Adventures of an American Biathlete

Another day, or two, in the cold

2012-01-23T19:03:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-11T14:01:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-05T08:05:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-04T10:49:00.000-05:00

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.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-29T21:24:00.001-05:00

A good day on the lake while in Northern MN, not quite as good as water skiing but a close second. More updates coming soon. Until then, Happy Holidays to you all.
-BethAnn

A chilly start

2011-12-10T18:41:00.001-05:00

After nearly three weeks into my time here in West Yellowstone, I finally had the opportunity to race, with my rifle! Today was the first day of the North American Cup #2, here in West Yellowstone, MT. I have already had nearly three weeks of skiing in here, which has been awesome. I also have been able to do two Nordic sprint qualifier races and a five kilometer skate Nordic race, all o f which went well and I am happy to have been able to do. But today I was very happy to be starting a race with a rifle on my back.

After feeling pretty crummy yesterday and taking the day off, I was a little worried I would be full on sick today, but was happy to wake up feeling much better and was ready to race.

Looking out the window as I woke up, there was a heavy fog sitting low in the sky. My initial thought was that it had warmed up a bit, believing the fog meant warmer weather. This silly assumption of mine was simply not true. It was about -7 F out around 7:30 and didn't feel like it warmed up much in the next two hours. Our start was at 10:00, which was when the sun just started to creep over the trees and hit a few open spots on the range and race course. While the little pockets of sunlight were nice, it was still COLD! I find it harder to warm your body up in the cold, making the maximum race output you're working towards a little harder to reach, but it is doable. Shooting with a numb trigger finger on the other hand, is much harder to deal with. I was bummed to have come into shoot prone with my trigger finger feeling like a frozen Popsicle. Going on faith that my trigger finger knew what it was doing, I got through my prone stage with two misses. That made for two more misses then I had hoped, but such is life and I still had two more loops to ski, along with my standing stage. Thankfully after a bit more skiing my hand came around and warmed up. I took my time with standing and hit all but one target. Overall an okay day on the range and not a bad start to the season.

Upon my finish I was finally starting to feel the warmth from the sun. During my cool down it was starting to feel like a whole different day outside. In the end my three misses and skiiing speed added up to a win for the day, which always feels nice!

Happy to have one race this winter in my belt, I am now putting my focus and energy into the International Biathlon Cup trials series that will be held at Mount Itasca in Minnesota next week. There is one more race here in West tomorrow, but after looking at my schedule I have decided to sit this one out and prepare for Minnesota. Tomorrow afternoon I am off to Bozeman to catch an early flight Monday morning to good ol' MSP! Looking forward to spending a little time in my home state and to have some awesome races there as well! Let's just hope the cold doesn't follow us there.

cheers,

shooting prone

Our cheering squad in Bozeman last weekend at the Bohart Supertour

Checking out the Icebreaker Merino Wool wear to keep me warm at the local ski shop

Coach "K" dressing for the job and staying warm!

BethAnn

Snow update

2011-11-29T17:51:00.000-05:00

A week into snow skiing and I couldn't be more happy. Not to mention feeling pretty fortunate about being in a place where there is enough snow to ski on. That is defiantly not the case in a lot of places right now.

I had a great week of skiing last week, focusing mostly on getting hours in on snow. Jumping into the sprint qualifier on Wednesday was a nice treat, but quickly there after went back to building up my hours. I was happy with how I felt through the week, handling the high volume better than I anticipated. Now going into week two on snow I am looking to get geared up for a little more intensity and a lot more shooting! I was also planning to race in the Supertour races this coming weekend in Bozeman but it seems that old man winter hasn't yet arrived there, or showed up for a while but has since left in the last week or so. High temperatures are looking to be well into the 40s with little snow on the ground currently. Needless to say, things aren't looking good for the races. There are a lot of different rumors going around; the possibility of shortening the races, holding them up higher at the venue in Bozeman, moving them back here to West or just even canceling them. No matter what you may or may not believe right now, truth is none of us will really know until Wednesday evening when the official call will be made. While I have been really looking forward to racing in the large and competitive fields that these races would be sure to offer, I also know that staying here in West, where the skiing is great, and doing a biathlon time trial wouldn't be a bad option either.

Wishing you all a snowy week!

cheers, BethAnn

I was impressed with the number of kids and adults who participated in a novice biathlon race last week. I helped out on the range and was excited to see not only huge numbers there but also a lot excitement in all the racers.

I was very happy to be back in the same state as my husband David for the week. While working hard with Boulder Nordic Sport, he also found a little time to jump into the classic race last Sunday!

The very familiar and welcoming sign at the start of the trails here in West Yellowstone.

There have been a lot of great upgrades to the range here. Things are looking good.

West

2011-11-25T10:45:00.001-05:00

There may be no better feeling then skiing on good snow for the first time of a new season. And there is definitely great skiing here in West Yellowstone right now. I am happy to be out here along with, what feels like, half of the Nordic skiers from the entire country. The skiing is great and trails are awesome. The weather has been great so far, although there are some very black clouds in the sky right now, but I am hoping only more snow will come from it.

This week is the big ski festival out here. The Supertour races started on Wednesday with a little sprint qualifier. It was more than your average sprint course, but it was only a qualifier. This means you only had to ski it once, so it made for a quick race. There were both classic and skate races and most people did both. I decided to jump in the race but opted for just the skate portion.

I was excited to put a bib on for the first time this season. I was pretty happy with my end result of 15th place. It was a very competitive field and I feel I made a solid effort out there. I had enough fun to make me consider doing another couple Nordic races next week in Bozeman. After that however, it is all biathlon! My poor rifle is starting to feel left out.

It's time to run out the door and get my workout started for the morning. More updates to come.

cheers,

BethAnn

A good day

2011-10-29T23:36:00.002-04:00

End of October and into November can often bring less then ideal weather for biathlon training. Mid thirties and rain is what I often anticipate. And if you haven't ever done it yourself, take my word for it, lying down on a cold, soaking wet mat to shoot is not the most enjoyable activity. But it comes with the territory of being a biathlete. The fewer days like that the better, in my book.

Today was not one of those days. Today was beautiful, mid-thirties, sunny day. Oh what a difference a little sun can do. We had a short time trial up in Fort Kent and I was ever so happy to remember what it feels like to ski hard while at sea level. It's so easy, or at least it feels that way right now. Tie all that in with one of my best days on the shooting range and you have yourself a great day! Even with a little tricky wind, I was in and out of the range fairly quickly and had four good shooting stages.
Things are looking up. Snow is in the forecast and targets are falling down.

Here's to the many more good days ahead of us.
-cheers, BethAnn

Here are a few additional photos of the range at Nordic Heritage. Someone did an amazing job repaving the firing line at the range and even taking out a sketchy bump on the rollerloop. Many thanks to whoever you are!

Never a dull moment

2011-10-26T22:20:00.000-04:00

And I am back, in the East again . After a great time in the mid-west with my family followed by an awesome training camp in Utah, I finally made it back to Maine. Unfortunately I left my husband out West, but more on that later.
Upon my arrival back to Caribou I was happy to find my house still standing, while most of my garden looked to be good and dead, with the exception of my kale and carrots. You've got to love those hardy veggies.
So I am back in Caribou after a long trip. The last week of the camp had two time trials built into it. I will be honest, rollerski time trials are not my favorite, especially when they are trials races, but I did my best to make the best of it. Soldier Hollow is always sure to make you hurt, and these races were no exceptions to that. I was feeling a little sore and sluggish the first day but happily worked most of that out and felt looser and more free on the second race day. My shooting was about middle of the road during both days. I put a little extra time in the range on a stage or two, determined to hit my last shot every time. While it took me a while, I did it. So after a little evaluating I feel fairly happy about a few things I had set out to work on: skiing relaxed, racing my own race and keeping focused in the range. My ski speed wasn't quite what I wanted, nor was my shooting time. It was a good checking point and has left me with a very clear focus for the up coming weeks.
I can finally say I am reaching the home stretch of rollerskiing for the year! I don't mean to imply that I hate rollerskiing, but honestly, it's just not skiing! And most of the time you do it on a road, have to wear a helmet and it hurts a whole lot more when you fall, not to mention rocks, cracks that need to be avoided and POLE TIPS SLIPPING! Glad to get that out of my system. :)
The good news is snow is on the way! Or I at least know I will be going to seek it out myself! After watching the weather right today, I can honestly say I wish I were in Boulder, CO with my husband right now. I am pretty sure he is out skiing somewhere, which is why I haven't heard from him all afternoon and evening.
I will be toughening it out here with a few more weeks of dry land training here before heading to West Yellowstone and start skiing! I also heard some unexpected good news the other day. It sounds like MWSC and Big Rock are going to be making at least a 1km loop of snow to ski on as soon as the weather gets cold enough. So there is a chance I will be on skis before West. Here is too hoping.
Until then I'm going to hammer out a good intensity block over the next week and a half or so, taking advantage of all those extra red blood cells my body worked so hard to make while living at 7200 feet in Park City over the past three weeks. Tomorrow it begins with a "bounding in the bog" workout with the X-C crew. Leave it to Will to think that bog bounding in 35F degree weather to be a fun time. At least I won't be the only one.
I'll post a full report tomorrow, along with an update of the new pavement at NHC!

cheers, BethAnn

Fast and Female

2011-10-10T17:15:00.000-04:00

One of the many cool things that I have been able to do while at our Utah training camp is participate in a Fast and Female events at the USST's Center of Excellence here in Park City. Fast and Female is an organization started by 2006 Gold medalist, Chandra Crawford. It is aimed at empowering girls through sport, using world-class athletes as ambassadors and role models to inspire girls from the age of 9-19 to challenge themselves through sport, life and healthy living.
This past Saturday afternoon I had a blast running around the gym with a bunch of girls psyched about sport. We had athletes from Nordic, biathlon, aerials, moguls, speed skating, snowboard cross, half pipe and alpine. In a nut shell it was awesome.
Here are a few photos from the event!
cheers, BA

altitude

2011-10-02T12:34:00.000-04:00

So far so good. Utah has been treating us well for the last few days. We are about four days into our training camp here in Park City Utah. We are actually staying up in Deer Valley, which is beautiful and also pretty high in elevation, at least by my standards. But I seem to be acclimating fairly well. We are doing a good amount of morning tests to monitor how our bodies are handling the additional stress of living and training between 7200 and 10,000 feet, (our hike two days ago followed a ridge line that was just about 10,000 ft.). Morning heart rate, lactate, glucose, and O2 saturation levels all measured before breakfast keeps us on top of training well for where our bodies are at.
After our first few days of mostly volume training and a little strength, we are taking it easy today before jumping into more intensity in the days to follow. Our shooting has been on hold due to a Civil War reenactment going on at Soldier Hollow the last few days. I wonder what biathlon would be like using some of rifles from there era?

I am off to lunch with two great friends and then putting in some time in the kitchen baking some bread and making my first attempt at cooking up some pork chili verde, all while watching a little football. I do enjoy off days while at training camps . :)

Cheers, BA

A quick trip to Ogden and the Atomic factory to pick up my new skis for the year. A few changes to the ski and some fancy new graphics have left me more excited than ever to get on snow and try them out!

One of the many gourgous views on our hike from the Canyon to Guardsman pass on day two.

Hello!

Taking advantage of the free public transit in Park City. Fun urban classic ski starting around the Canyons and working our way back up to Deer Valley.

A close moose encounter while on my morning jog just outside of our condo.

From Maine to Minnesota and on to Utah...

2011-09-29T16:25:00.000-04:00

Here at last, our Utah training camp. This might be my favorite camp of the year, well besides when we are actually skiing on snow. After spending a week at home in Minnesota, where a cold kept me from hitting up fewer of my favorite training spots than I had hoped, I have now arrived in Utah. I had a good time in MN, getting in lots of great family time. I did come down with a cold for a few days, which prevented me from hitting up a few of my favorite training spots in Duluth, but on the up side I am feeling good and rested now. I am ready to train. Our team is staying up in Park City this year, which is a little higher in elevation from Heber City or Midway, which is where Soldier Hollow is. We will spend a good amount of our time down at Soldier Hollow, making use of the great rollerski loop and the shooting range. I am looking forward to meeting up with some of the other many athletes that are going to be training around here in the next few weeks, including the U.S. Ski team, U.S. Biathlon team, a crew from Canada and many more! The cool mornings and sunny days make this place a perfect place to train this time of year. I have been lucky enough to have trained here through October for quite a few years now and I am far from sick of it. Not a bad time of year to be living the life of a biathlete!More from the trails of Utah soon....cheers, BethAnn

Testing week....completed!

