Tour de Ski Reflections....

I MADE IT!

I made it to the top of the Alpes Cermis! Yehaw! 

Ten years from now I can just picture myself laughing, in reflection: "Remember the time when I race the entire Tour de Ski with a broken wrist after falling on Christmas Day?!"  I can even chuckle at this feat now, as I stare at my computer over a cup of coffee.  The dust has finally settled. I have a while before another race attempt.  Rob is on a plane home (I hope to see him in April!) I am away from the team for the first time since flying to Europe mid-November.

Teammates and finishers! Me, Kikkan & Liz 

Yep. While the Canadian men's team is lying on the beach in the Canary Islands I opted for my own version of R & R. Months ago I remembered getting an email from my friend Kathy announcing that her and her husband were selling everything and moving to Italy.  Back in the day I got to know Bill & Kathy when I coached their two kids at West High School.  Since then Kathy has been a member of my women's group back in Anchorage.  Part way through the Tour I was able to track down some contact info for them (with some help!) and they agreed to let me crash out at their house for a while. I've only been her a few hours but it was incredible to sleep in & walk downstairs and make what I want for breakfast, when I want it. When opening their cupboards I find familiar things like Life Cereal, Organic Valley Milk & El Paso Taco Shells.  This funny mixture of Italian and American is a result of Kathy's job working as a school nurse on the Aviano Military Base.  They have access to the commissary grocery store where I suppose, they feel the need to offer American things to the Americans working here.

Here is the "traffic circle" in the small town that they live in.... while they've been going non stop since moving here, the pace of Italian life is slow - which is exactly what I need right now.... 

Kathy & Bill are some of the most gracious, kind people I know I am so grateful to have a "home away from home" here in Italy. There is no snow here in Aviano but funny enough, Kathy brought her roller skis from Alaska so I might take a spin on those later this week!  (You've gotta love those Alaska girls!)  It's been really fun so far to take a peek into their new lives and I am incredibly thankful that they've accommodated me so much. It's been fun to bit** about the aspects of Europe that are tough - for example, the inability to get anything done. Here in Italy everything is "Domani, Domani" which means, "tomorrow, tomorrow!"  When living life on the road (such as I am) you must become accustomed to a lack of productivity. For example, it may take all flipping day to figure out how and where to do a load of laundry.  Back home in the states, laundry would be one of 101 things you might get done any given day. They can relate to bad Internet, the ten hour time difference, and the difficulty of staying in touch with loved ones back at home.

Here I am with Kathy on a walk..... mandatory machiatto stop along the way.... 

Kathy & Bill :)

Kathy is the perfect mixture of mom and friend.... it's so nice to be spending some time with people from home.  This night we had Kathy homemade ravioli for dinner - each ravioli made with loving care! 

Enough about laundry & ravioli and back to the Tour!!

Finishing the Tour, and reaching the top of the Alpes Cermis with a bib on was a huge goal of mine.  I'm not going to lie. It was really, really tough but not as tough as dropping out would have been for me. A friend sent Rob an email telling him about a German saying that basically says, the pain of racing is temporary and the pain of quitting lasts forever. I agree whole heartily with this statement and it became somewhat of a mantra for me during the 11- day tour.

"Cheers to finishing!" 

Just a sampling of the food they had in the VIP tent at the top of the Alpes Cermis! 

Each day I had to put my ego aside and accept that my results weren't what they had been earlier this season.  Each day I questioned myself, trying to figure out if I was doing the right thing. Was I hurting myself by continuing to race? Was turning in sub-par results adding or taking away from my case? All I knew was that I love to race, I have worked my butt off to be over here, racing in Europe. I knew that there were many, many other ski racers who would have loved to be in my position. There were also countless people back at home who had gone above and beyond to help me be here, racing the Tour.

Devon Kershaw powering up the last part of the climb - in places, the grade was 28% which required everyone, even the top men to "granny skate." 

Early on, even before I had my proper diagnosis I knew that I would finish the Tour if it killed me. I owed it to myself, my family & friends, my coaches, and my teammates.  My visual through all of this is one of those little sea snails that hooks onto a rock and won't let go, despite the crashing waves on it's back. Even though there were some significant odds against me, I got back on the starting line each and everyday.

