January 24, 2009 (Canmore, AB) – The week of the Whistler World Cups was both the most exciting and busiest of the winter for me, though that’s not saying much. I’ve been nursing my foot injury since the start of the race season and things have been slow to say the least. In contrast with my usual winter schedule of racing in Europe, a new city every week and living out of a suitcase, I’ve been stuck in the slow lane. This season I’ve spent more time at home in Canmore than I have in the past eight years and I was more than looking forward for the opportunity to travel with The Team out to Whistler and be a part of the racing scene, if only for a week.

It’s been a long time since I have been so excited to get on a plane! The thought of air travel is usually not the most appealing for your average world cup skier but having an excuse to hang out with The Team and get back into my normal winter routine really got me going. I shared a sweet house in Whistler with George, Devon, Alex and Ivan and it was great to hang out with the guys for a while!

To my complete surprise I ended up racing the classic sprint in Whistler. Heading out there I had no plans of racing, but after Arild and Dave took notice of my huge improvement in double poling strength since being injured (daily 2hr double pole workouts have been the norm for me lately), they thought it’d be a good test to have someone double pole the course. I was reluctant but I got the OK from our team doctor and despite being quite unprepared (having only one pair of skis with me and no intensity sessions in the past six weeks) I decided to give it a go. It was a tough grind, that’s for sure. With the course taking the fastest skiers over three and a half minutes (on very fast snow), my arms just ran out of jam. I felt great up the first climb and part of the next but then the body started to protest and I suffered my way around the rest of the course. I’d be lying if I said making the top 30 wasn’t in the back of my mind but when the dust cleared I had to settle for 42nd place. As far as I know I was the only one to double pole the course and I was grateful to have the chance to pull on the race bib for what may have been my first and last race of the season.



With the Super Bowl coming up I figured a football analogy for the update on my injury is appropriate! Basically I’m looking at a Third and Long play here. The past few attempts to heal my foot have been unsuccessful and I’ve only been able to make some small gains to this point, I still have a long way to go to be 100%. The play we’re going to run for the Third Down is another Cortisone injection into a slightly different area of my foot followed by some serious rest (I will probably be on crutches for a few weeks). The only other option at this point is the Hail Mary pass into the End Zone which would mean surgery, so I think the Cortisone is definitely the safer play. The Cortisone however, comes with its risks. If it doesn’t work and I fall short of the First Down I will be forced to go for the Hail Mary but the catch is that Cortisone breaks down and weakens tissue so I’d have to wait three months before having surgery and my training for next season would be impacted as well. Only time will tell where I go from here and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be back training soon and stronger than ever! Until then, I’m making the best of things, trying to stay positive and look forward to the Olympic year.

Overheard:
“Dude, have you seen [the movie] Ironman? It’s awesome, it’s like Alfie meets Transformers…” -Sean Crooks
In the Tape Deck:
With the World Championships coming up in the Czech Republic, I think it’s fitting to feature a Czech Band. I came across them last year when I was in the Czech, they were getting a lot of play time on TV and radio with their song ‘Sorry Baby’ but I haven’t seen a thing from them in North America…too bad, great song and great album!
Band: AirFare
Album: Hotel Moscow
Song: Sorry Baby
Song: Sugar Cube
Also check out their music video for Sorry Baby on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mWJs_u5b-o