Training with Team Ninja

Ski training season has already started (holy crap!) and I couldn't be more proud to share just how pumped I am to get after it again this year.

First R-ski of the season!

I've made some great plans to train full time with my good friends Amanda Ammar, Zoe Roy and Chandra Crawford. We are all outside of Cross Country Canada's "System" and working together as each other's own support network to reach our goals in 2013-2014.

Team Ninja has something of an oath that one must take in order to be sworn in as an official member. Amanda is the brains behind it but I think it really captures the big picture goals that will help us get the most out of ourselves as athletes:

1) You must swear to always have fun
2) You must promise to only be competitive at the appropriate times
3) You must be ready to throw down at all workouts
3) You must keep grumpiness to a minimum
4) You must never laugh at a teammate for wearing makeup during workouts
5) You must always wear your team bling proudly

Skiing with our friend Cindy in Team Ninja headbands at Mount Shark, May 2013

Modelling our Team Bling while volunteering at a Fast & Female event in Whistler

Some silly, some serious, all very important values. We are out to have a shit-ton of fun and, as our friend and mentor Pavlina Sudrich says"crush skulls" on the race course. Last year Amanda won the NorAM series, I finished 4th, Zoe finished 6th and we had 10 NorAM podiums and wins between the three of us. Chandra was 6th in the Canmore World Cup.

Team Ninja 1-2-4 at Western Canadian Champs, February 2013

We've already been tearing up the mountain bike trails, pumping iron in the gym, running, skiing and even rollerskiing this month. This weekend we will travel to Bend, Oregon for our first official training camp of the season. The U.S women's team will be there to train with and there's still snow at Mt. Bachelor so it promises to be an awesome time.

Downhill training.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more Ninja fun!

Photo Update from Duntroon NorAMs

Last weekend was a great weekend of racing NorAMs at Highland's Nordic (also called Duntroon) near Collingwood, Ontario. Saturday was a classic sprint and Sunday was a 10km skate race. It was the final qualifying weekend for the World Championships team so the competition was intense. I feel like I'm in great shape right now so it's really exciting to be battling for seconds in a tight field - that's competition at it's best, for sure. 

My whole family came! My mom volunteered as a starter/timer and my brother while dad were on socializing/cheering duty. 

Thank you to Mary Tribe and my brother, Homeslice for the pics, totally rad.

That's right, my brother is "Sir Andrew, Warrior of Denmark"

 The classic sprint went well. I skied a personal best qualifier but accidentally false started... meaning I went 3 seconds early. My time was accurate but the race jury decided to add 15 seconds to my time as a penalty which bumped me from 3rd to 14th. Not a huge deal since I still made it through to the heats but annoying to lose the qualifying time points for being an airhead! The heats went well and although I didn't quite squeeze into the A final, I won the B final to take 5th on the day.

Race conditions don't get much sweeter than this, fast tracks and blue skies.

Cute little cousins from St. Louis flying their Canadian "colors" for the weekend. I was so pumped to see this!

Ma girl Zoe Roy flying to 2nd place - love that grin!

The 10k skate was epic. It was a perfect day for racing with clear skies and mild temperatures. The track was fairly fast and had lots of tough hills and twisty, fast descents. My strategy was to pin it right from the first lap, going fast right off the line and just trying to hold on. It was painful all the way through, but as my friend Brian McKeever would describe, it was "a good pain : speed ratio". I finished in 5th place, just a couple of seconds off the podium and 36.6 seconds behind Brittany Webster who is now off to World Championships. 

I'm diggin' the new Ontario Team suits and my fast Salomon skis. 

Open Women's podium, 10k skate L-R: Amanda Ammar, Zoe Roy, Brittany Webster, Andrea Dupont, Me

Beauty ski at foggy Hardwood Ski & Bike with friends Erin Tribe and Amanda Ammar - spectacular trees and fast snow. Ahhmazing. 

I'm back in Ottawa now and racing resumes tomorrow at Nakkertok with another classic sprint. Saturday is another 10km skate and Sunday is a 15km classic with a pursuit start based on the aggregation of Friday and Saturday's events. This format is called  a "mini-tour" since all  three days are aggregated to crown an overall winner. Should be an exciting weekend!

Ready for More

The races in Thunder Bay were already 3 weeks ago and boy, am I sure ready to get back at it! I spent an awesome 10 days training back in Ottawa and I am now the Thomas family chalet near Hardwood getting ready to race at Highland's Nordic this weekend. Ottawa was  a great chance to catch up with old friends and training partners and we had  real mix of weather and snow conditions which made for excellent practice. I hope every race at Nationals in Whistler this March is on klister - I freakin' love skiing on that stuff.

