Christmas time

Another Christmas has come and gone. It was great to be home with the whole family. We even had an addition this year! Claude Godbout is in Canmore getting ready for the Olympic trials this weekend so she spent Christmas with us! On boxing day we had our Crawford extravaganza party, ice skating, good food and a jam session, could you ask for more?!

Now on to the exciting news, starting this Saturday we will have our first Olympic trial race up at the Nordic center. There will be 3 races and the woman who has the best 2 out of 3 races will fill the final Olympic spot. I am feeling pretty good about these races, I have almost completely kicked my cold and am pretty excited. So if anyone who is in Canmore wants to come out and cheer that would be awesome!

Happy Holidays and wish me luck!
Hugs
Rosanna

Travel day

Well I am back in glorious Canmore as are my parents and Chandra should be home some time today!
Travel back was long, we flew Munich to Frankfurt and then once we got to Frankfurt our plane was over sold in the back and so they were paying people to not take the flight. But lucky for me I got to use one of my up grade certificates and sat in first class for the long flight home. Not only is the flight 9 1/2 hrs but we had to hang out on the runway for two and a half hours waiting to be de-iced and therefor left 3hrs late. But those first class pods are glorious I got to lay out like I was in my own little world!

Now it is time to get healthy, enjoy some family time, get some training and then have our Olympic trial races! Those should start around the 2nd of January and there will be 3 - 4 races where only athletes who are World Cup qualified get to race. That means Claude Godbout, Sandra Keith, Melanie Shultz, Cindy Clark and my self will be battling it out for the last spot on the women's Olympic team. Should be fun! I will keep you up dated with when the races are so if you are in Canmore you can come out and cheer!

Happy Holidays and all the best!
Hugs
Rosanna

ps here are some photos from my trip.

Racing in Ridnaun

the town of Obertilliach

Church in Obertilliach

Skiing in Obertilliach

playing in the snow with Cindy

Skiing in Obertilliach

No racing :(

Well today is another cold day and my sore throat has gotten worse. I decided it would best not to get any more worse by racing, because about 7days after I get home I have my Olympic trial races. So resting up and being 100% for those races is my main priority right now. I am pretty bummed because I love pursuit races so this was a tough decision!

Today we drive back to Munich and fly home tomorrow, just in time for Christmas!

Happy Holidays and stay healthy!
hugs
Rosanna

7.5km Sprint, Obertilliach

Today was a balmy -17! Where we are in Obertilliach the range is in a little gully surrounded by a creek, with the humidity it feels a lot colder. The mens race almost didn’t go because it was close to the -20 cut off. 

I was bib #36, so I made sure I was toasty warm before my race, wearing almost all the warm clothes I had brought with me! My parents came over to watch Chandra race in Davos and then made their way over here to cheer me on. It was great having my mom cheer for me up the long up hill. I started off strong and came in for my first shooting, after a couple arms circles I took my 5 shots and left the range with clean shooting! Rip past the penalty loop and back out on course. Going around the course I kept telling my self to demand more and push out side my comfort zone. It felt great to be able to do what I asked. I came into my standing bout with warm hands and fired off my first 3 shots, hit, hit, hit, miss, hit, perfect 9/10 much better than last weekend. One quick penalty loop and back out on course. I pictured my mom and dad cheering for me all the way around the 2.5km loop. I ended up 27th out of 116 girls! I am pretty happy with my result. This also means that I get to start the pursuit tomorrow. I start 1min53sec behind first, so with some good shooting I should be able to move up some spots.

It is supposed to be colder than it was today so their is a chance that the race will be canceled, which would be too bad. I have also been fighting a sore throat the past couple days which is always annoying! 

Stay classy,

hugs

Rosanna

7.5km Sprint, Ridnaun

Today was the sprint, a nice short race with only two shooting bouts. Things started off well I was skiing fast and feeling great. I came in for my first shooting and hit 4 prone. Not bad for a sprint. I whipped around the 2.5km loop and came in for my standing shooting.  Maybe I skied too fast or maybe I didn’t set up right but I missed my first 3 shots, deep breath and hit, hit. 3 laps around the penalty loop and I was back out on course. The sprint course is much nicer than the individual course here. Only one super steep up hill! 

Today I was bib #2 so there was not much to compare to till people started crossing the finish line. In the end I as 48th out of 106 women. Hopefully next weekend back in Obertilliach I can pull together a good skiing race and a good shooting! We have a sprint race on Friday and a pursuit on Saturday then it is home for Christmas! 

Hope you are all well!

hugs

Rosanna

15km Individual, Ridnaun Italy

Today was my first ever 15km Individual and it was tough! Ridnaun has a course that could give Canmore’s World Cup course a run for their money. Steep up hills with some sketchy downhills. Individuals are all about the shooting, because for ever shot you miss you get 1min added to your ski time and one minute is hard to make up in skiing. 

