Brendan Green - Olympian & National Team Biathlete

A belated season recap!

2011-08-01T21:27:00.000-06:00

I ended off my last post while in Russia at World Champs. I had a frustrating two weeks of racing and for whatever reason was not able to get into a good zone. I struggled to bring the more typical form I had been consistently showing throughout the season on the World Cup both in skiing and in shooting. Our team did have a strong relay however and we finished in 11th in what turned out to be a very tight 30km of racing.

This was my second time in Russia and I'm not a huge fan of spending long periods of time in Siberia! Despite being in one of the more oil rich cities, the food wasn’t great (nobody wants to eat fish soup for breakfast), and the vibe I got from the city was kind of bleak. It was obvious a lot of people in the city had money, and even more obvious that a lot of people didn’t. You would see someone driving a Lexus down the street, but if you ran a couple blocks from the city centre you would see people walking along the streets carrying buckets of water to their homes.

Our accommodation was decent however, as we got to stay in a new and extremely large hotel that apparently was built for the influx of people whom where in Khanty Mansyisk for the 2010 Chess Olympics. Chess in Russia is big!

A view of the stadium

A pretty cool opening ceremonies was put on for the athletes

Some of the food that was being cooked for the spectators outside the stadium entrance. Don't ask what it is!

Apparently many giant prehistoric animals were excavated in tact from along this river bank. We checked out the park one afternoon and took a ride on one of giant buffalo's.

From Russia it was straight to Norway for the last World Cup of the year. I was beyond happy when I sat down for our first meal in our hotel where I was able to eat awesome food until I was completely full. I felt like a King! The conditions in Norway were great. It's often typical to be racing in slush while in Oslo at this time of year, but this time around the tracks held up throughout the week and we had perfect weather.

View of stadium from top of ski jump.

At the Holmenkollen venue is an amazing ski museum that everyone should check out while in Oslo. One of the skis in the picture is dated back to 600AD

At the viking museum!

Unfortunately the fun ended in Oslo and the trip back to Canada was long and full of delays. Scott and I were traveling straight to Canadian Championships together and were planning to arrive in New Brunswick on Monday, with our first race being on Wednesday. After an extremely frustrating and tiring two days of traveling we arrived in Charlo Tuesday evening. After a few hours of sleep we dragged ourselves out of bed and raced 20km the next morning. Needless to say I was bagged and the four races throughout the week turned into a blur. I couldn’t wait to finish off the last competitions of the season and return home for some much needed rest.

It was a long season on the road (with only 10 days being spent in Canmore from the middle of November to the end of April) but it was a pretty solid year of racing for me. I was able to consistently score points, qualified for my first ever Mass Start race on the World Cup, and had my best ever shooting average at 82% while on the World Cup.

A few highlights from the season:

5 top 30 finished on the World Cup
Season best finish - 14th place in 10km Sprint – WC#4 in Oberhof, GER
Accumulated 112 WC points
81.7% shooting average
Qualified for first Mass Start race in at WC#4 in Oberhof, GER

Vancouver to Russia... Back from the blogging abyss!

2011-02-23T05:28:00.006-07:00

Well, it's been over a year since my last post, and in the past year way too much has happened for me to write about now. I wish I was more on the ball with blogging because a lot of exciting things have happened over the last little while and if I tried to write everything, this post would go on forever! Therefore, I've decided to do a quick summary of the past year mainly in the form of pictures. Below are just a few of the bigger highlights to bring you all somewhat up to date on my life during the last little while. Enjoy!

It's official, NWT's first Olympian in 26 years!...

Shortly after my last post about my racing experience in Antholz, Italy, the Olympic team for biathlon was officially announced, and I had qualified for the team!!! I had known I had made the team shortly after Christmas, but I wanted to keep it on the down low until the news was officially released to the media. During the announcement I was at a training camp in a very small and sleepy village in Germany. I didn't have a telephone in my room and the nearest internet was a 5min walk from our hotel. Over the next week every time I logged on to my email my inbox was swamped with new messages. I tried my best to keep up with responses and requests, but in the end it was becoming too stressful and given my limited resources I decided my computer had to take a back seat so I could focus on what lay ahead!

First IBU Cup win in Martell, Italy!...

Instead of heading back to Canada after the World Cup in Atholz, I stayed on in Europe for an extra three weeks with a few other members of my team to prepare for the Olympics. This way I would be able to get in good training away from the hype of Vancouver, and also get the opportunity to race in some higher level competitions as pre Olympic preparation. I was able to keep my form from Antholz and had an amazing two weeks of racing where I picked up a win in my last race series before the Olympics at the IBU Cup #7 in Martell, Italy. I was very pleased with my results as this meant I was in good form heading into Vancouver!

Olympics!!!...

After three weeks of training and racing in Europe, I had 5 days back in Canmore before flying to Vancouver and settling in at the athlete's village in Whistler. A few days later and I was racing in front of a home crowd in my Olympic debut (our relay team finished in 10th). The whole Olympic experience was totally unreal. Seeing so many Canadians united over sport was something special and the vibe in Whistler and Vancouver was incredible. For those of you who don't know, I am the youngest in a large family, and to make my Olympic experience extra memorable, my whole family was able to be in attendance for my race. It meant a lot to have them all in the stands cheering me on, and I am great-full for all of their support throughout my career. The weather was absolutely miserable with heavy wet snow falling from the sky, but they were troopers and hung around for at least an hour after my race, even though they were freezing and soaking wet, so that I could have a short visit with everyone before I had to head back to the village. Getting to compete at a home Olympics is a once in lifetime opportunity and was an experience that I will never forget. Thank you to everyone who helped me in turning this dream into a reality!

Pep Rally & Green Day!...

One of the bonuses of being raised in a small community is that you are able to form a direct relationship with community members, many of whom then become directly tied with your achievements and dreams. Whether it be teachers, neighbors, or old coaches, people want you to succeed and will go to great lengths to help you do so. This is one of the reasons I love Hay River so much. While making final preparations in Europe I was informed over email that the town would be having a pep rally to honor my achievement as well as the cultural delegates and youth ambassadors that would also be in attendance at the Olympics. All of the schools packed the arena full and an entertaining afternoon was had with musical performances, appearances from the ambassadors, and even a special video. A Smart car was also unveiled that was decorated with my picture and driven around town during the Olympics. I was blown away by the support and camaraderie. I wish I could have been there!

I thought the pep rally was an amazing and very kind gesture from the town, but to take things to another level, February 26^th in Hay River was officially declared “Green Day”!!! People took part by wearing green while watching my race! Schools watched the race in gymnasiums and the local movie theatre broadcasted the race on large screen! Even the Inukshuk, the town icon outside Town Hall was dressed in support wearing a green shirt with Olympic rings! It’s tough to describe what it felt like to have such amazing support from my hometown and Territory, but I can say that it was an incredible feeling and I’m sure there were few Canadian athletes, if any, that had the same support I did. I feel fortunate to be from the North and am proud that I could represent Hay River and the North on the World stage! Thanks to all those who took part in these events and showed such amazing support!

Time for some rest & recovery... Almost!

After the closing ceremonies at the Olympics in Vancouver, it was straight back to Canmore to race in the Canadian Championships two days later. I was feeling absolutely exhausted and was fighting a bit of cold but had to race anyway in order to qualify for the next World Cup tour. My season wasn't over yet. The last event of the season for most other sports was the Olympics, but for biathlon we still had three World Cups left before our season would come to an end. I raced well enough to qualify, I think I finished in second and third and less than a week after arriving back in Canmore from Vancouver, I was on a plane again to Europe to finish off the season with World Cups in Finland, Norway, and Russia. Needless to say when I finished the tour I was spent and needed some rest. My girlfriend Rosanna and I decided to take a well deserved vacation and spent a week relaxing in Maui in April after a long season on the road!

A busy Spring...

After returning from a week in Hawaii it was back to Canmore for one night, only to unpack and repack before jumping on a plane again, this time headed for Ottawa and Montreal. Canada's 2010 Olympians were brought together for a series of events to celebrate Canada's success at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Celebrations started with a "Government of Canada Tribute to the Athletes" which included a visit to the House of Commons and a reception on Parliament Hill where athletes had a chance to visit with MP's and meet the Prime Minister. From Ottawa VIA Rail provided transport to Montreal where Athletes took part in an Olympic Parade hosted by the city of Montreal and the Government of Canada in which an estimated 100,000 people took part. The parade was followed in the evening by a Hall of Fame Galla and Red Carpet event which honoured this years inductees into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. The Olympians took part in the Galla and enjoyed many of Canada's top performing artists during what was an unforgettable evening. The events were a huge success and were a great opportunity to bring Canada's 2010 Olympians back to together to celebrate the achievements of the games.

Finally home!...

