Italy so far

So far Italy has been absolutely amazing!

The first week here, We spent a week training in Frassinoro, 2 hours from Pisa, to get over the jetlag and plan for the coming weeks. During the first week I did a few 20km uphill rollerskis, causing large blisters on my feet from such warm weather and my feet heating to thousands of degrees. We enjoyed some beautiful runs on the local mountain bike trails, and succeeded in breaking a mountain bike in another training. We went to the gym to pump some iron, and it was great to get into a good program, monitored by the same coach every session so progress and digressions can be noted and weaknesses can be built upon.

After a week in Frassinoro, and the welcoming of 4 new puppies into the Fontana family, my coach and I packed up the trusty automobile and headed for the Dolomites. Everything went smoothly, and upon arrival we were given the keys to a beautiful apartment in the centre of Sappada. Sappada is situated right in the Dolomites, and is about a 10 minute drive to the biathlon centre in Forni Avoltri. It was gorgeous.

The first day I rollerskied on the rollerski track of death (as it was raining hard and the track was slick), and then drove to Anterselva, where we have a World Cup in the winter. We met with Rudi Bachmann of Banchmann stocks and spent an hour fitting me with a new carbon fibre stock. 3 days and 6 workout s later, we were back picking up my new first born child (not really, but at this moment in my life- it sure feels like it!). What a beauty- I opted for black as it is one of New Zealands colours, and if I decide to join the mafia, I'll look badass with my black carbon fibre .22 slung on my back. (The latter is the main reason).

My first loooong workout of the training camp was a hike/run which we did at Tre Cime in the Dolomites. It is a World Heritage UNESCO area, meaning it is beautifullly preserved, but also meaning they charge you 22 euros to drive your car 6 km. We opted to park at the gates and run up to the bottom of the Tre Cime, and then do the circuit around the 3 glorious peaks. It was beautiful. We got rained on, were thigh deep in snow, we even heard people calling us 'sky runners' behind our backs. I felt very fit, until my foot cracked through the snow and I spread eagled down the rest of the track. Glorious as ever Murphy style. Arriving back at the car was a happy moment, and the reward of a radler at the end was great. I was ready for a day off but no...

Tre Cime

The next we went for a 5 hour road bike on a part of the Giro D'italia. The mountain portion, of course. We started with a great 45 minute downhill- I was thinking "Man I feel good". And then we started the uphill...and 2 1/2 hours later we made it to the top. What an uphill- It was beautiful and flat, but it was
also 30 km. We ran into some fellow road cyclists, and there is something in the athletes brain that goes "you have to beat them up this hill". Why? Why does this happen? Anyways, let's just say not all parts of the day were in zone 1. 5 hours later and 100km later we made it home to Sappada. It was a gorgeous day, and although I enjoyed it immensely, I was happy to have that uphill behind me.

Alex, the gym owner. What a beast! 

Monday was combo. Tuesday was combo in the am, and strength in the pm. Strength was great. The man who owns the gym is ginormous. I am not even exagerating. You could fit 12 of my arms in one of his pinky fingers. Ridiculous! The great thing about it was Pietro Piller Cottrer came to the gym with us to see the program and give some tips. If you don't know Pietro, he is the nicest man who recently retired from racing after winning a few Olympic golds and silvers, as well as being the youngest athlete to win the Holmenkollen 50km. It was amazing to have him there for support. (p.s. I was very sore after that session) I was bench pressing 37kg, and the gym owner was benching 110kg. Patience, Sarah, one day....(I don't think so!).










On Wednesday, I did rollerski strength up the damn hill we had biked on Sunday. I KNOW! I thought I was done with it as well. Nope, double pole and legs only session to the top. Thanks Coach ;) Side note: I will say Italian men are hilarious!!!! I think they see a lady, and their lips automatically pucker to whistle. I could be wearing my XL onesie rollerskiing, and men would still be whistling.

