reflection

It is crazy to me that a 6-month race season has come to an end. It feels like yesterday I was hugging my dad at the airport before boarding my flight to Norway. I almost don’t want to accept it… I want to keep learning, keep working, and keep improving. But at the same time my body is pretty raced out, physically and mentally. It’s time to look back on this season and start planning out the next one.

The highlight event since I last blogged was definitely Canadian Nationals. This was the first time I had competed in Canada since 2017 Canadian Nationals last March in Canmore. Going into it I had a lot of mixed feelings; I knew I had improved a lot this year, I knew I was faster than last year, but still I did not know how I was going to stand as a first year senior back home. But the only thing I had control of was what I did, so I took everything I had learned and worked on this year and applied it to the best of my ability.

I have to say it turned out pretty well. My teammate Scott and I kicked off the week with a silver medal in the Team Sprint. We were both pretty hungry for the win, so that silver was more of a sting than a reward (also still a little bit bitter that it was only two laps, I think that was silly). But when I break it down, this was an awesome race. We are both very much distance skiers, it was very much a sprinters course, and I was able to pull off some of the days fastest lap times. I just have to grit my teeth about falling short of a Nationals gold medal yet again; my day will come.

Team Sprint Final

Leading the charge in the Team Sprint

no comment...

Team Sprint Podium Ceremony

The 10km classic was also a solid race. Managed to pull off a top 5, about 15s off the win. I was really happy with the result, but I was also sort of frustrated with it. The frustration came with how my double pole technique collapsed on the second lap. I am at the point with my double pole technique where I can execute it well when I am fresh, but at a certain point it collapses.  I just know that once I can train myself to hold my technique at its best for a whole race, it will be as much as 30s faster per 5km. But as frustrating as this is, it is also exciting to know that I still have so much more room to improve.

The 10km was followed with a 15km skate pursuit. This was a super fun race. Battling head to head in the lead pack was really exciting for me in a skate race (until I took a nice spill in the last 1.5 km… got to learn to keep my skis away from the snow banks). The past few years I feel that my skate skiing has been really underrated, just from my inconsistency with my shin, feet and hip issues make it appear that my skate skiing is sort of rough. But this year I really feel that my skate skiing is close to being on par with my classic. My top classic performances still outclass my skating, but for the most part, I am becoming a much more balanced skier. The next day I qualified for the heats, in a senior skate sprint! I barely made it (30^th), but I was stoked. In my heat I got the last lane choice, so I was stuck on the outside with my lane ending 50m after the tracks. I somehow managed to out-sprint everyone out of the gates, and I found myself leading a bunch of senior sprinters onto the course. I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t have a plan, and even if I did, I never would have expected to be leading. I ended up getting passed by everyone, finishing last in my heat. But this was the most fun I have had in a ski race in a long time. I had everything to win and nothing to lose. I just had fun; I won the first 400m, and tried my best to hang onto some of Canada’s top sprinters … I am far from being a great sprinter, but I have come a long way, and I’ll continue to get better.

Skate Sprint Qualifier

hanging on for dear life...  

The week wrapped up with the 50km classic, the ultimate race in cross-country skiing; the one for all the marbles. I had been thinking about this race all season, I knew I could do well in it. I approached it knowing I could do really well, but also invested time to respect how strong the competition was as well. Some of these guys have competed on World Cup, at the Olympics, or at the top Canadian level for multiple years. Coming in as a first year senior I had to respect that. The pace was quite controlled until the 19km mark, where my teammate Scott made a kick just as he told me he would the day before. A group of three broke off the front up this big hill, I attempted to follow but was slightly off pace. I found myself alone in no mans land, about 50m off the breakaway, and 50m away from the chase pack. At this point I had a decision to make, do I burn a few matches and catch the breakaway, or save some energy and drop back to the main group? It was an easy decision. Every race I had done in Norway this year, I have tried to hold a pace that was slightly, or significantly, too fast for me (and blowing up fantastically, or blowing up moderately every time). This was what I had been training myself to do all year. While staying relaxed, I accelerated through the stadium and worked my double pole to catch up to the breakaway. After about 6/700m of high pace chasing, I had closed the gap. I was back in it, leading in a group of 4, breaking away from some of the top seniors in the country. Throughout the next lap I had a huge realization. I closed a gap on the leaders through a double pole section… double poling has always been my weakness in classic, and now it is one of my strengths. It just made me think of all of the discussions with my coach & teammates back in Norway on how I could double pole better; and all of the workouts on the rollerski treadmill, all of the work I had done on my double pole since the fall … now my technique was one of the strongest on course, crazy. By the 27.5km mark the group became three, Scott continued to push the pace and we steadily pulled further and further away from the chase pack. 

Chasing National Champion, EPC!

Leading the breakaway

*looks straight at camera but doesn't smile*

At around 35km my body started to cramp up. My calves, my low back, and my triceps were the worst. At one point my left arm completely locked out, I had to reach over with my right arm and pull my left arm back into a bend. I had to make a conscious effort not to straighten out my muscles too much, or they would just seize up like a rusty old car. Whenever I felt myself starting to fall apart, I’d just think to myself of all the sessions I had done with guys like Harald or Erland back in Asker. I say to myself in my head, “this is no harder then holding your teammates pace back in Norway, you’ve done this before, relax, this pace is nothing special.”