During the beginning of June I was able to make it home to Hay River for a quick visit. This was my first time home since the Olympics and it did not disappoint! My visit included taking part in the Territorial Track & Field Championships which are held in Hay River every spring with over 1000 athletes taking part from schools all over the North. I decided to race in the 5000m event and despite not being in the greatest running shape I managed to run the race in a decent time and only 1 second off of the Territorial record! I was guest speaker during the opening ceremonies and also had the honor of carrying the torch into the arena and lighting the cauldron. I knew there would be some hype around me attending the event, but I was absolutely blown away by the reception I got when I carried the torch into the arena. A short video was played with clips from my childhood progressing throughout my career as an athlete to hype the kids up, and then when I stepped into the rink with the torch I was instantly swamped by hundreds of screaming kids all trying to get as close to me as possible! After some help from volunteers clearing a path for me I eventually was able to make my way up to the stage minutes later, without any kids clinging to my arms! The reception was amazing, more than anything I could have expected, and being able to be a role model to these kids, even if it was only for the few days the meet lasted, was a truly awesome feeling! After the Track & Field meet I was able to do short two day training camp over the weekend with the NWT biathlon team where we were able to work on the fundamentals of shooting and roller skiing. I also had the opportunity to quickly visit with a couple of classes during my visit. The week went by way too fast, but it was great to see my family again and eat my Mum's home cooked meals... I experienced quite the homecoming! What can I say... being from the North is awesome! (Pictured above: Outside Wesclean with Brad Mapes, visiting Harry Camsell School, roller skiing with the biathlon team. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to share from the Track & Field Meet).

Oktoberfest!...

Training over the rest of the Spring and Summer went as planned without too much excitement. I had a few illnesses and a kind of painful and unpleasant shoulder injury, but other than that training was smooth. The pictures above are from a training camp in Europe. Once again this Fall after roller ski trials I made the trip to Austria for a three week training camp on the Dachstein glacier in the town of Ramsau. The ski conditions and altitude are ideal for the type of training we are trying to accomplish at this time of the season. Highlights from this training camp, other than being able to ski long hours in October were experiencing Oktoberfest in Munich (which was nuts!), and having the opportunity to take part in some testing at the University of Salzburg. They were doing a research project at the University using force plate analysis and pressure mapping to see the trends of elite shooters. The set up used was pretty slick and the feedback we received was both interesting and useful.

World Cup Season…

I left Canada on November 20^th to Scandinavia for a short training camp before officially kicking off the World Cup season in Ostersund, Sweden. From there it was off to Austria and then Slovenia for two more World Cups before taking a short break over Christmas. This year the team decided to spend Christmas in Europe to avoid the jetlag of returning to Canada for Christmas only to fly back again two weeks later. Rosanna and I spent three days relaxing and recharging in Venice before returning to meet up with the rest of the team to resume training again. Venice was great, we were able to escape winter and forget about biathlon for a few days. From our training camp in Italy we drove to Oberhof, Germany, for World Cup #4 and then to Ruhpolding, Germany, for World Cup #5. The team skipped World Cup #6 in Italy to instead head back to Canada to rest and train before racing two more World Cups in Maine, USA.

From Maine it was back to Europe to acclimatize and train for a week in Dobbiaco, Italy before flying on a charter to the Siberian city of Khanty Mansyisk for this years World Championships.

So far my season has been going quite well. My shooting percentages have been on the rise, I’ve scored more World Cup points than I ever have, and I’ve turned in some solid performances with the highlight of qualifying for the Mass Start race at World Cup #4 at the biathlon crazy venue in Oberhof.

At the moment I am in Russia making final preparations before my first race on Saturday. Conditions will be challenging but I am optimistic that I will be able to perform well at these Championships and meet my expectations. More to follow on my racing and experiences in Russia soon!

Brendan

I love Anthlolz!

2010-01-29T07:31:00.008-07:00

At the moment I’m in Bavaria, staying in a small town near Garmisch, where I’m winding down and resting up after an amazing week of racing on the World Cup!

The tour first started out in Germany, where we raced World Cup #5 in Ruhpolding. Biathlon in Germany is extremely popular and the fan base is enormous. With it being the most popular sport in the country, the German athletes are huge icons. This was my first time racing at a World Cup in Germany and it was quite the experience. All of our competitions took place at night under bright lights, and racing in front of 25 000 intense fans made for a pretty cool vibe and some fun racing. You know it’s going to be an epic day with the fans when you arrive at the venue to the smell of beer and Bratwurst thick in the air. The smell of beer I can deal with, but my lungs definitely did not enjoy the cigar smoke that wafted over parts of the course, causing you to be short of breathe for the few seconds it took to pass through. If you were ever skiing near or shooting at the same time as a German athlete, good luck being able to hear anything. The roar from the fans was so intense that you could feel the sound resonate through your body! As for our performances during this World Cup, most of the team had a bit of a frustrating week finding our form, myself included. I was skiing well, but it doesn’t matter how fast you ski because when the shooting isn’t there, the good results won’t be either.

Racing the Relay in Ruhpolding.

From Germany we drove three hours to Antholz, Italy, where World Cup #6 would be taking place four days later. Situated in a mountain valley, Antholz is home to one of my favorite venues on the World Cup circuit. The stadium is awesome, the trails have nice flow, good snow is always a guarantee, the weather is amazing with sun most days, and the cuisine is stellar with four course meals!

The racing here went extremely well for me and I finally had the results I’ve been waiting for. While training during the week I put a lot of focus into my shooting and was able to sort things out on the range. The other aspects of my training felt pretty good as well and I was looking forward to racing. The competition kicked off last Thursday with a 20km Individual race. The race went awesome. I felt relaxed on my skis and skied at a fast yet comfortable pace that I was able to maintain for the duration of the 20km. In the range I felt focused and confident. The shooting conditions were tricky with inconsistent wind, but I managed to stay assertive while shooting and ended the day in 19th place, my best result ever on the World Cup! Placing in the top 20 was a huge result for me and I proved to myself that I am able to compete and put up a fight with the best athletes when things are going well for me.

Racing in Antholz - Photo courtesy of Michel van Balkum

Saturday’s 10km Sprint race also went quite well. I woke up feeling a little low on energy and tired, but as the day progressed I gradually began to feel more awake. I was skiing well, shot clean in my first prone bout and was having a great race, but two penalties in standing dropped me back to 34th at the finish. All things considered it was a very respectable race for me. I was happy with my result and looking forward to Sunday's Pursuit race.

Leading into Sunday’s race things felt normal. I had a routine Zero and my warm-up for the race felt typical – nothing special, just OK. Because it was a Pursuit race the start is based off of the previous days Sprint race results. The winner from the previous day starts first and all the other athletes’ start according to what their time behind the winner was. I was starting the race in the 34th place, 1:25 behind the lead.

Training in Italy - Photo courtesy of Michel van Balkum

As soon as I left the start gate I found myself in a pack with three or four other guys. The pace was fast but I was feeling awesome, and thanks to our wax techs, my skis were bombing. I cleaned my first two prone bouts and was steadily working my way up the field. When I came in to shoot my first standing I was in 20th place and had 1 miss. My skiing was strong though and I continued to move up in the rankings. When I came into the range for my final bout of shooting I was in 13th place. Normally in a situation like this I would begin to feel very stressed, but today this was not the case. I felt extremely relaxed. I came into the range, stepped onto lane 13 and noticed that almost everyone ahead of me was still in the range. I dropped my poles, took my rifle off my back, and then my mind shut off. I left the range with one more miss standing. I cruised around the penalty loop and then once on course I lay the hammer down. I knew it was a tight race and that there was a pack of guys in hot pursuit of me. I didn’t want to be leading these guys so I did my best to put a bit of a gap early on in the loop and began to push the pace as much as my body would allow. It hurt like hell but I didn’t care. I was too focused on my skiing to think about the pain. For the rest of the loop I was slowly gaining on a pack ahead of me, and with about 400m to go I was caught by a Russian. We sprinted to the finish and just caught up to the back of the pack that was ahead of us as we lunged at the line. I looked up at the scoreboard to see that I had made up 20 places and finished in 14th!!! By far my best race on the World Cup to date! I also posted the second fastest ski time of the day which was an awesome bonus… 3 seconds off of the lead pace!

The Grande stand in Antholz.

It was an amazing race. I felt like a machine while skiing, but felt very focused and relaxed on the range. I’ve trained hard this year while working a lot on all aspects of my training, so to have it pay off with a result like this is an incredible feeling and an experience I will never forget. Antholz was also the last World Cup stop before the Olympics; so to have my three best results at this World Cup is definitely a confidence booster heading into the Games!

Cheers!

Brendan

I'm back! - Life from September to December...

2010-01-18T10:41:00.019-07:00

I’m back! One of my New Year’s resolutions is to blog more regularly, so here’s my attempt at keeping that resolution. I suppose I’m a bit late but I haven’t had much down time lately!

