Quick clip from the winter months

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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