Howdy!
Well the first few races have come and gone- I finished 5th in the 10km skate at Soverign and then 5th today in the pursuit at Canmore.
I don't really have much to say other then, I'm happy I've been consistent, but I want to be on the podium plain and simple. I also know I have to be patient and let my body absorb the trainign from the fall and summer.
So thats it thats all- nothing too spectacular...but its coming..

check out www.x-c.com for photos
www.zone4.ca for results

We still have a sprint on saturday and a 5km classic on Sunday. I'm not sure I will race the sprint on saturday right now.

cheers!
Brooke

Are You Ready?....

The first races are less then 20days away- actually they are only 14 days away!!!

I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous...but for once its not a "terrified" feeling. Its just a calm sense of nervousness, enough to keep me sharp, but allow be to go to sleep (most of the time)!!



I haven't skiied yet...tomorrow I'm heading to Lake Louise to ski on Moraine Lake Road- word has it they are rolling a track tonight, either way I will be skiing! There is also a 6minute loop at the nordic centre- now I could have been an "uber keener" and do my 4hr distance workout on a 6minute loop, this would have equated to 40 loops!!! Even I'm not that crazy!!



Other then that- I've been watching webcams and checking the weather network every five minutes in hopes that the weather pattern changes within those five minutes! Yes, I know I should be working, but I've become good at minimizing the screen or using the excuse "I was just checking the weather to see if the painters can finish tomorrow!".



Things are otherwise going well, I'm loving training right now and actually enjoying the warm weather because I know soon enough it will be insanely cold!!- I'm excited to get on snow and I am excited to race- I feel like I've put in a lot of solid hours of training and a lot of focus this year- so hopefully it will turn out to be a great race season!!



Keep doing your snow dance and check back soon for some photos from Silver Star!

Quote of the Day

"Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be. "Charles "Tremendous" Jones

"You become a champion by fighting one more round. When things are tough, you fight one more round"James J. Corbett

Training Update

Training Update!

I figured it was time to update you on the training I've been doing for the last little while.

Its been three weeks since my last intensity block, I've had a mixed bag of feelings- from being "extra crispy" to feeling like a million bucks... and today I finally started to feel better!

I'm heading into a few weeks of volume and then we up the intensity going into the races! I can't wait...I got my program last week and it is scattered with lots of zone 4!! SWEEETTTTT!!

This past weekend I joined the Foothills Nordic crew for one last dryland camp in Lake Louise. We stayed at teh Alpine club and ate dinners as a team. The highlight for me was not only watching lots of video, but we double poled for two hours up the icefields pkwy towards Jasper (see inset pictures) and I felt pretty strong- I'm not noted for my double poling prowess, but I honestly was pretty happy with how the training session went!

After the wet snow flurries on friday night we woke up to -3 weather and the roads were pretty icy, definetly a mental hurdle to make due wtih the situation and get the best workout possible- not the ideal situation for skate intensity as planned by the group! but I was quite impressed with the group who forged ahead and did some double pole intensity.

Sunday morning was "surprise" time trial. It was a 10km double start duathlon. So I got to start with the boy's! I was a bit intimidated the night before because I didn't want to be blown out of the water and I also didn't want to be skiing on my own. To my surprise I hung in there pretty well. I started a little too hard, but used it as practice to fight myself and continue to push through the fatigue!

In summary, I'm pretty happy with how training is going- I know I've worked hard this summer and I've been a lot more focused without having to force it or convince myself to train- this was one of the training goals I've been trying to accomplish and it seems to be working.

Today I did some intensity and my coach joined me for the workout and we also did some technique work. The one thing I noticed about today was that before the workout I was waivering on going back to bed and I have been a little worried as of later about over training...but having a chat with my coach made me feel a lot better and coupled with such an amazing day (it was 15 degrees this morning...now its raining!) it was hard to stay down for too long!

okay well the snow is coming...and I'm super pumped to get on snow!!!

oh and the National team is competing at the first world cups in less then a week...sooo I'll try to post the results for that!

NEW PLAYLIST FOR OCTOBER

New Playlist...

Lazy Eye- Silverspun Pickups
Jane Says- Janes addiction
1979- Smashing Pumpkins
Prime Time- Mariana's Trench
Waiting- G.Love
Tight Fist- Wil
The way I are- Timberland
Sugar, were going down- Fall out boy
Promise- Matchbook Romance

You can always go faster. You can always go harder.
Stop making excuses as to why you "can't"...its negative energy- it doesn't get you to where you want to be.

