I arrived in Squamish, B.C. just a few days before the Individual race of World Cup 7.  To be honest, I felt like I hadn’t completely recovered from the prior week of training.  The overall training load wasn’t high but the combination of months of constant travel and busy race schedules seemed to be taking its toll.  I did some speed the day before the race to get to know the transitions on the course and warm up my legs.  The course at Whistler is different from most of the courses I have raced this year.  It lacks the steep climbs and technical descents characteristic of many older biathlon courses.  Instead it has a lot of gradual climbs, a long flat V2 section, important transitions, and downhills that require lots of footwork to make corners rather than providing a chance to rest.  The result is that by the end of a race my lower back is uncomfortably tight and I’m wheezing from the lack of recovery.  It’s a tough course that doesn’t suit me well but I will spend the next 11 months learning to like it and ski the terrain efficiently. In the Individual I shot comfortably and in good groups in prone but struggled in standing to gain confidence in my ability to hold on the target.  I over-held most of my shots, missing four standing total and two prone.  In an Individual race, where one minute is added for each missed shot, 6 misses is too many, especially under good conditions when most of the field shoots well.  The next day my coach and I did some practice with the SCATT laser shooting system to try to eliminate my hesitation in pulling the trigger.  We found that I was on target several tenths of a second before I began to pull the trigger, which means I could have a good hit if I reacted more quickly.  Seeing this reassured me that I could shoot as quickly in a race as I do in training.  On the range we worked on shooting quickly and accurately.  I had to shoot prone in 33 seconds and standing in 30 or less.  Not only that but I was required to clean two stages (a sprint race) in a row.  I had to focus on having a good hold and not hesitating before each shot.

The next day was the Sprint race.  I gave myself extra time to warm up before the race so I could ease into some higher paced skiing.  I needed to be certain that my legs were sufficiently warmed up before doing pickups in order to prevent cramping.  I started out the race with a good split, 19 seconds off the best ski time on the first lap.  While in the range I kept in mind the previous day’s training and told myself “it’s just like training, you do it every day” to get myself to mimic the shooting procedure on any given training day.  The shots felt solid but I missed one just low.  On the second lap I was still able to keep up my momentum.  In standing I shot aggressively as I had practiced the day before, missing one shot but leaving with four solid hits.  Each of the hits is many times more to a positive affect than the misses are to a negative one, because the good hits show that my training is taking hold.  On the third lap fatigue really started to set in and I had a hard time keeping up momentum on the flat V2 section where it was most necessary.

Having been the fourth American in the results list that day, I would not race the relay.  Our team doc suggested I go for a long ski to clear my head and remind myself just why it is that I love skiing.  I had a similar experience during my pre-World Championships break in Ridnaun when, under sunny skies and on perfect tracks, I remembered exactly why I love skiing.  He suggested I ski to Callaghan Lake on a 9k trail that climbs upward from the Olympic cross-country venue, next to the biathlon tracks.  It was overcast and snowing; fog filled the valley and temperatures were just above freezing.  The only packing that had been done was by the skiers who started before me.  My breathing and the slap of my skis on snow were the only sounds filling my ears.  Banks of pure snow that shone blue and the snow-covered trees lining the trail provided a beautiful setting as continued to climb, glad that I had left my iPod behind.  The ski was of no consequence to my training log and helped to remind me exactly why I love to ski.