Transition

A hurricane, an earthquake and a tsunami can all be chalked up as personal experiences in the past year. It seemed that wherever I managed to escape to became under attack by mother nature. Yet, somehow, the most anticipated potential disaster was averted. I’ve always valued pursuing post secondary education, but at times other opportunities always seemed more prevalent and attractive. Not to mention, upon retiring from the sport of Nordic Combined after the Vancouver Olympics, the thought of pursuing an undergraduate degree was beyond intimidating at 32 years old. Finally, the time came to jump head first into the anticipated disaster. Naturally, of course, there were some sleepless nights in September as I stressed about the transition from being a full time athlete to being fully immersed in the world of academia. Fortunately, this transition was not rough, whatsoever. Contrary to the experience of Hurricane Tomas in Jamaica, the 5.0 Earthquake in Quebec, and the Tsunami in Hawaii, the transition was relatively smooth and obviously rewarding.

I attribute the gratifying experience at the University of Calgary to excellent timing, commitment, friends, family, and a true passion for the Kinesiology curriculum. I rarely had to fight to stay awake during class as the curriculum seemed to peak my interest each and every day. U of C definitely has some of the industry leaders in professors, such as Dr. Dave Paskevich, Dr. Reed Ferber, and Dr. Richard Walker. The greatest challenge from the get go proved to be human physiology, as I struggled to recall anything from the good ol’ days of high school biology back in 1996. I had to hire a classmate to tutor me in preparation for the first midterm and half expected to be lucky to achieve a 70. I essentially struck gold and managed an 83. Nonetheless, I somehow attributed this more to luck than knowledge as I really didn’t feel that comfortable with the material. In the subsequent course I learned how to better manage my studies and set forth with even greater ambitions. I was fortunate to meet some really interesting individuals and we formed quite the dynamic study group. Thanks to this initiative, my mom and Mark’s support, and the Canadian Ski and Snowboard Association’s Making Winter Winners grant, I was able to commit to lots of library time and managed to boost that lucky 83 to a 95 and the second highest grade amongst 400 students.

The time is quickly approaching that I must make choices that will significantly impact my career path. I never imagined that there would be so many options with a Kinesiology degree. However, it seems that now an undergrad degree just doesn’t cut it and so I’ve set my sight on grad school. Right now, I’m very intrigued by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Thunder Bay. Also, I will give serious consideration to an MSc, most likely right back here at U of C. As it was my first complete winter in Calgary and I was unable to spend much time in the mountains, I came to appreciate our crazy, and often harsh climate. It really made 14 plus hour days in the library quite bearable and guilt free. Who really wants to be outside in the dark and minus 30? It was those rare sunny days above zero with a fresh dump of powder that made studying unbearable. I have great motivation to maximize my GPA this upcoming year.

Well, hopefully this summer is exciting as the last, minus the natural disasters. Its great to know what you want and be lucky enough to have the opportunity to jump in with both feet.

Friday the 13th

Its been a while since I’ve taken the time to write and say whats going on. I’m sorry. . . I’ve been too busy living. This Friday the 13th is scarier than any of past. Its not because my house feels like it may blow over at any moment or because the thunder clouds are rippin’ and roarin’ on a serious terror mission, it seems like that has been the routine for months now in Calgary. I still don’t feel like summer has arrived and it’s mid August. In fact, I’m so confident that it will never really come that I picked up a new set of skis in anticipation for the white stuff anytime. Really though, the terror comes from the fact that in one month, September 13, 2010, I will make my return to full time studies at the University of Calgary. It’s been 14 years since I graduated from high school and now I’m getting ready to go back.

My priorities have changed from the very physically demanding sport of Nordic Combined, to the challenge of balancing full time post secondary studies and hopefully new employment (fingers crossed). As scary as the idea of school is in some regards, I’m excited for the anticipated routine and interaction. I have had the opportunity to take the odd class on campus during the condensed spring sessions and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and passion in the Kinesiology faculty. Its funny that my mind and direction has changed so many times since I originally gained acceptance to the Faculty of Kinesiology in 1996 straight out of high school and yet here I am back at square one.

