Monthly Archives: December 2011

Pav’s Top 6 Adventures of 2011.

Posted on 30/12/2011 | 2 Comments

On January 1st I turn 26.
Yep- that’s right- I am a New Years baby.

Jan 1st is an extra awesome time to reflect on the year that’s past. And it’s been a pretty awesome year. To celebrate 26 years- here are my six favorite workouts/adventures of 2011! See if you were on one of these ones!

Ski: Fish Lake- Whitehorse, Yukon. One of the best skis of my life.

View from the climb out of Fish Lake

I did this ski a week after Nationals with a crew of Nakkertok athletes and the Yukon Ski Team. We started at Fish Lake and climbed the back fact of Mount Mac. The view was epic. When we reached the top we started descending the skidoo made moguls at equipment breaking speeds. I had to ski like Jennifer Heil to stay alive. About 3km down we hit the most fantastic, double wide groomed corduroy trails. I jumped in the track and tucked for a full 15min watching Whitehorse below me get bigger and bigger. Unreal. When we finally connected with the larger network of Whitehorse trails we skied another 2h. It was an epic ski for it’s challenge level, epic for the view, epic for the downhill, and fun because I got to show some of my favorite boys [Hudson, Kieran, Patrick, Nolan, Julien] all my favorite Whitehorse ski trails.

Kieran Tomlinson, Patrick Marshall, Hudson Lucier.

Bike: Kingdom Trails, Vermont. Really good Mountain Biking.

The Kingdom Trails in East Burke Vermont have some really, really good mountain bike trails. Super flowy and moderately technical [i.e. I can mostly get around] these trails are super fun to ride. My adopted family [Jan, Al, Hudson] and I all piled in for the May long weekend and went down to ride for three days. One day we started on the Mountain side- cranked uphill for a good 1.5h then road down Moose Alley, Whiteschool and a bunch of trails inbetween. In our defense we didn’t realize Moose Alley had been closed due to hurricane damage. We just thought they’d added a lot more technical aspects. Over 4 hours we went through scrubby spruce forests, muddy swamps, cedar groves, and pastoral fields. Good times.

Hike: Giant’s Head- Thunder Bay, Ontario. Sweaty hiking.

Our sweaty krew atop the Giants Head

On the last day of the LSSD camp in Thunder Bay the group of 60+ participants ran a half marathon in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. I had never been to Sleeping Giant, and discovering new and exciting trails in Ontario is always a highlight. First we ran in. Then we hiked up. Then we ran over the top. Then we looked down. Then we ran back. It was exceptionally hot that day {+30} but the conversation with my new friends from Thunder Bay and Sudbury was stimulating. A fun, sweaty time.

Hike: some parking lot in Kananaskis Country to the Haig glacier- Alberta. An epic hike.

This map shows the final 1/4 of our hike.

This hike makes the list because it was both beautiful and painful. The Ontario Ski Team was in Canmore for a 14 day high altitude training camp. To get the Haig glacier [where we trained on snow for 9 days], you have to run/hike up. The trail is roughly 20km and climbs to 2400m [7, 900 feet]. It’s pretty gruelling. I hiked it with Rob, our team physiologist from CSC. I was pretty sick and Rob had  only had 3h or sleep. 10min in I got an aggressive nose bleed. We only had 1 kleenex. It was pretty messy and disgusting. That didn’t stop me from talking though. I talked Rob’s ear off for the next 6 hours, stopping only when I thought I might be blacking out on one of the harder switchback sections. I didn’t learn too much about Rob that day but he sure learned a lot about me! Good times. And scenic too.

At the end of our 5+ hours

 

Hike: Adirondack, Upstate New York. A pleasant hike. 

After summiting Phelps....I'm not sure where we are here

After taking a month and a half to recover from my aggressive illness on the Haig glacier I was ready for something more civilized. Hiking in the Adirondacks is always pleasant. Even when it pours rain for all 8h of your hike. I liked this hike because a- the fall colors are AMAZING, and b- I got to hike with my favorite LSD companions a bunch of midget girls [special mention Bronwyn Williams and Catelyn Stowe]. After 6h it felt like my legs were about to fall off. When this happens the best thing to do is start running. It hurts about as much as walking and you reach your destination much faster. Running for several hours through deep muddy puddles with a group of hardcore 10-13 year old girls is what skiing is all about.

 

Ski: Silverstar to Sovereign Lakes- Silverstar British Columbia.

Taking the chairlift. Instant win!

This ski started off with a ride to the top of the mountain on a chairlift. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but for once a year it was a win! From the top of this double black diamond run the OST skied down Paradise and Aberdeen to the race site at Sovereign Lakes. It was sunny, technical and totally fun.