I know what your thinking- easier said then done right?
Yes, well it does take some practice to always strive to do your best, but it also takes a lot of practice to start believing in yourself.

The biggest thing I have learned in the last three years is that no matter how many people support you, no matter how many opportunities you are given, no matter how much training you do, if you don't whole heartedly believe in yourself, your goals, your abilities and your potential you might as well not continue to forge ahead.

In sport- especially at the top, confidence and belief in yourself is what will help get you to the next level.

Never give up- you always have a lot left in the tank!

...snow is just around the corner, are you ready for it?

NEW SPONSOR!!!!

I'm very excited to announce that Elkhorn Vacations based out of Canmore and Manitoba will be on board this year to help me out financially for the 2007/2008 Racing Season! I would like to thank Adam Tottle and Grady Manson at Elkhorn for working so hard to make this possible! It is a huge deal for me to have a local company like Elkhorn believe in my goals! Also thank you to Phil Villneuve, x-c.com manager for helping with the logistics! please check out Elkhorn at http://elkhornvacations.ca/ and book some time out in the mountains this winter!!!

Playlist

I thought that I would add a playlist that I like listening to when I'm doing recovery runs by the river...looking at the incredible mountains!

Lonestar- Mountains
Tegan and Sara- Living room
Timberland- Oh Timberland
Police- Every Breath you take
Citizen Cope- Bullet and a Target
Sloan- who taught you to live like that
Paul Brant- Alberta Bound
Beautiful Girls- Periscopes
Nelly Furtado- Say it Right
The Kooks- sofa Song
RjD2- Ghostwriter

Moose Mountain 16km Trail Run Race Sept.9.07

Over the last three years, I had started to believe that I was not a "runner" any more. I'm not sure what definition I use to define a runner- perhaps running everyday with an end goal of running faster. Since I started skiing again (three years ago) I don't run to run faster now- I run because I like it and its good for training (arbitrary, I know).

Two years ago, my friend Lindsey and I ran the Moose Mountain Telephone Loop 16km in Bragg Creek and it was so cold, wet and snowy that I was sure that my legs were going to just freeze on the spot. Let alone that there were so many mud bogs that my poor mitts were soaked and black by 6km from pulling myself out of the mud. All I remember is feeling really hardcore after the race- and wanting to be warm...I didn't care much about the results, but I managed to place 4th overall even with the men.

This year was a different story. The course still had sticky mud and it was cold, but I wasn't on the edge of becoming a Popsicle! I went to this race with a "secret" goal of not only beating my time, but I wanted to crush it- I know I don't normally voice my goals with such anger, but I wanted to judge my fitness and I wanted to find out just how hard I could push.

So I went out with the boys- leading for a bit- and got the usual comments "oh I'm getting beat by a girl"- in a sarcastic tone of course. Now usually I laugh at these comments, but I was pleasantly surprised by my reaction of quietly contemplating just how much I would try to beat this guy by. So off I went verging on blowing up for 16km and managing a strong kick for the last 2km. I was just under five minutes faster then I was two years ago. And I am pretty sure I saw stars. The best part was I got a sweet moose patterned buff and copious amounts of cookies and brownies at the end.

At any rate, during the race itself I didn't feel overly good. I always imagine a good race feeling effortless, but this was just plain grit and guts, there wasn't a moment that I thought it was easy- and even the last 2km took some coaxing from the gentlemen I had been pulling through the course- but I will say that I was pretty excited to see I had another gear and had that final kick left in my legs. I don't think I've felt like that in running since 1998. I think I'm in pretty good shape!

Haig Glacier Camp Re-Cap!
The Haig Glacier is located in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. The nordic skiing camp has recently been re-named the Becky Scott Training Center. Its approximately 2-4 hours hike from the trail head (depending on how fast you run/hike). There is a base camp that we sleep and eat at and then another 30-50min hike up to the glacier where there is a groomed track, storage shed and washroom shed.

The week I went up I was lucky enough to tag along with the Callahan Valley training center and my alma matter, the Thunder Bay Training Centre. Even though it was a full camp, the athletes present were serious (not too serious) and focused on training each day. It was also a relief that I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the three hour coma-like, drool accompanied naps after lunch! Sometimes when people are on different schedules it makes it hard to sleep!

The coaches from each of the training centres were Eric Baily from Thunder Bay and Amy Caldwall from the Callahan training centre. Both coaches brought a wealth of knowlede, experience and professionalism to the camp and this definetly was reflected in their athletes attitudes and approach to skiing. While doing strength and plyometrics with Callahan I learned I have a lot of weaknesses- mostly in my coordination and balance, and also my ability to jump around holding a big rock! Eric did a talk on nutrition- which as I have stated before is definetly and area I am not good at- I love to eat sweets! but when you spike your sugar and insulin levels too much it is very hard on your body and recovery is not optimal. So yes, I have to be careful as now I get quite sick from eating too much sugar.

