Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Nationals Re-cap

Hey everyone!
so as many of you may have seen I finished 38th in the sprint. very disappointing for me. The field this year was tough, only 11 canadians in the top 30. As for the 50 km i was 13 km in and had stopped to scrape the ice off my skis for the 6th time. By this point I was probably already about 6 + minutes back. I decided to pull the plug. very embarassing, but I should have not been that far out that early. Just to add to that I woke up the next morning with a full on stuffed nose and sore throat. No wonder my body felt so crappy the morning of the race. ah well, now that the season nis over I will take a few down days before a year end meeting and then decided on the game plan for next year. Thanks so much to all my sponsors who have helped me out this year! also thanks to all the individuals out there! Couldn't have done it without ya!!!

Chris

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Canadian Nats Sprint

Well today did not go as I had hoped. 38th place was not fast enough to advance. Only the top 30 move on. I don't remember the last time I have not qualified for a sprint. The competition here is stiff! it is great to see the Swedes, Americans and of course all the World Cup skiers from Canada. Sorry to dissapoint! I had a great time studying the heats and seeing how the course skis with the best in the world racing here! I am gearing up for the 50 km classic event tomorrow. Weather is scheduled for 30 cms of snow. Yippee!
update to follow!!!



Chris

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Canadian Nats

Ok...So I may have fallen off the wagon again with my posting...My apologies ! Since my last entry things have been pretty chill just getting ready for "the Big Show" well kind of. I can honestly say that I got in some solid training feeling better and better after each workout. Intensity sessions have been going amazing and recovery has been awesome! I was also lucky enough to have Amanda (Girlfriend) come to stay a week early before nationals, after returning from europe 2 days prior!!
March 18- Classic race 10 km, falling snow, 0 degrees, 800+ racers = nightmare for classic waxing!!! I had decided to go on hairries skis which is a race version of fish scales made by roughing the grip zone with sand paper. Generally the best classic waxing solution at the Callaghan most days. Only difference, 800+ racers on course makes for conditions that we have not seen and didn't anticipate. I skied the first lap conservative. I have been playing alot with pacing the last few weeks so this was part of my plan. Grip was great! glide was even better, I really thought I was in for a great race. Second lap came around, snow tapered off and so did my grip. I think I should have went a little more aggressive on the hairries. so as I struggled around the 2nd lap of the hilly 3.3km course I had finally caught myself skiing like an absolute fool. I had to finally take a deep breath and relax, this in turn helped with me to get a little bit of grip out of my gripless skis. I finished the race a little disappointed but also came out of it positive. I have not felt that good in a distance race in a while!

I also forgot to mention the little bout of a stomach bug or food poisoning 2 days prior to the Classic race...still a bit off not to sure about it???


March 19- 15 km skate race. Now this race I was super jazzed for! I was so confident with my technique and the crappy conditions. It was a course to stay relaxed on to gain glide. it consisted of 3 laps of 5km I know this course inside out! first lap I started zone 3 and felt awesome! second lap cranked it up a little higher and caught a sweet ride from Robin Mckeever. 3rd lap was feeling great still! that was until about 12 or 13 km when I blew up!!! I am happy this happened at this point because I was able to stay relaxed and ski through it. The end result was disappointing 63rd, but the time difference was not as bad as I figured it would be. I still felt the lack of distance racing I am almost positive I have more sprints than distance. That being said I am resting today for my "big show" tomorrow where it will showcase the 2006 Olympic Champion Bjorn Lind, World Cup medalist Andy Newell, and many other greats!


I'll keep ya posted on the rest of the week!


C