Since the end of September I’ve been on the road with only a few short breaks back in Canmore to re-energize in-between training camps or racing tours. Three weeks in the Fall were spent training on the Dachstein glacier in Austria. Here we were able to put in a solid amount of high volume days skiing at altitude while being able to roller ski and do intensity at a lower elevation in the town of Ramsau, where we also stayed.

Skiing on the Dachstein glacier... it was a bad summer for snow but the track held up alright most days.

Ramsau seemed to be the land of miniature animals. A pony chillin' halfway up a mountain that I came across during a run.

The view from a Tea House during a run.

After a big few weeks of laying down some solid training hours it was back to Canmore for a high intensity block. Almost all of these hard sessions took place on the roller ski treadmill at the University of Calgary. We’ve done a similar format of max intervals over the last two years, which seem to produce a positive response from my body, although these workouts are always guaranteed to be some of the most grueling training sessions of the year. Mentally being able to deal with the pain that you know you’re about to endure on the treadmill is half the battle.
Upon our return from Austria we were also able to continue our skiing on snow at the Canmore Nordic Centre. During some abnormally cold weather in October, enough man-made snow was blown to form a small training loop (about 700m if you skied it in a figure 8) in the cross-country stadium.

Grindin' away on the treadmill.

I spent my birthday at the beginning of November packing to leave the following day for what turned out to be an epic training camp in Silver Star, BC. They received some early snow that made for absolutely wicked skiing. While most athletes were training on the mind numbing hamster loop back in Canmore, our team was able to take advantage of over 50km of perfectly groomed trails that we could ski at our leisure just a few steps from our hotel. During our time here our schedule literally consisted of training, eating, and sleeping. The camp quickly became nick named the high-high-high camp, because of the volume of hours, the amount of intensity, and the altitude at which we were training. I was feeling pretty wicked all week with the exception of the last two days where all of a sudden I hit a wall and felt pretty cooked. I backed off on the intensity for the last two days and was able to recover a bit before heading back to Canmore. In the last 7 days we trained 25 hrs and averaged one hard intensity session a day ranging from ski strength, to time trials, to 20km of sub race pace. I left Silver Star feeling pretty bagged but happy with the training I was able to complete and the level of quality and focus in which I was able to accomplish it.

Scott's body starting to let him down after a tough week of training! (The photo was actually staged... as usual Scott trained like an animal during our stay in Silver Star.)

After a short break back in Canmore to unpack, do laundry, and repack, I was on the road again, this time to Sweden were we would kick off our World Cup season. The travel as usual was long, but when we arrived at our final destination in Brusksvallarna, we were greeted with lots of snow and pretty sweet conditions. We trained here for about a week before driving to Ostersund a couple of days before our first race. After three races in Sweden we flew to Munich and then drove to Hochfillzen, Austria for World Cup #2. I got sick with a cold the day after our arrival in Austria which I was pretty bummed out about. I had a couple days to take it easy before our next races and I did my best to recover as much as possible in that given time. We had to race three days in a row, which is punishing on the body, but I managed to do all right despite feeling pretty terrible and low on energy the whole week. On top of racing sick which is never any fun, it didn’t help that conditions were tough and slow with either fresh snow or rain during our races and training. Our last World Cup stop on tour before Christmas was in Pokljuka, Slovenia. It was my first time in Slovenia which was fun and despite feeling tired from all the racing I was finally more or less over my cold which I was stoked about. I was feeling good about the week and had some decent performances in the cold temperatures and strong wind, which made the racing tricky.

The veiv from our hotel room window in Bled, Slovenia.

Boats along the lake.

After 30 days on tour and 9 races in 18 days, I was in big need of some rest and recovery and was soon on a plane back to Canada for Christmas! I was tired, of course from all of the racing, but also in large part I think due to jetlag. In all my years of travel I have never experienced it this bad. In the first ten days of tour I averaged maybe four hours of sleep a night. I felt like a Zombie. I started sleeping a little better after about two weeks but my body never seemed to really adjust throughout the whole duration of the tour. I didn’t have one solid sleep during the entire 30 days and nothing I did seemed to make a difference. I pulled out all the stops… Melatonin, Litebook, sleeping pills, and deep relaxation breathing but nothing really helped. Not seeing the sun most days in Sweden definitely didn’t help the situation, but I was sure that things would improve once we arrived in central Europe where we would see more sun. Guess I was wrong!

Travel home was hectic and stressful as it always is during Christmas but it was nice to get back to Canada and relax, even if I didn’t get my bags until 5 days after I arrived. For the first time I decided to spend Christmas in Canmore away from family. It was a tough decision to make but I think it was the right one with the Olympics not far away. This way I was able to minimize travel and get in some solid training during the short break I had. Christmas turned out to actually be pretty busy and I was not lonely at all thanks to the amazing generosity of friends in Canmore!

In reflecting upon my pre-Christmas tour, I am satisfied with how things went. These were the last three World Cups that would fall within our Olympic qualification time period, so it was obviously a very stressful tour to say the least. The men were fighting hard for one of the four Olympic spots by either trying to maintain and add to previously met criteria, or by trying to finish off partially met criteria. There were some extremely stressful moments but there were also some great results produced from the team. For myself, I didn’t have any really amazing performances, but I was consistent which is a good thing. I started in all nine races, was consistently placing within the top 60 with my top result being 46th, and I qualified for both pursuit races. With Olympic qualification on everyone’s mind, I think I was able to stay focused and raced respectable given the circumstances.

Adjusting my visor during the Sprint in Hochfillzen... It iced up and got pretty hard to see during the race. Photo credit - Christian Manzoni.

Racing World Cup #2 in Hochfillzen. Photo credit - Christian Manzoni.

I am now in Europe again and just finished yesterday racing at the ‘Super Bowl’ of biathlon, World Cup #5 in Ruhpolding, Germany. More to come on that later though because I’m starting to feel carsick… At the moment I am sitting in the back of our van driving over the Brenner Pass on our way to Antholz, Italy, for World Cup #6, which will start on Thursday with a 20km Individual race for the men.

Cheers!

Brendan

Trials Recap (from early September)

2009-10-11T02:57:00.004-06:00

After a very tense four days of racing and a stressful few weeks leading up to trials, I am happy to report that I’ve qualified as one of four men who will represent Canada on the first World Cup tour! As I mentioned in my previous post, I knew I had done all the hard work necessary to perform well, it was now just a matter of executing under pressure. I’m not the biggest fan of having trial races on roller skis in September (for a number of reasons I won’t get into) but it’s been the norm for the last few years now and I’m learning to accept and deal with it.

Three races were held over four days and a percent ranking of the best two races were counted towards team selection. Thursday’s 10km Sprint race was the start to the week I had been hoping for and I finished up the day in third. I had a solid performance on the shooting range hitting 9/10 targets and I felt decent on my skis. I didn’t have a stellar day on the skis but I felt fairly strong and conservative, and figured that I had enough energy left in the tank to be able to increase my ski speed as the week went on.

Shortly after starting the Pursuit race

Friday’s 12.5 km pursuit race was a little tougher on the range for most of the athletes in the lead pack. I had a mediocre shooting day with 6 misses, but I skied well posting one of the faster ski times to tie for a fourth place finish. Percents were tight with three spots on the team still up for grabs, and it was now obvious that the final race on Sunday would be the deciding factor.

Cresting the last climb before entering the range

I took Saturday chill and did some easy training while trying to relax as much as possible. I knew that I needed a strong result on Sunday but I tried not to stress or think about it too much. Sunday’s 15km mass start format turned out to be a fun and very tight race. Three of us skied almost the entire race together, which was exciting, but in turn added quite a bit of pressure on the range. I took my time shooting standing, as I knew I had to focus on hitting the last ten targets if I wanted stay in the race and have a chance at the win. I definitely sacrificed some time in the range in the final two shooting bouts, but I think it was necessary and I crossed the line finishing second behind Robin Clegg, who had an extremely fast and clean last shooting bout, allowing him to cruise to victory.

Final shooting bout in the Pursuit - All photos courtesy of Tom Zidek

It was a feeling of relief when I crossed the finish line in that final race, as I knew I had qualified for the World Cup, and could now decompress and relax a bit before switching my focus to preparing for this Winter.

Brendan

Skiing the Haig

2009-09-09T12:11:00.015-06:00

Last week the team spent a few days at altitude skiing on the Haig glacier in Kananaskis. I was a little skeptical of heading to altitude a week before our first World Cup trial races, but looking back I think it was alright. We were there mainly for altitude exposure, and being able to log some hours on skis in early September was a bonus. Conditions were marginal and the snow was going fast, but we still managed to get in some good days of training.

If anything, it was just nice to get away from Canmore for a few days to have a change of pace. Tension among athletes on the range has been growing steadily the last couple weeks with Trials just around the corner, so I think a mental break was good and what my coach had in mind. We had lots of time to relax between workouts, and were able to take our mind off the stress of Trials while chillin' on the lunar landscape that is the Haig camp.

