Unlucky

Relay at the OECH

Hey readers,

So there has been some news since my last post, so I’ll share with you everything that is worth sharing.

So after New Years break and an awefull illness, my body wasn’t in the best shape for competing. In competition, I would push to my absolute limits but basically go nowhere. I was definitely lacking power and speed. When I looked at the results list after each event I was quite disappointed and obviously very dissatisfied. By the end of January I managed to find some reasonable shape and regained qualification for World Cup. That trimester was mentally really difficult for me but I knew that it takes time for an athlete’s body to recover, so I tried to keep my head high and be patient.

Next up was Open European Championships (OECH) in Otepaa (EST) which everyone was excited for. We had the largest number of athletes there in history, 3 junior girls and 4 men. The men were eligible to start a Relay for the very first time in history!! It felt great to finally have a team to travel with.

Otepaa is a small place in the middle of nowhere, it’s quite isolated from everywhere but let me tell you they love and support their snow sport. It felt great to get out of central Europe and experience and live a different culture for a while. Central Europe does get a little monotonous at times and when you spend so much time away from home, it gets quite tough. Travelling somewhere new definitely freshens you up mentally.

So OECH started off with the 20km individual event, finally I was feeling somewhat decent but having slow skis and shooting 9 penalties didn’t help me in my first comp. It was gusting a storm like in the Australian KAC, skiing was pretty tough but the shooting range was the real mission. Unfortunately I failed the mission by shooting a 9-minute penalty and crossing the finish line in 83^rd.

I was certainly hoping for a better result in the 10km sprint event the next day, luckily the weather conditions were much better and fair for everybody. This time I had fast skis and I managed to shoot straight, so the result was much more pleasing to look at, 41^st in a strong field of 106 starters. The following day we had the 12.5km Pursuit, I shot 2 penalties out of 20 which moved me up to 36^th position, two really satisfying days for me.

After a rest dayt it was time to make history, for the first time ever we had a relay in an international event. Damon, Dyllan, Daniel and myself were all excited for this event and I think we did a great job considering the unfortunate circumstances! I started the first leg, it was going great right up to the last downhill on the first loop, where I crashed and broke most of my equipment! A Finnish guy caught an edge and crashed in front of me and since we were all in a pack I had nowhere to go other than into him!!  while I was trying to realise where the sky was another 2 skiers skied into me. In conclusion I broke my best skis, chipped my rifle stock, and bruised several body parts. Fortunately I was able to recover and get up quickly. I managed to ski and shoot quite well using only 1 extra round. I handed over to Damon managing to still be in a pack of other nations, 1:38 behind the leading team. As the race went on we slowly kept dropping back from the leaders, but I believe we did a damn great job! P.S we even lapped a nation!

After European Championships finished I found out that I no longer had the financial capacity to compete on the WC or IBU Cup, I was really shocked and lost, to be honest I didn’t know what to do. I knew that this season was really tough financially but never did I think I would have to stop competing. When you work so hard during summer, sacrifice and give everything you have for the winter season it’s a bit upsetting to find out that you are done. So with no other choice, my dad and I decided to go back to our Tyumen base and train free of charge until the World Championships, which are luckily fully paid for by the OC. When we arrived in Tyumen it was hard to find motivation, my dad left for Junior Worlds after a couple days so basically I had to be like Rocky Balboa, work and train on my own! I also didn’t have a rifle with me because of the paperwork. Although at first it was bizarre and unusual to be watching the WC on TV, I soon found that maybe a break is good for me. I got my act together and tried to make the most of the dull moment, trained hard for 3 weeks and stayed healthy, focusing on doing my best at the coming World Championships.

When this season is over I really have to think about what ill do next with my career, but Ill leave those thoughts for later.

We are here in Finland now. Opened my ski bag after travelling and found more broken skis that I was most likely going to compete on here. Luck is just not on my side this year!! Our first race is tomorrow, wish us all luck as I am sure we’ll need it!

Thank you for reading,

Alex

Happy New Year!

Hey Everyone,

I hope every one has had a Merry Christmas and an amazing New Years Eve. I wish everyone a happy New Year that will bring joy and happiness to you and your loved ones. I haven’t posted in a while so here’s a short update.

