Whirlwind

I am at work. In the city.
It's been just 8 days since I have returned from one of the most amazing experiences and events in my life, hands down. I'm certain that there will be very few events that will compare to the World Championships in Oslo. I literally have no words to articulate the atmosphere - it was EPIC!!
That all said, I am so honored and thankful to have had the opportunity to compete on that stage. There were definetly days that were trying as my results didn't exactly align with my own expectations. Although those days accounted for about .0001% of my time!

Canadian Nationals started on Saturday, I was sad to miss the team relay and the 5km skate as both are events I love, however one of my best friends from home was getting married and I promised myself and her that I would never miss those kinds of events. So off to Toronto I went. Unfortunatly I won't be able to compete at Nationals until the 30km, which I think is a good way to close out a great year and also my ski carrear, yes I am retiring for real this time...atleast I think so! ;)

I am looking so forward to competing in Canmore on the weekend! I can't think of a better way to close this chapter then a competing at Worlds and then a 30km skate at Nationals!

ciao,
Brooke

Update

The last few days have been fast and furious with lots of racing action going on!

Holmenkollen is quite the venue! The crowds are SO loud! Never in my life have I have been at a venue that has the loudest fans, and I went to a lot of New Kids on the Block concerts when I was young, but nothing compares to this (probabley a bad comparison!).

The races have been so amazing to compete in. Each day you are carried around the course by spectators with horns, yelling "hei ya", and even your name! Its been quite the experience, the only thing I would change is my performance on the results sheet, but other then focusing on recovery, staying positive and fighting with everything I have on the day I can't do much else to change the results. I will say though, it has been really dissapointing as my results don't really seem to line up with how I have been feeling in the warmups. The wax team has been incredible! We have had great skiis everyday, however, I'm so happy to be focusing on skating for the next two races as my confidence has definetly begun to waiver!

It's also been extrememly inspiring to see the US women in the top 30 of the distance race, especially my teammate from CXC Jessie Diggins who is still a junior and has been performing so well in every race- she is a force to be reckoned with.

The Canadian men had us all on the edge of our seets in the Men's pursuit on Sunday! All I can say is that racing at this level and doing well at this level are completely different items - it takes a lot more then fitness to medal here or even to place in the top 15 - so for the Canadian men to place 3 in the top 15 at the World Championships is pretty incredible!

Today is the men's 15km classic individual start race. The course is so hard...and it takes me a lot to say that a course is tough, but Oslo has layed out a course that requires huge lugs, legs of steel and the ability to put yourself into a pain cave and hang out there for the duration of the race...its pretty awesome!

Here are some photos! I will try to take some more at the team sprint day!

Here we go!

The ski jump just outside the waxing house

The stadium at Holmenkollen! I will get some photos whe the races start!

Things have been going pretty well here in Oslo, with the exception of my racing, training and life has been great! The race venue is incredible. I am so excited to race on these courses that are soon to be lined with a ton of people cheering and enjoying the ski festival!

My legs have been struggling with jetleg and I haven't been able to find that punch I had in Thunder Bay, but I am starting to feel better every day, especially now that we are over 10days here, it should continue to get better! I also am pretty excited to get on skate skis as my confidence has started to waver a bit with the classic skiing - it is a different world over here!

The courses are very tough, with the climbing elevation at the FIS limit, making these courses tougher then Canmore hands down. There is very little flat and the entire course is littered with huge climbs and fast downhills! That all said, I love the courses! People have also started to camp out in the forest with quite the elaborate set up for the next week or so!

Tomorrow we start things off with the individual skate sprint! I will do the prologue so that I get used to how the race start and stadium layout flows so that I am better prepared for the distance races!

Its been very inspiring to see the rest of the Canadian team do so well, the tech support and coaching is pretty incredible, I'm still in awe of how well Lenny and Alex did in Drammen! I'm also pretty honored to be apart of this team and hope I can contribute to the good results as well!

More photos to come!

Brooke

Lillehammer - Beito - Holmenkollen

Heading for lunch

Trying to pack the vans

Lots of white stuff!

We just arrived at our hotel in Holmenkollen after a week of training in beautiful and snowy Lillehammer!

I raced last weekend in a Norweigen cup race, but found out I don't race well 48hours after travel. I struggled with jet leg for about 4 or 5 days and now I am starting to feel pretty good again.

It was pretty awesome to catch up with my friend Lena who I haven't seen since 2006!

We will be racing in Drammen World cup this weekend. I'm pretty excited as I want to get my race legs back under me, but also get some of the jitters out before Worlds start!

Here are some photos!

CXC - Support the Sport

Update: So far $5300 has been raised (in such a short time!!!) only $2200 away from the goal of $7500!!!

Please visit the site and donate if you can or pass it along to anyone you know who may be interested!!

http://cxcskiing.org/site_pages/support/support-the-sport.htm

Thank you so much for reading!!

I'm off to Norway tomorrow for the World Champs...wow, that sounds pretty surreal!

ciao,
Brooke

One day Gus should write a book...

For all of the Master Blasters and loppeters...please read this...wow, pretty hilarious!


http://http://cxceliteblog.com/2011/02/02/birkie-training/

Support The Sport - Excellence Fund CXC

Good Evening!

For the very few readers who visit my blog, I would love it and be very appreciative if you could pass along this link to your friends, family, co-workers or contacts.

CXC is the team I am racing for this year and I hope to stay involved with for a while after (even if it is not at the racing level). The programs, coaches, athletes and support network are amazing, it would be so wonderful if you chose to allocate a few dollars if you afford it to the athletes who have achieved selection to world championship teams. Their selection is a product of the network that is behind them - CXC.


The link:
http://cxcskiing.org/site_pages/support/support-the-sport.htm

Thank you so much for reading!

Brooke