In the Oberstdorf pursuit I had a bit of bad luck.... I had a great start to the race & my skis were good. Then, literally one minute into the race the group went down a big downhill with a turn at the bottom. All the girls in front of me start "power-plowing" (snow plowing) like mad and I felt like I was going to smash into them. I quickly busted out a snow plow too - but it was too quick. I caught an edge and went down really, really hard. I got up quick but lost all my momentum and the entire field was gone. I was absolutely dead last by 100 meters. I then spent the rest of the race trying to catch the entire field that had one another to work with and draft off of.  This picture doesn't quite do my legs justice but needless to say, they were bruised. Liz said I had "alpine bruises!" 

Some days I would look at the results, and some days I would simply walk away from the finish line, choosing to reflect on my race via technique, feeling, and subjective analysis.  The objective number, place, and time back doesn't always help.  I looked at each race as a learning opportunity. I learned a ton about new venues, new formats, and my competitors. Each time someone passed me I would take a mental note of what they were doing differently.  The last venue, at Val di Fiemme, is also the site of the 2013 World Championships. While I'm not particularly proud of my individual performance there, I have now raced the course where a new World Champion will be named next year. I now have an intimate and personal knowledge of the hills and how to prepare to take them on next winter.

Petter was tired at the end of the climb.... I have to admit, it was fun watching Hellner pass him! 

Cross Country skiing, and really most sports are full of competitive people, people who do each and every little thing in their power to "win" the race or come out on top. While we might not like to dwell on this fact, our goal is to beat our competitors and often a good race necessitates having one's name above that of their competitors on the results sheet.

Dario, the eventual men's winner has quite the fan club that travels from venue to venue. Once the men's race was done his fans marched up the race tracks playing gigantic swiss bells in celebration!

Thanks to Zach Caldwell for helping me with my skis during the Tour 

Throughout this whole ordeal, one of my friends sent me a few emails outlining some important facts.  First, he told me, "Holly, you are more than your results."  While this is an incredibly simple point, sometimes it's easy to forget. I've found myself, and seen some of my teammates fall into a pattern of self worth being directly tied to their placing in races.  Did I score World Cup points today or not? Did I have a personal best today or not? Especially for our team (USA) that has what I've called the "proximity disadvantage" (the inability to go home and rest) this can really plague us and if you're not careful, it can be a downward spiral. So. I am more than my results and so are my teammates. We are human and not everything is perfect all the time.

Second, he sent me a link to a speech given by John Wooden, perhaps the most articulate 92 year old on the face of the planet. (Wooden is a retired UCLA basketball coach and professor.)  In his speech, Wooden outlines his version of success which he pointedly admits is much different than the Mariam Webster Dictionary definition:

(You can see his whole, 18-minute speech here if you're interested) 

I thought about that for quite a spell, and I wanted to come up with my own definition. I thought that might help. And I knew how Mr. Webster defined it: as the accumulation of material possessions or the attainment of a position of power or prestige, or something of that sort -- worthy accomplishments perhaps, but in my opinion not necessarily indicative of success. So I wanted to come up with something of my own.

And I recalled -- I was raised on a small farm in Southern Indiana and Dad tried to teach me and my brothers that you should never try to be better than someone else. I'm sure at the time he did that, I didn't -- it didn't -- well, somewhere, I guess in the hidden recesses of mind, it popped out years later.Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be -- that's under your control. If you get too engrossed and involved and concerned in regard to the things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect the things over which you have control. 

From those things, and one other perhaps, I coined my own definition of success, which is: peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you're capable. I believe that's true. If you make the effort to do the best of which you're capable, to try and improve the situation that exists for you, I think that's success. And I don't think others can judge that. I think it's like character and reputation. Your reputation is what you are perceived to be; your character is what you really are. And I think that character is much more important than what you are perceived to be. You'd hope they'd both be good,but they won't necessarily be the same. Well, that was my idea that I was going to try to get across to the youngsters.

This notion became my second mantra of the Tour.  My goal was to be the best and do the best that I could do, without comparing myself to others.  Now this is much, much harder than it sounds because like I said before, the essence of sports in many people's mind is what page your name falls on for results; or what step of the podium you stand on.  However, without doing better than some of my competitors, I wouldn't be here in Europe, having the opportunities that I've had.  Sports aren't a big "Kumbaya" where everyone holds hands and tries to cross the finish line for a tie - not even in the slightest. The difference is, however, that when you focus on having a good race for yourself, and do the best that you can do, the results and improvement will come. I believe what John Wooden is saying is that if you focus on what others are doing, rather than trying to improve your own "game" it will work against those measures of success.  Instead, if you focus on improving your striding, or your mental game during races, the good results will fall in your lap. Not without effort, of course, but the point being, focus on what you can do, rather than being upset that you cannot do what others have done. 

