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