NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE- CROSS COUNTRY SKI RACER

Saturday, January 29, 2011

First 2 Races at U23 World Championships


Hmmm, how to begin? I'm sitting here with mixed emotions on my first two races of the Under 23 World Championships. This is my first time competing at these championships and it has been a gigantic learning experience. A good one, but a lot to take in. To be honest, it's hard to say if I believe I would have been ready for it before now. The fields are unbelievably competitive, with Olympians and World Cup competitors at the top of the list.... and some are younger than me! It's another world over here, but.... I think I like it. Along with trying to absorb everything, without looking like a deer caught in the headlights, you have to focus on trying to perform at your best. I've been looking forward to this event all year, and regardless of the result, I find myself so happy to have this opportunity.

Day 1- 10 km Skate - individual start

My international debut, haha, sounds intimidating... but I handled myself and my emotions pretty well. I was able to eat breakfast just fine and didn't get the stomach jibblies until about 3 minutes before the start. I remembered at that point what my coach mentioned the night before, "just take a deep breath, close your eyes, and get ready to ski." This calming effect helped a lot and then it was time to go. The course was a flowing, yet demanding 3.3km (x3) with fast downhills and a long stadium to lap through. I started the race a bit conservatively in order to pace well throughout the race. My first lap felt like a solid set up for the rest of the race and I had really fast skis which helped in the confidence department. Mid-way through the second lap, on a rather steep climb I began to feel "the burn." Luckily a bit of downhill followed for most of the rest of the lap so I tried to shake it out and prepare for the last lap. Heading up the first hill in lap three, I just couldn't find that next gear. I felt like I had one pace for the whole race, and that's all my body was going to give me. So when I wanted to go, I couldn't generate anymore speed. It was a tough day but not overly disappointing... just nothing spectacular. I finished in 36th. For not really knowing what to expect or having any set expectations, it wasn't too bad. Regardless of my race, we had a lot of success as a team. Emily Nishikawa was 16th, Michael Somppi in 13th, and Kevin Sandau in 5th. It was pretty exciting to watch everyone feed off their success. Yeahhh Team!

Day 2 - Classic Sprint (1.2km)

Hmmm today was tough on a few fronts. The course itself was not overall too hilly, but had a lot of double poling sections and a long finishing stretch. I wasn't nervous at all today. Not a lick of nerves, which I guess isn't that weird since I don't have a real issue with them normally... but just watching sprint racing on television makes me nervous and excited. I felt so ready to go and ski and pump out a solid qualifier. Our skis were fast from the wax tecs and they did a great job, but MY skis were having their own issues. Once I got out there I had a lot of trouble kicking them. I was spinning my wheels a little bit and when I crossed the line the screen infront of me said 28th place. Okay - so I'm in if no more than 2 people cross the line faster than me. Well, I ended up 31st and it's the top 30 who move on. So close! But just not fast enough. I was 1.54 sec out of the heats. I was hoping to qualify and I spent most of the afternoon reflecting on it. I have one more race at this event, on Monday, the pursuit, so one more opportunity to leave everything on the trail. We'll see what happens.

Until then, here are some pictures in random order.


Jesse Cockney pumped for his 6th place in the classic Sprint.

Janelle being the mighty flag bearer at the opening ceremonies.


NDC in Otepaa, minus Mike


Emily proud to be Canadian


U23 men's and women's team waiting for the shuttle one morning. We saw sun for the first time in a week!


Out on an afternoon jog, found a barn and had some fun



Trying to climb the barn... unsuccessful


Syncronized-posing in the sunlight


U23 women ready to head to the race!

I'll be back in Canada on Tuesday, but we head to Helsinki tonight after the races. Today should be an exciting one to watch!

Adios!



Monday, January 24, 2011

And On We Gooooo


We have now made the trek over to Estonia. Although it's only Monday and my first race isn't until Thursday, I'm happy to be in Otepaa and to begin to focus a bit more on the races versus just training. Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

We went to Lahti to ski for two of our days in Finland. The stadium setup and ski jumps were quite the sight. On the second day we actually got to see the ski jumpers practicing. We were able to ski right around to the base of the jumps to get a sense of how high they are.... WOW!


Our Hotel provided all our meals and the food was great. A lot of the time when traveling in Europe you eat the same thing for most meals and there is a staple. Here, it's potatoes and fish. But they mixed it up in how they prepared it which was a nice change.


Skiing in Lahti


The ice breakup out on the Sea from the ferry was really cool. It looked like a giant puzzle.


On one of the outer decks. There were 9 decks in total, 2 being for vehicles, 1 shopping, 1 cafeteria, 1 sun deck and a few others.

Another shot out over the water. There is another boat out there, and you could tell where other ships had gone. Those dots in the sky, although we wish were the sun, are just a reflection from the boat. We only saw a blue sky once while in Finland, and never the sun as a ball in the sky.

