loop was home to all four races last week at U.S. Nationals in Rumford, Maine.  The week started with the two skate events, a sprint and a 10km for women and 15km race for men.  The second half of the week was all classic; 20/30km distance and another sprint race.  I made the drive down South to my husbands old stomping grounds at Black Mountain, and took advantage of the high level of racing going on just a few hours drive from my home.
After a long drive down, due to some inclement weather, including snow, sleet and some freezing rain coming down in that order.  I arrived on the eve of the last day of 2011.  Exhausted after too many hours of stressful driving, I happily hit the hay long before the New Year.  Instead, I was happy to wake up to a New Year feeling rested and ready to ski!  At that point the first race, the sprint was still on for Monday.  It wasn't until I was just getting up Monday morning around 6:15am that I got a call from David, my husband who was out at the venue early with the BNS crew testing wax and testing skis,  that I found out that there would be no race on that day.  Warm weather and rain all night long kept the trail from freezing and there was great concern about the man made snow lasting through the week if they held a race on it.   The weather for Tuesday was expected to be much cooler , so another day of unexcited rest was thrown into the beginning of the week.

When the races finally did start Tuesday morning, it was a great day for a ski race.  The temperatures did drop and the course set nicely and was CRAZY fast.  The women's 1.4 kilometer sprint course was so fast that the  top qualifying time by Jessie Diggins was under three minutes.  The next thirty to follow, all those that then moved on to the rounds, were all within 18.1 seconds of each other.  I was happy to be one of those top thirty which gave me another opportunity to race this crazy fast course with five other fast moving females, (six girls per heat).
Gunning it right from the start, I was in the mix  three quarters of the way through the course.  I then, before I knew it, lost a few meters in a short transition area and missed the draft going down the hill into the stadium.  At this point I did my best to make up my lost ground, but ran out of real estate, as the finish was quickly upon us all.  The top two from each heat moves onto the next round.  I didn't make the cut.
While I was disappointed not to move on, I was very excited that I had the opportunity to race against these fast moving females.   The tactics of these races are something that I have much to learn about.  It is also tough to keep improving on this when I rarely do this kind of race and don't focus on this kind of racing in my training.  Perhaps this is something I will change in the future.  Perhaps.
Everyone enjoyed a day off following the skate sprint.   Round two of the races began on Thursday morning.  This time it was a race I am a little more familiar with, the 10km skate race.  Three laps on this course completed this distance.  I was happy to have a little better start position, starting just thirteen minutes in, where as in the past I had been starting close to the end due to my lack of USSA points.   My start position enabled me to ski with and among a few of the top girls on various loops.  I enjoyed the busy tracks, as nearly 160 racers were in this race along with me.  I held strong through the first two laps and then felt myself slow down a bit on the third lap.  In the end my time was good enough to put in me in 25th at the finish.  I was ten seconds out of the top twenty and about a minute out of the top ten.  Despite hopes of being a little further on the results sheet, I wasn't too disappointed in my performance.  I do know that I have room to improve and can take that next minute off my time next go round.  There is always something to work towards, isn't there.

The trails at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine.  Not bad for all man made snow, not bad at all. 

 After the staking events, I made my way back North to get a little work in and get a little more training, specifically shooting in.  Turns out the cold weather Thursday night was bad enough to freeze the pipes of my house, so it is a good thing that I did make it back.  Thankfully nothing burst.  After some phone calls, testing out my abilities with a blow torch and a lot of help from some good friends, (thank you again Kyle!!), all is well again.  As of yesterday afternoon, I can now add insulation installer to my resume, not that I am hoping to ever have to do that again.  But rest assured there will be no more frozen pipes in this house!!! All this time consuming, yet very necessary work has kept me from completing the training I was hoping to do over the past few days, but such is life.  You have to just work around it, right?  It is all done now and it is time for me to get back out there.  The best new of all, which I nearly forgot, is that we did receive a couple more inches of snow and most of the trials in Northern Maine are looking pretty good.  They are also calling my name right now, so I best be off.
Biathlon races in Jericho Vermont this coming weekend.  The adventure continues....