In my specific case moving forward, I need not focus on the races that I'm missing and the World Cup points that my competitors are accumulating but rather, what kind of productive PT can I do for my wrist to heel my injury & how I can stay in shape while doing so.

What is my plan now? My plan consists of skipping the next couple race weekends. As much as it pains me to opt out of racing opportunities, I know the priority needs to be on getting better; on healing.  A couple weeks ago I had a quote about how every single second in a race is important; that even wiping the snot off your face could cost a place on the results sheet.  The reality is, every decrement in performance, whether it's 1% or 10% will result in a quick slip down the results list.  Therefore, my plan is to skip the sprints in Milan this weekend, the classic double header in Oteppa, Estonia next weekend, and the city sprint in Moscow.  Most likely, my next world cup starts will be in early February in Rybinsk, Russia.  There is a 10k mass start skate race and a 15k pursuit. Following Russia I hope to race in the Czech Republic & Poland as well.  

Until later & thanks so much for all the support! 

Love, 

Holly :) 

PS.

I had one day after the Tour to spend with Rob before his departure.  Considering I am here in Europe November - March it's tough missing loved ones.  My mom actually inspired and treated us to this wonderful "date."  We took the gondola up Latemar, a big ski area and took the Alpine slide, had lunch, etc.  We were celebrating New Years, Valentine's Day & his birthday since I won't see him again until spring :(

(Thanks Mom!) 

Going up the Alpine Slide 

Rob with our Italian Pizza

Sitting in front of the Dolomites

The Penultimate Race.... TDS/Italy

Oh Italy..... I am finally back in connectivity after no Internet for days. There is a theory that Internet is especially sparse in Italy due to some Mafia thing but that has yet to be confirmed.  Alas, my apologies for those of you that have checked back only to find my blog without recent updates.  It's been out of my control, for sure! (This also creates a huge back log in correspondence so if I haven't written you back yet, this is why!) 

This afternoon we have our second to last race of the Tour, a 10k classic mass start race at Val di Fiemme. I will make this post brief because I need to get ready but I really want to get something up to let you all know what has been going on. 

Racing in Toblach.... 

As I'm sure some of you have seen or read in other publications, I took a slip on the ice Christmas day while running in Ramsau, Austria.  It's taken a while to get a proper diagnosis.... this has included lots of fitful reading on wikipedia, Web MD, and all of those other scary Internet sources where you diagnose yourself and then continue to have nightmares.... However, I was finally able to get both an x-ray and MRI, mid-tour in Oberstdorf, Germany.  We were able to deal with an Orthopedic specialist but lots of the medical lingo was lost in translation and there was a fair amount of uncertainty- plus, we were literally trying to get on the road to arrive at the next stage of the Tour. It was quite a debacle of a day but  more on that later. 

These nice men, Herbert and Stephan made me a custom cast which is hard on one side, and soft on the other side.  They were even nice enough to do this for FREE! I am extremely grateful for their kindness - and was happy to hook them up with an Oberstdorf race bib :) 

I have been told usually Drs would put a non-removable cast on for six weeks....instead I have this awesome removable, cleanable cast! 

Hard on top, soft on the bottom 

The conclusion from the MRI is/was that I have a non-dislocated fracture of the distal radius bone.  They were initially worried about the scaphoid-lunate ligament as well but that appears to be okay which is terrific news.  

I was happy & surprised to make the sprint heats in Toblach. Everything was going well until I got tripped up on the last uphill.... darn! 

The second I fell on the ice I knew that something was terribly wrong. My hand was extremely swollen and my range of motion was poor.  Christmas was literally 4 days before the beginning of the Tour and it was hard to know what to do.  Since then, I have been racing every day, doing my best to compete.  While my results have been extremely sub-par, I feel the need to complete the Tour. I've worked so hard to get here - and there are so many people who have helped me out along the way. I know there are a handful of other skiers from the US who would have loved to have the start opportunity and I feel the need to represent the US. I often wonder if the decision to keep racing is tough or just plain stupid.  I was concerned about the potential of permanent damage to my arm but have been told since that it's probably just pro-longing my recovery period. 