It’s been an amazing trip since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. As I had previously taken a step back from the sport of Nordic Combined, post 2006 Torino Olympics, I knew what to expect this time around. I had a lot of cravings for various recreational activities and travel. I’ve spent more time around water than in years past while in Thunder Bay, Utah, Kelowna, Barbados, Vernon, and some random spots in and around the Rockies. Surfing, kayaking, swimming, softball, bikes of all kinds, soccer, golf, long boarding and hockey have satisfied the itch to stay physically active. The fear that I will soon no longer be a stay at home recreational sports and outdoors enthusiast is scary. In fact, it’s scarier than Jason and his hockey mask on this Friday the 13th.

So, with one month to go, no matter if its rain, shine (unlikely), thunder, lightning, hail (probable), hurricane, I will take advantage of each and every moment and opportunity to enjoy my garage full of toys and whatever the land and water have to offer. From there on I may only get to read about physical activity while I am buried in Science textbooks. Cheers.

Games Over!

After what seems like a lifetime of preparation and anticipation the Vancouver Olympics have come and gone. It’s all over. Sure there will be Olympic Team gatherings and debriefings, but the Olympic competition and celebrations will only continue in memories. Its been a few weeks since the closing ceremonies and I’m starting to rid this Olympic Hangover. It was an amazing and rewarding experience being part of the 2010 Canada Olympic Team that was the best Canadian Olympic Team ever. I’m sad that Nordic Combined couldn’t contribute to the podium or top 8 mission of the Canada Olympic Team, but I assure you that I did my best and wanted it just as much as anybody that may have a medal around their neck.

In previous years I found myself counting down the races until the end of the season. However, since my comeback in November 2008 I found that I was doing what I wanted to do more than anything in the world. I truly enjoyed pushing myself to the limit in each and every training and competition. Whether I was performing above or below my potential I took pride in the battle against myself. Similar to every interval and pace workout I did for the last year the Olympics was a complete battle against myself. I knew my competition would bring their “A Game” and knowing that I was one of the lower qualified athletes I would have to bring my “A Game” and then some.

My mediocre jumping was close to as good as I had performed in competition all year. However, in my mind I was still dreaming that I would miraculously breakthrough and at least get a little help from the wind gods. I think they call this “hope” and I would never give up hope. I believe that you get a green light to start your jump for a reason. Despite my hope and belief, this wasn’t the case and the low inrun speed and my high body weight made the concept of competing against the best in the world even more challenging. In turn, I had to start a cross country race in a mindset that I had never experienced. I wanted to be anywhere, absolutely anywhere, other than where I was. I was on the start line for a cross country race at the Olympics and I was so disappointed with myself that I would have rather been anywhere else rather than face the embarrassment of skiing that course in front of my family and friends, and thousands of people who didn’t know that I was a better athlete than that.

I found the power to push myself from the start. . . barely. I continued to ski the first lap of the race at my own pace, kind of pouting and feeling sorry for myself. I was unsure of my body after the failure at the previous race 10 days before. There were thousands of people cheering me on, but I swear I heard nothing. I had at least a dozen different conversations going on in my head until one prevailed at about the 3km point of a 10km race. That voice reminded me that I was there in that moment and the past was the past. I was aware of the challenges of my own journey and any performance expectations cam from within. So, with thousands of people at my side it was, once again, me versus myself. I quickly found some rhythm and although it wasn’t the speed of some of my better races, it was everything I had on this day and I was determined to leave it all on that course. I overcame whatever negative thoughts persisted in my mind and proudly pushed forward toward the finish line.

I don’t believe that one necessarily feels stressed when they are stressed. I had everything I needed at the Olympics. Everything that hadn’t been there in the past was definitely there in the present. I had great sponsors, equipment, coaching support, family, friends, fans, food, dr’s. . . everything I could imagine. I felt extremely relaxed and comfortable being a part of the larger Canada Olympic Team. I completely rejected the idea that I could have been stressed, that is until I crossed that finish line. The floodgates opened and I felt alive again. Somehow, I managed to find a smile despite finished a good 45 steps away from the top of the podium. I had felt like a walking zombie for much of the preceding month and now had suddenly been injected with some energizer bunny. I really wish that I could have focused on my enjoyment of performing rather than the self-created expectations of results, but that is a learning lesson for the bigger picture of life.

