Sprint races and more

Yesterday I competed in the sprints in the middle of a snowstorm. Yes, apparently, "Laura" can actually look like winter. 

My category was very small as usual at these Games: only 7 girls competed. The kicker was that 6 would advance to the semis and one would be eliminated in qualification. I won't say much about the race other than that Andrea and I gave it all we had and skied the best race we could have skied, but, unfortunately, we ended up being that 7th team that got eliminated. We were pretty disappointed of course, but we did do our very best and that was all we could have done. We've both been sick with a head cold for pretty much the entire Games, so that didn't help either. I was actually feeling pretty rough this morning, and so am glad of a few days recovery time before my next and final race: the 5 km skate.

The 5 km skate tends to be my best race, so I am glad I can rest and get ready for it properly. Tomorrow there is a long biathlon race, which 2 of my teammates will compete in, and the day after that are team relays. Canada will field a team for the open relay. We also had the possibility of fielding one for the lower-percentage mixed relay, but the numbers don't work out well and, if we did field a team, either Brittany or I would have to ski two legs of the relay, which neither one of us is keen on doing the day before the 5 km race. So I think we will just watch our other team and be spectators for the day. So all this means that I have 3 days before my next race, which is on the last day of the Games.

Tonight we are planning to go down to the coast to take in the Canada-US semi-final hockey game. We are all pretty excited about it. Some of us are also hoping to check out the other venues and do some shopping while we're down there. It will be so nice just to get off the mountain for a bit and to see and do something different. We've basically been up here training and racing since the Opening Ceremonies. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good photos I can post on here. I know I've been kind of bad at posting photos, but I haven't really had time to take any. 

Well, that's all from me for now. Good afternoon from the Endurance Village once again.

O-Cup #1 in review

I've been back from Thunder Bay for almost a week, and finally found some time to write about it.

The weekend's races went really well overall. It was great to have a chance to compete and get the first-race nerves out of the way before the World Cups coming up in a week. The nerves definitely got the better of me in the first race: a 3 km classic. I had skied the course quite a few times the day before and thought I had it down. Out of the three races, I'd say the first one had the most challenging course, both in terms of climbing and in terms of downhills. I was really nervous on the day of the race, it being the first race of the season. It also didn't help that I hadn't thought of arranging a meeting time and place with Brian, my guide. So in between doing our warm-up and testing wax to make sure we had grip, Caroline and I kept looking for Brian in and around the chalet. It later turned out that Brian was also forerunning (pre-skiing) the course every day, so that might have had something to do with why we couldn't find him. Needless to say that by the time my start time rolled around, I was really frazzled. I was almost relieved to start the race. Everything went more or less smoothly until we got to Lena's Leap: I jumped out of the tracks to go down the drop, but didn't quite make the right-hand turn at the bottom and tumbled into the snowbank. When I tried to get up, the tail of my ski kept digging into the snow. It wasn't until I stopped to analyze the situation and realized that I needed to turn onto my side and then put my skis down that I was able to get up and get going. Of course, by that time, I could hear Christine and her guide coming up behind me and thought, "Crap! She started 30 seconds after me, she shouldn't be catching up!" So I started skiing up the hill like mad. It didn't help that I had lost my toque and got snow in my ears when I fell. With about a kilometre to go, they were still close behind us, but we finally got away on the last hilly section of the race. This was a race when I actually found myself thinking "why am I doing this to myself?", as the last kilometre was super tough. It was not a great race, but definitely good practice for mental toughness!

The other two races went much more smoothly. I stopped worrying about finding Brian as we agreed just to meet at the stadium close to start time. I was able to do my warm-up with Caroline and then with Christine and her guide. It was very nice of both of them to let me tag along.

The second day's race was a 1 km classic sprint, which meant that we had to do a qualifier in the morning at around 10 and, as there were only three of us, a final at around 2 p.m. I had a really good warm-up and awesome grip for the qualifier (thank you, Harris). It was a really good race. I caught Christine on the uphill even though she started 30 seconds ahead of me this time. Then, we had quite a few hours to kill so a whole delegation of us went to scout out the next day's 5 km skate racecourse. We were able to ski only part of it though, as the rest was blocked off for the races. Caroline and I then had time to have some lunch and even a little nap on the floor! I was a little worried about the sprint final, as I tend to have trouble with racing more than once in one day, but I was able to warm up well once again and to finish the race without incident and well ahead of my competitors. This gives me confidence for the sprint races in the U.S. as sprints tend to be my worst event.