"Home" home has been incredible this week. The conditions at Hardwood have been excellent and it's been nice to spend a few days doing the hermit thing to just chill out and get focused for the upcoming races. I've spent lots of time reading, sleeping and cooking. If you haven't read Rick Mercer's book "A Nation Worth Ranting About" already, do it now. It's amazing. It was hilarious, insightful and positively inspiring. I also have to make mention of the fact that my mom is ready for the apocalypse here. If I didn't have such a thing for fresh vegetables I would be able to live here for months without hitting a grocery store, the fridge, freezer and cupboards are that well stocked.

Pretty Sugarbush trees in the sun

How can you not be stoked to go skiing when the drive to Hardwood starts like this?

It might be kind of old news now but I did decide to leave the Alberta World Cup Academy team in December. There's no real drama in the story (and I think the dust has settled just fine) but I had a good talk with Alex Matthew's at FasterSkier.com a couple of days ago and she wrote a really nice article about it. Alex and the whole crew at Faster Skier do a brilliant job of covering and promoting cross-country skiing in North America. Thank you Faster Skier! If you're interested the article is here and  let me tell you, it's flattering to even be thought of as a contender for the World Champs team, wow.

Kids Christmas at the Thomas Chalet with my brother Andrew and our furry little sister Alexis.

My parents and brother will be coming up from Mississauga for the weekend so that's sure the bring even more fun and positive energy. Can't wait!

Thanks for reading :)

Racing NorAMs in Thunder Bay

Welcome to 2013! After an amazingly fun and relaxing holiday break with my family near Hardwood it was back to "work" on the ski trails of Lappe Nordic in Thunder Bay. There were 3 races: a 15km skiathlon (half classic then a transition to skate, without a break), a classic sprint and a 10km individual start skate. These races were exciting for the usual reason, being races, but were also exciting because they were some of the selection races for World Junior and Under 23 Championships and World Championships.


The 15k skiathlon was my best race of the season so far by a longshot. It was one of those incredible days where skiing almost feels effortless and you don't realize how hard you were pushing until you cross the finish line and try to catch your breath. These are the kind of days athletes dream about while training all year and especially satisfying after what a terrible performance in the 15k world cup in Canmore last month. I finished second behind national team skier Emily Nishikawa and my good friend Zoe Roy rounded out the podium in third.

Above: charging up the "grunt" with Zoe and Emily. It was a chilly day at -15 so we were well bundled up!

The classic sprint day was next and the most exciting part was definitely the epic crash Kara Jaspers and I had in our quarter final heat. There was a sharp left hand corner at the bottom on the big downhill on course and I charged it over-confidently, bailed and then had Kara sail over me as I started to get up. The frame by frame is below. I did manage to get up quickly and make up enough time in the heat to finish second and move through to the semi finals, phew. The 10k skate also went well and I finished 6th, only about 20 seconds off the podium!

I feel great after getting some solid racing in and I'm confident that my form is back where it needs to be to continue the season. The next NorAm is at Highland's Nordic, near Collingwood, Ontario in 2 weeks. Rather than fly all the way back to Canmore for less than 2 weeks I've opted to train back in  Ottawa. The ski conditions are awesome here and it feels so good to be back!

Thanks for reading!

Welcome the New Year with a Laugh

Just wanted to share this picture from the World Cup in Canmore last month. Local school kids made posters to welcome athletes and they were put up all arond the athlete's lounge and wax rooms, this one was my favourite by far!

And we're off!

The race season finally kicked off last weekend after I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas all of last week. This past training season felt longer and harder than it ever has and I was totally excited to get this show on the road and get to the fun part - racing.

 

 Our team had done a number of on-snow time trials but nothing quite matches the feeling of the stadium the day of a race, putting on a bib and just going for it. The energy is higher, the excitment is higher and the vibe was is just all around better.

 

This year's season openers were hosted at the Canmore Nordic Centre and served not only as NorAms but also as qualifiers for the World Cups being hosted in Canada this week. On the line were start spots for team and individual sprints to be held in Quebec City, a Sprint in Canmore, as well as classic and pursuit races in Canmore. It's a huge opportunity to have Canada host World Cup races since it means we get extra quota start spots for developing domestic skiers.



 

(** Photos courtesy of James Cunningham/CCC Facebook and Stoneham Ski Apparel/www.stonehamski.ca. Thank you!) 

Start of a men's sprint heat, love that race day scene!

 Saturday was a skate sprint with individual qualifiers in the morning and head to head heats in the afternoon. I felt strong in the morning and qualified 10th, the top 30 move on to heats so I felt in good position for the afternoon. My quarter final heat got off to a fast start and the top 2 girls gapped me by a little bit going up the main climb. Unfortunately I didn't have the punch I needed to battle back and settled for third. In the 5 quarter-finals the top 2 finishers automatically move to the semi-finals but the third place finishers have to wait and see who has the fastest two heat times in order to win a position in the semis. I did my best to stay cool and positive as  I waited and watched the rest of the heats go. Unfortunately I was the "first un-lucky loser" as I had the third fastest 3rd place time and only the top 2 move on. Complicated..