I was at the Olympics because I had worked extremely hard and overcome many obstacles to qualify. The challenge is that once you meet one goal you set another. I was extremely proud to qualify for the Olympics, but once I achieved that I set a new goal of busting into the top 25. My failure to do so caused me great sadness. Albeit, I’m a competitive person and if I won the gold medal I’m sure that I wouldn’t be satisfied with my competition. There would always be something that I could have done better. Sometimes enough is never enough and often this attitude is what distinguishes the best athletes from the others.

Now that the Olympics are over I’m able to take advantage of extremely nice weather in Calgary. I’ve been loving the ability to mix up my activities, rather than succumbing to the tunnel vision of training for the Olympics. In the past 2 weeks I have been road cycling, playing hockey five times, curling, rock climbing, alpine skiing, badminton, a 30km xc race, running and hiking, watching the Calgary Flames and a ton of housekeeping. I’m so excited for what tomorrow may bring, but even more excited for today. Cheers.

One more shot!

One more shot

Today was an exciting day for me. Since I have been feeling much stronger I was able to get out and cheer some of my best friends on the USA Nordic Combined Team. They skied an amazing racing and earned four shiny silver Olympic medals. Congrats to Brett Camerota, Todd Lodwick, Johnny Spillane and Bill Demong and their coaching staff. This is the first Olympic medal in a Nordic Combined team event for the USA. Their success shows that it is possible to win in a European dominated sport.

We’ve now started training on the large hill ski jump for the final Olympic Nordic Combined event coming up Thursday February 25^th. Jumping continues to be a challenge as I struggle to find my previous form. I seem to be landing around 105 meters no matter the jump I make which is frustrating. However, I still have one session to turn things around a bit. Of course, things will be different on competition day as there will definitely be more energy in the air and I’m excited to have another chance to milk that energy.

Since my first event I was named the loneliest Olympian in the media. In some ways this may be true. I definitely feel that way at times in the Athlete Village now that most of the Canadian athletes are finished competing. I spend most of the day out at the Whistler Olympic Park venue to return to a mostly abandoned village as all of the luge and skeleton athletes, ski jumpers, and some of the biathletes have wrapped up their Olympic Competition and are now enjoyed the other elements of the Olympic Games.

Despite this perceived loneliness as a “one man team,” it is an amazing experience to have so many members of the Calgary, Thunder Bay, and various other Nordic Communities around the venues. In addition, I’m fortunate to be able to have teammates Barrett Martineau and Wes Savill around to use as gophers to help me push my cross skiing to the next level during intensity workouts. All of my teammates have been devoting long days to the forerunning the ski jumping so they are really working hard to be a part of the Olympics and keep up with their training at the same time. Hopefully they will get the chance to compete at the 2014 or 2018 Olympics.

Although I am a “one man team” there is just so much to do around the Olympic village on my own or as part of the Canadian Olympic Team. From free arcades to free dentistry work to road hockey matches versus the Canadian army, it’s easy to entertain oneself. Last weeks extracurricular activities were highlighted by social time with Queen Latifa, ping pong with Sidney Crosby, and, of course, watching John Montgomery’s gold medal skeleton race. At this point its all about balance. Its tough to be one of the last guys to compete as there are so many potential distractions, but yet it’s important to

So with only a couple of days remaining before my final event at the 2010 Olympics I’m excited to feed off of the extraordinary energy of the best Olympic Team Canada has ever fielded, the thousands of fans, volunteers, my teammates, friends, and most importantly my family. I’m excited to share this dream with all of them in pursuit of Olympic excellence.

Finally, I ‘d like to give a big thanks to all of the people that have sent me such supportive emails and fb messages. I value and appreciate each one of your messages and they will definitely help fuel my fire during the final race. Cheers.

Intense

I arrived at the Whistler Olympic Athlete Village one week ago. It is really difficult to describe everything that has gone down since. It really has been a rollercoaster of emotions.

In the last couple of weeks I have been battling serious fatigue and somehow that translates into not being able to sleep. I’m really hoping that this sorts itself out in the next couple of days, but as I’m sure everybody is aware, the harder you try to sleep the more difficult it becomes.

