Training season recap & Project Norway

I have done such a good job procrastinating writing a blog post, there is now too much content for one post … but let’s do it anyways.

Following Nationals, I found myself back in Canmore for the first round of meetings as athlete rep. Overall I think the whole Athlete rep thing is going quite well, a lot of good stuff going on behind the scenes (will have a more in depth update on this at the end of the blog).

After getting some bonus on snow time in Canmore to start the season, I decided to pay a visit to BC and join Telemark on their Silverstar on snow camp. Kicking off the training season in the mountains, on snow, was a perfect way to get motivated to get back into the grind.

Although it was around this time I got a call from the hip specialist that I have been working with for about a year, year and a half. He confirmed a date for my surgery, which I have been waiting about a year for.

(For those who don’t know, I have had chronic abdominal and groin pain for the past 4 years. A year ago we discovered that my femoral heads are misshaped, thus putting pressure on an entire network of nerves every time I move my legs. I also have soft tissue damage, which adds a little bonus to the pain).

The date was May 26^th. It was later than I would have liked, since this bilateral hip surgery has a 4-month recovery time. But Coach Ron and I decided the cut off date was mid-late June, so I took it. I was nervous, but mostly excited. The doctor said he was confident this surgery would take away at least 50-60% of the pain. So we started laying out what the plan was for next season, postponing Project Norway until next year, or at least until later in the season, and just really focusing on the second half of the season. Everything was set; I was mentally prepared, and physically prepared to not have to live and train through pain anymore. Until a week before the surgery, I got a call. They messed up the booking for my surgery, only booking 3hrs for a 4hr procedure; the next opportunity for the surgery was in September. I was pretty shook. It may not sound like a huge deal, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I had another season of tolerance in me. I try not to talk about my pain, or use it as an excuse, since it is kind of a part of who I am at this point … but this particular scenario was a big slap in the face. I contemplated whether my best option was just to take the surgery in September and write off the 2017/2018 season. It may sound like I am just being a baby, but it is really tough to stay motivated when every workout hurts, intensity, strength, rollerskiing, cycling, easy recovery jogs, everything. If I do too much core work, I have a lot of trouble sleeping. I spent a lot of time thinking on this, a lot of time out training saying to myself, “come on Ryan, just one more year, one more season, it’s worth it”. And with some back and forth discussion and debate with my coach and family, I decided that I am going to push through one more season. My mentality is that I know I can still throw down good performances with the pain, even if it sucks and I will learn enough this year that it will be worth not giving up a season. So that was that, I refocused on Project Norway, crossed my fingers for surgery next spring, and moved forward with the training season.

So moving forward I refocused on my training, got a job, and started planning logistics to move to Norway.

My summer consisted of a consistent, rise and grind, work all day, train, sleep, and repeat routine. I got a job at the local LCBO/Beer Store. I knew I had to make more money from work than I have in previous summers. So I ended up working 25-40hrs per week (usually cruising at 30-35). To someone who works full time and extra, this may not seem like a crazy amount, but trying to train full time as well was a challenge. A typical day would be starting training at 530-6am, training until 730-8am, work 9am-5pm, train 530-7pm, go home, eat, go to sleep, do it all again. Making sure I still had a couple days of the week off, this routine was still rather draining. I found myself burnt out on a couple occasions through the training season, not necessarily physically from the training, but just ‘life tired’. My mental energy was gutted; training went from being something I enjoyed every day, to something I really did not look forward to. Something I just had to do, set a purpose for the workout, and then execute it. I would then find myself at work stocking shelves in a giant refrigerator with skiing on my mind. Motivating myself through the workday with the vision I had for this season and beyond. Although it was a drag, the summer was still a huge positive in my eyes. I made enough (I hope) to make it through the ski season, and I also learned a lot. I was forced to put major purpose into every workout I did. Realistically, I could only manage moderate training weeks (14-17hrs). I usually would like to be training more, broken into 11-13 workouts. Now if I only had the time to do 7-10 workouts per week, I had to really make sure I had a purpose for each one. Asking myself why I am putting these on my training plan, which ones are going to literally make me faster? This was a very valuable lesson for me.