There was lots of skiing to be had- the trails were amazing! We even got 10cm of fresh powder on Saturday which made it the best ski day I have had in my life! Coupled with the surroundings and people I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day!

All in all I trained about 23 hours over the six days! and to my surprise I am feeling really good right now! It was also encouraging to see the improvements in my strength and technique from last year!

I'm definetly motivated and excited for the season. Especially now since the temperature is dropping to about 7 or 8 degrees at night.

The Snow is just around the corner!

CHECK OUT THE NEW X-C.COM WEBSITE....

Eat, Sleep, Eat, Train, Eat, Sleep, Eat, Train, Eat, Sleep...Repeat tomorrow.

I am not a conventional athlete. Or atleast I didn't use to be. The past few months I have found myself succombing to the usual way of an elite athlete. I haven't exactly figured out why, but what I can say is that I am thankful I focussed enough for this last training block to be a 24hr athlete, but I am also thankful for the break.

A very important part of training and succeeding is resting and enjoying the time off. As I say this, training to me is fun, I love it, and I don't need a holiday from it...but my body does need the rest, and I have to admit that, and allow it to rest and recover from what I put it through the last six weeks. Basically the idea is to break your body down, recover, come back stronger and do it again...and enjoy it.

So I'm heading back to Ontario for a VACATION as it states in my program...I have an easy week of 10 hrs of training!

Making it work.
I recently had some correspondance with a good friend about "the great scheme of things". The friend is around my age and in the same situation. This situation I speak of I have narrowed down to "what happens when you are 27 and improving by leaps and bounds in your sport, but feel external pressure to move on with your life".
True, there aren't a lot of us in this age group who are still going for it. Most of the women still in the sport at this age have already "made it". I struggle with this fact every day, but have also come to the realization that perhaps I'm one of the few that get to have this experience and life at this age, perhaps I don't have to "move on with my life", perhaps this IS my life. To be honest its a pretty damn good one at that.
True, I get stressed out a lot (due to financial stress, carrear stress, family stress, marriage stress, life stress etc. etc.), but I don't think that is the nature of everyone in this said "situation". I have come to realization its my personality to blow almost every issue out of proportion and believe that any set back is actually the end of the world. Its actually not, and some have labeled me as a "drama junky", not really knowing if the root of the drama is because I get bored and create it for entertainments sake or if it actually is an external event out of my control happening to me.
At any rate, questioning yourself is a good thing, and always striving to succeed is a good thing, no matter what pursuit you chose. Eventually you will know when that pursuit has ended and all of the sacrifices, set backs and yes, drama will be well worth it in the end when you finally sit down and reflect on the journey, so you might as well make it a great journey, oh and enjoy every minute of it

Grandpa's Birthday

Today is my grandpa's birthday. He turns 85 I believe. My birthday is on the 14th. When I was growing up, we celebrated together- the cake often read "Happy Birthday Brooke and Grandpa". I tried to make it hope this week to have a reunion of sorts of this occasion. It didn't happen- I have selfishly decided to stay here and "prepare" for the first intensity block of the season. Hopefully in about ten days time we can have a celebration together.

My Grandpa is quite the character. I learned to play "spoons" on my knee when I was about 6 at a camp fire while camping with my grandparents somewhere in Ontario- Kill Bear most likely- we liked it there. My Grandpa (Frank) played the Guitar (pronounced with a "hard" G in a southern accent would be the best way to say it- like my Grandpa). Comin' round the mountain was the favourite- actions included (My Grandpa's Yee Haw's echoed throught campsite). Every kid at the campground would be at our campsite by dark- ready with different instruments (sticks, harmonica's, pots and pan's) but I always had the spoons.

His laugh is infectious. His love of music and dancing is even more infectious. My favourite memory as an adult was watching my Grandma and Grandpa dance together to a Rod Stewart Hits DVD my mom got for Christmas. Or perhaps, my grandpa listening to the radio of a baseball game under his pillow.

There is also the hidden buckets of Neopotian ice cream that he is not supposed to eat. And of course golf balls he re-sells in egg cartons that he has "simply come across in random places".

At any rate, I am excited to go home and "hang with the grandparents" as my brother likes to say...

First Post...
All I can say is that I hope this blog doesn't become a cheesy, boring, epic read...please do let me know when this happens!