Time's running out

Once upon a time there was a gorgeous winterwonderland called Muonio. When the ground in Joensuu was covered by mud, in Muonio otherwise, the snowflakes were falling down from the misty sky.

That was the scene when we arrived up to the north in the beginning of November. 10 days trainingcamp included a lot of skiing and was supposed to give the final boost to the first starts of the season. I had also a good program, planned with my coach. However, my stumbling stone was the tiny cottage which we shared together with three younger boys from the same skiclub as my roommate Anna. Once we settled down there was a battle between an athlete and the three rebells... And being annoyed all the time when the restrictions of sporty life didn't interest them at all got me run out of battery mentally. Overloaded. Without getting a proper nap in the afternoon and a lack of dreaming hours nearly ruined my camp. I become into these thoughts afterwards when it was time to race and my lazy feeling on the skies was a mystery. I did enjoy my long tours in the beautiful landscapes and snow--- we had it enough luckily.:) I also went to the local gym with Ahti and Kaisa and we bet who would lift the most weights in bench press. Kaisa's coach Jarmo took a clear win when me and Kaisa shared the 2nd place and stayed in 62,5kg. Ahti didn't take a part;) We also confronted same problems as the athletes in World Cup, the slippery matts on the shooting range were causing problems with shooting. Otherwise I shot nearly perfect ha:D

So after the more and less succeeded trainingcamp up there we drove back home over 9 hours on the icy roads and resting only three days before qualiraces here in Kontiolahti wasn't obviously enough. Friday morning was a cold clear day and the track was great! Unfortunately, they put some new fresh snow to cover the stones  in the evening and the track become a softy horror. The sprint on Saturday was hard for me, the track was also soft and wet. I hadn't raced since April in Finnish Champs and now there were the first races and the wc-track with all the big upphills. I managed to drop 9/10 but lost still over 3 minutes to Kaisa. I thought my feeling would be better the day after, but I still crawled deep in snow also in pursuit. 5 penalties didn't get me shine like a diamont and I fell out of the undersized WC- and IBU-cup teams. Finland will not send anybody to Ridnaun and the next chance to earn tickets is next weekend when we have qualiraces here in Kontiolahti. I caught a cold last weekend (still raced, stupid ass..) and I'm still a bit sick at the moment. So I'm aiming to be healthy and fit for the weekend, and then we'll see how we progress to the next level. there's only a tiny hope left today...

Luckily Christmas is coming!! And Ahti is als coming home next week. :D And also my dear friends are coming to town for Christmas!! And Sampsa got a place in Police Academy so the moving southwards is coming closer all the time:))  So there are some things to get better now even though my instinct says I maybe can't perform at the level where I would like to be, but take a chance, make a change and breakaway....

South, North, West

Yesterday morning was a bright day. We got the first 15cm layer snow!!=) So the scenes over here in Kontiolahti are from winterwonderland, unfortunately they are supposed to melt away soon... And that means I'll be heading to Lappland and Muonio after tomorrow for the first and last snowcamp.

Two months ago since I wrote last time we were heading to Germany with Sampsa. That was a lovely  5 days with two days celebrating the wedding of Svenja & Daniel in a small town near by Hamburg! Danke nochmals!:) The journey was just too short to experience all the places we wanted (Heidepark jei!:D) but long enough not to miss any important trainings. That wasn't just resting down there in south but good partying and excellent german food.:) And of course I needed to see the places where Sampo used to hang around 6 years ago, having an exchange year there! Last day in Hamburg was warm and with a last ice cream in my hand we head back to Finland and rollerskiing up to Koli was just waiting for me¨^)

So in the beginning of September it was full focus to the trainings. This year I have taken a huge step forwards in my physical shape when the "holy" triangle with training, sleeping and eating has succeed!!=) Compared to the last autumn when there was school, moving and stressy mood all the time I have it really fine now. 60 hours more training thus far don't make the sky fall but it's a good start:) I had only one 5-days camp in Vuokatti (with tests), otherwise I've enjoyed the good surroundings here around Joensuu. Hopefully you'll see a happy face with more balanced performances during the next season. I'm not ready yet and me and my coach are taking small steps in trainings, focusing mainly to the races after Christmas.

