Getting Dirty in Mt. Itasca

Nope, it doesn’t mean what you think it does. In biathlon, when you hit all 5 shots in a row, it’s called “cleaning”. Along the same logic, if you miss all 5 shots, well, that’s called dirtying.

I have only just recently started shooting and trying out biathlon, but up until now I had never “dirtied” a stage (that’s 5 shots) in a race before. Well, it turns out that if you add a measure of race nerves to a newbie biathlete, it’s pretty easy to do!

Let’s back up a bit. Last week after the Bozeman SuperTours I traveled to Mt. Itasca, Minnesota to compete in IBU Cup Trials for biathlon. Having very little expectations for the races in my first season doing any sort of biathlon, I tried to enter the week with an open mind, but truth be told, I was pretty nervous. We were scheduled to race 4 times: 2 consecutive 7.5k sprint competitions, a rest day, a 12.5k mass start, and then a final sprint. The day of the first sprint (two shooting stages, 1 prone and 1 standing) I came into prone and hit 3 targets. Not awesome shooting, but pretty good for me! I skied my two penalty loops, came around the loop and got into standing position. And promptly missed all 5 targets. Shoooot. It wasn’t that fun skiing 5 times around the penalty loop, and truth be told I got a little dizzy. But the good news is, it definitely took a lot of the pressure off for the rest of the week! From there on, I decided to just have fun with it and approach the shooting with as relaxed an attitude as possible. I was able to improve my shooting a little bit in the next sprint (hitting 4/10) and then in the mass start I actually hit 8/10 prone targets and had my best shooting of the week (55%). I had another tough day on the range in the final sprint, but by that point I just let it roll right off. The truth is, I haven't been doing biathlon long enough to be competitive in range time or accuracy, but every race experience I get is something to learn from and build upon. I now know exactly what I have to work on, and I’m feeling confident in my skiing right now, so I’m excited for the rest of the ski season.

I got in to Craftsbury late Thursday night and was psyched to see all the snow here, but then… DUN DUN DUN I came down with a stomach bug! Luckily it appears that it was just a 24 hour thing, and it may end up being a blessing in disguise as I’m definitely getting plenty of rest after all those races. I’m excited to head home for Christmas and then back to the Midwest for US Nationals in Houghton. I haven’t skied in Houghton since Senior Nationals back in 2008 I believe, so it will be fun to go back to the homeland (1/2 of my family is from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan).

Enjoy the pictures of the biathlon races in Mt. Itasca, all the race shots are from Minnesota biathlete Jakob Ellingson (check out the full gallery here).

Shooting prone with MWSC biathlete Maddie Phaneuf

Getting used to skiing (and tucking!) with a rifle on my back

Standing shooting (had to be the lefty ruining the picture...)

Taking the corner at the top of the course with Kelsey Dickinson from MWSC. It was fun to race with her and to catch up, I haven't seen her since the USBA Talent ID Camp back in August 

Clare starting one of the sprints. She's been crushing it in biathlon this season, and will find out soon if she'll be repping the US at IBU Cups in Europe later this season. Psyched for her!

Thanks for reading everyone, and please, make sure to do your snow dance so that we get something to ski on in Park City!! Here's wishing everyone happy holidays and a white Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice wherever you are!

Getting Back Up

Cresting the hill during the Bozeman 10k Mass Start. Photo Anya Bean

After a few really nice distance skis in West Yellowstone, we moved up to Bozeman for the second weekend of SuperTour races. I was looking forward to these races a lot, mostly because I felt a little unfulfilled after the Yellowstone weekend, and also because classic sprinting is one of my favorite race formats, and last year we didn't get to do the sprint in Bozeman when cold temperatures forced the organizers to cancel. 

My pre-race workouts all felt good, my energy started to bounce back, and I was ready to go! The sprint course in Bozeman had a few good climbs and one somewhat steep downhill that curved sharply to the right at the bottom. In good  conditions, it's completely fine, but during the pre-race workout, it was covered in ankle deep slush. A little challenging, but I knew the grooming would be better the next day. Then, when we showed up for warm-up on the sprint day, it more resembled a sheet of ice. I talked myself through it, did a few laps of the course for warm-up, then hit the line for my qualifier. Things were going well, I felt great on the uphills and in double pole, and then I headed down the hill full of confidence, only to catch an edge and find myself skidding backwards, looking up towards the top of the hill where I had just come from. Well, crap. I didn't have much time to think about it, so I quickly turned my skis the right direction, untangled my poles, and skied as fast as humanly possible for the rest of the short qualifier. My surge of adrenaline helped me get going again, but I was really nervous about making the heats. Then, results were posted, and I was 26th! Okay, maybe not my most spectacular qualifier, but at least I would live to fight (later) that day!

