January

“In sport, the bad news for the present champion is that tomorrow is a new day, when the competition starts again from scratch. But that’s the good news for everyone else.” – Bob Rotella

Today we travelled through the mountains from Bavaria to the SudTirol. This week we are racing in Antholz, Italy. Last week we left our homes in Canmore for World Cup action in Ruhpolding, Germany. Despite feeling jetlagged, the week was fairly successful. Megan came very close to making the pursuit, only 5 seconds out. I missed 2 in standing but ended up 35th in the sprint. And then moved up to 24th in the pursuit. JP, Robin and Scott all hit 18/20 in the pursuit and moved up to 23rd, 29th and 44th respectively.

We started the tour by staying in apartments (switch it up from hotel/full pension living). Us girls found it a treat to be able to cook for ourselves and eat exactly what we feel like. And the guys…. Well.. 1) they were hoping that we would cook 2) consequently found the frozen food section of the supermarket and ate pizza and beer all week. (Ok maybe I am exaggerating…)
Now off to Italy… and the food will be awesome.

We had a good time watching Eurosport every evening (and morning replays) this weekend to watch the Cross Country Skiing and Nordic Combined World Cup in Whistler. Yesterday was especially exciting as Alex Harvey had an awesome sprint to the finish for a third place for the skate team sprint with teammate George Grey. The pair had a great day but it was definitely a fight to that last centimeter.

I was asked by a young biathlete recently to answer a few sport psychology questions for his assignment. Sport psychology has definitely become more prominent and important over the years. The combination of physical exertion and mental focus and clarity for shooting makes biathlon a sport where mental strength is crucial to being successful. Having a goal, being positive, determination… are all important aspects in the road to success. But what does it take in a mass start world cup competition to clean your last standing shooting when you are in lane 2 and the leader beside you just finished shooting with 1 miss? If you shoot clean, you are in first position. To listen to that voice would probably cause you to miss at least 1. Focusing on the now, the present, and your process, is key in such a situation. Like many other sports, quality practice is vital to making your movements automatic in competition. Great preparation is critical to gain confidence and having inner faith that you will shoot clean is crucial to a successful performance.

On that note, I am off to go train and aim for perfection to gain that confidence…..

December/Christmas

The last week of Hochfilzen I made it into points... finally! Placing 25th in the sprint with 2 misses. My 15km was still not good. I had 5 misses too many. 

Slowly I am crawling my way closer to the top again.... 

We were unable to compete in the relay this week though because Sandra was not able to race due to illness. Very unfortunate because our next chance to race a relay is World Championships in Pyeong Chang, Korea. 

Now it's time to head home... Christmas in Canmore. Time to kick back, relax.... and of course prepare for the next set of races and World Championships. 

My time at home was awesome. The best part was of course, was spending time with my boyfriend (hopefully I am getting some brownie points for adding this one ;)...). Also was my friend's stagette party... good times ;) ... basically just being able to do things outside of biathlon like sledding, skating, walks with the dog and spending time with friends and family. It wouldn't be a Canadian Christmas without skating, sledding and ... playing hockey! 

TTYL....

December World Cups

(Megan and I on our way to the Christmas market in Ostersund on my birthday.)

There is one more week of competitions left. The first World Cup tour has literally flown by. I feel like I am just starting to get into the groove of racing.

The first two weeks were spent in Ostersund, Sweden. We left Canmore with only a skiff of snow and arrived in a winter wonderland in Ostersund. There was definitely enough snow for the World Cup and…cold enough!

My first competition did not go as planned. I came 77th in the individual with 8 misses. The sprint was better, I missed 2 and came 44th. Unfortunately, a cold flew around the team and I got it right after the Individual competition. So I skipped the pursuit due to still having a sinus cold.

After two weeks of the sun rising at 9 and setting at 3pm, we were all craving sunshine, and good coffee. Austria here we come….
Last week was the Hochfilzen World Cup. Still I struggled in the shooting range and came 52nd in the sprint with 3 misses and 43rd in the pursuit with 6 misses. Sunday was the relay competition. I started and our team ended up 12. Not bad for the first relay of the year but I think we can definitely improve and use less spare rounds!

Despite the disappointment among the women’s team, spirits are still high because the men’s team is rocking house. JP has had a kickass start to his season with a 13th (sprint), 17th (individual) in Ostersund. Another 16th in the sprint last week, he finished it off by pulling into 8th in the pursuit. Finally our team had another award ceremony to celebrate! And it didn’t stop there. Sunday the team came 7th, 3 seconds away from finishing 6th and being part of the team award ceremony. Time for us women to pull it together!

Despite not having the results that I want, I am happy that my health is back and that I am fully recovered from my bout of mononucleosis last year. My ski speed is there, I only need fine tuning in the shooting and the results will take care of themselves.

Due to construction in Pokjluka, Slovenia the World Cup remains in Hochfilzen for another week. Which we are all fine with (we do love Bled but…) it means no packing and unpacking!

Tomorrow is the individual competition, Saturday the sprint and Sunday the relay. My parents have come for the 2 weeks of Hochfilzen World Cup to cheer on our Canadian team. This is their first World Cup experience (besides the ‘06 Olympics) and they are thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere.

Right now I am still very full from lunch hrs ago because we were served kaisershmarren and of course we all ate triple helpings gorging on the Austrian scrambled pancakes. Ahh such trials and tribulations of being on the road….