Not bad for the 2nd ski of the 2011/2012 season!

 

Ski: Winter Solstice- Whitehorse, Yukon.

Climbing the Ridge

Nothing beats being on your home trails at Christmas. On Winter Solstice [Dec 21st] I went for a perfect, personal ski at 2:00pm to watch the sun set on the shortest day of the year.

So there you go, my favorite 6. Behind those were many more, fantastic, fun and inspiring adventures with a ton of awesome people. My favorite thing about my birthday/New Years? Knowing Im on the brink of another year of unexpected adventures.

Happy New Year all.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.
Maya Angelou

Post Script.
Funny story: In order to avoid throwing me an actual birthday party my parents used to walk me down to the Commissioners Levy, a fancy party the Yukon Government throws every Jan 1st, and tell me it was my birthday party. Being the well-mannered 4 year old I was, I used to walk around the ball wearing a little plastic crown thanking everyone for attending my birthday party. The belief that all of Whitehorse would turn out for MY birthday party is one of the factors that contributed to what my parents call “Pavlina’s delusions of grander sickness”. My parents are jerks sometimes. lol.


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Rudy and Christmas and all that nonesense.

Posted on 26/12/2011 | 2 Comments

Whitehorse.

Whitehorse.

I arrived here at 2:00am Tuesday morning after a harsh 10 hour layover in Vancouver. I stumbled from the plane onto a snow-covered tarmac swarming with polar bears. My dog sled team was nowhere to be found. “Looks like I’ll have to snowshoe to my igloo” I mumbled to myself.

Kidding.

Rudy picked me up at the airport. As soon as dawn broke [10:00am] we were on the ski trails. Since I had already been in town a whopping 7 hours my dad figured it was time to put ‘Operation Coach” into high gear. But first.

Rudy.

For those of you who don’t know- Rudy is my dad. He is very short and bald with a crooked nose and hairy eyebrows and ears. At first glance he looks more like a Troll than a human. Chronologically he is 70, physiologically he is in his mid 40′s. He grew up in the Czech Republic but fled the Russians in 1968. He lived with gypsies growing up and used to wrestle bears in the circus. Over the past 30 years he has been a ski coach. He has a fearsome reputation as a slave driver. He has earned this reputation fairly [eg. he once made a woman who had broken her leg WALK back to the ski chalet].

Operation Coach.

Rudy is constantly working on the path towards personal excellence. When you hang out with him you are inadvertently [and sometimes unwillingly] drawn onto that path. Our ‘family ski’ began with a quiz about waxing;

“Iz -4, 80% humidity, and soft powder packed snow. Vat vax ve use todai?”

I start sweating. It’s a trick question. In Ontario we would use Swix VR45, Thunder Bay would use Vauhti Carrot, but we’re in Whitehorse where Rode is the king of waxes.

“Two layers of multigrade purple covered with special extra blue for high humidity.”

Rudy laughs.

During our ski. Rudy decides my herringbone is all wrong and ski’s behind me giggling and giving me obnoxious advice.

Skiing with my mom and dad.

Down the section called ‘the rollercoaster’ he lets me go first. I realize this is a trap. Rudy’s biggest passion after skiing and fine wine is tracksetting. He has been up all night grooming the trails in the Pisten Bulley. If I so much as think of getting out of the track around one of the corners he will lose it. The problem is I weigh a good 50lbs more than Rudy and I have Goldfox on my ski’s. Around the second tight corner I am tucking at about 60km/h, and suffering G-Force sickness. I can still hear my dad laughing behind me.


By the end of Tuesday I’d skied for 4+ hours and only slept for 3. It was a pretty good day.

Broken PB- cancelled Christmas.

No track- no Christmas.

Wednesday morning when I woke up no one was home. I waited for the sun to come up then made my way to the ski chalet. I could see Rudy inside. Despite owning everything Arcteryx and Mountain Hardware have in their 2010 catalogue he is dressed in his favorite garbage can finds. These are clothes he has literally claimed from Lost and Found boxes or fished out of garbage cans.

Rudy in his garbage can finest.

He is currently waving his arms around and yelling wildly in half Czech, half English [which he does only when really upset].

“I break the PB. Christmas is over.”

So there you have it. While driving around the ski trails at 3:00am the track on the Pisten Bulley broke. Rudy can’t get the parts from Calgary before Christmas. He is heartbroken.

Saving Christmas.