We only had about an hour and a half between the qualifier and the heats, but the whole time my stomach was flip-flopping and I was filled with nervous energy about the thought of facing that downhill again. It was completely silly, but I was actually dreading the heats. With a little over 40 minutes to go until the quarterfinal, I told myself it was time to put my big girl pants on, and I went to warm up on some of the other Bohart Trails. When the gun went off in my quarterfinal, I completely forgot about the downhill and focused only on the other girls in front of me and around me, and gradually I moved up in my heat. After the uphill I was in 2nd place, I stayed on my feet around the corner, and then used a slingshot move to propel myself into 1st. After double poling like mad, I crossed the line first with the second fastest time from any of the quarterfinals. From there on out, it was game-time, and although I didn't make the A-final from my semi, I was so happy that I managed to conquer my fears and turn my day around from an embarrassing (and slightly painful) fall into a really fun and successful 8th place result. Plus, the other GRP girls had a great day too, and CPatts was 3rd, and Kaitlynn Miller was 7th after a ripping fast 5th best qualifier!

The trails may have been even icier for the 10k mass start the following day, but armed with new confidence and positive race vibes, I decided that I was just going to take whatever the course threw at me. Starting from bib #24, I had some work to do. I missed out on the leaders when they broke away, but I skied a solid race, came through the stadium after 5k in 5th, finished in 7th, and most importantly, stayed on my feet the entire time! I knew that those days of nor-pining (riding the ski lifts with nordic skis) with Rosie Brennan back in the Park City Nordic Ski Club days would come in handy some day. Speaking of Rosie, she has been absolutely dominating the SuperTour races and her win in the 10k was her third in a row! She has overcome a really tough year to post some inspiring results, and I'm so proud of her for persevering. Watch out world!

I also want to thank our awesome wax techs for the weekend: Nick Brown, Bryan Cook, and Brayton Osgood. Not only did they give us incredibly fast skis with great kick, but somehow the grip also survived the skidding, snowplowing, and general abuse of the Bohart downhills. Ski magic, I tell you.

Thanks for reading! Here are a few pictures from Bohart, mostly courtesy of my photography whiz friend Anya Bean, thanks Anya! Check out some more of her photos from the distance day on Fasterskier.

A happy team in green!

Mass start mayhem and fun. Photo Anya Bean

Braving the downhills, especially this one where I fell the previous day! It actually wasn't bad during the mass start, but some of the others slightly resembled a luge track. Photo Anya Bean

Enjoying the post-race sun with friends. This western girl needed her Vitamin D! Photo Anya Bean.

The GRP women had a great weekend, all placing in the top 10 both days! It was awesome to race with these speedy ladies.

We finally got a team photo! GRP Ski with the Bridger's in the background. Good thing the boys have been practicing their soro squats..

I'm now in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, prepping for IBU Cup Trials in biathlon. Biathlon and learning to shoot in general has been a fun adventure for me this year. While I haven't been shooting long enough to have any real expectations for these races, I'm really excited to try out my first real on-snow biathlon races, and I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. Stay tuned for updates!

Just the Beginning

I'm a little overdue on updating everyone on what's going on in ski world. Since my last post, we've been on snow for almost 3 weeks, raced our first SuperTours in West Yellowstone, and we're currently in Bozeman, Montana for the second weekend of SuperTour races.

Finally getting on snow has been the best feeling! Nothing feels better than being able to do distance sessions on real snow and new terrain, whereas the thought of another two hour rollerski on the same roads was making me want to snap my rollerski poles in half. Luckily, I didn't, and we all made it through some tricky days when the roads were too wet to rollerski, but there wasn't quite enough snow on the trails to ski. Hello, bounding time trials!

