Biathlon Talent ID Camp
Last week, Kait and I took a trip to Lake Placid for U.S. Biathlon’s “Talent Identification Camp.” Both of us have done a tiny bit of biathlon racing and were curious what the camp had to offer. It was my first trip to the Olympic Training Center (OTC), so I may have been equally as excited about the infamous everlasting supply of ice cream as the camp itself.
The first day was sweltering hot and brought a grueling 4.5k double pole test up Whiteface Mountain. This was not for the faint of heart and we likened the experience to rollerskiing in an oven. In the afternoon, former German biathlete Andrea Henkel led us in some funky new core exercises that left us a bit sore.
Uphill run complete!
Day two rang in cooler temperatures and more testing; this time, a 2.5k uphill running time trial. It seemed that uphill time trials were the theme of the camp. We had heard lots of mixed reviews about this run: some said it was easier than Elmore, our local uphill TT, while others said it was much harder. Regardless of easier or harder, it was hard enough.
In the afternoon, we had our first shooting session of the camp. It was neat to have so many new ideas about shooting, though perhaps the most influential part of the afternoon for me was working on downhills for an hour straight with Andrea. I conquered the small, upper corners, but not the biggest, scariest one.
Wednesday was hike day, and GRP teammate/ National team member Clare joined the camp group for a hike up Cascade Mountain. It’s always fun to hike in new places even if it’s raining!
Clare having fun in the rain
Descending Cascade
The afternoon was once again spent on the range, this time doing a precision shooting test. We also worked on ski technique with the women’s coach, learning about some nuances of skate technique.
The camp, in keeping with the testing theme, capped off with two final time trials. One was a “combo test,” which involved level three rollerskiing and shooting. This was the first time that I had shot on rollerskis and it definitely adds a whole new element to both rollerskiing and shooting. It was touted as a “test” of whether or not we liked shooting and skiing, but in reality, it was another time trial. We finished off the camp with a short, but hard, gradual uphill skate time trial, called Bear Cub. After these few days of training where we learned a lot and did a lot of testing, we were eager to come back to Craftsbury and continue working on our biathlon skills, especially our dryfiring!
Kait fired up to dryfire