tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77242715041837282832024-03-13T20:28:41.711-07:00Jordan CascagnetteAlberta World Cup AcademyJordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-66578865700782062792011-04-25T12:32:00.000-07:002011-04-25T12:41:25.959-07:00New Website is up and running!!<span class="Apple-style-span" >Thanks to Chris Kontos at PROS Marketing in Midland ON, I now have my very own website!! This new website will be taking the place of this blog, so this will be the last post you see on here. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The new site will serve as both a means of keeping everyone up to date on my happenings and whereabouts, as well as providing the public, anyone who is interested that is, with a means of supporting me in my goals of reaching the Olympics! This can be found on the right side of the home page, and is a Donation button to my paypal account. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I also have some big news about my new living and training situation on the blog section of the website, so check it out!! <a href="http://www.jordancascagnette.com/">http://www.jordancascagnette.com/</a></span> </div></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-19398181005311028082011-04-05T10:22:00.000-07:002011-04-05T11:57:50.624-07:00Back to Ontario<span class="Apple-style-span">In my last post I mentioned I was unsure as to what I would be doing for the past couple weeks, so I figured I should let everyone know what ended up happening. After a couple days of some tough decision making in Canmore, I decided that it would be best for me to call it quits on the season and not go to the races in Sun Valley last week. So with that decision, I ended up spending one last week in Canmore, getting in as much skiing as I could before traveling back to Penetang for my month of recovery. I arrived here at my parents' house last Tuesday night, March 29th, and have just been enjoying my time and catching up with friends and family. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Being the beginning of the month, I really don't have much in the way of news yet. The decisions that decide my fate won't be made for another couple weeks, so until then I'll be staying around here and starting my sponsorship campaign again. The Penetang/Midland area has been absolutely incredible in supporting me in the past couple of years, and I'm hoping to get out there and give as many more people the opportunity to work with and support me as I can.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Until next time, cheers!</span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-86168556994526333522011-03-20T11:49:00.000-07:002011-03-20T12:24:44.605-07:002011 Canmore Nationals<span class="Apple-style-span" >Yesterday marked the final day of my 6th Canadian National Championships of my career. This year Nationals were here in Canmore, which was a very nice change of pace, not having to travel anywhere and getting to race on the great trails at the Nordic Centre. Another big highlight to this past week was that my parents were able to make it out for the whole week, so it was great to have them here and see my new home, as well as a week of racing. Jacquelyn's parents were also able to make it out for a few days, so I had a great time showing them around and having them see just what cross country ski racing is really like.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Going into this past week of racing, my confidence really wasn't too high. After a long season of travel and sickness, I have been unable to sneak in any solid weeks of training since Christmas, resulting in my fitness not being where it usually is at this time of year. So after deciding to sit out the team sprints last Saturday in order to try to conserve some energy, my first race was last Sunday, a 10km skate individual start. My goal for my races at Nationals was to get that feeling of desperation and ability to really push myself past my limits back, because that has been something I have been really struggling with for the last 6 weeks or so. So on a positive note, I was able to do that in every race this week, so I am relatively happy about that. Unfortunately, my lack of fitness means that even pushing myself past my limits isn't enough to achieve the results that I know I am capable of. So I ended up finishing the 10km last weekend in 18th in my category, which is considerably further down the results than I would have liked/expected. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >My next race was the 15km classic individual start. This race was a similar story, though I was feeling a bit better than the previous race. I managed to ski my way to 7th place, which, given my current state, I was not overly upset about. The following day was the classic sprint, and a very difficult day for the wax techs. The conditions made it nearly impossible to have both fast skis AND good grip. So with the conditions coupled with my fatigue, I fought my way into the B final, and finished 11th on the day.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >After the sprints I had two days off to recover and prepare for the final race, the 30km skate mass start, which took place yesterday. Having never done a 30km skate race before, I was a little bit nervous about how it could go. It was a very tough race on a challenging course, and I skied my way to a disappointing 20th place. While the result was really not what I was hoping for, I felt that I raced it as well as my body could have done. With about 2km to go, the muscles in my legs started spasming a bit, and on the last downhill I very nearly blacked out. So I clearly could not have pushed my body any harder than I did, so that was the positive aspect that I was able to take from the race. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Last night was the Nationals Banquet, which was held at the Banff Springs Hotel, and I can easily say that this was by far the best Nationals Banquet I have ever attended. The awards went smoothly and in a timely manner, the food was fantastic and plentiful, and it was very well organized. Great job organizing committee!!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I am now taking a day off to recover from this past week, and am actually awaiting a phone call that will decide what my plans are for the next couple weeks. There is a chance that I may be heading over to Sun Valley, Idaho next weekend for the Supertour Finals, which would be 4 more races to finish off the season, before returning to Canmore a few days into April. If I do not go to those races, I'll likely stay here in Canmore for another week or so and take advantage of the great skiing we have here before heading back to Ontario for a few weeks.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >That's all for now. Once I figure out what my plans are for the next couple weeks, I'll be sure to throw an update on here to let you know.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Until then, cheers.</span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-74158050821393468772011-03-09T14:06:00.000-08:002011-03-09T14:37:46.669-08:00Canada Winter Games and beyond<span class="Apple-style-span" >It's been a while since my last post, so I'll just pick up where I left off. My visit home in between Easterns and Canada Winter Games was a little bit bittersweet. It was great to see and spend time with everyone again, though the week ended with me developing some cold symptoms just before getting on the plane for Halifax. Getting sick during race season is a terrible feeling, but doing so on my way to Canada Winter Games just made it that much worse.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I played the week day by day, seeing how I was feeling and then deciding what the best course of action would be. So I ended up sitting out the first two races, in the hopes of getting better for the 3rd and final individual race. I woke up that morning still definitely with a cold, but due to the fact that this was my last chance to ever race at a Canada Winter Games, I convinced myself that I was ready to race. Unfortunately, no matter how convinced my mind was, my body just did not cooperate. Right off the start of the 15km classic race, my body just felt so heavy, with no energy flowing anywhere. After a grueling, and frustrating, 6km, I pulled off to the side of the course, removed my bib, and dropped out of the race.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >So while the racing aspect of the week was tremendously disappointing, I still managed to have a great time just being there. The city of Halifax did an amazing job organizing the entire event, with over 6,000 volunteers! While I spent a good chunk of my time in bed trying to get healthy, I still managed to get out and see a little bit of Halifax, and got to know the way from my hotel to the Athlete's area (lounge and food place) very well. I also had some fun taking part in the pin trading that took place throughout the week (sounds lame I know haha, but actually became a priority for nearly everyone at the Games). As soon as everyone arrived in Halifax, every athlete was given a bunch of pins from their home province. So I made it my goal to get one pin from every province and territory. It was close (the market was immediately flooded with Ontario pins, making it very difficult), but I managed. I put all of my new pins on my athlete accreditation lanyard, and it made a good Canada Winter Games souvenir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Feb. 27th, the Games wrapped up with the Closing Ceremonies, and I was finally going home to Canmore. I spent last week doing some easy training, just making sure my cold was completely gone, before starting back into some harder training this week in preparation for Nationals. Nationals this year are here in Canmore, running March 12-19, and I can't wait! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Race days are Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. I'll try to get some updates up periodically throughout the week. Until then, cheers.</span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-22172615627427577422011-02-14T05:35:00.001-08:002011-02-14T06:05:41.717-08:002011 Eastern Canadian ChampionshipsI have just wrapped up my latest weekend of racing at the 2011 Eastern Canadian Championships at Nakkertok in Ottawa. The Academy and I flew out to Ottawa last Wednesday, and spent the next 36 hours hours preparing for the first race on Friday. Eastern's this year was in the race format of a mini-tour. So what that means is, it was 3 races over the course of 3 days, and your times from each race were added together and dictated your starting position for the last race. This meant that whoever crossed the finish line yesterday first, won the overall tour. <div><br /></div><div>The first race was a 3km skate prologue, and was my first ever prologue. So I wasn't entirely sure how to go about it, but with a very big climb about 1km into the race, I decided it would probably be best to go out a little conservatively and then slowly wind it up, so that I didn't blow up at the 1km mark and have nothing left for the last 2km. So I went with this plan, and actually managed to execute it perfectly, but unfortunately this was not the best course of action. I ended up losing too much time in the beginning, and ended up finishing 7th Junior. So lesson learned, in prologues it's best to just giv'er from the start and hope that you don't start really bonking until you can see the finish line.</div><div><br /></div><div>Saturdays race was a 1.4km skate sprint. This was a very up and down day for me. My qualifier was a pretty mediocre race for me, it was anything special, but I felt pretty good for it. I ended up qualifying 8th Junior, which was definitely further back than I had hoped, but I knew anything could happen in th heats, so I wasn't too discouraged. My quarterfinal went amazing well, I managed to get to the front after the first 100m and stayed there. I felt great and skied it tactically perfect, and ended up having enough of a lead coming into the finish to just ski easy for the last 100m. Sadly, this high in energy did not last much longer. The first half of my semi-final felt OK, but then I started hitting the wall and finished that heat in 5th spot. So my last race of the day was the B final, which was just brutal. The energy that I had had in my quarter was completely gone, and I skied in to the line to finish 12th on the day.</div><div><br /></div><div>Going into the last race of the weekend, I was not feeling good. Having not had a proper nights sleep since I returned to Canada 2 weeks ago, I figured the fatigue from that was really starting to catch up with me. And with the next race being my first ever 30km, it's safe to say that I was pretty concerned, and wasn't even sure if I'd be able to finish the race. But, it just goes to show that everyday is a new day, because I ended up starting the race yesterday and moving my way up through the field to finish as the 3rd Overall Junior for the weekend. Considering my mentality before I started the race, I was quite pleased with my performance.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 30km was a very cool new experience for me. I hadn't really thought, going into the race, that it would be any different than all of my other races (aside from just being longer, obviously). But at the 10km mark I thought to myself, "I'm going really hard, and I still have another 20km of racing to do...I don't know if I can hold this pace." But after a couple minutes that thought subsided and I just put my head down and kept pushing through the pain, and before I knew it the race was over. So these greater distances are way more of a mental game than I thought, and you really just have to trust your body and all the training you put in leading up to it to get yourself through. I thought that was pretty cool. A little nerve racking haha, but cool.</div><div><br /></div><div>So all in all, it was a bit of a disappointing weekend for me. But, in the end I managed to pull through and get on the podium for my 5th straight Eastern Canadian Championships, so I'm pretty happy about that. I'm now back in Penetang for the week, before flying out to Halifax on Saturday for the 2011 Canada Winter Games. I got to try on all my new Team Ontario clothing last night, made me a little more excited :). So the goal for this week is to try to get my sleeping patterns back in check before I leave, because I really don't want to be going into the Games with a massive amount of fatigue building up in me. So with the help of my own bed, and my magical bedtime shake, I'm hoping to get back to sleeping normally and be ready to go by Saturday.</div><div><br /></div><div>Until next time, happy skiing!</div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-88253401757480379362011-02-03T07:23:00.000-08:002011-02-03T08:25:28.916-08:00What a Trip!Well, my first trip to Europe and first set of International races is now in the books. While I didn't really get to do much in the way of exploring cities and checking things out, I did get to ski at three different ski sites, and spend two weeks in two new countries, and it.. was.. awesome!<div><br /></div><div>In my last few posts I talked about my experiences at the Scandic hotel in Finland and my journey to Otepaa, so I'll pick up from there. After my first race on the 26th, there were races everyday, alternating back and forth between Junior and U23 categories. Canada's first day of huge excitement and success came in the U23 mens 15km skate race, as Kevin Sandau raced his way to a 5th place finish. Us Juniors watched from our hotel, screaming at the TV as Kevin skied his final few kilometers to get his first ever top 5 finish at a World U23 Championship race. This result earned Kevin a spot on next years Canadian Senior Development team.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day was the Junior classic sprints. My qualifier was pretty disappointing as I broke a pole early on, so did not qualify for the heats. Sadly none of my other teammates managed to get through the qualifier either, with Andy being our top finisher in 31st spot (so close!). On the womens side, Heidi Widmer and Janelle Greer both managed to qualify for the heats, but were unable to advance past their quarterfinals.</div><div><br /></div><div>The U23 sprints were the following day, and provided us spectators with some very exciting racing. On the womens side, Academy teammate Alysson Marshall managed to crack the top 12, getting her a spot on next years Canadian Senior Development Team. And on the mens side, Jess Cockney skied his way miraculously through the heats and found himself in the A Final! Qualifying in 30th spot (the last qualifying spot), he was able to ski his way to a comfortable 2nd place finish in his quarterfinal, which earned him a spot in the semis. And after finishing 5th in his semi, his luck kicked in big time. The other semi ended up being slower than his, and one of the Swedes who finished ahead of him ended up being disqualified. So after all was said and done, he managed to sneak his way into the last spot in the Final. He finished the day with an impressive 6th place, earning himself a spot on next years Senior Development Team as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>The following day was the Junior Pursuits. Another disappointing race for me, but another experience in the bank. The top Canadian male of the day was Andy, finishing in 31st spot, and on the womens side, Annika Hicks finished as the top Canadian, also in 31st.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day was the final day of competition with the Junior Relays and the U23 pursuits. Our mens relay team managed to edge out the Americans and take 9th spot, while our womens team finished in 11th. The biggest excitement of this day however came in Mens U23 30km pursuit, as Canadian Olympian Alex Harvey was the top ranked skier in the field and looking for gold. And after 30km of racing, Alex out-sprinted Russia's Belov and took the win and got his first ever World Championships Gold medal. Watching Alex win this race was amazing to say the least. Getting to see the Canadian flag hoisted into the air and hearing our National anthem was possibly the most inspiring experience I have ever had.</div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Despite not having the results I was looking for, this trip was an incredible experience for me.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In the past couple of weeks I have been reflecting back on what my goals have been over the years, and it’s hard to believe that at 19 years old, I have already achieved one of my lifetime goals of racing for <st1:country-region><st1:place>Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> at the International level.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It just goes to show that if you’re willing to put the time and effort in, as cliché as it sounds, anything is possible.</p><p class="MsoNormal">After we finished watching Alex's awards ceremony, we headed back to Helsinki where we spent the night before getting on the plane and starting the journey home. All in all, it was a 22 hour trip from Helsinki to Canmore, and I arrived home around 3:30am Wednesday morning. I will be spending 6 more days here, taking a short break before pressing on with the race season. I'll be heading to Ottawa next Wednesday, Feb. 9th for the Eastern Canadian Championships which will take place Feb. 11-13. I'll then head back to Penetang for a few days before getting back on a plane and flying out to Halifax to compete in the 2011 Canada Winter Games. This is by far the busiest race season I have had to date, and I'll still have another month of racing and traveling after Canada Winter Games, so it's safe to say that I am thrilled with how things are going this year!