Here's a good motto - from my coach Erik :) 

Coming into the Tour my goals included fighting for a top ten stage results and finishing in the top 20 overall.  While those goals are completely out of the question now, I continue to race because each time I put a bib on, I learn something valuable. With each stage of the Tour has come another World Cup start, another experience at a new venue, and some pointers and direction towards my results here (hopefully) next year, not to mention later this season.  

Also, Val di Fiemme, (where we are now) is the site of the 2013 World Championships so while I'm racing today, I will literally be trying out the course for next year's Championships.  After yesterday's "inspection ski" I was really psyched - I think the courses suit me well and it gives me a ton of direction for summer and fall training. 

Tour de Ski here and now - World Champs next year! 

I could go on and on but it's off to lunch, then a quick view of the men's race, time to get ready - and bring on the pain train! 

I promise a more complete update with tons of pictures soon. In the meantime, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED MY JOURNEY!!!! YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AND I WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL! This injury has been especially difficult in that part of me feels like I've let some of you down but I've been told that I cannot think that way... and I know I can't.  Nonetheless, THANK YOU and I will continue to do my best to represent you all and get some stories and photos as soon as I possibly can! 

Cheers! 

Holly:) 

 I am so happy and thankful to have Rob, my husband here with me.... he's working with both Fasterskier and Salomon

The Church at the Val di Fiemme race venue - trail side

Italians lining up for all kinds of meat..... they like their salami here! 

Tour de Ski - Day one

I figure that a short post is better than none at all.... so here it is:  The Tour de Ski started today.  While I had a poor result - by far, my worst "distance race" since being in Europe, I have to happy in that I felt as if I could ski. Yesterday, in the training day, my wrist was incredibly painful and I have to admit; I was worried to say the least.  Today I had a top-notch tape job done by Steph, our massage therapist and a double dose of pain meds.  The duo seemed to do the trick!

Conditions today were icy, squirrely & fast - not my favorite.  But, it's snowing outside right now which makes me happy. Klister covered conditions are some of my favorite and I have an awesome pair of skis if the waxing goes that way.  I'll have plenty of girls to chase tomorrow in the pursuit start so it should be fun to "hunt some down" and try and improve my overall placing, not to mention, aim for a solid "day of" result.

Other than that, one of the big themes of the Tour is RECOVERY. With nine races in eleven days, proactive recovery becomes imperative.

Here is the plan: after the race, reach for my Boost - yep, the "old folks drink."  I may be the only person on the US team that likes the stuff. Me and maybe my grandma :) Change clothes afterwards... get a good, short cool down, ice my hand, change into dry clothes, hustle back to the hotel for a shower, put my feet up. I'm sure we'll start using the mobile ice bath as fatigue builds up. Also, Kikkan and Bird did a bit of personal fundraiser to bring Steph Caverhill, a massage therapist over for the team.  Most teams travel with a massage therapist everywhere. While we normally do not have one, we're excited to have Steph here to help us out over the next week and a half. As I said above, she did an awesome job of taping my hand. It's cool to have a female on staff.... I can tell with the little things like the fact that she used pre-rap on my tape job so I don't have to pull of 1/2 of my arm hair when de-taping. Thanks for that Steph!

Here's the only picture I have of today so far. Check back later and perhaps I'll have more posted?  Thanks for everyone's encouragement! Go team USA!

Re-fueling with the Swedes in the athlete tent after the race: Me, Liz, Anna Haag & Charlotte Kalla. (Kikkan was taking the pic)

Holly :) 

The Eve of the big day...

Team USA at the "opening ceremonies/team introduction" for the Tour 

So.... I haven't said much on my blog yet about the Tour de Ski but here it is - starting TOMORROW!  As there is no World Champs or Olympics this year, the Tour is kind of the pinnacle of the race year.  Many of the top athletes have been aiming to perform well here all year.  I was a last minute addition to the US Tour roster after having performances during period one of the World Cup this fall.  

Skiing in Ramsau, Austria on one of the few clear days 

I am ecstatic to have the opportunity to race this event. As a distance skier and high volume trainer, I absolutely LOVE the thought of racing day in and day out, challenging myself physically, mentally, and emotionally.   I have no idea how I'll do or what will happen to by body as the days of fatigue add up but this is a great time to try it and I couldn't be more excited for the challenge.  

