Season review & the next step

Here goes something, my first of hopefully many blogposts. This is a place where I'm going to keep it pretty real, looking forward to it. Now here's a year condensed into one write up.

This past 2014/2015 season was my most difficult, and most successful season yet. Towards the end of the previous season (2013/2014) I began to experience some chronic groin/abdominal pain. Doctors initially believed it was due to malfunctioning abdominal veins. This led to an operation last summer, which was not successful. Then a more invasive surgery this past fall, where the veins were fixed. With the issue supposably solved, the pain has continued to grow worse to this day. I've had the opportunity to work with 15+ doctors to date, some awesome ones, some not so awesome ones. What I've learned is that the best cure is to learn to cope with it, let it make me tougher.
This injury in combination with a nasty case of the flu before World Junior Trials, gave me a rather slow start to my season.

After a rough start, it was time to get back up on my feet and take the rest of the season head on. I knew  the training I had done was quality and was confident I could make a statement with the rest of my season.
To prevent this first blog from being too lengthy, the second half of my season consisted of a victory at Easterns, some solid results at the Craftsbury Supertour, and 4 podium finishes at Nationals.

Easterns - 10km Classic (photo: mom)

Nationals Podium - 10km Skate (photo: mom)

I don't think I could've been much happier with the way the season was wrapped up. It was a pretty exciting feeling and definitely a big step in the right direction. But there wasn't much time for rest, training resumed for us at Hardwood in late April and the 2015/2016 training season began.

Back at Hardwood, myself, along with a few other senior athletes took on a a coaching/mentor role with the younger athletes. This has been a really eye opening experience for me as an athlete, really gives a new perspective on sport. In addition, I have already learned a whole lot from it. Team Hardwoods' program is really coming together, next level skiing in the making.

Next generation Hardwood athletes (photo: Natalie Pekos)

A lot of people have been curious about my plans for my next step in my ski career. Ever since I respectfully declined my offer from the National Development Centre and decided to go to Carleton while still skiing for Hardwood, people began to assume and ask/tell me me "what made you decide to quit skiing?" or "so I hear you're taking a step back from skiing to focus on school?"

I'm not sure how this rumour began to stir, but this is not true. I've been training harder than ever, I am more focused than ever, and I am feeling better than ever. I think the Training Centres are fantastic options to pursue skiing, but at this point in my career I do not think it's the path is for me. I also believe that there are not enough pathways to pursue skiing after the "club level" in Canada. With only 3 Training Centres and a small handful of clubs with resources to provide high performance support for their graduating athletes … it is no wonder we lose such a high number of skiers from high school to University/College ages. My vision is to see some sort of elite team/training group in Ottawa, to provide another pathway to elite skiing. People ask me how I plan on doing this, and the answer is that I don't know. I've tried creating a formal team on multiple occasions in multiple different formats, and failed miserably. So you could say I don't really know what I'm doing, but I know exactly where I'm trying to go, exactly what I'm trying to create, and I'm sticking to it. 

Another question I get asked is how and why I'm planning on living in Ottawa, and still skiing for Team Hardwood. I think people are too bound to the concept that athletes need to be coached and supervised on a day to day basis. For the past two years I have been getting a training plan from Coach Ron and meeting up for the occasional session for a refresh on technique, and then I work on it until the next session. And that's exactly how it will work in Ottawa. I'll be training the same way, just in a different city, meeting up with the team about once a month. My coach, Ron, is super awesome and we're working together closely to make this work. 

And of course there's a lot who don't think it is a good idea, or that it will work at all. And maybe it won't, I think about it all the time. But I really believe in it and I don't back down from challenges I don't throw myself at with everything I've got first. Like the classic saying goes, "you don't know until you try". Not to mention, the most motivational speeches I've ever heard, are the ones from people who tell me I can't do something. I'm going to Ottawa, skiing fast, and hoping people will follow my lead. That's my Plan A, and I'm going to give it everything I've got. 

So that's my not so little rant on things, hope it clears things up. In terms of this summer I had the opportunity to join the training centres and national team at the Alignment Camp in Canmore. I think it was a good mental check for me to see that I fit in to the field. Not to mention it was tons of fun.

Team Sprint in Canmore (photo: Angus Cockney)

Aaand I think that's a wrap to my first blog! I apologize if it was too lengthy, had a lot to say. I also apologize for any confusing grammatical errors. I'm going to try and blog on anything I feel blog-worthy and when I have time! (other blogs won't likely be as lengthy since I won't have to condense an entire year in it. Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time,

Rj out