Western Canadian Champs here in Canmore
Westerns were held the weekend after Trials here in Canmore. This was a 3 race pursuit weekend, so your results in the first two races affect your starting position for the last race and whoever comes across the line first in the last race wins the weekend!
The first race was a 5k classic. A short race, but a hilly one. Usually the only time we race a 5k nowadays is when we're over seas at World Juniors, so we don't get much practice for them. I tried to treat this like the 5k I will race in Turkey in just a couple of weeks and it went pretty well I thought. There was definitely room for improvement (and room for a little peaking ;) ) but 2nd place in the Junior category and 10th overall I though was pretty good.
The next day was the skate sprint. I raced in Open Women for this because I wanted to get some bonus seconds for tomorrow's pursuit start. After a bumpy qualifier (I wasn't feeling very smooth in my transitions, etc.) putting myself in 8th place, the races really started - with timed heats! Timed heats are something I am still not quite used to, my quarter final went smoothly but in the semi's I made a couple of mistakes. One was that I stumbled about 4-5 meters from the line in 3rd place and once I caught my balance I just glided across the line instead of pushing again and lunging because I was thinking, "Oh top 3 go to the A-Final". That may have bitten me in the butt because I remembered after that no, only top 2 are guarantied to go the the A-Final! Oops. Both heats were quite close in time and I was the first listed in the B-Final, I can't help but wonder if I would have made the A-Final had I pushed the finish? My mistake number two was that I should have checked out the finishing lanes before the heats started because I found myself a couple of times in a finish lane that had a nice groove down the middle of it from the groomer - it made balancing a bit tricky. My fault again. The B-Final went pretty well; I was near the back at the start but made my way up to the front throughout the course and finished in a close lunge with my teammate Kate. She took 7th and I finished off in 8th place again.
I don't have any good pictures of me racing but I thought this one was pretty sweet. Always, always lunge! (was one of my things learned that day)
The last of the 3 races was a 10k skate. Pursuit starts arn't something we do very often either so when we do have one it is always exciting - except when you're stuck in the mass start like I was last year in Rossland, then it sucks watching everyone go before you! In this race I was starting in 6th place and tied with teammate, Marlis, in 5th place 1:14min behind the leader (another teammate Alysson). I knew it was going to be an advantage for me to start with Marlis because I could try to stick with her for as long as I could instead of over-pacing myself like I usually do in these kinds of races. I was expecting this race to hurt really, really bad because it was two laps of the World Cup 5k course (= lots of climbing) but it wasn't so bad! Within the first lap a group of us got skiing together which is nice because that always helps to push ourselves. 3 of them were my teammates actually and that was a nice judgement to see how I was doing compared to them. Half way through the second lap I lost the group a bit but I was able to make up some time near the end finishing in 8th place overall for the whole weekend. Marlis and I finished within a second of each other - it always amazes that people can push as hard as they can for a whole 10km (or much more in the World Cup races) and yet finish with the exact same time!
Skiing as a group - 4 AWCA girls at the front! (Photo Credit: Angus Cockney)
Here were the 3 things I learned over the 3 race days;
1- ALWAYS push all the way to the line. That's the only way you won't regret anything.
2- Do a little preview of the finishing lanes, note which one is the best, 2nd best, 3rd best, etc...
3- Start faster in skate sprints. That way you won't get caught up in the other girls' skis/poles.
(Sorry for not having more pictures - I am trying to remember to take more!)
The first race was a 5k classic. A short race, but a hilly one. Usually the only time we race a 5k nowadays is when we're over seas at World Juniors, so we don't get much practice for them. I tried to treat this like the 5k I will race in Turkey in just a couple of weeks and it went pretty well I thought. There was definitely room for improvement (and room for a little peaking ;) ) but 2nd place in the Junior category and 10th overall I though was pretty good.
The next day was the skate sprint. I raced in Open Women for this because I wanted to get some bonus seconds for tomorrow's pursuit start. After a bumpy qualifier (I wasn't feeling very smooth in my transitions, etc.) putting myself in 8th place, the races really started - with timed heats! Timed heats are something I am still not quite used to, my quarter final went smoothly but in the semi's I made a couple of mistakes. One was that I stumbled about 4-5 meters from the line in 3rd place and once I caught my balance I just glided across the line instead of pushing again and lunging because I was thinking, "Oh top 3 go to the A-Final". That may have bitten me in the butt because I remembered after that no, only top 2 are guarantied to go the the A-Final! Oops. Both heats were quite close in time and I was the first listed in the B-Final, I can't help but wonder if I would have made the A-Final had I pushed the finish? My mistake number two was that I should have checked out the finishing lanes before the heats started because I found myself a couple of times in a finish lane that had a nice groove down the middle of it from the groomer - it made balancing a bit tricky. My fault again. The B-Final went pretty well; I was near the back at the start but made my way up to the front throughout the course and finished in a close lunge with my teammate Kate. She took 7th and I finished off in 8th place again.
The last of the 3 races was a 10k skate. Pursuit starts arn't something we do very often either so when we do have one it is always exciting - except when you're stuck in the mass start like I was last year in Rossland, then it sucks watching everyone go before you! In this race I was starting in 6th place and tied with teammate, Marlis, in 5th place 1:14min behind the leader (another teammate Alysson). I knew it was going to be an advantage for me to start with Marlis because I could try to stick with her for as long as I could instead of over-pacing myself like I usually do in these kinds of races. I was expecting this race to hurt really, really bad because it was two laps of the World Cup 5k course (= lots of climbing) but it wasn't so bad! Within the first lap a group of us got skiing together which is nice because that always helps to push ourselves. 3 of them were my teammates actually and that was a nice judgement to see how I was doing compared to them. Half way through the second lap I lost the group a bit but I was able to make up some time near the end finishing in 8th place overall for the whole weekend. Marlis and I finished within a second of each other - it always amazes that people can push as hard as they can for a whole 10km (or much more in the World Cup races) and yet finish with the exact same time!
Here were the 3 things I learned over the 3 race days;
1- ALWAYS push all the way to the line. That's the only way you won't regret anything.
2- Do a little preview of the finishing lanes, note which one is the best, 2nd best, 3rd best, etc...
3- Start faster in skate sprints. That way you won't get caught up in the other girls' skis/poles.
(Sorry for not having more pictures - I am trying to remember to take more!)
