Too Much Snow?

Normally, I would never complain about too much snow during the winter.  However, this year there is so much snow in Germany that roofs are collapsing.  I was scheduled to race in the Biathlon World Team Challenge in the Schalke soccer stadium on the 30^th.  Unfortunately, the roof of the stadium was damaged due to the unusually large amount of snow.  I was really excited to compete in this event for the first time in front of 50,000 fans.  Hopefully I will have another opportunity in the years to come.Besides damaging buildings, the snow has made for some great skiing here in Oberhof.  The groomers have been running nearly non-stop, keeping the tracks perfect.  They definitely take a lot of pride in maintaining the trails here.  Fueled on Christmas cookies, my training has been going well and it feels good to be logging some solid hours again after a few weeks of racing.Happy Holidays!

Weathering the Storm

I am now enjoying a two-week break from World Cup action after racing 9 times in the last three weeks.  Like last year, I have decided to spend the Holidays in Germany to avoid any extra travel.  I need as much time as possible to first recover and then put in a solid training block before the World Cup starts up again after the new year.  Although I miss spending time with my family during the Holidays, the extra stress of travel is a bit too much at this crucial time of the season.The first few World Cups definitely did not go exactly as planned but I am not overly concerned with my start.  My skiing has been strong, my prone shooting has been solid, but I really struggled with my standing shooting.  I felt great with my standing shooting all year so I am not about to panic and start trying all sorts of new things.  I am going to stick to my routine and I am confident that things will turn around soon.Last year at this time I was ranked number one in the World.  The funny part about that is that I know I am a better athlete this year.  But that does not matter if I can’t show those improvements on race day.  For now, I will keep plugging away, trying to improve everyday and I know that sooner or later I will show my full potential on race day.   Sitting around and sulking about some poor performances is not going to help me reach the podium later on this season!Happy Holidays!

Sun and Clean Water!

Things are looking up here in Austria and I can finally drink the tap water and feel my fingers again!Last week was definitely not exactly the start that I was looking for, but it could have been much worse.  I feel like I had quite a few issues to deal with, such as parasites and frostbite… No excuses though, the races were undoubtedly cold and uncomfortable for everyone.Now I have a new week and some more opportunities for a good race.  Hochfilzen is one of my favorite courses and I am healthy and ready to go!  I even have some new skin on my trigger finger coming in, so I hope that will help a little with the shooting!  Thanks for checking in.

Parasites in Sweden?

Just a quick update before the first World Cup here in Ostersund, Sweden tomorrow.  If you have been following any of the news about the first World Cup, you have surely read a lot about the parasite problem with the drinking water.  Unfortunately, like many of the athletes who trained here prior to the World Cup, I came down with the parasite on Sunday.  Luckily, the acute phase of the sickness was pretty quick for me but it still rocked me for a few days.  I was back to training the past two days and I will start tomorrow.  I am a little nervous about my energy level, as I lost one kilo in less than two days.At first I was pretty furious about the sickness because I felt like this was not something that I should have to deal with in Sweden.  I am moving past that now and am just focusing on getting back to 100% as soon as possible.

Cold in Ostersund

This is a picture of the ski tracks from our hotel here in Ostersund.I think the potato count is officially over 30 now, not that I am keeping track anymore…  Besides the lack of culinary variety, everything is going pretty well here.Winter is definitely in full force here and the temperatures have continued to drop over the last week.  The past few days of training have been right around the -4F (-20C) legal limit for racing and it looks like it will remain the same for the first races.  Normally before a race the talk is all about how to ski a certain hill or the correct approach to the range, but this time it is all about keeping warm.  I still have not found a good solution for my hands and it has made for some tough shooting.  At times I have not been able to feel the trigger at all and I have had a really hard time loading the rifle because I literally cannot feel my hands.  Tomorrow I will try some new gloves and I am hopeful that will help.  Either way, I won’t be the only one dealing with these issues come race day…Only a few more days to go!