Training for me is back in full swing…almost.  Last week was my first experiment with skate intervals after a two-week hiatus.  We kept the reps short at four intervals, lasting four minutes each.  Doing them at the rollerski loop in Lake Placid wasn’t the easiest way to get back into intensity training for two reasons:  the hills are long and steep, and shooting is really tough because you have to shoot immediately after you crest the last hill!  For the most part, my body experienced “supercompensation” effects and I felt really great for the first interval, attacking it..and the next and the next.  But by the time I was finished my fourth one, my legs were aching so I was glad to call it a day.  Several days later I repeated the workout, except this time I did the intervals in double pole technique instead of skate and hit some of the highest heart rates I’ve ever seen for that technique, thanks to a well-rested body.  I’m still especially careful to stay on top of appointments with the chiropractor and physical therapist while I’m in a recovery phase.

I just finished my second on-snow training session of the week…right in Lake Placid!  A couple of days ago we got a sizeable dump of 6-10 inches or so.  The first day we were at a loss for what to do with it.  The temperature wasn’t cold enough for the snow to set up and neither had we had a recent frost to freeze the ground.  The best option for a quality workout was skiing on the treadmill, so I put in an hour of skating with technique focus in the morning and 1.5 hours of classic in the afternoon. Those were some of my first workouts since my full week off from training.  I’m continuing to feel some soreness but as long as I follow up every training session with stretching and a visit to the cold tub, I feel better every day.    

We’ve just finished our second week of training in Utah.  I was experiencing some persistent cramping in my legs since the end of our last training block, one of the toughest this year with lots of skating intensity on the steep rollerski loop in Lake Placid.  I eased off on the training a bit during the first week here and substituted classic and double pole for all the skating workouts.  I’ll tell you one thing…it’s been some time since I did any kind of intervals on classic skis!  My goal was to at least get through the races at the end of the second week and then to get some serious rest.

We’ve been training in Midway, Utah for about a week now and, since we arrived, have seen everything from warm blue-skied days to heavy blowing snow out on the range.  Most of us have not trained at altitude for some time so the first few days had relatively little intensity.  In order to keep us competitive, though, we participated in “range time competitions,” which are cumulative “races” for which the clock starts when you pick up your rifle in the stadium on the back side of the range and stops after you have left the range, skied back into the stadium and returned your rifle to the rack.  Each missed shot results in a 5-second penalty.  For the first time in a workout since last year I had a succession of six clean stages.

I got home from the second week of training camp in Torsby feeling quite tired. It wasn’t easy training in the tunnel twice a day but we were only there for a week so we tried to take advantage of it.  We started testing new skis right away and I was happy with my selection, which are a full ten centimeters longer than my skis from last year, giving us a better pool to choose from. We had 4-5 hours of training each day which we did as some combination of skating, classic, rollerskiing, running, and biking. We were able to train with Kati Wilhelm and Andrea Henkel, who were staying with us, and did a time trial with them on Friday.  While we did train twice a day in the tunnel on some days, we were able to break the monotony of the long sessions with combos, which force you to maintain your focus on each and every lap.

On Tuesday the clouds and rain moved back in so it’s been a chilly (about 50 degrees F) and wet past three days. I was training on the rollerloop at the venue twice a day until yesterday morning when I accompanied Haley on part of her overdistance run. Within the space of half an hour we passed a large group of elementary school-aged children out walking on the ski trails twice. Both times we were ushered on to a chorus of “hi-ja, hi-ja” and clapping from the children. These kids, in credit to their culture, idolize Nordic skiers and biathletes.

I’ve also been shooting twice a day. Shooting and physical training are very similar in the sense that you can get burnt out of either. It’s not easy to stay focused when you shoot twice a day and dryfire in between. But, the most helpful thing about training here is the number of athletes and coaches on the range. Instead of training by myself as I did all spring and summer, I’ve got two coaches and plenty of athletes to work with. For zeroing on Tuesday morning, our team skied range loops together and shot eight clips on paper without stopping in between. There was a small amount of pressure on each lap to shoot fast but well and stay with the group. Athletes often find that nerves shake their concentration when they train or race in front of a larger group of people than normal, so this is great practice early in the season.

I arrived in Östersund, Sweden yesterday afternoon.  This means that I’ve completed my second summer term at Dartmouth and survived finals.  Now I get to be a full time athlete!

I had the first three days of this week off to recover from the last training period and to spend some much needed time preparing for my final exams, papers and presentations.

I’m still trying to figure out the best way to complete the recovery portion of a week so that I don’t feel stiff and lethargic when I come out of it.  I’ve found that an easy jog or some light spinning is better than doing nothing even when you have a day off.  It’s a good way to flush lactic acid out of your legs and ensure that they don’t become stiff or sore from the previous week’s training. 

I’ve been away from the blog for a while, a little overwhelmed with school, so here’s a recap of my first weekend at the camp in Jericho.  

Just back from another long session. Luckily it wasn’t too hot out because most days I find myself going through a liter of water per hour and that’s more than I can carry on a long bike ride. This week is a volume week, which means 24 hours with one intensity session yesterday and a time trial with my teammate Haley Johnson in Jericho this weekend. There’s a biathlon camp going on so we’ll be joining a large group of biathletes that includes national team, development team, and junior national team athletes. It’s the one camp of the year when everybody has a chance to come together so all the women, juniors and seniors, have the opportunity to gather and discuss anything from training to life beyond sport. In the past few years the senior women have made a point of opening lines of communication with the junior athletes. They started a mentoring program last year that will continue this year, changing only in that it will allow junior women to seek advice from any senior woman, not just their mentor. Last year when I was a junior the mentoring program was immensely valuable to me because I could get advice and encouragement from a senior athlete who has many years of experience under her belt. Now that I’m a senior, I’m hoping I can provide the same to junior women coming through the program.