</p><p class="MsoNormal">I think that's all for now, I'm still a bit of a hurting unit from the jet lag, so I apologize if I left anything out. If anyone has any specific questions about my adventures, past, present or future, please don't hesitate to fire me an email!</p><p class="MsoNormal">Cheers.</p></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-4748970464762216222011-01-26T05:16:00.000-08:002011-01-26T05:33:18.256-08:00First taste of International Competition, Yikes...Well my first race at World Junior Championships here in Estonia is now in the books. It came in the form of a 10km skate individual start, and I ended up finishing 64th. It was a hard race, and I'm still trying to find the words to describe my experience. All in all, it was a fairly mediocre race for me. It was definitely not as bad as my race in Silverstar before Christmas, but nothing like my 10km skate in Rossland. <div><br /></div><div>I'll leave my race debriefing comments for another time, but long story short, I am fairly disappointed with my result. Coming into these races I had no idea what to expect, having barely ever raced anyone from outside of Canada before. So I was hoping for at least top half, which would have been 51st spot, but I came up 34 seconds short of that goal.</div><div><br /></div><div>The rest of the guys said they also felt their races, for the most part, were less than stellar. Andy Shields was the top Canadian in 49th spot, followed very closely by Russell Kennedy in 50th, myself in 64th, and Aaron Gilmor in 68th. </div><div><br /></div><div>Full results from todays race can be seen here: <a href="http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=CC&raceid=17717">http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=CC&raceid=17717</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Our next race will be the classic sprints on Friday, so we're all hoping for better things then. The U23 racing gets underway tomorrow, so we're looking forward to seeing how the rest of our team will do. Live broadcasting also starts with tomorrows race, and will continue for the rest of our races through the weekend.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers.</div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-35832252780212515302011-01-24T22:48:00.000-08:002011-01-24T23:34:51.522-08:00Estonia!Sunday morning around 11am, the team and I packed up our things at the Scandic and started our Journey to Otepaa. We drove for about 1.5 hours into Helsinki where we caught the ferry that would take us across to Tallinn Estonia. The ride on the ferry was about 2 hours long, during which time we had some lunch in one of the cafeteria places and explored what the ferry had to offer. The most noticeable difference between this ferry and the ones that I have traveled on in Canada was that in every shop, or place to buy anything on this ferry (and there were a lot), you could buy alcohol. The supermarket was pretty much 60% booze, 35% chocolate and 5% random stuff. <div><br /></div><div>The most exciting part of our ferry adventure was probably when we almost got trapped in the landing on the garage floor. It was that little room that separates the garage from the stairwell, and in our case, the elevator. So myself, Russell, Andy, Janelle and Patrick all piled out of the elevator into this room, where there were two big blue doors, one on each side. So after the elevator closed and left, we concluded that we couldn't get the doors open, and then we saw the sign that said the elevator was out of order. So at that point we all just kinda looked at each other with slightly concerned looks on our faces. Being slightly claustrophobic, I thought for sure I was going to start freaking out, but to my surprise and relief, I didn't. We pushed the elevator button in the hope that the sign was wrong, and after a minute or so of thinking we were trapped, the elevator came back. Once we got off the ferry, it was about a 3.5 hour drive from Tallinn to Otepaa. We arrived at the Arula Motel, where will are staying for our time in Otepaa, around 7:30pm.</div><div><br /></div><div>We got up for a slow, relaxed morning yesterday and left for the race site at 10:30am. As I predicted, when we drove into the race site and I saw the Stadium and all the Nations flags, I started to get a little nervous. Unbelievably excited, but a little bit nervous. I skied for 1.5 hours on all of my race courses, and that just doubled my excitement to race. The trails are incredible, I did some zone 3 and 4 on the 3.3km loop that I'll be racing on for the 10km tomorrow and it was sssooo much fun. Some awesome climbs and a crazy fast downhill, it's going to be fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday afternoon I went for an easy recovery run with Russell and we discovered a small downhill ski centre just down the road from our accommodations. After dinner last night we had a team meeting where we all got our Athlete bibs and accreditation which will get us onto the race trails and into the facilities at the race site. And we get to keep these bibs, so I have my first souvenir from the trip!</div><div><br /></div><div>The Junior Men (myself included) aren't heading up to the race site until 1pm this afternoon, so I'm going to head out for a run now just to keep my legs feeling good. I have some pictures from the ferry and our first day in Otepaa up on my facebook page now, so feel free to give those a look. I've been trying to get some new pictures up there every day to keep everyone back home up to date. With races starting tomorrow it's going to be a little harder to find time for pictures, but I'll do my best. I'm guessing my next post won't be until after my race tomorrow, for those of you who check back here frequently.</div><div><br /></div><div>So until then, cheers!</div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-11216745883756113332011-01-22T03:37:00.000-08:002011-01-22T03:40:07.692-08:00<div>I have about 20 or so pictures up now on my facebook page from the past 6 days here in Finland. And for those of you who have been asking for some shots of me, I finally got a few from todays TT in Lahti, enjoy! (follow the link below)</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=493108192683&id=510412683&aid=265944">http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=493108192683&id=510412683&aid=265944</a></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-47664823601100995342011-01-19T01:39:00.000-08:002011-01-19T02:00:39.788-08:00First Few Days in Vierumaki, Finland<span class="Apple-style-span" >Wow, I'm tired. Apparently this whole jet lag thing is really getting to me. I did my first bit of intensity today and was really feeling it, so I'm really hoping I start getting back to normal soon.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I had a great journey across the Atlantic on Monday and arrived here at the Scandic Hotel around 4:30pm Monday afternoon. The hardest part of the trip was not falling asleep on the flight from Frankfurt to Helsinki, and then on the drive from Helsinki to Vierumaki. That was pretty rough.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Our set up here at the Scandic Hotel is pretty awesome. The ski trails are only about 200m down the road, so easily within walking distance, and the trails are great. So far I haven't really explored the majority of the trails, having just stayed on some smaller loops in the past couple days. Though I have been told that there is about 30km of trails, so on my 2 hour ski tomorrow morning I think I'll try to explore a bit more.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Last night we had our first team activity (other than training and eating that is) in the form of bowling against the USA team. So each category (in skiing) played against the same category from the other country. Due to my incredible tiredness at the moment, I'll explain that better in case that made no sense at all haha. My team was the Canadian Junior Mens team, and we played against the American Junior Mens team, and all of the other categories, including the coaches, did the same. Little did we know, it seemed as though the American Junior Men must have bowled whenever they weren't skiing, because they pummeled us pretty easily. But, despite that fact, it was still a very good time. This afternoon I don't have a 2nd workout, so I have no idea how I am going to keep myself awake. Maybe I'll find some teammates and go back down to the alley and practice up a bit haha.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I'm going to be posting all of the pictures that I take on my facebook page as soon as I have some to post. Here is the link to my profile: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510412683">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510412683</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I'll try to get some up in the next 24 hours.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Well, I'm off to lunch. So to all of you back in Canada, enjoy your breakfast in a few hours haha :).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Cheers... Hmm, I'd like to say that in Finnish, that's my new goal for the afternoon haha, so next time!