It was so nice to get to West Yellowstone last Tuesdsay. I've been coming to West for Thanksgiving since I was in middle school, and I think I've only missed 2 years since then, so in some ways it feels more like home to spend turkey day there than at home in Park City. It was so nice to catch up with friends and family, and talk with ski reps and coaches that I don't usually get to see during the summer. 

I think that my friend Annie (P) on the Stratton team had the best insight on the first races of the season: they're a win-win situation. If you do well, you get great confidence going into the rest of the season. And if you don't do well, it's okay, because a) sometimes it takes a while to find ski speed again, and b) there are so many more important races left in the season! Unfortunately, I had one of those "what am I doing out here??" type races in the skate sprint, which was probably a result of travel fatigue, a big adjustment to the altitude, and not having my mental game quite down. I tried to stay positive and was able to turn things around a little bit in the 10k skate individual, which was good because that race format is usually one of my least favorite. I finished 14th in a competitive field, and now I'm really looking forward to the races in Bozeman. Even though it rained here, the klister skiing is really good and hopefully it will freeze up enough tonight to make for some fast sprinting tomorrow! 

Stay tuned for updates from the Bozeman races, and in the meantime here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

We did get some skiing in Vermont before we left. Here we headed up Stowe Mt. and then sketchily descended. Turns out that edges do come in handy sometimes.

Once we arrived in Bozeman, we did our usual Costco run. It takes a lot of food to fuel 9 skiers and 4 busy coaches/wax techs!

We weren't really sure how we would fit the boxes in the van, as it was almost full from ski bags and duffels before our food run...

But everyone got a box on their lap, and we somehow fit everything, at least for the 1.5 hour drive to West

GRP ladies training on a rare sunny day in West

Finishing the 10k in the altitude pain cave. Thanks to my brother Dan for the pic!

Watching the men's 15k distance race. Here's Alex Schulz

Gordo on the first climb of the course.

Pete climbing

Our men's team celebrated Movember. Just look realllly closely, the mustaches are there I swear.

Great to be back in beautiful Bozeman! We're happy to have much warmer conditions than last year, when they had to cancel one of the races due to temperatures that mostly stayed below -10F.

Hammering some pre-race intervals on the Bohart course with Caitlin and Kaitlynn. Photo cred Anya Bean

And smiling on the recovery!

Thanks for reading!

Stick Season

There are only a few "seasons" during the year that I genuinely do not like. The first is mud season, that awful time between when the snow melts and the trails dry out enough to be usable. Growing up in the mountains, we never really had much of a mud season, it seemed like one day you were skiing and the next it was 70 degrees and sunny. Since moving to the East, though, I've gained appreciation for a whole new season, one involving muck boots and some of the messiest bike rides around. Then there's stick season, which seems to happen just about everywhere in early November (okay, maybe not in Alaska. They seem pretty excited about early-season skiing up there). The pretty autumn leaves fall off all the trees and every skier is left doing a little snow dance every day, just hoping that winter comes sooner rather than later.

The anticipation of winter always gets me through this time of year, whether it's rollerskiing in the drizzling cold rain or trying to squeeze in a second workout before the sun sets at 4:30 in the afternoon. Our snow-making permits at Craftsbury are good as of November 1st, so the good news is that if the weather cooperates we could be skiing on a man-made loop very soon! Exciting!

In the meantime, here are a few photos of one of our last workouts in Utah where we tackled the Pffeiferhorn in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was a really fun way to end a great altitude camp and one of our last opportunities to enjoy the fall foliage in the mountains. I'm now back in Craftsbury for the next three weeks, doing a final intensity block to get the race fitness I need for the season. I love intensity blocks and we have plenty on the schedule with intervals, speeds, and time trials galore, so should be a fun couple of weeks, and then before I know it I will be on the trails in West Yellowstone. Can't wait!

The one and only Jennie Bender, at Red Pine Lake
on the way up to the Pffeiferhorn

Shadow play

The majestic Wasatch Range

Caitlin surveying the view of Mt. Timpanogos

Jennie and Caitlin enjoying the top

Perfect day in Little Cottonwood Canyon

After the camp ended in Park City I had a few days to catch up with friends and family, get out on my mountain bike, and even watch the girl's Park City XC running team race at State Championships. I felt pretty ancient wearing my State Champs sweatshirt from 2005... but I was pretty excited to hear they still do the same cheer we did back in the day. "Park City Girls Are Buff!"

