Early Season Update

As I sit here writing this I am back in snowless Chelsea for Christmas wondering why I was too stubborn to bring my rollerskis with me. The last few weeks have been a busy mix of traveling and racing. As is usual with ski racing there have been ups and downs. It’s been a while so I’ll take it from the top.

Kootenay cup Golden BC, November 26^th and 27^th

Although it was low key, these were the first real races of the year. The weekend started off with a skate sprint on Saturday. It was a long day with the final ending under the cover of darkness with floodlights illuminating the course. It was a great Day for me. I won the qualifier (unofficially as the organizers never did get proper results from that one), skied conservatively through the heats and skied away in the final. The course suited me perfectly with lots of steep climbs and fast descents.

The next day was a 15km classic individual. Conditions were tricky (zero degrees and snow) I decided to race on a pair of waxless skis just before the race and didn’t have time to get them glide waxed. The result was lots of grip with little glide (most people were in the same boat). This combined with a tired body made for a subpar day. Nevertheless I was happy to get my first distance race of the season out of the way.

Alberta Cup Canmore, December 3^rd

Because of the heavy race schedule I only did the sprint race at the Alberta cup. I was looking forward to testing my skate sprinting against a staked field including many national team members.  After a mediocre qualifier I won my quarterfinal and finished 3^rd in my semi gaining a lucky looser spot in the Final. In the final I was definitely out classed by the big guns of Canadian sprinting and finished 5^th. Overall I was happy with my day and felt ready for Nor Ams in Sovereign Lakes the next weekend.

Nor Am cup Sovereign lakes BC, December 10^th and 11^th

The Nor Am cups in Sovereign Lakes have always been an enigma for me. Although I have always had good sprints there they have always been accompanied by some of my worst Distance races. I have always struggled with the altitude and the demanding world cup courses. This year I was hoping that living at altitude in Canmore and having much more time on snow would be the solution to my Sovereign Lakes enigma.

 The week end started out with a classic sprint (my best event). I had a subpar qualifier where I struggled to find grip on the long demanding softish course. I ended up with bib 17 going into the heats. In my quarter things went much better. I stayed in 4^th place until the last climb where I attacked on the outside of the course and moving myself into 1^st and holding it to the line. In my semifinal, I Again, stayed at the back of the field until the final climb were I moved up into 3^rd earning  a spot In the A final in my first Nor am Cup as a senior racer. In the final I gave it my all trying not to be intimidated by the much more experienced skiers I was up against. In the end the best I could manage was 4^th. To finish 4^th in my first Nor Am cup as a senior racer was a pretty special experience.

Rounding a corner during the heats
Photo Credit: Dan Roycroft

On my way to a 4th place finish in my first Nor Am cup as a Senior
Photo Credit: Dan Roycroft

The next day was a 15 km classic Individual. Individual classic races were once my best event, yet the last couple of years I have had trouble with them. This year I really wanted to turn this around. I started relatively slow and tried to go faster as the race went on. I felt good and not nearly as tired as I thought I would be following such a hard day of sprinting. I ended up 15^th on the day 8^th Canadian. Although I was happy with the result I was even more happy that I had finally broken the Sovereign lakes enigma and had two good races back to back one sprint and one distance.

Nor Am Cup Rossland BC, 17^th and 18^th of December

After the all classic weekend in sovereign Lakes it was time dust off the skate skis for an all skate weekend in Rossland. Classic is generally my stronger technique but this year I have been  feeling really good on my skate skis and after possibly the best weekend of racing I have ever had In sovereign Lakes I was feeling confident going into Rossland. Unfortunately things did not go the way I wanted them to. On Saturday, I felt flat in the qualifier for the sprint. I hoped I would feel more energetic in my quarter final but it didn’t work out that way. I was never really involved in the fight for positions and crossed the line 5^th making me 23^rd on the day… Not the result I was looking for.

My quarter final in Rossland I'm number 23
Photo Credit: David Greer

The next day was the first mass start of the season, a 15 km skate on a demanding 3.75km loop. With Bib 36 I had a lot of traffic in front of me. At the start I stayed calm and tried to look for opportunities to pass people. I quickly realized that although I was feeling pretty good, I did not have very fast skis. This was not a case of bad wax (our team in general had fast skis), but a question of bad ski selection. Most of the race I could see the group in front of me that I wanted to be in, however every time I would get a bit closer to them on an uphill section of the course I would find myself a bit further behind after a downhill section. On the last lap I tied up a bit and crossed the line in 25^th, happy with my effort but a little disappointed with the result.  