Anyways, the next day after doing the hill rollerskiing, we had a run. In my mind, an hour recovery like run. 3 1/2 hours and 27km later we arrived back at the car! No water, no food, +27- Let's just say the hanger monster was nearly released onto coach Federico. Thankfully, we completed the Val Visdende circuit through 8 mountain gullies, and lived to tell the tail. in hindsight- It was beautiful...but at the time I was focused on keeping the monster within and focus on the training.

Thursday night we had a great dinner with Pietro and his beautiful family. They were so kind and I feel very lucky to have been able to spend a week with such a great family, and such a successful athlete. Thanks guys!!!

Saturday afternoon, after a 7.5km sprint time trial, we drove to Alleghe, where a good family friend lives, and then Sunday onwards to Frassinoro. First stop once back: The puppies. 4 beautiful little tigers named Figoa, Alex (after the gym owner because he is the biggest), thunder, and bullet. Cutie patooties.

This week is a very special week as it is the week of the Beer and biathlon festival. Wahoo!!! Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Estonia, Switzerland, Great Britain, New Zealand (thats me!) and...hmm...some more but I forget, are all coming to race here on Saturday in a fun team sprint race. Follow the group on Facebook to see how it goes (Frassinoro Beer and biathlon festival).

I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy and enjoying the wet weather in Canmore, earthquakes in Italy, Floods in Germany, and snow dumps in New Zealand!

xx Much love, Sarah

And when I said a short update of the season would be coming soon, what I actually meant was it's coming a few months late.

A Russian hat for my brother. I think I was more excited about it.

In my mind, this last season was not very good. But upon analysis, it was actually better than I perceived. The start (in Sweden) was a disaster as my rifle was totally kaput! That put a downer on the first 3 World Cups. After a nice Christmas in Switzerland and Italy, I had an absolutely crazy trip to Estonia and Russia for two IBU cup (Formerly called European cup) races. Here I had my beat results on the IBU cup tour with a 25th and 41st place in Ottepaa, Estonia and a 21st and 19th position in Ostrov, Russia. The main achievement was that I made my re qualification for the last 3 World Cups of the season.

This is my "How the heck am I going to get all this stuff home" face

After some good races in Martell (23rd in the sprint) I headed to World Championships in the Czech Republic, where I had normal races- nothing special, but okay. The great part was that I had good enough races to maintain my position in the nation cup standings, meaning I have  very good chance of having a spot for New Zealand at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. For the last Olympics I was ranked 33rd as a nation, and this year I am ranked 29th (I think).

Some touristy stuff!

I then raced in cross-country World Championships in Val Di Fiemme, Italy and had a lot of fun, and surprisingly strong races, especially in classic. I was very happy with those races.

Family time- Murphy style!

Off to Oslo I went for the next World Cup race and I started getting sick. From those races onwards I just got more and more sick, causing a not so happy end to the season. It was great to race in Sochi, but my condition definitely put a downer on the whole experience.

After the season I traveled through Europe a bit, visiting touristy spots I normally do not have time to visit, and then headed back to Canada after 11 months away from my family. It was amazing to be home, although only for a short stint. I got a lot of mini adventures in, including a week trip to the coast with my wonderful sister. It was a lot of fun.

Surf sisters in Tofino!

Back in Italia- representing NZL 

And now I am back in europe to train with my new coach, Federico Fontana. We will be traveling to Forni Avoltri for a 2 week training camp and then back to Frassinoro for the Frassinoro biathlon festival. After that we will head to New Zealand for 2 months to race in the 100% Pure New Zealand winter Games, and then back to Canada. Yahoo!!!

Just some photos!

'The tea-bag and the gazelle' - Uiloq Slettemark

mid ski snack in Norway!

How to make a bullet!

Bullets galore!

Testing away

New bedding- ooooh lala. 

Military sniper rifle a.k.a. my new biathlon rifle

Money!! Oh wait, thats just ammunition. 

WHO HAS 25 PAIRS OF SHOES?!?!

Made it home to this gorgeous lady!!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR AN AMAZING SEASON!!!! xxxxx

The end is near!

