Ski Nationals in Callaghan Valley

Hello everyone!
Here is an update from Callaghan Valley! I have been here for a week now racing at the 2013 Cross-Country Ski Nationals, along with fellow orienteers Darya Sepandj and Adam Woods.

It has been beautiful all week, with the sun shining and beautiful skiing. The first race was a team sprint, where two teammates each ski three laps tagging off each lap. The race is essentially interval training and a great way to start off nationals. For orienteers the comparison would be running a multiple loop relay tagging your partner after each loop. Next on the agenda was an interval start 5km skate technique race. A five kilometres race is a very painful race (at least for me), as it is short enough that you must push every second of the race. This is very good mental training as one must be able to focus on technique and pushing yourself through the pain. The next day presented a different mental challenge. It was a 10 km classic race starting at 11:30am. Starting that late in the day meant the snow was super slushy and was only getting slushier the farther into the race you got and the more tired  you got. The challenge was then forcing yourself to keep moving when your body was on the verge of overheating and exhaustion. Although skiing does not employ the same amount of mental skills as orienteering there are definitely transferable skills. Next was the sprint. 1400m done 4 times. Sprint days are by nature tough and this one was no exception!

Now onto orienteering related stuff: where we are staying in Pinecrest, between Whistler and Squamish, near Brandywine Falls, there is a taste of spring in the air. The snow is rapidly disappearing and the forest is reappearing. This combined with the fact that I was in this area for Barebones is getting me excited for the new season to start. I can't wait to start running through the forest again! I am not sure what the conditions are in Ottawa, but I am sure that when I return, there will be lots of orienteering to be done!