2011-09-11T21:31:00.000-04:00

The Mars Hill run this morning wrapped up our Fall session of testing. In the end it wasn't as grueling as I had expected, which was a nice surprise I must say. The run this morning went well. The perfect weather didn't hurt. :) I was happy to feel strong enough after the race to the top, to throw in a couple long level three ski walking intervals in afterwards. All and all a good day. A day of rest and then quickly back into things. Those October races are coming up quickly....

a little scenery from the last few weeks...

2011-09-09T07:04:00.000-04:00

The past few weeks I have enjoyed getting back into training here in Northern Maine. Here are few photos to sum up what I have been up to.Starting with the photo above, David and I were lucky enough to enjoy beautiful few days spent up on Madawaska Lake. Waking up to this view could never get old. A passing few shots on a great road ride through the area....

...happily sporting my new Icebreaker cycling gear. Merino wool keeping me comfy, cool and even smelling nice, can't go wrong.

I had a great time out at NHC helping out our next great American biathlete! Very nice shooting Anna!

With Hurricane Irene breathing down our neck, the Fourth Annual Harvest Classic bike race was postponed to Labor Day. Unfortunately we didn't have any better of weather on our rescheduled date. Our numbers were pretty low but we had a handful of awesome, tough riders that made the event. All and all a good day. The Harvest Classic is a bike race that my husband David started four years ago now. It is a forty mile bike race and a 20 mile tour that loops around the rolling hills of Caribou, Perham and Woodland. It covers some of my favorite roads to ride and rollerski on.

Our two lone female participates split the prize money as they crossed the finish line in a photo finish. Two awesome, tough women really gettin' it done.

David and I went over and cheered on the younger runners of The County at the middle school Cross Country Running race. It was a nice cool Fall kind of day and brought back all kinds of great memories of my Cross Country running days. It was fun to see so many enthusiastic young runners from the area.

And then the strength testing....ouch! Glad to have that one done. Only one more day of testing this week....Mars Hill run. :)

More from the trail again soon....cheers, BA .

2011-09-06T20:48:00.001-04:00

Happy Labor DayI hope you all have enjoyed your long weekend of Labor Day. It has been a good one in my books. An interval session in Fort Kent Saturday morning followed by a great shooting workout in the afternoon kicked off my holiday weekend. I am rounding it out with the rescheduled Harvest Classic bike tour/race here in Caribou this afternoon. Last Sunday’s forecast, with Irene breathing down our necks, forced us to reschedule this now annual bike event. The skies are looking mighty thick and heavy with rain this morning, so it isn’t looking like it is going to be anymore dry today. I am still optimistic that we’ll have good showing for the event. As we are now a few days into September I am starting to feel the racing season rapidly approaching. August was a busy month with our races in Jericho, VT early on, a great training camp in Sugarloaf mid month and a good volume block towards the end, finishing right here in Aroostook County. I am happy to report that I am not ready to throw out my rollerskis yet and am still enjoying the pavement at this point in the year. This isn’t to say that I am not frequently dreaming of gliding smoothly over the snow and listening to the soft crunch of my poles digging into the snow verses the hard clank of them hitting the hard pavement. But Fall is fast approaching and that might just be my favorite time of year. I am happily wearing a cozy wool sweater and socks, sipping a hot beverage while I write. Training in the cool air this time of year is one of the best feelings. On a side note it is the cool, DRY air that I like best. You will on occasion hear me grumbling about going out into the cool, WET weather for a shooting and skiing workout. Not my favorite. The upcoming week is our second testing week of the year. Another 3000 meter run is on the docket along with a strength test and the Mars Hill run, which we haven’t yet run this year. A few more team meetings thrown in there and a shooting workout or two, a few hours here and there massaging and I will have myself a full week. I am now just hoping for some dry weather to go with it all. Cheers, BA

Waking up before the sun

2011-08-23T08:29:00.000-04:00

It is only 8:30 am and I am done with my morning workout, had a great breakfast and cup of coffee, read the paper, showered and am about to take a nap. That is what waking up at 4:00 am will do to you. About half our team woke up long before the sunrise and hiked up Burnt Mountain to watch the sunrise.
We had a perfect morning to do so, with clear skies and cool weather. The wind was a bit chilly at the top but we huddled together and enjoyed the beautiful view as the sun crept over the horizon.
I don't know that I would enjoy that early of start everyday but this morning it was well worth it!
cheers, BA

Sugarloaf

2011-08-21T15:19:00.000-04:00

We are about a week into our Sugarloaf training camp here in Western Maine. After two rainy days early in the week, we have lucked out with some great weather. It is a volume week for me and I couldn't think of a better place to get a good amount of training in. My days generally run something like this:
7:00 am morning run and stretch
7:30 breakfast
8:30 or 9:00 morning workout
lunch
nap, read, knit, other work, oh and snack :)
3:30 or 4:00 start afternoon workout
6:00 dinner
rest, nap, dryfire, stretch, watch ski video, knit ect.
I love the simplicity of life while at training camp! :) We aren't doing any shooting at this camp, so that gives us a lot more time to work on other things with our skiing and rest a bit more as well.
Today may have been one of my favorite days of the week. We hiked up Mount Abram and down and over to Sugarloaf. This is closely follow by yesterday's uphill interval session. Five minutes uphill at race pace is my kind of workout! A bit of a lung burner at times but felt good and was really happy with how it turned out.
We only have a couple days left here before I head back North. I am contemplating doing a sunrise hike to the top of one of the peaks around this area. No guarantees, but an idea I am playing around with at this point.
Many photos below from adventures in training this week!
Enjoy, BA

Hilary crushing it during a bounding workout up Sugarloaf. A workout not for the faint hearted.

Here I am enjoying the view from the top of Sugarloaf.

A little group yoga session following a good morning of intensity.

Thanks to the great cooks at CVA for keeping us well fed all week! No starving athletes in this group. :)

Kat and Danni looking pretty in pink during our hike from Mt. Abram to Sugarloaf

I could get use to this view!

Mmm, Mmm good! Blueberries!!

After hiking and running for nearly five hours we were happy to jump on the chair lift down the mountain and call it a day. A fine day at the office if you ask me.

Moving forward from Jericho

2011-08-14T21:12:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy week moving from the army base in Jericho, back to Aroostook County, down to Southern Maine and finally over to the Western Mountain of Maine. The Maine Winter Sports Center team is now all settled in at Carabassett Valley Academy right next to Sugarloaf Mountain. It is my second time here for a training camp, last year around this time being my first. I had a blast last year and expect no less this time around. I am really excited to have some new terrain to log some serious hours on.

The races last weekend in Jericho left a little to be desired. A extremely hot day on Saturday zapped a lot of people, including me, but we all made it through it. If nothing else it re-confirmed that winter sports suit me best. Sunday's race was a bit of a character builder when I had a few ruff moments in the range. After a little post race analysis I am feeling a bit better about the weekend. It's given me a better picture of what I need to work on; which lead me to our training camp!

I couldn't be more excited to have just over a week to be here and have my soul focus to be on training. And even better yet we have a great crew to train with and all kinds of new roads, trails and even mountains to play on.

I am heading to bed early tonight gearing up for our first training session of the camp tomorrow morning. A 30km pace workout is on the docket. I am looking forward to having some great company for it.
cheers,

BA

We had a quick night of camping in the Freeport area before our team sea kayacking event on Sunday. We lucked out with great weather. A quick stop at Isabella's Sticky Buns in Freeport before hitting the water made me one happy camper! :)

During my short few days in Northern Maine this past week I spent a good amount of time hanging out with my little buddy pictured here, at NHC. He has made his home around the range building and is sure to pop his head out and check out what is going on multiple times during my workouts.

My long run at the Nordic Heritage Center quickly turned into a mushroom hunt. Lobster mushrooms and chanterelles were in abundance and I was excited to take advantage. :) I have some great pasta dishes coming my way.

Jericho

2011-08-05T15:35:00.001-04:00

I am back in Jericho Vermont, where I have been for more years than I would like to count during this first week of August. We have the annual rollerski biathlon races here this weekend. This year they hold an even greater weight of importance as they are part of a two part trials series. The second series will be in Utah this October. The top two females will join up with the National team and head to Sweden to race this November.
Jericho is just how I always remember it, hot and buggy. All jokes aside, it is a great place to get some challenging rollerski combos in. And it is great to have more folks around, keeping the range and trails buzzing.
I have toned down my training in the last few day to ensure that I am well rested and feeling good going into the races this weekend. It feels so early in the year to be going into full race mode, even if just for the weekend. Staying relaxed, focused and having fun is what I will be focusing on over the next two days. If I can do all that, I think I can have a couple of darn good races to start off this new racing season!
cheers, BA

Ride Aroostook

2011-07-18T16:28:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the first ever Ride Aroostook event out of Presque Isle, Maine. A fundraiser for an adventure camp Children with diabetes, this event consisted of two days of riding around 70 miles a day through the winding, rolling roads of Northern Maine.
We had beautiful weather, amazing support from voluenteers and good food to top it all off. Great weekend event that raised over $16,000 for it's cause! Nice work everyone.
Hope to have many more folks out next year.
This event and many more are posted at the outdoor website for Aroostook County, www.goaroostookoutdoors.com. It's a great resource to find out about all the outdoor events going on in the area.
Cheers, BethAnn

Maine Team Camp

2011-07-10T18:18:00.000-04:00

Starting this past Wednesday a group of about thirty high school Nordic athletes made Fort Kent Maine their home as MWSC hosted the Maine Training Camp. Climbing up the hill of Lonesome Pine to reach the 10th Mountain Lodge was part of their daily warm-up routine, which kept all these kids out of a car for their entire stay.
This crew kept busy with some great rollerski technique work o, a little bit of shooting, an intense speed-ball tournament, yoga and a great Nordic sprint race this morning.
I enjoyed helping everyone try out a little biathlon shooting and combo work. I also participated in the speedball tournament, where my competitiveness got the best of me. I apologize to anyone I may have offended in my super aggressive, in your face kind of "play". What can I say, I am competitor.
This morning the camp finished up with a sprint race; qualifier, rounds and all. It was an inspiring scene, watching all these Nordic athletes throw down all morning all in round after round.
Nice work to all of this crew. Hope to see you all again soon.
I have one last workout I have to get in this afternoon before I go into rest mode for the next few days! And man, am I ready for it.
Cheers,
-BethAnn

Keep on truckin'

2011-07-06T20:10:00.000-04:00

The Fourth has come and gone. It seems a little hard to believe with the cool, wet weather we had all through June, not to mention the fact that I haven't even gone swimming yet! What a crime. But it's true and things are starting to heat up around here again, both literally and figuratively.
Because I the rollerski biathlon races at Jericho in August are counting as part of our trials for the World Cup trials in Sweden this November, I have to have my game on a little earlier than normal this summer. This has meant a lot more intensity combos earlier in the summer, and a bit more focus on all the other little details, such as rifle adjustments, technique work and shooting speed. I think this will have a positive effect on my racing by the time the snow flies.
So the training continues. I will finish off this week with a time trial in Fort Kent on Sunday and then take a short rest for a day or two, where I hope to spend as much time as possible in the water! Then I gear up for my first big intensity block.

Hoping you all had a wonderfully relaxing Fourth of July. Mine was spent training, watching The Tour and rollerskiing in the Stockholm, Maine parade. It is by far the shortest parade I have ever seen or been a part of but it makes up for it in all the great enthusiasm from all the participants and spectators. Below a are few photos from the event. It is defiantly one to remember.

Training smarter

2011-07-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

Working to be faster not just working harder. It would seem like a pretty obvious goal but can be a bit more tricky to execute. This is what I am focusing on right now with all my intensity workouts. I have been training in this sport to know that I can push myself and suffer through just about any workout, but is that suffering adding up to faster skiing. You would hope so. Having some very specific goals and early races to focus on this summer and fall (on rollerskis), I am putting a little more time and energy into ensuring that my hard efforts are really transferring into greater speed and not just a tired athlete.
Today the execution of my workout was perhaps a little off. I pushed it a little harder then intended for a good amount of the workout. While working in a level three zone I am working at training my body to increase it's efficiency. Pushing a bit too hard spikes my lactate levels a little higher than I wanted. I was still happy with the workout and had a great time, especially working on my sprint finishes at the end of each interval.
An easy cool down and lots of cold drinks wrapped things up for the morning. One last stop at the recently opened strawberry farm on my way home ended my morning on a high note.

