Pictures of yesterdays race are courtesy of this guy- Jeffery Sabo, a new friend we met yesterday. Thanks Jeff! You are awesome!
Posted in 1- Race Reports, 4- Uncategorized
Tagged Callaghan Valley, OST, Whistler, WJT
Pav got to ski 4km today!
A difficult- rewarding day of races here at the WJT in Callaghan Valley.
Waxing
I’m not going to lie- it was a tough one for me. Skiathlon’s mean you’re waxing 2 pairs of skis per athlete. Callaghan Valley means you are stressing about weather and snow conditions. Mega props to Eric Bailey and the NDC wax team for helping us out [and for reminding me that for the first 4 years as a training center coach Eric went to every race alone].
Waxing late Wednesday night
Wax decisions went as follows;
Glide: Vauhti Spectra Purple
Topper: Goldfox
Grip: Vauhti Blue klister covered with Vauhti Purple hardwax- later upgraded to Vauhti Blue mixed with Universal and topped with K21.
Also a big thank you to Eric Jackson and Don Hill- excellent reinforcements that arrived Thursday morning to help wax and shuttle our athletes.
Racing
Now that we’ve established that the wax was perfect let’s move on to the more exciting stuff- racing. Today’s Skiathlon was comprised of a series of laps that led athletes up out of the stadium on a series of switchbacks, then down some screaming fast sketchy corners back into the stadium [Petra 'Mad-Ditch' Majdic anyone?].
What this meant is that if you weren’t really warmed up, or if you went too hard off the start you were cooked. This happened to A LOT of skiers out there today [13 DNF's today]. Lesson: even in a mass start race your own race.
Knute battles into the finish for 2nd place in JrM
The best result of the day for us was definitely Scott Hill’s outstanding performance in the JrM category. He finished 9th! Scott looked strong and relaxed for the duration of the race and hammered it hard into the finish.
Scott heads into the finish after a hard fought 20km
A big high five to OST athlete Alana Thomas’ for her outstanding performance in the Open Women category. Alana finished 3rd overall only 7sec behind the winner Emily Nishikawa. It was a hard fought race and Alana was right there with the best of them. It was really awesome.
OST athlete Matthias Purdon had what I would consider a breakthrough performance today. He finished 8th in U23 less that 2.5min behind NST athlete Micheal Sompii. Hitchhiking out West over Christmas suited him well!
Tomorrow is a training day here in Whistler. We’re going to ski, eat sleep, and generally live the dream. Skate sprint on Saturday. Tune in!
Posted in 2- Coaching Resources, 4- Uncategorized
Tagged Callaghan Valley, OST, Whistler, WJT
Day 2 in Whistler.
Stadium. Wax room is behind me.
Today we will be focusing on pre-skiing the race courses for the Skiathlon tomorrow and selecting the appropriate skis.
Yesterday the snow here was humid, granular and super hard packed. Similar to what we had at the Whitehorse Nationals in 2010. What does that mean? In all likelihood it means Klister. Blaarh.
Sledding to the waxroom
But- today Eli made me an epic breakfast so things are looking up. Check in soon!
Epic breakfast courtesy of Eli.
Posted in 1- Race Reports, 4- Uncategorized
Tagged Callaghan Valley, OST, Whistler, WJT
Harsh travel day from Thunder Bay to Whistler. Flight cancellations, oversize baggage charges, night time driving….but
WE’VE ARRIVED IN WHISTLER.
Here’s the view from our kitchen window.
Whistler from our kitchen this morning.
Whistler [or more specifically the Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley] is the site of this years World Junior Trials, as well as the site of Nationals 2013.
Hardwood and Ontario Ski Team athlete Jenn Jackson is currently here with me. Ashley Huet and Erin Yungblut of Highlands, Scott Hill of Hardwood and Eli Hayden-Thomas of Georgian Bay Nordic will be joining us later today.
The first race is a Skiathlon on Thursday which will combine both skate and classic techniques.
For a really wicked video showing the tiny community of Whistler as if it were a snowglobe check this out!
For real up to date weather forecasts from C-Valley check out this site;
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/CallaghanValley/6day/mid
Also- check in soon for the latest breaking news here in Whistler…also- Jenn and I are keeping track of the ugliest downhill gear we’ve seen. Check in for our Top 10 Ugliest list before the week is over.
Pav OUT
Posted in 4- Uncategorized
I am SUPER PUMPED about this weekend. It’s probably fair to say I’m in the top 10% of people excited about Ontario Cup #1 here in Thunder Bay.
For eight months our athletes have been training hard in the relative isolation of their home clubs. Every once and a while a district camp affords athletes the opportunity to train with new people and test themselves against old rivals…but mostly the seasons been full of team practices and even more solo workouts.
Ocups are like a family reunion [if your family is full of a bunch of badass skiers and coaches]. All your favorite people, some of whom you haven’t seen in ages, are all back together! Better yet- I’m guessing your arch rival is here as well- and even though you may act like you hate them we all know you became a better athlete this season knowing they were pushing you.
Probably the best and most nerve inducing thing about the first Ocup of the season is that while everyone knew where they stood last year…it’s a whole new bag-o-tricks this season. No one knows where they stand. Maybe you’ve grown three inches, or maybe you’ve perfected a piece of your technique. Either way you’re a better skier than you were last year and now’s the time to show it.
Today’s classic prologue was short and sweet. Athletes wound there way down from the stadium into the valley before climbing back out on Lappe’s trademark strideable classic hills. This course was a great opportunity for athletes to put all their skiwalking and classic rollerskiing to work. I saw a lot of great technique improvements there. Athletes skied- and some even won medals. Standout performances were had by 1st year Junior girl Jessica Demers of Porcupine who won her category by 23 seconds and Austin Valjas who won his category by almost 27 seconds. Beat that Lenny. http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=4257&cat=all
Madi Fraser of North Bay
Victor Hopper of Walden
Daphne Haggerty of Big Thunder/Lakehead
Tomorrow we do it all again with a classic sprint starting at 9:30am. So far the conditions are holding up despite the warm temperatures and semi-rain. And if it all falls apart- well, there are always pancakes and the Hoito.
Hoito WIn.
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.
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.
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.
Posted in 3- Stories from Pav, 4- Uncategorized