There are a ton of friends, family, and even people I don't know that have helped make it possible for me to be here.  As many of you know, I responsible for providing my own funding and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the generous support and enthusiasm of many of YOU. I hesitate to name anyone personally because there are so many of you and I don't want to leave anyone out but you know who you are.  The experience of needing support and needing it fast has really been really moving. I only hope that I can repay many of you back with the generosity someday be it in the form of a ski lesson, athletic inspiration, a smile, or perhaps one day, dollars to a cause important to you. I know that tomorrow, when I put a bib on, I will feel like I'm racing with the support of people from Washington and Alaska; Kongsberger Ski Club, Alaska Pacific University, and Snoqualmie Nordic Team. THANK YOU so much to ALL of you! 

This is simply the best and most wonderful thing I have seen at a breakfast buffet ever - fresh, local honeycomb. 

As far as challenges go, I feel the need to share something that's been on the fore front of my mind lately.... Christmas Day I decided to go for a short run before dinner.  It was dark out and icy in places.  Just as I was about to turn around and head back to the Kobaldhof, I slipped on the ice, falling back, and caught myself with my left hand.  I knew instantly that it was not good.... but I wasn't sure how bad. And I still don't know.  The plan for tomorrow, and each day afterwards is to ice, tape, take some anti-immflatatory medication and go for it.  The US team doesn't have a doctor here at the moment so this morning I went and saw the Norwegian Team's Doctor and "Physio."  (The Euro name for PT)  They were incredibly generous to see me and were encouraging in that they do not think my wrist has a scaphoid fracture - my greatest worry via a couple hours on email and web MD. (Always a bad idea and also guaranteed to give you nightmares). If Petra Madjic can win a bronze medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games with broken ribs and a punctured lung, perhaps I can race the tour, and excel in the Tour with whatever injury my wrist may have sustained.  It's not ideal but I'm certainly not the first athlete who has gotten a bit beat up. 

Time for bed as often rest provides one with the best healing and rejuvenation powers!  Thank you everyone for everything and I'll do my best to keep you posted through this incredible journey! 

Sincerely, 

Holly :) 

Back in Business!

Last night (and for the past 48+ hours) I watched a movie because the Internet crashed in the entire Ramsau Valley.  I couldn't get much work done or respond to all my unanswered emails but it wasn't for lack of trying, that's for sure!  So...  I finally allowed myself to enjoy "Water for Elephants" a movie about the Circus and really, life on the road or better yet, a train. I had to laugh because afterwards, I realized that a friend of mine had referred to the World Cup as the "White Circus."  Ever since she brought the term up, It's been surfacing everywhere. (Funny how that always works, isn't it?)

The girls squad competing in Rogla, Slovenia

While we don't have acrobats, lions, tiger, and an elephant named Rosie (if you've seen the movie you know what I mean) we do travel like vagabonds and spend a lot of time on the road.  The athletes, the mondo Norwegian wax truck, the blow-up WC Craft arch, the entourage of massage therapists, sports psychologists, wax techs, and VW vans full of skis bounce from one end of Europe to the other, unpacking and repacking every weekend in a different locale. People are good at opening up the show and closing it down when it's time to leave and move on.  As for my road trip with the White Circus? Well, it looks as though my original 6-week stint in Europe has turned into much more - potentially even an entire World Cup season. 

Ida kickin some butt and scoring her first legit World Cup points!  

Throughout the past training season (April-November) I was worried about the 2011-2012 season.  Without an Olympic Games or World Championships to qualify for and race in, what in the world was I going to do?  I had a couple different brainstorms up my sleeve but the plan has morphed into Plan A+ or better than I had expected.  Where shall I race this season? Why, the World Cup of course!  Months ago my coach at APU, Erik Flora, told me: "Train hard, train well and good things will happen to you. Opportunities will present themselves."  He was right.  Here I am in Ramsau, Austria, spending Christmas and getting ready to compete in my first Tour de Ski!!!!!  But more on that later... REWIND!

In the Rogla press conference last week the women's sprint winner, Maiken Casperson Falla stated that she couldn't wait to go home because "they had been on the road since December 2nd" and it was "hard."  To that I say: "Try five months on the road!"

Liz and the Hoff chillin on the Pisten Bully, Rogla Stadium

North Americans definitely have the proximity disadvantage when it comes to being a Cross Country World Cup ski racer.  From Alaska it takes close to 36 hours of travel to get to Europe and another 8+ days to "acclimate" to the ten hour time difference and feel like my body was in a place where it could perform well.  Realistically, any trip "home for a break" would take me a week to adjust to home, then another week upon my return here.  Maybe that is an unrealistic amount of time if I'm chasing points and trying to improve my world rank???

