It’s at about this point in the year when we work on the technical aspects of skiing and shooting that are put to the side during the competition season. We do our best throughout the season to keep on top of it, don’t get me wrong, with video analysis of every race and slowfire sessions during our “off” weeks. But if you consider the fatigue of constant travel and racing, the unpredictability of our schedule, and freezing cold temperatures that make shooting 5 rounds per minute torturous, spring is obviously a better time of year to work on all the fine details. And from a different angle, it’s better to take care of these things early in the year in order not to build on bad habits.

Training is just starting to pick up to full swing. I just finished an “easy week” leading up to two high volume weeks. “Easy” translates as low hours, but there is still a predetermined proportion of intensity and strength incorporated into the week. Right now the focus is both on high intensity intervals (level 4 and 5) of up to 6 minutes and longer threshold intervals of up to 10 minutes. The interval sessions last month were a mix of running, skating, and classic, but as there is much ski (biathlon)-specificity to our training, they are now almost all skating. Yesterday I did my first combos of the year, which just so happened to be combined with a level 3 intensity session. As I’ve been doing a fair amount of precision work each week, the shooting seems to have picked right up where I left off at the end of the season. It will take a little bit of time, though, to get used to matching my breathing pattern with my shooting rhythm.

School has taken up a fair amount of my time over the past two months. I have two more weeks until the end of the term and I know I will be missing it, as I won’t be returning until next March. The structure of a class schedule and the alternative mental stimulation was an important change of pace for me after the season, which left me physically and mentally taxed. Besides, it’s great to be here studying something I’m passionate about and I really can’t imagine forgoing school for anything, even biathlon. Luckily, I’m able to have a balance of both throughout the course of each year.