All in all, however it has been a very good start to my season. 

Cool Shot taken during the 15km skate in Rossland
Photo Credit: Angus Cockney

The thing about racing is that not every day is going to be a great day, you have to learn from the good and the bad. Now I am enjoying a few well needed days off before I get back to training for the next part of the season.

Anything can happen in sprint racing Unfortunately two AWCA skiers were involved in this quarterfinal mishap
Photo Credit: David Greer

Fortunately no one was hurt
Photo Credit: David Greer

That’s all for now...

Racing Season has Started, Cold in Canmore and Movember

Racing season has started… sort of. On October 27^th I did my first race of the season (ok I realize this was over three weeks ago). Since then I have put in lots of hours on snow both in Canmore (now up to 4km of manmade snow) and Lake Louise (10km of natural snow). In fact, not to gloat to my fellow easterners, but I have not put on my rollerskis since arriving back in Canmore after thanksgiving on October 15^th. Back to that first race though.

Webcam of the Canmore Nordic Center on November 20th

Photo Credit:trailsports.ab.ca

The first race of the season on October 27^th was not actually a real race. Ok we had bibs and it was on snow (frozen thunder), but of course there were no awards or points to be had. Also only the top 16 qualified (as opposed to the top thirty) and we raced in four person heats (instead of the usual six). Still this race simulation definitely got all the nerves pumping in a way I had not experienced since last winter. It’s amazing what putting on a simple bib will do. It was also a classic sprint (my favorite event) so I was real looking forward to testing myself against a strong field which included world champ Devon Kershaw. My qualifier went amazingly well and I ended up with the third fastest time. I moved through the quarter and semi trying to ski smooth and out of trouble. In the final, when Devon Kershaw increased the pace, I could not keep up and ended up third. It’s important not to read too much into these early season races, yet if nothing else it was a huge confidence boost and got me even more motivated for training and the upcoming season.

I'm on the left finishing my semi final during the classic sprint race on Frozen Thunder

Photo Credit: Dan Roycroft

Since that first race training has been going well. Yesterday our team did our first on snow distance time trial a 15km individual skate. Individual skate races have always been my kryptonite. I have had good ones in the past but they are few and far between. Still after a few very solid weeks of training I was feeling unusually confident heading into yesterdays effort. I ended up with the 4^th fastest time and although I was over two minutes behind the time of the day (set by Pate Neumann who was quite literally on fire) I was really happy with how I skied and pushed hard the entire time. Also of note, it was -22 yesterday morning. Although it had warmed up to -16 by the time we were racing winter has definitely arrived in this part of the world, which is weird because there is still no natural snow on the ground in Canmore.

Interval training on natural snow at Lake Louise an hour drive from Canmore

Photo Credit: Mike Cavaliere 

For those who have made it this far, as I have just realized that this entire post is about skiing and racing, which I will concede, is not the most interesting of topics. Especially if you’re out east right now and all this talk about snow and skiing is getting on your nerves. This November I was convinced (mostly through peer pressure) to let the hair on my upper lip grow into something that vaguely resembles a moustache. Ok truth is most of the Guys on my team are attempting to grow moustaches for Movember to raise money for prostate cancer research. Having experienced the devastation that cancer can have on individuals and families first hand this is a cause that is very close to my heart. Since I have not really told anyone about this fundraising initiative yet I am lagging seriously behind in raising money. If you want to make a donation go to; http://ca.movember.com/donate/find-member/ and search my name. The team I am part of is called ACADEMOS so if you want you can make the donation to our team as a whole.

Day 20 of Movember

Lastly, now that racing season is upon us I am going to try to update this Blog more often. Next weekend I am off to Golden BC for a low key Kootenay cup race. After that it’s back to Canmore for an Alberta cup before the first NorAm of the season on December 10^th and 11^th in Sovereign Lakes.

That’s all for now.

Winter is Coming

Beautiful day in the Canadian Rockies high above Lake O'Hara

That’s right September is long gone and October is well under way. There are many clichés that can be attributed to this time of the year. The temperature is falling like the leaves on the trees, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. For me however this time of year means pumpkin and apple pies, turkey dinner and stacking wood. Over the last couple of weeks I have been able to indulge in most of these autumn traditions (seriously if there is anyone in Canmore that needs wood staked I will work for chocolate), yet I realize I haven’t written anything on this blog since the beginning of September so I should probably start from there.