Testing week

2011-06-28T17:52:00.001-04:00

Last week was a busy one. Starting on Wednesday we had a five day team testing and orientation. Our tests included a 3000 meter run, (ouch), followed by a 400 meter run, (OUCH!), strength endurance/max testing and a VO2 Max test ski walking on the treadmill at UMPI. The orientation included everything from team protocol to team building, talks on nutrition, (thank you Dr. Glazer), sports psych, (thank you Sarah Kay), team and individual goals, training techniques and even a little relaxation and yoga practice. We through it all into five days. And we even finished off the week with a 5km fun run at the S.W. Collins 5km here in Caribou.
While these days were quite long, I found them to be very productive and really set the tone to something great for this team and the year ahead. All the athlete, biatletes and Nordic, did everything together, which hasn't ever really happened in the past. I am excited to see this cohesion develop further as our season rolls forward through the colder months.
One of the activities I found to be the most rewarding was talking about goals, short term, long term, performance and outcome. We came up with a great list for our entire team and along with everyone workout out their own personal goals as well. Some of us shared a few with the group while other kept more to them self. It is a hard thing to do, sharing a goal with a bunch of your peers. We are all teammates but in our sports we are also competitors. You are putting yourself out there by stating what your aspirations are. The harder the goal the greater the challenge in reaching it, and the tougher it is to state that goal out loud. This is something I have often struggled with in the past. After competing for nearly 15 year in this sport I understand that I need to state my goals out loud and let everyone know what it is I am working towards, at the risk of being judged, laughed at or who knows what else. I have to do this to help myself start believing and knowing I can accomplish these things. And really who is anyone else to make any judgement on what I can or can't accomplish in sport or life. It's all up to me in the end. I am the only person who can get in my own way of reaching those goals that I set out for myself. And I am doing to do my very best to stay out of the way!

World Championship Team 2012, here I come!

cheers, BA

photos from the VO2Max test at Univeristy of Maine in Presque Isle. Thanks to Sue Beaudet for helping out with this. This pictures pretty much sums it up, a very blurry experience...

Training period 2 recap

2011-06-19T20:08:00.000-04:00

Keeping up to date with my blog updates hasn't been a strong suit of mine lately. This is not to say I haven't thought about all kinds of different activities and adventures I could post about. Instead of trying to sum up the last couple weeks in words, I'll do my best to do so in pictures.
Things started off pretty chilly. This sight was not a motivating one before a fairly uncomfortable track workout.
Cool, wet weather seemed to be the weather pattern we have been following for the past couple weeks here. We had a wet but productive trail clean up day at NHC a few weeks back.

...with a few nice days mixed in-between rain and thunderstorms

A week of training in Lake Placid proved to be my most productive training week yet. Accompanied by nicer weather and a few extra people to play around with on the range here and there made for a great week. Here's a view from White Face Mountain

A night of Sushi making may have been the highlight!

Back here in Northern Maine training has been going well. This past week was a little lighter on the training to allow our bodies to rest up a bit for the week of testing we have coming up. Our MWSC Elite Team orientation begins on Wednesday. We are kicking it off with a 3000 meter run. I'm looking forward to having everyone together again and really jump start our training group.
One last image from this past week is a shot of my juice making experiment. After acquiring a beautiful, industrial strength juicer I was excited to tested it out I was pleasantly surprised to find rhubarb juice pretty darn good. Who would have thought! Many other concoctions were made as well, some turning out better than others. I think I have a bit of refining yet to do.

cheers, BethAnn

Help support children with diabetes

2011-06-18T14:28:00.001-04:00

On July 16th and 17th I will be putting my rollerskis and rifle away for a couple days. My training on these days will all be done on my bike. I am going to ride in the first annual Ride Aroostook event. It is an event to fundraise to help children with diabetes. You can show your support by either 1. donating to my ride at the link above or 2. Join in on the ride! www.ridearoostook.com. The more the merrier so don't hesitate.
Happy riding,
BA

Training camps

2011-06-01T15:08:00.000-04:00

Who doesn't enjoy a good training camp? I am here in Lake Placid, New York for my first training camp of the year. It is a short one, only lasting a week, but I am excited to be here and to take full advantage of all that my first camp of the year has to offer.
While all us endurance athletes train a great deal at home though our training season, training camps offer a special time to ramp up our focus and really put all our energy into training. It also offers a great chance to train with a bigger or perhaps different group of athletes, train in a different setting and have more time to work with coaches on the smaller details of our sport.
Here at the Olympic Training Center, (OTC), it is especially nice since we have a full dinning hall where we can eat all our meals and a sports medical office where we can stop by and stretch, jump in the ice bath or get help with any other ache or pain that may come up. Overall it is a nice place to be.
I am most excited about have a week of having to focus on not much more than my training. While I do miss digging around in my garden this time of year it is really great to leave everything behind for a short while and zero in on accomplishing my goals as a biathlete.
So far things have been going great. The weather is starting to listen to my requests for dry, sunny weather. And after only two days I feel my shooting is on a great upswing that I plan extending all the way through the 2011-12 racing season. In addition to the great company of my MWSC teammate and coach it's also a lot of fun to do a little training with the National team and National team coaches as well.
As I said before, who doesn't love a training camp?

Spring time?

2011-05-17T08:16:00.000-04:00

While the trees are blooming are flowers are blossoming most place in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year, Northern Maine is still feeling pretty chilly. The last two mornings I woke up to my thermometer reading 38F. Brr, is all I have to say to that.
The cold, wet weather didn't keep fourteen of us from peddling up and down the hills of Northern Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec this past Saturday during Fresh Trails Adventures season kick off F.A.R.M. Ride, (French Acadian Randonee of Maine). Randonee rides are often done throughout central Europe. One day group rides with a mix of paved and well packed dirt roads, Randonnee rides are most often have support vehicles providing food and drink stops and gear support. These rides are meant to be an enjoyable day of riding, often exploring new routes. Fresh Trails choose some beautiful and challenging roads throughout New Brusnwick and Quebec for the bike tour companies the first offered Randonee.

After the initial struggle of getting out of bed, putting on my many layers of bike clothing and heading out the door, things were quite enjoyable throughout the day. We broke up our 80 mile ride with an amazing lunch at the Auberge La Dulce Vite in Nortre Dame du Lac in Quebec. After fulling back up and throwing on a few dry cloths we all jumped back on our bikes to make our way back towards Fort Kent, where we started and finished the ride for the day. In the end we only peddled in the rain for short while in the morning and briefly just after lunch. I was pleasantly warm throughout the entire ride and thanks to our two great support vehicles was never ran out of water or food for the entire ride. Spirits were high throughout the entire day and in the end I believe everyone was quite happy with themselves for crawling out of bed and forcing themselves outside on a dearly Saturday morning. Upon departing for the day we were all looking forward to putting our legs up and putting our new Fresh Trails pint glass, (everyone got one in their goodie bag!) to use. Well deserved on all counts.

Thanks to all of those who joined in on the fun. I am glad you were all there to get me out their in the first place. Wouldn't have wanted to miss out on any of it.
cheers, BA

Run around

2011-05-07T09:04:00.000-04:00

7:00 am run Saturday morning. Ran out to the beaver pond a few miles away, checking out what the busy beavers have been up to since my last visit this past fall. The rain is holding off for the time being. Glad to get at least one workout in before it starts to fall again.
First time trying out the new GU Chomps. Testing out the blueberry pomegranate today. They are great to take with on a long workout because it's easy to just eat one or two at a time and not overload your stomach. Did I mention how delicious they are as well? Just like my favorite fruit snacks, only loaded with electrolytes and all that good stuff.

Fresh start

2011-05-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

May has arrived and a new training season has officially begun. I feel more refreshed and excited for this new start having just come off of an amazing vacation to St. Croix for eight days. I found the warm waters of the Caribbean to be more therapeutic then I imagined, not to mention inspiring and a bit scary at time! (We had a brief close encounter with a eight foot long bull shark while snorkeling one day). While it was hard to leave the beautiful beaches and palm trees, it feels good to be back to the fresh, crisp air of Maine.
Being home again and looking at the year ahead, I am feeling good about my perspective on training and my overall biathlon career. The closing of this past season brought on a great deal of reflection and left me with a more concrete idea of my goals are, why I am want to continue racing and how I will proceed in reaching these goals.
Here is my best attempt at summarizing the answers to these questions as best I can: World Cups races, World Championship and a National title are all on my list of things I wish to accomplish in the year ahead. While these are challenging goals, they are ones I know I can accomplish. They represent a good part of my result orientated goals for the year. Competing as an athlete full time has helped me to learn so much about myself, given me life experience I can’t imagine I would have had otherwise. It has allowed me to spend much of my time doing things I love. This career has also put me in a unique position to help others learn and experience some of the many benefits Nordic skiing and other great physical activities provides. All these reasons contribute to my dedication to continuing my biathlon career.

Having competed as an athlete for many years with many of the same goals, I want to approach this year and the rest of my career in a way that I know I am moving forward and avoid the feeling of beating my head against the wall by making the same mistakes year after year or race after race. Having a solid idea of what my goals are and having a training plan set out to help me reach them is the first step in moving forward. Keeping in touch with the joy of sport and having fun in what I do is another important piece that will help me succeed in what I am doing. Balancing these two tasks and with the rest of my life is a great challenge but one that will allow me to achieve all that I set my mind to. After taking a great deal of time and energy working these thoughts and ideas out, I am ready to start acting on them. Great success, impact and happiness starts now.
Cheers,
BethAnn

New Adventures for a worn out shoe

2011-04-09T08:55:00.000-04:00

Earth day is just around the corner, April 22nd. I love that this day falls in the spring since that is often when I am cleaning out all the worn out or otherwise useless items I collected over the year. And living in a 650 square foot space does not leave a lot of room for items that serve no purpose.

As an athlete, there is no getting around all the gear that goes along with training and racing all year. It also means I go through a great deal of running shoes and other equipment during my many hours of training. As much as I love having a pile of muddy, most often smelly, shoes taking up more space that I don't have, I have found a much better home for my old beaten up foot ware. Nike's Reuse a Shoe program is one of the best programs I have found. They take any sport shoe that doesn't have metal on it, (sorry, no cleats allowed). Don't worry about the brand, they will take anything. Check out the link below and look up the closest drop off point. They are often found at Nike stores. Throw all your shoes in bag and drop them off at the store. They will then be broken down and used to help make new track surfaces, tennis courts, playground flooring or even new Nike products. It sure beats throwing them all into the land fill.

http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/where-it-goes/recycling-processashoe.com/

A seasons end

2011-04-06T21:48:00.001-04:00

Another racing season has come to an end. They always seem to go by so quickly. I now find myself back in Caribou catching up on projects I have been putting off since last spring.
A a winter athlete, the spring time is a great time to relax a bit and let your body rest. I find this harder than it probably should be. The spring is also the perfect time to look back on the past training and racing season and do a good evaluation. What was good, what wasn't, did you reach your goals, if so why not; the questions seem endless. I also find many of these questions and other like them to be quite challenging to answer honestly.
Quite frankly, I didn't reach many of the goals I set out for myself this past season. Why did I come up short? I think there are a number of factors. And I am still sorting through them all. I will say balancing things in my life better will help me become better at everything I do. At this point in the game, it doesn't do me much good to beat myself up about any of my short comings this past season. What I can do is learn from this year and make the necessary changes to make sure I reach my goals in the year ahead. I still have a great deal of number crunching, brain storming and evaluating to do to make sure I start the 2011-12 season off right. But for now I am going to give my body and mind a little longer break from all that.
Spring, summer, Fall and of course winter; it's all been busy and filled with adventure after adventure. The good, bad and the ugly all made their own appearances. I am now working on my plan to keep the bad and ugly out of the game in the year ahead. Wish me luck.

