Today I saw 3 reeeeaaallly really funny videos...

Dan Roycroft tweeted this one about Tbay...




Kersh and Nighbor give tomorrow's WC preview...




And a pump up for tomorrow's World Cup by USST crew...

Reaching and grasping, slipping and falling. But getting back up.

Unawares, I have been kidnapped and entrapped in a time capsule for the past 5 weeks.  Whisked away, time but a figment of a disillusioned imagination of a disoriented psyche.  It feels like it was just yesterday when I posted my last blog update.  I recall all sorts of fleeting memories from the past month and a bit: Pleasant and unpleasant; all serving an unknown purpose, but happening at such a rate that it was difficult to analyze and interpret individual life lessons before a new event and experience came to glaring attention. 

Let’s put it this way:  I have been in Whistler for 3 days since the beginning of December. 

I hit the road, and after wrapping up some injury troubles, I was able to start racing again.  I was hopeful for some decent performances at Olympic and World Cup trials races in Canmore, AB, but the legs just weren’t recuperated and/or strong enough to stride up the huge hills for the two sprint (read: distance) races.

I had what felt to be one of my best qualifiers ever; the best I possibly could have raced on the day, with amazing skis and the body feeling good, and I still didn’t qualify for the head-to-head heats!!  Obviously frustrating, but I took consolation in the fact that everyone was skiing at an unprecedented level and that the field was extremely tight.  Some 7 skiers coming in to finish within one second over an epic 4 minute course.  Toight.  I was close to making it in, but in the end I simply wasn’t performing well enough on such a demanding course.

I had been on the road quite a bit up to this point in Canmore and had driven 2000+km over 2 weeks.  In dire need of rest and a period to refocus, I flew home to Yellowknife for Christmas holidays and 10 days of homemade meals and pleasantly frigid, northern temperatures. 

Sis and I out on the trapline in Yellowknife

I had some great sessions up in YK, getting to train with great friends for nearly every ski.  And temperatures were balmy at           -20C every day so I was able to skate a lot.

Mike Gilday (in red) and I bumped into the Lipperts one day.  I grew up skiing with Josh (in blue).  He is renowned for being able to turn over a cycling cadence of 244 rpm, haha.  Ed on the far right was my High School chemistry teacher and is one of the reasons I am a science geek.  Seth was on the Yellowknife High Performance team the very first year I joined back in '99. 

After a great holiday season back home, my shape was honed and my focus sharp for the task at hand of qualifying for World U-23 Championships in the skate sprint event in Valcartier, Quebec on January 3rd.  Everything was going great until approximately 1:10 into my qualifier when my ski caught an edge on a high-speed section of the course and took me down before I realized what had happened.  Snapping my pole and throwing my back out, I knew my day was over.  I limped in to the finish line, broken pole in hand, in a state of shock.  WHAT JUST HAPPENED. 

This was a little tough to swallow, as I knew it was the last chance to qualify for any racing overseas where I could race for a spot on the National team and also greatly improve my national and international ranking points. 

I have done a lot of thinking since this day, and that’s likely why this blog took so long (and no, I wasn’t actually unconsciously imprisoned in a time capsule…).  Going back to that day that I fell, it was tough to bring myself to stick around for the rest of the day to watch the heats.  I saw close friends accomplishing great feats.  Naturally there was a twinge of jealousy, but above all else I felt happy for those achieving their goals and aspirations.  Consequently, seeing them triumph helped me wrap my head around the tribulations of that morning and gave me perspective on what it takes to be a BIG GAME PLAYER on the day and reminded me how there would be many more of these high pressure races to come in my career where I would be the best prepared of anybody. 

I realized how badly I want this.

Since trials in Quebec, I have been chasing races.  Twoonie races, BC cups, US Supertour – basically anything and everything within financial means (and of course dependent on sufficient mental and physical energy for race exertion).  All with the goal of improving racing skills and amassing race experience while I can, before the Olympics puts the kibosh on any high-end racing in North America for the remainder of the season leading up to National Championships in Whitehorse. 

I finally figured out why I have always been a weak distance skier.  BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO RACE A DISTANCE RACE.  Haha - But that's okay.  Cause I am learning.  I managed to be within a minute of some legitimate distance skiers in a 10km classic BC cup held in Kelowna recently.  My distance is much better than it has ever been before, so I know that my fitness goals are being achieved.

Went to a Supertour race in the (very cool) town of Winthrop, Washington the other weekend.  Good fun, great event.  Thanks to Anders and the Banff Ski Runners for taking me in just like in my good old days as a skier orphan.  

I skied OK in Wash.  I was too caught up thinking about staying on my feet in qualifying to really throw down.  Ran out of steam with 50m to go in my heat and missed moving on by inches.  Dang.  The next day's 15km classic was a memorable one.  Narrow, greasy, obliterated track on the weirdest trail ever.  Rolling, then 2km gradual uphill, then screaming fast downhill with crazy corners (3 loops).  Pretty fun day.