September

Well at the beginning of September I was a teenager living far away from home yet under the roof of some good friends that were happy to feed me so long as I helped out with dishes. By the end of September I was an adult responsible for my own cooking, groceries and whatever else comes with living on your own (I’m still new to this and haven’t figured it all out yet). That’s right, less than a week after turning twenty and after four months of living with the Hicks family it was time for me to move in to my own place. I am now sharing a house with 2006 Olympian and owner of zone4.ca Dan Roycroft. So I guess you could say in September I grew up… or at least in theory. My Dad also came out west for a couple of weeks in September to visit me and some friends. We went on a short hiking trip at Lake O’Hara and stayed one night at Abbots Pass Hut which at nearly 3000 meters is the second highest permanent structure in Canada. If ever you are looking for great hiking in the Rockies Lake O'Hara is pretty ideal. Because the number of people who can visit is limited it's never crowded and the scenery is unbeatable. 

My Dad and I hiking around Lake O'Hara

Abbots pass hut built in 1922 long before the days of helicopters all the materials were brought up on foot via lake Louise and the Victoria glacier. You don't get an idea of how hard this was until you climb up the the hut.

October

During October I went home for a week. This was my first time being back home in the east since May. It was a bit of a last minute decision however it was great to see family and friends over thanksgiving. I did some great training with the Nakkertok crew and enjoyed the Indian summer (it was 25 degrees and sunny for thanksgiving). Now I am back in Canmore. The weather is beautiful and there is skiing at the Nordic center. That’s right every spring they make a huge pile of snow at the Nordic center and cover it with saw dust. Then, come mid October, they truck it out and make a short loop for skiing. So the day I got back to Canmore (October 15^th) I went for a ski. The track is a good combination of terrain that is easy enough to go for a long ski on yet hard enough for intervals.

Here is a link to a video on Frozen Thunder: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/video/video-skiers-get-head-start-with-stored-snow/article2205098/

Getting back on snow has reminded me of just how close racing season is. I will be lining up for my first race in less than a month and a half. Until then there are still many hours of training to be done however the shorter days and cooler nights are as sure of a sign as any that winter is coming.

Testing Limits in Whistler

Beautiful Scenery in Whistler 

 I got back from the Academy’s annual training camp in whistler a few days ago. The camp was about a week and a half long and I can honestly say I don’t think I have ever trained so hard in my life. When I looked at my plan and the camp schedule before hand I did not understand how I was going to be able to complete all the training. As the camp went on however I kept surprising myself with how well my body was coping with the heavy load. I was going into untested waters for me and over all everything went well. This could be attributed to any number of things. Proper rest, proper nutrition, a well designed training plan. In the end I think all of these things played a part, however I think most of all my body is simply capable of handling more than I thought. This then is a classic case of testing ones limits. Before the whistler camp I had preconceived ideas of what my body is capable of handling. These were not specific numbers or a particular amount of intensity but rather general ideas based on how much I had been able to handle previously. As it turns out however these ideas were wrong. My body and mind are capable of handling much more than I had previously thought. Every day for the week and a half we were in whistler I would wake up thinking I was not going to be able to handle the training. This however never happened and although by the end of the camp I was noticeably tired I never had the bad workout I was waiting for. As skiers we are always trying to get the most out of our training. We are trying to push ourselves as hard as we can without going over the edge. It is far too easy to get comfortable in your ways sometimes you need to be pushed to realize exactly what your limits are. This is what the whistler camp was all about for me. I was put out of my comfort zone and realized just how hard I can push my body. Much the same has happened to me in the past with racing. I have gone into races thinking I know how hard I can push myself at the start in order to keep the pace all the way through and achieve my best possible result. Sometimes however I start races going harder than I think I can hold. This has only two possible outcomes. Either you blow up and loose massive amounts of time near the end of the race, or you find that you are able to hold this pace all the way through and you find that you have a new limit. Like in training you can not do this in every race, but from time to time it is important to test ourselves. As competitive athletes we are all on a relentless pursuit of excellence and we are not going get the best out of ourselves with out getting out of our comfort zone from time to time.    

