Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Racing hurts

After making a smooth transition from wearing a race bib to a service bib as a wax tech with Australia, the harsh reality of making the transition back to a race bib has hit home this week. The past two days I have participated at the 2010 Canadian Ski Championships in Whitehorse, YT. Due to my fall in Whistler I was doubtful last week that I would be able to handle much racing. But to my surprise the hurt I experienced in yesterday's 10km classic, and today's 15km skate was a not from my cracked rib and tissue damage but from an overall lack of race fitness. After the 10km I realized that my back didn't really tighten up, wasn't that sore and if anything felt better.

I made the decision last night to race 15km today (skating has been very uncomfortable since the fall) and like the day before it was a worthwhile decision. Although I wasn't contending for a podium spot I enjoyed the racing. Now that my racing career is winding down I feel the 15km is too short and moving forward I don't think I will get enough of a feeling of accomplishment from just racing 15km with a mediocre result. To finish a 50km race regardless of the result is an accomplishment in and of itself. With that in mind I look forward to Sunday's 50km classic event as it marks the end of my pursuit of skiing glory and my transition into the life as a Master's skier.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Back on the road again

After a crazy three weeks inside the bubble of the Olympic games I got back on the road Monday to start my drive up to Whitehorse. Right away the trip took on a much different feel from when I left Whitehorse just 3 months ago, and about 10,000km later. When I left Whitehorse in November my winter was yet to unfold and my racing season unknown. Now 3 months later I have arrived back in Whitehorse with the truck more full of gear than I left, a season full of ups and downs, a bruised/cracked rib as a reminder of the fun with the Aussie team, and a desire to burn off a month of neglect and try to rally some kind of racing shape for Cdn champs that start in just under two weeks.

I am house sitting for friends of the Lindsey family who I stayed with on my trip through earlier in the winter. It is a beautiful log cabin about 15 km south of town. I skied today right out of the truck after about 6.5 hours of driving. It was my first real ski since I banged up my rib exactly 7 days ago. I also managed to take my first real deep breath without causing some kind of spasm. Fortunately/unfortunately I can no longer blame my rib for my training laziness. It did feel great though to clean the system out with a good ski today. Looking forward to the final few weeks of the season.