Whenever I find myself training in bad weather or in an unfortunate situation, I often say to myself, 'it's building my character'. In saying that, the 2015 US Senior National Championships in Houghton, Michigan, diffidently gave my personality a massive boost.
My adventure to the Mid West started on the 30th of December, when Kat and I travelled to Boise, as our flight left early the following morning. A big thank - you goes out to Kay (Grandmother of one of the younger kids in the ski team) and her dog Laker, for putting us up for the night. Unfortunately following the hype of Christmas I caught a cold, and travelling with a blocked nose, cough and general feeling of near death was not on the top of things that I wanted to doing. Regardless, Kat and I boarded our plane and made it to Chicago (via Portland Oregon). Up to this point all was going smoothly and we expected to spend New Years in Houghton, until we saw the flight status that no one ever wants to see, 'FLIGHT CANCELLED'. After spending quite a long time at the United Airlines Customer Service desk reorganising our flights, it was clear that we would not be flying into our original destination, instead we would have to settle for Green Bay (approximately 3-4hrs from Houghton).
My adventure to the Mid West started on the 30th of December, when Kat and I travelled to Boise, as our flight left early the following morning. A big thank - you goes out to Kay (Grandmother of one of the younger kids in the ski team) and her dog Laker, for putting us up for the night. Unfortunately following the hype of Christmas I caught a cold, and travelling with a blocked nose, cough and general feeling of near death was not on the top of things that I wanted to doing. Regardless, Kat and I boarded our plane and made it to Chicago (via Portland Oregon). Up to this point all was going smoothly and we expected to spend New Years in Houghton, until we saw the flight status that no one ever wants to see, 'FLIGHT CANCELLED'. After spending quite a long time at the United Airlines Customer Service desk reorganising our flights, it was clear that we would not be flying into our original destination, instead we would have to settle for Green Bay (approximately 3-4hrs from Houghton).
Kat and I spent our New Years Eve in a Chicago hotel room, full of the cold, eating Subway and ice cream sandwiches and falling to sleep around 10:00pm. After a delayed flight the following morning we made it to Green Bay (home of the Packers Football team and famous for some sort of cheese) and were picked up by super trooper Rick, who had not only driven from Sun Valley to Houghton (around 3 days) but then jumped back into the van to pick us up. Despite some karma that didn't want us to make it to Houghton, Kat and I made it!
Upon arrival to Houghton it was soon clear why our flight the previous days had been cancelled. Over the course of a week it snowed close to 50cm and was really windy, not favourable conditions for flying apparantly. Houghton is located on the edge of Lake Superior (one of the Great Lakes of USA) and experiences storms as a result of the Lake Effect. In other words, they get really big snow storms and in past seasons have had snow falls that burry telephone poles!!! My first experience in the Mid West was during one such storm. A little fun fact: the temperatures in Houghton for the week of US nationals were colder than the day time temperatures on MARS!!!! Since the temperature did not get warmer than -16C and I soon learnt some very important life lessons about surviving in Antarctic like conditions:
1) Always were more layers than you think you need. For example when I was skiing in -30C: Top Layers: Warm long thermal, t-shirt thermal, jacket, Vest, downhill Jacket. Bottom Layer: Compression shorts, long compression thermals, knee high warm socks, lycra, over pants.
2)Tape of face = prevents skin from freezing off
3)Put deodorant on your feet: It may sound odd but it prevents them from sweating and in turns stops them from getting really, really cold. For me it was a life saver!
4)There are waxes colder than blue stick. If you know what I am talking about, you will be saying, ' no way, blue stick is like the coldest wax you will ever use'. Well let me tell you, these mythical waxes that you may have only heard tales about actually exist!
5) Refer to the ' Feels like' when looking at the temperature on the iPhone weather app. Gives a much more accurate depiction of what is waiting for us outside the confines of the warm hotel rooms!
1) Always were more layers than you think you need. For example when I was skiing in -30C: Top Layers: Warm long thermal, t-shirt thermal, jacket, Vest, downhill Jacket. Bottom Layer: Compression shorts, long compression thermals, knee high warm socks, lycra, over pants.
2)Tape of face = prevents skin from freezing off
3)Put deodorant on your feet: It may sound odd but it prevents them from sweating and in turns stops them from getting really, really cold. For me it was a life saver!
4)There are waxes colder than blue stick. If you know what I am talking about, you will be saying, ' no way, blue stick is like the coldest wax you will ever use'. Well let me tell you, these mythical waxes that you may have only heard tales about actually exist!
5) Refer to the ' Feels like' when looking at the temperature on the iPhone weather app. Gives a much more accurate depiction of what is waiting for us outside the confines of the warm hotel rooms!