The first trimester has passed with mixed emotions. The positive thing is that I am skiing faster then the previous season, the negative is that I cant put the shooting and the skiing together, which is super frustrating. The season started of a little slow for me but I got better and faster as it went on. I have been so close to the pursuit this trimester ill admit it has been a little depressing. I am either skiing quick and missing the targets or hitting the targets and skiing backwards. Either way room for improvement that’s for sure!

I was really excited for the next trimester to show of my skill but then I got sick, AGAIN! Missed around 2 weeks of training, I laid in bed and felt sorry for myself knowing I was missing valuable training, worst feeling ever! This happens to me every year at around the same time, clogged sinuses, sore throat, the whole lot. It takes me so long to recover from this and that whats really hurts, if my memory is correct it takes around a month to make me feel reasonable.

We were in Ridnaun (ITA) for Christmas and New Years. We have now moved to the most windiest, foggiest and wettest place on the circuit/Earth, Oberhof (Ger). Not only the weather here is always nasty it’s a real hard track, hard sharp corners, big uphills and steep downhills, so wish me luck!

I’ve been slack with the updates as usual and I as always I do apologise. Someone needs to hit me sometimes and make me write something. I am competing in a day and the question will be, will I recover and stop feeling letargic before then? Probably not, but lets hope I feel somewhat semi-decent.

Talk soon,

Alex

Snow is falling

Hi Everyone,

I glad to say that winter is almost here! First snow is starting to fall and in no time at all I’ll be on my skis gliding away on white stuff. After World Champs I didn’t really know where, when, what was going to happen in terms of training. So to get motivated for September month was hard, but I was very fortunate and found some support to go to Chajkovskij (RUS) for another training camp, I am very grateful to the people that gave me the opportunity!

This was no ordinary training camp, I was able to arrange with Anton Shipulin and Aleksey Volkov to take me under their wing for the month. They are both Olympic Gold Medalist and to train with them was an honor, I learnt many new things and ways that will help me in the future. Training with the worlds best shows how much you really need to work and how you need to do it, never have I had such a productive month of training. We lived 2.5km away from the stadium, which was a little drainer but luckily Anton was happy to drive his car everyday to and from training. Unfortunately after 2 weeks of solid work I got a little under the weather, I missed 3 days of training and when the races came I wasn’t fully I recovered. I came 34^th/90 competitors, I shot 17 out of 20 targets, and considering the whole national team was there and the best of Russia was competing I was satisfied with the result.

Driving back from Chajkovskij I took the chance of taking a photo with Russia’s most prized possession. We drove hundreds of kilometers and passed several pumpjacks pumping away black gold! It was a long drive but I enjoyed it, I saw many amazing picturesque views, old villages and many Siberian animals, I haven’t seen this type of Russia before so it was quite exciting.

A took a easy week when I got back which means only 1 training session a day, but now it is time to get back into it again. Snow is now falling and ill be skiing very soon, this is the last step of my preparation, and I hope summer training will pay off!

Thanks.

 

Summer World Champs

Hi everyone,

 

I have now successfully finished my 3^rd training camp and the Summer World Championships are done and dusted. It was a long month of training and I’m happy it’s now over.

This months training was probably one of my hardest so far in my career. Never have I pushed myself so hard and far before. Everyday I would average around 5 hours of training and some days I would train up to 7 hours, I was really motivated and training felt good. The only thing I was concerned about was overtraining, I didn’t want to be fatigued and not recovered for the World Championships. I knew it was a risk to be training so much, but it was a risk I was willing to take. You see, I didn’t want to take it easy, taper and prepare especially for a summer world championships. After all, I am in a winter sport, and I want to do well throughout the winter. Saying all that, I still wanted to go well, so a week before I did intervals that somewhat prepared me for the races.

Am I satisfied with my result from the Summer World Championships? Well, I will probably have to say no. I week before the world championships we had a time trail, there were some Russian team members and the whole Bulgarian team competing, I won that race with 1 penalty. So after that my hopes for the races in a week’s time were quite high.

On race day I felt good. First lap felt great until I shot 3 penalties on my first prone, on my 2^nd lap I completely blew up. What happened? Well, I don’t really know. I pushed so hard that I reached a maximum heart rate of 190, I haven’t seen that for 7 years! It was hot and humid and during the race all I really wanted was to make it to the finish. My whole body went numb and it took me hours after the race to recover. At the end of the day I was 28^th/50 3:15 behind with 3 penalties.