Sudrich Christmas Tree

Rudy didn’t end up cancelling Christmas entirely. I still had to make him his favorite dish, a cold Czech potato salad which is essentially just potatoes, onions and white vinegar. He decided at the last minute to make a Christmas tree- so he shlepped outside and cut off a tree branch from the yard which he stuck in a vase. While drinking a fine bottle of red wine Rudy informs me it’s been a good year and that his latest money saving scheme involves saving stamps that Canada post has forgotten to mark as used.

All in all I don’t think I could have asked for a nicer Christmas. Skiing and spending time with my family [however strange they are] is pretty awesome.
And now that Christmas is behind us- it’s the start of Birthday Week! The seven day lead up to Jan 1st when I turn 26!

Merry Christmas!
“It is better to go skiing and think of God, than to go to church and think of Sport” Fridjof Murray.

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Rossland.

Posted on 21/12/2011 | 4 Comments


The Drive: Epic.
1 Dodge Caravan + 6x[skiers, ski bags, duffle bags] + 200lbs of wax equipment + a TON of groceries = a big problem.

Ski bags were strapped to the roof. 4L of ice cream was strapped to the hood.
Wax boxes and duffle bags were stacked by a world class Tetris champ.
Athletes were jammed in around the gear[each with a seatbelt in accordance with Canadian traffic laws].

Groceries were stacked on laps, stuffed in glove compartments and crammed in the stow-and-go compartments [kudos to Leif for that stroke of genius].

We made that Caravan WERK for it’s money.

The drive to Rossland doesn’t seem that bad when you’re looking at a zoomed out version on google maps.

Oh! That looks like a nice 3h drive!

The reality is that it’s a borderline nightmare. BC mountain passes- in winter- at night. Thank goodness rental cars in BC come with winter tires.

BLAMO! THe last 50km are the WORST!

Driving through the Bonanza and Strawberry Pass we encountered many fun driving signs such as;
-‘WATCH OUT FOR SUICIDAL DEER’
-‘THIS ROAD FLASH FREEZES’
-‘SPEED LIMIT 70’ followed 10 meters later by ‘SLOW DOWN THIS CORNER IS DEADLY’

And, just in case deer, ice and deadly corners weren’t enough…
-‘FALLING ROCKS’
-‘AVALANCHE AREA- DO NOT STOP!’

Strawberry pass should really just be re-named Death Valley.
Anyway I’m exaggerating a bit and while it was a bit stressful we arrived in Rossland perfectly safe.

The road to Rossland- looks much nicer in the daylight!

 Training: Good.
Skiing in Rossland over the next 4 days was pretty great. The snow conditions weren’t as pristine as in Silverstar but hey- whose being picky. We skied through aromatic Hemlock forests coated in frost, through pastoral fields and up some really big hills.

Pretty big hill.

Pretty big hill.

A really big hill.

The Races: Mostly Good.
The weekends races were both Freestyle- a sprint on Saturday and a mass start on Sunday. The sprint course was a tough 1.6km with a long gradual climb out of the stadium followed by a small downhill and some rolling pitches. One banked downhill in particular proved to be a challenge for the Open Men’s quarterfinals. With race skis soaked in fluro’s the men came screaming around the corner like they were in a Velodrome. The next I saw the tree’s were shuddering and people were running.

This is not good.

Handlebar mustache dude hits Matt Wylie in the head with pole

BATTLE ROYALE!

Luckily the NDC’s Michael Sompi [pictured in red] came out of the crash ok and managed to move to on finally placing 4th in the A Final. Our five athletes [Matthias Purdon, Scott Hill, Adam Birosh, Greg Kilroy and Leif Lennie] had alright races but were ready to refocus for the next days mass start.

 Sunday’s race was a 15km mass start race looping a 3.75km course 4x. The concern over the mass start course at Blackjack centered around trail width. The start area could accommodate a chevron of seven tracks but within 300m the trail narrowed substantially. This became a factor in planning an effective race strategy.

Here’s a quick clip of the 1st lap from the men’s race about 1km into the race.

Ultimately I felt our men raced extremely well. From my vantage point on the long climb our men were skiing relaxed and efficiently- traits that will pay off more as the race distances get longer. Special mention to Matthias and Scott- Matthias is a force to watch over distance and Scott has consistently proven over the past two weekends of racing that although he’s a JB2 he’s a force to watch in the Junior Man category.

So- after a wild 16 day tour of BC I jumped on a plane, bid our athletes ADIOS and flew to Whitehorse where I will stay until Jan 4th.

The next blog entry will be about skiing in Whitehorse….with Rudy…..get-ready-

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JP Auclair get ready- this is All.I.Can’t, the XC Edition

Posted on 17/12/2011 | 12 Comments

For those of you not up to date- I am currently in Rossland with 5 athletes from Ontario getting ready for this weekends NORAM races.

