Silver Star to Canmore

On Monday we made the 7 hour drive from Silver Star B.C. to Canmore Alberta. It was one of the most beautiful and most scenic drives I have ever experienced! We lucked out with a clear, sunny, cold day which made for some spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies!

The view from the car window!

All ten of us, trying to peak our heads out the front windshield (all the windows were foggy)

After hearing so many wonderful things about Canmore, I am finally here to check it out myself. The Canmore Nordic Center is an amazing venue with world class trails, racing and facilities. They hosted the nordic ski events for the 1988 Winter Olympics and have hosted several world cup events. It is truly a high-caliber racing venue...and the amazing scenery tops is off!

A glimpse of the beauty at the Canmore Nordic Center

We arrived to some colder temperatures, -14 Celsius. A weather front with warm winds, also known as Chinook Winds, moved in on Thursday bringing in some warmer temperatures, +3 Celsius.

Today we raced our first of two back to back classic sprints. Temperatures were warmer than expected, resulting in moredifficult and more technical waxing. The course is a long climb to the top (3 minutes of climbing) before a long sweeping down hill brings you into the stadium for a 150 meter stretch of hard double pole. Today I finished 13th (3rd American) in the prelims...not a great or satisfying result. In preparation for a strong race tomorrow, I decided to sit the rounds out in order to get rested and ready to go! I feel like todays effort was a good "practice-run" for tomorrow. Now I know how my skis run, where to push harder and how to ski the corners. I learned some valuable things from todays race and I am ready to learn from those things and use them to create an even better performance tomorrow!

Ski on!

In Canada...

Week three of racing is quickly approaching! After spending a few additional days in West Yellowstone, the Sun Valley Team traveled to Bozeman. We were greeted with some chilly weather...well below zero! Despite the cold, we raced a skate sprint on Saturday and a 10k classic on Sunday.

I qualified 7th in sprint race, just 3.5 seconds out of 1st! So close! I went on to win my quarterfinal heat but ended up getting boxed out in my semi-final, putting me in the B-final. I did not have quite enough steam in the sprint to the finish and ended up 10th overall. I felt like i put in a a good effort but didn't not end with the result I was hoping for.

Saturday's sprint really did a job on my lungs and I am still recovering from the "after race cough." The following day we had a 10k classic race on a very challenging course with temperatures well below zero! Not the most pleasant racing conditions. I felt pretty tired from the sprint race the day before, but i tried not to think about how tired I was. I focused on skiing smooth and relaxed. I crossed the finish line feeling disappointed...at that time i had no idea where I ended up result wise, but based on the way I felt racing, I figured I had a mediocre result. I felt like I was missing that extra gear in the race. After my cool down, I was surprised to find out that I ended up 6th! I figured that if i felt that way and ended up 6th, then I know that on a day where I am feeling good, I can produce an even better result!

We are currently in Silver Star B.C. There is lots of snow here and it is cold:) I am hoping for even better results this weekend...every race seems to get better and better, so hopefully that will continue:)

Look for results at www.zone4.ca