A nordic combiner once told me that oofta is an old norwegian word for gross… atleast that’s what his grandmother told him.  I have never met said grandmother or even know if she’s norwegian or not, but I’m going to go with it.

And so if I had to pick one word to describe this past week I would pick oofta!

The cold weather finally let up and the sun came out and I left my down jacket in the wax room instead of bopping around the trails in it (thank goodness)!  It warmed up into the teens and I was estactic at the thought of not having to wear mittens over my race gloves anymore.  Things were looking up, way up.  The trails were fast, the climbs were plentiful and I was pretty darn stoked about jumping into some more races.  I was a little nervous going into the week, we had three races, a mass start, a sprint, and a pursuit format race.  Two shooting races…oofta!  Oofta indeed…

Oofta it became.

I shot pretty poorly.  and by pretty poorly I mean really quite horrendously.  and incredibly embarrassing.  For me these races weren’t super important but I was definitely looking forward to proving that all my work on the shooting range was paying off.  But instead of showing off my hard work it was a disaster.  a complete and utter disaster.  Earlier this year we (my former coach and I) had set a goal of trying to average 60% or better consistently and after my last time trial in canada where I shot 80% I had pretty high aspirations going into this set of races…  I’m not sure exactly what happened, but needless to say I would like to put the shooting behind me and look forward to improving on them.

After easily skiing anywhere from 1 to 2 extra kilometers in the first two races we decided that we had to try something different in the final race of the series.  I skied the first 4 loops at threshold, so well below race pace, the idea was to lower my intensity level to try to help me focus on the range.  It didn’t seem to help…  so onto something new.  I’ll just have to keep working.

So maybe shooting doesn’t come as easily to me as it does to others.  So maybe I will have to work harder than my team mates and fellow competitors.  So that’s what I’ll do.

On the other hand… I skied really well this week.  I felt good skiing.  I felt like I could really go fast.  I really enjoyed myself out there on course and had a good time going hard.  I understand I can’t make up how many shots I missed this past week but  I sure gave it a good go out on course.

When they told me to ski easy today I wasn’t sure if  I was going to be able to.  Its kind of like giving a kid a bag of candy and telling him he can only eat a piece a day.  It was hard, but  I did a good job of staying calm, distracting myself by focusing harder on technique and less on the chase.  You have NO idea how excited I was when I finally got done with my final shooting stage and got to go haul around the course.  but you know…  it was the perfect end to a very frustrating week.

I’m starting to think that the cold is just following me around!

and so to all my fellow competitors I apologize…  Yesterday we had a balmy high of -1F with wind chills ranging from -30 to -40F!  This morning I woke up to the thermometer reading -17F.  Its suppose to get above zero today but from the little time I’ve spent outside today it is chilly.

I’m getting whimpy!

I’ve been keeping my eye on the weather predictions for the week… rumor has it that it will just continue to warm up!  Big news I know.  numbers like 20F have been thrown around and the idea of being able to feel my hands when I shoot is thrilling.

Here’s to warmer temperatures in my future!  Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh my!!!

Just an average week of training back in the home land?  not quite, but it was just what I needed!

This past week I was getting a little anxious training by myself all the time.  I was starting to feel a little like a crazy cat lady… If I wasn’t training I was home, cleaning or baking or feeding cats.  …and when you  spend more time talking with cats than you do people you know things are going down hill rapidly.

So i packed up my car and headed west into the distant land of Minnesota.  I drove practically to North Dakota!  Destination?  Wynn Robert’s house.  I needed some time to refresh my mind and Battle Lake MN was going to have to do.

My days were filled with farm chores, fish scale skiing through farm fields, setting beaver traps, making gingerbread houses, skiing under christmas lights, and eating my body weight in chocolate chips.

I fed the cows, and chased the chickens, and tried to remember the pecking order of the 4 horses but three of them were white so I was really hopeless.  I unloaded bags of grain and tried to avoid stepping in any cow pies and horse poo as I tromped around in my ski boots.  We failed at making a gingerbread house, however we did get it all decorated before the roof caved in, atleast no one was inside!  Those spicy gum drops are dangerous I tell you.