</span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-7513874082584208862011-01-10T10:24:00.000-08:002011-01-10T11:27:32.953-08:00Dare to Dream<span class="Apple-style-span">For the past 10 years or so, since I began skiing, it has been my dream to represent Canada in skiing on the World stage at the Winter Olympics. But since then I have learned many things, one of the most significant lessons being that nothing like that happens overnight, so it's pretty important to figure out the path that you need to take in order to achieve your desired end result. So for me, about 2 years ago, after making the Academy team, I decided that my first step towards my goal of international competition would be to make the Canadian Junior National Team. So last season I made that my goal, and despite how far-fetched it may have seemed at times, I made it happen. From there, the next step in my mind would be to qualify for World Junior Championships, so I decided that that would be my goal for this season, as it would be my last shot, being my last year as a Junior. And now, after an amazing week of racing in Thunder Bay ON, I am overwhelmingly thrilled to say that I have achieved this goal.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">While my preparation for these selection races may have started 10 years ago, my journey to Thunder Bay for Canada's World Junior Trials began last Monday morning. We arrived the Thunder Bay that afternoon and took the rest of the day to settle in to our hotel. The next two days were spent training and testing skis for the first race, which for me was a 20km pursuit on Thursday. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Thursday brought with it some very cold temperatures, and some very exciting racing. The pursuit was a mass start race, so for my category, Junior Male, there were about 60 skiers all desperately trying to get to the front of the pack. So, like in many mass start races, not even 30 seconds into the race, well over half of the field, including myself and my two teammates, found ourselves crashed into the snow in a huge mangled pile of skis, poles and people. Lucky for me, I managed to not break any of my equipment, so after everyone had finished falling on and around me, I was able to get up and go again. On the downside, for me anyway, some of the other big name contenders in the race were not involved in the crash, so that meant I had a lot of catching up to do. I managed to make my way back up the ranks over the next 10km of classic skiing, and ended up coming into the exchange zone in 7th place, 30 seconds behind the lead group. From there I had an amazing skate leg, picking off 5th and 6th early and then finally catching 2nd and 3rd on the second last big climb. I decided to stay with them for a minute or so to catch my breath a bit before attacking as hard as I could on the final climb. To my surprise, I had enough left in the tank to get a lead on the 3 guys behind me, and I held on to finish 2nd place.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Two days later was the classic sprint day, which in my mind was my best shot at qualifying for World Juniors. Sadly, my body did not cooperate with that thought. I felt very heavy and sluggish out there in my qualifier, and my quarterfinal felt even worse. So I ended that day finishing as the 21st Junior, and tremendously disappointed. That night I did everything I could to forget about that day and look on to the following, which was Sunday's 15km skate interval start race, the final race of the weekend.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Going into this race, I knew that I needed to finish in the top 5 if I wanted a chance at getting a spot on the World Junior Team. After my first lap of 5km, I was feeling pretty good, though I was very temporarily disheartened when Andy Shields, the top Junior of the day, caught me. Andy had started 30 seconds behind me, so since we were only 1/3 of the way through the race and he had caught me, I figured he was having a pretty good day. Like you should always do when in that situation, I did everything I could to match his speed and stay with him, and it worked. We skied the next 10km together, pushing each other as much as we could, until the final climb, when I attacked and managed to open up a small, 3 or 4 meter gap. After a very anxious 40 minutes or so of waiting for the results to be posted, they finally came out and showed that Andy had won, and I had tied for 3rd place. I was ecstatic.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">It wasn't long after this that I had a pretty good idea that I had made the team, but it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I received official confirmation that I have been selected to represent Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championships in Otepaa, Estonia later this month! This means that I will be leaving from Toronto next Sunday, Jan. 16th and flying to Helsinki, Finland, where I will spend about a week training. We will then travel to Estonia for the races, and then return to Canada on Feb. 1st.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">On a slightly smaller scale, though still very exciting for me, my performance in the races this past weekend have also qualified me for a spot on the 2011 Canada Winter Games Ontario team. This means that I will be travelling to Halifax around mid-February for my chance to represent Ontario at the Canada Winter Games.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So, all in all, I'd say yesterday may have been the best day of my life haha!! I am now back in Penetang for the week before meeting up with the rest of the Canadian Team in Toronto on Sunday.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Here are some relevant links in you are interested:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Pursuit Results: <a href="http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3331">http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3331</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Sprint Results: <a href="http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3343">http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3343</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Skate Interval Start Results: <a href="http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3344">http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3344</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Junior and U23 Athletes representing Canada at Worlds: <a href="http://cccski.com/main.asp?cmd=doc&ID=7601&lan=0">http://cccski.com/main.asp?cmd=doc&ID=7601&lan=0</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Ontario's Canada Winter Games team: <a href="http://xco.org/">http://xco.org/</a></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-7111322392300207712010-12-20T09:58:00.001-08:002010-12-20T09:59:00.813-08:00This is IncredibleYou have to see this:<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.wimp.com/sophisticatedbeats/">http://www.wimp.com/sophisticatedbeats/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Wow.</div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-41733225410238172632010-12-20T09:01:00.000-08:002010-12-20T09:46:56.237-08:00Rossland Haywood Multi Stage NorAm<span class="Apple-style-span">After a couple weeks spent racing and traveling around BC, I am now back home in Canmore for a couple weeks before my next racing adventure. I believe my last post left off when I was just about to leave Silver Star, so I'll pick things up from there. Last Tuesday the Academy and I traveled from Silver Star to Rossland for the next chapter in this years Haywood NorAm circuit. Having never been to Rossland before this, I was very excited to get to ski on some new terrain. And to my surprise, the trails at the Blackjack ski club (race site) were very similar to the trails back home in Ontario. This was surprising to me, as everywhere else I have skied out here (western Canada) are very similar with huge long climbs and long fast descents. Rossland however was much like the trails in Ontario, with no super long climbs or descents, just lots of rolling hills. To be honest I have missed racing on trails like this, so it was a nice change of pace (figuratively speaking of course :) ). </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">As I mentioned in the title of this post, this weekend of racing was a muti stage race. That means that everyones times from the first 2 days of racing were added together, and then that dictated the starting order of the last race on Sunday. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So, the first race was a skate sprint on Friday. This really was not my day. I got off to a slow start in my qualifier, and it wasn't until about halfway through the course that I started to feel good, by which time it was way too late to expect good things. My quarterfinal was a bit of a similar story, getting off the line in 3rd, and despite my best efforts, was not able to find a way around 2nd place, and that was the end of my day.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Day two of racing came in the form of a 10km interval start skate race. After my disappointing performance in the interval start skate race the weekend before in Silver Star, I was admittedly a little nervous about this race, as my skating confidence took a pretty hard blow. But, I ended up having my best distance race of the year so far that day. I felt really strong for both laps of the 5km course, and I ended up placing 4th in Junior, just missing the podium by 2.5 seconds, and 16 seconds off the win. While it's always a little disappointing finishing 4th in a race, I got over it fairly quickly. I had a great race, and to make it even better, it was my best points race in a distance event to date, and in case anyone isn't already aware, I am kind of obsessed with points :).