Ok, now that I have given you an idea of the lovely local weather, lets get onto the racing side of things. My first race was the 10km Skate. Although I had been sick for the days leading into the race, I had returned to full health by the time the Championships started. It was not the fastest 10km that I had done, nor was it the result that I was hoping that I would achieve, but considering my unexpected extended travel and illness, I was happy to get the first race under my belt.
The Classic sprint was due to the be held on the following day, however due to temperatures that were expected to exceed to FIS legal limit (-18C) the race was postponed for a day. Despite the cold temperatures I still skied and it is now the coldest temperatures that I have ever skied in (around -30C)! Thankfully it warmed up slightly, at least to the legal limit, for the sprint however the snow fall did not ease (It snowed around 30cm from the start of the qualifier to the start of the quarter finals). Despite the semi challenging conditions I had a fantastic race and managed to qualify for the Senior Women's quarter finals by finishing the Time Trial in 25th position. Unfortunately my heat did not go as well as my time trial and I finished in 6th position, not enough to progress into the semi finals.
Once again we had a day to recover before our next race. After recently turning 20, I have moved up into the Under 23 (U23) age category. As such I now race the same distances as the senior women and my next race was the 20km Classic Mass start. For people who are unfamiliar with ski racing, a mass start event is exactly what the name suggests. 70 or so girls lined up on the start line and started with the gun. This was my first 20km classic race and first mass start event at a championship level. As you can imagine, I was filled with both nerves and excitement about what the race would have in store for me. After a very motivational talk from coach Rick Kapala, my race plan was simple; go out and give it everything I have, but most importantly have fun. I now know that 20km is a long way. It took me 1hr:18min to finish, around 8mins behind the winner, and I ended up in 39th position. I need to say a massive thank you to Tom, Colin and Rick who stood out in the less than optimal conditions to provide me feeds (drinks like gatorade and flat coke) during the race. Without your help and support, I know that I would have crashed and burned!! This race was a huge confidence booster for me as I have been struggling with some anxiety issues, in particular with classic racing (another shout out to Michael Inglis from the Mind Room, for helping mentally prepare me before this Northern Winer). I believe that I have made some big gains in my classic skiing abilities and I now know that I can take on anything that I am presented with!
Since I have not had a lot of experience racing 20km, I was not sure how long it would take me to recover from such a race. The final race of the championships, showed me that I need longer than 2 days... Unfortunately by the time the Skate Sprint rolled around, fatigue had well and truly set in and I was not able to finish on the high that I would have liked. Since I did not qualify for the finals, I got the opportunity to layer up and head out on the track to watch some of my team mates (both from Sun Valley and Australia) compete in the Senior and Junior finals. To the amazement of myself and the other who I was standing with, the clouds parted and the sun came out. Although it was too cold to feel the rays of heat, it did feel a little warmer.
Once again, I need to extend a huge thank - you to the SVSEF wax and coaching team (Tom, Colin, Tim, Rick and Randy). They braved the brutal conditions to make sure we had the fastest skis out on course and were supported all the way to the end!!
Give your self a big pat on the back if you have made it this far, because my adventure has not yet ended. Since my trip to Houghton had been less than ideal, I though that travelling back to Sun Valley could not get any worse. I guess I spoke too soon because after making it to Chicago, I was once again confronted with the dreaded flight status. My flight to Boise was cancelled, forcing me to spend anther night in a Chicago hotel. My new flight route took me via Denver, Colorado the following day, and all was going smoothly until I boarded my final plane. After sitting on the runway for 2 hours the captain finally notified us that the plane was unable to produce electricity by itself (apparently needed for flying). So, after unloading, waiting for another plane to be found, boarding, waiting for preflight checks to be completed and going through the process of deicing the plane (actually pretty cool to watch) I was finally in the air 4 hours behind schedule and not knowing if we would be able to land in Boise due to extreme fog. Thankfully the fog cleared enough for us to land and I then began the drive back to Sun Valley, with minimal visibility due to the thick low lying clouds. It was midnight by the time I got to bed, completely exhausted, but glad to be back in American home.
I do not think that this trip could have thrown anything more at me. People will talk of the 2015 US nationals in years to come and I will be able to say, ' I SURVIVED!' Houghton, you tired to beat me up, but you only made me stronger. Better luck next time!
I will be spending the next couple of weeks training in the blue bird conditions of Sun Valley, before I head over to Sweden to prepare for the Falun World Championships.
Thanks for taking the time to read this very long blog... Until next time: Dream the Impossible, Live the Dream!
I will be spending the next couple of weeks training in the blue bird conditions of Sun Valley, before I head over to Sweden to prepare for the Falun World Championships.
Thanks for taking the time to read this very long blog... Until next time: Dream the Impossible, Live the Dream!