BB (Bend Blog)

Written by GRP Biathlete Margie Freed

Crust skiing up to Broken Top Mountain

Some of the GRP biathletes spent 2 weeks in Bend, OR getting back into training with the national team. Bend has some great early season options with skiing at Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center, trail running, flowy mountain biking, and smooth roads for roller skiing. The mountain is at altitude and freezes overnight, so the team started skiing around 7:30am to get firm and even icy conditions before the sun softened things up a couple hours later. 

The team started the camp with long easy distance workouts and ski technique sessions. It’s very important to start the training year establishing good habits so there was plenty of video review and laps in front of the coaches. This was mostly skating hours, with a few classic skis to mix up the muscles. The team did two interval sessions focusing on Level 3 pace also known as threshold to build back into intensity. As this was a ‘volume’ camp the afternoons were supplemented with other training methods. Kelsey often opted for mountain biking, Jake liked classic rollerskiing, and Bjorn and Margie took on quite a bit of running. It is great to have this flexibility for what athletes prefer. 

The author, wearing her favorite Skida headband.

While there was no usable shooting range, some athletes could still work on rifle basics through dryfire exercises if they brought their rifle. The beginning of the training season for shooting is similar to skiing, in that athletes work on ‘the basics’ to create good habits. With a rifle this looks like precision drills and long holds to find a solid position. 

Jake Brown reviews this camp as “It was really nice to start this year in Bend Oregon with the US biathlon team. I especially enjoyed focusing on technique with the coaches. I felt like we had a good blend this year of not having our training be too structured with having enough structured workouts and technique sessions that we could make a lot of progress. I’m really looking forward to getting the rifle back in my hands and being able to shoot. That said, it was really nice to be in Bend without my rifle this year and just be able to focus on building up my base. I’m doing some threshold sessions, and even spending some time working on balance on the river wave.”

You might be wondering what the river wave is. At the Bend Whitewater Park there is a manufactured concrete drop off for people to short board river surf, and is often bustling all day long. Some of the biathlon athletes have these boards and wetsuits and would spend time surfing during the afternoon. Not only is this fun and a good way to meet the locals, but it is great for balance work too!

Margie and Kelsey during an early morning drive up to Mt. Bachelor.

Thanks for checking in with the GRP Biathlon team! We are looking forward to a great summer of strong training. Hope to see you around the Center!