Five to go!! B)

Third update in the row.. You bet I have a rest day?.D yep. Two weeks to go before the season is over. We have still Finnish Champs in Cross-coutry and as well in biathlon. Next weekend we'll go to Kuopio and I will ski sprint and relay! It will be fun I think so...:) Unfortunately I've been too tired to think about traveling/competing abroad anymore, so Sweden and Switzerland has to wait for me a bit more to arrive.. Later!!;)
Otherwise I'm planning to enjoy the lovely spring weathers here at home. The tempereture is still in minus grades at nights so there's still quite a much snow and cónditions are perfect^^)

The first weekend in April we have then biathlon season ending here in Kontiolahti! Let's take the last fight against the World's best and Finland's best biathletes:) On Friday relay, on Saturday Sprint and the season will be finished by Mass start! After that I'm only counting the days when I'm back at the airport... :P

The homecoming is always nice, but for me already one week feels too boring, eh dunno. Maybe I'm used to have a bit stressy life abroad... at the sametime it's also nice! The life at home, training and those things at this time of the season is not so funny anymore^^') I think I need to take vacation and then I'm full of energy and will be back in the business first of May;)

My little brother came home yesterday night from Oslo. I had been cleaning up the house in every corner, cooking a yammy hamcheeseroll plus strawberrymousse.. the sauna was hot and some beers in the fridge. eh what would a man prefer???;D
Only one man in the world can get even better...;)

Now off to the sunshine and day off:D and boxing lessons are waiting for...

xox

The next (cold) part- Siberia!!

From the sunny lovely Italian Alps we headed to the other side of Ural mountains. The city builded to the middle of nowhere, only oilplatforms decorating our view from the 5 stars hotel-- (only builded for the biathletes, and maybe 3rd time in use:D)

We had sunshine also there, but the other things like -15c and sometimes like a hurricane wind didn't give the same spirit as in Italy! The food was still quite good here, even if we had been expecting something worse due to our last visit to Russian marks (Ostrov 2009)..

Otherwise the strict laws with the weapons and police(milizi) everywhere made me feel like in a gansterwar^^D
The trip from München straight to Khanty-Mansiysk was smooth, we could have been waiting even more, but we didn't:D arriving around 3am to the hotel and off to bed.. I couldn't sleep. EH. Time difference to Italy was 4 hours so there were no panic!
Only in the mornings when you have to hurry up to the brekfast before 10am was hard.!!!:D The following week I was sleeping until the noon, eating my own porridge in the hotelroom:D

After arriving and training a few days I felt a bit weird. It was hard to know if I was tired or why^^ During the first 3 days I got massages and my legs felt nearly okey. Anyways our coaches changed their minds a couple of times in a day, and we had a qualification to the sprint with Sarianna! 3K and 2 shootings. Well at 10 am trainingtime and my pissed off -mind due to the desicions and not-okey-feeling in muscles. I shot 1+1, sarkku 0+0... and my skiing, didn't even get the speed. So I spend the next few days in bed.. Finally it was actually a good choice cause I didn't still feel topfit! And Sarkku did, the best result in WorldCup so far!.)

So what about others. Well, I think you know that our Kaisa did well... more than well!!! the great season so far and now even Worldchampion in pursuit after the silvermedail in sprint!
It was a sensitive and glorious moment when I saw her face on the finish line, waving the flag that I have been taping to my skipole and giving it just before the line!! GREAT!=))
Hopefully the finnish biathlon is getting a boost from this..

..

For me the first Worldchamps start was then in individual race. On that day we didn't have very fair conditions. On the morningrun the wind was blowing so hard that moving against wind was nearly impossible!! -15c and... :D After Kaisa's pursuit there were some parties, but I skipped the most fun due to my sickness. Well I felt kind of okey, only my hurting back (SI- thing down in the back was locked) was a big problem! Our massieur tried to push hard to get it okey, but cause it's not anything to do with the muscles it wasn't really helping.

But the race was still quite okey! only 3 penalties in difficult conditions wasn't bad. Unluckily I had one of the laziest skiing performances this year^/ pain in the back and slow cold snow. So far away from the normal course time.. Place 49th in WorldChamps isn't really bad, though! I must be glad to be in top 50 first time ever!!! Next year I'll take already worldcup points,;))

I got some help from the swiss physio later on the week so that my skiing felt a lot better in relay!!=) Danke Patrick und co!!.)) er fehlt noch ein paar bierlis.. I think without swiss guys these 4 weeks would have been much more miserable..

So when the others started to party after men's relay (or even earlier) we focused to the relay. Well it was only average from us compared to Antholz, but also the conditions were even trickier! Place 11th and Kaisa's 0+0 without reservs was good! I for example lost my time on the range taking 2+3 extrabullets next to nervous Sleptsova. shame shame..