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The final day of competition was the 15km classic handicap start (3 laps of 5km). I learned a pretty big lesson here when I didn't test my classic skis the day before. Because of timing and things like that, I did not get a chance to test my classic skis, so I just talked to my coaches and made a decision based on what I knew about my skis. Bad idea. So, I started the race 2 minutes and 58 seconds behind the top Senior man, and 22 seconds behind the top Junior Man (based on the handicap from the previous days of racing). My game plan was to just kill it off the start to catch the first Junior, and then ski with him for a while, but that didn't exactly pan out. By about 30 seconds into my race I knew that I had picked the wrong skis, as I had very little grip, and they weren't all the fast. I ended up trying to fight through this and still try to go super hard off the start, but that took its toll on me a few minutes later. I had a brutal first lap in which at one point I got the top of a hill and seriously considered dropping out of the race (this is a thought that has never crossed my mind before in a race, so I was not feeling good). But I decided to keep going, and I am very glad I did. I'm not sure what happened, but I was able to put my head down at the start of my second lap, find that next gear, and I went for it. I managed to make up some very big deficits on the next two laps and I finished with the 4th fastest Junior time. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">*****If the whole "handicap" start thing doesn't make sense to anyone, please feel free to email or facebook me and I will gladly do another post explaining it in detail. It can be a little confusing if you don't know what I'm talking about :)*****</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Unfortunately they did not do awards for the overall Junior mutli stage results, but after I arrived home last night I looked over all of the results, and I learned that I actually won the weekend overall for Juniors. So I can now safely say that I am very happy with how this weekend played out haha <span class="moz-smiley-s1" title=":)"><span>:)</span></span>.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I will now be spending the next 2 weeks here in Canmore preparing for the World Junior Trial races that will be taking place Jan. 6-9 in Thunder Bay ON. I'll likely do another post just before I leave for those races, and if not, there will definitely be a recap of them up here by the 11th.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So until then, Merry Christmas everyone!! And Happy Skiing!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Cheers!</span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-15946123082341316522010-12-12T15:32:00.000-08:002010-12-12T15:57:59.596-08:00Sovereign Lake NorAms 2010<span class="Apple-style-span" >This weekend was my first chance of the season to battle the rest of Canada in the 2010 Sovereign Lakes NorAm. It started off yesterday with a 1.5km classic sprint. Before yesterday, I had never done a sprint over 1.2km, so I was very curious to see how I would fare in the longer distance. Despite a small concern of going out too hard and blowing up before the finish, I decided to go for it in my qualifier right from the start, and it ended up working out fairly well. I was the 4th fastest Junior after the qualifier, which put me in a good place to start the heats a few hours later. My heats went very well, skiing the best I think I ever have in a sprint. My technique felt solid and I managed to stay nice and relaxed for the majority of the time. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I was able to make my way into the A Final, after finishing 2nd in both my quarter and my semi. I got off to a pretty good start in the Final, tucking myself into second place going up the first climb. I stayed there until the bottom of the 2nd climb, where I decided to move up and challenge for the lead. With this being the longest hill on the course, I managed to break up the group a bit and Patrick (Stewart-Jones, Quebec Ski Team) and I led the way into the final climb. Unfortunately for me he was able to surprise me with an attack on the last clmib, and after a quick slip on my part, he was gone. I continued to fight hard into the finish and held on for the Silver medal. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The final results were 1: Patrick Stewart-Jones, 2: Myself, 3: Andy Shields</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Today brought a 15km Skate Interval start race. Unfortunately for me, it would seem as though having to race through that sprint course 4 times yesterday really killed my legs, as when I woke up this morning my legs were pretty fried. This, for obvious reasons, did not play into my favour, and I ended up finishing 11th in the Junior category. It was a tough race on a very demanding course, and the conditions were not helped by the foot of fresh snow that we received overnight. I was a little disappointed with my race today, but overall it has been a great weekend of racing.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I will now take the next 36 hours to rest and recover from this weekend here in Silver Star, before jumping in the vans and heading to Rossland BC on Tuesday. The second NorAm of the season will be taking place there next Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the form of a Multi-Stage mini tour. This means that our times in the sprints and the distance race on Friday and Saturday will determine the order in which we start the final race on Sunday. This creates the effect of having the entire weekend seem like one big race, but with some breaks in between. I have never done a stage race like this before, so I am very excited to see how I will make out. I have been hearing rumors that the Rossland Ski Centre has made some changes to its sprint course in order to make it one of the hardest in Canada, so I can't wait to check it out on Wednesday.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I'll do another post after next weekend to let everyone know how things go, so until then, </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Cheers!</span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-69665613194041530392010-12-05T14:57:00.001-08:002010-12-05T15:20:47.007-08:00T'is the Season, Finally!! Alberta Cups 1 and 2<span class="Apple-style-span" >This weekend was the first race weekend of my 2010/2011 race season, and came in the form of a skate sprint and a 9km classic interval start race, both here in Canmore. The racing got underway yesterday morning with the qualifier of the skate sprint. For me, it was a little disappointing, qualifying as the 6th Junior (I was hoping for 1 or 2). But, after returning to my house for a few hours to recharge a bit before the heats, I managed to turn things around in the afternoon. I made it through my semi final fairly comfortably finishing in 2nd. Then it was on to the A final, where I was the lowest ranked skier of the 6 of us, but I knew that didn't mean too much. I had a bit of a slow start, but we were all very tightly packed going into the first hill. Unfortunately for all but two of us in the heat, a guy at the front crashed and caused 3 of us to be slowed down while we navigated around him, while the other two guys were able to take off and get a lead. They managed to stay out in front and take 1st and 2nd place, and I was able to hold on for the bronze medal. So, all things considered from that days events, I was fairly content with my end result.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Todays race was a 9km classic interval start. It was 3 laps of a very hilly 3km course. I was feeling pretty good in my warm up this morning, so I was hoping for good things. I decided that I would go out harder than I have in the past, and hope that I wouldn't blow up before I reached the finish line. This tactic proved to work out pretty well for me, and when I crossed the line I felt really good about how I skied my race. I ended up falling 15 seconds short of the podium, finishing in 4th place in the Junior category, and 21st in the overall mens results.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Now that the Alberta Cups have wrapped up, I'll do a couple more days of training here in Canmore, and then it will be off to Silver Star BC on Wednesday for the first NorAm of the season, taking place next weekend. From there, we will pile back into our team vans and drive to Rossland BC for the next NorAm, which will be taking place the following weekend. These two weekends of racing will be my first chances of the season to see how my competition from eastern Canada is looking this year, and I can't wait!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I'll try to do updates like this one immediately following each race weekend to let you all know how things are going. Until then, happy skiing!!</span></div><div><br /></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-72196031298870062152010-11-23T12:25:00.000-08:002010-11-23T13:46:45.395-08:00Yikes, It's Been a While...<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I just realized that it has been over a month since my last post, so I figured since I have a few hours to kill before going to see the latest Harry Potter movie (Yay), I would write a little update.