Sunday's race was a 5 km skate race, as I mentioned, and Robbi Weldon, the fastest female para-nordic racer in Canada, took part in the race. Robbi tried competing in tandem cycling last year and turned out to be amazing at it. So she will be competing in London 2012. But, as Thunder Bay is her hometown, she wanted to race with us. This was very good for us all, as competing against the fastest in your class is always a great way to measure your own performance. The 5 km race was a mass start and Robbi started to pull away right away. But, according to Brian, she was only 10 to 15 seconds ahead of us all through the first downhill and then uphill sections of the race. In the end, she beat me by a little less than a minute, which is really good if you compare it to last year's nationals. She must have gotten away on the last portion of the course, which was very twisty and curvy. Downhill corners are definitely an area I really need to work on. But I had a personal best in this race with a time of 17:03. I do acknowldge that it was a really easy course, but a PB is a PB and another confidence booster.

I stayed in Thunder Bay for another day when the races were done to work on skiing with Brian in preparation for the World Cups. We skied for two hours on Monday, and Brian took me up the two biggest hills at Lappe. He said he couldn't let me go home without going up them. I was completely exhausted by the end of that ski! So, this week, I've been taking it easy and recovering. Though on Wendesday, Patti had me do as many 30-second sprints as I could handle before getting light-headed. I ended up doing 25 of them and I never got light-headed! That was something.

So now there is only one week left before I go to the U.S. for the IPC World Cups. I hope they have wi-fi over there so I can actually post regularly.

For now, good night from Ottawa.

France: Day 8 - Skate sprints

Today we had skate sprint races. I was really nervous in the morning. There was a lot riding on this race. Without getting into too many details, there are 12 spots on the Paralympic team, there are 13 of us competing for those 12 spots at these World Cups. And the way we secure our spot is by being close to the winner's time in any race. By virtue of being very short, sprints are usually the easiest type of race to get closer to the winner's time. So that's why today's race was very important to everyone.

In the prologue, I started just behind Anna-Mette, a B-1 (totally blind) skier, and just ahead of my teammate Courtney, who is also competing for one of those 12 spots. I caught Anna-Mette on the second uphill just as it was curving left and levelling out. My guide, Robert, told me to scoot by her on the right, but at that moment she also decided to move over to the right and blocked Robert, who was ahead of me. I saw the opening on the left and just went for it. As a result, I ended up going down the hill in front of Robert untill he caught up to me. He was very happy that I took initiative there though. We ended up 12th out of 17 and advanced to the quarter-finals. I was last in my quarter-final though, and ended up being 13th overall. I got World Cup points though, and according to my dad, I should be about 80% of the winner's time. I'm happy with that. Colette and Mark got bronze today, Everyone got points except Mary and Charles.

If you're interested, results as well as more information about this World Cup can be found here.

Tomorrow is a day off and biathlon training for the long biathlon race the day after. So we're all going to take it easy. Beacuse it's a day off, the organizers were throwing some kind of a "soiree" and "rock concert." We were going to go to it, that is, untill the guys somehow misunderstood our plan and drove off without us. So now, all us girls are stuck here, and that's why I have time to update my blog. We even had a free drink ticket each! That's ok, we figure tomorrow the guys are going to get the silent treatment in the morning. We won't talk to them at breakfast, though something tells me they probably won't notice.

Well, that's probably enough for today's entry. Here's a little photo of the day for you before I go. I took it just after the race this afternoon. You can see the clouds right over the valley.

France: Day 7 - Biathlon Sprint

Today was our first race of the series. It was a 7.5-km biathlon sprint (don't ask me about that logic). This consists of 3 laps of 2.5 km with two shootings.

The good news is I shot clean - not a single miss - today. The not-so-good news is I got pretty darn close to having an asthma attack on pretty much every hill. The race course looked deceptively easy, but actually wasn't. Those longish gradual hills got me every time. So I had to pace myself over the whole race in order not to get over that fine asthma attack line. Everyone seemed happy with my race though. Even if I did come in 11th and second last. I guess I was expecting better, but they weren't. I didn't get any world cup points, but I was only about 40 seconds behind Robbi, our best Canadian. She didn't shoot very well today and had a bad race.

Tomorrow is a skate sprint race, which means we have a prologue or qualifier in the morning with an interval start. And then depending on the size of the field (number of competitors), we might have heats and then semis and finals. 

I just found out that for tomorrow's race, it's whoever gets world cup points in the qualifier advances to quarter finals as long as there is a field of more than 12 competitiors. So keeping my fingers crossed and thnking fast thoughts. But before then, it's bedtime for me. I'm pretty tired. Oh, here's a pretty Bessans sunset for you before I go. Courtney took it out our window with my awesome camera.

Good night from Bessans!