Hi There,
We just returned from two weeks in Silver Star for the first two NorAms of the season. Overall they went really well, I feel like I've been able to transfer a lot of my strength from the summer and fall onto skiis and I am definetly a lot fitter then I was last year.
The skate sprint was great! Although after the qualifer I wasn't all too happy. I had qualified in 17th and had to claw my way through the heats. I have actually never skiied that aggressive and without so much as a negative thought and then all of a sudden I was lining up on the startline for the final. I noticed I was a lot calmer through the heats then I have normally been and I think this saved my energy! I ended up 4th on the day, my best sprint result ever!
The 10km skate individual start was pretty good. I followed my race plan to a tee. My lap times were about 2 seconds apart. So I think that maybe I could start a bit harder. Lesson learned. I ended up 4th again. Bitter sweet because I was only 9seconds off of a medal! BUT I am very happy and content with where my skating is for this point in the year and also that we haven't let up on training at all. So I am pretty excited to start to taper a bit!
The 15km skate mass start was okay. From and effort standpoint I did what I could on that day with what I had. Unfortunatly it wasn't enough to hang with the pack and I finished about 1minute back, which I am not overally happy with, but I know that I have to just trust that when things come together they will really come together. It was more of a battle with myself and knowing that I had to be tough and that is what would pay dividends later.
The classic races were a bit tougher for me. It took a few days to recover emotionally from the distance race, but when I looked at objectively I really can't be too upset. There are no excuses for the performance, but I definetly have to dress warmer for cold weather and start to read the terrain better so that I don't burn my arms out, I think it is also important in adverse conditions to just keep your blinders on and race your own race. I was racing everyone elses race except my own. So a tough result, but a good lesson!
Its pretty cold here in Canmore, but it seems that everyday its warmer then -20 it seems to be like a balmy sunny day! After the NorAms the one thing I'm sure of is that I need to learn to race and ski better in cold conditions, so I decided to stay here for Christmas and just aclimatize and work.
I think the first set of NorAms went pretty good. Of course I want the win and I can feel it getting closer. I'm pumped for trials and I'm excited to just improve again.
See you on the trails!
Brooke
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