Keep thinking snow,
-BethAnn

Austin Ross of Maine Winter Sports Center, having a good one in the men's 15km skate race on Thursday

It was fun to be in Western Maine racing.  David and I were able to catch up with his folks, who live just down the road over the week!  

Where all the magic happens, the BNS wax cabin.  While David was also in Rumford, I didn't see him as much as you might think. He and the rest of the BNS crew were working hard making the fastest skis out there. And I am very thankful for it!  

Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country - First FIS World Snow Day: 225 Events in 39 countries

An event that I can resonate with, WORLD SNOW DAY. Join in on the fun and create your own day of fun in the snow January 22nd. A celebration of snow will be going on in thirty nine countries on this day. The celebration will spread across the globe from China to Pakistan to Canada to India. What a great day! Check out the link below to read more about how different areas are celebrating snow.

Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country - First FIS World Snow Day: 225 Events in 39 countries

Whether you are close to an event celebrating this day, hanging out at your local ski trails or sitting at home, join in on the fun. Make a snow angle or snowman, dust off your Nordic skis and ski around the yard, anything to get you outside in the white fluffy stuff and enjoying the best thing winter has to offer, snow! It's just another great excuse to get outside and play in the snow. Enjoy! I know I will.

Wishing you all snowy dreams and powder filled days,

BethAnn

The winter season

Having fun with my new camera and it's panoramic setting, this photo was taken on the trails of the Eldora Nordic Center, just outside of Boulder.  

Now into the year of 2012, we are right into the racing season.  Kicking off the season of biathlon races in West Yellowstone, I was happy to start the season off with a win.  Despite fridged conditions at NORAM #2 in West Yellowstone in mid-December, I managed to ski and shoot my way into first place.  It was a good start for the year.  

From West, our team moved a little further East to my home state of Minnesota.  IBU Cup trials were held at Mount Itasca, which is just outside of my home town, Grand Rapids, MN.  Feeling great on my skis but having a few ups and downs on the range made me walk away from this race series with mixed feelings.  On the positive side I won the pursuit race after cleaning, (hitting all five of my targets), my final standing stage and pulling in front of the rest of the competition in my final lap.  

I fell a bit short of my goals during this race series, which has caused me to have to reevaluate my season and think about what I want my next move forward to be.  Before getting too weighed down with all the decision making I was faced with I was able to take a few days to relax over the holidays, enjoying time with both my family in Minnesota and my husband in Colorado!  It was a busy December. 

Now moving on to 2012, I am slowly gathering speed again for the remainder of the season.  I decided to take advantage of U.S. Cross Country Nationals being held in Maine and have jumped into the two skate races at this event.   I will then get back to my favorite form of racing, the kind that involves a rifle and will race at North American Championships in Jericho, Vermont the second weekend in January.   I will then stay closer to my home in Caribou and race at the North American cup just down the road from me in Fort Kent Maine.  That will nearly bring us into February.  There are still a few unknowns in my racing schedule for this month, but I do know that I will wrap up the month with the American Birkie.  It will be my third year racing in the U.S.'s biggest Cross Country event.  I am looking forward to preparing well for it and coming out with my best finish yet.  I am looking for at least a top ten.  A challenging goal for me, but one I look forward to accomplishing. 

I only ask one thing of you all as I wrap up this post, THINK SNOW!  After all, what good is cold weather if you don't have any snow to play in.  

cheers, 

BethAnn

Looking for on coming traffic coming down the hill as the trails merged in the pursuit race at Mount Itasca

My favorite fan at the races in Minnesota and probably the youngest one there as well.  Jaclyn, my 18 month old niece, greeted me at the finish.  A very welcoming face after a long race. 

Jaclyn doing all that she can to stay warm, all the while keeping herself entertained. 

Feeling pretty happy after pulling out a win in the pursuit race on Sunday

Start of the mass start at IBU Cup trials, Mount Itasca, MN

Despite the dry land on the range, the race course was in great condition thanks to a lot of voluenteer hours making snow in the weeks prior to the IBU Cup Trials in MN

After a week of racing I was happy to enjoy a little time with my family.  A little ice skating on a frozen lake with my mom made for a nice change up.  Watching my family's dog, Sadie run and slide across the ice made for great entertainment as well.