Oh man. Training. Again right?

We all enjoyed our break away but there is something comforting in getting back to that daily rhythm of eat, train, sleep, repeat.  After all, eventually the euphoria of not HAVING to rollerski in the rain or go outside in the cold  just because I don’t feel like it wears off…  so what’s a girl to do  when that unsettling need to go run for long periods of time in woods creeps back in?    This…This is where I raise my arms up in the air and  yell, “At last!”

After recovering from that absolutely hanis  kettle bell workout (see post below for reference) I made it back to the East in time to jump head first into our National Team camp.

The abbreviated play by play:

During the first workout, on the first day, of the first camp of the year your’s truly managed to dislocate a rib!  Sucker popped right out mid rollerski session.  Two days later, still struggling to breathe and no longer able to run without clutching my side (Riddle me this. Why is it that we think clutching the hurt area will somehow make it better?) the trainers were able to pop her back into place.

The coaches have once again constructed new ways to make me sore.  Seriously what muscle is that?

I was informed I now need to cut a large chunk of my rifle stalk off.  Because unlike last year I am now trusted with sharp objects.

While my classmates graduated from college like real adults I did intervals up White Face.

I learned just how much this past injury riddled season has effected my ability to do pull ups, ouch!  (positive spin…  positive spin!)  …it can only get better? …right?

We reacquainted our elbows and knees (over and over again) with our shooting mats.

And of course, most importantly, I made it through the entire two week camp with out falling down during a single workout!  The joys of little victories!

(L-R: Me, Annelies, Susan, Hannah, and Sara)

I’m incredibly fortunate to be back on the team for another year, and more than that I have a great group of gals to keep me in line… I mean train with!

For now the A-team is off gallivanting in Bend Oregon, putting in long glorious hours on snow while I’m in Lake Placid where the morning temperatures make it feel like I should be on snow!   We’ve cranked up the volume, which compliments my love of adventuring on foot or bikes quite nicely, and I have two college courses to keep me extra busy.  …but as much as I ‘love’ training on my own I’m looking forward to having the rest of the team back in a little over a week.

Until then. I bide my time. I continue to adventure, and do my darndest to stay out of any real trouble!

Home is a place I don’t go to very often.  I was joking this spring as I sat in the Minneapolis airport during one of my many layovers as I tried to fly from the west to the east… it was the closest I had been to home in 5  months.  That was…. until I decided to get my wisdom teeth out.

It was getting to the point that shooting was painful.  Smashing my face into the cheek piece of my rifle was uncomfortable.  Added challenge: take shots in-between blinks as your eyes water up and over.  Super fun!

So it was decided.  Those suckers were coming out. One way or another.  Horror story to horror story I was a little nervous to get them pulled.  So as not to offend any dentist out there I’ll keep this short… I don’t like you.  I don’t like your hands in my mouth. I don’t like it not one little bit.  That being said. They knocked me out for the surgery and I woke up hours later curled up in a ball in my bed at home.  Great Success!

Who doesn’t like a diet that consists almost entirely of anti-inflamatoires and gauze???  Who am I kidding, hand me some icecream!

I actually lucked out big time.  Went for a run two days later.  No zombie-esque bleeding from the mouth or anything!  Wisdom teeth. Done. check.

Corrine Works Out With The Ladies.

My mom and her friends have always been pretty active.   They’ve skied the Birkie, they trail run, they love  Ski & Tea.  Most recently they’ve started to go to this kettle bell gym.  I get to hear all about it… mostly how sore it makes them.  And so of course I tease them!  “Oh what’s that?  You can’t get the phone to your ear? awwwwwwww”

That was…. until they brought me to class on Wednesday morning.

Game over.  These ladies are tough….  and I well… don’t want to do box jumps for a while.

It’s been super nice to be back in Hayward.  To see the familiar faces, to run the trails that made me fall in love with running and skiing.  It’s been the break I needed.  It finally feels like I have a fresh start as we head into the next season.  Oh right… I got renominated to the national team…. barely!   Looks like I live to ski another year!   As nice as it has been to be home I’m excited to head back out east for the first national team camp of the year.  I’ve spent alot of time training by myself this past season… Now don’t get me wrong I love a good run in the woods as much as the next person (lie: I love it more!) but I’m looking forward to having someone to train with… besides my over active imagination…

 

One last day home in the Northwoods then it’s the long trek to Lake Placid!  Here’s to mind-willing the weather to be nice by the time I get there!