The great thing about being part of the Canadian Olympic Team is that we have everything at our disposal. If I’m too tired to walk eight minutes to my next meal, I can either settle for a huge variety of healthy snacks in our Canadian Athletes Lounge or sign out a motorized bicycle to get me down there and back up the hill. I think I will be putting these bikes to greater use now that the rain has ceased and I focus on getting healthy for the next event.

So far, everything about the organization of the Vancouver Olympics is far superior to my Torino 2006 Experience. Other than Air Canada and VANOC misplacing our bags on the trip here, every bit of this Olympics is extraordinary. The transportation, security, food, and lodging are all exceeding expectations. Every athlete that I have spoken with has commented on their love for Canada and the positive Olympic experience. From my perspective, this is possible because of the astonishing commitment of volunteers. Volunteers are dressed in turquoise blue jackets and are absolutely everywhere. Although, on several instances they’ve sent me in the complete wrong direction, their heart was always in the right place. Just like Calgary in ’88, Vancouver will be an outstanding success primarily due to the love and passion of the volunteers.

Speaking of passion, the Opening ceremony was nothing short of absolute awesomeness. I was unsure if I would go in the days leading in for health reasons, but in the end decided that I would really regret not going. So, I went. It was one perhaps the best experiences of my life.

Sorry for the quickie. I’ll let you in on more of whats going on around here shortly.

The Diagnosis and the Cure

Wow, its done! Today was the last World Cup before the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Just typing that statement gets me excited, nervous, nauseous, afraid, and pumped. Fourteen months ago I gave up my job and each day seemed like it was longer than the last. Training until I couldn’t stand up, and then making one more repetition, jumping til. . . well, I could jump til forever on a good day. There just is nothing that can match the euphoria of flight.

The long days seemed to be replaced by flashes of time represented numerically on the calendar as the days of January 2010. Our training camp at New Years in Whistler was the first insight into the impending hype. Ever since that training camp each day seems shorter than the last and by no means am I referring to the amount of daylight, which, coincidentally, seems to be following a similar pattern. Contrary to our ability to determine tomorrow’s sunrise and sundown, I can’t predict how tomorrow will feel. However, I’m confident that it will fit somewhere within this realm of mixed emotions that seems to be flooding over me each day.

After a very successful training camp in Whislter I failed to put together one solid competition that I was proud of in the month of January. I’ve been trying various schemes to win the battle with my head that would enable me to produce equivalent jumps in competition as those in training. However, I’ve yet to win that battle. On the plus side, I know it there and I BELIEVE. Why else would I continue each and every day if I didn’t believe that tomorrow would be better than today?

Thankfully, I’ve managed to jump myself into a position where I could at least compete for World Cup points with great cross country racing on a couple of occasions. In the last couple of events I’ve managed to put together decent races to ski into 30^th place, which earned me exactly one world cup point on each occasion. So, although my jumping hasn’t been quite meeting my expectations, my cross country racing is at a level that can bail me out with less than mediocre jumping. As an athlete that is significantly heavier than my competition, its critical that my technique and timing are perfect on the jump hill in order to be successful. Its been close, but close just doesn’t cut it for me. I’m about to race against the top 50 athletes in the world on my home soil and I really want to show them what I’ve got, not what I almost have.

So, the world cup competitions are done. Now I have three days to train, relax, and hopefully not think too much. That’s definitely the toughest part for an independent, intense and neurotic athlete. However, the fact is that the training is done, everything is in motion, stay healthy and let it happen. Easier said than done since in the end I am ultimately responsible for my performance, I find it extremely difficult to shut off my brain at a time like this. However, I have the perfect cure in mind.

Seefeld, Austria is absolutely one of the most beautiful towns in the world. Situated high atop the Austrian Alps, the village somehow manages to have perfect sunshine and an abundance of white fluffy snow that all of us winter enthusiasts crave. What sets Seefeld above the others, in my opinion, is the Olympic Zentrum Sauna. This place is massive with several saunas of various temps, steam rooms and pools with waterfalls. Midwinter the place is absolutely packed. Between all of the hot and cold therapy and relaxation surely I can manage to escape for awhile. Cheers,

Euroland

Done with planes for a while. I’m trying to save all of my flying for ski jumping.