While I was in Park City, Rosie Brennan and I had the chance to talk to the Park City Nordic Ski Club crew about growing up in the program and going on to race in college and professionally. They have a really fast crew of kids in the program right now so I'm psyched to see how they do this winter!

Showing the PCNSC kids some photos from back in the day

I also popped up to Bozeman, MT for a weekend to catch up with college friends and explore the mountains up there. It's always nice to take a break from structured training, ditch the hr monitor belt, and just enjoy being outside with the people you love. Thanks for the great weekend guys!

Some of my favorites hiking Bridger 

Beautiful sunrise in Bozeman, MT

Finally, a little shout-out to my friend and former UNH teammate Kelsey who just finished her first ever marathon in New York! I'm super impressed with her race and the fact that she raised a bunch of money for the American Cancer Society. Such a champ!

Thanks for reading, and check in soon (hopefully) for some updates on real skiing!

No Parents! PC Camp '14

You know that feeling you get when your parents leave you home alone for the night in middle school? Yup, I'm talking about ultimate freedom. What are you going to have for dinner tonight? Ice cream and mozzarella sticks from the freezer? Don't mind if I do. Watching a Gilmore Girls/Friends/One Tree Hill marathon until your brain melts? Yeah, we've all been there.

Well that's the feeling I most relate to when it comes to our recent training camp in Park City, UT. Caitlin and I ventured out here to join the US Ski Team for their annual fall altitude training camp, sans coach or teammates (although Ida was here as part of the ski team crew). It's funny because we actually stayed with my parents during the camp, but when you're a professional skier, your coach (aka the person who writes your training plan, makes your schedule, and rules your days) is pretty much your parent. So here we were, without a coach, and although we were mostly on the USST plan, we were free from the tyranny of team meetings, scheduled gym times, and constant, detailed technique pointers. All we had to do was keep our training logs up to date, and we were home free. Wahoo!

But at some point during that glorious, liberated, middle school night, we all reached a point where we missed our parents. Our confused, sugar-laden brains rebelled against the absence of a well-balanced, nutritious meal. We started to wonder whether those horror movies about late nights visits from serial killers ever happened in small-town USA, aka, our neighborhood. And really deep down, we missed having something, anything to do. Please, tell us to take out the trash! We'll clean our rooms, promise, if you just come home!

Well, that's pretty much what happened. We realized that without a coach, those awesome point-to-point rollerskis were going to be a little tough to organize. We found ourselves questioning our technique, needing a pump up after a rough workout, and yes, we even wanted someone to slap vitamin B12 patches on us. In short, we realized something that should have been obvious all along, that without our dedicated coach and teammates, we are just a couple of goofy-looking spandex-clad rollerskiers without a home.

But don't worry, the training camp was actually a huge success! In spite of my laid-back organizational style, everything came together for a really productive 11 days in Park City. During our time here, we managed to squeeze in 2 speed sessions, 2 Level 3 workouts, one hammer-sesh bounding workout, a time trial, 3 marathon strength sessions, and several OD's. We were lucky enough to have awesome training planned by the US Ski Team coaches, and on days when we were in charge our training we hopped in with a motivated crew from Stratton, Sun Valley, and BSF. Pat O'Brien, the Stratton coach, was cool enough to give us rides, take video, and even help out with technique pointers (although this may have been on threat of death by Pepa, we're not sure). We are super grateful though, and we especially appreciate it because we know he had his own athletes to worry about as well. Colin Rodgers from Sun Valley was also awesome for giving us a ride down from the top of East Canyon after L3 intervals.

Anyways, if you followed my metaphor this far, congrats, and your reward is some sweet pictures from the camp! Utah has been good to us, providing miles of open road, scenic vistas, and mountains to be climbed. I know I'll be happy to get back to Vermont next week and make those final fitness and technique tweaks before the season ramps up in November. And yes, I'll say it here, for everyone to see, PEPA WE MISS YOU!



Skiing up American Fork Canyon on the first day of camp. Colorful, scenic, and tough! Almost 3,000 ft of elevation gain on this puppy (Photo USSA Nordic)

Parking lot speeds and endless western skies on day two of the camp (Photo USSA Nordic)

OD Run on Mid Mountain Trail from the Canyon's to PCMR.  Still a little color on this day, but not anymore!