In Tallinn, Estonia after getting off the boat. We headed to Otepaa via Tartu. And I though the building in the background was cool.


A funny joke we arrived to at the wax cabin on the race site.... Andy, Annika and I being the shortest of the bunch got our own hooks! Thanks....

I'll work on taking more pictures of the venue to share with you. We just had a meeting and received our accreditation and bibs to train in. We will get race bibs but every other day we wear a bib while skiing to label us as athletes.

All for now,
Erin


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Estonia? Estonia!!

I guess I need to work on the timing of this blogging thing, to let you in on stuff before they happen or soon shortly after.... because right now I'm in Finland! After the NorAms (North American race series - or Canada Cup) in Thunder Bay last week, which tripled as many selection races, I raced consistently enough to nab the fourth and final spot on the Canadian Under 23 Team to race at the U23 World Championships in Estonia! So we are in Vierumaki, Finland preparing to hop across the Baltic to Otepaa, Etonia for the champs next week. This is my first international trip to an event of this caliber and I'm looking forward to experiencing the whole shambam. I'm also excited to have teammates Andy and Michael and our coach Eric here with me.

It was REALLY dang cold in Thunder Bay. Im actually wearing 2 layers on top plus a warmup jacket and parka, and 3 layers on the bottom. Thick socks, mitts and slather the face with dermatone (to protect against cold), and viola! Ready to go!

Backing up to trials at Lappe, there were three races that counted as qualifiers for U23s. Basically if you win a race, you go, so it's a little bit of a do-or-die scenario. Three races, four spots. For the U23 women, a different girl won each race so there was only one spot left at the end of the week. Recap:

DAY 1- 15 km pursuit:
For anyone reading who is unfamiliar with a continuous pursuit: you begin the race classical style in a mass start and ski 7km. Then you go through a transition zone were skate skis and poles are waiting for you in a pre-assigned zone. You quickly change to skate equipment and head out to do another 7km. How you cross the finish line determines your placing.
We headed out in the -18 conditions to a slow course. I got detached a little bit from the lead pack at the beginning and had trouble catching up. By the time I reached the exchange zone I was too far back to catch them on the skate course. At the end of the day I was 5th U23 and 13th overall. Not the day I was looking for or expecting but I felt good physically and felt I was skiing well, which is still a good sign. So I shook off that race and focused my energy on the next one, the classic sprints.

DAY 2 - 1.4km Classic Sprint
We had been able to practice the course at speed before the trials began. This was a great way to take advantage of having the trials at Lappe. I really liked the course with its fast down and long climb. The qualifier went well and I came out 4th U23. During the qualifier I skied directly behind National Team member Dasha, which helped me stay up front. I was toed out at the line by former Hardwood team member Alana Thomas who came up fast in the finishing stretch. Thanks to my good qualifying place, I was the "lucky loser" and headed to the semi finals (the top two automatically move on and the fastest 3rd place in the heats also moves on. The day is over for everyone else). I was again edged out at the finish line during the semi-finals which means I would advance to the B-final and not the A-final. Since 2 girls in U23 advanced to the A-final among the seniors, there were no chances that day of me qualifying for Worlds. I was disappointed with the day because I had really wanted to make the A-final. Anything can happen in a sprint race and thats how my day ended up. One more race to go.

Alana and I at the finish line. Sometimes it comes down to the toe of your boot!

DAY3- 10km Skate individual start
Today was the last day I could win a race and qualify for U23's. I was pumped about the course and that it was skate. I knew I had to leave everything out there if this was going to happen for me. I set out at a good pace and felt strong as I worked through the first 5km lap. I was getting good splits which means I was having a good race in terms of results. There were two solid climbs at the end of course and I knew I just had to keep moving on the last lap. At this point I was fighting for 2nd place since the leader had a gap. I finished the race feeling very happy with my effort and the day as a whole. I ended up 3rd U23 and 10th overall. It wasn't a win but I couldn't complain with having a great race.

That afternoon, almost positive it wasn't in the cards for me to get the last spot, my coach stopped by the house. There was so much going on around the house that I didn't really have time to think why he was there. He proceeded to ask me what I was doing the following weekend and then told me he would be going to this thing, and was wondering If I wanted to come... at that point he pulled the red warmup jacket from his parka and told me I had been selected! YAYYYY!!!!

A few photos courtesy of my Mom. She takes great pictures, but it was so cold there were no style points awarded that week since everyone was covered to the max... and snot and sweat and everything freezes... gross. So I refuse to post the gross ones haha!

My parents came to watch the races and my dad was a big help in the wax room. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Heading up a hill

Eric letting me in on the status of the race and where I stand thus far. And a little cheering!

So here we are...

