Fall Rollerski Trials

On October 25th and 26th, I competed in the second set of biathlon rollerski races that serve as qualifiers for the early season World Cup races. My coaches and I agreed beforehand that regardless of my result, my plan for November and December would be to stay and gain racing experience in North America, so rather than feeling pressure to qualify, I felt I had a stress-free opportunity to practice what I've been working on for the past few months. 

On the range at trials in August. (Photo Fasterskier)

I skied pretty fast in the first race, but missed a frustrating five out of ten targets! I thought I did good work on the range, but did not get the result I was looking for. From what I can tell, this is a common paradox in biathlon. As a runner or cross-country skier, you either try your hardest and can be proud of your result, or you don't and can't. In biathlon, that direct correlation between effort and result is not always there. The good news is that despite my bad result, I managed to stay positive because I felt like the work I did was good. My plan for the second race was to execute on the range exactly the same way I did on the first race with just a touch more control and precision. (Those are two skills that I am catching up on, coming from my endurance sport background. I am used to trying to shut off my brain as soon as possible in a race- the earlier the better- in order to push my body beyond my mind's artificial limit. But in biathlon, you have to use your brain.)

The second race went better. I only missed two shots. I found myself disappointed because I lost focus on the very last last target and missed. So there you have it: I thought I did good work on Saturday but shot poorly, and shot better on Sunday but was disappointed with the work...

Overall the trials process was very positive. I learned something in each of the four races and had podium finishes in three of them. 

Here is an article from the October trials. Watch the video and you can see me shooting next to my teammate Susan at 1:26. She cleaned and I missed one.