I love it how the outcome of the season is determined on the success of a single day,

And how last night when Richard Daitch asked me that I'm doing well, that I'm not sick or injured, I had to retract my initial "how are you doing?"-response of "well" and replace it with, "Oh, wait, I'm actually both sick and injured!" as I am finally getting over that light cold and have been nursing my foot all week.  And that's why I'd prefer a more lengthy trials period of several weekends of competition as opposed to the single day.  It's time to turn on some "Lose Yourself", identify difficulties and alter them, and to put the pieces together for a successful classic sprint on the 6th.  

January 6th is the classic "distance" race of 1.7km.  At this competition called "Trials" that runs from Jan 2-6th I am racing twice, the 1.1 km Skate sprint on the 3rd and the aforementioned Classic, ahem, race on the 6th.  The skate sprint is one of two qualifying races for Senior Worlds, where the 4 best Canadians will hit the start line in Liberec, Czech in February.  So the skate sprint will be nothing more than a test of fitness for me.  Unleash, don't hold anything back, see what happens.  The classic sprint is my focus, as it is the qualifier for the Whistler World Cup (14 Canadians can race) and for the U-23 World Champs in Praz de Lyz, France.  My objective for the year was to receive a berth to race the WOP World Cup.  Qualifying for the all star men's U-23 team would take a very special day indeed.  

My training lately has consisted of skis in the vicinity of 40-70 minutes long, trying to recover fitness from a period of relative inactivity.  I was recently reading that in endurance trained athletes, after 2 days of no training, blood volume may decline by 5-12%, resulting in the prominent decline in cardiovascular function, ie high heart rate.  Yesterday I couldn't even skate properly without my HR climbing into the high 150s.  

Last night was the Dunbar's annual New Year's Eve bash and it was a doozie.  I had a great time.  The highlights included catching up with other Northerners, playing some trivia (thanks Stephen), and getting in some solid crokinole time.  Argue was hilarious playing crokinole, as most people are the first time they play.  What power!  I would duck everytime he would shoot, but luckily most shots bounced right back off the pegs.

Action kicks off tomorrow with the distance folk testing their skills in a 30km pursuit race.  Watch for athletes like Pate, who historically can really throw down in Canmore, and Jesse, who can randomly piece together a brilliant race, esp pursuit.  Follow the action on Zone4. 

Ok, I'm listening to this totally wicked song at the moment.  Pretty chill, nice flow.  check out "Love" by G-Love & Special Sauce - funny name, I know!

Take it easy.

T