Vierumaki is a cool little.... village? It used to be a sports school so the facilities across the grounds, mixed in with the golf course seem pretty unreal. I bet in the summer the whole place would be alive with athletes and people doing all kinds of activities. We are staying at a classy hotel with a full pension - breaky, lunch and dinner served buffet style. The trails are about 200m out the back door, around the golf course and summer walking trails, and the snow is great. It feels so fast compared to the slow snow we've had over the last 3 weeks in Thunder Bay due to cold temps. It isn't very sunny in these parts but hopefully it'll say hello soon. I haven't taken any pictures yet I will post some shortly. We are having a bowling tournament this evening agains the USA team, and yes the bowling alley is in the hotel.

That's all for now!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Wowwweeee




Agh! It's been way too long since I've written an update. Sorry about that one! A lot has been happening so I'll give you a run through... with photos!


Here is a video of an intensity workout we did at the end of a hard week. This was one of our last rollerski workouts before we got a HUGE dump of snow that carried us right through to December 1st when we headed to Vernon B.C.,(Silver Star) for our first set of races at Sovergien Lakes.

We stayed in a beauty condo and had perfect weather. They got even more snow on the night before the the 10km skate race. It just kept snowing, but the groomers did a great job of packing it down the best they could, and it turned out to be okay conditions.

Out on a ski, Andrea's fancy camera work.


SO much snow at the top of the mountain! Made for a beautiful ski!

I got to have a wonderful visit in Silver Star with family friends (...kind of like my second set of parents) Brad and Barb. We met in the village for hot chocolate on the brightest day of the week. It was really nice to see someone so familiar so far from home.

Leif Turned the big 2-0! We improvised on a cake with ingredients we found at the little store in the village: cake mix, jam, whipping cream from the carton, and orange zest... and Harry's lettering skills....MMMMM!

Having to duct tape my ski boots came in handy when i needed a serious wrap job for the secret santa we did as a team. Yarn, vector box, duct tape. Done. There were some pretty interesting gifts that popped up.

Pre-Christmas we raced a total of 5 races. Two in Silver Star and three in Rossland B.C., at Black Jack Nordic. As a whole the first set went pretty well. It felt great to be racing and the new sprint course at Sovergien Lakes was much better for classic. I was bumped out in the Quarters but had a lot of fun racing against the large contingent of American skiers who came for the race. On Sunday I had one of the best distance races I've had in Silver Star and I felt my body was really liking the hard course. I finished in the top 20 overall and felt happy with everything at this point in the season.

What a good-looking team we have here...squinty eyes and all!


We drove to Rossland B.C. right after the races and stayed at Red Mountain Resort. The race site was literally less than a km away from our accommodations which made everything easier on us and our coaches who rise before the sun to wax our skis.

Rossland held a "mini-tour," a set of three races back-to-back....-to-back and your starting position on the last day is a result of the first two days. The first day were skate sprints.... my FAV! All in all I really enjoy skate sprinting and the course was fun, twisty and fast! The course finished with a 180 degree left, followed by an immediate right. We skied into it FAST after coming down a long downhill. In previewing the course I managed to do a large face plant in trying to find the best line, and I found which one not to take! Luckily that was the last fall I had and at the end of the day both myself and Andrea made it to the B-final. Yayyy NDC girls!
Day #2- 5km skate. WOW what a fast day. The snow, our skis, and well, the athletes were all systems go for this race. The leaders were posting times of sub-13 minutes and the results posted milliseconds between finishers. It was all-out for the short 5km and I came in at 24th overall, top 5 Under 23.
Day #3- pursuit start 10km classic. This was a tough race. Over the first two days of racing I found myself in 18th starting the 3rd race. Everyone goes out in handicaps behind the leader ad how you cross the finish line is how you place. It started out to be slower than I'd hoped for and had to fight pretty hard on the second lap to gain back a few spots. At the end I came in 20th.

I only managed to get one picture in Rossland... Here's Harry on his 2nd lap in the classic pursuit.


Then I went home for Christmas! What a lovely Christmas it was. A few highlights: skied with my club, Team Hardwood and coach JAck Sasseville, got my FIRST pair of hockey skates (jr. size 3.5 ha!), saw my amazing friends, and hung out with a ton of family. Also.... my brother Matt came skiing! He did so well! He skied when we were kids but the guys got some great cardio!
Showing off my skates before their first use. Hey Matt!


I got to go for a ski with my club coach, Jack Sasseville at Hardwood Ski & Bike. Jack was a huge part of why I'm able to do what I do now.



Thanks PRN for all your support!



Thanks also to the Barrie-Kempenfelt Rotary Club. Helping me be big and strong... i'm working on the biceps don't worry, and maybe my form too.

CHECK BACK SOON..... There's more on the way!

Erin
.... .... .... .... NOW IS THE TIME TO BE FULL OF COURAGE