Next day was the Pursuit. After being dehydrated and having a horrible sleep, I actually went ok. Skiing felt a lot easier, effortless I would say, and the result was reasonable, I was only 2 minutes back in ski time. During wintertime I’m around 2:30 back. I shot 4 penalties and moved from 28^th down to 22^nd.

I wasn’t disappointed with these races because I know that I wasn’t prepared. I still think I did ok and progress is definitely there. It will be good to see what I can do when snow comes and when I will be ready! Also I have to add that the rollerskis they gave out for the competition were so hard to ski on. A lot of the teams use different brands of rollerskis for their preparation during summer. When you use one pair of rollerskis the whole summer you adjust your technique for them. I use Marwe, so when you I got completely different rollerskis on race day its was very hard to adapt in time, this is why I think my second race was better, if only I had them a week before the start. Girls were lucky enough to race on Marwe, men raced on SRCP.

Now off topic I have heard about Callum’s crash while he was competing in a sprint event in AUS! He was very unfortunate and was badly hurt. I am Happy that he is already recovering and feeling better. I have to say that Callum has always been a fighter, he has been in some heavy situations before and has come back from them even stronger. He is a great friend and I have no doubt that he will be back in training in no time. I really hope he has a speedy recovery and I wish him all the best! Keep your head up mate!

I now have only 2 month left till the season starts and to be honest I’m finding it hard to motivate myself. The reason for that is I don’t know what’s next, Lucy and Dan have left home, dad is leaving Monday to Austria for the IBU Congress for a while, and we have run out of money to join a Team. Also at this moment I don’t have funds to travel/book overseas, so I’m thinking of doing some coaching here but I don’t think its going to be all that simple. But hopefully I can work out what I’m going to do soon and get back into a routine. Other then that I’ve been healthy all summer and no injuries so can’t complain.

Thanks for reading,

 

Alex

Pre Worlds Camp

In Comp

So my 2^nd training camp has finished and I’m now in my 3^rd camp that will go right up until summer world champs! My 2^nd camp was a little intense, it involved many interesting training sessions that weren’t easy, training was tough but I adapted quickly. I felt much better in each training session compared to my last camp, I was coping with every single training session and recovering quite quickly. We did a lot of strength work and more intensity, the first intensity sessions were difficult that burned the lungs and legs but as sessions went by it got easier. It was good to see that in most sessions I was really competitive and sometimes I was the best/strongest.

The camp finished off with some races, In them I was the fastest skier out the team that I was training with, unfortunately my shooting went to hell and due to that my places weren’t that spectacular. The races were held for the World Championship qualification, top 5 qualified and will compete in 2 weeks time. First day I was 22^nd with 3 penalties 1:55 behind, beating several National team members and if I shot clean I would have been top 6, so the result was reasonable. In the 2nd day I really couldn’t manage my shooting and missed 7, I cant remember the last time I missed that many!! I was really disappointed because I know I can shoot accurate.

Unfortunately I couldn’t afford to keep travelling with the team that have now left to Uvat for their 3^rd training camp. I will stay in Tyumen and prepare with Daniel and Lucy that are also pushing themselves to the limits and hoping for a good result in world championships. It’s s shame that I wont have any competition and no one to compare with for this month of training, but I am confident I can have a good training here. I am motivated and ready to train even harder then the 2 previous months.

 

After a hectic gail storm run!

Yesterday I had a 6 hour day of training so preparation is in progress!!

 

Thank you for reading,

 

Alex

1st Camp Over…

So my training camp has come to an end. It was an interesting and tough training camp that definitely gave me some progress. I have to admit that at times I was really battling, and in other times I was better/stronger then others. Mentally it was much easier to train with a group, there was never a time where I felt lazy or I felt like I needed to rest, even though physically the training is much harder in a team environment.

Nothing really changed since my last post, training went to schedule, my legs were sore almost everyday. I tried to get a massage when possible but couldn’t afford to do it everyday. I also lost some weight, mostly muscle mass, as we were mostly doing long endurance training with some fresh-hold sessions, very little strength work was done. Weather was pleasant and comfortable for training and in conclusion the camp was really productive!

I am in Tyumen now. It was a long drive home and it feels great to be back. Its an awesome feeling to have a cup of coffee and relax for a bit, great to not think about training and all the difficulties that come with it. I only have a couple of days to enjoy this and then I’m back into it!

Next camp starts on the 12^th, I am hoping that I will also attend this Camp as it will be in Tyumen. I have to work out what ill do about ammunition as I have now run out, there is also some other things that I have to figure out but I think everything will be ok.