Awesome group of girls at this camp. L to R Caitlin, Jessie Diggins, Annie Pokorny, and Jennie Bender keeping it real on a 3.5 hour run (Photo Jennie)

On days when the USST had closed practices we banded together with the other clubs for really high-quality training. Here's the top of Wolf Creek Pass after 2.5 hrs of skate and classic rolling with APU, SVSEF, SMS-T2, and BSF (Photo Jennie Bender)

Usually on ski trips we cook for around 14-15 people, so it was a nice change to just have a few of us! We took advantage by going gourmet (sweet potato gnocchi, thanks to Caitlin's culinary skills)



Warming up on East Canyon Road prior to L3 classic intervals (Photo Jennie Bender)

The middle of an awesome interval set. I'm third in the train, practicing drafting and double pole with the Stratton and Sun Valley girls (Photo Pat O'Brien)

Striding it out near the top. When we work together, we get better together. Lucky to be doing it with such a motivated, talented group of girls. I'm following Annie Pokorny and Erika Flowers here (Photo Pat O'Brien)

I have a ton more pictures from a really cool OD run/hike we did in Little Cottonwood, but those will have to wait for another day. The coffee shop where I'm bumming internet closed at least 45 minutes ago and the Park City evening chill is setting into my fingers, so check back in a few days for those! Thanks for reading!

NNF Drive for 25!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently in Park City, UT, attending the USST fall camp, and having an absolute blast! More on that later; I will put up a post about the PC camp in the next week, and in the meantime I need to start taking some more pictures. Yikes.

But this post is about the NNF Drive for 25, running from now until November 15th. The National Nordic Foundation (NNF) is a sweet grassroots organization that supports development of nordic skiing in the US. In the past few years, NNF has done an incredible job of fundraising every fall. They do this by getting nordic ambassadors (that's us) to ask friends and family to donate $25 (or more, or less! every little bit counts!) to the cause.

So where the money from NNF go? Well, everyone from junior (under 16) to elite skiers get help from NNF to attend camps and races during the winter. NNF does a great job supporting World Junior and U23 Championships, and they also give money to junior skiers competing in Europe for the first time at Scando Cups, and to aspiring skiers competing at OPA Cups, the level just below the World Cup.

I've been so fortunate to have support from NNF throughout my years of racing, even when they operated under a different name, NCCSEF (National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation). In the past few years I've qualified for U23 World Champs in Liberec, Czech Republic and Val di Fiemme, Italy, and had the opportunity to compete against the best in the world. I also tested myself at OPA Cups in Rogla, Slovenia and Valdidentro, Italy. These trips truly would not be possible without the NNF, and I know that I wouldn't be where I am today, skiing and reaching towards my dreams, without their generous support.

So I'm asking all of you to consider donating as little as $5, or as much as you can, to one of the more worthy and awesome causes around. If you feel like you can't donate, I would really appreciate it you could forward on the link to my fundraising page to anyone you think might be interested. Either way, you'll be able to say that you helped developing skiers in the US get a little closer to international success!

Here's the link to my page:
https://support.nationalnordicfoundation.org/fundraise?fcid=354994

Here are a few snapshots over the years of racing trips I've taken with the help of NNF. Who doesn't love a little throwback?

Katie Gill and I racing for the first time in Europe at Scando Cups in Norway. We got 3rd in this relay!

Scando Trip 2009. Of the boys in this photo, Scott Patterson and Tyler Kornfield are racing for APU, Jake Barton and Andrew Dougherty are on my Craftsbury GRP team, and Max Durtschi was a pro cyclist for several years and is now trying out biathlon with USBA

Pre- U23 World Champs camp in Ramsau, Austria in 2013

Annie Pokorny, Sloan Storey and I cheering in Liberec

Carrying the American flag for Opening Ceremonies in Val di Fiemme

Toblach, Italy for last year's pre-camp for U23's in Val di Fiemme

OPA Cup Races in Valdidentro

GO NNF! The whole crew at OPA Cup 2014

And for those who are curious, a breakdown of NNF funding

Thanks to everyone who donates, you guys are the best!