I arrived in Europe on January 5 after an awesome training camp with my Nordic Combined teammates, as well as the ski jumping team. Since I am a lululemon elite ambassador they were kind enough to put us up in an amazing house in the heart of Whistler. It was a much shorter drive to the Callaghan Valley compared to Squamish and a very short walk down the street to perfect cross country skiing at Lost Lake. We had perfect training conditions for the eight day camp and it really was exciting being in Whistler with all of the anticipation of the 2010 Olympics building.

Congratulations to Sean Van Es, Barett Martineau, Sebastien Dandurand, and Chanon Pretorius who qualified to travel to Europe to compete on the Continental Cup circuit. They will travel to Estonia, Germany, and Italy to train and compete. It will be a very challenging circuit and Chanon and Sebastien will definitely be the youngest competitors Good luck boys. You can follow their results at www.fis-ski.com . Click on the Nordic Combined link on the left hand side.

I’m writing this message from the back of the Estonian van. Its an interesting trip as there is serious mechanical problem and we only have first, third, and fifth gear. Sometimes, not all of those can be used. Occasionally reverse works, otherwise, we have to get out and push. Luckily reverse isn’t needed for this six-hour drive down the Autobahn. Our driver, the Estonian serviceman, was once a rally car driver so there is nobody better for this job and I’m happy to sit in the back and say hello to everybody at Brokerlink.

Its been an interesting first two weeks in Europe. For some reason I’ve been having some really poor luck along the way thus far. The bad luck started when my skis didn’t show up for the second consecutive trip to Europe. Back in December I flew to Austria for six days, which included three World Cups, and didn’t get my bags for the first four days thereby missing the first World Cup. This time, once again, my skis didn’t make the connection in London, and as a result, I didn’t see them for the first five days. Its hiliarious when Lufthansa, an Air Canada partner, told me to go rent skis for the World Cup. Wow, when was the last time you saw a pair of 260cm ski jumping skis in a rental shop, not to mention worthy of using in a World Cup competition? I had to borrow equipment for the first two World Cups. . . again. Funny thing is that when my jump skis did eventually show up they were quite badly damaged so tomorrow I plan to drive to Austria and find some new ones. Thank you very much Air Canada, proud sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team, for your support!

However, things are getting better and I’m still following my plan. I’ve had some really great training jumps in Whistler and then again in Italy. The goal now is to let it flow like water, relax and let it happen in competition.

Racing, on the other hand, is getting better with each race. Albeit, its often difficult to put together a good race after a poor jump competition. For instance, in today’s World Cup the first sixteen athletes were very unlucky, myself included, and had substantially less inrun speed, about 2km/hr. This gave us all an overwhelming handicap before we even put on the skinny skis. Regardless of the situation and the lack of motivation I was able to put together a respectable race. This is encouraging as I am confident that I will be able to find an even higher gear when the jump result is there.

This month is all about competing on weekends and training and travelling during the week. We will make Predazzo Italy our base for this time. Wesley Savill and I are here for the duration, while we swap coaches along the way. At times it can be crazy busy, especially since we are a very small, and independent team without support staff. But, we enjoy this and take pride in our ability to manage this challenge. Less than a month to go. This is exciting!
Cheers.

Winter Start

Instead of braving the Finnish darkness I decided that I’d rather head south to Park City, Utah and enjoy the start of this Winter. As a result that means a bit more time at home in Canmore and Calgary. Also, I look forward to returning to my old stompin’ grounds in Park City and experiencing the closest thing to competing at home that is possible in our sport, besides the upcoming Vancouver Olympics.  I leave for Park City on the 22nd of November and will compete at two Continental Cups on December 12th and 13th. Then, I get to enjoy the lovely experience of flying on a jet plane solo style for my birthday on December 14th. I will travel to Ramsau, Austria and remain there for one week and compete at the final World Cup weekend before Christmas. It will be a super sweet and short trip to Austria and I will be back in Thunder Bay for Christmas with the family.

Most of my equipment is in order thanks to some good friends on the Canadian Biathlon team and some buddies on the Austrian Nordic Combined Team that are hooking me up with jump skis. I am really lucky to have some very generous friends that really are making the road to Vancouver a wonderful experience.  Things are coming together much better this year than last and I’m very excited to start racing. This year I’ve managed significantly more time on snow cross country skiing prior to the first competitions. The early season snow conditions at Lake Louise and now at the Canmore Nordic Center have provided for excellent training conditions.