Our last morning in Battle Lake we classic skied out through the fields and over the frozen ponds to the beaver lodges.  Wynn, Pa Roberts, and I had set two traps two days earlier and so Andrea, Wynn and I set off across the tundra crossing our fingers that we wouldn’t be coming home empty handed.

The first trap was empty.  So dejected we moved on to the next big bad beaver lodge!  This beaver lodge was gigantic!  Not that I’ve seen too many in my life, but this would be like a beaver palace.  And from the beaver palace we trapped the beaver king!!!  He was a monster, I’m surprised Wynn got him out of the water. We just kept coming out!  And of course the beaver king would have a stately beaver tail!  It was awesome, and thrilling.  We all got super excited my the catch.  Then we realized we had to get the beaver home…

We must have looked like such a weird gaggle of kids trudging out through the cat tails.  Wynn with a beaver on his back and me with ski poles in one hand and an axe in the other (dangerous I know).  Andrea being our lovely caboose documenting us as we plodded along.

That afternoon we made the trek even further North to Grand Rapids.  Its been a low key couple of days but its been perfect.  Andrea and I have hunkered down at Kelly Kjorlien’s house for the week.  We have beds and been told to help ourselves or starve.  I’m in Grand Rapids until next sunday with three races on the docket over the next week.  I’m excited to get on the start line again.  To ski hard and try to hit more targets.

More updates to to come from the races and through the week.  And hopefully some pictures of our great beaver adventure!

Firstly I would like to pay regards to Bryan Fish, former CXC ski coach.  I remember the first time I saw him fly by me at a road crossing hoping along right to the other side.  It was so smooth.  one ski off.  hop hop hop. ski back on. BAM. he was off and away down the other trail.  I’ve always wanted to do that and today was the day.  I skied up took my one ski off and like that I was on the other side with my ski back on and on my way again.  Better yet there was a happily planted group of master skiers ready to be amazed.  Mission accomplished.  Another victory for me, thank you Fish.

Secondo I am of very average size.  You need skis flexed I’ll be there to stand on them every step of the way.  Today I went into New Moon to drop off some skis that need bindings changed and as I was about to drive out of the parking lot I was startled by knocking on my window.  “Could you come stand on some skis?”  Yes yes of course.  They help me out all the time the least I can do is be average sized.  So random girl I don’t know from Anchorage Alaska you are welcome. Hopefully you’ll love your skis!

Lastish.
Congrats to the Men’s and Women’s biathlon teams over in Europe.  Although it was a World Cup opener hampered by a nasty nasty parasite the guys and gals still pulled out some stellar results!  You can watch race replays and races streamed live at:

http://eurovision2.feedroom.com/?&fr_chl=28f50f88ca97c97431107a5b9e494d75454fca83

Hellner along for the ride!

Mine. My trails. My home trails.  …but I suppose I can share. right?

Thank you Colby middle school and high school skiers for making my intervals this morning much more exciting.

The quote of the day is brought to you by one older birkie man mumbling skier.
okay its not a quote I just got a kick out of how he deemed the trail “much to slippery and dangerous”.
I mean I suppose snow will do that.
he was also concerned for his life as he “almost died”.
I think what we really should get out of this is that we participate in a dangerous sport…soon the birkie trail will be home to cat skiers and full body armor.

Highlight of  my day.
watching the Jackson kids slide down the hill on their skis on their stomachs like skeletoners (yes word).  It was both hilarious and impressive.
I need to play on my skis more. permission granted.

This year I’ve been spoiled.  We hardly had to deal with that weird inbetween season where there isn’t enough snow to ski but the roads are too bad to rollerski.  Although our loop in Canmore was little at first, the snow they made for us made the track high quality and we were able to jump onto race skis right away.

