Poland World Cups and Paradise

My first World Cup weekend of 2012 is complete. Last Friday was the skate sprint. I felt pretty good and skied the course how I planned but I finished 35th, just one second off of qualifying for the top-30. I have been within 1 second of the top-30 three times now, hopefully I'll be able to find that extra second some time this season!

Saturday was a 10km classic. The snow was around zero degrees, that difficult temperature where it could be hairies, hard wax or klister. I went with hairies and they had some grip but were no match for the massive climb on the course. My body also didn't feel at its best. I finished the race in 55th.

The atmosphere in Poland was really fun. There were tons of fans lining the course and they were ecstatic when Justyna Kowalczyk won on Saturday. Saturday evening we went for pizza to celebrate Peri's birthday and the waiters brought everyone in the whole restaurant champagne to toast Justyna's victory. We got to watch the whole women's race on tv as we ate our pizza.

We left Poland Sunday morning and flew to Munich. We have been training in Seiser Alm, Italy to prepare for the next World Cups in Lahti, Finland. Seiser Alm is the largest high-altitude meadow in Europe! It is absolutely gorgeous and we are staying at a nice hotel. It is quite difficult to get here and involes putting on chains and driving across 6 downhill runs while avoiding skiers, walkers, tobogganers and horses. I have been taking tons of photos so I will let them do the talking!

OPA Trip

After training while the rest of the OPA team raced in Latvia, I was excited to put on a bib and race in a Scandinavian Cup in Estonia last weekend. The first race was my favorite event, a classic sprint. The course was fairly short and fun.  I was really fired up for the qualifier and qualified in 3rd, 2 seconds behind the leader. I lead my quarter final and easily made it into the semi-finals. I was in a good position in my semi until the last 100m when I was forced into a bad lane and lost the lunge for 3rd place. There was no B-final so my day ended there and I was officially 7th. I was definitely disappointed to miss out on the final but it was still fun testing myself against some fast girls!

Sunday was a 10km classic. I had a decent distance race for me. I finished 15th on the fun, rolling course. Kudos to Eric, Fraser and Patrick for great coaching and waxing!

After the race we packed up our bags and drove back to Riga, Latvia. We went for a delicious and cheap dinner and Zoe and I did a morning jog to explore the old city.

I waved goodbye to the OPA crew Monday and flew to Munich. Louis met me at the airport and we drove to Seefeld, Austria to meet the World Cup Team. Seefeld is a scenic ski town with tons of ski trails.
 

I spent less than 24hrs in Seefeld before packing up once again and driving to Munich. We spent the night there, flew to Wroclaw, Poland Wednesday and drove to our hotel near Szklarska Poreba. Our hotel is fairly nice with a few odd touches. Our towels were arranged in flower shapes on our beds when we arrived and there is a woman whose sole job is ensure the lobby floor is clean (=constant mopping!).

We found some hiking trails along a river to run on to avoid the busy, narrow main road. The area looked like it would be beautiful in the summer. 

I will race my first World Cups of 2012 here tomorrow and Saturday. There is a skate sprint tomorrow then 10km classic on Saturday. It should be an exciting couple days!

Eastern Champs to Latvia

Part 1: Ottawa

Eastern Canadian Championships were held at Nakkertok and were also a mini-tour format. This time we did a sprint, 10km skate and 15km classic pursuit. This weekend was critical as Emily Nishikawa and I were battling to win the NorAm spot and a start position for World Cup races in March. The best 8 NorAm races of the season were used for selection and our points were quite close. 

We flew to Montreal last Tuesday then drove to Ottawa. We hit Montreal during rush hour and a snowstorm so it took over 2 hrs just to get to the rental car place, sort out vehicles and return to the airport to pick up the rest of the team. The taxi ride to the rental place was very sketchy as our cabby weaved through the backed up traffic at times creating his own lane and getting lots of angry honks. It was 11 pm before we finally arrived at our hotel Ottawa.

The weekend started with the skate sprints. I felt strong all day and was able to win both the qualifier and the heats. Emily was 2nd and my roomy Andrea was 3rd.

Photo: Mike Cavaliere

Saturday was the 10km skate where I started 30sec behind Emily. I went hard from the start to try to make up a bit of time. I was 10 seconds up by the end of the first lap but unfortunately I slowly lost back those seconds plus a few more as I got tired and had to settle for 2nd, 8 seconds behind Emily.

The 15km classic was the final race of the weekend. I started with a 4 second lead on Emily and knew that I had to win the mini-tour and be faster on the time of the day to get the NorAm spot. Emily caught me within the first km and we skied together for the rest of the race, trading leads. I was in the lead on the last steep downhill and thought Emily was in my draft but when I looked behind me at the bottom of the hill she was nowhere to be seen! She had crashed on the hill so I skied to the finish for the overall mini-tour win and had the 2nd fastest time of the day, 0.4seconds behind Brittany. After adding up the points I ended up with a 20 point lead for the NorAm spot.

Fasterskier's Alex Matthews wrote a great article about the Academy at Easterns: http://fasterskier.com/2012/02/awca-men-work-together-women-sweep-top-4/

Despite the stress I still had fun in Ottawa. I watched the Winterlude fireworks, ate a Beavertail, went for dinner downtown and wandered around Parliament Hill.

Part 2: Latvia!

I was also selected for the OPA/B Tour trip and Poland World Cups after the Whistler NorAms. The trip left on Jan.29 but I remained in Canada to try to win the NorAm spot. After Sunday's race I quickly packed my bags and went to the airport to catch a 5:00 flight to Frankfurt. I then flew to Riga, Latvia where I met the rest of the team who flew in from Munich after racing in Campra, Switzerland on the weekend. We had dinner in Riga then drove 2 hrs to Madona. So far I have been impressed with Latvia! Granted, I had low expectations but Riga seemed like a fun city with interesting architecture and Christmas lights everywhere, our hotel in Madona is quite nice and the food is good. Alana, Zoe and I have the honeymoon suite complete with a 2-person jacuzzi tub and romantic curtains.