cheers, BethAnn

A new kind of Batmobile

2011-03-25T09:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finally made what felt like a very long trip back to Northern Maine. After Nationals at Mount Itasca, I stayed put for a few extra days to spend some time with my family there. But with more snow hitting Minnesota midweek and some crazy winds, I was held back by another day. Not the end of the world and I enjoyed my extra day in Duluth.
Due to my arrival time in Bangor changing I had to take the bus up North. I first took the Bat Bus from the airport to the bus station. The Bat Bus is the local transit opporation that drives folks around Bangor. I was able to hitch a ride, luggage and all, for a mear $1.25. Since I had about six hours to kill, I didn't mind the few extra mintues it took to taking the bus verse a taxi. Where does the name come from? It is an acronim for something, perhaps Bangor Area Transit. The greatest part about the entire opperation is the enormous bat painted on the side of the bus!
This is taking me a bit of course the happenings of last week at U.S. Nationals. Three races in four days is the normal set up for such an event, but left me feeling pretty spent by Sunday afternoon.
After a ruff start in Thursday's sprint race I was ready to put together a couple great races during the weekend. Saturday's pursuit race went fairly smoothly. Except for my two misses in my last standing stage, things went fairly smooth for the day. My fifth place finish on the day wasn't quite where I had hoped to be but I wasn't far out of the top three so I felt good about that.
My last biathlon race of the 2010/11 season unfortunatly turned into quite a struggle. I felt close to the worst I have all year skiing and couldn't get the targets to fall in my favor. It was a ruff race to get through.
Overall I came up a bit short from where I wanted to be at Nationals and overall this year. I did have great races scatered throughout the season but wasn't as consistent as I needed and wanted to be to get the results I was working towards.
I have spent a great amount of time this past week evaluating training, racing and other obsticals I faced this year. I feel that I have a good idea where I stand and have already started the process of creating my plan of attack for the up coming season. I think I have finally collected all the pieces and ready to start putting them all into place. It's the start of some really great things to come....stay tuned!
-BA

Back to my roots

2011-03-18T14:53:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that the end of the 2010/11 season is so near. It has been a turbulent one for many reasons, but one that has given me a lot a great experiences and challenged me in ways that will help me become stronger down the road.
I am happy to be back in my hometown of Grand Rapids, MN, to finish off the year. The Mount Itasca Biathlon Club is hosting the 2011 U.S. Biathlon Nationals. It is no suprise that they are doing a great job of keep the course in tip top shape and running the event smoothly. Now if someone could just get a hold of whoever is in charge of the weather and put in a request for cold nights and bright blue, sunny skis during the day, we would be all set!
No matter the weather the show will go on, which I am happy about. Every biathlon race presents a new challenge unique to itself. While we have a small field, it is a competitive one. Amongst the many familiar faces here, we have a great deal of fresh new ones as well. There was a camp for athletes coming fresh out of competitions at the Junior Olympics, which were held in Minneapolis last week. These athletes got a chance to dive into the sport of biathlon with a few days of training and a couple races to top it off this coming weekend. We also have a tremendous showing of master biathletes, who are great to have around as well.
In addition to the competing athletes, we also have a member of the Para-biathlon World Championship team training here for the week. If you want to see some inspiring work, come out to the venue and watch Dan double pole around like crazy and then turn over to shoot while still in his sit ski. It is a pretty cool sight to see. He is off to Russia in a couple weeks here for there Para World Championships. Best of luck to him and the rest of the team!
I am looking forward to our two, four stage races coming up with weekend. I have put countless hours into preparing for opportunities like this and am now ready to put all that practice into action. I have been competing in running or ski events for a long time and ever since the start of all those competitions my dad has told me one thing, "Let the tail go with the hide". So that is I plan to do.

Again, I'd like to also send out my thanks to all the folks that have put this event on. I know putting together events like this takes a lot of time and man power and is done mostly with all volunteer hours. We couldn't do this without all these folks help, so I want to make sure they know their work does not go unappreciated!

More to come after the weekend.
cheers, BethAnn

Rockin' with my socks on!

2011-03-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

Early this winter I had the honor of testing out some compression wear products from the company Zensah. Zensah makes a variety of compression sportswear along with recovery wear. After wearing the recovery socks and 3/4 length tights during workouts, after workouts, while traveling and during the many hours I am standing while working, I am totally sold.
It is one of those things that you might have to experience to believe. After doing a hard workout in the morning, taking a short break and heading over to work where I stand for a few hours at a time massaging, I couldn't believe how much lighter and better my legs felt when I was wearing my Zensah compression wear.
And whether you are an athlete or not, if you travel, especially if you are flying, you need to buy a pair of these socks. They make all the difference in the world. I continuly wear my Dankso clogs when I travel and constantly have trouble squeezing my swollen foot back into my shoe after a long flight, (yes I take my shoes off while flying. I may be sitting in small quarters but I still like to be comfortable). Zensah's socks will keep your blood moving and help lymph from pooling and your feel feeling light and far less fat during and after you flight. Take my word for it. But remember, compression socks or not, it is always good to get up and move your muscle a little bit during any long flight.

I am excited to be working with such a great company and feel honored to do so. My praise to their products comes honestly, as I really have been amazed by how much their compression wear helps me recover, feel better and more ready for the next task on my daily to-do list.
Check out their website for more information about the company and view all their many great products. http://www.zensah.com
Here's to no more swollen flight feet! :)
BethAnn

A tough day on the Birkie trail

2011-03-07T08:48:00.000-05:00

It's been over a week since I had hoped to have my Birkie report but but am just now getting into it. A little over a week ago I jumped into my second ever American Birkiebeiner. My first was last year and I was pleasantly surprised with how it all went. I finished last year in 11th place, and less than a minute out of the top eight. This was all news to me when I finished, since I was clueless on where I was at through most of the race.
Going into this years race I had high expectations for myself. Going into the race I was feeling pretty good and felt recovered from my fight with the flu. (By the time the race ended I am not so sure I would have agreed with that statement however.)
The Birkie is an intense scene. I believe every Nordic skier, especially North Americans that enjoy skiing longer distances, should at some point make their way over to Hayward, WI and join in the festivities. There were over 11,000 entries in the weekends events. In addition to the skate and classic 50km races this is a 23km Kortielopet and another Prince Haakon 12km race. The excitement the day before, morning of and of course hours afterwards is pretty spectacular.
My 2011 Birkie started off well. I was surprised at how easy it was to stay with the lead pack of women for the first 20km of the race. This was a change from last year, when I was a bit intimidated by the pace right out of the start.
Somewhere around the 20km mark I was caught off guard by a cramping pain in my legs towards the top of an easy hill. Knowing that I had quite a few kilometers left to go, I decided I should back off a bit and keep my legs from becoming very angry at me while still having over 25k's to go.
My race continued on like this for sometime, feeling good and then getting cramps that would last a kilometer or two, just long enough for me to fear that I wouldn't be able to finish. In the end I did of course finish but it was a bit of a crawl the last few kilometers. Skiing across the lake and onto the main street in Hayward for the finish, was the hardest thing I have ever done. I can honestly say that I left NOTHING out on the course, having put every last ounce of energy into my race. I had to be happy with that. I ended up 15th in the women, not a bad result but not quite where I had hoped.
After blacking out at the finish I recieved an IV of fluids for the second time that week, my first was during my battle with the flu earlier in the week. I can now honestly stay I have experienced bonking in a race and hope that I never have to go to that very bad place again. Something tells me that odds of that happening are not very likely. For now I will try to forget the pain and just remember the good stuff. That is why we all keep racing right, because of our amazing ability to forget about the bad and keep feeding off the good. Sounds about right to me.
Can't say for sure if I will make it out to Hayward for next year's Bikrie Fest but I know at some point I will. Hope to see you all there when that day arrives!
cheers,
BethAnn

A few departing shots from Deutschland

2011-02-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

Here are a few last shots taken from my wohnwagen adventure in Deutschland.....

There and back again

2011-02-20T13:18:00.001-05:00

The Wohnwagen adventure contiuned down the road from Garmish on to Rupholing. I was excited to have the chance to race in Rupholding for a couple reasons. It is also a huge hub of biathlon. Biathlon seems to be the heart of the town. And it will also be home to the 2012 World Championships. They have changed the race course and are continuing to build MORE buildings around the venue in perperation for this big event next year.
We had a couple of beautiful days of training early on in the week, with cold nights and sunny warm days, making the snow nice and fast in the morning while softening up by the afternoon. Come race day things weren't looking so nice. Our sprint race on Saturday can only be described as wet. It was pretty much pouring rain all night, (which was great to listen to pounding on the roof as we tried to sleep in our little portable home). Things did not get any more dry as the morning went on, so we all just acepted the idea that we were going to stay wet for the next few hours and continued to do our normal prerpartions for the race.
For some unknown reason the officals wanted to spice up our normal sprint race by adding relay rounds into the mix. Relay rounds are three extra rounds most often placed in an extra round holder on the side of each competitors stock. During relays you have to single load each of these rounds to hit any remaining targets left after shooting your normal five shots. It enables you to have a total of eight rounds to hit five targets, so in most cases it is a safe bet that you can stay out of the penalty loop during relays. Our race was an individual sprint race with the addition of these three extra "relay" rounds for each of our two shooting stages. I was happy to have hit nine of my ten shots without any relays. Unfortunatlly I had to use all three of my extra rounds in prone to hit my one missed taret. The rain got to me and very wet hands froze so I struggled a bit with the loading. I wasn't happy with the time loss I took for this, but was very happy to have avoided the penalty loop for the race.
The race field in Rupholding was more on the international side with Great Britan, Norway, Canada and of course the U.S. all having great representation. The twins and I were excited to join up with some of our fellow American's during our time in Rupholding, as part of the U.S. U-26 team was there racing as well. It was great to have a little more company and some additional help on the range and with our skis.
My race on Sunday started off well. It was exciting to jump into a mass start race with so much compeition. We don't have many racing opporutnities like this in our regular season. My skiing continued to go well and stayed right up with everyone until my last stage when I may have had approached the range a bit too hard and found myself shaky and a little on the light headed side while trying to shoot. This is something I don't recomend for anyone! It is not a recipe for good shooting, as I am sure you can imagine.
Over all, the races went very well during my trip and Lanny, Tracy and I faired quite well living and traveling in our little RV for the three or so weeks. Despite one or two cold nights, it was a pretty smooth trip. We never even had to pull the tire chains out! Getting the chance to race internationally like this in biathlon is a priceless oportunity. I feel very lucky to have been able to go on this trip and want to thank everyone who helped support me to help make this trip happen.
Now home again, I am catching with all that I missed while gone. I am excited to move forward with my training and start putting in the work necessary to get myself back to Rupholding next March for World Championships! Can't wait.
cheers,
BethAnn

On the move again

2011-02-08T10:41:00.000-05:00

We made it. The past week we have been traveling a bit in our little RV. And it has been treating us well.
This past weekend we didn't have any biathlon races to do so we decided to mix things up a bit and jump into Germany's biggest Nordic race of the year. It is a marathon race called the Konig Ludwig Lauf. There was a 21km option that we all chose. After looking at my training and racing schedule for the weeks ahead I decided I would save some of my energy and try touring for a day. So that is what I did. And while I felt my competitive side twitch a time or two and defiantly picked things up towards the end, I enjoyed my "easy" ski with a few thousand Germans around me.
Our afternoon recovery workout for that day consisted of a little different kind of training. We hiked up a long winding road to the Neuschwanstein castle. It was my first castle tour and I was pretty impressed by it.
Since then we have moved on to settle down in Rupholding, where we will race again this coming weekend. The weather has held out for us so far with more sunny days and pretty warm temperatures. It's been great to check out the changes in the trails they have done here in preparation for World Championships to be held here next winter. They actually have a sign in downtown counting down the days to their start next March.
The next few days will consist of normal prerace training, which keeps the days busy. Looking forward to putting that race bib on again at the end of the week.
More to come soon.....
BethAnn

World Cups in Maine

2011-02-02T06:13:00.000-05:00

While I might not be there to enjoy all the excitement going on in Northern Maine right now, that doesn't mean all of you can't! Tomorrow the first World Cup race will kick off a two week stint in Northern Maine for all of the athletes racing on the World Cup. These athletes are the best in the world and they don't make it to North American very often. I hope you all get a chance to travel to the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle or to the 10th Mountain Lodge in Fort Kent to be a part of these awesome events! And don't forget your cowbells!
Check out the link below to view a short new clip on what the kids of Aroostook County think about this event!
http://www.wagmtv.com/newssource8/story/2011-01-28-biathlon-fever-calls-for-more-cowbell
-BethAnn

On to the next...