The next stop is also Muonio where Sweden, German , Russian women team and Finns are training before the season starts. Two weeks and we have the first races here in Kontiolahti, also qualifying to the first Ibu- and World Cups in West. Östersund and Idre, hope to see some friend there:)) kom å besök! Unfortunately, there will be only 3 +3 women in cups, with 4 startplaces it's gonna be interesting... Let's see, let's see!

Now back in the business, resting tomorrow!! Maybe I'll check out the first xc-race here in the evening... Then a long tripup to the north. gött!!:)

Seldom random O(M)G!

I'm a bit late.
Olympic games were over before I even started to watch them properly. Luckily most of you have already forgotten the half of the gold medalists and I don't even know half of them. Three names I appreciate most, the fastest Bolt, the magnificant Rudisha to make it look easy to run 800meters in 1.40(!) and the Decathlon hero Mr. Eaton. Of course I should mention him and her from every nation to flatter you all plus the finnish medalists but I'll continue on the other way.

What comes to the finnish medalists they are at this moment the beloved heroes, but who will really remember the names after a decade? (Oh there was a shooter-gold-medalist in 2008) There are the medalists and then there are the loosers, the tourists and shame-on-you-guys in a row. The finnish sportjournalists have been really rude and un-professional blaming the none-medalists as tourists when they couldn't made it to their best and over it. It's been a lot of discussion about appreciation of athletes and their work and as well about how the limited resources will affect to the sport careers! If they have got through the limits to OG I think they are very seldom just the "tourists"..But the discussion continues^^'

So after all this mess I'm not surprised at all that Kaisa felt so much pressure during the last WCH's in Ruhpolding. The "fear" of the sport journalists stabbing you in the back instantly if you will not get the medal... And so she shouldn't read so much crap newspapers before the races :) There is at least one thing to work for the future in the mental-training sessions... (Hjälp Christoph!)

I, myself, planned to write here already during the training camp in Estonia when I was even dreaming about the texts to be written. I got too busy when I got back home, though. I wanted to write about the holy circle of sporty life; training, sleeping and eating. It was so easy to focus on these things at the tr.camp but now when I'm back home it's even complicated and hard to find time even to write this as my lazy ass is too tired^^)

I'll be writing about the holy triangle later, when I'm working on that theme in German to finish the final big task/course for the university and then becoming finally the Bachelor of Arts! So that will keep me busy when I'm not training, eating or taking a nap...

After the successful training camp in Otepää (except three days throwing-up everything^^/) I'm back at home and that will continue still a long time, I mean at least 5 days more:D  I have also been every weekend skiing up the hills or hiking in our nearest nationalpark, Koli, and it's been hard and also pleasant (in the freaky way) when the blood is really running in your veins! One weird thing is that I'm kind of avoiding the trainings in Kontiolahti. I started to "hate" that place after many unsuccessful races... But I'm working on it in my messy mind and I've been training there anyways!! HJÄLP Christoph! After the next month it will be already time for the first competitions I think.. and I want to show my progress!!!!

This summer is different cause I'll not compete at all in any Finnish Summer Championships. The cross-races passed without I even remembered when I had been dancing 2 days with Armin van Buuren and co. in Summer Sound festivals in Helsinki. After that I stayed in Lahti by my coach and I really forgot the races far away in the north-west. :D (Congratulations will go to double-gold-medalist Mari!) 1st of September we'll have rollerski-biathlon FM but I'll miss it too. I'll be with my boyfriend Sampsa in Hamburg and celebrate the daughter of my bf's ex-host family getting married. (simple?.D) So instead of climbing up the wall-uphill I'm wearing a long royal blue dress and having an easy and hopefully warm week in Germany!

Finland is offering at the moment a nice autumn weather with +12 c degrees and rain once in a while. At least there are no problems with heat and recovering, or eager to sunbath... :P Now I'll finish for this time and get jealous when Sweden, France, Austrian, Russian and Finland A-teams will enjoy the perfect days in Obertilliach;) I had to cancel my "trip" there cause it would have been too complicated to drive there from Hamburg and also too expensive for my wallet. Instead I'll be maybe in Ramsau in the beginning of October, and that will do it : ) Joy, joy, joy...Toi, toi, toi...

PS. Thank you all for your nice birthday wishes:)  kiitos, tack, spasibo, danke..