The coaches were not so lucky and ended up with a chair bed which Alana tested for them.
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We skied this morning on the Madona trails which are quite nice. They have a beautiful new lodge with two large plasma TVs set to Eurosport and ample lounging space. 

Photo: Zoe Roy

In the afternoon we explored Madona, and amused ourselves by trying on some fur coats which are very popular among Latvians.

Photo: Helpful Latvian shop lady

There are races here tomorrow and Thursday but I will skip them to give myself a chance to recover from jetlag and from last weekend's races. We will drive to Albu, Estonia Thursday afternoon and I will do 2 races there to finish off the OPA Trip. After that I will meet up with the World Cup Team in Austria and travel with them to Poland for World Cups on the 18th and 19th. The plan is to stay with the World Cup Team for the World Cups in March and return to Canada just in time for Nationals! I am looking forward to getting some more World Cup starts!

Ardievas!

Westerns Mini-Tour

This past weekend I competed at the Western Canadian Championships mini-tour in Canmore. It was a busy weekend with races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday plus a Fast and Female event Sunday afternoon. It brought back old memories since my first BC Team trip was for the 2001 Western Canadians Champs in Canmore when I was 12!

I arrived back in Canmore Tuesday afternoon to -30 temperatures plus wind chill. My race prep intensity on Wednesday consisted of warming up on an stationary bike, doing zone 3 running on a treadmill then going for a 45 min "cool down" on skis. Luckily it warmed up and was a balmy -16 by the time we raced on Friday. 

The first race was a 5km skate with two trips up the wall, a very tough Canmore climb. I felt okay but bonked the 2nd time up the wall and was barely able to make it over the top. Luckily I was able to recover enough to fight to the finish but it was a rough few minutes. I finished in 3rd place, 5 seconds off the lead. It was a tight race as 2nd, 3rd and 4th were all within one second. 

Photo: Angus Cockney

Day 2 was a 1.2km skate sprint. My qualifier was a bit better than my last two but I still didn't feel really fast and I qualified in 3rd. I felt better as the heats progressed and made it to the A-final. I stayed behind Heidi for most of the race. I ended up out front around the final corner and was able to sprint and stay ahead of her to the finish for my first ever NorAm win!

Photo: Angus Cockney

Sunday was a 10km skate with a handicapped start based on results from the previous two days. I started with a 16 second lead on Emily. Emily caught me fairly quickly and we skied together for the rest of the race. I was able to stick with her and sprint to the finish for the overall mini-tour win! I had the 4th fastest time of the day in the 10km skate. My mom drove up for the weekend as well and it was nice having her there to cheer me on.

Photo: Angus Cockney

Photo: Mike Cavaliere

As always, we couldn't do it without the coaches, wax techs and volunteers who make the races happen - thank you!!

We ended the weekend with a Fast and Female event to celebrate FIS World Snow Day. I was in charge of the skating station. It was a fun afternoon but I was exhausted when I got home that evening.

I have a weekend with no racing then I head to Ottawa for Eastern Canadian Championships February 3-5. 

Whistler NorAms

After a month with no competitions I returned to the race course at the NorAms at Whistler Olympic Park last weekend. These doubled as trials for World Juniors and World U23 Championships coming up in Turkey. Since I am no longer a U23 I was much more relaxed than usual going into these trials races. Despite not having trials to worry about I was still stressed due to other circumstances. My grandma passed away the weekend before so I stopped in Vernon on the way to Whistler for a few days to see her before she passed away then again on the way back for her funeral. It required a lot of planning and cancelled flights but I was glad I was able to spend some time with her and go to her funeral. 

The first race was Thursday with the 15km skiathlon. I skied in a group of 4 for most of the group. Emily broke away on the end of the 3rd lap of 4 and I wasn't able to stick with her. The three of us remaining slowly reeled her back in on the last lap but she still had a 7sec lead at the finish. I was able to outsprint Zoe and Alana for 2nd place. 

Photo: Angus Cockney

Photo: Heidi Widmer

Saturday was the skate sprint event. The hard fast tracks that we had been enjoying were replaced by a foot of fresh soft powder just in time for the sprint. These were definitely not my ideal conditions! The normally treacherous corners were now so slow I had to free-skate into them. I felt really flat in the qualifier and my legs were shot by the time I hit the 2nd climb and I qualified in 5th. I still wasn't feeling great in my quarter final but was able to make it through. I started to get some energy back in the semi-final and felt more like my usual self. In the A-final Heidi got a gap at the start and I sat in 3rd behind Marlis. The course was basically one lane wide and it was very difficult to pass so I ended up staying behind Marlis until the final corner when I was able to pass her for another silver medal. 

Photo: Mike Cavaliere

 After getting silver in 5 of the last 6 races I had competed in I was determined to stand on the top of the podium on Sunday. Unfortunately my body was not on the same page and I broke my silver streak in the opposite way I had hoped in the 10km classic. I  felt flat and legs were heavy so I had to settle for 4th. It was still exciting as I finally passed Jesse Diggins for the top spot in the NorAm series and wore the NorAM leader bib for my first time ever.

Photo: Kathy Wylie

After four easy days we'll get back on the race course tomorrow with the Western Canadian Champs in Canmore. The plan is to race Friday, Saturday and Sunday but that could change since it has been -20 to -35 the last few days! It is supposed to warm up over the weekend so hopefully we'll be able to run all 3 races.