2011-02-02T05:46:00.000-05:00

We have had four days of beautiful sunny, blue skies here in Oberhof. From what I am told, that is a rare occurrence. This morning we woke up to the fog again and new that it was time to move on to our next location, Garmish. We were actually planning to do so anyways after morning practice.
So that is just what we are doing. I am unsure of what our internet availability will be like there so I want to write a quick hello before leaving.
It's been great to get a few more days of training in here. Yesterday was perhaps my favorite day yet having done two great classics skis. The trails public trails around here seem to go in every direction and are endless. We came across many folks enjoying the winter weather by going for a ski tour and often stopping at one of the many ski huts to enjoy a drink or picnic lunch. For those that didn't pack a lunch for the day, there are many great food stands selling German bratwurst on real buns and coffee, beer or Fanta to wash it all down with. Not a bad meal for three Euro.
I'm now off to drive back into the sunshine. Updates from Garmish soon to come...stay tuned,
BethAnn

Racing

2011-01-30T10:19:00.001-05:00

We kicked things off this weekend with an individual race on Saturday followed by a sprint race today. The weather was uncharacteristic sunny and the course were a bit more forgiving then I anticipated. It has been a few weeks since my last race and I was feeling a bit nervous about racing again. After any break from racing I always fear that I am going to forget how to go hard or not go hard enough or just forget how to race, but once out the start gate everything comes together quickly and before I know it the fear is gone and I am complete race mode.
Once things started everything came together fairly smoothly. I am over here to get the best racing experience I can and to challenge myself to bring my level of competing up a notch or two. I feel like I am on track to accomplish both of these goals.
Yesterday's five misses for me on the range put me into fifth place. My ski speed seems to be fairly competitive, but the minute penalty with every miss in an Individual race is always hard to recover from. Today I had one miss with each of the two stages in the sprint. My ranges times lost me a little more time but I held my own on the ski course.
Overall I am happy with the weekend and am excited to make some improvement in the races in Rupholding. Consistent shooting with a little faster range time and skiing faster with every race is what I am after. Going for it! I am just so thankful for the opportunity to do so.
-BethAnn

A sunny day in Oberhof

2011-01-29T11:18:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos from the day...more updates coming tomorrow.
cheers, BA

2011-01-28T08:21:00.000-05:00

I have always loved going to coffee shops. It is a weakness of mine, some might say. I can sit and sip a hot beverage for hours and read, people watch, work on my computer or just catch up with friends. Today, while I am writing this update I am especially enjoy the view. I am overlooking the biathlon stadium in Oberhof, Germany. What a fantastic idea these Germans had. Who wouldn't want to sip coffee or enjoy a beer while overlooking beautiful ski trails and perfectly manicured biathlon range? This afternoon the range has but a few athletes on it, getting some last minute training in no doubt, before tomorrow race. The walls inside the cafe are covered with Olympic posters and well known faces of biathlon. No wonder so many Germans love biathlon, or is it because they love biathlon the reason why they have such a place? Hard to say. Either way I am enjoying taking this all in.
I am here for a short break before heading over to our wax cabin to prep my skis for tomorrow. The conditions should be good and thanks to some advice from my coaches over at MWSC, the waxing should be pretty straight forward. Now if I only spoke German! I am SLOWLY working on it. Anyone need someone to practice German with? If so, I am your girl...and let me know.
Things were quite lively here this morning with athletes of all different levels getting ready for the races this weekend. I saw a few different world cup athletes and all kinds of up and coming Germans. It is fun to be on such a busy range again. The area around the wax cabins was full of activity as well. My favorite sight was watching two girls unload a big case of beer, (it took both of them to carry it), from their van to the wax cabin. These Germans sure do love their beer! That is one way to make sure your wax techs are happy.
We are doing just fine however, without any beverages filled with hops. Coaches meeting tonight at five, dinner and soon after bed time looks to be the schedule for now. But first I better get started with my own waxing....
happy skiing to you all,

BethAnn

The wohnwagen report

2011-01-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

As our wohnwagen adventure continues here in Deutchland I plan to write a quick daily update to post here. In all likelihood I won’t be able to get online to post them every day but I will do so as often as I can.
Here is a little report on Oberhof for today.

Oberhof in a smaller size town about three hours North West of Munich. It seems similar to Lake Placid, NY because it is home to many winter sports including bobsled, alpine skiing, Nordic and of course biathlon. It was actually the first stop on the Tour de ski this year. It was home of the 2004 World Championships for biathlon and hosts a biathlon world cup every year in January. It opened its own ski tunnel a couple summers ago just down the road, so not only do you have skiing all winter long but through the summer now too. The venue is home to one of the largest stadiums, which is packed full through the World Cup with somewhere around 30,000 people for every race. The World cup venue is only one of about five or six different biathlon ranges you can find here. One of which is indoors with huge doors that allow you to rollerski in and out of. This range also provides a video screen of your target next to every point, allowing you to look at your shots with a quick glance after every shot. Home to many German National team athletes, Oberhof is defiantly not a bad place to be a biathlete.

Nestled in the Thuringer Forest, with Nordic trails headed in every direction, this small German villages has a great Nordic population of all different abilities. The towering pine forests surrounding the area are all heavily weighted down with heavy white snow and makes for beautiful skiing. And it’s often foggy weather has earned this place a nice name of Foghof.

We are getting ready for the German Cups races to be held this weekend. We will be starting off with a Individual race. I am excited to be able to get at least one of these races in this year. It seems there aren't many in a racing season these days.
For now I will have to wrap things up to keep my computer from running out of battery again. Until tomorrow, (I hope)....

BethAnn

A small tribute to a wonderful Grandfather,

2011-01-17T15:56:00.000-05:00

After enjoying cheering on our MWSC Nordic athletes at nationals for a day or two I had an unexpected event happen in my family. My grandfather, “Bucko”, died after 93 years of a very active, healthy life.
When asked when the last time he went to the doctor Bucko would tell you February, 15th 1917, the day he was born. He lived a healthy and long life, enjoying showing off on the rink, skating circles around everyone in his old long blade speed skates. In the summer months he was often helping my grandma work in the garden or out on the golf course. He even managed to get a round or two in this past summer and fall.
At around 5’3” he was a small guy with great fire. I am so thankful to have had in my life for so long. Both he and my grandmother were the most supportive and loving Grandparents anyone could ever ask for. My last visit with him this past December my grandpa asked how my racing was going, as he did every time I talked with him. I told him it was well and I was working hard to keep improving and making the next step up in my racing career. I promised him I would make him proud and I intend to hold to that.
After finding out about his death I left X-C Nationals a couples days early to go back to Minnesota to be with my family for a while. I was sad to miss the last day of racing and disappointed to have missed out on all the fun at the Fast and Female event following. On the other hand I am so thankful I was able to meet up, even for a short while, with all 13 of my cousins and all of their 16 children. We had a wonderful gathering of friends and family to celebrate my grandfathers life.

I’d like to thank all those with MWSC and everyone else that was accommodating to my last minute schedule change. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.
As always, thanks for checking,
BethAnn

The races must go on

2011-01-10T00:21:00.000-05:00

Last week Black Mountain in Rumford Maine held U.S. X-C Nationals. I decided to focus on races later on in my season and to skip out on this event this year. I did get the chance to go down and cheer on my fellow teammates as they hammered around the little white strip of snow that the races were held on.
I am not sure where winter has gone in New England but I do know that it is seriously late in showing up this year. Thanks to a lot of work from all the folks in the Western Maine area there was just enough snow to hold all the races. It wasn't always a pretty looking trail but it was one that you could at least ski on.
I'd like to say Congrats to all the MWSC athletes who raced last week. Great job and it was really fun to cheer you all on.
Hope you enjoy the pictures below from the races.
cheers,
BA

Waiting on ol' man winter

2011-01-02T19:11:00.000-05:00

The calender now shows a new year, which should put us right smack in the middle of winter, right? Well it hasn't felt that way here in Northern Maine the past few days. I am excited to be back up in Caribou and have been all reved up about getting a few weeks of good training in here. But between a lingering cold and the warm, rainy weather, I have felt a bit deflated. These are two things that are top on my dislike list, being sick and a snowless winter!
Despite the dreary weather and my marginal health I did manage to get out and check out the skiing that was avaliable this week at both Nordic Heritage and 10th Mountain.
I was at 10th Mountain on Thursday so I am not the conditions are the same, but while I was there the trails were in fairly decent shape. What I was most excited about was the shooting range. Half of the electronic targest for the World Cup are set up and running. The electronic targets allow you to clear and change targets by simply pushing a button. You can also program them to automatically rest themselves after five shots have been taken. This is really nice when you are shooting on the range by yourself.
Things are coming toether nicly up at Nordic Heritage Center as well. Quite a few more upgrades were necessary at NHC in preperation for the World Cup, so they aren't quite as far along as 10th Mountain, but all that they have done is looking great! The range has been moved back and left three meters in both directions. This creates a lot more room on shooting points one, two and three. The other half of the electronic targest are up but aren't hooked up just yet. The stadium area looks great, (exept for the lack of snow). While there isn't much for snow coverage anywhere in The County right now, I did manage to get a three hour ski in at NHC this afternoon. I was on my fish scale skis, that I love because I can ski in ANY conditions with them. They were perfect for today, skiing over grass here and there and probably a few rocks as well. Those skis can take it and I was very thankful for it.
I am here until around mid-week and then will head down to check things out at Nationals down in Rumford. The forcast is calling for cooler winter so perhaps Ol' man winter is still around. Let's just hope he can round up some badly needed snow for all of us snowbunnies!
Happy New Year to you all!
BethAnn

Spreading holiday cheer...with a snow storm!

2010-12-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

I couldn't have asked for a better holiday gift then a great big snow storm! Before saying more I should first state that I was very fortunate to receive many great gifts from my family and am very thankful for all of them. But I must honestly say I am also very thankful for the snow storm that is going on outside right now here in Caribou. Things were starting to look a little too brown for the end of December.
Now that the big Christmas holiday is behind us, my focus is now directed at putting together an amazing racing season for myself. The races at Mount Itasca went pretty well, with the exception of the first race. My skiing is feeling good and my shooting is oh so close to being right on. I was very happy with my second place finish in the sprint race. I know I can put it all together now and excited about doing through the rest of the season.
So what is in store for the upcoming months of winter racing? The next couple weeks will be focused on getting some high quality training in. I then hope to be off to Europe to race in a couple of German Cup and Alpen cups. The competition over there can't be beat. I am excited to get a full season of biathlon racing in.
This is the next step in making a big jump in my biathlon career. This trip will be a self funded one, so I am in the midst of looking for people and/or companies that would be interested in helping out an athlete work her way to an Olympic podium in 2014. It starts right here for me. I have much to offer in return for your support! If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping me out, please let me know. All of your support is greatly appreciated!

Wishing you all an amazing Holiday, filled with lots of good friend, family and that cold fluffy white stuff!
cheers,
BethAnn

A little inspiration

2010-12-17T18:57:00.000-05:00

The racing season is now pretty much in full swing. I am here in my home town of Grand Rapids, MN for the IBU Cup team trials at Mount Itasca. All my thoughts are focused on the races at this point. So, instead stumbling over more words to write I am going to pass on this very inspring youtube video. A very good friend of mine sent me recently and want to share it with all of you now. It nearly gave me goosebumps. What can I say, I am a sucker for things like this. I hope you enjoy it.
And best of luck to all the other Nordic and biathlon racers who are putting on a bib this weekend and throwin' down. Hats off to all of you!
-BethAnn

2010-12-07T12:32:00.001-05:00

2010-12-07T12:30:00.001-05:00

Fall/winter 2010

2010-12-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

The 'bou

2010-12-07T11:39:00.000-05:00

Caribou is where I am at. I am back and happy to be so. Although I am not here for much longer. I head out on Thursday to my home state of Minnesota. I am very much looking forward to not only seeing my family while I am there, but also taking advantage of all the snow they have and, oh ya, racing! Can't wait to race!
The last week at home has been busy, of course, but nice. The rainy weather made us all do some creative thinking for training once again. Thanks to the work of those at MWSC and Big Rock I didn't have to pull my rollerskis out once! Thank GOODNESS! :)
There is about a one kilometer man made loop at Big Rock, which held up through all the rain we endured this past week. It's been nice to join in with the MSWC X-C team for a couple workouts and a time trial this past Sunday. Despite being more or less on the same team, as the season rolls on it becomes harder and harder to meet up with our non-shooting teammates. I was glad to get to do so this past week.
The word on the street is everything South and West of us got snow yesterday. Here in Caribou it was mostly rain. Enough already! Things did turn to snow sometime last night and we now have a couple inches covering the ground again. I am going to dig my fish scale skis out and see if I can get some sort of snow skiing in today. Wish me luck and even more so...wish for more snow!
Happy winter to you all,
BethAnn

Below are a couple pictures from the time trial this past weekend. It was seven laps for the women and ten for the men. And I think everyone actually did the correct number of loops. Go team.

