Back to the Blogosphere
Back to the blogosphere! Hey old friend, it’s been a
while. Since my last post, two months of
ski racing have come and gone. As always
in a competitive athlete’s journey there have been peaks and valleys. I’ll attempt to give you an overview without
turning this into a hundred thousand-word essay.
Canmore NorAm
My season kicked off with the first NorAm circuit races on
December 1st & 2nd.
The first race weekend is always nerve wracking, as you never really
know how good your shape is until you put it to the real test, a race. This year the first races were even more high
stress because they were selection races for the Canadian World Cups. My results weren’t anything spectacular, with
an 8th place in the 15km classic and a 14th place (9th
Canadian) in the skate sprint, but it was enough to get me on the start list
for the Canadian World Cups.
I opted to not make the trip to Quebec for the World Cups
there as they were only sprint events and my focus is more on distance. Instead I travelled to Silver Star, BC for
the second NorAm circuit races.
Sovereign Lakes NorAm
I had a great time in Silver Star for three reasons: the
trails are awesome, the snow was plentiful as it usually is, and I found my
distance skiing form. The 15km classic
mass start was one of my better classic performances to date. I led a good portion of the race and pushed
the pace all the way to the line.
Unfortunately I tripped myself up twice (likely because I had so much
lactate in my legs) close to the finish and both times lost the advantage of
being in front that I had worked hard to get.
I ended up narrowly missing the podium, finishing 4th (3rd
Canadian) in a photo finish.
The 15km skate was a solid race and I hit the podium for the
first time this season, finishing 2nd place.
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| 15km Classic Mass Start - I'm on the left skiing with team-mates Kevin, Graham & Graeme (Photo Credit - Angus Cockney) |
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| Photo Finish between Graeme and I. Just missed out on the podium. |
Canmore World Cups
Four short days after racing at Sovereign Lakes, I was on
the start line of a 15km classic mass start World Cup surrounded by an
International field of the World’s best skiers.
I hit my early season peak in Silver Star. The race went awful. Three days ended up not being enough time to
recover for me. Combine that with some
equipment/waxing issues and I was struggling out there.
This was the low point of my season. I wanted so badly to vanish, to just
disappear and not deal with my current situation of being in last place. I remembered I was setting an example for all
the young skiers out there cheering us on and I didn’t want to be the guy that
gave up, so I rallied back, caught up to a teammate that was having similar
struggles and skied it in with him. The
emotions alone in that race zapped all my energy.
The skate sprint was better, I finished 55th in a
71 skier field. And the 30km Pursuit was
an improvement, I finished 41st in a 60 skier field. Unfortunately none of my World Cup races felt
as good as my races from the weekend prior.
Christmas Holidays
After some recovery followed by a few long training days in
Canmore, I hopped on a plane and flew home to Thunder Bay. Despite the limited snow in TBay it was great
to be home and enjoy some time with family and friends. The bonus was I didn’t have to travel
anywhere after the holidays. The NorAm
circuit was coming to me!
Thunder Bay NorAm
With World Championship Trials at home I was motivated to
perform well. I led out the 30km Pursuit
with confidence. A large group stayed
together and starting the skate portion there were still plenty of skiers in
the mix. I had trouble moving up in the
group and was feeling the yo-yo effect big time. The lead pack thinned out each lap until it
was done to 4 of us. I waited at the
back for my chance to move up, but when the time came I didn’t have the energy
left to execute. I wound up finishing in
4th, 2 seconds off the podium.
The classic sprint was really exciting for me. My qualifier was solid and I managed to win
both my quarterfinal heat and my semi-final heat with the fastest times of the
day in each. The semi-final heat felt
more like an A-Final, duking it out with 3 other National Team guys right to
the line. I stuck with my tactics in the
A-Final, starting fast and leading the heat out, down the hill and into the
bottom of the climb. I gave everything I
had, but it wasn’t enough. My legs
couldn’t repeat my semi-final performance and I wound up 6th place
on the day. It was my first classic sprint
A-Final on the NorAm circuit, yet I was frustrated I wasn’t able to match my
semi-final performance in the A-final.
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| Above: Fighting over the crest of the big climb in my semi-final heat, I'm bib 105. Below: Four way photo-finish in the semi-final. I was able to take the heat win. |
I took those frustrations out the next day in the 15km skate
race. I attacked the course right from
the start and didn’t let up once. I
crossed the finish line to claim my first NorAm victory. I would say that moment was the peak of my
season so far. Winning on my home course
in front of friends and family was a great feeling.
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| First NorAm victory! My room-mates and team-mates Russell Kennedy and Chris Hamilton finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. |
Duntroon NorAm
I got on a bit of a roll after Thunder Bay. I made it through the rounds without too much
trouble in the classic sprint and found myself in another A-Final. I really wasn’t feeling completely on my game
though and it showed in the Final when the top sprinters took it up a
notch. I finished with a 4th place
after the winner was relegated for obstruction of another skier. The second day of racing was my go to event,
the 15km skate. I had a good outing,
finishing 3rd place. I still
felt a little flat, not super energetic like in Thunder Bay, but it’s hard to
complain about being on the podium.
Eastern Canadian Championships
I felt great for the first day of competition at Easterns,
but my result didn’t show it. Despite
some good feelings, the new sprint course at Nakkertok played more to my
technical weaknesses in classic. The big
climb combined with broken down tracks meant lots of fast uphill running, an
area I need to improve. I qualified 12th
and finished the day in 16th.
Fortunately for me the next day was another 15km skate and I was feeling
on my game. I took my second victory on
the NorAm circuit and put myself back into contention for the mini-Tour
podium. The final day was a 30km Pursuit
based off results from the previous two races.
I started the day in 4th place, 12 seconds behind the
leader. We formed a group right away and
skied together for the entire race.
Around 10km into the race I crashed on an icy patch and was forced to
use extra energy to pull back the 10-second gap that opened. That extra energy would have been useful for
the finishing sprint because I didn’t have the fastest skis in the group or the
best finishing kick. I wound up
finishing 4th place in the mini-Tour with the 2nd fastest
time of the day.
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| 30km Classic Pursuit Lead Pack, I'm bib 4 (Photo Credit: J. Holden) |
It’s been a competitive NorAm season so far and currently I
am sitting in 2nd place overall.
The final NorAm circuit race of the season will be held in Grande
Prairie, AB on Feb. 22nd – 24th. It’s another mini-Tour format with 3 races
back to back. I will be striving for
more podium results and my first mini-Tour victory.
If you managed to make it this far, you win a purple
elephant! I’m only kidding, I don’t have
any purple elephants… And now you’re all up to date on my ski season! Hooraw!
I promise no more epic posts following lengthy
procrastination for the remainder of the winter.
Cheers
Michael
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