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I left off in my last post mentioning a journey home to Ontario. This was a great week, spent partially in Guelph with Jacquelyn, and also in Penetang with my parents. Being my first time in Guelph, I didn't really know my way around anywhere, which made all of my running workouts a new adventure every time. After doing some intervals in the Guelph Arboretum, and a couple easy runs through the streets of Guelph, I got to know the area around the University pretty well. Living with Jacquelyn in her residence just for those few days was also an interesting experience in and of itself. I had never really thought about what it would be like to be living on my own and going to University, and what that life would be like. So it was cool to see how everything works on campus. In these few days I also managed to meet up with a few of my friends from back home who are currently studying there. Having used to jam with these guys all the time in high school back in my drumming days, it was more fun than I could possibly have imagined to get together again in their basement and play some old tunes. My stay in Penetang was just as fun, the highlight being getting to see my parents again after six months, but also getting to do some workouts with some old teammates, as well as meet up with some old friends. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I returned to Canmore on Oct. 27th I believe, and got right back into my normal Canmore routine. A few days after I returned, the Academy and I did our Fall uphill running time trial, which starts near the bridge in town, and follows the road all the way up to the top of Spray Lakes Road. Having been sick the two previous times that the team did this test this year, I was unable to participate. This meant that this was only my second time doing this test, the first being last Fall. I was expecting good things from myself in this test, since I had been feeling pretty good, and I felt that my time from last year would be pretty easy to beat (34 minutes, 58 seconds). So I was hoping to get under 34 minutes, which would break what was the current Junior Men's course record. And after a very hard effort, I managed to finish with a time of 33 minutes, 13 seconds. This was enough to beat the old Junior Men's record by 1.5 minutes, so I was quite happy with it.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Since then I have just been doing my normal training/working when I can routine, preparing myself for the upcoming race season. For the past week Canmore has played host to some very frigid temperatures, this morning being the worst of it at -30. While this makes training slightly more difficult and perhaps uncomfortable, it also means that the Nordic Centre has been making snow 24/7, so the trails are looking great. They are a little limited at the moment, but there is definitely enough snow now, so they should be extending their trails any day now.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The forcast is saying only one or two more days of these temperatures, and then it should be back to nice winter conditions, which should be just in time for our pre-season time trials. I'll be doing a short hill-climb prologue time trial on Friday, and then another short TT on Sunday. After that I'll be preparing for my first races which will be the following weekend, Dec. 4th and 5th, here in Canmore. Those are the first Alberta Cup races of the year, which we will be using as tune up races before heading to Silver Star and Rossland for the next two weekends of NorAm racing. Once the season starts you can expect more posts on here, as I will try to do some race reports and maybe reflections after each race.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Until then, cheers!</span></span></div><div><br /></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-74517310988882064952010-10-18T12:53:00.000-07:002010-10-18T13:32:27.366-07:00Great Fall testing! Now off to Ontario!<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This past week was my Fall, pre-season testing week. Having missed the testing in June due to illness, I have been eagerly awaiting this past week for a very long time. I did four tests over the course of three days late last week: a body comp. test, VO2 max test, double pole test, and a sprint prologue test. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Last Thursday I made the trip into Calgary to TCR Labs where I had my body comp. test and then the VO2 max test. Having dropped almost 10 lbs since last year at this time, I was very curious to see what my body comp. would be, and it turns out that I lost a few pounds in muscle, and am now down to 4.4% body fat from last year's 5.6%. I'm pretty happy with these numbers and the decrease in weight was evident in my VO2 max test which followed this one. The VO2 max test is to see how efficient the body is at using the oxygen that you inhale during exercise. So to do this, I wore this interesting piece of headware that made me breath through a tube, which measured the amount of oxygen that I was inhaling and exhaling, and had my nose plugged so that I could only breath through my mouth. I then got on a treadmill and ran at a 1% grade at speeds that increased every 2 minutes until I reached my threshold (basically until I started breathing very heavy and was getting tired). Then the speed was decreased by 1 mph and I started into the climbing phase of the test. This is the last part of the test where you run for as long as you possibly can while the incline increases by 3% every minute. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This was an amazing test for me, as it showed that I have improved my VO2 max over last year's 66.5 ml/kg/min to this year's 70 ml/kg/min. The test also showed that my heartrates are considerably lower this year than last year when moving at the same speed, which is a good sign that my training is paying off. And finally, the test showed me that I am stronger mentally than I thought I was, and I can take more pain than I thought I could, which is possibly the most beneficial knowledge that I got from the whole test.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Two days later, I completed the double pole test here in Canmore. Having been just on the verge of getting sick when I this test in June, I was definitely expecting to beat that time, and my goal was to set a new PB (which I set last year at just over 5 minutes). I ended up setting a new PB pretty handily at a time of 4:49, so I was very pleased about that. That afternoon was my last test, the sprint prologue test (skate rollerskiing). Having never done this test before, I didn't really know what to expect, and came out with a time of 3:33. Being my first time doing this test, I didn't really learn anything about my fitness level, but it was still a good hard effort.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I am now enjoying some much needed days off to recover from this past training block and prepare for the next one, which I have been told is going to be a very hard one. And I am very happy to say that today, Oct. 18th, was my first on snow ski of the year up at the Nordic Centre where they have a very nice, 1km-ish loop open. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Tomorrow morning I will be getting on a plane bright and early in Calgary and heading first to Guelph to spend some time with Jacquelyn and a few other friends who are going to school there. Then on Friday night I'll be heading back to Penetang for a 5 day visit with my friends and family. Can't wait!!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's all for now, cheers!</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-63943606152512992552010-10-03T13:24:00.000-07:002010-10-03T14:07:26.193-07:00Time for an Update: Ski Season is Approaching!<span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now that I actually think about it, this last month has been both very long, but at the same time feels like it just flew by. The first few weeks of September were fairly uneventful for me, with the exception of the very unfortunate six days from the 8th - 14th when I was sick. While normally I would be very upset about looking back and seeing that I missed a week of training, as soon as I came back after my cold I felt more fit and stronger than I ever have before. So to me, it meant that I just needed some time to reboot the body and ever since then I have been feeling great!<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">About two weeks ago I finally got to meet one of my new sponsors in person, Jamie Coatsworth. We had a great breakfast and chat up at the Summit Cafe here in Canmore, and then myself and the rest of "Team Coatsworth" (Jamie sponsors a good chunk of the Canadian National Ski Team, and we are referred to as "his team"), threw him a surprise birthday dinner at Ticino's Restaurant in Banff. It was a great evening of amazing food and great company, and we even had some team shirts made up for all of us :). It was great to finally meet Jamie face to face, and what he does for myself and fellow sponsorees is truly incredible. Thanks for everything Jamie!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">While on the topic of sponsors, I would like to thank McLaren's Canada, as well as my Aunt Gail and Uncle Stew, for coming on board and providing me with some of the financial support that I need to train and compete at this level. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">My next training adventure came last Monday when the Academy and I traveled to Jasper AB for a 3 day training camp. Being my first time ever in Jasper, I had a great time on this camp (though we didn't really have much time to explore the town). It consisted of some trail running and A LOT of rollerskiing. Over the course of those three days I rollerskied a grand total of about 170km, all of which was great training!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We came back to Canmore on Wednesday night and spent the next couple days doing our normal training, and then it was off to Calgary yesterday for the annual Calgary Roadrunner's River Park Classic running race. The weather this year turned out to be a perfect 22 degrees C and a cloudless sky (compared to last year's O degree temperatures and snow). And while the higher water level in the river crossing slowed most of us down, I managed to finish 6th overall, improving on my 7th place from last year, so I was fairly happy with my race.