Training at altitude can have negative effects on the body if done wrong, so I was very careful and diligent to not overdo any workouts and took it pretty easy. Since returning back to Canmore I’ve been fine tuning for this week's competitions, which begin tomorrow. I’m ready to race – I’ve trained hard over the Spring and Summer and I am confident I have done all the work necessary to perform well this week. Let the Trials begin! I’ll try and post regularly over the next few days to let everyone know how things are going.

Brendan

The Haig camp.

Hiking up to the glacier for some early morning skiing with Robin, Tom, and Joel.

The 'tongue' of the glacier.

Post ski on a sunny morning.

Finished training and getting ready for the hike back to camp.

Trekking across the glacier while trying not to slip on the ice. In addition to the ice, some fairly big crevasses started opening up on day two that required some caution while crossing.

Post training hike back to camp.

Up Here

2009-08-27T19:24:00.004-06:00

An interview from Up Here magazine that appeared in their June edition. (If you click to make the image larger it should be possible to read!)

- Brendan

Day of rest...

2009-08-16T17:14:00.014-06:00

It's Sunday, my day of rest. I've got a fresh pot of licorice tea brewing, Bob Marley is keeping things chill on iTunes, and I've decided I'm overdue for a blog post. I just finished watching Usain Bolt crush his previous world record and run 9.58 seconds at the World Athletic Championships in Berlin. It blows me away how someone can be so confident and relaxed, at such a major championship so early in their career. The contrast between Bolt and Tyson Gay was interesting to watch on the start line. The tension and stress in Gay was obvious next to the relaxed and entertaining Bolt, who was confident in his ability to dominate while having fun in the process. If you haven’t already seen the race, be sure to check it out. It’s inspiring.

Out of curiosity I was looking through my training diaries earlier today to look at how much intensity we've been doing. Intensity has been the name of the game this Summer, so I decided to tally it up, and so far I've logged 20 hrs of Z3 intensity and 5.5 hrs of Z4, with plenty more to come! It’s been good though and training has been going as planned during the last month and a half.

Shortly after my last post we started up a testing week. These field tests are done twice every year, once early on in the Summer and once in the Fall, to give us an idea of where our fitness is at. The week consisted of two shooting tests combined with an uphill run up Sulphur Mountain, an uphill roller ski up Mt. Norquay, and an uphill double pole test. These tests and races went well and I am pretty happy were my fitness is at the moment. A more detailed description of the tests as well as results can be found on the following link to Scott Perra's blog.
http://blogs.fasterskier.com/scottperras/2009/07/13/rocky-mountain-testival/

Nothing too exciting has been going on lately... The hard intensity continues, and my body seems to have its ups and downs (along with the weather!) as to how its been handling these training loads. I’ve been feeling pretty good for the most part, although these last few weeks have been fairly tough and at the moment I’m feeling pretty tired! We’ve upped the amount of Zone 3 and 4 intensity training over the last couple weeks which has been challenging, but I’m looking forward to my upcoming week of training which will be more volume oriented. We’ve also done a couple of time trials now (15km Mass start and 10km Sprint) which have been useful in getting me dialed for our upcoming Trial races in September, which are fast approaching.

I’ll leave you all with a couple of pictures. Unfortunately, I left my camera behind on a lot of our more scenic roller skis as well as a pretty fun 5 hr mountain bike ride up Skogan and Jewel pass. I’ll have to remember to bring it along more often.

-Brendan

Nearing the end of the 8km Canada Day Race - I was lucky enough to win this race for the second year in a row! Photo - Scott Perras

During a few days off at the end of July a few of us hiked in to Fortress Lake for some camping. We got rained on pretty hard and had a close encounter with lightning, but the great fishing more than made up for any bad weather.

The team doing interval training on Mt. Norquay. Photos - Tom Zidek

May & eary June - Transition into training...

2009-07-20T17:15:00.014-06:00

This entry should have been posted about a month ago as it has been sitting on my desktop for a while now. I finally got around to finishing it today.

Since the beginning of May I’ve been back in training mode and have been logging quite a few hours. I spent the first few days of my training in quite a lot of pain as my body transitioned from skiing on snow to the dry land training we will be doing over the coming months. I could barely walk for two days after my first session of lifting weights, and suffered for another day or two after transitioning into other dry land activities such as long runs, and the first few hrs on the road bike saddle. Over the next week or two my body slowly adapted and my muscles are no longer in a constant state of stiffness, but are now ready to face this summer’s training full on!

In addition, we’ve also recently started up our first high intensity block and have been pounding out intervals on what seems like a daily basis! I knew I was in for tough couple weeks when I received my latest training plan and opened it up only to be greeted with an abundance of daily workouts printed in red font. To my teammates and I, this red print only means one thing - intensity! I knew what I was in for however, and have been feeling pretty good during the intensity sessions over the last two weeks.

Highlights from the last little while of training included some of the following….

Skiing in Sunshine

Late May provided some of the best skiing I’ve had all year. The snow was long gone in Canmore, but at 2000+ meters there was still a ton of it. The alpine meadows on top of Sunshine had the best crust skiing I have ever experienced and provided endless hours of it. On one of our last 3 hr workouts up at Sunshine we were able to ski all the way into Assiniboine Provincial Park, and turned around only when the trees limited us from going any further. It was fun to ease into training again by having the opportunity to ski on snow and we were also able to take in the benefits of training at altitude.

Scott Perras on our ski into Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park

A picture of the scenery with a couple skiers in the distance - Photo from Scott Perras blog http://blogs.fasterskier.com/scottperras/

Sport North Awards Banquet

Towards the end of May I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Yellowknife during the annual Sport North Awards Banquet. This year I had the honor of accepting the Male Athlete of the Year award along with cross country skier Mike Argue. It was fun to get a chance to chat with other athletes and acquaintances who were at the banquet, as well as visit with my parents who drove from Hay River for the occasion.

Myself and Mike Argue

Testing @ UofC

During the first week of June we spent a day with sports physiologists at the University of Calgary doing field tests. The morning started out with blood testing followed by body composition testing. These tests are done to monitor change in the body. I have records of these tests dating back to four or five years, and variances from my normal numbers provide insight into how my body is responding to my training load. They can also provide early warning signs of sickness or over training.

After getting some time to eat and digest I was back in the lab and on a running treadmill to perform a cardiac output test. This test measures the stroke volume of the heart, which is the amount of blood pumped from the heart per contraction. The more blood you can pump per contraction the better, as it will help all systems in your body be more efficient when under the stress of racing. This was my first time doing this particular test and it will be used as a baseline for comparison in testing later on.

In the afternoon I was in the Olympic Oval, which is home to the roller ski treadmill. Here the team was doing Incremental testing, which determines roughly what our individual target heart rates are for training in each particular zone. It was a long day in Calgary with a couple hard intensity sessions, but it was worthwhile as the information gained from these tests is quite useful.

Mid-way through the cardiac output test - Not the most comfortable test to do with all the equipment that your hooked up to. The tubes are used to measure gas exchange as well as input gas at different points throughout the test. Photo courtesy of Scott Perras.

On the treadmill.

Riding it up in the Kootenay’s

During the second week of June we kicked off our first training camp of the year in Revelstoke. Mt. Revelstoke once again provided an awesome opportunity for roller skiing, as the 25km climb with 1200m of elevation gain is tough to beat when a long and punishing workout is on the plan. From Revelstoke we road biked through the Kootenay’s towards Nelson and then headed back to Revelstoke for another session on the mountain before heading back to Canmore.

Our short four day camp consisted of the following –

Day 1 – AM - Drive to Revelstoke
PM - Roller ski up Mt. Revelstoke w/t 30 min of high end Zone 3

Day 2 – 152km ride from Nakusp to Nelson along the Slocan Valley – Just over 5hrs of riding.

Day 3 – 168km ride from Nelson to Nakusp via Caslo and New Denver – 5hr 40 min of riding. An awesome ride that I would highly recommend.

Day 4 – AM – Ski striding up Mt. Revelstoke w/t 40 min of continuous Zone 3
PM - Road ride from Radium along highway 40 / drive back to Canmore

Mid-way through our ride in Caslo.
Waiting for the ferry on our way back to Revelstoke.

Spring & Rest

2009-06-02T18:36:00.003-06:00

I drove 16hrs home the last week in April to spend some time with family, who I don’t get to see that often anymore, especially during race season. In addition to relaxing and eating home cooked meals, I was able to get in some great skiing on Great Slave Lake as well as some nice running and even a roller ski. I returned home two weeks later to resume training here in Canmore. I normally stay a bit longer in Hay River but my coach wanted to start May off with fairly big hours of training. So, I decided it would be better to return to Canmore and begin to focus on next season.

Anyways, here are some pictures from my time off in April.

Brendan

I spent Easter visiting my sister and her family in Saskatoon. One of my nephews Dominic showed great patience while painting eggs all morning!