Bags packed

2010-11-27T22:55:00.000-05:00

We are just about all packed here in Canmore and ready to head out in the morning. We have a long day of travel ahead but that is pretty standard of any travel day at this point.
Our last few days here in Canmore proved to be all that I expect of this place. The temperature warmed up and the skiing seemed to get better by the day. We were even able to sneak another time trial with the Canadians in.
Oh and I did mention we had a very nice Thanksgiving ham dinner together as well. It was great. Everyone made their own contribution to the meal. It was something to be thankful for, amongst many many other things.
Here are a few final shots from our stay here. The critter viewing highlight of the trip was catching this heard of elk gathered right in town. It was quite the surprised view while driving up to the venue one morning.
More to come from Maine shortly.
cheers, BethAnn

Good Eatin'

2010-11-25T11:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I am spending yet another Turkey holiday Canada. While I am not with my family, I will be able to enjoy the day with my teammates. We plan on all pitching in to make a Thanksgiving feast we can all enjoy.
While traveling for training camps and races in North America, we generally do all the cooking ourselves. We split up the cooking duties with different pairs of people cooking and cleaning every night. And I must say, I think we do a darn good job. Good health, nutritious and delicious meals play an important role for athletes. We need to make sure we are recovering well after workouts and refueling to make sure we have the strength to get out there and work hard for our next workouts that lie ahead. There is always something to be preparing for.
One of my favorite meal contributions I have started to do regularly is to make bread for the team. I am very thankful this Thanksgiving holiday for this bread recipe that I received from my father-in-law. The recipe originally comes from his father, so that would make it David's grandfather, Geoff Chamberlain's original recipe for Oatmeal bread. It has been well received by everyone on the team so I would like to take this opportunity to share it all with you.
Mr. C’s Oatmeal Bread

Boiling water 2 cups
Molasses ½ cup
Salt 2 tsp
Butter 1 tbs
Yeast 1 pkg
Rolled oats 1 cup
White flour 5 cups

Add boiling water to rolled oats. Let stand 1 hour. Combine
Molasses, butter, yeast, and flour. Beat thoroughly. Let rise
land beat again. Turn into buttered bread pans
and let rise again. Then bake.

First rise almost 2 hours at temp. 75 – 80 F. Bake at 400 F.
for the first 15 min. then 350 F. for 25 min. or until the loaves
shrink from the sides of the pans. Makes two (2) loaves.
Don’t forget to proof the yeast. The rolled oats are the
old fashioned kind.

I am looking forward to sharing more heart healthy and delicious recipes with you all, so stay tuned for more.
Until then, happy baking and skiing to you all!

Waiting out the cold

2010-11-23T12:48:00.001-05:00

This morning I rose out of bed and continued on with my normal morning routine of bundling up for a quick walk/jog outside before coming in and making breakfast. I knew with the burn of my first inhale, once I stepped outside it was going to be a challenging day. When I say challenging I mean the challenge of trying to figure out what we can do for training without frying our lungs in frigid Canadian air.
It is nearly 11:00 am while I writing this and the latest temperature check reads -20F. In reading this I am actually feeling better since it went up two degrees in the last forty minutes. I am not one who is afraid of cold weather but I have had enough experience to know that trying to ski when it is -20F out is just not a good idea.
So for the time being I will get caught up on all my other activities and keep brainstorming for what is the best plan for training today. Thankfully the forecast calls for temperatures in the 20s (above zero this time:) ) in the next couple days.
On a different note, I hope you all enjoy the photos below. Many thanks to my teammate Ben for standing out in the cold, cheering us on in our races and freezing his finger while taking many of these shots. I believe some of the photo credit also must go to my coach, Seth. Although I will be honest, I don't know who took what.
Hope to have a real ski report for you all shortly, having come off the ski trail and not a weather report explaining why I am not on the ski trails right now! Ah the joys of winter!
Happy skiing to you!
BethAnn

Working out the kinks

2010-11-17T11:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the official season opener! Cooler temperatures shocked everyone's systems a bit while we all unwillingly pealed our layers off as we each pulled up to the start line. It was a sprint race. U.S. biathlon put on the race, as it is a trials race for the December World Cup and IBU Cup teams. We were happy to add some international competition to the field however with some Canadians and even a New Zealand racer!
I had a mix of low points and high points during the race. I had a few more misses than I would have liked and don't feel I am quite at the top of my game yet skiing. I was able to stay relaxed skiing and had a pretty good mental game while I was out there. So while the results sheet doesn't show what I wanted, I feel confident that with a few corrections here and there it will in time.
Due to snow conditions our second trial race has shifted from today to Thursday. This gives the folks up at the Canmore Nordic Center an extra day to make snow and push it out on course. Hat's off to all of those workers who are getting this job done. They have done an amazing job! Many many thanks to all of them.

Here are a few more photos from the past few days.

It's wonderful to be able to travel, race and train with such amazing friends.
I haven't seen this name on skis in a wax room for quite some time. Congrats to Chad for becoming a father for the second time over this week!

This a shot of the view out our door yesterday morning. I was like a little kid in a candy store when I saw REAL snow on the ground when I woke up.

The trails up here at Canmore Nordic Center are being used by all! You have to appreciate places like this and people like this one here in this photo.

SKIING

2010-11-12T00:15:00.000-05:00

Today was my first official day skiing on snow! They are experts at making snow here in Canmore. It is a good thing too since there is absolutely no natural snow on the ground or in the forecast.
The loop was just short of a kilometer and pretty full of skiers but hey it was skiing so I was happy.
More skiing on the docket tomorrow. Can't wait. Better get to bed so I am good and rested for more of it tomorrow.
Sending you all happy, snowy wishes,
BethAnn
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Day one in Canmore

2010-11-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

We finally made it to Canmore and had our first offical day of training yesterday. It was an interesting scene at the venue with everyone on rollerskis and the snow blowers going full blast at the same time. Most of the rollerski loop was clear with a few exceptions going in and out of the range. All and all it is good to be here.
I jumped on a mountain bike yesterday afternoon for training with Lanny and Tracy Barnes. Great riding all around this area and we even spotted three big elk. That was the highlight of my ride. Although we also came across a pretty cool closed down mine as well.
I am off to training this morning. We are unsure of what things will look like this morning. I am bringing running shoes, rollerskis, skis and a mountain bike just to cover my bases!
Hope you enjoy the photos in the mean time.
cheers, BethAnn

Unexpected stay in Toronto

2010-11-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

Traveling....never a dull moment. Since I am still in transit, I will make this update a quick one.
After departing on a VERY small 18 passenger plane out of Portland, ME yesterday I had hoped to arrive at my final destination, Canmore Alberta about six to eight hours later. Instead ended up in Toronto for the evening and am now, some 18 hours later am still working my way to West.
Katrina, Seth and I are the only three on this traveling adventure. Both Kat and Seth did make it through customs in time to get on the flight last night to Calgary. I was not so lucky.
I am only now hoping that our luck changes upon arrival in Canmore. I am looking for a big snow storm of good luck once we unpack at our hotel. That isn't too much to ask, is it?
Due to the lack of snow in Canmore right now, we had to pack along rollerskis for the trip. This was not something I enjoyed doing but snow or no snow, the training must go on.
Below is the only photo I took so far on our journey West. Hope you enjoy the view from inside our tiny little aircraft from Portland to Toronto. And did I mention it was a very bumpy two hour flight? Oh how thankful I am for my ability to sleep through just about anything!
Happy snow dances to you all!

-BethAnn

Picture tale

2010-10-25T21:13:00.000-04:00

A Sunday morning early departure was the official end to our Utah training camp this year. I will admit it was a bit of a disappointing one, having had to spend much more time that I would have liked sitting on the couch with my foot elevated and numb from ice. I will still say it was a good time.
My ankle recovery is going a bit slower than I had hoped. I am currently doing all that I can to speed the recovery along. It is frustrating but dealing with injuries is part of being an athlete. And in the end, no matter how impatient I get, I will recover and chances are it will happen sooner than later at this point. So I won't whine anymore about that.
Since I am short on words this evening I am going to wrap up the rest of my camp summary in pictures. Hope you enjoy!
-BA

Utah

2010-10-21T08:46:00.001-04:00

October training camp. Things start to pick up this time of year for Nordic athletes. Everyone is dreaming of the day, someday soon, when they can pack their rollerskis away for the winter and officially announce the start of the ski season.
I would gladly spend hours on my rollerskis right now however. Last week, about four days into our training camp here in Utah I severly sprained my ankle and it has left me hobbling around unable to do a lot of our scheduled training.
I have never been all that much of a patient person when it comes to injuries or sicknesses. Apparently someone thought I needed to work on this because here I am being challenged again to rest, recover and just wait it out! ERRRRR
I know I will make it and perhaps a little extra rest might do me some good going into November.
It has been beautiful out her in Utah. Perfect weather, as always, and a great group of biathletes, including those on my team at MWSC and many more from the National & Junior Teams and National Guard teams. Solider Hollow is a great place to train for any biathlete and I think this crew is taking full advantage of our time here.
I have many more photos to post...but must wait for a better internet connection to to so. Stay tuned.
Until then...think snow...
Thanks for checking in,
BethAnn

A traveling fool...

2010-10-06T11:20:00.000-04:00

So it begins. Saturday I will leave for our training camp in Utah. The start of much more traveling ahead. II love the travel but struggle with a bit at times. I am always excited when it is time to pull out my luggage again, but I also like to create my own nest and have space of my own. I have gotten pretty good at doing so in any space I have, whether it be a hotel room, ten square feet around a bed, or car seat, which makes things much easier. Now if I could only find room in my suitcase for my husband, I'd be all set!
Regardless, deep down I do love it. Perhaps because the travel is associated with things I love, training and soon....racing! There are always a number of unknowns when going into a racing season, including my specific travel schedule. Things are always subject to change and a lot depends on how well I am racing.
Here are a few dates and places I do know and a few others that I hope to be at:
October 10th-24th - Solider Hollow Utah training camp
November 8th- ? - Canmore, Alberta, CAN, December World Cup trials
February 4th-6th - World Cup #7 Presque Isle, Maine
February 10th-13th- World Cup #8 Fort Kent, ME
March 1st-13th - World Championships, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
March 17th-20th - U.S. Nationals, Mount Itasca, Grand Rapids, MN

A day in the life of...

2010-10-06T10:27:00.000-04:00

Coffee. It is how I like to start my day. Not a quick cup while running out the door but getting up a bit earlier than I have to so I can sit for a few extra minutes and slowly sip my pipping hot cup'o joe. If I had my way I would start with an espresso, but until my piggy bank full of pennies multiplies into a full heard, (do pigs live in heards?), I will settle on my French press coffee with a splash of half and half.
After my coffee I am officially on the move. No two days ever seem to be the same in my crazy life as a biathlete and massage therapist.
As the days get colder and shorter, my schedule seems to fill up faster. I'll be posting much more on these events in the days, weeks and months ahead. With any luck one thing will remain the same, I will always be starting my day with my cup of coffee.
cheers, BA

FROST!