I’ve never even really ever had to experience “early season conditions”.  All through high school I was normally injured in some way or another to the point where I would spend most of november/early december on crutches.  Then I moved out to Bozeman where it we seemed to go easily from dry land to BAM midwinter conditions. Grethe also pushed our focus on the “dry land” season.  She made sure that we completed our dry land season even if we couldn’t rollerski any longer.  I remember during my freshman year we had gotten a foot of snow, we were all so excited, we were going skiing!  I showed up at the office and asked the ever hopeful question, “do we get to go skiing?”  She looked at me like I was crazy.  Of course we weren’t going skiing. …we were doing ski walking/bounding intervals at the “M”…even if it was through a foot of snow.  (the smart kids had gators…the smarter kids let the boys break trail)

After getting in some awesome on snow training the past couple of weeks to come back home to fairly typical, perhaps even better than average, snow conditions makes me feel a like I’ve been spoiled.  This morning I showed up to ski, on a crusty partially frozen slop with a dusting on top.  I was a trail snob for the first few minutes until I fell back in love with just how much I enjoy tromping around in the snow.  By the time I was done they had all the lit trails rolled for the high school team and had started to roll the birkie trail headed north from OO.  Intervals in the morning should be perfect!

Corrine

Goodbye Canadian Rockies…. hello northern Wisconsin!

After a long day of travel yesterday and giving delta all of my foreseeable food money I finally made it home.  Phew.  I was greeted by snow on the ground but with another day of warmer weather skiing is looking grim.  …However, I’ve got my fingers crossed that the cold will miss us and come back and hopefully even bring more snow with it. (a girls got to dream right?)

The last few days we spent in Canmore were incredible.  The frigid arctic temperatures were finally pushed out of the valley.  It was such a relief to be able to glide again!  Heck, better yet I could feel all my fingers and toes!

A huge kudos goes out to the trail crew at the canmore nordic center, they were out there nonstop trying to give us more and more trail to train on each day!

On friday we joined up with a good mix of the canadian biathletes for a little joint time trial.  It was conducted like a normal race, zero times, bibs, penalty loops, the works.  It was great!  I was the very last women to head out on course for the sprint which was cool because I never get to go last… and we all know how I love getting to play chase!  I had my best shooting race to date, cleaning my prone stage!  I’ve never cleaned a stage in a race before so I was practically euphoric.  Skiing past our coach who was monitoring the penalty loop I let out a squeal and gave him a big frantic thumbs up.  I think he was pretty jazzed/amazed to see me not skiing into the penalty loop for once!  Standing was a little trickier.  I’ve been struggling more than usual with shooting standing.   Something about doing it on slippery skis has definitely been a challenge over the last few weeks.  I ended up missing three but I skied my penalty loops and tried to get back out on course fast.  All and all I was pretty happy.  My skiing still has a ways to go and I know I still haven’t found my race gear yet but its there and is only a matter of time before I can really use it.

Saturday morning treated us to one of our best skis in Canmore.  The sun was shining, the nordies were time trialing, it was a balmy 15 degrees, and best yet they opened up the cross country trails!  You honestly couldn’t ask for much more.   Because I don’t have a skiable range at home I made sure to get everything I could out of our last day in Canmore.  and it was excellent.

I was sad to leave Canmore but I know coming home as we move into the next phase of the year is important.  Its execution time.  We’ve done all the hard work, we’ve put in the days and the hours and now all we can do is perform.  We’ve got a long season in front of us, but I can’t wait to really get started!

“We are always evolving into new, better versions of ourselves.
The comforting news is that we are never finished.
The idea of being unfinished is nice, for it always leaves room for improvement.  For trying new things, for developing new hobbies and making new friends.
Being unfinished means we can cry today,
and the next week or next year we won’t cry for the same thing, because we are moving, evolving.  Becoming better versions of ourselves…”  –unknown

Here’s to the process.  To growth.  To new days.  To surprising ourselves.  I love it.

Growing up Thanksgiving meant the annual family trek from Wisconsin to the east coast.  Spending time in various vehicles on various turnpikes to spend time with our family that conveniently lived across the country.  I remember being crammed into a car, generally Ian Tommy and I all in a row with our blankets, pillows, and assorted toys.  I remember we each got to take a turn picking a CD and when the CD was complete each one of us got to pick our favorite song and hear it one last time before the next person got to chose a CD.  I think thats why I’ve gotten so good at sleeping in cars, it would make the trips go by faster, and I could trick myself into making the drive go by in a flash.  I remember when we would finally make it to my grandparents house in West Chester… my brothers and I would explode out of the car, impatient, tired, grumpy, and yet full of entirely too much energy.  My grandmother would have a warm dinner waiting for us and we’d cram in around the little kitchen table with our favorite glasses. finally  we would be able to catch our breath.