On a different note whistler is a great place to train. It has endless trails for biking and running (thanks to Thompson D’Hont for lending me his bike for a few days) and great rollerskiing at Callaghan valley. When we were not training, eating or resting (which of course took up most of our time) there was always an abundance of things to do. We managed to catch a few concerts and spent some time enjoying the whistler life. 

Me on the rope swing at Loggers Lake. This was a great way to spend an afternoon. Thanks to the CVTC athletes for showing us this.
Photo Credit: Heidi Widmer  http://heidiwidmer.blogspot.com/

Zach, Bob and Matt at the top of Whistler Mountain after a  long run

Sam Roberts playing in Whistler the last night we were there.  It was an awesome show and a great way to end the camp.

Evening baseball game an Academy tradition

Hour long uphill intensity session on Duffy Lake road
Photo credit: one of the coach's

Quarter final in the annual rollerski sprint race. I am second from left.
Photo credit: Kevin Sandau http://www.sandau.ca/

That's all for now 
Patrick

Haig Vs Dachstein Which is Best?

Me skiing on the Haig

“Holy crap it’s already August”. Sorry for the language but that was my reaction a few days ago when I realized it was the end of July. I was thinking today I am almost half way through the training season. It’s been about four months since the racing season ended and there are about four months until the next races start. Wow time really does fly.

Right then, the past month. July is that time of year when skiers put in the big hours that will build the base of training needed for the upcoming race season. So it’s the perfect time to head up to the Haig glacier outside of Canmore to put in some big hours on snow in the middle of summer. Though this was not my first time glacier skiing (I went to Austria and skied on the Dachstein glacier last fall) it was my first time going to the Haig. This gave me the distinction of being a “Haig rookie” Something that my teammates were quite intent on reminding me from time to time. Though the Dachstein and Haig glaciers share many similarities (they are both glaciers with ski tracks on then for starters) in some ways they could not be more different. The Dachstein is in the Alps, in the middle of one of the most densely populated continents on the planet… the Haig is not. The Dachstein has a gondola that you ride up every day to get from the bottom of the valley up to the glacier, once on the glacier there is a restaurant where you can get your fill of a typical Austrian Lunch (a small sandwich and a litre of beer) you can look down a thousand feet below you from the observation deck and on top of all of this you quite literally rub shoulders with world cup stars on the gondola ride every day. The Haig, again, has none of these things. Luxuries on the Haig are limited to a shower that sometimes has hot water, a TV with a small collection of old movies and outhouses that are sometimes on fire. No, life on the Haig is not glamorous. When comparing the two the nicest thing you can say about the Haig is that it’s more Rustic or Canadian whichever one you think sounds best. Having now done camps on both glaciers, which do I prefer? Well I honestly think I prefer the Haig. The Haig is remote when you are up there you sometimes feel like you are in your own world. The scenery is beautiful and in terms of training there is very little to distract you from what you have to do. It’s a simple life you train eat sleep repeat. This is not to say I did not enjoy the Dachstein last year, I did and if the opportunity came up I would go again, but I like the Haig, I like the simple life for a few days, I like the two and half hour run from the trail head to the camp, I like the scenery, I even like the storms that roll in so suddenly. My teammates might mock and who knows, maybe when it’s my 5^th or 6^th time at the Haig I’ll have changed my mind, but for now I can’t wait for next year when I get to go there again.

View on the hike from the camp to the glacier

Oh yeah and training has been going well. I am in better shape than I have been at this time of year and skiing on the glacier allowed me to make significant improvements in my technique that will hopefully help out next year.

That’s all for now.

Hiking to the glacier

Our camp was done as a "yo-yo" camp. We spent four days on the glacier, four days back in Canmore and then four more days on the glacier. This is a picture of Geoff Kabush racing at mountain bike nationals in Canmore. We got to watch the races between glacier stints. The picture isn't great because it was taken with my phone as my camera was still at the Haig.