A Compilation of My Observations: Some More Factual Than Others

• Public transportation; what?!  Seriously though how cool are trains?  Hello country mouse this is awesome!
• Looking lost and ambivalent, totally in!  Finally a place where my face (which is stuck in a constant state of awe and confusion) does not make me stick out.
• People will walk through, on, and NEVER around you.   Hold your ground and smile.
• Super sparkly, glittery eye makeup is not just for women’s relay teams and cross dressers.
•  A lot of people do not know how to run.  Seriously T-rex, what are your arms doing???
• The more sheer your clothing, the trendier you are.
• Food should be organic, BPA-free, kosher, zero-cal, and preferably  french sounding.
• Have no fear a Starbucks is near!  I mean it. You are ALWAYS within a city block of one… and not because NewYorkers need coffee in order to survive (which they do)…. no, Starbucks are actually the only public bathrooms (fun fact!).
• In one day (without trying) you can accidentally  crash a Scottish parade, a photo shoot in Union Square, a 5km charity run, a wedding, and an Asian press  conference.
• I can run in heels.  Who knew!
• You can talk to yourself and it doesn’t matter… everyone just assumes you are on a bluetooth.
• Hunter orange is big this season. Never thought Wisconsin could be so far ahead of a trend!
• You can wear whatever blows your skirt up (figuratively of course) as shock value is nonexistent. Someone will be looking crazier than you, no matter what. Unless that was you in the pink boa feathered hat.
• I have been a hermit for much too long… and should not be allowed around THAT much of the general public.

To catch my breath.  To finally move out of this past season and into the next we need to reset.  The best way I can do that is to gallivant around.  (Oh boy I do love to gallivant)  To go “home-home” back to Wisconsin.  To see my family.  Clear my mind.  This way when we start the first national team camp of the year in May, I’ll be ready… mentally, and physically.

And so Country Mouse went to the big city.  To see the people… I mean sights. To see the sights.  I’ve always  always always lived in pretty small places.  I’ve never lived on the 38th floor “for the view”.  I climb mountains for that.

And so I walk around with big wide eyes and big huge grin.  Hello happily lost and perpetually mesmerized!

The end of the season had rolled its way in  …But I was still stuck waiting for that sigh of relief to really settle itself.  That feeling of absolute done-ness.  What better way to really ring in the  end of the season than Spring Series?  So that was it!  I proclaimed to the sliders… I was going to Vermont.  Going to celebrate with “my own kind”.

Thanks to Elizabeth Simak of F.A.S.T Performance Racing for these awesome pictures!

I was going to cheer, and dance, and dance and cheer… and then when everyone was tired of dancing and cheering we would dance and cheer a little more.  We would light things on fire (oh yes!!! … figuratively and literally)   …and the season would be truely, utterly, and soulfully done.

I made it in time to watch the men race a 50k… on a 1.5km loop.  Yes…. 33 loops!  I struggled to keep track of which lap they were on… how were these boys not getting dizzy?  Or bored?!  (this coming from a biathlete, the kings and queens of skiing in circles) The men put on an incredibly good show.  There was a pretty solid pack for the first half of the race before they started to get dropped off the back.  Cramps, fatigue, crashes… I did my best to cheer and not totally mess up anyone’s feeds. Check!  The best part?  Getting to watch my team mate Russell ski right up there with the “big scary cross country ski dogs”.  He finished 7th, but man was it fun to watch him take pulls at the front and chase down a few early breaks!

The men starting!

Yum?  Coke Feeds!

Packing it up! (That’s Russell rocking the MWSC suit on the left! BAM!)

After the race the Craftsbury Ski Center transformed into a “thee” cross country skiing hangout.  People sipped beverages, pizzas went into the big outdoor pizza oven, barbecue was there for the taking.  A little wiffleball, a little bluegrass, a little dancing… and then an impressively large bonfire!

It was fun.  Fun to see people I haven’t seen in well… two years!  I didn’t realize switching to biathlon has made me something of a recluse…  Getting to see all these athletes I had gotten to know over the years on the cross country circuit was awesome.  Getting to see them all in one place (albeit slightly disorienting) was even better!

Oh what’s that?  The weekend isn’t over?  Nope… the next morning after emerging from my cot in the corner we all donned our outfits of choice (WonderGirl all the way) we headed back over to the Nordic Center to set up for Fast and Female!