Enjoying some powder skiing during the rest month with team mate Nathan Smith

Alexandra Falls before breakup

Fly fishing on the Kakisa River with my Dad during the Arctic Grayling run

One of my favorite things to do while up North during the spring. This year had some of the best conditions for skiing on Great Slave Lake during May.

It was my niece Anna's 5th birthday while I was home. She wasted no time in getting a taste of the icing on her birthday cake!

Where I stand in terms of Olympic qualification...

2009-05-27T15:01:00.007-06:00

Now, to shed some light on a question that I’ve been getting asked a lot recently. The 2010 Olympics! The situation is complicated, and what happens now is out of my hands. I wish I could give a concrete answer at the moment, but the fact of the matter is I cannot. All I can say is that it will still be a little while before the Olympic team is decided for biathlon. In order to qualify for the Olympics we have to meet international criteria while competing at the highest level of competition - the World Cup. While on this circuit, we have to meet performance benchmarks, which comprise the Olympic criteria, at three different times throughout the season. I am pleased to say that this season has been a break through year for me. I spent the winter racing for Canada on the World Cup circuit as a rookie, and in addition was selected to race at this year’s World Championships in Korea. At World Cup #7 in Whistler I met the third and final part of my Olympic criteria and have now qualified to be nominated for the 2010 Olympic team.

This year the men’s team had their best ever season with many outstanding performances which included 17 Pursuit starts, 3 top ten finishes including a historic 7th place finish in the relay at WC#3, and one team member consistently ranked within the top 30 overall. As a team we ranked 14th out of 40 countries in the World Cup standings (despite missing a World Cup), which is a break through for us. We have shown that we are competitive on the World stage.

As of right now however, Canada may not be able to send a full team to the Olympics although this is pending. At the moment I am the third ranked Olympic qualified male, and would hold a strong position in the event that we are allowed a full team. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll hear good news soon and will hopefully be able to provide a better update regarding the Olympics soon.

Cheers,
Brendan

Training on Great Slave Lake three weeks ago!

Out of gas…

2009-04-02T18:20:00.000-06:00

After a week in Norway it was time to get back on a plane, this time headed for Quebec where I would compete in my last three races of the season at Canadian Champs. This time our path of travel took us from Trondheim to Oslo, Oslo to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Toronto, and then Toronto to Quebec. We arrived in Quebec late at night, and arrived at our accommodations just before 2 am feeling pretty exhausted.

I tried to sleep in as much as I could the following morning but due to jetlag that was easier said than done. I went for an easy ski in the afternoon to get my body functioning again and did some short intensity the following day in preparation for Thursday’s 20km race.

Racing in Quebec - Photo by Dan Giroux

The following three races over the next four days were exhausting and I performed far from potential, similar to how I was feeling! My legs burned the second I left the start line, and after the first lap of every race I felt totally bagged. I was however able to put together a much better performance on Sunday’s race was a nice way to end my last race of the season.

Start of the Relay - Photo by Dan Giroux

After a night out with friends in Quebec City I journeyed back to Canmore where I could finally relax and get some rest after a long season on the road! Because I was feeling so wrecked, I drove into Calgary a couple days after I got home to get some blood work and body composition testing done just to double check that everything was in order.

Sight seeing in Old Quebec

The spring skiing in Canmore is great right now so I’ll detrain for a week or two before taking a total break a little later in April.

Brendan

Wow, that was long…

2009-03-27T16:04:00.001-06:00

Our travel to Norway was long to say the least. From Vancouver we flew to Calgary where we jumped on our connecting flight to Heathrow airport in London. After a fairly long layover, which consisted of walking around the airport followed by trying to catch some sleep on airport benches, it was off to Oslo. From Oslo we got on yet another flight to Trondheim and arrived at our hotel after a 45 min bus ride from the Trondheim Airport. We arrived in the evening, so after a quick snack and a shower that’d I’d been looking forward too since my last race in Vancouver, it was off to bed!

One of the amazing views from Trondheim

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent trying recover from the races in Vancouver as well as prepare for Thursday’s 10km Sprint race. It had been raining a lot all week, which meant that we would be racing in tough slushy conditions. My race started out well and I was able to ski the majority of my first lap behind Norwegian Lars Berger. After shooting prone however, I began to suffer more on the skis than normal and just did my best throughout the rest of the race to hang on. I knew that I didn’t have a great day on my skis and I crossed the finish line in 63rd with two misses and just a few seconds outside of the top 60.

Mass start race. The track was salted prior to the race in order to absorb and eliminate most of the slush that we had to ski in.

The vibe at the venue was pretty awesome. Hundreds of school children lined the switchbacks into the range in addition to the thousands of fans that packed the grande stands. Every time Ole Einar skied by, the stadium would erupt with cheering. It was pretty cool.

The King of biathlon, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen on route to another World Cup victory in front of his home crowd

Norway as a country was really interesting as well. Scandinavia is the birthplace of skiing and biathlon so it was really neat to experience a country where skiing is part of the culture. I had the opportunity to do a couple of long skis on the surrounding trails, which was really fun. Trails went in every direction and were busy with people of all ages and skill levels. People were out having fun and being active which was great to see. It’s motivating to be in an environment like this and it was revitalizing to get away from the stress of racing and be able to ski around and explore. I would like to spend more time in Norway at some point although it is a very expensive country. Be prepared to spend $10 Canadian if you order a beer!

Cheers,

Brendan

Whistler World Cup – Racing at home!

2009-03-25T15:40:00.001-06:00

This past week the Biathlon World Cup circuit moved to Canada for World Cup #7. This was the pre–Olympic World Cup where we were able to test out the new Olympic venue for Biathlon in the Callaghan Valley, just outside of Whistler, BC.

It was awesome to be able to jump on a plane and not have to cross the Atlantic Ocean for once! Finally the Europeans would get a taste of what our life is like on the circuit with having to travel so far from home. The week in Whistler was a lot of fun. It was special because my parents along with my brother and his family came out to watch me race and there were a lot of other familiar faces in the crowd cheering the Canadians on. The stellar conditions were a much-welcomed change for anyone who had raced in Korea and racing on natural snow was especially nice. It’s rare that we race entirely on natural snow, as the warmer conditions in Europe often require man-made snow.

Racing on the Olympic course in Whistler - Photo by Christian Manzoni

As for the races I am very pleased with how they went, with the exception of the Relay. I was skiing consistently fast and my shooting had improved since Korea, which allowed me to put together some pretty solid performances. In the 20km Individual I crossed the line in 46th shooting 17/20 and finished 52nd in the 10km Sprint shooting 8/10.

I like the Olympic course a lot. It boasts nice rolling terrain with great flow and is challenging in terms of many technical transitions which make you have to work hard to maintain speed. The new venue seemed to be well liked by the Europeans and everyone is excited for next February.

Lapping through the stadium during the Relay - Photo by Dan Giroux

After the Relay on Sunday we jumped straight into the team van and drove to the airport in Vancouver to continue on to our next destination; World Cup #8 in Trondheim, Norway. Not being able to cool down after the race, not being able to have a shower, and having to scramble to pack our equipment is definitely not ideal for recovery, but with our tight schedule to get to the airport we didn’t have a choice!

Thanks to all the volunteers and supporters who helped make the World Cup such a great success!

Brendan

Thoughts on World Champs…

2009-02-25T19:16:00.006-07:00

The World Championships wrapped up the other day with the Men’s 4x7.5km relay. Conditions had improved slightly from earlier in the week, but there were still some corners that were pure ice on the down hills. Our team finished up in 16th, which was far from our best relay result of the season, but I think respectable given the pressure we were under. I actually had my best race of the Championships during our Relay and I managed to finally adapt to the unforgiving wind on the range. I felt solid on my skis, was able to push hard in the up hills, and logged one of my faster ski ranks of the Championships which I was pretty happy about.

Racing the Relay. Photo credit - Christian Manzoni

Following the race which was once again at night, we had to scramble to pack our skis and rifles at the venue and have everything ready to be loaded into cargo vans, which would meet us with our luggage at the airport in Seoul the next morning. Once arriving back at our accommodation we grabbed our last Asian buffet meal and did some last minute packing before heading to bed around midnight. Only a few hours later it was time to wake up to catch a bus to the airport and begin my journey back to Canada. While the rest of my teammates were able to fly back home over the Pacific Ocean, I had to fly home the opposite direction around the world with an overnight stop in Frankfurt. I made it back to Canmore in one piece but I am still feeling fairly fatigued from the travel.

My first World Championships was a fun and interesting experience, and I think it’s safe to say that it was also quite a different and unique experience for many of the veterans on the circuit as well. I can’t say that I’m a fan of racing in Korea, and won’t be disappointed if I never get to race there again! The Championships didn’t really have the same feel compared to the World Cups in Europe and the conditions were so adverse it made racing and training extremely frustrating at times. Performance wise other than in the Relay, I didn’t perform to my expectations which was very frustrating even though my skiing was in good form. I struggled a lot with the conditions, mainly the wind, and I think I lacked the knowledge and understanding that the most experienced athletes showed like Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Halvard Hanevold. This type of experience can only be gained through racing in these types of conditions and I think I am a stronger athlete now having had the opportunity to race these World Championships in Korea. I was happy to finish on a positive note with a good leg in the Relay, and I’m looking forward to the remainder of the season.