Then somewhere part of the way through high school we stopped traveling home.  My junior year I was gone celebrating a foreign holiday in a foreign country with a new but foreign family.  My senior year I spent thanksgiving in a knee surgery induced blur but my family was there and I was content to sit on the couch or practice tricks on my crutches.  The last two years I spent thanksgiving with an entirely new family.  My ski family in West Yellowstone.  We’d put on our finest, least stinky, not too wrinkly clothes and we’d march off across town to eat together again.

They’d pick a freshmen to share a thanksgiving prayer which generally included a Thanks for Taylor Swift,  spandex clad bodies, and buffet style meals.  This year is much the same.  I am once again with a new family. another ski family to share my thanksgiving with.

We are each away from our own respective families together in one place and I suppose for that we can be thankful.  We spend alot of time together, we share common dreams and common goals, we respect each others pursuits because we have a common understanding of why we do what we do…or atleast share a common love for an obscure red-headed step child type sport.

I’ve decided recently that I should rejoice more often in what I have.  Be thankful for what awesome company I have all around me and the support I’ve been given as I try to live my dream.

Today I am especially thankful for.

My family.  My team mates.  My friends.  and the Nordgren family.  because no matter how far away all of these people might be, I know they love, support, and believe in me.

My body. My mind. My soul. because they are the essence of my journey.

Playing outside every day.

Dreams.

Jone of Arc and Dark Horses.

Non sub zero temperatures.

Life and the opportunity to share it.

Goodnight.

I am Alive.

When I wrote last wednesday I had no idea just how much freezing myself had taken out of me.  I didn’t just punish my hands that day I froze myself all the way to my insides and paid for it immensely.  It took me the entire day to stop shaking and days more for my hands to go back to normal.  My lungs were toast. My limbs were toast.  I was toast.  I slept horribly that night waking up every 40mins or so and when I woke up the next morning I could feel how tired and heavy the previous 24 hours had left me.

I went through the morning normally.  Eating, testing skis, zeroing my rifle, warming up.   It wasn’t until 5 minutes before the first starter that I decided I wouldn’t be racing.  I was dragging, starting to hack up oddly colored goo.  So after a short pow wow with the coaches I was scratched from the start list and would not race either races.

It was a hard choice to not race.  Especially the mass start, I had been very excited about the mass start and the opportunity to rub shoulders with the women’s team.  However, I know opting out of those races was the best thing for keeping me healthy.  My body has infact mended itself, and I’m feeling better on my skis each and every day.

The weather got even colder after that day and continued to plummet straight through the weekend.  I was reintroduced to classic skiing as the temperature stayed well below 0F for days in a row.  Put in some quality time on a stationary bike as I watched a string of alpine boys hop, skip, and prove themselves more flexible than I as I spun away.  And even attended yoga at the Yoga Lounge here in Canmore.  Despite my inflexibility I’m kind of hooked.  Its the calmest I’ve felt in a long time, which I’m sure makes my team mates happy.  (A non-stir crazy corrine = a happy team)

We finally got back on the skate skis yesterday morning which about 6 hours to soon.  The track (which there is probably about 5km of race grade trail now) was sand paper.  I had to walk up a few hills because gliding simply wasn’t an option.  You would push off and your entire ski would just kind of stick there, I began to wonder if someone had kick waxed the bottom of my skis.  The afternoon was a little better I actually felt like I was skiing again!

Our days here in Canmore are drawing rapidly to a close and despite the wonderful coffee shops and mountains that I will leave behind I’m looking forward to being home for a little while before we jump into the next set of races.  Only a short intensity block and a handful of distance skis stand between me and the plane in Calgary.  We’ll talk again before I hit the midwest.

Here are some pictures from the race I did get to do!