This was my second Fast and Female event of the year, and I’m incredibly grateful to get to be an ambassador for such an amazing organization.  We had all the big hitters there including Chandra Crawford and Kikkan Randall.  Watching 120 girls in total awe is pretty incredible.  Heck I was so into the little Q&A sesh that when one of the organizers was handing out posters to all the girls she handed me one before realizing I was in fact not 12… oops!

We were there to celebrate girls in sports, and inspire these young athletes to keep going… because well… skiing is fun!

 

One of my favorite quotes was one of the ambassadors explaining to the girls why they were so lucky… she said, “We didn’t have Fast and Female when I was your age.  You guys get to celebrate my three favorite things… Pink, Skiing, and Dancing!!!! How cool is that!?” I couldn’t agree more!

We shared our own stories about how skiing came into our lives, we got in (effectively) our last ski of the year, and danced and danced some more!  And then… we finally called it a day.  Naps were in our futures, that and journeys to our separate parts of the country.

It was an incredible weekend, and an incredible way to end the season… Thanks to everyone in Vermont for letting me come and close the season off right!   It was an absolute blast!

Okay ok ok. Legs. My legs.

When Maine Winter Sport Centers Will Sweetser saw me no pole skiing in Utah in October and made some remark along the lines of, “Well that will put some legs on you!”   I sort of just chuckled and shook my head, “Oh that crazy Will Sweetser!”

Man was he right….  When it came time to put the race suit back on in December I wanted to yell “Holy TOLEDO! Who put the 10 pound sausage in the 5 pound bag!”   Oh right… that’d be me. And my legs.

So although I didn’t race where and when I wanted to this year I did accomplish (I guess?) one thing. I built me some legs!  Ode to injuries and their ability to imbalance us even more than we were before.  Post knee-surgery season I had arms, and itty bitty stick legs… (ok so I did go crazy and work my upper body like a uncontrollable ball of energy freak who wasn’t allowed to ski anymore) and this fall when I was told not to use my arms I sort of shrugged and no poled, and ran, and no poled, and biked, and no poled some more.  And guess what happened? Yes you’ve got it now.  I grew some legs.  and muscles along and through my hips that I didn’t esthetically know were possible.

I now present you with the photographic evidence.

BAM! Legs… and stuff.

World Juniors 2011…

BAM! Mammoth Lakes 2012…

(Less aggressive noise) U26 World Champs 2011…

The people of Mammoth Lakes, California really know how to plum tucker you right out.  From the moment I stepped onto the tarmac until I collapsed back into that airplane seat 5 days later we were on the move.  Go go go!  Every night sinking into bed only to be jolted from sleep 8 hours later.  Had it really been 8 hours? 8 hours!? …felt more like 10 minutes.

The first day on the mountain was cold and foggy.  The range was nestled at 9300feet.  And was merely a ski up two different alpine runs.  Nothing says good morning lung burn quite like skiing up that.  It was only 2km from the base lodge to the range but you could easily be wiped, legs shaking, breathing hard by the time you ever reached the venue.

The venue is a whole other story.  They put up a temporary range digging out both a 25meter and 50meter firing line.  20 targets ready to go.  This is one self-sustained professional group!  Or rather… one really gung-ho community!  Passionate about the outdoors (I can see why, they live in some incredible landscape) and enthusiastic about biathlon for no other reason than it is such a cool sport!

After training the first day we helped run 8 hours of biathlon clinics in the gym at the local fitness club.  8 hours of laser rifles.  Can I log that?  Awesome.  Awesomely exhausting.  But every time we got tired you would look over at Mike Karch (the man behind all this madnesss) and be motivated by his enthusiasm for this wild event.  The next day we took on the roles as “race officials” providing direction (and smiles) to racers of all ages…. something like 200+ novice racers took to the ski trail on saturday.  That IS something to get fired up about!  The youngest racer was a tiny 8 year old who nearly fell over she was V2ing so hard out of the range.   6 hours in the sun. a failed attempt at the local hot springs (sooo much nakedness). settling for a hot tub with a view and a home cooked meal another day was in the books.

Sunday morning we raced in a cloud. The snow was coming down, rumors were spreading that the mountain was expected 18 inches.  We got to do a mass start, men and women together, and as you can imagine chasing the boys was alot of fun!  One good wipe out  (yep go figure, Corrine fell down…again) and too many missed targets later I was across the finish line.  1st Women. 3rd Overall.