Wow, this took a long time for me to write! I blame it on my computer crashing- it has travelled from South Korea, numerous times to New Zealand, Greenland, Russia and everywhere in between- I think, like me, my computer is a little tired. But, thank you to Thomas Borrenmo at 42Store (www.42store.se) in Arvika, Sweden, but getting it up and running again after crashing!

I raced in the cross-country world championships in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. Yep, I did the qualification race where I placed 13th. I had the most amazing skis waxed by the very kind Russian team. So amazing. I then thought it would be a good idea to race in the 15th Skiathlon. This race is 7.5km classic and then 7.5km skate. Salomon gave 2 new pairs of amazing classic skis to test before the race which really made me feel like a xc athlete ;) I had a lot of fun in the pursuit and achieved my goal of not being lapped by the top girls. I felt so good in classic that I think I will switch to race all my biathlon races on classic skis...maybe not ;)

On Tuesday the 26th I jumped in a transport with the Latvian team and headed to Munich to catch my flight to Oslo. Everytime you go through Munich with a rifle, the police come and check your rifle permit. Welll, mine had expired on my birthday (Feb 16th) so the police were not so impressed with me. After a few sweaty moments, the older police office told me to just shut the case and go, where as the younger police officer wanted to charge me...thanks old police man! It's the same when I got caught on the train with my rifle- the older police man was so nice, where as the younger good looking one wanted to arrest me- Crazy world!

Anyways, I made it to Oslo and checked into the fancy Park hotel on the Homenkollen hill right by the beautiful ski jump. It was nice to live up on the mountain and to be able to walk to the stadium instead of having to take a transport. The first day was training and then race day! 7.5km sprint at one of the best world cup pit stops- so nice! Unfortunately I missed 2 in standing and did not have a great ski, but I thoroughly enjoyed the race, and cooling down with Tora Berger afterwards wasn't so bad either :) For the next couple days I was able to get some nice training sessions in and watch the other races.

On Monday the 4th of March we all loaded up into the charter flight and flew to Sochi, Russia. This was a very exciting race as it was the test race for the Olympics and the first time any of us biathletes had been there. Let's just say the process into Russia was absolutely crazy with our rifles and ammunition. I was ready to lie down and give up, but after signing 700 pieces of paper, I made it through. It is moments like these that I see the benefit of having a coach to do all the small, stressful tasks! We drove to the hotel in Rosa Khutor- a 4 star, brand new, never slept in bed was waiting for me in the hotel room, which I then crashed on and had the best sleep of my life. I woke up to a stuffed up head and a not so good feeling- I was sick :(What awful timing! Could it not have waited 2 more weeks? I was so angry! But...it is the last 2 weeks of racing, so I am just going to push through.

There was no information about the transport or anything, so in the morning, myself and the Hungarians went out and jumped on a bus that said 'biatlon'. 10 minutes later we got off at a random gondola, went through 3 security screens, and got onto a gondola going up a valley. At the top we got off, and were ushered into a sketchy van that drove us on a half built road, past a lot of construction, to the biathlon arena. We had made it! Now to get our rifles, and ammunition, and skis. 1 1/2 hours later I was ready to train! The British coach was very generous to offer his help on the range-  Thanks Scotty!

The tracks in Sochi are absolutely like nothing I had raced on before; The uphills were long and steep, and the downhills were fast with sharp corners. I loved it, really! Not many people did, and it was a very hard course to race on and impossible to train on, but it was different! Something new and exciting. The first race for me was the 15km individual- I missed 6 and skied okay considering how sick I was. I was thrilled at the end that I had not fallen because so many people did! Here is a tour from the IBU: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cssWmQEphCU.

After this race, I am not going to lie, I was so dead. All the athletes were absolute zombies afterwards. The next day I was even more sick. I went for a walk around the village and it was crazy. It was like the Truman show- I swear the people walking around were hired actors Alex Almoukov (Aussie athlete) and I got caught in a film set. We thought it was just normal people enjoying a nice day in the sun, but no, as we were walking through we heard 'action' and everyone started moving around in the set. It was a whole different world. We even saw the same women every day in the same spot walking with her baby....awkward. The next race was the sprint and I should not have started. I was so sick. But there was only 2 races left, so I did. My skiing was awful and I felt like death, but it was nice to race anyways!