Training (photo: Rundle Sport)

Chicken little (photo: Jenn)

So with that and a long list of logistics that I won’t get in to, I was set to fly off to Norway on September 15^th. When my dad dropped me off at the airport, the magnitude of what I was doing hit me. I gave my dad one last hug, and as I walked with my bags through the airport I had a surreal “oh shit, we’re doing this” moment. My place touched down at just after 5pm, made it to Asker by 7pm. Reunited with my longtime friend/roommate/rival, Maks Zechel, and then it was off to bed to catch some much needed sleep before the race the next morning…

Reminders on the travel day from the airport ... #closingthegapsequel? 

Mercedes taxi? I'll allow it

And there I was, 15 hours after my plane touched down, I was on the start line for a rollerski race through downtown Oslo (you my be thinking, ‘racing that soon after travel is a pretty stupid idea, Ryan…’ true, but the only dumber thing I could think of was to turn down an opportunity to race against the best through downtown Oslo).

The field had some of the world’s best juniors along with many other phenomenal skiers at the top of their class. I got absolutely destroyed, jetlagged or not, it was clear that there was another level I had to chase here. The club I joined (Team Asker) won the overall for the race, and had many amongst the top group. Seeing this on the first day after my arrival, I knew I was in the right place.

Couple Canucks & coach Ola 

Team Asker victory after the rollerski race in Oslo

Since this day, I have learned so much; I am going to do my best to condense key things into this next section.

The most significant difference I have noticed (asides from how fast people are) is the independence of the athletes and the amount of discussion there is over technique and training. Everyone writes their own training plan, and the coach looks it over and has input, maybe makes some changes. But from what I see, things are athlete driven. From the discussions I have had, a lot of people believe that talent obviously plays a role in how far athletes go in the sport, but what makes the difference between the best and those just below, is that the best know exactly what works for them, exactly what they need to do to be at their best. And there are so many different perspectives on training and technique, I have had multiple discussions with teammates and coaches on double poling, and each one has had something different to say … and they all are aware that what they are saying may not work perfectly for me, so I have taken pieces from what each of them have said and reconstructed my double pole technique. It is still a work in progress, but I hope that it will be really strong this season. 

Running in Norfjiell

Views from the top

The training group at Team Asker is also just incredible. Team Asker has athletes that are some of the best in the world for their age; it is a crazy high-level club. It is super motivating getting to train with this group multiple times a week, every intensity session I learn something, and even easy skis I learn something. Watching how well they transition from flat to hill, hill to flat; how they apply power in their strides, taking note on how efficient they are and then double checking on how relaxed and efficient I feel. This is a short list of what I get to process regularly. And it just so competitive, there is always someone that is feeling good so there is always someone that is going to push the workouts to the next level. Sometimes if I have a good day I can even push the pace a little sometimes … at the same time, if I have a bad day, I get absolutely wrecked. The level is high enough here that if you don’t keep the pressure on, you could very likely be beat by the girls and/or some of the 14/15-year-old kids (I may or may not know this from experience … in my defense, they are really stinkin’ fast). But it is so cool, everyone is part of the process of creating top level athletes, even if a lot of the athletes never see the spotlight; they are a piece of the puzzle to get athletes to the top. I think it is so awesome.

7x10mins z3 up this ... at least the view was nice (Spain camp)

The Zechel Special gliding along the coast of Spain

+25 in October, you'd be smiling too (photo: Johanna Lier)

It has just been such a stellar journey so far; it is hard to believe I have only been here for two months. I am writing this from Beitostølen where the season will kick off for me next weekend … craziness. Sometimes I have to take a moment here and just take it in, I am living in a different country pursuing my passion to the best of my ability … what a privilege. The realer this gets the more it reminds me how passionate I am about this, I am passionate about skiing of course, but also this pursuit of excellence; passionate about the concept of your everyday kid doing big things. This move to Norway started with Maks and I talking about moving overseas 2 years ago when we lived in Ottawa together. We would talk about all of our ideas of finding another level. And now we are here, and all it took was a couple emails and two determined kids with a vision to find their best. I am well aware that it will take more than one year to make the leap we are looking for, but I am also beyond confident that in the long run, this investment we have made will pay off. We will be phenomenal. 

First time back on snow, glad it was in Sjusjøen (photo: Maks)

Ready for it

Thanks for tuning in; this story is just going to get better.

Rj

PS: (Athlete rep update coming soon)