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Russell Currier

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Usual Utah
Fall, 2011

There was a time when I had never been to Utah. There was a time when I had never been out west at all. When I found out that I was going to be training in Utah I was very excited. Why shouldn't I be? For the most part those days haven't changed. The only difference these days is the amount of consistency that I've come to expect.

The only other place I've spent any amount of time out west is West Yellowstone and a couple parts in Wyoming. Utah is special in comparison because it feels like you're walking around on the moon. This moon surface has frequent large expensive houses and former Olympic venues on it by the way. We always stay in Heber. I have no sense of direction and even I know my way around town now. Everything seems to be exaggerated out here. The hills are mountains, cars are trucks, dogs are horses, deer are elk, and the house were staying in is a small mansion. These are some of the things you can depend on for the usual fall Utah camp. These things were all a shock to me on my first trip out here.

I arrived here on Sunday and I have to admit that something feels a little different about the camp this year. Chances are it's just my imagination. The two weeks back home were enjoyed. I got to see the full fall colors and catch up with some old friends. I did sneak in a little hunting. I did not have any success however.

It's nice to see the rest of the team in a place other than Lake Placid. The goal is to train well and have a couple of good time trials next week. If all goes as planned that shouldn't be too difficult. And to reiterate, if you want some slightly more frequent posts just check out my blog at www.russellcurrier.blogspot.com

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Down for the Count
Summer, 2011

Long story short: I was supposed to race the Climb to the Castle in LP today and was unable because of a pesky sore throat and cold. These things happen. Any competitive endurance athlete can tell you holding back when you're sick is always a good decision, but by no mean an easy one to carry through with.

To go into a little more detail my whole week has been up and down. It started out with that fresh feeling in your legs. I had just finished up a very low/easy week. One that was very necessary. I no longer had that heavy over trained feeling of trying to fight through every minute of training. On Tuesday the US biathletes had the opportunity to train with the US ski team. This only seems to happen once every ten years so it was a nice change of pace. Shooting has made some progress and my time to the first shot is going down and ski technique continues to look a little better every year. That was the up part of the week

Conversely I learned that the car garage was charging me 40$ a day to hold on to my deceased car. I had no warning of this and the only feasible choice was to give them the car so as to negate the holding fee. Maybe that's how local business works around here? The real highlight to the negative side of the week wasn't my car for a change though. Oh no, I woke up in a state of denial Friday morning. I've seldom been sick for the past few years and wasn't about to harm that track record. Well folks, I made it about half way through breakfast before I realized I wasn't going to be training that morning.

Shortly thereafter the reality of not racing the Climb to the Castle started to sink in. I was excited about racing in this race ever since I first heard about it a few years ago. I just knew I would be in it someday. 40 minutes of uphill skate rollersking is the race for me. Who would have thought I'd win the "get sick lottery" the day prior.

It really is a lottery you see. No matter how hard you try you can't escape the occasional cold, sore throat, flew or what not. Good nutrition, warm cloths, and just being relaxed can help, but won't solve the problem. Bottom line: It just happens. Deal with it.

When I say "down for the count" I'm referring to my other teammates who also won the unwanted lottery. Leif Nordgren came down with a head cold last week and did not race today. The last contact I had with Lowell Bailey indicated flu like symptoms. About half of our team didn't participate in the race. Sorry Tim. Wish I could have been there for you.

In the long run, it's better to get sick this time of year rather than in February when performance really matters. Chances are I'll be in the area about this same time next year ready to suffer at 8AM. For now I'm going to keep blowing my nose until this rhino virus has had its fix.

P.S. If you want more frequent updates I have another blog going. www.russellcurrier.blogspot.com

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