So packing up the things and off to party. Next morning early flight to Oslo.. And I think I saw more than one tired athlete in the plane;)
And cause the relay was a qualirace (again) Sarkku could stay in Oslo for a few more days..

I headed back HOME!!!!:D

First Part - Ridnaun!

Like I promised. Let's take a step back to Valentine's Day 14th of February!
A day when you're supposed to remember all you dearest friends. I hope my friends know they are important without any special day, though^^) I kind of passed this monday somehow..

Anyways, I was standing at München airport already 9 am, waiting for my friend Mario to come and pick me and my brother... on the way to Ridnaun and Italy!
From the icecold -25c at home we had come to sunny Italy and +5! There were not much snow left down in the valleys, but still some amounts up the on the mountains:)) oh great!



Our friend and coach Anatoly had arranged a good accommodation just next to the big Schneeberg-hotel.. You just need to walk out from the door out to the shooting range. Perfect!=)

Well, It was sunny only for this day. Next few days it was snowing quite a lot(40cm?), and the track was supersoft! Maybe due to this I had a bit too high intensity in my trainings and in the end of week my legs were hard like stones. And a lack of massieur...

We moved on to another accommodation on Saturday, living the whole week in the same house with swiss team...!!! Joy!=)) Next to the skitrack and excellent flat!

The first race was on Monday when the men had their individual 20K/15K race. My little brother skied again superfast but 5 penalties dropped him to the place 17th. For me the first race on tuesday was like a comedy. Stone legs and high altitude didn't really help. Only my shooting, except the last standing (3) was okey.
From this day my brother got sick, me being awake half of the nights cause of his coughing. But it got even worse as he had a horrible pain in the stomach. One late evening I then took him to the hospital.
So that's why there weren't any finnish relay teams running to the finish on Thursday. Always missing one part from a team^^' "hilarious"damn.. NOT!


Sprint race on Sat was neither a hilarious one, my shooting seemed to be anything but easy-going. 3 penalties and I end up to the the place 40! oh gott. Luckily my legs were a bit better, maybe cause of non-stressy evenings...;)
Luckily the day after my skiing got a tiny boost even if the sunny weather had changed to snowfall (again)..My nearly super shooting 0+0+0+2 was satisfying!:) There was something to cheer up anyways eh!:D
The next job was to pack all the things and fly next day then to Khanty-Mansiysk and World Championships!!:)

Two weeks in Italy was great what comes to people and athmosphere. I enjoyed my stay...And I'm missing all the time...
But new experiences were waiting for us on the other side of the globe .... Dawai dawai!!;)

ps. skiingpics taken by Mario Danzl, biathlon Austria!
The other ones taken by Mika Haapoja!=)

Long time, no see -4 weeks adventure!

Ciao!

I arrived yesterday back home, felt like a train had droven over me. Depressing weather with plus zero and snowfall, grey greatness to be at home^^' eh. A bit over 4 weeks I've been all over the world, as how I could say. First two weeks in Italy in Open European Championships then 2 weeks in chilly Siberia in World Championships! (Comments and pics following in the next update!:D)

Having still a jetlag (from siberia plus partying.;)) I woke up today at 8 am, without alarm, feeling great! The grey landscapes had turned into sunshine and -5c! We have been eating two weeks a bit "heavier" russian food, so now I can cook and bake whatever I really want!! jipiii!!!! The strict timetable with trainings, changing clothes, dinnertimes etc have changed to easy-going life eh and "wear-whatever or nothing" :DD Also the empty fridge has been filled again and oh the glory when I got into the sauna first time in 4 weeks!!:))) It's nice to be home... for a while;)

I will enjoy one week all alone at home... Maybe tomorrow I'll get my skies and rifle, dunno where they are, hopefully not anymore in Russia!!! It feels very poor without, especially in this weather! We have still 3 weeks to go before the season is over..
I was in Oslo too, but got the directflight back home, so no more Worldcup starts for me this season! Hoping for better results and more WorldCup races next season then! I'm already missing you my dear biathlonfriends!:)

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital. -J.Paterno

I'll be going Swedish or Schweizer Champs the next week, maybe. If it's just working out well.. We have also Finnish Champs in Cross-country and Biathlon coming on:D So tough end for the season aanyways!
We'll see what happens. As I'm a bit restless now... Missing a lot to Switzerland, but would also like to see me swedish friends.. and also other friends here and there:)) How I will handle everything ouii...

Now off to Sauna!! :D
ps. no jokes about it...;)) It's just a same thing like you would eat.. everyday,)