Christopher cheering his Butler off (and eating all the spectators).  Great crowds in Winthrop.

At U-23 trials in Quebec I was skiing a great qualifier.  I put everything on the line and didn’t hold anything back.  Sometimes things don’t work out, but believing in this “all in” attitude (the USST will get a kick outta that) is what it takes leading up to 2014.  This is my one opportunity in life to pursue something like this and I owe it to myself to give it everything I got.

Thanks for checking in and thanks to all of you who are helping me reach my dreams.

TD

Oh yeah, guess what.  Olympics are in Whistler soon.  BOOM.

Olympic Trials and open optimism.

Re-cap on last weekend's race:

Exactly 10 days ago my leg seemed to have made a 100% recovery from injury and so I returned to normal training and skiing twice per day most days.  After a few days on the leg I deemed myself fit to put it through the race motions.  And thus I committed to the NorAm skate sprint event at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre up on Silver Star mountain, BC, last Sunday.

The event was a short 1.1km.  (I love the short ones - these days sprints are more of a distance affair at up to 1.8km long)  The field was stacked with all of the top North Americans.  Expectations on the day weren't huge; I figured that if I qualified for the heats it would be a good day.  Qualifier ended up being great - left it all on the course.  Had nothing in terms of a fast top-end gear but was able to maintain momentum on every key section and so miraculously qualified 23rd.  I was elated to have qualified in the top-30 for heats after such a turbulent time in preparation for the race season.  I was 12th Canadian but the race points were totally sabotaged by the Americans who were absolutely flying.  Over 2:25 I was 5 seconds off the best Canadian.  Nothing a little actual ski training can't remedy, haha.

My heat was a little disappointing.  Off the line I easily moved to the front and eased off to settle in for 2nd.  Everyone was super-antsy and there was a lot of contact on the course.  One of the more questionable body contacts out there was when a certain G. Kuzzy grabbed my shoulder and pulled past me.  That spelled the end of the heat for me as my speed was killed and I proceeded to get thrown around pretty good on the main climb on the course.  I skied in for a 5th in my heat and a 25th overall on the day (14th Canadian).  Results.

This is the only shot I have of the weekend of racing (thx Emil Svensson).  Bringing it in for 5th in my heat.

OLYMPIC TRIALS THIS WEEKEND.

Tomorrow kicks off the weekend of Olympic Sprint Trials.  2 Classic sprint races on back to back days on a big bad sprint course here in Canmore, AB.  Our preparations this week have been optimal and the environment relaxing - things couldn't be better.  I have some decent boards and have rediscovered how to stride so it should be some strong races for me.  I would be ecstatic if I perform well enough to qualify as one of the ten National Group athletes to represent Canada at the Feb. 6th pre-Olympics World Cup.

Among other things, what it boils down to is this: if I can find my breathing rhythm and my grip pocket out on the course tomorrow and the next day, I will be happy.  Results will come on their own if I can achieve those goals.

After the trials, its back home to YK on the 21st for some R&R and some focused training for the skate sprint event at the U-23 World Championships Trials out in Quebec.

Time to give'r berries.

OH WHAAAT!!! 100th post... That's big.

My last title should be this post’s title.  Except 100^th post IS quite the landmark.

Last update I didn’t quite get all that content in that I wanted, so I’ll add that in at the beginning of this one. 

Expectalysis is the reassessment of my expectations in light of my untimely injury of shin splints and tendonitis in my lower right leg that has plagued me the past 2 months.  Through intensive physio visits, and some serious time off, the leg is finally coming around and I have been able to ski on it the past few days(!!!!).  Perfect timing since the first big race is this weekend. 

Today I did the first fast, full body skiing in over 2 months.  It felt great.  Although I had a great spring and summer of training under my belt, the fall was less than optimal.  Sometimes in life it is necessary to readjust expectations.  To tell you the truth, I’m not entirely sure what to expect this weekend.  Likely not challenging the top guys, but perhaps still expressing decent fitness due to the work I have done on a few pre-existing weaknesses like breathing, core fitness and flexibility.  It should take several weeks to be back on track for where I want to be.

For now I am just extremely pumped to be out skiing normally again. 

After an interesting weekend in Canmore due to an alteration in the sprint course and my plans to double pole it, I have been in Silver Star with CVTC (aka Lee and Camille (and actually a new addition – Emil Svensson from Sweden.  He is crazy speedy)).  Things have been working very smoothly and we are all in race mode. 

Emil and Cheese doing their race prep.  I am trying so hard not to laugh right now.

This weekend will be a good opportunity to see where I am at before the big Olympic sprint qualifiers of the following week in Canmore. 

I am reservedly optimistic. 

