An early X-Mas present!

Arrivederci!

Sunny Martell, I will miss you! =)
From warm Italy we headed back to Obertilliach where the last races of this year were held. Sprint on Friday and pursuit on Saturday! For our tiny team (4 men and 2 women) Sprint wasn't so brilliant as it could be. Maybe recovery from the high-altitude Martell wasn't so ideal, anyways, only the "youngsters" Sami and me survived to pursuit. For me the cold weather and new snow was a bad combination and the "easy feeling" (skiing only shorts underneath in Martell) was away. In sprint I got 0+2 penalties but lost seems-like-a-calenderyear at the track! puuh. It didn't really help that we had a bit bad glide under the skies. (Fischer never lets me down!)



On Saturday it was even more horrible underneath the skis. Our lonely waxman couldn't conjure the glide as the russians for example. But somehow i fought my way to Finish, getting 1+0+2+2 penalties and the low rang 50th! That sounds like a nightmare, but as I checked last years results I had lost over a loop to the winner at that time. And in Sprint I had the same position, but last year 1 penalty! I hope it's getting better now--- I'm finally at home!!:D no more spaghetti and minced meat sauce.^^'

So back to the track. After races we headed straight to München... Eagerly waiting for flight back home. As the rest of Europe was fighting against snowheaps we managed to get home... Nice. Only missing my baggage, rifle and skies. Luckily a day after my arrival I got them. :)

One good race and a couple of okey races and lot of experience, again. That's the result from the latest three weeks! Not good, not bad. Anyways I think after this Christmas pause and training I'll be more fit and locker. : )

On Monday I was Christmas shopping and I got some perfect presents for my beloved ones:) Daddy will get something really awesome!:DD I'll tell you later... heh.

BUT one of the best Christmas presents I got already!! A phonecall from the coach. I'll be starting in WorldCup in January! So Biathlon WorldCup in Oberhof at first, then maybe Ruhpolding and Anterselva!!=) So Come on everybody and cheers!! See you hopefully on the track!:)))

Still, One of my merriest X-mas wishes is that I would get a kind note from a vip person... Looking forward to January... =) Maybe my wish comes true..

Now time for Christmas Holidays! Tomorrow I'll head to our Nationalpark Koli and take my snowshoes and take a round:) -30c degrees and sunshine. And the shortest day of the year! Luckily it's spring soon!=)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2011! God Jul och gott nytt år! Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! С Рождеством Христовым и с Новым годом!

xox,

Laura

ps. A warning for naughty kids (and adults). In Martell we had a team dinner on Thursday. During the funny evening we got a visit from 5 Krampus. Check out from Google what they are for. Anyways these hairy monsters slapped (specially) girls with their "brooms". I was hanging out with austrian boys, and the boys tried to get them on me. This one in the picture came afterwards to me.. Me yealling " Ich bin nicht böse"..( I'm not naughty) and he just laughed like a naughty Santa.. "Ich glaub dir nicht.." (I don't believe you) :DD Crazyyyyy. Auf Wiedersehen!:)

Back on the track in Italy and Austria!

So,
not having any world Cups during december. That meant we had a preparationcamp for Martell Ibu-cup starting already 4th of Dec. One week in Obertilliach, and we were NOT alone there!:DD So many teams training there, so many competitions during Sunday. ÖSV had some qualiraces for european xc-cup, germans their own sprint for IBU-cup, as well as austrian biathletes had their pursuits then.

3 days training at home before rushing to the train again. Finnair had cancelled all flights during that week, I got a phonecall from the headcoach only two hours before the last train left:D eh. a bit stressy packing and off to Helsinki... really really nice:D

Anyways we got a lot of luck during the flights, from Helsinki- Düsseldorf- München. And all in!=) Amazing luck, we got all our stuff and also the way to Obertilliach was smooth. Our world Cup-team otherwise didn't had that luck as their baggages and rifles were a long time somewhere between Östersund-Stockholm- Copenhagen-München..
Funny story from the airport:D ; A mixed group of men were having a bachelor- party, on the way to somewhere and sitting in the same plane. "the husband" was selling some "items" for our guys.. and wanted to give me some xs strings... but I didn't take them;) hehe. but we got a lot of laugh:D

Preparation for Martell was brilliant as the sun was shining and the temperature comfortable +1 - -6c =) I was skiing more classic, maybe that's why my body is getting better all the time.
When we got to Martell then it was perfect sunny weather and predicted -2c! perfect.. Only the next days skiing up there changed the perfect "imaginations":P. YEP. 1750meters above the sea level, the feeling a bit "weird":D Also the sight to the track. Steap long upphills and tricky, curvy downhills.. Kontiolahti is like a toyfield compared to that:D And I know what I'm talking about!

The races were as tough as they could be. Individual race, 15km's and very extreme wind conditions.. Miss Fortuna was a bit mixing the results as we saw some 0+5+4+1 or that kind of funny results at the range:p For me it was a bit "Pech"... 1+2+3+1, and also 7minutes extra. wiuh, I found myself on the place 38 on the resultlists. The feeling on the last loop, and the last 700meters. Pure uphill, wind against and all in... heh. And the curvy down hill to the finish. I barely stood on my skies^^' highest lactat ever!!:o

Living in a hotel where we had a swimmingpool and sauna (but no internet) recovered me quite a well from the long race. Max puls in the race was still low, 181... a bit afraid of the high altitude? But still I skied my legs "off"..:D oh lovely. On Sunday's sprint, though, I made my best result this season.
2+0 penalties in a tricky wind again and a nice 18th place! I was really near by top ten after the last shooting, but my tired legs dropped me down 6 places during the last hard 2,5 kms..

Anyways I'm quite a happy with the results, I even won the the winner from Beitostölen (Kalina)... as she had 4 penalties. The feeling, it's getting better. Only 3 weeks and good training I've reached a bit the top! makes sence!:)

Now out to run and then sauna=) As well waiting for a guest later then...
Races on Friday and Saturday, sprint and pursuit, predicted weather around -15c. hrrr,nice. Thumbs up and GO!=)

xox

Flight by flight---

How was I wondering last time, Kaisa may be in a good shape right?
And hell yes she is!:)) Congrats to her and her superior season start both in Östersund and Hochfilzen. I'm glad and proud too:) As I've seen most of the races in tv, it seems the weather conditions have been very extreme during the past two weeks!

And what happened to me? Well, after GP-races in Kontiolahti we packed our things and flew to Norway where we had IBU-races in Beitostölen! There we had the same freezing weathers like in Muonio. During the racedays we had -15c or even more plus very tricky hard wind! ufff.
Anyways I nearly did well there. As my prone shooting was brilliant, my standing was horrible..
On Sat I had 0+3 penalties and was two minutes behind the leader. On Sunday I managed to dropp one target more and ended up to the place 33. So I was the 3rd woman in our group and got a flightticket back home.

Somehow we just managed to rush to the last train home, with Sarkku:D I must say it was so near to miss it with the slow bus, late flight...hrrrr. My little brother Ahti, though, made again some good results there, 2nd best and so he continued to Östersund and to Hochfilzen!!=)) proud sister...=)

The story continues a bit later...:)