The last kilometre of the course with a downhill into two rather large climbs, then a false flat and small downhill into the finish. For some reason I had this fresh rush of energy heading into this section. My plan was to wait until the finish and work my double pole, but this rush of energy gave me so much confidence for these last two climbs. The three of us came barreling into the bottom of the first hill – it was time to send it. I went into a full on run up this massive climb, feeling totally in control. Until about 30s into the climb, my body completely shut down. That energy I thought I had was all of a sudden disappeared in an instant. I lost contact with both Evan and Scott as they crested with an impressive pace. I arrived at the finish line with a career best result. 3^rd place as a first year senior, top U23 on the day. I do wonder if the result would have been different if I stuck to my original plan, if I waited to make it a finishing sprint. But you can never know, it felt like the right call in the moment, and I went for it. I am proud of this race.

Across the finish

bruh

Scotty and I coming to terms with letting a Lappe skier win :P 

TEAM

Senior Mens Podium

Congrats Evan on your hometown National title!

(That was a really long analysis of one race, sorry about that. This was just a special one)

 After a successful week at Canadian Nationals, it was straight back to Norway for more training and racing. I had a few good sessions with the team back here in Asker and a bit of time to rest leading into the races at Norwegian Nationals 2 in Alta, Norway.

Alta is quite a beautiful place. By far the furthest north I have ever been (if you have a moment, you should search it on Google maps, it is pretty ridiculous).

I competed in the 10km classic and the 50km skate (both individual start). The 10km was a solid race, result was decent, but I was a little frustrated with it still. I just know at this point I am capable of more. Was able to catch a ride off of Matias Rundgreen (who was 9^th on the day I think) and I surprised myself by how controlled I felt. I was holding his pace and I felt completely relaxed. But of course, as all good things come to an end, I had a stupid crash, lost the ride along with my rhythm. I panicked and burned way too much energy trying to catch back up… got to learn to stay on my feet pt2. 

The 50km skate was on track to be one of my best races of the season. I was cruising around the 60^th position range, which was closing on a top 50 pace each lap. I felt completely in control. Until about 35km, I really started to hurt. By 40km I was closer to a corpse than a ski racer. Have you ever wrung out a wet towel or dishcloth as hard as you could to get the water out? Well that is exactly what my left quad did with about 6km to go. I just remember pulling off to the side of the trail and just screaming in pain. I somehow managed to hobble through the last 6km on empty with my vision reduced to a narrow tunnel, and a less than functional peg leg. It is safe to say I lost a bit of time… Overall I am a consistent ski racer, but when I bonk, I BONK. But hey, I finished my second 50km of the season; I didn’t have to DNF (phew…). I shouldn’t dwell on the fact that some races could have been better, I should be looking at what I did well and how I can improve for the future.

That is one of the best things about being here. Whether I have a good race or a bad race, I can always learn and improve from it. You know, when I first moved to Norway, I wasn’t 100% sure about what I was going to get out of it. I mean, of course I knew I wanted to learn from people that are faster than me, learn about technique, racing, training, and all that; but I didn’t know how I was going to digest it and apply it to myself. My mentality was always looking at it as a 3-5 year plan, so I would be okay if this year I didn’t see any significant improvements. These things take time, and that is okay, I have to be patient. But that is also why when I went back for Canadian Nationals I was so shocked. The investment I planned for years down the road is already showing results. Of course I always thought about getting a senior nationals podium, but I had to be real with myself and remind myself of the long-term vision. So when I found myself racing amongst some of the best skiers in Canada, all I cold think to myself was, “damn… where are we going to be 3-5 years from now?”

Pushing this level was really fun and exciting, but it also scares me. It made me realize I am in this next group of people chasing National Team spots, World Cup starts, and leading the next generation of Canadian skiing… I feel very privileged, but also scared because I know I am nowhere near World Cup caliber yet. We've got work to do. 

Regardless of where I end up in the years to come, this was an amazing year; I can’t really believe it’s over (but my body does). I know I am not some athletic prodigy, but to me that is what makes this journey so cool. How much you can improve as an athlete and as a person by investing in yourself and working towards your goals. If I could take one thing I learned this year and share it with the world, it would be emphasizing the try, fail, learn, apply, succeed concept. Maks and I wanted to get better at skiing, so we buckled down, made plans, and went for it. Now we are living in Norway, chasing our dreams. It sounds cliché, but I can’t explain to you how many times we have messed up. Messed up training, racing, along with a long list of ‘adulting’ stuff. But those are what I have learned from the most, that is what being young is for. The most valuable things I have learned in my life have been from completely screwing stuff up and doing my best to fix it and to know better for next time.

There is a long list of people that have been supporting me, teaching me, and cheering for me; and I just want to say I appreciate all of you. You know who you are!

I was going to include my plans for these next few years in this blog, but this one is getting a bit lengthy. I’ll have a post coming out sometime this week addressing that (maybe one of my favourite posts yet, so don’t miss it). For the near future I am pushing some strength and volume here in Norway, maybe another race or two. Doing my best to prepare myself for surgery in May.

One last note, do you guys like the style of this blog? Most of my recent posts have been pretty much just been me giving more detail about my races and some training sessions. It’s perfect for me, forces me reflect and put some actual thought into what I have done and what I am doing. Of course I will always just write whatever comes naturally, it’s healthy for me. But I am aware that the audience of this blog is growing; and I am curious to hear your feedback!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Rj