Skiing in the cross country stadium with ski jumps in the background.

I’m now back in Canmore and will be putting in a solid week of training here before packing my bag again and traveling to Whistler for World Cup #7. This should be an awesome experience to race on home soil and it will be fun to have some family and familiar faces cheering me on!

See you next in Whistler!

Brendan

World Champs Sprint & Individual

2009-02-17T22:21:00.008-07:00

Since my last post both the Sprint and Individual competitions have gone underway here in Korea. I procrastinated writing a post about the Sprint because I hoped that I would have something more exciting to write about from today’s 20km Individual race. Unfortunately this is not the case, and I am disappointed to say that I have not been performing to my expectations.

Saturday’s 10km Sprint race was one that I won’t forget. When I woke up the rain had stopped and our team got the word in the morning that the race would be a go. The course would be slightly modified however as parts of the original loop were now too icy and dangerous to race on. Instead or racing 3 laps of the 3.3 km course, we would now race the 2.5km course and do a double lap of 2.5km in the middle of our race.

Working hard to stay on my feet on one of the sketchy downhills

After sleeping in and killing time in the afternoon by going for a run and dry firing at the race site, we made our way to the venue to prepare for the night’s race. The organizing committee trucked in quite a bit of snow and entirely recovered the stadium and most of the course. Everything leading up to the race went normal. Conditions were far from ideal though. The snow was really soft and a mix between slush and sugary manmade ice, especially on the climbs where our skis would get buried, making it a tedious day on the body. It felt like I was trying to ski through sand at many points throughout the race. The descents on the other hand were icy and fast which made the corners on the more technical down hills super sketchy and provided spectators with a few good crashes to watch. I tried not to fight the slush while skiing and instead tried to ski as relaxed as possible which is very important to do in these types of conditions. Instead of powering through the deep snow I tried reduce muscular fatigue by taking smaller steps on the climbs while skiing with a higher tempo relying more on my engine and VO2 max as opposed muscular power. The other difficult element to deal with that night other than the snow was a strong wind that was always present and would switch to stronger gusts throughout the race. In short, I didn’t race well and got off to a terrible start with three misses prone due to having problems making the proper corrections for the wind. Shooting standing was a little better, but still not great and I was out of the running for a top 60 finish, which meant I wouldn’t be starting in the Pursuit race the next day. JP and Robin were the top Canadians on qualifying for the Pursuit in 42^nd and 48^th place. The only positive from the race was my skiing in which I ranked in the top 45. For me this is solid. Ski speed is all relative however, as it doesn’t do much good unless combined with an excellent performance on the shooting range.

Our wax techs working hard as usual finding us the best pair of skis for the day

I put the Sprint result aside and focused the next few days on getting prepared for today’s Individual race. Training was going very well leading up to today. Race prep yesterday couldn’t have gone much better. I was feeling strong and had seemed to have mastered the tricky wind conditions in the range. I was pumped and ready to go.

After a very thorough zero which included some visualization of different wind scenarios and a solid warm up, I was confident that I could have a good race even if the wind wasn’t favorable. The race started out awesome. I paced my skiing well and shot clean prone and had 1 miss standing. At one point on the third loop I was ranked 25^th. This was until I came in for my third shooting bout and things started to go downhill. The wind had changed and this time instead of not correcting enough, I think I may have overcorrected. I left the range with 3 penalties and my next standing bout didn’t go any better. It was very frustrating but I buried my thoughts and fought hard until the end. Once again I had a great ski and once again my shooting held me back from what had the potential to be a great performance. There were a lot of misses today; even from many of the top ranked shooters. Having a lucky day on the range with conditions being the way they were was definitely the ticket to a great result today.

A view of the stadium while training during the day

I’ll take tomorrow’s training a little easier and then it’s time to focus on preparing for Sunday’s Relay race.

Results, articles, live results, and a live video feed of all the races can be found at www.biathlonworld.com

Hello from Yong Pyong!

2009-02-13T06:33:00.002-07:00

Well, after a 10hr plane trip and a 3hr bus ride from the Inchon Airport near Seoul, we arrived in the Yong Pyong Winter Resort. The Greenpia Hotel will be home for the next 3 weeks while we prepare and race during the World Championships. The resort we are at is like a miniature Whistler and made entirely with tourists in mind. Apart from the ski hills, other winter attractions include a 400m snowmobile course and ice fishing in a nearby pond. These activities are definitely not authentic over here, but pretty hilarious to watch, especially if you come from the North!

The Greenpia Hotel will be our home for the next three weeks.

The venue is located about a 5min bus ride from our hotel and has been a hot topic of discussion amongst the teams since our arrival. Simply put, the trails are very challenging. The up hills are frequent and each one is long and very steep. Following the giant climbs are technical and super sketchy down hills. They wouldn’t be so bad under normal conditions, but the snow conditions here are a little adverse. All the snow is manmade and the temperature climbs to well above zero every day. With the exception of the Individual competition all our races will take place at night under flood lights and the last few days we’ve been training at night during the same time we’d be racing. By the time the men start training the temperature begins to drop, and the slush during the women’s training just a few hours before is turned to solid ice. Huge ruts on the down hills form and things start to get intense. Every night during dinner you hear of one or two epic crashes from the day and can see the fresh carnage walk through the door which is usually in the form of a scraped up face. The other day my team mate Scott had an impressive crash that definitely took the cake for wipeouts during that nights training! As a team we were skiing the down hills together trying to come to a conclusion about the best lines to take during the competitions. On the last downhill into the range we were skiing down single file with decent speed, and Scott who was third in line started to gain a bit on JP who was just ahead of him. He took an inside line that was a bit tighter to avoid having to slow down, shifted his weight slightly before entering the turn, caught an edge, and then went over the tips of his skis where he literally became airborne. He had nice Superman like form while flying through the air a few feet off the ground, until he came down for an extremely hard landing. Robin and I were skiing behind him and witnessed the whole event. When we skied back over to him I was positive bones were broken as Scott was lying on the ground in a slightly contorted position and in a lot of pain. After the whole ordeal was said and done, and after he came out of what appeared to be some state of shock, he luckily only walked away with a sprained hand and some scrapes and bruises. Initially it looked like it was going to be much worse.

As you can see, there is not a lot of snow...Part of why the course is so sketchy!

While out for a run one day I came across this exercise equipment in the middle of the forest.

Couple conditions like this with the so far typical 8 click wind on the range and we have our work cut out! I can say though that things have improved over the last couple days and the conditions on the course have gotten a lot better and more reasonable. This was until today’s rain storm. It’s been pouring rain all day which is doing a lot of damage to the snow on the course. The winds were also gusting up to 50km/hr last night which also took its toll on the snow. I was up at the venue just a couple hours ago to do some dry firing and when I walked through the stadium all that remains is a sheet of ice with a giant puddle in the middle. I guess conditions over the rest of the course are similar. The rain continues to come down in sheets but apparently the organizing committee has been trucking in snow to the venue since four o’clock this afternoon. There will be a meeting early tomorrow morning to decide whether or not the race will go ahead or be postponed a day so that more work can be done on the course. There is a lot of pressure for it to be a go, especially with all the TV networks that will be airing the races live. I’m sure the organizing committee will be working hard over night to try and make things happen.

Let’s hope the weather turns around so that we can race!

During the rain storm the downhill ski stadium slowly turned into a massive puddle.

World Cup #6 - Antholz, Italy

2009-02-05T23:41:00.004-07:00

My last race during Trials was on Sunday. On Monday I spent the day scrambling to get packed and organized because by Tuesday morning I was on my way to the airport to catch a flight from Calgary to Munich via Frankfurt. It was a stressful couple of days as it took a while to sort out logistics of where I was going and exactly what I was doing. All I knew was that I would be leaving to Italy and would be racing a World Cup Sprint on Friday. I didn’t find out my flight time until late Monday night, wasn’t able to pick up my ticket until Tuesday morning just before I left, and I wasn’t exactly sure how was I going to get from Munich to Italy.

Everything sorted itself out in the end. Our massage therapist picked me up at the airport in Munich and we drove through Germany and Austria to Italy where I met up with the rest of the team. The next day during official training I did some easy training to familiarize myself with the venue and to try and jump start my body which was tired after two long days of travel. 48 hours after arriving to Europe, I was on the start line to race the 10km Sprint. Ideally it would have been nice to have a bit more time to recover before jumping into race, but I skied surprisingly well and shot respectable (8/10) to finish in 56^th out of 114 competitors. This was my best race so far out of my short stint on the World Cup circuit and finishing in the top 60 and being able to qualify to start in the Pursuit is a big step forward in the right direction.