Full Focus

A few weeks ago I was watching at first time the finnish baseball game here in Joensuu. Or not. I came into the thoughts that this has happened even before and it was maybe year of 2000!! I was participating the summer sportcamp for the kids, and in the end of camp we were cheering for the local baseball players on the field. At that time it was really hard to pick up only one sportart for the camp as I wanted to choose dancing, floorball, swimming, skiing and all the possibilities:D Anyways I took biathlon. Just for the reason that my big brother did and I was sleeping in the same tent with him. He had just started some biathlon training with the same coach who would be coaching at the "trainingcamp" so it was an easy choice.:) I kind of fell in love in shooting with eko-rifles and the difficult combination of two different sportarts. Though, both were already familiar to me... somehow.

Next year I got my own secondhand rifle which actually worked well. I remember the scene of a warm summer evening before the first summer finnish champs when the head coach of finnish team Anatoly Khovantsev visited Kontiolahti stadium. I shot my first 50 points just at that time and it was surprising for him. Now over ten years later my super shooting will not amaze him anymore, he knows:D *gg*

So the year of 2001 was the first touch to the best wintersport ever! The fabulous trio of small devils (as we were called), Sarkku, Mari and me were invincible during the junior years. Our normal "suits" of the summer champs were brilliant, we had all red heads and once we even ran the victory in socks. ;)

Back to the current moment it's been a smoothy spring. First I was visiting the lovely city of Köln (Cologne). Strongmanrun in Nürburgring was just awesome even if it was cold and rainy day, but the spirit was impressive! And just to mention I beat our boys;) haha. They were complaining that my female figure made it easier to pass the track quicker... people got jammed before the barrels it was an hour before the boys got over the first barrel!!!

After Germany trip it's been full focus in the trainings. This is the first whole year with my current coach and it seems to be brighter than ever I hope so! First weeks have been full of power training in the gym and then rest of the time mainly running :P Unfortunately I got sick in the beginning of June after the Abitur- celebrations and maybe due to awful weathers. It's been mainly rainy and under +13 degrees. Good side of this is that you dont get burned or exhausted by the weather:D!! Positiv thinking remains...And now I'm fit again!:)

Our finnish Midsummer was calm and sunny. I "celebrated" it by sunbathing and swimming in the lake. I was even baking a delicious strawberry cake so that our visiting friends will get the taste of summer:p

On this Sunday I will travel to Otepää, Estonia once again. 8th or 9th year in a row will be now. The sportclub team gets smaller all the time and this year I don't have any of my age there as Sarianna will not be there anymore... Next year may be different then.

After two weeks in Estonia I'll be at home and then in the end of August we head to Germany again where a friend of ours will have wedding in Hamburg. In case we take our car there I'll be traveling with my boyfriend Sampsa down to Austria and train with the finnish A-team from 3rd to 13th od September!

So there are some goals to go. Now back to the track.. it means stretching:)

Enjoy the summer. See ya!

Fabulous Four and Sorrow

First of MAY and time to update I wrote last time... I meant of course March, but nevermind. It's a day to count and live anyways. It's not always the fair play for us. One misslucky movement with snowmobile and your life can end suddenly. So happened to my dear skier friend from Östersund. R.I.P Fredrik Karlsson.
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There have been a lot of things happening since I wrote.  It was just about time for the last IBU-cup in Altenberg. With a quick decision I finally ended up to take the final chance for competing this year abroad. Flights to Prague and the glorious hotel... You imagine, the finnish team in a hotel?!! How incredible!!:D Cause most of the time we are just somewhere there, you know, far away and stressing and cooking ourselves. That was great I think! Otherwise the races weren't that glorious. The training days and awesome sunny weather turned out to a snowstorm or pouring rain + tricky wind during the racedays AND that put my mood down. Luckily I got my shooting back on the normal level in sprint race 0+1, but pursuit and individual race were both a bit poor with 6 penalties. I didn't have either the fury on the skies, but I tried hard, maybe even too hard. The results seems to be on that level on the days I'm not at my best, but I'm looking forward already the next year! And thanks for the austrian team who helped me with waxing and the skies from Sven were also good=)


After the last-time-racing-this-year-farewells in Germany, through the grey landscapes with ugly factories to Prague I've been at home -  Just to participate to the Finnish Champs, both in cross-country and biathlon! Cross-Country relay didn't go as we expected, mostly cause everyone was so pissed off even to be there. Our Champion wanted to ski the first leg classic, against all the previous thoughts, and our familiar biathlontrio stunned far away from the podium. (We were 3rd early in the season in Vuokatti!)