Once my lungs remembered how to get oxygen to the rest of my body I got all my warm clothes back on… including two extra jackets from Mike (thanks for keeping me warm). We spent the rest of the afternoon helping with the adult racers and doing interviews for the Pursuit Channel and ESPN Latin America (no joke!).

It was an incredible couple of days.  Exploring a new mountain, welcomed in by a whole new community.  This is an event I hope continues to grow in the future.  They are talking about getting a permanent range put in!  Can you say altitude training? I can not thank everyone enough for putting us up in your homes, for keeping us fed, and for letting us be a part of your family.  Hope to see you all again real soon!

Thanks to Jim Stimson and Jimmy Barnes for the photos below!

Going over the range with all the volunteers

Giving the kids some last minute rifle advice!

Mike Karch all smiles about to start another wave of young racers

More pre-race smiles

Mia looking determined!

Mia (Mike’s daughter) won her age group for girls and was the top shooter her age male or female!

Getting a few pointers on the range

Girls With Guns showing off!

Getting on the line with the boys

Attempting to hit some targets…

In my own little pain cave.

This is what plum tuckered out looks like.

Tired… but at the top of the podium!

The calm of the post season has started to settle in, I’m doing my best to leisurely do nothing… sort of.

So far Bozeman has given me a little spring break that is just how I remembered.  Sunny and 60, shorts, sandals… only to wake up to 6 inches of snow in town and word coming in that it was dropping an inch every 20 minutes up on the Bridgers.  Today we are moving back towards 60.  But that’s Bozeman… winter will sneak up on you again.  When you least expect it… when you least want it back.

I’m giving my body whatever it is it needs.  Meaning… I’ve been sustaining myself almost solely on coffee, salt and vinegar sweet potato chips, and sunshine.  Ok and the occasional baked good… and maybe a little curry.  But I couldn’t be happier.

Making decisions.  You know.  Mountain bike shopping, deciding to move out of the training center, and re-enrolling as a student at Montana State University.  (currently only a handful of online summer session courses)  Just normal every day life choices.  Feeling a little too productive?  yes.  Hello a little office work. A little food for my soul.  A little trekking through the snow.  All fine by me.

Up next? Mammoth CA.  Followed by a raging appearance at Spring Series.  (packing my sunscreen for both!!!)

 

I believe when your team mate skis up to you. Pulls a beer out of her vest. And hands it to you.  You can call the season done.  Pat yourself on the back…. because pieces of you survived that emotional roller coaster they call winter.

Although I’m not sure my season really ever got off the ground.  I can firmly say with the conclusion of Nationals Sunday my season has come to an end.

Here’s a quick little wrap up of Nationals:

After my super fun trip to the emergency room thursday afternoon I pulled myself back together, pain meds and all, and got myself back on the start line saturday morning.  Minimal abdominal pain aside, the pursuit was chaotic at best.  Despite the race organizers best efforts, trying to have 85 or so athletes shoot on 20 points… is well… it’s just a bad idea.

Oh did I mention it rained and rained and rained? Yup. Staying dry? yeah right.  Minimizing dampness was about as good as you got!  Although I skied fast I missed… oh lets say 8 too many targets. Question: At the end of the day though was I more jealous of the 7 more targets Annelies hit or her rain jacket?  ….yes, I’m going to have to go with rain jacket.

The mass start was fun for one lap… Annelies, Laura and I skied altogether.  It was painless and fun.  It felt just like another day training.  Then I missed more targets than them and got to play my favorite game… let’s go ski by ourselves!  Sunday was our last race and our only day of sunshine… and it was really hard.  The course conditions broke down rapidly…   Imagine skiing in sand.  really heavy nasty sand… your poles sinking at random another 6 inches through the slop.  Your skis a mixture of suction cups and sandpaper… Doesn’t that sound like a blast?  Ok Ok… in a sick twisted kind of way it was.  Although it was a suffer fest for everyone involved the rush of relief once you crossed the line, combined with the satisfaction of knowing it was over was nice.

The results from the pursuit are a little confusing.  Because of the problems on the range they had to give out time credits to athletes who got held up on the range.  Unfortunately when you are out on course this is something you don’t really think about.  Although I crossed the line in second ahead of Laura, she received a larger time credit than me (and rightly so)… just large enough to beat me by 0.3 seconds.