2010-10-05T15:09:00.000-04:00

I have only lived in Northern Maine for around five years but even I know that getting the first frost of the year on the third of October is NOT normal. But let me make this clear...I am not complaining. There are more tomatoes then ever from the Chamberlain Families garden! Despite a good stretch of rain and wind last week, we've had a beautiful Fall.
I have continued to make the most out of it spending all the free time I can in the kichen. My cooking and baking list so far includes: Pumpkin cookies, bread and soup, carrot soup, apple sauce, tomato sauce, zucchini-lemon muffins, roasted beets and carrots and lots and lots of pesto! MMMM there will be a lot of good eatin' at my house for a while.
Last week was a kind of low/recovery week for me. It was well planned since it was pretty dreary and wet for a number of days in a row. I wasn't afraid of being creative on those days when the weather was so very NOT inspiring.... Training with high winds, cold temps. , hard rain or darkness, no matter. Nothing a good spin bike and Netflix on-demand viewing can't fix. I wouldn't recommend this on a regular basis but on occasion...it's pretty nice.
Today would not be one of those days however. I woke up and had to pull out the old Toko scrapper out of my glove box to scrape a heave frost off my windshield. (Yes I do actually use a ski scraper to scrap my car window, works quite well actually and ever breaks!) Once the sun finally did come up, it has warmed everything up nicely and it has turned out to be one of those picture perfect Fall days. The trees in near peak foliage and the air just cool enough to wear a sweater, but not cold enough to need anything else. I am off to go and dig out the rest of my ski tights and hats for the colder season ahead! Raking leaves today....making snowmen tomorrow!?! I can always dream!
Cheers, BA
A few shots from my adventures in the kitchen and garden.

The Harvest

2010-09-22T22:31:00.001-04:00

In between training sessions and working I have managed to have a little fun with the fruits of my labor this past summer. My garden was a busy place this summer. Lots of hard working going on all over the yard, mostly by the plants however.
While I always enjoy the cooler weather, my garden loved the warm sun we had so much of during the summer months. I am now enjoying the product of those many long hot days of June, July and August.
Pesto, tomato sauce, roasted beets and carrots, zucchini bread, borscht soup and so much more, the amount of cooking and baking I can do from my own back yard right now is impressive. There is something very satisfying about walking out your back door to pick the produce for your dinner.
Here are a few shots of my little bit of green in the back yard. Lots of good eatin' out there!
Bon Appetit,
BethAnn

3rd Annual Harvest Classic

2010-09-13T10:31:00.000-04:00

Oh what a beautiful day it was! Yesterday, David and I put on the 3rd Annual Harvest Classic bike race here in Caribou. We had a great day with cool morning temperatures and sunshine. Besides a little wind and a few grumbling comments about the amount of hills on the course, we had a perfect day.
Many, many thanks to all of you who helped and participated. We had two events, a shorter, twenty mile tour and a fourth mile race course and had a good crew in both events!

David and I were up early marking the course.

Seth Hubard quickly shedding a layer before letting the hammer down.

Enjoying a quick warm drink after the start!

Some of the Tour riders patiently awaiting the finish of the race!

The sprint to the finish!
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Recovery week

2010-09-08T22:07:00.000-04:00

We can't go hard all the time. Last week was good example of that. It was a recovery week. I took full advantage spending it with my family in MN. Alway great to be back in the land of 10,000 lakes.

A trip up the North shore of lake superior, a stop at Betty's pies, catching up with friends and family,(sorry I didn't get to see all of you!), ruff housing with my parent's and sister's dogs and a lot of quality time playing Auntie made it an exceptionally great trip home. This was all thrown in with a little bit of training each day. I covered some of my favorite ground and water in Duluth, Grand Rapids and the waters of Lake Vermilion. Oh and did I mention the average temperature was about 55. Simply delightful!

Handling the heat

2010-09-01T16:30:00.001-04:00

It's no secret, I am not a hot weathered creature. I do enjoy a nice warm day here and there but while training or pretty much anytime I am not in the water or on the beach, I prefer weather on the cooler side. And by September first I am more than ready for cool mornings where long sleeve shirts and yes even pants are necessary. I know many of you reading this might be cursing my words, but what can I say, I grew up in Northern Minnesota and chose a profession in a outdoor, endurance, winter sport. I like the cold!
For the time being I working on making the most of the heat, spending as much time as possible in the water! Here are a few photos of an early morning kyack on Madawaska Lake the other morning. Even in the heat, I have to say it is pretty nice being out on the lake on days like this.
cheers, BethAnn

Range closed

2010-08-18T09:09:00.000-04:00

I am back in The County. It is nice to be back and sleeping in my own bed again. Yesterday I headed out to Nordic Heritage to get my shooting on and was surprised to see all the targets stacked on the side of the hill! Not a great set up for shooting practice.
The work has begun for the range updates for the World Cup! While I was disappointed I couldn't get my shooting workout in, I was also very excited to see the updates getting underway!
Can't wait to see what it will all look like when it is done.
Cheers, BA

Sugarloaf

2010-08-13T07:12:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick picture update from Sugarloaf. I am here in Western Maine for the week training with the whole MWSC clan, biathlon and cross country. It is fun to have everyone together like this. We have had a great time so far with lots of focus on volume training. Today we have an epic hike/run on schedule, from Sugarloaf to Saddleback. It cool out this morning and the sun is shining. Let's hope it stays that way.
cheers,
BethAnn

A character builder

2010-08-07T14:11:00.001-04:00

I did it! I started and completed my first mountain bike race. I can't say I plan on doing another for quite some time but I at least now have one under my belt.
Last Sunday Nordic Heritage Center put on an awesome weekend of mountain biking fun. I am not much of a mountain biker and despite having run on the single track trails at NHC many, many times, I hadn't ever actually mountain biked on them. I am not sure it was the best decision to make my first trip out onto the trails during a race. But then again I am not sure you could call it a race, at least for me. There was a lot of stopping and starting, getting on and off the bike, (not always voluntarily) and pretty slow maneuvering through some of the more technical areas of the course.
I will be the first to admit, there were many moments of frustration throughout the morning, but I did finish it and was still in one piece when I did. I consider that a success for this year. I still haven't decided whether I will do the race again next year. I figure I have some time to forget some of my struggles from this year's race before I have to make that decision again! :)
Stay tuned for more updates from our camp in Jericho, VT!
Cheers, BethAnn

A great day to ride your bike!

2010-07-31T19:19:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day of the Fat Tire Festival at Nordic Hertiage in Presque Isle, Maine. And what a great day it was. The weekend started with my favorite event. The mountain bike biathlon race.
We had folks from the age of around six to over sixty! There was fun for all ages. In addition to the biathlon event there was also a kids cross country race and the downhill race for all ages.
We couldn't have asked for any better of weather or a better planned event. Tomorrow the festivities continue with the longer cross country races. I am going to dare to put on a bib and hop on my bike and give it a try. It will be something new for me. Wish me luck! If you are in the area come and join in on the fun! The more the merrier.
cheers, BA

Not your average Tour

2010-07-19T20:11:00.000-04:00

While most people are following "The Tour" going on in France this time of year, our small group of crazy, fun Nordic skiers and biathletes headed out Sunday afternoon on a tour of our own. It was the 9th annual Tour of Stockholm, brought to us by the one and only Will Sweetser. For those of you who are familiar with the event, it is a day of mixed distance training, ie: running, rollerskiing, biking, paddling and often bushwhacking.
Every year I have participated, I havehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif had a blast. It is always an adventure. You can usually anticipate some kind of detour, (last year it was a two hour detour through the woods/swamp with my mountain bike on my shoulder and about 10,000 horse flies swarming my head!), or unexpected hiccup to occur at some point throughout 4-6 hour tour.
I would say on average this year was fairly mellow. Please don't take this the wrong way, mellow is a very, very good thing in this case! Besides taking a good tumble up and over my handlebars on my mountain bike, I'd say it was pretty smooth sailing.

Many thanks to Will for organizing the event! Great time had by all. Hope you enjoy the few pictures I captured a different points during the day.

Cheers to the many adventures yet to come!
-BA

Some like it hot....I don't.

2010-07-11T22:41:00.000-04:00

Summer. So many great things about it; swimming, growing things, long days, lots of sun shine, thunderstorms, barbecues. But then there is also the heat. I am a Northern girl, all the way. I melt in the heat, or so I like to think. So this past week has been a challenging one for me. Thankfully I was also a low week for me, so I could minimize my time burning rollerskiing the scolding hot blacktop.
This easy week wraps up my third training block of the year. It is crazy how quickly time flies by. Tomorrow is the start of block four. I am looking forward to spending more time with my rifle and keeping my training fun but effective. I am training hard, to ski fast this winter. It's a tough concept understand and follow at times, but I am doing my best to keep that in my thoughts before, during and after workouts.

Right now that thought is telling me I need to go to bed and get some rest! Below are a few more pictures from the past couple weeks of training. I'd just like to highlight one. This first one marks today, July 10th, 2010, as beginning of raspberry picking season! Mmmmmm, can't wait for many more days of picking to come! Enjoy!
BA

It's all about the timing

2010-07-02T19:18:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday Maine Winter Sports took a group of athletes down to Katahdin to make the trek up. I have lived in Maine for over five years now and hadn't yet gone up. I was more than excited to see this trip on the schedule this spring. I closed off two days of work to making sure I had nothing in the way of putting me at the top of that mountain.
Despite these efforts I never got there. I misunderstood the timing of it all, not realizing that we were going to leave the evening before the two days chosen. Bummer! A couple hours later departure and I would have been there. I guess it wasn't meant to be this time around. Something tells me there will be others opportunities.
After realizing I was going to miss out on a great four to five hours distance adventure workout, I decided I needed to create one on my own. Since there aren't any mountain big enough around here for a four hours hike, I decided on going on a bike adventure. This would be a great opportunity to check out some new territory in Aroostook County. Out came the Maine Gazetteer and my highlighter and with the help of David, I mapped out a nice long loop that would wind me around down towards Ashland and then slowly wind back up to Caribou.
Back pockets packed with food, water, money and phone, I started off. It was beautiful riding. The farmland in this area is gorgeous and very inspiring. About an hour in however, I spotted some pretty dark clouds rolling my way. I was not looking forward to hitting this storm on my bike, but I pedaled into it anyways. I did stop under the eve of an old abandon gas station for a couple minutes, hoping I could wait just a few more and have the worst of it pass. I realized quickly that wasn't going to happen, so back on my bike I went. The rain started to fall and things got pretty dark. I kept pedaling dreaming for warm, dry places and before I knew it my route took me left, away from the storm! Blue skies were in sight! I pedaled faster and quickly drove myself away from the storm. I couldn't help but think of what amazing timing I had. The pavement was very wet were I was now riding, but the storm was quickly moving in away from me. Crisis averted! Well maybe it wasn't a crisis but four hours of cold, wet riding was anyways.
So while the timing didn't work out for one adventure, it helped me stay dry and happy on another.
Happy 4th to you all! Hope you can all get out there and have an adventure of your own. Cheers, BethAnn

P.S. I apologize for not having any pictures with this post. I took many great shots during my ride, but forgot to put the memory card back in my camera before I did so! Lesson learned.

Reunited

2010-06-29T11:10:00.001-04:00

After a long awaited break I have once again been reunited with my rifle! More specifically I am being reunited with my stock and just getting introduced to my new action. I am now a proud owner of a sprint action. For those of you who aren't familiar with this term, a sprint action is a lighter version of the older Anschutz biathlon rifle models. Having been in this sport for nearly twelve years now, I thought it was time for an upgrade. I couldn't be happier about it.
Range OPEN!

T.E.A.M.

2010-06-17T23:26:00.000-04:00

Together Everyone Achieves More

After a short break away from Northern Maine, I am now back in town. I was excited to come back to David and of course my garden too! :) I am also excited to start training with all the other athletes around.
This morning the Nordic team and Biathlon team got together to do a track workout here in Caribou. While we weren't doing the same thing, we were all going around the same 400meter loop cheering and encouraging one another on. I think it's great to do some training on your own, teaching you to push yourself on your own, but it is also really great to have some company and have others push you.
I was impressed with our group. Not that I would have expected anything less, it was just really great to witness and be a part of. This is how we all get better; believing, supporting and pushing one another. I feel confident after today that our crew, up here in Northern Maine, is on track for great success come winter!
Cheers,
BethAnn

June

2010-06-06T14:54:00.000-04:00

Again, how time flies. June has arrived, which in my mind represents the start of summer, no matter the weather. Thankfully we have had a beautiful May weather and now I am only crossing my fingers that we get more of the same in the summer months ahead.
Training is well underway now, rollerskiing and all. I haven't been able to get out on the range much but have good reason. Rifle upgrades have kept me away from my rifle for a bit, but not for long. I am looking forward to putting some serious time in on the range in the weeks and months ahead.
The week ahead I will putting some training hours in on the road and trails of Massachusetts, while I spend some quality time with my newly born niece, sister and brother-in-law. Like all things in life, balance is key and family time sometimes can't be beat!