Then it was time for biathlon superweekend, 3 races and then off. I was doing pretty well individually! The relay team Kaisa, Sarkku and me were winning with the marginal of a half calender year..;) In Sprint I did really good, but unluckily just a bit too slowly... 0+0 shooting and 2 second from the 3rd! As there were no fight from the first 2 places (Kaisa and Mari) the lost to this rival was stupefying. In massstart I got 2 mistakes from the second windy stage and one from the last standing, otherwise it was a balanced performance to finish this 6 months racing period!!

The sunny and cold Finland has offered good possibilities to ski. STILL! and due to that I've been able to ski until last weekend. It was also great to seek my snowboard again and have fun and in the evening listening to one of my favourite artists, Kaija Koo, with my boyfriend. I would name it to the start of the Off-season and holidays. Gogogogo.

Next week we will fly to Germany and Köln. We'll be visiting a friend of ours and the participating the hardest race ever I think, Strongmanrun im Nürburgring 5th of May. That's gonna be funny and amazing I can guess. With other 11.000 runners there will be a lot of barriers before I've finished 22K :DD

Follow the laughter at http://www.fishermansfriend.de/strongmanrun/

Also Bis bald and have a nice without-skies spring time!! See you soon again!;)

Below Zero!

Good evening!

First of May and time to update! World Champs had just the first race in Ruhpolding. Big congrats to Slovenia! It was a great surprise:) Also warm congrats to other medalists. Let's see how the queen of biathlon, Lena, will survive catching still 5 golds right?:D I'm also really happy to see my little brother to perform on the excellent level, today's relay was a magnificent! Hiphiphurra!

What about me? I told last time about the European Championships trip, how we three athletes from Finland decided to travel to Osrblie without a coach or waxmen or service.. or even car! Considering these facts we actually did quite well, even the results were pure bullshit.
I'm really grateful to the teams helping us. Thanks to Swiss, Austrian, Estonian, Bulgarian and Russian waxmen and coaches helping me and the boys on the range, or waxing skis and all about that! And our super privet shuttle driver, with whom I discussed only in Russian:D D'akujem!

Sprint I managed to drop again all the prone targets but was too slow on the standing stage and even dropped only three of them. Place 44 to the pursuit didn't really astonish. Only the sun was shining and I was glad. I didn't like the track either. With extremely cold temperatures and steep two big upphills within the first 1.5K was killing...

I had never quit a race, means I've always come to the finish. So I decided before pursuit that I will manage it. Coming to the 3 shooting I realized Pidrushina was already arriving just behind me. I missed one, but luckily she 2! So I had around 1 penaltyloop advance... So the second last lap was my "final" lap, skied as fast I could and luckily reached the shooting range before the winner crossed the finish line! So with breath-taking feeling and shaking legs I managed to hit 2 targets. How great^^D ending up to the place 40. plaah.
After lame athlete's party we had still individual races to go. The Finnboys were lame too, as did I. One miss in the prone stage destroyed my zero shootings in the prone, and one misslucky first standing ruined my race. No other comments; except it was cold and sunny and we had a great flat to live and cook! :D So we finally flew back home, with Malevian Airways who was co-operating with Finnair.
They had never heard about skies or rifles to pay separate, so we got a amount of 60000 local money payment, app 220euros just to get back home. Ironically this aircraft just bankrupted day after our arrival home.

At home was bittercold -30 degrees cold weather and my boyfriend, arrived from three-weeks-vacation in Thailand! :)
And so I caught cold and didn't really train for days. I was gathering my friends to work in World Cup together with Chief of Attachees, Sampo:D After all I didn't think I had some chance to compete there although I knew I would be the first to replace or maybe they would like to have some changes.. My good performances in IBU-cups in Jan were anyways a good baseline to get into the team!

Luckily they changed the program in Wolrd Cup so i got one more day to recover after ECH's and illnes. It was a cheerful and awesome chance to compete on the hometracks. I haven't been traing there so much this year, though. I prefer other places at the moment as I do hate the big uphills and that I couldn't have any fair competition because of my skies.
You shouldn't blame your skies, but cause the new fischer skies for this year have been really poor (not from Grossi to mention!:)) so there are barely one good pair for this kind of snow.