Simi after a great sprint in Rogla - qualified 7th, finished 10th!!!! 

What I've realized, through intimate realization is that living on the road and the "lifestyle" of the White Circus is a true skill; one that takes a long time to perfect.  Our team moves and makes decisions as a group; there is no "I" in we.  With limited transportation options and resources, compromise and working together is the name of the game.

Rest and rejuvenation is an essential skill: how can one make a new hotel room every couple of days "homey?"  Some of you may be envious of not having to cook for yourself (ever) but it can be tiring to eat from endless buffets or sit through another 2-hour three course lunch when all you want is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - on your own clock.  Speaking of peanut butter, it's only available in select countries and certain stores. Your eyes have to scan at least 356 kinds of preserves, 87 kinds of honey and 34 varieties of nutella to potentially find a lone jar of the good stuff. Then, once you find it, you'd better buy a bunch, save it, cherish it, and make sure it doesn't get lost in the bowels of the cargo van - you never know when the next opportunity to purchase it will be.  Being a traveler requires proactive planning you see!

Noah and I using the "contrast bath"...... one minute in the blow up cold tub, the other person in a warm shower, then switch. (x4!)

The Internet is a topic in and of itself.  I could write a book on my frustrations with this form of communication and my hours spent trying to get online embarrassingly outweigh my winter training log hours.  The Internet in many ways is my only true lifeline to family, friends, coaches, the US, Washington, and Alaska.  I don't have a phone that works in Europe - I can't place or receive calls.  So when the Internet doesn't work, which is about 1/2 of the time, I feel like my limbs have been cut off.  Lame, I know. It's not the end of the world to read a book instead but with Christmas just a couple days away, numerous plane tickets to buy for the next period, and countless emails to write, this is a problem. 

"Friends of Liz" are good people.... 

While technology frustrations are endless and I love peanut butter which is hard to find, the White Circus is well worth the buffet lines and occasional frustration.  As a relative World Cup novice I am experiencing "firsts" on a daily basis.  New countries I've checked off my list so far this trip include Austria, Slovenia & Switzerland.  Next are Italy, Czech, Poland, Russia (if my complicated VISA comes through!) & Estonia.  The travel from place to place is so swift that I find once I have finally learned the basics of one language: "Hello, Please, Thank You, Good bye" we're already moving onto another place altogether!

Good buddy and "North American teammate" Chandra Crawford, a minute before stepping on the Rogla sprint podium! 

Me in Rogla! 

Thinking ahead, knowing what to expect, but also having the ability to be flexible is SO important when you are living your life out of a duffel bag.  In terms of spontaneity, I try to find small, spontaneous & novel things that add to my travel experiences here.  My best example, by far, is the local, organic milk vending machine that we found while out on a run in Slovenia.  One can buy reusable plastic or glass milk bottles from a vending machine and fill them up from a "milk spicket."  The milk shack is stand-alone and when you step up to purchase milk, or even to examine what in the heck is going on, the lights turn on and soothing music starts to play.  I decided fresh milk was a must - and I had to get one of the glass milk jars in honor all of my friends (and family!) that have any association with Williams College.  (For those that don't know, the Williams Ski team competes in purple spandex cow suits.)  Check out pictures from this small adventure here: 

That's it for now!  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  

Cheers, 

Holly :) 

Darling Davos and Beyond….

We’re currently speeding away, the opposite direction of Davos, headed to Rogla, Slovenia for the upcoming weekend’s World Cup races.  So far we’ve spent what seems like ½ of Austria in a series of tunnels, the last of which was 15 kilometers long.  I’ve always heard about the amazing transportation feats accomplished over here and yes, I must admit, I am impressed.  The other day I heard a rumor about a Russian business man who wants to build a tunnel from Russia to Alaska and you know what, I wouldn’t put it past them (in a non Sarah Palin way of course!) 

 With Sadie!

Casey's been my tax tech for World Cup period 1 and he's been doing an awesome job - thanks Casey for all the hard work and fast boards! 

But back to Davos. I had an awesome weekend of races, one that by far surpassed my personal expectations.  In Saturday’s distance race I began getting splits that I was leading the race – and I thought they were wrong. On Sunday, when I qualified 18^th for the sprint heats, I expected to get “bumped out” by later starters.  While I was far from winnig the race on Saturday I experienced a World Cup best and on Sunday, I qualified and participated in my first European World Cup sprint heat!

