Livigno, Italy (2300m!!!)

Pate and I out for a ski here in Livigno.


Hey Everybody,


Well, I am sitting here enjoying a little downtime. The entire Canadian team went down to Bormio to do a little shopping and sight seeing, but I am sitting here listening to Jack Johnson and doing homework. Lame. I know, but I have to do it some time!


Our trip has been great so far. We are staying just outside of Livigno until Thursday to do some training and acclimatization. The altitude here is unbelivable. Our hotel is well above the tree line! It's nuts. The sun is so strong that I can't leave the building without first applying a layer of SPF 30. The first few days I was having trouble breathing even when I was lying down. I had to sleep with my mouth open.


The jet lag hasn't been to bad this time. Today is the first day that the 6hr time difference is really causing me trouble. I am very tired and hungry at all the wrong times. In a few days the old system should straighten out.


The food has been awesome and the hotel staff have been very helpful and patient as we try to sign language things to them. One of the servers only knows my name out of everybody because he uses me to translate. Apparently knowing english and some french qualifies me for this position. It is pretty funny.


I will try to keep my blog updated throughout the races, but internet access is limited and very slow. It has taken me 40min to load these pictures!



Today's "piste sci". Amazing.

NTDC teammates Butler, Lenny, and Jesse all decked out in their Canada gear.

The February Update

Wow! A lot has happened since my last update. Last time I posted an update I was right in the middle of the World Cup races in Canmore. My world cup experience for this year is now over, but I am ramping up for my next big races: Under 23 (U23) World Championships. As many of you know, these races were supposed to be held in Poland immediately after the World Cups in Canmore, but due to a lack of snow (kind of important in this sport) the championships have been postponed to Feb. 25th to March 2nd and moved to Mals, Italy.

After the change in scheduling, I was going to compete in the Eastern Canadian Championships at Nakkertok Nordic, but during my stay in Canmore I slipped on some ice and twisted my knee very slightly. I wasn’t too worried about it, but when I got home it was still sore a week later and I had trouble straightening my knee and it even hurt when I slept. So after a quick chiropractor/physio appointment I found out that I had bruised or slightly torn the cartilage on the outside of my left knee. I decided to take time off to let my little injury heal. I took 6 out of 8 days off after Canmore just resting, stretching and icing my knee. That might seem a little much to some people, but I didn’t want this to plague me for the rest of my season.

I am happy to say that my knee is back to 100% and I am back into training. I even got to race on Friday night at the Kamview classic right here in Thunder Bay. It was a very well run race and I had so much fun being back on my skis. After three months of being on the road it is nice to be back in Thunder Bay where I can get in some good training before I head to Europe next week.

My World Cup Debut

Yesterday I had a pretty cool experience. I got to race my first World Cup race here in Canmore. It was a classic sprint. I finished 49th and was very happy with my race.

3 of my NTDC team mates are also racing in these World Cups this week and we have been trying to figure out a penalty for coming last (i.e. shaving one eyebrow or something along those lines). I am happy that I don't have to worry about that after yesterday's race.

It was pretty intimidating lining up with the best in the world and having my entire race filmed. For the last 20min of my warm-up I was followed by a camera man who stayed within a metre of me the entire time. It was weird. One cool thing was that I got to keep my race bib.

Now I am getting ready to race in the 10km individual start skate race tomorrow and the skate sprints on Saturday. I skied the 10km course today and it is very hard so I might be shaving an eyebrow after all. There is a ton of climbing right off the start that I am a little worried about.

The skate sprint course isn't quite as technical as the classic sprint course was so I am happy about that. It definitely has a nicer flow to it. There aren't as many 180 degree turns in it.

Also, this morning we were informed that World U23 Championships in Poland are being postponed until the end of February. I was supposed to fly straight from Canmore this Sunday over to Poland to compete at the start of next month, but there is a serious lack of snow in Szczyrk. Now I have to quickly make some changes to my training and travelling schedule to make sure that I will be in top shape for U23s. I will spend today figuring out what I have to do. Maybe I'll be able to go to Eastern Canadians after all!