Mountains beyond Mountains

Mountains beyond Mountains, not only is this the title of a popular Arcade Fire song, it is also the way it feels as you are driving through western Canada. It really does seem as though there is an endless supply of these towering piles of rock. This is how I felt as we were driving through Alberta and British Colombia on our way to Kaslo for a short high volume camp. This was of course my first camp with the Alberta world cup academy and I was anxious albeit a bit nervous to get it underway. The camp, as I said, was a short one (two full days and three nights). The idea was; drive down to Kaslo (about a 6hour drive), do two full days of high volume training including a 200km bike ride and drive back to Canmore. The main event of the camp was of course the long bike ride. Mike Cavalier (the director of the World cup academy) had been training hard for this bike ride so that he could not only keep up with the athletes but push them throughout the ride. The loop we were doing started out with a 47km ride through the kootenay’s from Kaslo to New Denver. The first 25km of this were uphill. On this stretch people got spread out into groups. I ended up in the second of four main groups. We worked well exchanging the lead on the hilly ride from New Denver to Nelson (a 100km stretch). In the last 30km before nelson the long ride started to take its toll. A couple of big hills and a constant head wind made for little rest. On top of that since the groups were more spread out than expected we went three hours without having any support from our team vans that were following us during the ride. I ran out of water and began to feel tired. When we finally did meet up with a support vehicle about 20km after Nelson I had had enough and called it a day. I had done 170km and for those who are interested averaged 31km an hour on a hilly route. Although I didn’t complete the entire 215km ride I was happy with what I had done. Besides I need room to improve next year.

View from the ferry across Upper arrow lake on our way to Kaslo

Pate decided to test out his new toy on the drive to Kaslo. The Nish giving his approval.

The other highlight of the camp was a game of baseball. Although this was not part of the training it was taken quite seriously by most of the team. I had never played or watched baseball in my life so after being briefed several times on the rules I did my best to not let my team down. Although I did make a costly mistake (running between bases when the ball was still in the air and ended up being caught) I did achieve my goal of hitting the ball ( I was so excited when I did this that I forgot to drop the bat and ended up running with it to first base). All in all Kaslo was a successful camp. I biked farther than I ever had, saw more mountains, enjoyed beautiful weather (it was 30degrees and sunny) and hit my first baseball. Right now I am back in Canmore, where it is far from 30 degrees out, enjoying a much needed rest day before the hard training begins again.

Other things I have been up to since my last update… well the team did a 10km road race in Calgary. For me it went well. I ran it in 37:18 which is far from my best (35:11) but for this early in the year and at altitude it was a good test. I also went to Banff to watch a crit race. This I thought was pretty cool as I am a big cycling fan and like nothing better than watching 40 riders battle it out on a narrow course in slippery conditions (yes there were several falls). Well, that’s all for now. There is supposed to be a video of the Kaslo camp made soon. As soon as it is I will post it here.

Banff Bike fest Crit race. Photo credit: Lucas Jungmann (jungmann-photography.com/)

Welcome to Canmore

I arrived in Canmore two weeks ago. This marked a new chapter in my life. For 19 and a half years I have lived at home. For the past 10 years I have been racing with the Nakkertok Nordic ski club. The past six of which I have been coached by Mike Vieira, Nakkertok’s head coach. I have had lots of success with the Nakkertok racing team, but this year I felt it was time for a change. I applied to some training centers and before I knew it I was making plans to go to Canmore to train with the Alberta World cup Academy.

On Sunday May 22^nd I had packed my life into bags and was on my way to Calgary. When I arrived in Calgary that evening I was greeted by our long time family friends the Hicks family. They had generously offered to let my stay at their house while I try to find my own place and had even made the drive to the Calgary airport to pick me up.

The day before I left Chelsea I went for a long bike ride in 25 degree sunny weather. I even went for a swim in the Gatineau River; summer had definitely arrived in the National Capital region. When I arrived in Canmore however, I realized that summer was still a long way off in this part of the country. During my first week here I went for a bike ride in 5 degrees and rain and went for a run in 20cm of fresh snow. My sandals and swim shorts remained packed away in my duffle bag. I have been very happy with my decision to bring my winter training gear with me to Canmore. Despite the weather my first week of training went relatively well. My arrival in Canmore coincided with the start of testing week. I did not do all the fitness testing that was planned since the coaches wanted to give me some time to get used to the altitude. With the exception of some slight back issues during the double pole test (I am working hard doing physio and stretching to correct this) the fitness testing that I did do went well.

Waking up to a May snow storm in Canmore

During my second week in Canmore the weather improved drastically. I have been settling in to the routine of training with the world cup academy. Canmore is a great place to train. There are a seemingly endless number of trails to discover. I have only started to get to know them.

Above Canmore on the Highline trail. Just one of many great running trails in Canmore.

That’s all for now, I will try to post updates twice a month and will do my best to include photos and videos to keep in interesting.