COLD

-45 this morning, means gym workout. Welcome to the 'Gun Shop', you wanna 'bi'-some, or 'tri' some

Sorry for not getting this up to date lately. I've been home for a bit to Toronto and Orangeville. Thanks to Blissco for adding some sponsors to my coat.

Back up to Thunder Bay last week for a bitter cold week, skiing mostly classic, just too slow for skate, no glide. Then I went down to Duluth Minnesota for a sprint race mid week, then carried on to Cable, Wisconsin for two distance races. Saturday's 10k skate went well for me. I placed 9th grabbing a bit of a cash bonus and seconds off of a bit bigger bonus for being top U23. Every second counts..that saying hit home this past week. Sunday's race was less than reputable. Testing skis in the morning, I was confident with my skis and our wax, apparently where we were testing was a bit different than 2-3k out on the course, unfortunately after starting with the lead group, I was quickly dropped with just not enough purchase out there on the snow for good climbing skis. I skied the most of the first lap of 7.5k double poling. Skis were running fast though :) Since there was no ski marking at the beginning of the race, I switched at the half way point for my warm-up skis, "these have to have better grip" I thought. Without a binder and warming up on them, they weren't much better. I learned that you can't switch skis, other than malfunction. I was disqualified from the race...opps. Not like I was winning, finishing a dismall 45th or something. But I had a lot of fun out there, kinda tough spending time and money to go have a casual race with my teammates, could have done that at home, but it was good experience, cripping at my teammates that glided past me, and skiing with Somppi, helped to pass the difficult, technical 15k. It helped me really understand my skis and the difference between great grip, usable grip, no grip, and skis that are too stiff. Everything is a learned experience, throw it on the pile, and move on.

This weekend we head to Ottawa for Eastern Championships, I've opted out of the sprint race, and focusing my attention on the 30k mass start classic. Hoepfully I can redeem myself.

Thanks for reading, take it easy, enjoy the ride.

Back to Thunder Bay and back on the road

It was nice to be home for a week after the heckit rush of Christmas, and the stress and disappoint of trials. I was able to get into see two specialist in Orangeville that one of my sponsors “Everybody SKIS” Gord Salt lined up for me. Dr. Mike Shuman, athletic therapist and Osteopath, he adusted me similar to a Chiropractor but with some different techniques. He also worked on the position of my kidneys and intestines with massage. It was a really neat experience, and with the knowledge that he has about the human body and physiology I was able to pick his brains about energy systems and performance. Thanks Mike for making the time to see me and giving me your advice.

The second was Dr. Wendy Davis at Hamony Health, a Naturopath. She had some interesting thoughts on my decreased performance and lagging energy levels. She talked about an adrenal fatigue (adrenal glands working overtime and become exhausted). Some tell tale signs are, low energy, spins or dizziness upon standing with relatively normal blood pressure at resting state, high acidity of pH, muscle tension, and trouble sleeping. I have been measuring my pH in the mornings and evenings to give her an idea of the acidity of my internal system and to see if that leads to any clues that can help her identify some specific areas in my nutrition that I can work on. Overall she had some really good ideas and I’m excited to see and feel some of the results from changing some pretty basic stuff in my every day to day things. Thanks Dr. Wendy for identifying some areas for me to improve on in my nutrition.

I highly suggest any of you athletes that are in the Southern Ontario region to line up an appointment to see these two specialists, they exceeded my expectations and really appreciated and understood the demands of an athlete along with trying to help improve overall health.

Thanks again Gord for lining these appointments up for me.

As for this week, we have traveled to Duluth, Minnesota to race on Wednesday in some sprints, then onto Telemark, Wisconsin for some distance races this weekend. I’ll try to get up some race results with some thoughts.

Also make sure to keep your eyes peeled this week as the World Cups are being held in Canmore, Tuesday (pursuit), Wed (classic sprints), Friday (distance skate), Sat. (skate sprints). Some of our teammates are racing in these races and we wish them all the best. Results will be posted on FIS-ski.com with coverage shown on eurosport.com (most likely, perhaps live, mtn time) or cbcsports.ca or cbccountrycanada.ca.

Trials and Tribulations

Trials: Duntroon January 3rd, 5th, and 6th.

What a weekend! Besides racing unbearably slow, it was a nice change to the usual races. Duntroon is a course I would call home being from Orangeville, a 40 minute drive away, but the changes to the courses this year, I felt anything but at home. These courses were tough, steep climbs in the classic course, steeper climbs in the skate course, and a very technical sprint course.

I went into these races with high hopes that the rest and down time over Christmas would edge my body into respectable shape and have me racing at top speeds. Unfortunately it had an adverse effect. I raced as slow as molasses. I pride myself on working hard and putting set backs aside during races to finish to the best of my ability. Mindset is a huge game in skiing, you have to be mentally prepared for anything and have to be able to deal with things with lightening speed. I felt a little sluggish and tired going into the weekend but was hoping that with some good sleeps and staying right on site would be enough to bring my body up to speed.

But what happened during the first race, the 20k pursuit, my mental skills were not able to help me through it. I started the first 10k with a good pace and feeling physically pretty good, gliding well, skiing technically proficient, to ending the race in total disarray. I started the skate leg, and immediately fell off the pace of the skiers I was skiing with, I know that I am not as strong of a skate skier as a classic skier but I got dropped hard. When that happens you have to dig deep and find whatever you need to, to get back in the race. My mind was saying one thing, my body, a different. I wanted to go faster, I knew I could go faster, but my body just couldn’t find the energy to do the old, ‘left, right, left, right’

I decided to take the sprint day off to try to regain some energy for the following distance race of 15k classic on Sunday. I felt ready to go, but the same tune, no juice.

It’s a vicious cycle, you race poorly and that affects your confidence, your mindset, your outlook on the next race, so you do everything you can to make sure your head is in the right place for the next race, only to do poorly again. Then you think, “well maybe I’m skiing poorly because of my mindset,” and that only gets you down again. So I’ve decided the recipe to kick this cycle is to rest. That doesn’t mean couch potatoe for a week, but to realign my goals, strengths and weaknesses and find out what I can do to regain some focus. Other athletes have talked about this and making some time to do the things you enjoy doing, so this week, I’ll try to get up to Orangeville to ski with my old high school team or the jackrabbits at Mono Nordic, see some friends, do some reading, whatever it takes.

I wanted to thank everyone for coming up to watch me race this past weekend. My friends Luke, Patricia, Jack, Luke’s folks, Cindy and Jeff, my family, Mom and Dad, Christal, Thomas, Mary Ellen, Rob, my new niece Luisa, Barb, Rob, Liz and Laura, and my Orangeville fan favorite, Bob Winegar, and to everyone else that was cheering me on out there, I really appreciate it, and it means a lot to me to have everyone’s support.

I’m going to do some regrouping, and then figure out what is next on the list for this winter. There are races in and near Thunder Bay, as well as world cups in Canmore AB.

Needless to say I did not qualify for the World Cups or Under 23 World Championships, which had been my focus this year. Best of luck to the chosen athletes, who will be selected Tuesday, and Wednesday this week, January 8th , and 9th.

Thanks again