The Park City ski jumps are scheduled to open on November 17th so they should have all of the kinks out by the time we arrive next week. It feels like forever since we’ve had the opportunity to jump, but the wait should be over soon enough. Now that my Subaru has all of the kinks out I can start packing it up and head south.

One final thing. I want to say a special thanks to all of the kids at Acadia School in Calgary. You all did an absolutely amazing job from the anthem to the final presentation. I hope I can perform so masterfully in Vancouver in a few months. Thanks for your wonderful words and actions. Cheers,

ACADIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CALGARY

Finnair September 2009 Countdown

A big shout out to everybody at Canada Brokerlink . I’m excited to share my dream with you over the next while. Your support for my sport and for me is going to help create a wonderful experience and vastly help in my pursuit of excellence. I hope that we can share this new energy and chase our dreams together.

Excellence comes in many forms. For me it will be competing to my potential at Vancouver 2010. At present each day (24hrs) seems to get shorter and shorter and I’m not referring to the amount of daylight way up here. As of today the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics are only 133 days away. That means that I am 135 days away from my Olympic Competition. For me it won’t be an Olympic Games, but an Olympic competition where I will strive to be the best.

Today was an exciting day for Olympic enthusiasts. I watched with goose bumps all over as Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics. I watched the ceremony by myself live on ctvolympics.ca. It definitely brought me back to the day that my community gathered in the festival tent at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park as Vancouver was the successful candidate for the 2010 Olympics. I vividly recall the energy and excitement that exploded in that tent. At that time the 2010 Olympics felt like a lifetime away; now they are only 133 days.

I’ve been in Finland about two and a half months. Today, I started counting down the remaining days as they head into the single digits. My mind is torn between the excitement of going home and sleeping in a quality, comfortable bed versus the realization and anxiety that comes with the completion of the summer training season. Although I’m not homesick, I am looking forward to the freedom and space of my own place and car and believe it or not. . . cooking for myself.

At the commencement of this trip I was looking forward to the idea and appeal of having my meals ready for me on a daily basis. After all, I would save a significant amount of time each day by not having to prepare meals at the end of an exhausting training day and I never considered the thought that I would ever miss cooking for myself. It’s not that I don’t enjoy spending time in the kitchen, actually quite the contrary. It’s just recently I realized how much I missed it when Chanon and I decided to cook dinner for the group instead of the same old fish, mystery meat, and boiled potatoes mixed with a lot of oil and not a lot of flavor. That being said, I look forward to having the kitchen to myself, turning up the music, mixing some sauces, and attempting to make some magic happen in the kitchen.

Back to the now. From this point forward each jump seems even more significant and each work out more focused and precise.  At the same time, the technical work has been done and the goal is to now to achieve flow. I have not made as many jumps as I had hoped this summer, and only about 50 of those jumps were on a large hill. However, there have been many good ones so I have it in me to produce when the time comes. The irony is overwhelming that we have not been able to ski jump in the last week because of snow. In September we woke up to the white stuff a handful of times. So exciting!

My confidence in my cross country skiing has constantly increased throughout the summer months. After skiing the fastest time again at Finnish National Championships in Lahti at the end of September, I know that I am capable of consistently great cross country results on the World Cup tour. I didn’t start xc skiing until I was 21, and I never imagined that I would be able to keep up with the competition. I’ll do more than just keep up with them this year.

Last week I commenced xc skiing in the Vuokatti Ski Tunnel (below left). I will use the tunnel primarily for intensity workouts and to escape extremely poor autumn weather that could potentially unleash. The ski tunnel is a 1.2km out and back, underground xc trail that encompasses variable terrain and is open year round for cross country skiing enthusiasts. It retains a temperature around minus eight degrees and can be turned as low as minus eighteen degrees Celsius.

Just outside the tunnel awaits Mt. Snow (above right). To the untrained eye it appears to be a pile of sawdust. Beneath that layer of sawdust, which serves as insulation during the hot summer months, lies a massive compact pile of precious treasure. That precious white stuff will soon be unveiled and then masterfully spread out onto one of the xc loops enabling athletes training in Vuokatti a head start on the winter. I can’t wait!

Happy days.

P.S check out the Photo Gallery for newly added pics.