a href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SuiIHStNQoI/AAAAAAAAAVE/1hVG7co-AeI/s1600-h/488.JPG”img style=”cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SuiIHStNQoI/AAAAAAAAAVE/1hVG7co-AeI/s200/488.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397713812265452162″ //a…and already, the last week of Utah camp is here! Amazing how fast the time flies! It has been a very productive camp. As I was packing for this trip, the thoughts going through my mind were “oh, its usually pretty hot in Utah, I’ll pack all of my summer clothes and a few long sleeve shirts, just in case.” Ya well, it turns out I could have used a few more long sleeve shirts. Lows in the 30’s and highs in the 60’s is not exactly ideal weather for tank tops and shorts. br /br /Altitude is always an interesting factor to add into training. What is usually your easy, over-distance pace at low altitude has just become your “almost race pace”…pace. So, your level 4, solid race pace, has just turned into…well…who knows what level that is called. It’s a hard level, to say the least. Thus, it is important to make sure you are acclimated before thinking about doing any super hard intervals, and appropriate amounts of rest is crucial. And! Drinking water has even more importance here than it normally does! br /br /There have definitely been some interesting moments at this camp. There was the day when the cows were roaming freely on the roller ski trails, and the question of the day was “ok so I think I saw those cows back there a little ways, so I should be able to go down this downhill without any problems, hopefully?” Such was not the case for Eliot Neal, who came barreling down a steep downhill, and was presented with the sight of 2 cows in the middle of the trail, and was unable to stop. Don’t worry though; he skimmed by without any harm done. And luckily, the cows moved off to the side of the trail before anyone else could have a close call. They did leave us some obstacles of a rather green nature to go around during training though. br /br /br /Then there was the day that I tripped on a rock while skiing, and got some pretty sweet road rash on my hip and knee. I actually got a rock roughly the size of my thumbnail imbedded in my knee. And guess what? I got up, and picked the rock out. I ripped it out of my knee! It was so sweet. It was something Indiana Jones would have done…I’m assuming, I’ve never actually seen the movies. Those two road rashes have definitely made shooting interesting though. I can’t put my knee down while going to shoot prone, and my elbow goes right into the scrape on my hip for standing. br /br /What else…morning hunting shows, attempted cow tipping trips with Lanny and Tracy Barnes (we failed, miserably), mom getting stopped by the police because she had Maine plates on her car (the officer was from Van Buren), Grace, Maddi and me decorating the driveway at Gary’s house with sidewalk chalk, trips back and forth from Park City to Soldier Hollow with Vlad’s crazy driving. Oh indeed, it has been fun. br /br /So, the races have come and gone for the women, and one race left for the men. I think most of the women were content with their races, but each athlete definitely found some things that need some fine-tuning before the race season starts. My races were not up to par. It should be interesting to watch the final men’s race on Wednesday. There are more than 15 men competing for the last spot on the Men’s Olympic Team, and the field is very intense. It could be anyone as of right now, so it makes for some fun spectating! On Saturday, I finished my first 15 km individual. That was the hardest race I have ever done. Ever. And its funny, before that race, the hardest race I had ever done was the race I did in Soldier Hollow last year at this camp. I am sensing a trend here. No but seriously, it was hard. It was like all my muscles had been turned off. I had no strength in my legs, and my arms felt like they weighed 300 pounds…each. And that all happened in the first loop. Just think, I had 4 more loops after that. I was pleased with shooting, though. Even through all my pain and suffering with skiing, I was able to hit 15 out of 20 targets. That was a very pleasant surprise. I have been having some trouble with shooting lately, but I tried to go into the race feeling confident. Today (Monday) was the Sprint race. It felt so short compared to the previous race! The feeling was pretty similar to Saturday. I felt a little better, but the shooting kinda fell apart for me, as I only hit 5 out of 10. But hey! That’s alright. It’s October. The race season is approaching, but its not quite here yet, is it? There’s time. It all depends on how I use it. Hope all is well with everyone! br /br /a href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SuiIIFjuppI/AAAAAAAAAVU/3YycckUdsuo/s1600-h/491.JPG”img style=”cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SuiIIFjuppI/AAAAAAAAAVU/3YycckUdsuo/s200/491.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397713825915905682″ //abr /Waking up to snow!br /br /a href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SuiIHoVslvI/AAAAAAAAAVM/hv28FYhfK6w/s1600-h/490.JPG”img style=”cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SuiIHoVslvI/AAAAAAAAAVM/hv28FYhfK6w/s200/490.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397713818072422130″ //abr /Storm Clouds do not joke around in the west. br /br /emBlog and picture contributed by Andrea Mayo/emdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6813061107698506856-7165401742532421415?l=mwscbiathlon.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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