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I am now enjoying a very nice day off to recover and prepare for my next week of training. Tomorrow morning I will be joining the other Junior and U23 athletes of my team for a 1 night trip to Lake Louise for a very mini training camp. From there we will arrive back in Canmore Tuesday night and finish off this week's training, before starting our Fall testing week on the 11th. I am looking forward to getting to test my limits and seeing how I compare to myself last year at this time. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's all for now!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Cheers!</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-19341839352199464422010-08-30T11:10:00.000-07:002010-08-30T11:55:20.902-07:00August Update with the Whistler training camp<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What a month! I guess I should probably go all the way back to where I left off on my last post (sorry about the time gap). As I mentioned at the end of my last post, the first week or so of August was a low training time for me, as I was recovering from the 3 preceding weeks of hard training, and it was also when Jacquelyn's sister, Lindsey, and our friend Jeremy from back home were coming out to visit. The four of us had a great time that week, exploring everything between here in Canmore and Lake Louise.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For my birthday we all, along with my roommate Bob, went to Banff for the day to check out what the town's day life was like (I have lived here for 14 months and have never done this, crazy, I know), and then stayed there and enjoyed Banff's night life before walking up to Tunnel Mountain, which is not actually as far as it might sound, and camping overnight. A few days later Jeremy, Lindsey, Jacquelyn and I all went to Lake Louise. The three of them took in the sights of Moraine Lake road as I did my workout for the day, before heading up and canoeing on the lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. (Pictures from these adventures can be found on our Facebook pages). The next day, August 12th, the four of us drove to the Calgary Airport and Jacquelyn and I had to say our goodbyes as her and Lindsey were heading home for the rest of the summer before starting university in September. After a few difficult moments of desperately trying to keep myself composed, Jeremy and I managed to escape the airport and find our way back to Canmore. Jeremy stayed the night and then headed out for Saskatchewan the next morning. It wasn't really until Jeremy left that I realized how much I had become used to having extra people in the house... Everything soon became very quiet around here. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">However, my spirits were lifted by that great passion of mine that is now my life: skiing and training. Two days after Jeremy left, myself and the rest of my team packed up and started our trip to Whistler for our 4th training camp of the year. This camp would total 10 days and consist of training in Kamloops, Whistler and Salmon Arm. This was a great camp not only for the obvious reasons like getting to do tons of training in new, cool places, but also because we had a guest coach for the first half of the camp. Peter Larsson, retired Swedish sprinter and 6 time World Cup winner, accompanied us for our first 5 or 6 days of the camp, teaching and helping us with some of the latest techniques and tactics.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">After a great time in Whistler, the morning of the 24th rolled around and it was time to pack up and start the journey home. For me, this journey started in Pemberton, about 30km outside of Whistler, where I hopped on my bike and started what would be a gruelling four hour ride with some killer climbs. Unfortunately for me, these climbs were just made harder by my bike having a small chain ring which no longer works. So I spent these four hours in big ring, which may have made me go faster, but it definitely took its toll on my body in the following days. After finishing up this ride, which for me was about 100km and brought me to Lillooet BC, we all hopped in the vans and drove to Salmon Arm where we spent the night. The next morning we woke up and did a great sprint workout in the farmlands of BC before continuing on our way and driving home to Canmore.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I am now finally settled into my normal life of training and working, with some slight changes. I am currently working on changing my diet, which I realize to many people is not very interesting haha, but I am hoping that it will have a significant impact on my fitness level and racing this season. I am also awaiting the arrival of my third roommate, Matt Wylie, who is going to be moving in at some point today. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That's about all that has been going on this past month, so it's safe to say that I am now pretty exhausted, and very happy about this week being a rest week. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Until next time, cheers.</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-76626810862384193322010-07-30T08:16:00.000-07:002010-07-30T08:49:09.596-07:00Haig Camp 2010<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Two Mondays ago (July 19th), the team and I set out for the Haig Glacier for our third training camp of the year. Despite a very cloudy and wet looking first couple of days, we ended up having fantastic conditions for the majority of the week, which made for some great skiing. From a training stand point, I had an amazing week, getting in over 25 hours of training, and over 200km of skiing. Getting back on the snow also helped to get me all fired up again and excited to start racing this winter. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">With the Haig camp also came the annual Academy Disc Golf Tournament, which is put on every year courtesy of teammate Jess Cockney. This year's tournament was full of surprises and was a blast to both compete in and spectate (being put out in a fairly early round, I was able to do a good amount of both). The two time Champion, Chris Butler, was dethroned this year when one of our coaches, Eric Groeneveld, put him out in the semi finals. And after a 9 hole over time and 3 or 4 sudden death holes, teammate Drew Goldsack managed to edge out Eric for the win. While I ended up finishing 9th place overall, I managed to not go home empty handed by getting the only hole in one of the week. So that was my highlight of the tournament.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The camp wrapped up on Sunday for most of the senior athletes, while myself and about 9 others ran out on Monday. So I am now back in Canmore with one last week of heavy training before I will be treated to a much needed rest week to both recover from these past few weeks, as well as to prepare for our next camp in Whistler. I have resumed my job at Boston Pizza, and yesterday I also tried out busking at the local weekly market. The idea was put in my head by a couple of my teammates while on the glacier this past week, so I thought I would go out and see how I could do. I ended up making $15 in about 90 minutes, and despite being a little nerve racking at first, it was pretty fun. Now I just have to learn some more songs and try to find more opportunities to do it.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jacquelyn and I are both eagerly awaiting next week, as her sister and one of our friends from Ontario will be joining us for a week which, as timing would have it, puts them here for my rest week as well as my birthday. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So, as I mentioned in my last post, I did get some pictures from the camp, and I have posted them on Facebook. Here is a link for those who are interested:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?id=510412683&aid=191000&s=0&hash=7d09ea4f9e3884f3556ecb0ca33538ee"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?id=510412683&aid=191000&s=0&hash=7d09ea4f9e3884f3556ecb0ca33538ee</span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Cheers!</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-9912369865460777252010-07-15T09:58:00.000-07:002010-07-15T10:20:22.242-07:00Summer time!!!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As I mentioned in my last post in June (I apologize for the big time gap between posts), this past month has been a very exciting one. Picking up where I left off, I had the pleasure of joining the Parker family in the Canmore "Try-a-Tri" triathlon on June 20th, and it was lots of fun. I ended up posting the fastest time on the bike by almost a minute (over 9km), so I was pretty happy about that. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The next week was the team's first testing camp of the year, and while I had been looking forward to it for months, I unfortunately got sick at the beginning of that week. So after discussing it with my coaches, we agreed that the upcoming training camp in New Denver was much more important for me than the testing camp, so I took about 5 days off training, missing the testing, but was able to recover in time to join the team for the 3 day camp in B.C. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This camp was very fun, as it was lots of training and lots of km's. The first day was our long road ride around the Silver Triangle (New Denver to Nelson to Kaslo to New Denver). Hats off to teammates Kevin Sandau and Graham Nishikawa for being the only ones to complete the 220km loop, taking them a total of just over 7 hours. For myself and many of my other teammates, we stopped at the 170km mark, which for me took a total of 5.5 hours. The rest of the camp was spent running, ski walking and rollerskiing, and of course, the warm up game for the "World Series" (if you will) baseball game which will take place at our camp in Whistler next month. This game was a bit of a blowout (24-12 I believe was the final score), so team Pepper is going to have to pull up their socks if they want to compete with Team Salt in Whistler.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We arrived back in Canmore the evening of June 30th, at which time I was greeted by Jacquelyn who had arrived that afternoon. The next day I had the Canada Day running race, which went far better than I expected, as I won the 18 and under age category and was 13th overall. A couple hours later my teammates and I got into our Academy race suits and cowboy hats and rollerskied through the Canada Day Parade, which involved our usual short sprints and horse-mess dodging. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The parade was the end of my busy couple weeks, and then I was treated to a much-needed rest week last week. This week I have been ramping up the training again in preparation for my next training camp on the Haig Glacier, which will be taking place next week. VERY EXCITED!!! I am hoping to get some pictures from that camp, so I will try to get them up as soon as I can after I return from the Haig. Until then, Happy Summer!</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-4946927725786892442010-06-15T11:54:00.000-07:002010-06-15T20:26:56.256-07:00Feeling like an overdue update<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These past few weeks haven't been tremendously eventful, however I feel like I should be doing an update, so here goes. Last week I started my new job at Boston Pizza here in Canmore, and it's looking like I'm going to enjoy it once I figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. The people are great, and the manager is awesome when it comes to scheduling my shifts around my training, so I'm pretty thrilled about that. I'm not a huge fan of the first few weeks at any job, as it can get a little stressful when you know you should be doing something, but you don't know what or how. So I figure by July I should be a little more comfortable there, so I'm really looking forward to when that time comes.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These next couple weeks should prove to get pretty exciting/fun starting next Sunday, as my schedule will be slightly less monotonous. Next Sunday I'll be doing a very short bike portion of a triathlon here in town, and then I will be riding from that to Sunshine, on the other side of Banff, to meet up with my team for the remainder of my workout. Next week is the team's first testing week of the year, so throughout the week I'll be doing a VO2 max test in a lab in Calgary, as well as an uphill time trial and a double pole test here in Canmore. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">After a couple days of rest, the team and I will be traveling to Kaslo BC on the 27th for our next training camp. While it will only be a 3 day camp, it's sounding like it could be a tough one. Our first day we will be setting out on our road bikes with hopes of riding the Silver Triangle. This is a loop that goes from Kaslo, to New Denver, to Nelson, and then back to Kaslo. In total this route is around 220km, and by the sounds of things we will be riding a total of 6 hours that day. So while it is very unlikely that we will complete the whole ride, I'm very curious to see how far we make it in 6 hours, and how well my body takes it. Having never spent more than 4 hours on a bike, I'm very excited!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">After a couple more days of training around Kaslo, I'll be arriving back in Canmore the night of the 30th, by which time Jacquelyn should be here! The next day being Canada Day, I'll be getting up early to run in the annual Canmore Canada Day running race. That will be followed by the parade, which the Academy is once again going to be a part of, so I'm looking forward to that too.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So ya, not much happening right now, just the usual eat, train, work, sleep, repeat. But very exciting times to come!!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Cheers.</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-13627748394378094642010-05-28T07:57:00.000-07:002010-05-28T08:38:19.522-07:00Thank you Sponsors!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">While there is nothing overly exciting going on here in Canmore at the moment (despite the frigid temperatures and snow :( ) I thought I would do a brief post to thank my two newest sponsors, Midland Ski Club and Jamie Coatsworth, for coming on board and supporting me in my Olympic dream! Your support is tremendously appreciated because, without all of my sponsors, I would not be able to live here in Canmore and train with the best of the best. So to Midland Ski Club and Jamie Coatsworth, along with all of my other sponsors, THANK YOU!!!!!</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">P.S. Today is also Jacquelyn and my 1 year anniversary, so happy 12 months Jacquelyn!! :) xo</span></span></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-88191278818522114682010-05-17T07:47:00.001-07:002010-05-17T07:47:59.217-07:00First Camp of the 2010 Off-Season: Silver Star B.C.!<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For the past seven days, the team and I have spent our time in the beautiful Silver Star, </span></span><st1:state><st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">British Columbia</span></span></st1:place></st1:state><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> for our first training camp of the year. Being my first time ever going to Silver Star in May, I was shocked to see how much snow they still had and how incredible the conditions were when we arrived on May 10</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Thanks to the 20+ degree temperatures however, I don’t think they will be skiing for very much longer.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We skied every morning, except Wednesday, with great snow coverage and temperatures up around 20 degrees Celsius! Talk about prefect spring skiing. I also got to ski on trails which I didn’t know that Silver Star had, so that was lots of fun. We had 2 afternoon workouts throughout the week as well, one being a strength workout at a gym in </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Vernon</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, the other being a track running workout. Due to some problems I have been experiencing with my Achilles, I was not able to partake in the track workout on Friday. So instead, I was driven down to </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Vernon</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> with my bike, and got to ride back up to Silver Star. I knew this was a hard ride, being about 20km of climbing a mountain and all, but I had no idea those hills were so steep. I completed the ride in just under 1 hour and 20 minutes, with some pretty shaky legs. But when I arrived at the top, I was able to look down the mountain and see the city of Vernon, and how far I had ridden, so that felt pretty cool.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wednesday morning was our one morning that we did not ski. We left our houses in Silver Star and drove to Armstrong to begin our 100km bike ride. This was an awesome ride, taking us just over 3 hours to complete. Having done this ride before I climbed up to Silver Star Friday afternoon, I would have said that one of the climbs in Salmon Arm was the biggest climb I have ever done, spanning a mere 2km. That being said, it was still a pretty demanding climb, on which our group of riders went from 7 or 8 at the bottom to 3 at the top. Luckily, Eric, one of our coaches, was waiting for us at the top with some more fluids and energy gels.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The camp wrapped up yesterday, Sunday May 16</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, with a classic sprint workout in the morning. From there we went back to our houses to shower and clean up, then began the 6 hour drive back to Canmore. Now that we are back, I am back to my usual routine of training and working. Our next camp will be sometime near the end of June, which will be immediately followed by the arrival of my girlfriend, Jacquelyn, for a visit here in Canmore, so I am anxiously awaiting both of those events. CAN’T WAIT!!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That’s all for now,</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Happy training!!</span></span></p>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724271504183728283.post-86342238302863864642010-05-02T15:38:00.000-07:002010-05-02T15:40:30.646-07:00New house in Canmore!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hey Everyone!</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Here are some pictures of my new place! </span></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168884&id=510412683&saved#!/album.php?aid=168884&id=510412683"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168884&id=510412683&saved#!/album.php?aid=168884&id=510412683</span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Gotta run! Hope everyone's having a great beginning of May!!!!</span></span></div><div><br /></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120791338753022017noreply@blogger.com0