November 30, 2009 (Ostersund, Sweden) – I am currently in Ostersund, Sweden waiting for the start of the World Cup in a few days. Another training season has flown by and now it’s time for the fun to begin! These last few days are pretty relaxed for me, as I need to be completely rested for the first block of World Cup action. Over the next three weeks we will compete in Sweden, Austria, and Slovenia before taking a short break for Christmas.

Going into the season this year I have made some small training adjustments with the hope of getting a better start to the season. During the last two seasons, I really struggled with health issues during this time and I was unable to have any consistency before Christmas. With the few small changes we have made for this year, I am feeling quite a bit more relaxed and recovered than in previous years. I am not sure if this has more to do with experience or to the training adjustments. Either way, I am looking forward to putting the new program to the test in a few days!

Conditions in Ostersund have been unseasonably warm over the last week. The racecourse here is made up of 100% man-made snow, with little to no natural snow surrounding the track. It looks like the temperature should drop over the next few days, so hopefully we will get enough snow to at least make things look a little more like winter.

Despite the lack of natural snow, the organization here has done an incredible job of putting the course together. The snow that will be used for the races was actually snow that was made last winter and saved in huge piles in the woods.

I’m off to dinner now of more boiled potatoes and fish…. Thanks for checking in and look for more race updates soon.