Nationals

The pursuit was a breakout performance for me. No, I didn't medal or
even move up in the standings. Still 5th place. What was breakout is I
managed the race well. I shot 1,1,4,2. Not great but I figured out a
ton of stuff. My skis were fast and I drove them well uphill and on
the flats. Downhill is where I need the most improvement. Mt. Itasca is
technical and with fast snow has demanding downhills. Uphill I was
fast and also along the flats. What really made me feel great is I
managed the range really well. Misses aside I give myself an A. The
first offhand I let the wind bug me even though it wasn't blowing too
hard. After the 4th miss in a row I stopped thinking.

What was annoying but turned out to be a hidden gem was having such
late starts. I had time to watch races and I learned a bunch. I was
amazed at how slow the elite men entered the range compared to the on
course speed. It was also interesting to watch how long they spent
getting setup prior to squeezing the trigger. They futzed with the
rifle and made sure everything was just right. I do this in practice
shoots but forget to do it during races. During prone I started
slowing down 150 meters earlier than during the sprint. I was right
behind another racer and counted seconds (nice thing about releasing
the pressure for results is I could spend time learning) from the time
I slowed to when we hit the mats. I lost 7 seconds. Multiply that by 4
and its the equivalent of one P-loop. Drop one more target and its a
wash; 2+ and it is a fantastic investment in race time.

I spent the early part of the mat time getting the rifle perfect, the
position the same as when I practice, breathing, and shot with a 2
breath rhythm I use at home. I shot well and while it felt I was on
the mat forever my actual range time (poles down to poles up) was
withing seconds of one minute which is pretty normal for me.

I also went out on course to be the relay of info person to the
athletes from the coach. Standing on the last real hill prior to the
range (maybe 1 k out) were a bunch of other coaches giving
info/encouragement/corrections. What I saw was amazing and put a few

ski pieces into place. One coach was giving out technique info. Basic
stuff. "Keep you head up. Look at the top of the hill. Hips forward.
Get those hands up. Tempo." Basic stuff I know. What was fascinating
was when the athlete listened and did these things they noticeably
sped up. During my race I told myself the same things and just flew up
the hills and also didn't feel as hammered as usual. A few of the
pieces fell into place during a race when I was tired and made a huge
difference. Not enough to catch the fast guys from Washington but it
gave me hope and demonstrated I have the potential to find speed by
not working against myself.

Had I not had the late starts I would not have had the opportunity to
observe so much. It also was nice that the athletes from the club I
was relaying info to during their races went out on course and cheered
for me. It felt a lot less lonely and I felt somewhat obligated to
perform well as I went past.

I received an email from my wife asking when I was coming back to
Minneapolis the morning of the Pursuit. She is staying with the kids
at a friends house (the friends are 20+ years of being so) but the
kids are wearing her out. Its her vacation too. I've done 51 races
this year between summer and winter and the family has been super
supportive so I headed to Minni after the race was over. I figured I
could sacrifice 45 minuted of racing for strengthening domestic
harmony and appreciation for the support Jill has given me. I also had
such a great race experience I wanted to end the season on a real
positive note. Admittedly, I am bummed about missing the race but
there is always next year.

Gearing up for the Nationals

On site training for the US Nationals starts one week from today. Trying to get ready for my first Nationals has me shooting a bit more and trying to become a bit more efficient on my skis. The fitness goal is to not lose anything. The snow is melting and I can make more gains by skiing efficiently than I can though fitness.

The Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire is a fantastic place for a ski racer. The area is filled with former Olympians and National team members with whom I occasionally ski with. Saying I ski with them is grandiose but I do spend time in their midst. Many times these talented athletes has given me pointers and helped make me a faster skier. What I provide them is a marker and pace for their easy day. That's right folks, they ski with me as I force them to slow down and take an easy day. Climbing hills I'm ready to puke and these athletes are chatting away!

Last week it was warm and I was removing a jacket to hang at a returning trail intersection for retrieval at the end of the workout. A woman passed and she skated with an amazing sense of grace and efficiency so I chased after trying to watch and learn. Turns out she is another former Olympian and contemporary speedster. She was also gracious to ski with me and offer a few pointers and demonstrate a few drills to help me overcome a few of the many flaws that plague my technique. What was interesting is she didn't find anything new to add to the "must fix it" list. Either that or she was kind enough not to verbalize it as not to be overwhelming or give me a feeling of hopelessness. What she did tell me were ways to fix or begin to fix a few of the stumbling blocks I have in my form.

My training leading up to the Nats. consists of remaining fit and working on efficiency while skiing and picking up a few more targets on the range. Five seconds per kilometer and one target both prone and offhand will be great. There is one more club race before MN and four days to polish up whatever I can.

The list of "needs improvement" is long but getting shorter every day. Maybe the needs are still there but just like the snow, they are melting away and becoming less and less each day. It is the learning curve I enjoy and I have a lot of knowledge to gain.

I'll post again before I leave and again after the Nationals with a race report.

NorAm Cup #7 ValCartier, Quebec

Raced in Valcartier, Quebec this weekend. Saturday's race was super fun. Darrell, the guy starting :30 behind me had a better prone shoot than I did and moved into the lead. 2 k later he was shooting offhand when I arrived at the range and I slotted in the next point to his right. He shoots RH and I'm LH so we were looking right at each other. He was 3 shots in when I arrived and also 3 misses and I dropped the first two targets. I was hoping my arrival might pressure him into mistakes and soon I'm back in it. I go two better then him and leave the P-loop 10 seconds ahead of him but he is still 20 ahead on race time since he started behind me. It's now a ski race to the finish after shooting my way back into contention. I ski like mad with the intent of winning or blowing up big and losing. Uphill I suffer and going down I try to recover and not puke. Darrell arrives but I was too shot to look at the clock and see what happened. He got me by 4 seconds! I was so bummed but the race was really fun. Due to some rule BS we were scored as 2 and 3. The guy who won was in our age group but shooting an air rifle so he didn't have to carry it (not a big handicap for us) but his P-loop was 50 meters per lap shorter so he skied about 300 total meters less then the rest of the field. Darrell was :01 back and I was :05 off the win. Filing a protest would have been whining but I feel we both were ripped off.

After the race I was wearing a Fiocchi ball cap and was asked a ton of questions about the ammo. The usual, where, what, how good, cost questions. One gentleman, King, in my age group mentioned he had shot like crap so I tossed him a box of the 340 to try out.

At today's zero he was all set with his Federal 711B and decided to load the 340 to see how it grouped. He found me and told me how amazing the 340 was, same POI but a much smaller group and he was going to race it even though he knew making a race day change is a no-no. He had a good day on the range. Fiocchi ammo is just awesome and I am fortunate to have their support.

Todays race was fun too but not the nail biter of yesterday. Darrell won and I was second. I had one bad shoot and that was the race. I'm faster on skis but not enough to make up for the error. Good day though. Getting back across the border was a piece pf cake. Maybe sleeping kids in the back seat helps.

I raced well this weekend. I wish I had shot better but this will always be true. Saturday's race made the training, money and effort worth it. The only way to have made it better was to have won.

The next few races will be club events at EABC and one over in Saratoga which is a relay I hope to race with my wife as a team mate. After these races it's off to MN for the US nationals.