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.