Road to Russia: What was it like?

People often ask me what it’s like to be in the Olympics or what it’s like to compete in them. Lots of things pop into my head when I’m asked this question: lots of words – like excitement, adrenaline, nervousness, joy, pain, honor, country, family, go … Go faster! … “Lanny, GO!”

Suddenly, I’m brought back to a familiar place, a place that has been in my rehearsed thoughts for four years leading up to the Olympics. I look right and see a blur of red, white and blue. Someone is yelling my name. It’s almost inaudible at first, everything sounds fuzzy. The only thing that is clear to me is my breathing, and my lungs are expanding and contracting at a blistering rate. I don’t feel anything, but I’m moving and moving fast.  There’s nothing but silence, almost peaceful in a way. I’m in an empty void. I’m in a place where every athlete’s mind goes on occasion when you are too tired to think and the pain is almost too much to bear. You can see it on an athlete’s face when they go to that empty void, their eyes glass over and that grimace that was spread across their face is now replaced with an emotionless stare. It’s a quiet place, its peaceful, but I don’t want to be here. And with that thought it hits me … bam! Like a wave crashing down and it sets in … reality. Read more

Training for Olympics like being a ‘lab rat’ at times

Tracy and I wanted to update you on our training so far. We’ve put in a huge block of training this summer. Most of our training is done from April to November to get us in optimal shape for racing from November until March. It takes a lot of training and a huge base of conditioning to be able to ski with the best in the world for over a five-month period in the winter.

In the spring we usually start building our base, which means we do a lot of volume training — long hours at a slow enough pace to last for several hours of skiing, running, rollerskiing, or biking and completing a workout like that at least twice a day. In the summer, we slowly start incorporating some more intensity workouts — along with strength — all while maintaining the base training at high hours. Read more

New column by twin biathletes

Olympic biathletes Lanny and Tracy Barnes recently joined the Women’s Outdoor Media Association. Through their blog at their website, http://twinbiathletes.com/default.aspx, the sisters take us on their journey as they train for their next Olympics in Russia 2014. The women will contribute their tips on training, their road trip stories and adventures, along with insights along the way to our readers. We welcome them and look forward to reading about their lifestyles. ~ Editors Read more