One step at a time.

Expectalysis: The Ahh-nold arms edition

Some last minute arrangements have me saddling up the Fit for an epic road trip.  Tomorrow I am leaving Whistler to embark on a very important month of racing that will not see me back in the Weaseltown until January 7th or so (potentially - depending on injury status).

Tomorrow I am heading to Canmore, AB to tag along with the Yellowknife team for Alberta Cup #1, a crazy-competitive classic sprint with all of the top Canadian sprint contenders.  It is the same course that I had success on last year at the Western Canadians where I placed 2nd.  Because of the certainty of double poling the entire course, this is conceivably the only race this month that I will race relatively pain-free with my leg injury.  Everything is up in the air in terms of training, racing and travel schedule for this period.

The leg is actually feeling excellent right now and the past few days have been the best days in over a month.  I have been doing nothing to aggravate it, meaning constantly being in the pool slaying pull buoy, heroic core sessions, the odd upper body strength exercises, respiratory training and the occasional double pole ski workout at the stunning winter wonderland paradise that is the Callaghan Valley.  Giving it some solid time to heal.  And because of this I am riding on some decent upper body fitness.  I am also 4 lbs below my normal weight range; I think my legs are wasting away.

That hut is where I live.  NAAATTTTT - I wish.

It's go time.

(this one's for you, Dougie...)

Sometimes its about intimidation:



Thanks for reading, and you can find Saturday's results on zone4.

PEACE.

How about that ski we did the other day...

We were treated to amazing tracks while in Silver Star from Nov. 11-15.

After a few days of on snow skiing in Silver Star, BC and a very successful hard effort in the RMR & Co. classic sprint TT, it was back to Whistler.

Cheese lovin' life (as always), striding it out at Silver Star

Our first whole day back in town we were greeted by a deluge like no other.  Luckily, said deluge came in the form of a blinding, choking snowstorm at slightly higher elevations (freezing level eventually plunged to engulf the town of Whistler at the bottom of the valley).

Needless to say, winter has come to Whistler.  There is as much snow as there was in January of last year when the World Cups were in town.

A 165cm pole propped against the snowbank.

Now, how about that ski we did the other day...  The first real legit ski in W.  And it was done skating since classic kills the tendonitis in my shin...

What made it great is how the ski brought back fond memories of skiing in Yellowknife.  Such things as:

- I was all alone on the ski and didn't see another soul the whole hour and a half.

- The trail had a few inches of fresh snow (YK is rarely groomed).

- The skis I was using were dogs, imitating the VERY slow conditions of a borderline skate ski day in Yellowknife at a temperature of -25.

- I also froze my butt off, which is a given when training in YK in the winter.  The ski started at 800m, at a temperature around freezing, and ended at 1200m and temp about -5 in a huge blizzard.  I was nearly buried alive.  And slowly became a block of ice on the 30 minute downhill back to Big Brown (team van).

And this was us today on another early season ski in the constant snow storm that is the Callaghan Valley.  Camille took a crazy bail on the bomb back down Main Line, nearly snapping his brand new hole skis.

Look who I bumped into at Creekside Physio today!  My long-time buddy and business partner from YK, Andrew Matthews, who is a full-time snowboarder who bases his training out of Whistler as well.  We are both dealing with injuries at the moment and are both under the watchful eye of legendary Physio, Andree Savoie.  Good times.

Check back soon for updates as we get ready to rock and roll.

T 

Race Schedule

WOW.  Whaaaat a boring title.

So here's the low down...

The season is VERY front heavy, with all of the main focus races (3 of 'em) being completed within 16 days of each other, completed by January 3rd.  Again, I will be focusing on the sprints even though I feel, proportionately, I have improved my distance a lot more this season.  For sprinting I am already close to the top and can challenge the top guys in the country on a good day while my distance remains my lifelong weakness and takes a back seat for the time being.

Here is my first month of racing:

- December 13th: NorAm Skate Sprint; Vernon, BC
- December 19th: Olympic Trials Classic Sprint; Canmore, AB
- December 20th: Olympic Trials Classic Sprint; Canmore, AB (yes, they are having the same race two days in a row)
- January 3rd: World U-23 Championships Trials Skate Sprint; Val Cartier, QC

And that's how the cookie crumbles.

Currently I am nursing some persistent tendonitis that I have been battling for the past month.  This is actually the 2nd bout of it - different spot, same pain.  I am juggling training activities to keep the stress away from it.  Today I treaded water for 15 minutes.  I remember I had to quit swimming back in the day cause I couldn't tread water for 5 minutes and thus couldn't pass AquaQuest 10 or whatever it was...

Snow is happening this week.  I think Whistler is getting like 4 feet this weekend.

Pic du jour:

Striding up Stonebridge road with Lee.  Initial day of tendonitis #2.

Taker easy.

T