Most of you will by now have seen the JP Auclair street segment from the award winning film ‘All.I.Can’. If you haven’t seen it- well I can only guess you’ve just learned to make fire and are busy re-inventing the wheel. This movie has gone viral with over 10,00 hits per day since it hit the web.

How is the JP Auclair film related to the fact we’re in Rossland?

Well- the film was shot in Trail BC, a mere 15km from where we’re staying. As giant nerds obsessed with how cool skiing is we realized we had an opportunity that we couldn’t let pass by .

The result- ‘All.I.Can’t’ the XC response.

*UPDATE- JP Auclair- the legend himself has SEEN our video and commented on it. Then Sherpas Cinema’s- the guys behind the film All I Can retweeted our vid. Unreal turn of events. Today is the BEST day!

Here’s the original video to watch fist [so you can really appreciate the similarities in style and skill LOL].

And here ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment- is our version.

Feel free to share with your friends and let us know what you think!

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Silverstar- the final days pt II.

Posted on 14/12/2011 | 1 Comment

Team Ontario

Yesterday- after 9 days together in Silverstar I put the OST athletes back on the plane to their respective Ontario clubs. It was actually a really hard thing to do.

We had six days of quality on snow training under sunny blue skies. The only possible way to top that would be with a weekend of strong racing. And we did. The OST brought three medals home this weekend- along with 15 Top Ten finishes.

That’s not to say that this weekend wasn’t challenging. In retrospect bringing 17 OST athletes to Silverstar with only an assistant coach and a physiologist was a bit ambitious. But man- did everyone rise to the challenge. OST athletes are a class act; respectful, organized, on time, hardworking. Dave Tindall and Rob Rupf were All Stars. They did everything that needed to be done and then some.

After nine days Rob and Dave finally get some 'athlete support'.

One thing I tried to stress on this trip is that while we’re all coming from different places we’re all heading in the same direction with the same goal. Sure-on a club level we compete against our teammates, and on a provincial level we compete against other clubs but we need to work together.

Coaches and Wax tech's need teams too!

Cross Country skiing is a tough, often lonely experience. Athletes need great teammates; teammates to share experiences with, teammates to learn from, and teammates who will push us harder and further than we could alone.

OST athletes @ the medal ceremony

Girls need girls to train with!

Athletes on the OST are from very different clubs all across the province but this weekend we saw the group come together and support each other. Every athlete on this trip contributed to our overall success. My hope is that the relationships formed during this trip carry forward and help us strengthen the sport in Canada.

Before dropping the athletes off at the airport I seriously considered kidnapping them. “We could fake your deaths in an avalanche!” I exclaimed. “We could be the Blow Me Down Racers!”

Maybe someday…but for now it looks like our athletes are getting what they need from the excellent clubs they are coming from.

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Silverstar- the final days

Posted on 12/12/2011 | 1 Comment

The last days of our our Silverstar Adventure will be described tomorrow- once everyone is on the plane and Im in Rossland. Stay tuned friends. I promise it will be a good one!

ps-  I LOVE THIS TEAM!!

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Silverstar Sprints

Posted on 11/12/2011 | Leave a comment

Today was awesome- and long. I spent a lot of time refamiliarizing myself with corks [not the wine kind]. If I were to write a blog post right now it would most likely turn towards a discussion weighing the merits of Multigrade over SwixVR 45….

Portrait of a person who does NOT want to further the discuss the merits of Rode Multigrade vs VR 45

Instead I thought I’d give the athletes a crack and writing a post about today from their perspective. I hereby waive all liability associated with the following content;

“There is nothing like thefirst race of the year.  It couldn’t have been a better day to strap on a pair of boards and go for a ski.  The sun was shinning, the wax was good, smiles all around.

Good day for girls from Ontario in the Juvenile Girl category. Sadie and Madi picture here-poised for their start.

We the athletes all performed to our fullest.  For some it ended in heartbreak, and for some of us there were podium finishes. Ben Wilkinson-Zan won Gold in the Junior boys category speaks of his race: “I never led in any of my heats until the last 200m.  All in all, I ended up winning a pair of Blizz glasses”.

We thank the wax team of Pav, Dave, Adam, and our manager Amanda for making the skis super fast and [mostly] super grippy, and making the day run smoothly.  We also thank Rob for [stabbing us with pins to take our lactates] our delicious, strawberry flavored recovery drink, and driving us to and from the racecourse many times.  Today would not have been possible without all of the efforts from all our coaches, THANKS!

