The training year has come and gone.  Heck, break has come and gone and the new year is already upon us.  One week down 51 to go!  I’ve made it back to Wisconsin again and it feels good to be home.  Its the first time I’ve been home for easter in over two years….much to my brother’s dismay of course.

You see its a family tradition to have a massive house wide easter candy hunt.  Sounds tame?  Well as we’ve gotten older and better at finding things my dad has gotten more and more creative.  He tapes candy to the ceiling, corners, cracks, sneakily stuck in between to mugs.  The man’s good.  Tommy wasn’t home  but the house was plenty packed this year.  Ian brought three friends home, plus Sam, and Leif.  We were let loose on the house and before long we were crawling, running, and scampering from room to room to beat each other to the chocolate.  At the end of the day, even with the help of three friends I would like to announce that  Ian still lost!  (there Ian, you have been written about!)

Now back to the books… As I move forward into the new year  I’d like to write off some numbers, on the books, on the blog, for you and me.

Total Hours trained: 787

Hours skating: 244
Hours Classic-ing: 84
Hours running: 288
Hours biking: 90

Rest Days: 62
Sick Days:  4

Races: 24+

Countries: 6
States: 7

Okay that’s what I’ve got.  Nothing too exciting, straight from the books.  Pretty Straight forward. Pretty awesome in a nerdy athletic sort of way.

There seems to be this unspoken tradition with winter sport athletes.  Perhaps even more so in the ski community… It is that once the season is over high tail it somewhere warm.  Somewhere sunny.  And more often than not, somewhere with a beach.

For most of us when the end of the season rolls around we are pretty much toast.  Mentally.  Physically. Done.  Growing up I’d always forge head first into another running season…but over the last few years come spring time I’ve given in to my body being done.  To the idea that my body needs that off season.  Last year and definitely this year I knew that the last race of the season was my “last race”.  The idea of mentally hanging on for another week, or two would seem unbearable.

Last year I spent a week at home before heading back out West for the rest of my spring semester.  My patella quit whole heartedly on me and I slept 12 hours a day.  My body was done.  plum tuckered out.  This year I got sick coming back from Europe which I think allowed me to race mentally through nationals.  There were invites to go to Mammoth, or Charlo, or Whistler….just one more weekend of racing, or two, you can do it.  I used what seemed a logistical nightmare of getting me across the country as an excuse to be done for the season…but truthfully… My body was done.  It was calling it quits, and if I didn’t listen it sure would have put up a fight.

So I spent some time at home, roaming around the midwest, taking in the last bits of snow on the Birkie trail.  Enjoying the occasional sunny spring afternoon and secretly wishing all the snow would melt away faster.  I needed spring.

Spring has finally arrived welcomed in by the home opener for the Twins at target field!  The snow is gone.  As a winter sport athlete…I really do love summer. shhh.

I’m off to the Western part of the country in search of sunshine, mountains, good food, good company, and beverages of choice. I’ll be back.  Rejuiced.  And who knows, maybe even a darker shade of pale!

 

Big announcement.  Huge relief…. are all things that come to mind right now.

A few days ago.  In time for my 21st Birthday, sort of, USBA announced their National Team Nominations for the 2011-2012 Season.  They named 8 men and 6 women and… I MADE THE TEAM!

I couldn’t be happier!  Getting named to the national team was a huge goal of mine this season and to see it finally happen is incredibly exciting.  This means I will be moving to Lake Placid, New York to train at the Olympic Training Center.  A new home base.  A new team.  A new coach.

It was nerve wracking, waiting for the names to be released.  I didn’t have a plan B.  Looking into the unknown was intimidating.  But now all of that has been eased. for now.

Congratulations to all the other men and women named!

You can find the link to the official announcement below.

http://www.skinnyski.com/racing/pr/biathlon20110405.pdf

It’s finally Spring!  …at least for now anyway.  The last two years in Bozeman have conditioned me to believe that spring doesn’t really exist.  It’s just an illusion off in the distance of the west’s perpetual ability to continue to get snow straight through May and waltz into summer unannounced.  Days of 60 beautiful degrees linked together only to be shattered by another storm, another wintry blast of 6 to 12 inches in town and much much more in the mountains.  I would always sigh, “Can’t it just stay in the mountains!”  I was longing for the warmth and sunshine in the valley…but didn’t mind escaping into the mountains for a ski.  With that in mind I keep waiting for a storm….but we are moving farther into April each day, and for now, it is still spring.

In high school spring was a quick turn over of seasons…sport seasons that is.  I would march blindly off my skis and directly into track spikes.  Indoors, outdoors, circles.  (maybe I just really like circles)  Track would get me all the way to June, state would end, and ski training would commence the very next day.  In college spring was this big bad expanse of time that I didn’t know what to do with.  You mean all of a sudden I would have to go to school?  regularly!?!?!  I would sneak away from school work to go on runs, entertain myself in the student gym, indulge in the occasional crust ski.  I even took to coaching middle school track to help fill all my new-found time.

This spring.  This spring has been one of my most laid back springs yet.  I know some people would disagree, but I think I’ve gone along pretty willingly at doing nothing.  Nothing…so odd.  I’m an antsy person by nature.  I struggle to sit still for extended periods of time.  Maybe for the first time ever in my ski racing career I finally tired myself out enough racing and training that I took to time off willingly!?!?

I’ve done almost nothing for 2 weeks… I try to move a little every day, but besides from stealing a few final skis of the year and the first orienteering race of the off-season (my poor hamstrings!) my life has been blissfully inactive.

I can feel the life slowly creeping back into my body.  All of my batteries are recharging.  Giddy on occassion…and for the first spring ever I’m not restless.  My body and mind are healing, regrouping, flushing… getting ready to start the whole darn thing all over again.  And for that I’m incredibly excited!