Quarter final action, duking it out with teammate Annika Hicks (background). Thanks to Stoneham for the sweet new race suits. www.stonehamski.ca)

 I wasn't stoked, especially after feeling like I didn't ski as well as I'd planned for in the quarter. My day was done but I didn't have time to dwell, Sunday was a10km classic race and I needed to focus on the positive actions of cooling down, recovering and getting mentally ready for the next day. On the bright side, many of my teammates had incredible race days and 6 of us qualified to race the Sprint World Cups!

Intense semi-final, my teammates are in black and had a great day of racing!

 Sunday's 10k classic was what I would call a "working day". I prepared well, was mentally ready and felt completely focused on the positive process goals I'd set out for my day yet I didn't have that energy and punch that makes a race really fun. It felt like I was just surviving rather than really attacking. Its discouraging when your body doesn't have the energy you want but dealing with that is just part of being an athlete. I stayed focused on technique and working to push up and over the hills and crossed the line in 12th.

Skiing through the lap with junior teammate Britt Evans who had sweet races all weekend!

 While the first weekend of racing didn't play out quite as well as I wanted I am still incredibly excited that the race season is here. I feel grateful that I did manage to qualify to race my first ever sprint World Cup in Canmore next week and I am on the rooster for the 15k pursuit World Cup as well (thanks to results from last season). I've taken some positives from the weekend and jotted down a few things to improve on. I'm now in Silverstar getting ready to race 2 NorAm's this weekend and will attack them with all the energy and enthusiasm I have.

A real highlight from last week was an afternoon tea party with old friends Catherine, Anna and Erin. We all skied together on Team Hardwood back in highschool and haven't forgotten about each other or our love for the sport. Good Times!

I'm also super  exicted to tune in to CBC to watch the Canadian crew battle it out in the team sprint downtown Quebec City tomorrow. GO CANADA GO!!

Thanks for checking in, onwards and upwards!

North Bay/Gangnam Style Training Camp

Last weekend Nipissing University and North Bay Nordic did an amazing job of hosting the 2012 Northern Ontario District training camp. With 35 athletes between the ages of 13 and 22 from all over Ontario laying down great training and sharing energy, the camp was a total blast. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend and made the trip from Canmore to join in on the fun and help out with a bit of coaching.

The camp started on Friday afternoon with a trail run right on the Nipissing university campus - how cool is that? The trail network seems great for running and actually gets groomed in the winter so the athletes can train right on campus, they even host races there! Post run we headed to the gym to work through a three stations of circuits: core strength, wind sprints and balance, and then finally plyos and ladder agility drills. After dinner on Friday we got to listen to a talk by Dr. Barbi Law, a psychology professor from Nipissing. She gave us some great info on sport psychology and helped us through a few exercises to get ready for race season - great stuff as we head towards race season! 

Saturday morning began with a Q&A session over Skype with the Canadian Women's World Cup team. Chandra, Peri and Alysson are already over in Sweden preparing for the World Cup opener and it was really nice of them to take the time to chat with us. We decided to thank them by performing our version of the Gangnam Style dance. They loved it, obviously. Check out the video below for a glimpse of the artistic genius.

It was business time after the chat and the gang threw down a great skibounding workout at Laurentian Ski hill. We divided into groups for a quick refresher on good technique with the warm up and then did a zone 3 interval workout. Thanks to my new friend Madi Fraser for all the great pictures!

Big gang of stoked Ontario skiers!

Working on technique: hip position and posture are so key

Nipissing Skiers getting after it



Holly Jones of Carleton U making it look easy



BEST sight ever right after a workout. So much good baking!

Saturday afternoon was a classic rollerski right on Nipissing Campus. Again we divided into smaller groups to move through different technique stations. I have been working hard on my double poling lately and so got to help lead the double pole station with retired national team skier Dave Nighbor. Actually teaching technique rather than just skiing around trying to do it is a great way to really focus in on the skills and get pumped to improve.

Saturday evening I made a little presentation about balancing skiing and school. I had expected the camp to be mostly junior skiers but was pleasantly surprised to find about half of the athletes we already rocking the university ski scene. It was great to have so many of them there to help share the message that you don't have to give up on your ski racing goals if you also want to go to university. 

Sunday morning the camp finished up with an exciting rollerski sprint race. The course was about 600m long, half double poling and half diagonal striding with a net elevation gain. Heats were run in groups of three skiers and timed to keep track of pacing and round results.

Alex, Holly and Erin get ready for a sprint heat

Go!

Colin and Liam duking it out.

Solid form!

Big thanks to North Bay Nordic, Nipissing University Nordic, and all the coaches and parent volunteers who made this camp a huge success. I had a total blast and I'm sure all the other athletes felt the same. We are all now a little bit stronger, fitter and more pumped to race this winter!

Get your snowdance on, Gangnam style.