The process leaving Sochi was even worse coming in. Here is a wee video to show you the frustration! http://www4.biathlonworld.com/en/press_releases.html/do/detail?presse=1899

So, on the Monday we jumped back onto the charter flight and flew to Khanty-Mansysk, Russia. I have never been so excited to get to Siberia! I was still awfully sick for these races. Nothing crazy happened here except for the normal end of race party- this is always crazy- but nice because all the athletes are able to relax at the end of a long and hard season.

And thats it! That was the season. I ended it sick as a dog. I will write a wee review as well to sum up the season. Stay tuned!!

xxx Sarah

World Championships and XC World Cup

One of the great perks of being an athlete it being able to travel to new countries and meet new people. I had never been to the Czech Republic before and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. The stadium in Nove Mesto was absolutely magnificent- it was HUGE! Here's a aerial of it:

It was such an amazing atmosphere in the stadium, but I could also feel how much more tense all the athletes and coaches were. Me? I think I was less tense! I was very lucky to have Richard Boruta with me for these races, so I had less work and less worries than usual. It was such a treat.

The first race was the 10km sprint and I was a little stressed. I think this came through in my skiing as I had a very slow last lap. I hit all 5 targets in prone, but missed 2 in standing, leaving me with 8/10 and not a very happy athlete at the end. The course here was very tough. Up, up, up and then a lot of down. If you didn't ski smart, you would totally blow you

r legs up (not literally- that would be messy and I think humanly impossible).

In between races was great as I was living at the same hotel as my old Canadian teammates (not in the age sense, although I did have a birthday and am now on the dark side of my twenties). We would eat together and when some of us did not qualify for the pursuit, we were able to enjoy some glasses of apple juice and play charades- just like back in the day when there was no internet. It was lovely.

Thanks Glen Crawford for the amazing photo!

The next race for the women was the 15km individual. I really was not looking forward to this race as I have not been feeling strong on my skis. But I went out, starter number 18, and really tried to ski smart and controlled. First prone I missed one, as well as in my first standing. Half way through the race and I was feeling...actually quite alright. I was enjoying my time on the trails and just focused on the task at hand. And then came 2nd prone- the wind was so strong that I clicked a total of 6 to the left....3 misses! Ah crap. (After the race my coach would inform me I should have clicked 8 or 9 to the left!). For my last standing I went into lane 24 (as this was my last race as a 24 year old) and missed 2- 24 sucked anyways (not really- written sarcasm doesn't always come through properly). So...7 misses, 7 minutes added on...not a good shooting race. But the skiing...well, for me...felt great. I thoroughly enjoyed this race.

Right before the race...This is what a focused Murphy looks like. Thanks Glen Crawford for the amazing photos!

The next day I was off at 7 am...back to the Russian embassy in Prague. But no worries, all I had to do was pick up my passport and be on my way with my new Russian visa. Successful and organized- who am I? After a short flight from Prague to Milano and a long train ride, I made it back to little S-chanf, Switzerland! Two sleeps later I found myself in Davos, Switzerland preparing for my first ever cross-country world cup race- 10 km skate.

I found the cross-country atmosphere very different to biathlon. It was not as organized as biathlon, but I will say the staff and coaches cheered a lot more for every athlete, not just their own. It was a really nice experience. Thank you very much to the Canadians for waxing my skis- they were super! And the race? Well, it was hard. I found it a lot harder than any biathlon race I have done this season. I think it is very beneficial for me to now do some xc races, not just for my speed, but also mentally to have to keep pushing through the whole race. I was last. Yep....at the very end. And far behind. But someone just told me it can only get better from there...so that is a positive :)


Thank you again to everyone for the amazing support! Even though I was last, I am still feeling the love from everyone :) xxxxx Here's to things getting better and better and 25 more years of fun and excitement:)