Go Time

The temperatures dropping, and the snow guns are producing massive piles of snow at the Nordic Centre. It seems like winter is finally here, and the race season is not far off. On Monday a group of us are jumping in the team van and making the ten hour drive down to West Yellowstone, for some races. These are the first real races in North America and will feature a long list of the continents best skiers. With the first test just around the corner, I can look back on the training season and feel confident about all the work my team mates and I have put down.

After we came finished out Haig Glacier camp, and a short rest we got right back to work. A large portion of Augaust was spent in Whistler BC for out final bi

g camp of the year. The camp was a success with some descent volume as well as some key intensity and a sprint race. Heres a short clip from the race.

After whistler we spent September and October training mostly out of the Bow Valley. Again this year, the staff at the Canmore Nordic Centre have done an amazing job on what has been dubbed Frozen Thunder. basically what they do is store a huge pile of leftover snow from last year in a pit covered with saw dust. Then in the fall they truck it out and lay out a loop for early skiing. This is the third year they have done this and its getting better every year. On October 15th they spread out 1.5km of snow, which has now been expanded to close to double that.

Photo: Matt Wylie

We have been skiing for a month now, and for the past two weeks lake louise has been mid winter conditions to add to what we have in town.

the group getting ready for an intensity session in Lake Louise

Photo: Mike Caviliere

Only three days until we depart for the races, and I'm ready to go!

Ciao

Cascade Engineering Group

I would like to give my sincerest thanks to Adrian and the rest of the staff,
at Cascade Engineering Group for coming on bored as supporters for the
upcoming season.

Haig Glacier

Last week we finished up a solid block of training with a glacier camp at the infamous Haig Glacier.
The block started with a medium volume week at home with a Time Trial. I was pretty happy with my effort, as i had a new PB and in some adverse weather conditions too.

Then Over the next two weeks we spent four days up at altitude (2400-2700m) followed by three days at home with some intensities and a quick rest. We did this twice.

I'm now coming to the end of my rest week, which so far has been great. Without a much lighter training schedule then normal, I have been able to put in some solid hours at work, play some paintball for Emily's and Jess' Birthday as well as check out some Canmore folk fest. Not mention some serious rest.

Canada Day!

This year as a member of the World Cup Academy, I was lucky enough
to get the chance to take part in Canmore's Canada Day parade. I had allot
of fun giving out Candy and pleasing the kids watching the parade with a few
sprints.

By far the biggest crowds I have ever skied in front of...

Testing

A quick video from testing last week.
Great to set new benchmarks.

NorAms & Canada Games Qualifiers

I am currently hanging out in my room in Rossland BC. We traveled here last night, and have been greeted by rain, fog and some of the softest snow I have ever skied on. Luckily it is getting colder and things are starting to freeze up. Coupled with the large suite Matty and I are staying in, and things are looking good for a great week.

This Past weekend we raced in the first North American Cups (NorAM) races of the season. There was a Classic Sprint, as well as a 15km Skate race with a deep field of Canadians and Americans.

Classic Sprint:

The morning started early with a nice o'clock start for the sprint qualifier. I finished the qualifier not quite happy with my race. I had over estimated the new longer course (or under estimated myself) and finished with what felt like a lot of energy left in the tank. With such a short race that is decided by mere seconds, I was worried that with the depth of the feild I might not have qualified to race the heats (top 30). I was happy to see then that I had finished 26th and would get to race the head to head heats.

In my heat, I went in ranked as the fifth of six skiers. I was feeling good with the pace that was being set, but ended up loosing a few meters to the front three on one of the sharp corners thanks to my usual molasses like start. I managed to reel in about half of the gap, and finished fourth in my heat. Not enough to move on to the semi finals, but enough to end the day in 19th place. While I wasn't particularly stoked on the result, I was happy with how my body felt, and felt excited for the next day.
15km Skate individual:

The next morning I woke up early to stuff back as much breakfast as my stomach could handle. I have a history of this being my worst race of the season, complete with an epic bonk, so I took every precaution. After a long warm up to get my tired body moving I felt ready to go.

I had a what would normally be a decent race, finishing in 26th. I am however happy with the result as it is the best race I have had at this time of year, in a long time. I have a history of starting the season very slow, and not reaching good form until the near the end of the season. I have adjusted my training a bit and it seems to have paid off.

The best part of the day, was that it was the third of three Canada Winter Games qualification races. After the three races I have secured my ticket to race in Halifax in February! It should be a great trip, as most of my extended family lives there. The team hasn't officially been named, but it is almost a guarantee that I will be selected.

This brings us to today. We are now gearing up for a three day 'Tour' style race. There is a Sprint, 10km Classic and on Sunday a 15km skate in which we start in reverse order (fastest over the first two days first). The first person to cross the finish line wins the Tour.

I am very excited to give this new race format a try.

Ciao

Its Finally Here...

This past weekend I started off my 2010 race season. Two Alberta Cups were hosted here at home in Canmore, and were also the first two of three Canada Winter Games qualification races.

On Saturday we started of with a skate sprint. Just after nine i skied my first sprint qualifier of te year. I skied fairly well, and ended up in 8th, just over five seconds behind the winner, Olympian Drew Goldsack. While the time gap was a littl

e bigger then I would have liked it was a good first race effort of the season.

Now was the hard part. After a long, long six hour wait we returned to the Race Site to compete in the Head to Head heats. In my quarterfinal, after a bad start, I w

orked my way into second and stayed there to the finish earning me a spot in the Semi finals. Once Again I had a poor start in my Semi and was 5th out of the gait. I eventually worked my way into fourth, missing the third place spot, and a ticket to the A final by a toe.

I was extremely frustrated not to have made the A final, but was happy none the less after some quick math to realize that I was sitting in 2nd for CWG eligible athletes, which would give me a very good chance of qualifying. As at the coaches meeting it was stated that there would be no B final (which is the standard these days) I returned my bib and was excited about my finish.

A few minutes later I was informed that the organisers had changed there mind and decided to run a b final. I ran to get my bib back and tried to refocus for the heat. I ended up skiing a very poor B final, ending up 10th overall on the day and fourth for CWG athletes. To say the least I was disappointed.

I went to bed positive about the Classic distance race that would follow on Sunday morning. When I woke I was feeling very tired from the long sprint day. After eating as much food as I could fit, I laid down and relaxed until it was time to go to the race site.

After a long warm up with a little extra intensity to try and get some spark into the Jello that was my legs and a nice double espresso I was ready to race. I raced extremely hard, and despite the fatigue I managed to have a very good last lap, moving up from 14th to 8th, just over a minute behind the winner over 10km. I ended the day 3rd for CWG athletes, but behind two guys I beat yesterday. This puts me in a good position going into the last qualifier race next Sunday in Silver Star BC.

On Wednesday morning our team will head out to Silverstar to race two North American Cups, (one of which is the last CWG qualifier) then we will go straight to Rossland BC for a three day 'tour' ski race (modeled of the Tour De France). The sprint in Rossland is also the World Senior Champs Trials race.

Ciao

Gerard

(photos: John Lynn)