Thanks for reading.

 

Alex

Stiff, Tired, Sore, Preparation Is in Progress

Hi Everyone,

 

I have now arrived to Abzakovo! A picturesque small town in the middle of Siberia surrounded by mountains and native woodlands. I have never been here before so everything is quite interesting.

I’ve only been here for week and it has been tough! Basically from 8:30 a.m to 8 p.m you are constantly doing something that involves training, you are either smashing out training, dry firing, stretching, eating or recovering. This is not new for me, I have trained, and do train like this by myself but, at the moment the sessions are very long and the competition in the team heats up the pace in every session. This is good because you always need to keep up! We do up to 3 hours in the morning and 1-2 hour in the afternoon, and that is pure training time. Before training there is 30 minutes of dry fire, and after training there’s stretching.

All Teams have only just started there training programs, and because of that our bodies haven’t adapted to the heavy training loads. In around 2 weeks, even though the training may be more intense our bodies will manage with the training much better, but until then ill have to suffer a little, hobble downstairs and walk slowly because my muscles are so sore!

I’ve been going to the mountain river after training to speed up recovery, standing there after training with aching legs is the best feeling! Like drinking chilled water after a marathon. Also I’ve been getting a massage when the muscles get really stiff.

 

Anyway, I wanted to touch base and tell everyone that everything is great! I’m happy that I am being pushed and even happier that my legs don’t walk properly! This is exactly what I need and wanted! So the plan is to keep working hard and take it step by step.

So what do we do in a spare time? Well, during summer we don’t have much spare time, but when we do, I eat wild berries which are delicious, play guitar or read a book which helps me relax a little mentally. This year I actually started a training diary which is a first for me! So I’ve been trying to keep that updated and to not forget.

Today was a half rest day, we went to a pretty cool lake not too far from our town. A little chilly but It was pretty awesome!!

 

Will touch base after the 6^th that is when the camp finishes.

 

Talk soon,

 

Alex

Time To Train!!

Hello Everyone,

After the European season finished I had some time off, tried to relax mentally and physically. It was a long season and I definitely needed a rest! I spent my off time in Sydney, and although I was resting from training and racing I had a lot of other things happening. Each day I had a set schedule for things I had to do and places I needed to be in. It was an absolute pleasure to see people that have helped and supported me in my career. I only had a limited time In Australia but in my trip I managed to attend school assemblies, club dinners, try on uniform, see my friends and do everything else that involved my sports career. It was great trip home and I was so happy to spend time in Sydney and enjoy the weather. I am really going to miss everyone and being out of AUS, but my sport involves sacrifices and I’m starting to get used that.

 

I have now arrived to Tyumen (RUS) where the Australian Biathlon team is now based during European summer. This year I really want to improve and my plan is to train with a strong team, someone that can really push me and take me to my limits. I feel like its now or never to improve and I don’t see any other way to do so unless I train with someone stronger then me. I have found a team to train with which is the Tyumen state team, it is the best state team in Russia and some of the athletes from there are on the National Team. So I feel like training with them will do the trick. This is all good and it sounds like a great plan but, unfortunately this is going to cost me a lot of money. Normally during the Australian winter I do some coaching in between my training and that helps me cover some cost of my overseas trip. This year I wont be able to do that. I have already missed one training camp that is currently on, simply because I couldn’t afford it. So this is the problem I have to overcome, fingers crossed it all works out.

 

I know that the XC Boys are in Sweden at the moment and they are also doing the same thing, and that is to be pushed by stronger athletes. Hopefully they get the improvement they are looking for the next season to come. I strongly believe that this will help them significantly next season and I do believe it will help me in the same way.

 

I think the most important thing for an athlete is to know what to work on, to know what you need to do to improve to go to the next level. Other then training with a team, I think I have some of my own tricks up my sleeve that hopefully will give me the jump I need for the next season.

 

The Olympics are over and I have made a commitment to go on for the next 4 years till Pyong Chang. At this point I really feel like I can give more, a lot more. When I finish with my career I want to know that I gave everything I could and there was nothing else left to give. I am currently training in Tyumen by myself and training has been going well. Next training camp starts on the 20^th of June in Abzakovo and I really hope I can go there.

 

Thank you,

Alex

Driving some balls

After Simbo’s run

Daniel and Simbo’s Half Marathon

Sunrise

Bondi

It only comes around every 4 years!!!

