Changing Goals, Changing Year

Kit and the Development Team

Hello All,

The past year has been exciting, challenging and unique. Being a full-time athlete was a great way for me to focus on my goals and enjoy some time after graduating University in the fall of 2008. It was great working with my former coach, Dave Battison and the Strathcona Nordics Ski Club. As an older skier, it was important to me to help the younger athletes in any way possible. Thanks for all your support collectively and individually.

As this year dawns to a close, I'm excited to pursue other goals and aspirations in 2010. Hopefully, I will be able to race some high caliber races before the season expires.

Keep em flat and glide!

Olympic Trials: A Circumspect Review

Hello All,

The last two weeks have been quite hectic with five races of varying distances from 1.7km to 50km. To say it was eventful is an understatement. I improved with every effort, though I didn't race as fast as I needed to.

Here is a brief summary with comments about my racing:

15km Skate Race - Sovereign Lakes, BC is a great course. Flowing quite well, this course challenges your climbing and flat-terrain skiing ability. I finished middle of the pack, 15th Canadian.

1.1km Skate Sprint - Also at Sovereign Lakes, this race was a disaster. I felt efficient and powerful, but with a very competitive field of 130, I finished 46th in the prologue. Only the top-30 go into the elimination rounds; this was the end of my day.

1.7km Classic Sprint - This longer sprint in Canmore proved to be my best races of the season to date. Each prologue I qualified in the middle (18th and 16th) and advanced the first day to the B-Final, while the second day I was eliminated in a mishap. With each race I felt stronger and more comfortable.

50km Classic - One of the Traditional XC Skiing races, this proved to be quite difficult. With 10-laps of a 5km track in Canmore, the course was challenging physically and mentally. My goal was to ski technically very well and try to maintain pacing. My lap times slowed during the Lap 6,7,8 which hurt my overall time. A partial success, this race was a good learning experience.

Signed,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Re-Balance and Re-focus

With each new season there are learning experiences and times adjust your preparation, mental focus and other habits to create a better arena for personal performance.

This weekend the sprint was a disaster and distance skate race satisfactory. Physically I felt very tired and without some quick reaction and snap I needed in the first-day sprint. While the second day was better it left much to be desired.

After reading through Terry Orlick's Sports Psychology lessons, I once again found myself refocusing on distraction control, positive visualization and to only focus on factors within my control. Although these seem obvious, I had strayed from my performance plan. This was a great lesson for me to have early this season.

The photo is Mt. Albert Edward backlit by a setting West Coast sun. Thanks to Rick Morson and Dave Battison for helping with the Mt. Washington Camp.

Signed,

Mind and Matter