QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Skiing in conditions like this doesn’t get much sweeter, blue sky, hot sun and fast tracks. Canmore has got to be one of the coolest venues on the World Cup circuit.”
WHAT’S COMING UP
2010 OLYMPICS!!
– 2.15.10 Olympic 10km Skate
– 2.17.10 Olympic Classic Sprint
– 2.22.10 Olympic Team Sprint
– 2.25.10 Olympic 4x5km Relay
– 2.27.10 Olympic 30km Classic Mass-start
Cliff Notes:
After a sweet training camp at home in Anchorage, I traveled down to Canmore, Alberta for the final World Cup races before the Olympics. Conditions were about as good as it gets. The snow stayed relatively cold, the tracks were like rails, and the sun was shinning brightly across the clear blue skies. Canmore also provides the perfect back drop with stunning mountain walls rising sharply above the Nordic center!
In Friday’s 10km skate race I had planned to start off conservatively and build speed through the race. However, the tough course took it’s toll and I ended up starting slow and never found my full race gear. I ended up in a disappointing 44th place.
In Saturday’s classic race, I was hoping to turn the weekend around. While I wasn’t very satisfied with my qualifying round time for 22nd place, I did advance to the quarterfinals and was able to make it through to the semi-finals as a lucky loser. Unforunately I tripped myself going around the first corner and was not able to advance to the final. I ended up 10th.
While I didn’t ski quite up to my expectations these races were a good boost of confidence going into the Olympics next week. After a month long break from racing, it was good to get back in the rhythm again and I look forward to feeling stronger and stronger by the day.
The time is here! Can’t wait! I’m heading to Vancouver with the team on Tuesday.
New website launching soon!
For now: www.kikkanimal.blogspot.com
The Full Story:
Greetings! The World Cup has returned to Canmore, Alberta for the final races before the 2010 Olympics. On tap this week was a 10km skate race and a classic sprint. Conditions were just about as good as it gets, clear blue skies and fast, hard tracks. After spending the last three weeks at home post-nationals to train, it was good to get back into racing again.
Last Wednesday I traveled down to Canmore with my APU teammates to have a few extra days to acclimatize to the 1500m (4900ft) venue. My adaptation wasn’t quite as smooth as I had hoped, but I was excited for the races.
10km Skate
Friday’s event was at 10km skate, individual style. I started in the middle of the field. Because the course included several challenging climbs over the two laps, my strategy was to start off conservative and build speed through the race.
Over the first two kilometers of the race I focused on trying to find a good rhythm, keeping my skis gliding while dancing on and off my skis. Effort-wise the pace felt right about where I wanted to be. However, when I received my first split at 1.5km, I was already 14 seconds off the lead pace. This was a slower start than I had planned and I knew I needed to start picking up the pace.
Just before the 3km mark, the bib behind me caught me for 30 seconds. She had a very quick and powerful rhythm going. I tried to hang on but she was skiing much stronger and pulled away up the next climb. It was now the point in the race, just before halfway, that I should have been able to start picking up speed. Yet, instead of picking up speed, I was beginning to struggle to just maintain my already less-than-ideal pace.
As I lapped through the stadium, I was mentally coaching myself to really fire up and attack the second lap. Petra Majdic, the second to last starter, left the gate shortly after I passed through and came roaring up beside me on the first climb. She was V2’ing strongly and seemed to blow by me. I should have tried to match her acceleration, but instead I stayed trapped in my own tempo.
Heading up the next steeper climb, Justyna Kowalcyzk (the final starter) came blowing by. She was charging, rotating aggressively with her upper body and really getting good distance out of each push. This made me feel like I was standing still, another mental blow at a critical point.
I tried not to get discouraged with the way the race was unfolding and kept trying to bring my attention back to the trail immediately in front of me. “Body forward, quick push, dance on the skis,” I kept repeating to myself. For a few moments I could dig in, and then for another few moments my body wanted to just settle. It was a mental battle for the rest of the race simply to maintain my pedestrian pace.
I forced myself to pick up the tempo by trying to jump a little with each step up the last two big climbs. It helped spark start me a bit but the response was still lackluster. Even though I was not having a great race result wise, I knew it was a good test for myself and would help for future races. So I kept pushing, trying to give everything I had left.
At last I came sailing down into the stadium and onto the finish stretch. I pretended I was in the final drive of a sprint race, and gave it as much sprint as I could. Then I slid my foot across the line and skidded to a halt to hang over my poles. The sun was shinning but my spirit was sagging. That was a real beating.
While I was disappointed in my own race, I decided not to dwell on it too long. Several of my teammates had skied excellent races (Compton 14th, Arritola 23rd and Brooks 24th) and I focused my attention on celebrating their great results. I also knew that although this race had not gone well, there was another race the next day and another chance for a good result.
1.4km Classic Sprint
Day two in Canmore was another beautiful day. It started off a little chilly in the morning (-12 C, 10 F) but gradually warmed up as the sun rose above the mountains. The course was expertly groomed with solid tracks. Ski testing was super smooth. I was able to find a fast pair with plenty of grip pretty quick and turned the rest of my attention toward getting in a good warm-up.
I did one faster lap at level three and then picked a few sections of the course to do 45 second bouts at race pace. By the end of the warm-up I felt pretty worked. It’s a funny position to be in. You must go hard enough in the warm-up to make sure you’re body is hot and ready. But sometimes when the warm up feels so hard, your mind wonders how you will possibly be able to make it around the entire course at that pace. Thankfully, I’ve had plenty of experience where I’ve felt terrible and heavy warming-up and then had a great prelim, so I remembered that and headed to the start ready to go.
As bib 19, I watched the first few racers dash out of the start before it was my turn in the gate. The announcers voice was booming and the crowd was already growing. I got a quick introduction as I headed out on course.
