Spring Shenanigans
(I seriously fell in love with this old school look and ski style)
Happy May 1st! This day marks the unofficial first day of a new training season. I am excited to start this new season back in Anchorage having landed this morning :) But before we get into the new season, I want to share my reflections on the past season, USBA Nationals recap, and April shenanigans.
USBA Nationals was in Fort Kent, Maine from March 22-24 featuring a sprint, pursuit, and relay. I went into these races feeling totally burnt out and low expectations of results, but with high expectations for the rope-tow ski hill that is right in town. I brought my new favorite telemark skis and my teammate, Deedra, and we were able to skin from the hotel to the ski hill. This was absolutely the highlight of this trip. We even got in an extra day of downhill skiing since we decided to stay an extra night after the races concluded.
For late March, you would think it would be spring conditions, rather, the venue was frigid! It is so hard to shoot a rifle when your fingers are frozen! I tried all the hacks to include extra base layers, mittens on top of my shooting gloves, and hand warmers, but I was truly miserable the whole time. I know I willingly do a winter sport, but I loathe being cold. It warmed up enough for the relay to finally feel my fingers and hit some targets. I am happy with cleaning my standing and not using any spares to anchor our team to 2nd.
April is our month off of racing and full time training, so I enjoyed doing absolutely nothing for 10 days straight. Simply existing. Caveat being I was so exhausted from the season I couldn’t! I got up to some shenanigans this spring as well. I fell in love with the rope tow and telemark skiing at Cochrans, the local ski hill, broke out the road bike and the mountain bike for the first time this year, enjoyed watching this French guy do live art painting, watching the total eclipse in downtown Burlington(!!), and took a work trip helicopter ride ;) Then spent a weekend in New York City walking around the MET, watching broadway, eating delicious gluten-free food, meeting new and old friends, and celebrating my mother on completing a book on the history of the Big Sandy Ranch.
And now for the reflections. I struggled a lot this season with staying healthy and energized and it is not a mystery as to why. I was barely able to train last season between going to military training for 6 months then knee surgery. Thanks to tracking my training on a log, I am able to compare previous training years (if you’re a number nerd like me). As a result, I trained 184% more than last year. That. Is. Insane. For context, it is recommended you increase your training by only 10% each new season. This is also the first time I have been able to train over 500 hours in 4 years. A testament to patience and perseverance.
I am looking forward to this season to maintain and continue building this base so that I avoid injury and sickness. As it stands, this is also my first season I have nothing derailing it. No surgeries, no school, no plans to take me away from training. It is a sigh of relief and I am excited!
I have goals for this season that are both dependent on me and dependent on other factors. For exampe, I ended the season with a shooting percentage of 82% in prone and 76% in standing, so I want to increase my hits to 85% prone and 80% standing. This is a measurable metric that is subject to weather conditions, of course, but also well within my control to achieve. Other goals include, I want to run twice a week, something I have struggled with due to my injuries, I want to bench more weight, and I want to stay healthy.
Sorry this is a bit brief, there is not too much happening in the off-season. Until then, I hope everyone is off to a great start with the new season and I hope to see you out there!