Today three of us, Julian, Angus, and Scott raced up a category in the junior men category.   Julian talks of his racing today, “it was an interesting experience to race a new group of people.  We don’t usually race them but we could potentially be them  in the years to come”.

To make the day better we were racing in the middle of the beautiful mountains we’ve been living and skiing at for the past week.  It was cool to know that we were racing on former world cup trails.

To sum it up, it was the best day EVER!*

Love, the athletes”

*”Today is the best day, EVER” is a bit of a motto here on the OST.

Anyday your coffee mug is a Bodum Press is "The best day EVER"

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Quick Update

Posted on 10/12/2011 | 2 Comments

The past few days with the OST have gone by faster than a carton of eggs at the boys house [last count they ate 3 dozen eggs in 1 day].

This kid eats at LEAST a dozen eggs a day. He is UNREAL- also, pretty fast.

There has been skiing, ski testing, race prepping, special guests, a small fire and MANY rounds of Apples to Apples. Pictures speak louder than words though so here is a summary of what we’ve been up to;

SKIING

Daily grocery run. No joke. Daily.

Waxing

Today we hit the sprint course for some serious pre-ski/tactical discussion. In the afternoon we waxed like champs and got all 17 pairs cleaned, sanded, glide waxed and topped in 2.5h. After a succinct coaches meeting and a delicious dinner of burritos [compliments of my amazing team]- we hammered out some pre race planning and goal setting.

Tonight is the calm before the storm. Tomorrow is going to be a long, logistically challenging day. But I am SO pumped. I cannot wait to see this all star team hit the snow. As one athlete put it;

“No technique work, no intervals, no heart rate monitor, no lactates. Just me and my skis going as fast as I possibly can on perfectly groomed trails.”

That sounds good enough for me. Check in tomorrow to hear how it went….

Pav OUT

Full moon tonight- the calm before the storm.

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Pain, suffering and some sic beats.

Posted on 08/12/2011 | Leave a comment

Yesterday in prep for this weekends NORAMS the OST ran through a hard intensity set. For many of our athletes this was their first on-snow intensity of the season. Combine that with the elevation[Sovereign lies at 5500ft, compared to Ottawa at 230ft]- and the result is pain. Wonderful, glorious pain- the kind that gets you ready to suffer for real when it comes to race day.

We ran through a set of four z4 intervals- the first two were roughly 3-4min and climbed from the stadium to the top of the long climb on their distance race course. The second two intervals followed immediately as sprint simulations. From a coaching perspective the intensity was a great opportunity for me to watch the athlete’s technique under an extreme workload [lactates were around 12-13].

Last night I put the video on the big screen and let the athletes learn by watching themselves and their teammates.

The suffering- with some really sic music- for your enjoyment;

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Ruminations on Passion

Posted on 06/12/2011 | Leave a comment

LSD workout today. Over coffee we grab a map and decide the route-around and overtop of the mountain on a trail called ‘Paradise’. Sounds about right. Athletes doing a bit less on their program take the chair lift up with me to ski down to Sovereign and hit the race trails.

Map of our route- Paradise to Aberdeen to Sovereign Lakes

 

We start off skiing through the village in -1 over fresh tracks of glittering corduroy. A bit of herringbone and next thing you know we’re on the chairlift riding to the top of the mountain in style.

Chairlift win

The descent into Sovereign is a black diamond trail and we take it hard. Eye streaming-leg burning hard. Fifteen minutes later we glide into the lodge sweaty and laughing.

Some people can take the heat. Some people can't.

Midway through the workout my endorphins start to peak—the sun is shining and I am skiing- I’m hammering too hard but I can’t help it. The grip is good and cold breaths of air are clearing out my lungs.


As a coach I have a lot to learn- some days it’s overwhelming. But almost everyday I can say there is nothing I would rather be doing.

They say the secret to success in life is to peruse your passion- it’s no different with racing.  The path to High Performance must be driven by love and passion-not just for the sport but for the moment.

The night before a race it’s easy to loose focus and forget what racing is really about. We’ve all been there. Lying awake and night stressing. Hoping that you beat the dude you’re gunning for. Worrying what the results will reflect about your fitness, technique, worst of all your natural ability.  It’s even easier to let results crush you. Not every race turns out the way you’d hoped.

The night before a race I like to ask athletes what they’re pumped about. What are they looking forward to most about tomorrows race? Racing is hard- and midway through an epic z4 climb if the question ‘why am I doing this’ pops up you better have the answer.

You have to race because you love it. You have to be able to find that moment where you think ‘there is nothing I would rather be doing’.  If you can find that moment then the shitty races don’t matter. What else are you going to do but embrace the challenges and improve every single day.

 

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