A lot of people have been asking me what races I will be
doing to wrap up my season. This is my last year to compete at Junior Nationals
(which I have never been to). NorAm championships and Canadian Nationals are
shaping up to have some competitive competition. And US biathlon nationals in
Truckee California sound like a ton of fun in the sun. But my answer is none! And
here is why:
All summer, fall and winter I have been battling constant
fatigue and tiredness. When I start to go hard or try to ski a race effort I feel
like I can only keep the pace for a maximum on 3 minutes. Then my legs begin to
feel very heavy and weak. My arms then begin to tire and before you know it my
body feels like it’s been racing for an hour and it’s only been 10 minutes.
If you recall “The Warning Signs Were There” from August I talked
about suffering through the Rollerski Races in Jericho. I thought it was
because I didn’t have enough rest in between Jr. and Sr. races. But later on in
the fall I when we went back to Jericho I suffered from the same fatigue and
had poor results. I still tried to keep my head up and blame it on a large
training block or something. Then there was the North Haven Lobster Roll 15K rollerski
race where I thought I was going to drop out half way through. Followed by
early season skiing in Canmore where I felt ok skiing but was getting passed
like crazy by people whom I was competitive with the year before.
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| Racing in Jericho |
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| Racing in Canmore |
The only time I did not feel like crap while going hard in
the past 10 months was while racing at Mt. Itasca for IBU and Jr. World trials.
But Itasca is a unique course in that it is very technical and the skiers who can
ski the transitions better will do the best.
They say you win some and you learn some. And that’s what I am
going to do. Learn what worked this year and what didn’t. There are many things
that will have to be changed in next year’s training plan but for right now I am
going to get a head start on my recovery season.
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| Shooting at Mt. Itasca |
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| Racing at Mt. Itasca |
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| More Mt. Itasca racing. |
One thing I thought showed great improvement over last year
however was my mental preparation and focus towards training and racing. I have
learned so much about how to be in the right mental state for success I can’t
wait for everything to come together both mentally and physically in the
future.
I truly love Biathlon and cross country skiing. One of my
fondest memories from growing up was the J2 (U16) festival. The fact that all
my friends and I could join up together as one team to represent New York
against all the other New England states seemed like so much fun, And it was. I
am a true believer that trips like that is where kids fall in love with the
sport. So that is why I have volunteered to coach the U16 team in Fort Kent
this year. The sport has given so much to me now I want to give my time back. And
who knows, the next Martin Fourcade could be on this trip and fall in love with
the sport the same way I did.
Now that my season is over I will be cutting back on the frequency
of blog posts until the summer. I will update once or twice in the next 2
months just to let you know I am still alive but I will still be posting on
Facebook, Twitter (@bhbiathlon) and Instagram (@brhalligan4) regularly. Thank
you so much to everyone who has supported me. This season has had a lot of ups
and downs and would not have been possible without you. Words cannot describe
how grateful I am for my friends and family. Thank you!
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| 15 year old me and the New York crew on our way to J2's (now U16s) P.S. That blonde in the middle raced on the world cup this year! |
