Silver Star Part Deux

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

So yesterday went quite well for me. I raced a Nor-Am sprint at Sovereign Lake Nordic club in Vernon. The classical style sprint was interesting, almost all the open men went on skate skis with no grip and double poled the whole 1.1km track.
My qualifier round went very well, I came in 3rd place, just under a second back of first place. This helps with the first round of heats. The higher you qualify, the better positioned you are in heats. I lead the Quarter final and cruised in pretty cushioned. The Semi final I also lead out hard and cruised the last 200 meters, in 3rd, a for sure ticket to the a-final. The worst I could now do was 6th. I started out the A-final on a bad note, a short lane with a boat load of powder at the end, I struggled to try and move into the train but wasted a lot of energy trying to get there, from there I just started to fade a slowly, lost my snap on the gradual uphill and even more on the little steep. From there on I had totally Blown up!!! I was pushing as hard as I could and going absolutely no where!!!!

Me getting extreme leading the Quarter final- Photo: Sam Lindsey

I cruised into 6th place, totally shot. I am satisfied with this result, because I know I can improve on it, I am just missing a small bit of sharpening. Getting sick 2 weeks ago for 8 days I am sure was a little bit of a contribution, But I am coming back strong quite quickly. With trials starting in a couple weeks in Canmore, I am sure I am on track, and things are pointed in the right direction. My coaches are happy with things and that gives me a lot of extra confidence too!!!
I was also lucky enough to have a bit of a cheering section show up to support me!!

Thanks a lot Shy!!! The green toque was totally good luck!

Stringing-out the Quarter final - Photo: Sam Lindsey

Tonight we are suppost to race a 15 km classic starting at 5pm, this will be weather permitting, it is suppost to get quite cold and with a windchill factoring in it could be very brutal!

Until next time!!!
Just Giv’r


C

Season Openers

Well there i go again falling off the Blogging train again...I missed the lead up to the first race...things went pretty smooth and I got to race on some new boards!!!! Exciting!
Well I only raced once this weekend, I was suppost to race the distance race on sunday, but I unfortunately woke up with a sore throat. Luckily enough I ended up kicking it pretty quickly after a day at home. Anyway...all over the map right here...sorry...I raced the sprint which went fairly well for the qualifier. I skied like Bambi on ice, and managed to qualify about 4 seconds out. not a bad start. I executed the course exactly how I wanted to with a strong finish! Unfortunately my team mate Thomsen misjudged his start time and missed his start, its ok though he will be back this weekend to unleash his Northern Fury. Anyway back to me again...I ended up messing up the first heat with a rookie tactical error and went out early, Quite embarassing for me...I spent a fair bit of time de-fusing the situation and figuring out what went wrong and I have a whole new race plan. This weekend will be different, I know I have the speed right now, I just got to get with it in the head to head...No problem... until friday...

Keep Em pointed straight!


C

T-Minus 1 week...

Well I am now down to less than 1 week (exactly 5 days) until I kick off my race season! It will be in Silver star, beginning with a freestyle sprint on saturday and a classic 15km on sunday. We did a team time trial on saturday after a week back of training from being sick and it went well pacing wise as well as skiing wise. I was further off the the leaders than I wanted to be but the feel and use of technique was where I was happy. I know I am no where near at my best and this gives me the confidence going into the race season with trials slated for early January. I will use the first 2 weekends of racing to get back into it and try to execute some of the goals I have laid out and hopefully look like an actual skier again!

I will try to update daily with all the nerves and daily happenings leading into the 2008/2009 race season.

Keep 'em pointed straight!!!!


C