Earlier this year, our GRP women’s team did a team bonding
session where we shared our roses and thorns from the summer and fall of
training. It may sound corny, and maybe you haven’t done “roses and thorns”
since elementary school, but it actually led to some really good discussion and
understanding of where other people were coming from. A “rose”, of course, is
something positive, in other words a highlight or happy moment. And then a “thorn”
is something that was a struggle, or that challenged you, or put you through a
low point.
I've been struggling with how to write a blog about Nationals, because, to be honest, my results weren't what I was expecting and definitely not what I was hoping for. I actually placed pretty similarly to how I did at Nationals in SoHo three years ago, when I first joined the GRP, and I know I've made a lot of progress as a skier since then (or at least I would like to think so). Frustrating!
But as the song goes.... "every rose has it's thorn" (sorry, terrible power ballad), in other words, it can't be all sunshine and rainbows. The early race season was great for me, and though nationals was not great, it didn't mean that there weren't some positives and a few lessons to take away from the races. There were also some negative feelings and thoughts that are going to get thrown away as soon as I write them down here!
So anyways, instead of the usual race recaps, here are my roses and thorns from the three races
that I did at SoHo.
10k Freestyle Individual
- Thorns- 10k skate at altitude is a really tough event for me in any circumstances, but in this particular race I went out conservatively in order to pace well, and then I still blew up and struggled on the final gradual climb. My family who was there to watch me race said I looked like I was in pain the entire race. It was really frustrating to go for my race gear and discover it just wasn’t there.
- Roses- I had really good skis, thanks to hard work from our techs, and even though I skied most of the race alone I didn’t give up even when it started to hurt. A lot. The end result of 24th could have been much worse from the way I felt. Also, my GRP teammate Caitlin got 3rd! She didn’t feel great either, but I thought it was a solid result considering she spent most of Christmas break getting over a cold.
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| Eve of the 10k, sunset over Timpanogos and Soldier Hollow |
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| Thanks to Ian Harvey of Toko US for the photo, and more importantly the warm gloves! |
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| The only sunny day at SoHo during Nationals, but also the coldest (Photo Deb Miller) |
Classic Sprint
- Thorns- Generally I look forward to classic sprints almost more than any other event, but this particular classic sprint seemed determined to change my mind on that. While testing for the qualifier, we experienced just about every type of weather- powdery snow on the tops of the climbs then some rain/sleet/hail coming down from above. Needless to say, testing was a little stressful and down to the wire and the “perfect” ski wasn’t really out there. In the qualifier I built up about six inches of snow on my right ski during the final climb that I had to stop and kick off. Then in the heats, it just poured rain the entire time. Not exactly what I had in mind when I first heard Nationals would be at Soldier Hollow!
- Roses- In spite of the stressful qualifier, I squeaked into the heats, then had much more success with my glide and felt good in my quarterfinal. I really like the new sprint course at SoHo and can’t wait to watch the World Juniors/U23’s race on it in late January. Unfortunately I made a bad tactical decision in the finishing lanes of my quarter which left me plowing through slow snow for 3rd in that heat, and then I missed lucky loser so my day finished early (ok maybe this is still in the thorns section). However, even though my end result of 15th on the day wasn’t what I was hoping for, that’s sprint racing and I was happy to at least feel a little more like myself. Then I got to watch my teammate Kait advance all the way to the A Final where she took 3rd. It’s gratifying to see someone that you train with and see work hard all the time get solid results. Ben also made it to sprint semifinals for the first time in his life!
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| Striding up the little kicker hill in the classic sprint qualifier (Photo Gabby Naranja) |
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| GRP ladies trying and failing to stay dry during the heats. Yay Kait on a fast race in the A Final! (Photo Deb Miller) |
20k Classic Mass Start
- Thorns- Testing for the classic mass start, it was between zeros and klister , and both were feeling really good over on the warm-up area. Since there was a possibility of new snow coming down at some point in the 1 hr+ race, I decided to play it safe and go with the zeros, since I figured new snow would stick badly to klister. Well, on the first hill of the race course, I quickly realized that my “safe” decision was the wrong one when I had very little kick and was left slipping and herringboning where I would have preferred to kick and glide. It’s worth noting that the choice to go on zeros was mine alone, not the coaches’ or wax techs’. With hindsight, it’s easy to say that I should have chosen the klister pair, but with only about 15 minutes to test on the course right before the race, it was a down to the wire decision and could have gone either way.
- Roses- I think the 20k may have been one of the most painful “learning experiences” of my life. However, the silver lining was that my energy seemed to be bouncing back from earlier in the week, my skis were fast if not kicky, I got tons of herringbone practice (on every hill), and I was still able to pull off a top 10 result. I learned a ton in that race about making it work when things are less than ideal, and was happy to find some of my own grit. The true rose of the day was watching the live splits of the men’s 30k race roll in and realizing that Ben was going to win his first ever National Championship. Even though Ben is new to the team this year, he’s already proven himself to be a really dedicated athlete, and everyone was proud to see a Greenie take the win! The GRP women also put three in the top ten with Caitlin getting another podium and Kait in 8th.
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| Start of the mass start (Photo Deb Miller) |
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| Going up the first hill (Photo Deb Miller) |
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| Green team led the charge for a little bit (Photo Deb Miller) |
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| Talking it over post race (Photo Deb Miller) |
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| All bundled up with Kait and Mary after the race |
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| Great to have my mom (and most of the rest of my family!) out to cheer during the week |
While my overall experience at Nationals was frustrating, I have to stay confident and believe that these results don’t define my fitness or race potential right now. After reflecting on the races and my feelings (and receiving some blood test results from a test right before Nationals), I think I may have been fighting a subtle sinus infection the whole time, that didn’t have serious symptoms but sapped my energy, and along with the altitude and conditions, left me feeling more flat than usual. My goal now is to rest up, get fully healthy, and then do some low altitude training in Sweden prior to my first World Cup start next weekend. In spite of an up and down week at Soldier Hollow, I’m really excited to start on the World Cup! It’s gonna be a crazy ride, and while I don’t have specific results goals or expectations for the races, I will be taking it all in, learning as much as I can from each race and experience, and skiing as hard as I possibly can each time I get to toe the line.
And some bonus roses from the holidays and time at home:
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| Christmas Eve ski with my bro and his new puppy Marty, who is an energetic ski buddy and absolutely the cutest |
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| In our house, the baked brie on Christmas has to be ski themed |
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| Hitting the lifts on Christmas! Even though it was dumping powder in Utah, I resisted the temptation to ski besides our traditional Xmas day ski. Hoping there's still some snow left for me when I get back in April |
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| Park City pretty-training day at White Pine |
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| 4 of the GRP skiers came and stayed at my house in PC to get used to the altitude early. New Year's eve celebrations were relatively tame but at least got out of our sweats :) |
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| A few of my favorites things- sweet potatoes, kale, maple tahini sauce, and a full belly |
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| Found a little bean at the races! |
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| Another shot of handsome Mr. Marty |
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| Proof that I may have been born to be a ski bum, my mom and dad at Snowbird, cerca 1980's |
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| It was really fun having Kait's mom Deb (far left) stay with us in Park City, and thanks to her for taking a lot of photos during the races. |