18,000 fans cheering from the grande stands in the stadium.

On Saturday I woke up feeling fairly tired, but I managed to put together another solid race and moved up 9 spots to finish in 48^th. Antholz is at altitude which I find for me makes the shooting a lot more difficult due to taking in less oxygen with each breath compared to at a lower elevation. I had to take my time in the range which I think turned out to be smart decision as decent shooting (I hit 16/20) definitely helped to move me up in the ranks. I felt more tired on my skis during the Pursuit. In a Pursuit race the athletes start at the same time interval that they finished behind the leader in the previous days Sprint race. So, the leader from the Sprint race would start first and if second place finished 5 seconds behind first place the previous day, then that athlete would start 5 seconds behind the leader in the Pursuit. This continues until the top 60 athletes are out on course and results in sort of a ‘cat and mouse’ type race where everyone is trying to chase down the leader in front of them. Because everyone starts so close together the skiing gets quite competitive and the pace on the first lap is absolute hell! I was just able to hang on to the pace on the first lap, and skied a lot stronger with each lap as the race went on. Racing in Atholz was a lot of fun. The venue is amazing and racing in front of 18,000 roaring fans is an experience I won’t soon forget!

Early on in the Pursuit in Antholz, ITA

It was a really fun experience and although I was feeling quite tired there were a lot of positive’s from those two days of racing. The biggest highlight was qualifying for my first Pursuit race on my first available chance to do so while on the World Cup! Secondly, I was able to have decent results in the shooting range given the altitude, and thirdly, even though I wasn’t feeling in 100% physical shape, I was able to actually ski quite competitively and was skiing within the top 50 for both races which was good.

After the races were over I took a day off to recover and then it was back to training to do some high volume days at higher altitudes (2000 m) before going Ruhpolding, Germany for a mini-camp before heading off to Korea. Training in Ruhpolding started out great. We were able to put in a lot of shooting volume and did a few hard intensity sessions. On Sunday however, I woke up with a bad sore throat and pounding headache, only to spend the next few days in bed and in quarantine while I did everything I could to try and speed recovery. This was done by trying to get as much rest as possible, hydrating with tea and water to the point where I felt like a fish, and by taking regular dosages of Cold FX, oregano oil, and other vitamins.

Feeling slightly better by Wednesday, we drove to the airport in Munich where we boarded a plane and were on our way to Korea. Adios Europe!

A photo from one of our high altitude workouts in the Italian Dolomites.

I know...Long Overdue!

2009-01-30T05:18:00.005-07:00

This post brings you up to date on the more exciting details about what exactly I've been up to this since my last entry.

Roller ski Trials

When I left off on my last post I was gearing up for our trial races which would take place while racing on roller skis. Canmore would be host to the North American Summer Biathlon Championships and 3 races over the course of 4 days would determine the athletes that would take part in the early season pre-Christmas tours to Europe. Having trial races on roller skis (for upcoming races that will be on snow) creates quite a bit of controversy among the athletes as roller skiing isn’t quite the same as skiing on the real white stuff. Another way to look at it is if skiing on snow is 100% efficient, than other types of training that although close, will not be as efficient.

The races were stressful and I didn’t have stellar performances over the course of this competition, but I performed well enough and qualified as the 4^th man selected for the IBU Cup tour in December.

A new definition of PAIN!

I mentioned in my last post that we had been visiting the Olympic Oval in Calgary from time to time to make use of the new treadmill that is being used by the national speed skating and ski teams. The machine is basically identical to a running treadmill but is much larger and more powerful.

Warming up on the treadmill (the Olympic Oval can bee seen in the reflection from the mirror).

While waiting for the snow to fall in Canmore, we made frequent trips into Calgary to take advantage of the treadmill and do a series of extremely gruelling and punishing VO2 Max interval sessions. The treadmill is extremely useful as you can ski and be monitored under a controlled setting which is difficult to do on snow. The speed and grade can be changed at the push of a button and there’s no cheating or easy way out for the athletes. Either ski the speed the belt is moving or you’ll face the consequence and find yourself dangling from a safety harness suspended from the ceiling!

A typical V02 Max session during this period of training was in a pyramid form and went as follows:

3% grade – 22km per/hr – Two skate

6% grade – 18km per/hr – One skate

14% grade – 11km per/hr – Off set

6% grade – 18km per/hr – One skate

3% grade – 22km per/hr – One skate

The intervals were a max out effort and extremely hard to complete. Lactates (determining what level of stress the body is under by measuring the amount of lactic acid in the blood) were taken halfway through the session and I set a new lactate record for myself of 16.0. This is very high for a guy with a relatively low lactate curve! I don’t think I have ever been in this much physical pain while training, but it was motivating to learn that I am able to push myself to this type of limit and know that even when I think I have nothing left in the tank, I can always dig a little deeper.

What happens when the treadmill picks up speed a little too fast!

Where’s the snow?

We experienced an unusually warm October and early November here in Canmore which is a skier’s nightmare. At this time of the year the dry land training has taken its toll and we are extremely eager to transfer our training over to snow. There was little to be found anywhere in the country and after our early season ski camp to Silver Star got rained out, I made the journey to the only place in Canada where there was decent snow; home!

I arrived in Hay River around the 10^th of November for 10 days and made use of the excellent snow conditions to prepare myself for the race season which was quickly approaching. I had the entire trail system to myself most days and trained on my own which gave me the opportunity to fine tune areas of my skiing and shooting that I felt needed work. The only downside was the weather. Soon after my arrival temperatures dropped after they had been very moderate during the three weeks prior to my arrival. It was my fault for not jumping on plane sooner, but I still managed to achieve what I had come for; excellent early season skiing!

NorAm Cup #1

I arrived back in Canmore just in time for the North American Cup #1 which would serve as my first official competition of the winter season. I had strong performances in both races with great skiing and decent shooting. I finished Saturday’s race in 3^rd place and would have been on the podium the next race as well, but instead found myself disqualified after Sunday’s Individual race due to accidentally skiing part of the course wrong. I wasn’t too worried as I still had a solid race, and the competition served its purpose as a tune up before heading to Europe.

Racing in the NorAm Cup#1 - Canmore, AB

Off to Europe!

Six days following my first races of the winter, I was on my way to Europe on my first tour of the season to take part in a series of International Biathlon Union races. Our first stop was in Obertilliach, Austria to race in the IBU Cup #2. An internal selection process within the Canadian team would also take place during the early stages of this tour to select the top two men from our tour to join the team on the World Cup circuit. Entering into the first IBU Cup race I was ranked second Canadian. After a strong performance in Saturday’s 20km Individual race I crossed the line in 25^th out of 132 competitors shooting 16/20 while putting in a solid effort on the skis. This result sealed the deal and I was on my way to race in my first World Cup!

Obertilliach, Austria - In the two days leading up to the the first race it snowed non-stop. When the storm was over, a total of 1.5 meters of fresh powder had accumulated. This made for extremely soft trail conditions during our first competition and resulted in one of the hardest 20km races I have ever done!

World Cup Debut!

After Saturday’s 20km race in Obertilliach, I had a couple hours to pack and grab some food before I jumped in a vehicle and was on my way to the World Cup to race in a Relay the following morning. After five hours of driving through a lot of snow and rain we finally arrived in Hochfillzen, Austria. I felt alright until I went to get out of the vehicle and it was then I realized that my body had stiffened up from sitting for so long and that I was in a bit of rough shape!

I woke up at 4:30am the next morning either due to nerves or maybe as a result of the ongoing battle with jetlag, or likely a combination of both! After quick morning run to loosen up my body and some dry firing in my hotel room, I was as ready as I could be to race! The whole experience was a little overwhelming. I had no idea what to expect. I had never even been to watch a World Cup race before and had only ever watched them on TV. Driving into the venue we passed by a steady stream of fans making the journey to the stadium and once I saw this, I knew I was in for a new experience! Once I arrived at the race site it was more or less the normal routine of testing skis, zeroing, and warming up before the race. My ski testing got off to a bit of stressful start after I wrecked a pair of my team mates skis by hitting a rock, but after that everything went normal!

