Rumford wrap up and catching up with life

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

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

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

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

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

Keep thinking snow,
-BethAnn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wishing you all snowy dreams and powder filled days,

BethAnn

The winter season

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

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

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

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

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

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

cheers, 

BethAnn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Holidays!

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

  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

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

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