I carried good speed across the opening flat and ran up and around the first turn. Then I dropped into a short tuck before beginning the upward journey to the top of the course. Up the next steep, my skis slipped a bit (unexpectedly) so I increased the tempo to make it up and around the next turn. The course flattened out slightly and I drove up the track. Then I came into the big climb. I tried standing up tall, keeping my hips really forward and making short, quick strides. My skis slipped a bit, but I kept driving and managed to hold a bit of momentum.
Coming over the top, my body was burning with effort and I had to convince myself to keep building speed. Then I made my way down a fast downhill, with a sharp turn and a long decent back toward the stadium. Trying to stay extra-low in my tuck, I put my head down for a moment. Then suddenly my weight shifted and my left ski lifted out of the track and I stumbled. For a split second I thought I was going down. Thankfully I was able to re-steady myself and stay upright. I dropped back into my tuck and tried to glide as far as possible before the final double-pole stretch to the finish.
The last 100m seemed to stretch on forever. I tried to be patient enough to fully project forward and up onto my poles while still keeping a fast tempo and a quick whip with my hands. My double-pole didn’t feel as solid and powerful as I wanted, but it got me to the finish line. The announcer called me in 16th place (out of 19) and my suspicions were confirmed, another dismal qualifying round. I wasn’t totally confident that I would make the top 30.
As I headed out of the finish area, all I could do was shake my head. I just wasn’t skiing as well as I wanted to. My skis had plenty of grip during testing, why had they slipped? I had practiced the final stretch in my head over and over, why couldn’t I ski like I had imagined? I know I can ski better.
This time I got lucky. My time held up for 22nd place and a spot in the quarterfinals. I promised to do more with a second chance and tried to put the frustration out of my mind. After a short cool down ski, I went inside, changed into dry clothes and got a rub down from our team masseuse. I closed my eyes and went over strategy in my head.
I always get really cold in between the qualification and the rounds, so when I got ready to head back out to warm-up for the quarters, I bundled up. The sun however, had really warmed up the stadium and after a few minutes I was boiling. I tested my skis again, Peter had added more kick, and then did a little faster skiing to wake back up. Again, I didn’t feel very good, but promised myself I would feel fine in the race.
I was in the fourth quarterfinal heat. I had fifth lane choice, so I got stuck to the outside. My reaction to the start gun was a split second late, so I was already trying to catch up from the very beginning. When the lanes narrowed from six tracks to four, I tucked myself in behind Dasha Gaizova of Canada. As we made our way around the first tight turn, a skier went down on the inside. I managed to avoid any trouble and stayed glued to Dasha in fourth position. Majdic and another racer were pulling ahead as we made our way up the big climb, but I was hanging in there and feeling stronger than earlier. Going over the top of the hill I tucked myself in behind Dasha and tried to get a draft on the downhill.
Just before coming out of our tucks I moved into the next lane and glided up beside Dasha. I burst into a big double-pole and we began our duel for 3rd position. For several meters we duked it out side-by-side. But Dasha was powerful and she gradually pulled ahead. Still, I kept pushing all the way to the line. When I crossed, I thought, “oh well, it was a good run.”
The announcer was excitedly commentating however, that our heat had been much faster than the previous rounds and that Dasha and I had the new best “lucky loser” times. One more heat had to finish before it was confirmed that I would be moving on to the semi-finals. I was a bit surprised, it hadn’t really crossed my mind during the race that I had a chance to advance. But I was psyched none the less. Another shot to race!
The sun felt hot and I took off the base layer under my suit top. I skied a little and jogged around to clear the effort and prepare for the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, I again got the outside lane. My start was not stellar this round either, and I got off to a little bit of a slow start. I didn’t panic, figuring I could ski my way back on to the train. I was just about onto the back of the pack when I slipped going around the first turn and knocked myself over. In the second or two it took for me to get up, the skiers ahead were gone. Even though I was now seemingly out of the race, Justin was yelling not to let up as anything can happen. I charged after the group. Skiing alone, the effort felt very hard. My skis slipped a bit again on the two big climbs, probably because I was frantically trying to catch back up.
There was a voice in my mind that told me to stop pushing and let up since I wasn’t really in the race, but another powerful voice told me to keep going as hard as I could. I was determined to race all out to the finish line. I came down the big downhill, under the bridge and readied to make a big sprint into the finish.
As I came out of my tuck I looked up and was surprised to see the neon yellow suit of Petra Majdic not far off in front of me. She was just casually skiing in after a fall on the downhill. At first I didn’t think I would be able to catch her before the finish, but I sprinted with everything I had just in case. I thought of some different technique cues in my mind, and my double-pole finally felt a little bit better. When I came up beside Petra, she tried to respond for a second, but I had more momentum and I was able to beat her to the finish line for 10th place. My day was done.
The women’s Final, was super sweet. Sara Renner, who had previously commented that she would have been happy to just make the top 30, took the bronze medal in front of her home town crowd.
In reflection, the classic sprint was a step better than the distance race, and a good indication that things are coming up heading into the Olympics. I didn’t ski as well as I wanted to at these Canmore World Cups but the preparation has been aimed at peaking in the next couple weeks and I am confident that my best races are still to come.
With the races done, it was time to have a little fun. My good friend and founder of Fast and Female Chandra Crawford hosted a girls ski event on Canmore’s Main Street, which had been covered in foot-deep man-made snow. Liz Stephen and I joined the Canadian girls to warm-up by Zuma dancing to African drums and then played ski games with 80 girls for a couple hours. It was sweet!
Now we get a couple days to chill in Canmore, a chance to recover from the races and train a bit before we head to Vancouver for team processing. I can’t believe it’s finally here. Opening Ceremonies in six days!!
Cheers,
Kikkan