I was racing leg 3 out of 4 for our 4 x 7.5km relay and listened to the results while skiing around the warm up loop and got the occasional view of the race on the jumbo screen near the range. Canada was off to a great start. The wind conditions made the shooting difficult, but in comparison with the other teams, we were shooting well and having a good day. Robin, our first man out tagged off to Scott in 8^th place. Scott had an impressive leg to tag off to me in 5^th place. Now, to put things into perspective, Canada’s best relay finish ever up to this point was 13^th. I was a little stressed out that my debut on the World Cup would be in a Relay race, and it didn’t help the pressure to have Scott tag off to me in 5^th! I only had a few seconds to worry about this and before I knew it I was out on course and settled in to doing what I’m trained to do; race! Given the circumstances, I raced a solid leg, and tagged off to Jean Philippe in 7^th, who had an incredible last leg given the pressure our team was under to finish and maintain 7th place, only^{13 seconds off 4^th place. It was a great day for everyone on our team and it was a bonus to have Canada’s best finish ever in a Relay on the World Cup. It was also an extremely exciting debut for me in my first World Cup race.}

I stayed on the following week to race World Cup #3. My races were OK, nothing spectacular but it was great to be able to gain experience racing amongst the World’s elite. After the last race it was in the vans and we were off to spend the night in Munich before heading home for Christmas. This year I decided not to spend Christmas at home in Hay River due to it being difficult to get quality training in, as it is often extremely cold around Christmas! After arriving back to Canmore in the early hours of the 23^rd,I drove to Nelson on Christmas Eve to spend 4 days with my brother Paul’s family and my parents who drove down from home. Despite getting sick while in Nelson, it was a nice way to relax and spend my break after a busy few weeks of racing.

WC#3 - Shooting prone during the Sprint race in Hochfillzen, Austria.

Photo credit - Christian Manzoni

9 Seconds Off…

I arrived back in Canmore on the 28^th and began training with my team again the next day. On the agenda was a tough week of training high in hours, strength, and intensity. To finish the week off, I registered to race in a Haywood Cup 15km cross country skate race. The competition also doubled as a team selection for the cross country skiers to pick the U23 (under 23) World Championship team as well as athletes to race in upcoming cross country World Cups. It was a good opportunity for me to race as the top skiers in the country were there and it allowed me to gauge where I compared in ski speed to the athletes in the cross country world. I wasn’t exactly expecting a stellar performance given the week of training I had just finished and the fact that I had been sore almost every day from starting a weight program again in the gym. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome and ended up skiing quite a solid race and finished up in 4^th place overall and was the 2^nd U23 man. Had I been 9 seconds faster and won the U23 category, I would have secured myself a place on the U23 World Championship team.

Judgement day…And I’m off to World Champs!

On January 15^th our second and last set of trial races of the season took place. Up for grabs was the last remaining spot on the World Championship Team, and 4 spots that were open for the European Championship Team. I always find these selection races some of the most if not the most stressful of the season, mainly because of the ‘do or die’ scenario. Either race well and make one of the teams, or get stuck at home in Canada and race the domestic circuit. The number of top ranked athletes fighting for the positions this year was impressive, as the increasing depth in the men’s team is raising the level of competition. To select the teams, an average percentage of the best 2 out of 3 races are used. The percentage is determined by the average time of the top 3 athletes divided by your race time. Therefore, a bigger margin of victory will result in a higher percentage being awarded to the winner, and if the top 3 times are close than the percentage of the winner will be lower.

Fortunately, I can say that the 3 races over the four days could not have gone much better for me. Every race was very tight, so there was a build up of pressure that came with each day of racing. I had a very good performance and won the first race on Thursday by a narrow margin of only 2 seconds. On Saturday I had another narrow victory, this time by 5 seconds. With the races being so tight and my overall percent lead being relatively small, it meant that everything came down to Sunday’s Pursuit race. There were 3 of us who were in contention for the World Championship spot by this point and the race could have been won by any 3 of us. Thankfully, I was able to keep cool under the pressure and was able to put in another solid performance. I won again, this time by a larger margin of 30 seconds! I was on my way to race World Championships in Pyeong Chang, Korea!

Racing Trials in Canmore, AB

Spring and Summer

2008-10-29T14:16:00.015-06:00

I wrote this a while ago and a few of you have already read it, but I figured it would be a good first post as it summarizes my training and what I've been up to since the beginning of the season. It finishes off at the end of the summer and I'll continue from there with my next couple of posts...

Dear Friends and Supporters,

It’s been a while and I think an update about what I’ve been up to is long overdue! It’s amazing how time flies during the summer when I become immersed in training. It only seems like yesterday when it was springtime and I was taking a well needed mental and physical break after a long season of racing.

After Canadian Championships at the newly finished Olympic venue in the Callaghan Valley, I made the journey with a few other biathletes to Grande Prairie to once again work the Weyerhauser Pulp Mill shutdown. The work isn’t fun but the pay is decent, and couldn’t come at a better time as a season of racing quickly takes its toll on the bank funds!

From Grande Prairie I drove 8 hours north back home to Hay River. I arrived pretty tired from the Mill and spent the next little while relaxing and recovering. It was nice to visit with family and lay low for a while, but before I knew it, it was time to start training again. While at home I got to make a trip across the lake to Yellowknife to take part in the annual Sport North Awards Banquet where I received the Northwest Territories senior male athlete of the year award. It was an honor to receive the award and was great to meet and chat with Sport North’s major sponsors and supporters as well as other athletes from the North.

At the end of May I arrived back in Canmore re-energized and ready to focus on training again. After joining back up with National Team, the season kicked off with a training camp at Mt. Washington on Vancouver Island. It’s the perfect place for early season training and comes with a lot of bonuses. The resort was very accommodating and provided us with a 2km loop to ski on that was groomed daily (a little short but fine for the training we were doing). When the sun came out we were provided with stellar views and for once we were able to ski on top of a mountain and breathe easily at the same time. Skiing at a lower elevation was especially nice. There was still a ton of snow with easily over a meter base on top of the mountain and we had access to a shooting range minutes from our door. After skiing in the morning, we would drop down to sea level for our afternoon workouts which would consist of sea kayaking, running along the ocean on sweet trails, or mountain biking on some technical west coast trails. After a long and hard week of training we spent two days relaxing and surfing in Tofino which was awesome. This was our second camp at Mt. Washington and I’m sure we’ll be back for more spring training there.

From Mt. Washington it was back to Canmore again to resume training in the Rockies. We’ve had many good training sessions at Highwood pass, Mt. Shark, and Mt. Norquay. The testing blocks have gone very well, with personal bests in many tests, and we’ve been doing a fair bit of testing and monitoring at the U of C. Most recently we’ve been using and doing testing on the new roller ski treadmill housed in the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary. The sessions on the treadmill have been awesome and I think it will become a very valuable tool for the team both for technique and testing purposes. On another note, I also now have a part time job working at running store on my rest days. So far it’s been alright but I’m hoping that I will be able to get enough recovery between work and training.

Most recently I’ve returned home from a short training camp based out of Revelstoke in BC. Day one consisted of a 150km road ride from the Revelstoke Dam to the CMH Monashee backcountry lodge. We were lucky enough to spend the night here, thanks to a connection through coach Matthias. Mathias, a former back country guide, used to guide out of this lodge in his early days when he first came to Canada. The lodge was absolutely amazing and we were treated with exceptional hospitality and awesome meals that definitely did the trick in refueling our bodies after a hard day on the bike. Day two consisted of roller skiing up Mt. Revelstoke while doing some solid intensity along the way. The 25 km climb switch backs up the mountain at a steep and steady grade climbs 1200m in the process. It made for a pretty tough and long workout! After a cool down jog to the summit it was back to the campsite to ice the legs in the lake before dinner. Day three consisted of cycling back to Canmore from Lake Louise which we did at an average speed of over 34 km an hour. All in all it was a pretty solid camp, except for getting sick with a cold on day two which I am still not quite 100% recovered from. Better sick now than in the winter…

Also keeping me on my toes have been the bears around Canmore. Today I came face to face with a black bear minutes from my house. I was roller skiing to training and was cresting a hill with the sun in my eyes and heard a rustle in the bushes next to me. When I looked over, a black bear was walking out onto the road beside me which gave me quite a surprise to say the least! It’s been a bit of a crazy year for encountering bears while training. I think that was number six or seven. Thankfully, so far every bear I’ve seen has gone its own way and I won’t be disappointed if go the rest of the summer without having any more encounters!

In between these highlights, the rest of the summer has been a bit of blur with training as usual. We’ve ramped up the intensity and stepped up the volume this year making many workouts a challenge. Some weeks of training consist of five days of intensity in a row which leaves you spent at the end of the week. Training has been demanding but I think my body is coping well and I hope that this hard work will translate into some serious speed in the upcoming season. Our first World Cup and IBU cup trials are fast approaching and will be taking place the first week of September and I now switch my focus to competing well at these races. I’ll keep you all posted as to how they go.

That’s all for now but I’ve attached some pictures to hold you over until the next update.

Until then,
Cheers!

Brendan

Spring skiing on Great Slave Lake

Early morning hike up to the summit of Mt. Washington where a freshly groomed track awaits us.

One of clear days on top of the Mountain

Skiing in June!

Running in the lush forest on one of the many trails near the Ocean

Morning beach run in Tofino

Glacier crossing – Alpine hike near Lake Louise

Incremental test on the new treadmill – Olympic Oval, U of C (note the harness system in case you wipe out!) – More to come on this later!

The team at the Monashee Lodge – 150km North of Revelstoke

Taking the win in the first race of the ZRS series!