. Thomsen D'Hont: November 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Season Preview

Comfortable, optimistic, excited... Call it what you will, I am stoked to get back to racing!

Having had a relatively injury-free training season, unlike the past two years, I am ready to rip. Truth be told, I am also starting to get a bit of cabin fever having been cooped up here in Whistler pretty much all fall. And no, that isn't my sarcastic voice. Believe it or not, an extended period of time in Whis did in fact wear on me. I can't wait to hit the road and tour the race circuit. Even though this fall was a very "productive" training period out of the relaxing atmosphere of my home, this "consistency" would occasionally lean towards monotony. Looking back now, I think that's exactly what I needed and was completely necessary. Mentally, it got me into the right frame of mind (pent-up energy), and physically, the regularity of trainings honed the fitness. The work has been done, now it's time to prove myself.

Although it was a bit of a late start to the ski season here in Whistler, having rollerskied up until mid-November, once the snow came the temps plummeted and there was virtually no form of transition season of snowy/cold rollerskiing. We were directly immersed into winter and -15 C frigidity (rare for Whis) - we've even had days that remind me of my beginnings in Yellowknife skiing on hard, squeaky styrofoam snow.

Not styrofoam snow.

At the end of November Ski Callaghan was boasting 40km of groomed bliss - likely some of the best skiing in Canada.

With the arrival of winter, the Scuzz Pond in our backyard has been transformed into Scuzz Rink and has provided a few great nights of skating. And by skating I mean "learning" to skate. It's been about a 17 year hiatus from skating for this kid. Although, after a 15 minute lesson from coach Manhard, I managed to nail down the basics.

Action gets underway fast and fierce this weekend in Canmore, AB, at the Alberta Cup races where I will test my grit against tough competition in the skate sprint on Saturday and a classic distance race on Sunday. The races serve as a warm-up for the following weekends of racing and will help in preparation for my ultimate goal of racing well in Thunder Bay, ON in the new year to qualify for the U-23 World Champs.

Stay posted, racing updates to come...

Current playlist (Deadmau5 phase??):

Toca Me (Deadmau5 Remix) - Fragma

Some Chords - Deadmau5

Longest Road (Deadmau5 Remix) - Morgan Page

Sofi Needs a Ladder - Deadmau5

Sweet Disposition (Morgan Page Remix) - The Temper Trap

Make a Move On Me - Joey Negro

Rapture (Avicii Remix) - Nadia Ali

Fight For You - Morgan Page
Hometown Glory - Adele

Bio

I was born and raised in the North in the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife is a bustling mining town that is in a dark winter deep freeze for much of the year. It is in these dark, cold months that I learned to ski out on meandering snowmobile trails. In Yellowknife there is a sort of ski season trade-off; we have 8 months where skiing is possible, but with the harsh temperatures we have mid-winter, skiing is nearly unbearable for half this time. These conditions have reinforced values such as perseverance, drive, focus etc… and it is these values that have helped me get to where I am today.

When I was a youngster up in the ‘Knife, I was always outdoors, living the childhood that skiing greats like Bjorn Daehlie have attributed their success to. I would hunt, trap, camp, fish, and explore the land around where I lived year-round. I was skiing at a very young age and eventually hopped on the Jackrabbit bandwagon at the age of 7. I flew through the different colour levels and before I knew it I was on the High Performance team. This was a big step – lots of famous skiers were part of this group back then (famous in Yellowknife, anyways). I raced some big international competitions as a Midget through to Junior. I would throw the best I had at Alaskans, Greenlanders, Scandinavians, Russians, and Northern Canadians at the Arctic Winter Games. I was always a pretty small guy so it was a while before I could compete. My results consistently got better and at my final Arctics’ I demonstrated my improved skills and brought home the coveted Golden Ulu for my home contingent of the NWT. It remains to this day one of my greatest accomplishments.

AWGs aren't the only races I did - I would be at all the big Canadian ones too. As a midget (12-13) through to juvenile category (14-15), I would hit up Alberta Cups once or twice a year, along with Western Canadian Championships being an important annual event. As a juvenile I started to make it out to Nationals and by that time I was really hooked on skiing and every year of racing motivated me more and more.

The past few years have been an adventure. Out of High School in summer '07 I became part of the National Team Development Centre based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. This was my first real time on a high calibre team with other highly motivated individuals working towards the same goal of national and international skiing success. Needless to say, this year was a great stepping stone for me. After my year with the NTDC, I moved out to Whistler, BC to be part of the Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC). Being based out of the 2010 Olympic venue offers an amazing environment for a developing cross country skier and the facilities are second to none.

Intro

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Season Preview