You can find the results here:  WYSEF

A special thanks to Marc Sheppard, Kimberly Del Frate, and (BIG) Sam Dougherty for the pictures below!

I’ve made myself a nice cozy corner in Bozeman for a few days before I hit the road for one last biathlon event. I’ll be flying to Mammoth Lakes for their annual biathlon race.  They do their best to bring in an elite field to put on a competition and clinic over the course of a few days.  I’ve been promised snow and sunshine, and will hold them to it!  Here’s to the last few winter adventures of the year!

Oh West Yellowstone…  I can see how they have so much snow!  While on a jog this morning one of the athletes I’m staying with reminded me, “We haven’t seen the sky in days!?”  Fact.  We have not.  Unfortunately for us spring-like temperatures have reached the West and we have fallen victim to a constant trickle of rain (and if we are really lucky sleet).  Tomorrow’s forecast you ask?  Rain, snow, and thunder oh my!

The roads have all but turned into ponds and streams of slushy cold nasty-ness.  Welcome to the end of the season I suppose.  I don’t mind spring but this weather makes it virtually impossible to stay dry… no matter how creative we get!  Wish I had photo documentation of our juniors heading out to the range this morning.  Not only were they wearing varying sizes of garbage bags but their feet (already in their boots) were also wrapped in grocery bags… This is what desperation and unrelenting hope looks like!

I opted for an exploration run into the park.  And although we definitely came back thoroughly soaked atleast we managed to stay warm.

But I’m getting off track.  Back to yesterday… Or as the title states.  Back to… Nationals: Day One!

I kicked off my first nationals as a Senior with our shortest race of the weekend.  A 7.5Km sprint race.  The course was slow but our skis were slick.  And aside from your poles occasionally sinking in a solid 6 inches every few pole plants, and some relentless stomach pain, it wasn’t all that bad.  I shot proficiently, missing a single shot in prone and two in standing.  At the end of the day I would come in third behind two of my team mates.  Annelies, fresh off a full world cup season and world championships, won the race with a single miss in standing.  Followed by Laura in Second.  These two gals are more or less veterans on the team so to duke it out with them is always a good time.  Slowly I’m holding my own more and more.

After the delight of a decent race had worn off the abdominal pain that had plagued me for much of the morning set back in.  This time so intensely I couldn’t bring myself to stand up straight.  At first I thought I was just dehydrated.  We are racing at altitude here and I figured it was just taking a toll on my body.  Boy was I wrong.  After another hour or so in fetal position I realized… it wasn’t going to get any better.

To the emergency room we went!  …all the way to Bozeman.  After living in Bozeman for two years I never made it to the ER, so I suppose it was about time.  Honestly if someone was going to get sent to the ER from our team… it would probably be me.

Pat and Annelies made the ride bearable, keeping the mode light and my wincing to a minimum and the hyperventilating to an all time low!  At the hospital I got poked, prodded, and looked over.  I got a great look when the nurse told me they needed a urine sample.  “Are you familiar with peeing in a cup?”  my response of “Yeah I get drug tested all the time!” was not what she expected.  From there I was given a healthy dose of pain meds (thank goodness) and waited for someone to tell me what was going on.  I got in a great nap which I felt sort of guilty about…. Pat and Weise had to hang out and wait for me… while I was taking a nice little snooze under not one but TWO heated blankets.

After a while a doctor came in and told me “Well its not a UTI, and you’re not pregnant… so at least you have that going for you!”  Oh thank goodness Doctor. If I hadn’t been on meds I might have been offended?  Two ultrasounds (I should get a punch card for those things, I’m about one away from a free one) and a misplaced ovary later I was done.  They finally had an answer for me. During this time I may or may not have said a few inappropriate things to the ultrasound tech.  Apparently things aren’t quite as funny when you are the only one on pain medication.  …Apparently the race had caused me to rupture a cyst in my ovary. Which in turn led to a bunch of free fluid floating around.  Which apparently is the equivalent of sand paper to your internal organs… who knew!?

A perscription later I was out the door and we were on our way back to West Yellowstone!  An eventful day.

We have a pursuit race tomorrow morning and with 5 second start intervals it should be a lot of fun!

And now for a picture that has nothing to do with racing or my internal organs!  Oh West Yellowstone…