I started out at a good pace and came into the range for my first prone bout, five solid hits and back out on course. Around the 3km loop and in for my first standing bout, another five hits! With the down hills it was always good to try to be in front, cause if you got stuck behind someone who snow plowed you were just as likely to fall as them, I managed to avoid any sketchy downhill people so that was good. Third shooting was prone I hit my first four targets but missed my last one. Last bout was standing and I missed my first shot but pulled my self together to hit the next 4. 18/20 one of my better shooting days! The last loop is always fun, cause you can let loose not worrying about saving anything or having to shoot again. My bib number was 23 so on that last loop I was told I was seconds out of the top ten. Hammering up every hill, channeling my inner Chandra on every downhill, sprint the last up hill into the finished. I crossed the line in 6th! After everyone finished, 78 people, I was 26th, no bad for my first individual as a senior women! 

Tomorrow is the 7.5km sprint, a distance I can handle better! So wish me luck. 

Hugs

Rosanna

Italia

After driving down the windy road from Obertilliach, we drove up the windy road to Ridnaun and arrived safe and sound!  The internet here is pretty expensive so after this post there probably won’t be a new one till Monday when we are back in Obertilliach. Tomorrow is race prep and then it will be my first 15km Individual on Saturday! I am feeling pretty nervous, I haven’t done a race longer than 12.5km ever I think! The course here is tough, all the up hills are straight walls and the down hills are super sketchy. But with some good shooting I could have a great race. Sunday will be a 7.5km Sprint. We will have somewhere between 100 and 120 starters!

We are staying at the Scheneberg again, one of my favorite hotels. It’s fun because all the countries are staying at the same hotel, so you get to meet up with everyone from last  year. 

Wish me luck and you will be able to look up results on http://www.biathlonworld2.de/en/ 

Hugs

Rosanna

Austrian Cup

Today we took part in an Austrian cup, a 12.5km Individual. Jet lagged has been pretty rough this tour. I am usually pretty good with it, but this year it is punishing. Night one - good sleep! Night two - four bad sleep around 5-6hrs, which is down from my average of 10hrs in Canmore. Going in todays race I knew it was to going to be hard, Yodel (aka Matthias) said that if I feel too punished to just stop at 7.5km. Well as soon as those words left his mouth I knew that at 7.5km my brain would shut down and I would not be able to ski fast anymore.  So I did the 3 out of 4 shootings and hit 13/15 and stopped at 7.5km. I think this was a good choice, it got some cob webs out and hopefully tonight I will sleep through the night.

Tomorrow we have an easier day, so after some light training in the morning will make our way down to Linz for some shopping. I’ve been told there is an awesome Christmas market! 

Right now the World Cup team had just finished their first races in Sweden and will be making their way to Hochfilzen, Austria tomorrow.  JP Legullec had some amazing races with a 10th in the Individual and a 12th in the Sprint, a very nice start to the season for him. From the women’s side Zina had some decent races, skiing like a champ but having a few too many misses. Megan Tandy and Sandra Keith have both gotten sick so neither did the Sprint and then without them they didn’t get to do the relay. Hopefully they will be feeling better by next weekends races. 

Be sure to stay warm in Canmore!

Hugs

Rosanna

Starting to look a lot like winter...

This past weekend there was the first official races in Canmore. North American Cup #1 went of with a couple of glitches, like no snow, but was still a success. Saturday was a 7.5km sprint, I hit 9/10 and came 2nd behind Megan Imrie who hit 10/10! Megan was leaving Monday for Europe so on Sunday I got to start the Pursuit. Pursuits are always my fav race cause you get to chase people while being chased! Quite a few athletes from the US had come up to race so there was some stiff competition. I hit 9/10 prone but had some trouble with my standing, 6/10, leaving me in 3rd. Overall not a bad weekend for my first races as a senior woman. I had been feeling a bit sluggish going into these races cause we had been doing some loading (lot of hours) leading into them. So  I was able to test my race legs out and am hoping they will just keep feeling better. 

Then the time came to pack my bag and make for the Calgary airport. We fly into Munich and then drove to Obertilliach, Austria where we will train for about 6 days before going to Ridnaun, Italy for our first races. After a long day of travel we made it to Obertilliach and it didn’t stop snowing till Friday night. Friday we did some easy training and tried not to nap! Sunday there is an Austrian cup here so we will get to have a race before the IBU ones start.

I am super excited for the season to get started and to test out my race legs again. This will be my first tour before Christmas! I have either been injured or had some health problem and not been able to go. So wish me luck and I will keep you all posted!!

Hugs

Rosanna