The Olympics are over!! And mixed emotions are running through my head that are overwhelming. I am so happy to have been apart of this enormous event and a little sad it has all come to an end. It was a very long journey getting there, and it was worth every bit of it!

My races were great, and I’m very pleased to have made history in one of my events for Australian Biathlon. In the 20km Individual, I crossed the line in 45th, which was the best result for an Australian male at the Olympic Games. On the day the crowd was wild, and it was amazing! I felt great and my skis were running good, my shooting was going perfect, and I was coming in the top 20. Then unfortunately I missed 2 shots on my last standing which was a little disappointing, but I kept on pushing hard and at the end of the day I was stoked with my event!

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The Olympic village was amazing! It is turning into a 5 star resort after the games, so we were very lucky! Food was awesome. Both Closing and Opening ceremonies were unbelievable! Volunteers that smiled and always helped you out and made you feel welcome was wonderful! What can I say, for me everything was perfect from the accommodation, to the food, to the organization! Russia was a great host and I give them my respect for that.

Olympics is the greatest event in the World! So many nations and athletes from all different sports come together to show their talent and do their nation proud. Obviously with this hype athletes have to deal with a lot of media and pressure, especially if they are set to win medals, some crumble and other shine. But when see an athlete win a medal, that shiny piece of metal that everyone works so hard for, it brings a tear to your eye. As an athlete you know how much it really means to them. Seeing this, feeling it, makes you so happy inside and it motivates you to keep going so maybe one day you will be standing on that same podium having tears of joy yourself. Olympics will always be a special moment in society, doesn’t matter if you win or loose it will always be an experience of a lifetime and I have been blessed to be apart of it!

I would like to thank everyone at home for cheering and giving us support throughout my Olympic experience! It was awesome having you all behind our backs supporting! It did help! Don’t think I’m saying that! But most importantly I would like to thank all the supporter and sponsors that helped me get there! You have become like family to me and I will never forget what you have done for me! I cant wait to see you and thank you in person!

There will be no doubt lots of memories from these Olympics! I will cherish every moment and never take it for granted! I am already ready for my next Olympic Games, I know it is 4 years time but I know time will fly and In no time at all ill be there again!

I am currently in Austria and I have another 2 World Cups coming with 1 IBU Cup in between, so the season is not over just yet!

heres some more pictures!

Alex

Sochi Bear, Philpots twin brother

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Olympics Are Coming

 

It is official! I have been selected for the 2014 Winter Olympic Team!! I am very excited and I can’t wait to compete in 2 weeks time.

Pursuit in IBU Cup Ruhpolding

 

 

It was very nerve-wracking not knowing will I be selected for the team, trying to stay focused in training not knowing what was going to happen was difficult. Our nation was waiting for a quota reallocation, I got notified on the 24th at 4 am that I we have been allocated a spot and that I needed to send an email to the federation saying I was fit and healthy to compete. Half asleep I wrote an email down at the lobby but went back to bed feeling happy and relieved!!!

 

 

For those that don’t know what this quota system is all about, I will explain. The points for our nation ranking are summarized from the 2 World Championships before Olympics, and since our team is not very big it is difficult to gather a significant amount of points to be in contention for an Olympic quota spot. Top 20 countries get to take 4 athletes and nations from 20-28 get to take only one. Australia was ranked 31st, so we needed some nations not to take their full quota so that Australia can get it on reallocation. As we predicted the reallocation went up to around 33rd nation rank, so we were safely in but it was still very stressful waiting. Same went for the women, Australia was ranked 34th so it was a very nice surprise that we got a female spot too! A massive congratulations to Lucy Glanville who will make her first Olympic depute in Sochi! Both Lucy and I made our individual qualifications during the season, which is 20% behind the leader in World Cup Or IBU Cup, so we were both waiting just on reallocation.

 

 

 

After University Games I got sick and it took a good 3 weeks to get healthy, my races haven’t been all that flash after the new year but they haven’t been appalling. I am currently in Ridanun (Ita) where I am doing a pre Olympic altitude camp. This is my favourite training place with all the facilities you can ask for! So my preparation is going really well. My skiing has improved this year and results have shown that! So I am very excited to see what result I can produce being fit and healthy.

 

 

 

I would like to thank everyone that has supported me throughout my journey to  get to these Olympics, I will try to give it my very best and do Australia Proud!

 

 

Wish me luck!

The Team