Anyways, I skied sprint, shoot more penalties than this year together. 2+1.- skied really bad and was so ashamed! I felt like a bambi on the ice. My zeroing was brilliant, prone perfect 49points, then a small loop and standing, 4 hits to the proneround and one 7. After that I may have got a bit nervous cause I lost the total focus to the shooting and also got shaken legs even before any upphills^^/

Nothing else to tell! It was a pity that I fell down so low, it meaned that I wouldn't be in World Championships either! Now it's been a lot of training, focusing for the next season definitively!!! Above all, I'm also participating last IBU-cup in Altenberg next week and after that it's only finnish Champs both in xc and biathlon! Last week I was also helping the organizing committee in Kontiolahti Junior World Champs, working as a media assistent and also chaperone. A bit hard but it was also great to see my younger friends to succeed! Grattis Chardine! Onne Grete!

Thumbs up for the finnish team in World Championships in Ruhpolding. I think my little broo will succeed quite a well;)



ps .Happy Valentine's Day to all of my friends!!=) and Spasibo Anton, thanks for the nice cups.
" Be Fast, Be Accurate, Be the Best! - Laura"

Shooting star^^

Salut!

It was bittersweet to write about staying home last time, but I was yelling too early!! Just in the same late evening I got call that I could be participating both the IBU-cups, replacing Sarianna. And after thinking a while and discussing with my coach I was already packing for the next journey!:) I prefered getting more races (cause it goes better and better all the time) than staying at home alone, when my both beloved men are also abroad!

So off we go back to the Alps. First to Italy and Forni Avoltri and next week at the highest high Haute-Maurienne! Well, as you know the finnish team, we have our own tiny accommodation, with own cars, own cooking, only one waxman, no massages etc. That all brings a little advantage compared to the other teams and it's a pity that you can't give your total best although you should be showing your best results that you get into World Cup!

Well, I did my best, especially on the shooting range! Second individual race this year and I managed to drop all the 20 targets first time ever! so 0+0+0+0 and no penaltyminutes so I was really happy to reach top 20! Though, there were also top 10 available...I lost 4 minutes to the french leader, mostly because fresh snow and my bad skies, but you can do nothing. The next day was even worse, my skiing was a bit more alert on the track but the skies were worse. I lost in this sprint over 4 minutes with only 1 standing penalty!! How fair, isn't it...

So after this week in Italy, living in a small apartment and having a very distracting atmosphere among us we continued a long journey to France! A lovely sun and perfect hard tracks were waiting for us. I was also accompanied by Sarianna (luckily and finally) so that there was more relieved atmosphere and I also got somebody (again) to sleep next to:D



Anyways, I did good job also there! I did an excellent hard classic training before the races on that high 1700 meters above the sealevel. And so I got a bit better glide for the first sprint and with perfect fast shooting on the range I ended up to the place 30! With my hurting spine and back I was still able to get the strong last loop, as I was a bit scared to give full blast on the first loop at that altitude. Anyways, feeling relieved. Good job and the better way to go:)

Pursuit race I started just behind one of the twin Hildebrands, just to notice they are not so fast as I had imagined.*grins* :D But the chilly day -15c in the morning was bit hard to start fast, as well as humidity was somewhere around 20%. Nirsknarsk says the skies.:D But without a small mistake in the prone my total shootingprocent during January would have been pure 100%!!!:))
In the first standing I was standing too long time and I lost crusial 3 hits. Anyways, total 5 penalties is too much and already tired body was happy to get back home!



So not bad two weeks for a "reservathlete"!! Shooting is brilliant, and I hope now after a few massages and good hometraining I'm able to give the best results in European Championships in Slovakia, Brezno-Osrblie. I'll be the only girl from Finland (!!!) and I'll travel there with two boys, without any coach or waxman! Our A-team headcoach promised something like co-operation with Austrians but who knows. I think some help is needed 0_o

After the ECH's week I'll be back at home, preparing for World Cup in Kontiolahti. Dunno yet if I'll be skiing, I wish so. BUT in case my face is not enough for the team I'll be the chief of attachees and chaperone, maybe even translator for the Teamcaptainmeetings. Anyways, I'll be there!! :)

Now I head to the gym. It's bit odd to sleep and train at home all alone. Yesterday evening I went to solarium and bought a fresh pineapple, just imagining I was laying on the beach of Koh Tao (Thailand) next to my boyfriend and chilling... It was only just a dream!

Merci! Salut à bientôt!:)