Gatineau Loppet: 10 km free

Today's race went really great. I posted a time of 36:24, which is definitely a personal best, and this time I'm on the results list, which can be found here. I made sure to not forget a single thing today, including first and foremost my transponder as well as my heartrate watch and sunglasses. Our radios only worked one way for some reason, but thankfully I could hear Robert and he couln't hear me, not the other way around. We also got a little boxed in at the beginning of the race and had to pass people really aggressively to get out of there. This all happened on Pink's Lake hill, incidentally the biggest hill in the race, so we really had to push it up that hill to free ourselves from the crowd. Thanks to Robert's superb passing techniques and great guiding, we finally got out of there and could race our own race at our own pace. We worked on pushing over the tops of the hills instead of just cruising over and losing all our speed. It's really hard to do, but it's a necessary component of a good race. My pushing-over still needs work, but it's getting better. We also worked on a consistently fast pace, as it was an easy course and 10 km is not such a long distance that you can really pace yourself too much. We went down Pink's Lake hill in the tracks because they were faster than the middle of the trail, but I still get scared of the speed I pick up in the tracks and tend to slow myself down. That still needs work as well.

After the race was done, a few people came to talk to me and wish me good luck at the Paralympics. I thought that was really nice, and I really appreciate everyone's support. Robin McKeever was in town for the Gatineau Loppet: he won the 49 km loppet both days. He also came over to say hi and to congratulate me on my progress in the World Cups. That was awesome as well. I also got to meet a little girl, the daughter of a teacher from Robert's school. She was very impressed once her dad told her that I was the girl from the Cheerios box that was going to the Paralympics. She said "I thought you were much older, like 40 or something!" I thought that was pretty funny.

My fiancé, Cliff, completed his first ever ski race today. He was not sure about it, thinking that he was not a good enough skier, but he said that the race was surprisingly easy and that he really enjoyed it. His time was just over 50 minutes for a 10 km, which is a great time for a first race! He says he might do a few more races next season. 

So it was a very successful weekend overall. Everyone had a good time and we had great races. I was first in my age category both days (I looked at the results to see where I would fit in for the first day), and in the top 10 for women overall. That's great for a blind skier racing in an able-bodied race, even if it is a more recreational type of race. And on this happy note, I bid you good night from Ottawa.

Gatineau Loppet: 16 km classic

Today I took part in the 32nd edition of the Gatineau Loppet in the Gatineau Park. My pre-race prep was a bit of a disaster as I seem to have suffered an episode of amnesia. Well, not really, but I managed to somehow forget to put on my timing transponder along with my heartrate watch. The heartrate watch I could easily do without, but the transponder anklet was the only way to get an official time for the race. But I forgot it and remembered about it with only 5 minutes left before the start. My dad wasn't able to bring it for me in time, though he ran as fast as he could. I did the race without it and I'm not on the results list, but I had a great race in my own humble opinion. My guide, Robert, thought that my diagonal stride was very good, but my double-poling was not as strong. I agree with him: there is definitely work to be done on my upper-body strength in order to improve my double-poling. I think that I can do the technique, I just lack the strength to make it work well for me. Here's a picture of me double-poling with only a kilometre or so left to go.

In other respects, despite pretty poor snow conditions on the trails (the Parkway portion was great), I thought the race went very well. We paced ourselves through the whole thing, I went strong up all the hills, and we were able to communicate the whole time, thanks to Jamie's leaving his club's radios for us to practise with after Germany.

We also ran into a little glitch with the radios this morning. Alexei must have had the same amnesia bug as I, as he forgot to bring us the pouches for the radios that go around your waist. But thanks to someone's brilliant idea and Chris from Fresh Air being the awesome helpful guy that he is, we were able to borrow a waterbottle holder from Fresh Air Experience for the race. It doubled just fine as a radio holder. Thanks Chris and Fresh Air!

It would have been nice to have an official time, but I'm not too upset about this. As Harris said when we ran into him after he had finished his 49 km loppet (great job, Harris!), thank God this happened here and not at the Paralympics. After all, this was just a training race, and one to help us get all the kinks out. And now I will always remember to put my transponder anklet on as soon as I get it, even before the bib number!

Tomorrow is the 10 km free, and I am certain things will go better for us. Cliff gets to do his first ski race tomorrow too, so that'll be exciting for him and everyone else. Go Cliff! Alright, it's bed time for us now. Good night!

Back in Canada

Judging by my lack of writing, you have probably already figured out that I'm back in Ottawa. It's funny how much busier one is when they're at home. I've been back for a week, and I have a couple more weeks at home before I head back out. I'm leaving for Canmore, this time for Para-Nordic Nationals, on February 26, and from there, if all goes according to plan, we head to Vancouver/Whistler on March 8. For now, I'm just taking a little break from hard-core racing, seeing some of my friends, hanging out with my fiancé, watching the Olympics, and of course, getting the last bit of training in before the Games.


Cliff, Jenna and I checking out the ice sculptures at Winterlude (Jesse F. was there too: he took the picture :))

Last weekend, we got lots of skiing in in the Gatineau Park. We did another biathlon simulation on Sunday, focusing on faster shooting. I shot 22 out of 25 with range times of around 1 minute to 1:10. Those are much faster range times than I had in my World Cup races, where I usually took over 2 minutes to shoot. If I can emmulate this at the Paralympics, it would help me a lot. I also worked on some high-speed downhill corners last weekend because we figure that is where I can gain some speed in my races in the short time we have left. Step-turning around difficult corners has always been really difficult for me, but snowplowing around them makes me lose most of my speed. This means I have to start climbing the next hill almost from a dead stop, while my competitors' speed carries them up part of the hill. In Whistler, the most important thing for me will be to get really familiar with all of the downhills, so that I can go down them confidently and let my momentum carry me up as far as possible.

Next weekend is the Gatineau Loppet in the Gatineau Park, and I'm taking part in its shorter distances this year: the 16 km classic and 10 km free. It'll be good to do another couple of races before Nationals the weekend after and the Paralympic Games in March. The Gatineau Loppet is especially valuable experience because it is a mass start and it will allow me to practise racing in a crowd, passing people and being passed.

Well, it's time to do some shooting practice. It's my day off but it's always good to practice shooting whenever possible. After all, there are only a few weeks left! Good morning from Ottawa.