Coaches from four different countries ready to go at the "broken pole coaches zone" 

I won’t belabor all the boring details of each race but there are a few things worth noting. First, I love skiing on real snow, and I love racing at altitude!  Altitude can be incredibly deceiving because it actually has a horrible “race feel.”  For those that can drive manual transmission cars, I liken it to driving on the highway in third gear when you should undoubtably be in fifth.  You feel like you should be going faster, you know you can, but the car is stuck – and won’t shift.  Perhaps you could force it but then you run the chance of ending up as that car on the side of the highway mountain pass smoking in the ditch as all the other cars speed by thinking, “Geez! Look at that sorry soul!”  After crossing the finish line in second place the stadium announcer interviewed me and asked for my impression of the course. I think I said something like, “I loved it – you have to go as fast as you possibly can without going too fast!”  At the completion of the race I finished a World Cup best of 13^th place, only 5 seconds down to 10^th.  It’s my nature to always want more (that tenth place!) but I forced myself to be patient, and to be satisfied with the result that I turned in.

Podium poles, ready to go! 

After each World Cup race we receive a “competition analysis.”  This analysis is complete with each intermediate split and ranks each section of the course and how you skied it compared to the rest of the field.  I had some sections that were as good as 6^th or 7^th place overall and my last two, I really tanked it at 35^th place!  While I couldn’t hold my pace the entire time, I took a risk and skied the race at a pace that I would ideally like to hold. My coach Erik, and I have talked about this as I have tanked races before, going out too hard and they dying in the end.  He’s always been encouraging and said to me, “Someday Holly, you will go out fast and be able to hold onto the pace – and THAT, will be a good race!” 

Picture from Men's race... 

Coming off the high of my World Cup best on Saturday, Sunday I was determined to qualify for the heats.  The sprint course was unique in that the Davos course is a two-lap race. Its one of the only courses where the men and women compete on the same distance.  Going into it, I knew that the course fit my strengths and I was hoping for a good day. And a good day it was! Even after a few fumbles I crossed the line in 18^th!  On top of that, Kikkan, my teammate at APU won the sprint qualifier, a feat that she’s never accomplished despite her list of World Cup victories! 

Fun to finally meet Skyler Davis!

Once heats were sorted out I found out that I would be racing the quarterfinal with none other than Olympic and World Champion, Norway’s Marit Bjorgen.  Also in my heat were my Canadian friends, Chandra Crawford and Perianne Jones.  Both Chandra and Peri joined us up in Alaska this past summer for the first annual “NAWTA Camp” or the “North American Women’s Training Alliance Camp.” The camp included one week of skiing on APU’s Eagle Glacier where we got the chance to work together and race around the top of the glacier head-to-head! 

Training on APU's Eagle Glacier earlier this summer - USA & Canada!

Before starting we had a quick North-American “power-pound” and lined up for the gun. I reminded myself, this is just like the glacier! J Skate sprint starts now consist of a short double pole before you are allowed to skate.  The tracks are short, allowing for little to no time to spread the field. Consequently, Bjorgen and I started next to each other and upon exiting the track, almost took each other out.  Unfortunately I missed some key steps and was forced into a position near the back of the group.  Unfortunately I wasn’t quite fast enough to move onto the next heat but the race was SO MUCH FUN. I couldn’t be disappointed. At the end I didn’t even feel tired. Instead, it was some kind of weird euphoria that left me wishing and wanting to try it again!  But, the day was over for me and my consolation prize was a prime spot on the course to take photos and watch Kikkan absolutely destroy the rest of the women’s field!

 

Kikkan in the final, lap one

A happy coach 

In all of this I keep returning to the same theme: Confidence and Interface or aka, “Opportunity.”  It’s priceless to know that we CAN compete with these girls and each weekend of head-to-head racing I learn something new and get better. Now that’s not to say my results will continue to improve each and every weekend. (A bad day on the World Cup can easily result in a 70^th place finish.)  If that were the case, I’d be winning World Cup races come February. I am optimistic by nature and don’t believe in putting limitations on dreams but I don’t think that will be happening – not quite yet at least! 

That’s it for now – time to get settled into Rogla.  

Have a great week, take care of yourself, and find a reason to be thankful for all life’s blessings! (There are so many!)

Sincerely,

Holly :)