My sister Amy, new mom, with three week old Jaclyn Ruth, pretty amazing stuff! :)

Quick clip from the winter months

2010-05-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

I was just clearing things off my camera and came across this short video clip I took this past winter while in Czech. As athletes, we all train hard and race even harder. But in the winter months, while racing and traveling to races, we find ourselves with a bit more down time then we are use to. We are often limited on what activities we can do due to transportation, location, and the racing requirements of lots of rest and recovery. In other words, we have to become pretty creative at entertaining ourselves within a mile or so of our hotel, without overexerting ourselves, in a foreign country where we don't speak the language, (I am trying to work on that last point! Thanks Rosetta Stone! :)). This video is an example of one solution we came up with this year.
This January while in Czech the girls team found a couple somewhat bizarre yet challenging puzzles at the local grocery store. We decided they would be a good investment for all of us. This short clip demonstrates just how far we will go to entertain ourselves in our time away from the ski trails.
Hope you enjoy! -BA

int eh

Vermont

2010-05-19T14:06:00.000-04:00

Late last week David and I spent a few days exploring the Green Mountain National Forest in and around Middlebury, VT. We got a couple days of camping in. Besides one very wet night, (due to rain that is), we had a great time eating camp food, washing off in the cold rivers and cozying up by the camp fire at night.
While David was checking venues and bike routes out for Fresh Tracks, I had a chance to get a lot of long easy hours of training in, both on my bike and on foot. A good friend and teammate of mine, Annelies Cook, joined me on what became quite the epic bike ride, which included two flats and a long visit to a small town bike shop. We did make it up and down Middlebury Gap twice and explored some new territory for both of us.
Now we are back in Caribou and I am back at the regular routine of working, training and fitting a little gardening in here and there. The weather has been amazing. It's officially growing season! I will defiantly toast to that!
cheers,
BA

A few more spring adventures

2010-05-13T10:50:00.000-04:00

We are officially four weeks into the training season now. I have been working on brining my fitness level up through lots of long easy hours with a little speed and threshold work mixed in. I'm trying to keep workouts fun and not too specific this time of year. David and I are currently on short adventure through Vermont. I am helping him scout out some bike routes for Fresh Tracks Adventures trips, (if you haven't checked out their web-site yet go to www.makefreshtracks.com).

In attempt to mix things up a bit, I ventured over to Aroostook State Park the other day for a great hike/run. It was a cool, dreary day but a great one to spend in the woods. My Icebreaker cloths made sure I was nice and warm! Thanks again Icebreaker!

The sign says it all...

Daivd's new business adventure is in full swing. While he will still compete this winter, he is also working hard on getting Fresh Tracks Adventures off the ground. He has spent more hours than ever before sitting behind his little computer, over the last few weeks.

Home for the night. David and I will be camping out over the next few days while we scope out the roads of Vermont for the best bike routes for Fresh Tracks Adventures. It's a great adventure for us too!

The enemy! My gardening is in full swing. I haven't yet planted my vegtable seeds and seedling in the ground, and it is mostly because of this little bugger! He has settled into our neighborhood recently, and I think is anticipating a feast as soon as I put everything into the ground. Something is going to have to be done to ensure David and I are eating the veggies from our garden, not this guy! I am open to ideas, please share! :)

Our current working space! You've got to love Vermont's small town general stores and coffee shops!
Cheers, BethAnn

Fresh Track Adventures

2010-05-03T22:10:00.000-04:00

May has arrived and training is back on again. This weekend I managed to get quite a few hours of riding while helping out with David's (and other's), new business, Fresh Tracks Adventures. It is a bike tour company that will focus on lifelong fitness and living well. I was excited to be able to help out with leading some rides along with doing a bit of massage for the riders.
We were in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec. It is just a short ride across the boarder and is absolute beautiful. The gorgeous country side, rolling hills and beautiful weather made for some pretty great rides. I was also able to get a run in along the lake, do some yoga on the shore and even dared to jump in the freezing cold water before leaving on Sunday.
Hope you enjoy the following pictures. I tried to capture a little of everything we experienced, amazing food, great accommodation, good company and beautiful sites.
Heart AND health happy = big smiles all around
cheers to many more adventures,

BethAnn

Happy Earth Day

2010-04-22T17:06:00.000-04:00

Hope you have all had a warm and sunny day wherever you may be while reading this. We have had a surprisingly nice day here in Aroostook county, which included a nice and brief afternoon spring shower.
In my effort to do my part for the earth on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day I want to share some of my daily efforts of living green.
Recycling is an easy task that everyone can do with the smallest amount of effort. In addition to the recycling of your basic household items I working on bringing the left over brass from the two biathlon ranges in to be recycled. There are also a great number of recycling programs for running shoes. Nike has one of the best. They have a number of drop off locations around the world. Unfortunately there aren't any up in the County but they do have one near my in-laws, so when making the trip South I try to get a collection to bring down and drop off. Check out the Nike program at: http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/. It's very cool and inspiring.

Another great program working hard at keeping our earth green is Greenlaces.org. It is a very cool organization bringing greater awareness to saving the planet one promise and two shoe laces at a time. If you haven't already heard about them, check them out at www.greenlaces.org. Make your promise to the planet today and get your green on.
The last and most enjoyable green effort I'd like to mention today starts right in your backyard. Eating vegetables and herbs you grew yourself not only cuts down on your grocery bill but plays a big part in keeping the earth green by keeping things local. You can get any more local than your back yard! If you are missed out on green thumb gene check out the local farmers markets in your neighborhood. Not only will you be doing your part by eating local and supporting the farmers of your community, your stomach will thank you for fresh, nutrient rich, flavorful food. Localharvest.org is a great website for helping you find farmers markets and other fresh produce, meats, dairy products in your area.

Fresh Start with a new training tool!

2010-04-20T13:08:00.000-04:00

It has offically begun, training season 2010/11. Today was the first offical day for me. My break over the past few weeks has been a good one and a much needed one.
I am now craving more sunshine and time outdoors. Hopfully I will have more of both in the weeks ahead.
One of my goals in the upcoming year is to keep things in better balance, both in training, recovery and life. And thanks to my friends and supporters at Pressure Positive Co., I have a new tool to help me out with this. It is called the Tiger Tail Muscle Massager. It is a great tool I use to help flush out my leg, hips, arms and even feet after training, helping me recover faster and feel better faster. I defiantly needed after my run today. Running is always a little harder on my body then other activities. Adequate recovery, including stretching, food, drink and activities such as massage and using great products like the Tiger Tail and stretching strap are important to stay in touch with throughout all parts of the season. These activies are crutial to staying healthy, happy and injury free through the hours of training that lie ahead.
Check out the Tiger Tail and all of Pressure Postitives other great products at their website: http://pressurepositive.com/index.aspx.

Lots more udates to come as the training begins,
Think sun!

-BethAnn

Refresh button

2010-04-08T12:05:00.000-04:00

I'm finally back with a long overdue update. It has been a long, tough couple of weeks. Nationals came and went. It felt like a week of suffering for me, which happens. I had a couple of ruff races and was challenged in new ways every race. My not so stellar performances has forced me to take a good, hard look at my training, racing, race approach and life over the past few weeks. What is good, what isn't,
what to change, what to keep the same, what needs the most attention and what am I working towards? A lot of tough questions to ask yourself but important one's to0. a For this reason, I will say my races at National weren't a total loss.
X-C Nationals followed the week of biathlon Nationals. I had planned and was excited to race in all of these also. My body had a different plan. I came down with a chest cold and all kinds of nasty sickness after the closing of biathlon Nationals. So I was stuck in bed for the week instead of racing. Another downer but what are you going to do?
On a side note from Nationals, I was very excited to see many faces from the Southern Maine Biathlon Club during the events. Not only did this crew race but they were some of the best cheerers I have encountered all year. Three tough races for me left me digging deep to keep on pushing. All the voices from SMBC really help pull me through some low spots. Thanks to all these folks. You are an inspiring group who I love being around!
After taking nearly two weeks to recover from my sickness, I am finally feeling back to normal. I am currently staying busy thinking through my past season and working out a plan for the year ahead. I am also spending as much time as I can in my own personal therapy, of the garden variety. It is most relaxing and therapeutic activity I can do this time of year. It's amazing what a little sun, dirt and greenery can do for you.

Happy spring to you all!

-BethAnn

The March Madness continues...

2010-03-19T12:46:00.000-04:00

The last couple weeks back at home in Caribou have been busy ones. The Junior Olympics were a great success last week. Unseasonably warm and sunny weather made for great spring skiing. There was a little worry about the snow holding but in the end there was no need.
JO's has lead us right into U.S. Biathlon Nationals. We started yesterday with the sprint race. Unfortunately we had our first night of above freezing temperatures going, which kept the trails from setting. This made for a slow and slushy race. I didn't perform how I would have liked yesterday. I let some mental obstacles get in the way of performing to my best ability. The skiing conditions were challenging and defiantly not my favorite. I know we have a lot more of it to come in the next week, so I am currently working on a new and better strategy for plowing through the slush.
Right now I am focused on the pursuit race tomorrow and mass start on Sunday. Thank heavens for second and third chances....

Aroostook's Youth

2010-03-08T10:15:00.000-05:00

I have been home now for just short of a week, and I have been staying busy. In addition to getting out on skis myself I have been able to help many youth throughout Aroostook County get out and enjoy sliding across the snow on skis as well.
This past Saturday the Northern Skier Club hosted the Aroostook Youth Ski Festival at the high school trails here in Caribou. There had to have been well over 75 skiers from the ages of five to sixteen. We spent the morning hitting up one of the five different ski stations, doing everything from barrel chases to biathlon bean bag tosses to flying down the radar run and flipping tricks on the terrain park.
We finished off the morning with one enormous game of sharks and minnows. I let my competitive side get the best of me and caused two collisions in attempt to "swim" from the sharks closing in on me.
Many thanks out to everyone who helped put this event together. This is my third year attending. Each year I see more new faces having fun being active and playing around on skis! That is something I will never get tired of seeing.
Thanks again,
BethAnn

Post-Birkie

2010-03-02T20:45:00.000-05:00

I made it! I finished my first ever 52km race and even walked away from the finish line all on my own! I was pretty excited about that. My first ever Birkie experience was a good one. I think I lucked out with beautiful sunny weather, fast skiing and great snow. I work hard to follow the only instructions I was given for the race; eat and drink early and often and ski in a pack!
I worked pretty hard the first few kilometers to stay with the front pack. After about six kilometers of that I started to get nervous that I was expending too much energy too early and would end up bonking. I really did not want to bonk. So I backed off a bit and ended up skiing with four other women who did the same as me. I felt pretty strong most of the race. I had a moment with about 18km to go where I thought I was going to hit a wall, but I worked through it and finished pretty strong. I maybe could have even picked it up a bit more towards the end, but again I was nervous I would start my surge to early and end up loosing time in the end.
I defiantly learned a lot throughout the race and feel that my second time around I can ski it even better. I'm happy with my eleventh place for now.
Cheers,
BethAnn

Birke Fever

2010-03-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

2.26.2010

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me, fifty-two kilometers of racing in beautiful central Wisconsin. It will be my first time racing in the American Birkebeiner. Things seem to be lining up quite nicely going into tomorrow’s race. It’s going to be cold tonight but get up to the upper twenties by tomorrow sometime. The snow is great and the sun will be shining.
It sounds like there is going to be over 8,000 racers tomorrow. There will be a lot of eating and waxing of skis tonight.
We arrived here on Wednesday night and I have been enjoying taking in all the excitement of the events over the past few days. Yesterday afternoon David and I took part in the Elite sprints in downtown Hayward. Head to head sprints down main street with single elimination, made for a fun, spectator friendly event.
My afternoon schedule includes picking up my bib, wax some skis, stretch, eat and probably watch a little Olympics. The race starts bright and early at 8:30.
More to come after the race….
-BethAnn

Madison Winter Festival 2010

2010-02-22T14:01:00.000-05:00

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

2010-02-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

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

2010-02-13T19:49:00.000-05:00

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

2010-02-09T20:52:00.000-05:00

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

A classic adventure

2010-01-30T19:31:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-28T11:18:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-22T17:58:00.000-05:00

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.