 The Far West Nordic Junior Olympic Team is finally home from a successful racing week in Houghton, Michigan. Along the way, they took in a little history lesson, U.S. nordic ski-style, at the headquarters of the American Birkie in Hayward, Wisconsin. PHOTO GALLERIES ARE UP FROM THE 4 RACES AT JO's. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE JO 2006 RESULTS PAGE. |
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SUNDAY: TRAVEL HOME QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENT AT JO'S THIS YEAR TO GET BETTER RESULTS, AND HOW WILL THIS CHANGE YOUR TRAINING FOR THE UPCOMING SUMMER AND FALL?
ALEX O'NEIL: Overall I was very happy with my results this past week. It was an experience of a life time: racing, hanging out with teammates, and eating pasties. But, if I could change one thing it would probably be my interval start. I can push myself in a mass start, but I feel like I need to go into my interval starts with a little more confidence. RUSSELL KENNEDY: I think I did very well at the JO’s. However at the beginning of the year I went out with a little too much of a bang. Also I am not as strong as other kids in JO’s. So I am not as fast at double poling as the other kids. So I want to work on upper body strength. Moreover, I need to go less hard at the beginning of the year. JORDAN NADELL: I had a couple of great races at JO’s, but I feel that I could have done better if I had trained a little differently. I slacked off last spring and did not do very much to get into better shape. Also, during the summer, I could have worked on technique a little bit more. This summer and fall, I am going to train a little bit harder, especially since I will be racing 10k and 15k races next year. KELSEY DION: If I could redo something this week I would like to be able to go back and race my races again. I don’t feel by any means that I raced to my extent. There were regular things going on like wax or start times, but mainly it was just me not feeling up to racing. I had one good race though so I really can't complain too much, the experience was incredible and the coaches were awesome and I just had a great time. DAYNA STIMSON: For the most part, I felt that I raced my hardest in all of my races. I had some bad luck with waxing and my own technique, but physically, I raced as fast as my body would allow. This coming summer I would like to create a better training plan to maximize improvement. I think I could most improve in upper body strength, along with endurance, since I will be moving up to the J1 category next year and will be racing in longer races. Overall, I had an incredible week of racing and spending time with all the great people on our team. DANNY RODRIGUES: Staying healthy would be the thing I would try to change most if I could do it again. I would be better hydrated and get a little more sleep during the start of the week and the week preceding the races. I will train pretty much the same this summer getting in lots of hours of low intensity. |
| FRIDAY: FREESTYLE MIDDLE DISTANCE RACE A superb showing from multiple members of the Far West Nordic team highlighted this day. Of course, starting with a win from Matthew Gelso, now THREE FOR THREE in individual races at the competitions, inspired the team to achieve the best results of the week. Bernie Nelson's 3rd, Sophie Leonard's 7th, Spencer Wood's 7th, and a few more top 20's went a long way. No blog today, as it was wax wax wax to get ready for the relays tomorrow. More pictures from the Freestyle race will probably wait until early next week, so check back. |
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THURSDAY: A REAL REST DAY
The team got a chance to chill, relax, re-charge on Thursday in anticipation of the next two days of racing. A little opportunity to sleep in just a bit, a very mellow ski in the morning, and a trip for some REAL non-hotel food at the pizza place down the street was a perfect change of pace. A dozen or so athletes and coaches took the afternoon opportunity to drive up to Lake Superior and the town of Calumet for some tour guiding from former local Sara Snyder, and the sampling of the local "Pasty" cuisine supplied the energy for the final push of glide waxing for tomorrow's Freestyle competitions. CHECK OUT OUR UPDATED PHOTO PAGE! CLICK HERE to go to the Far West Nordic JO 2006 page. QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF DANIE'S AND SOPHIE'S "PERFORMANCE" LAST NIGHT AND DO YOU THINK HYPNOTISM CAN MAKE YOU A FASTER SKIER? Gabrielle Joffe: Daniel was the most amusing. He rode an ostrich named Richard around the stage and made a great Chippindale dancer. Sophie was the most practical and told the police she was going 120 mph because of her pregnant sister in the back (later she flipped him off). Hypnotism is so weird and cool. I doubt you can be hypnotized in a race (like if a coach hypnotized you before and told you to win) but I definitely think that ski racing is 90% mental. What you think, visualize, etc. before a race directly effects how you do. Janelle Webb: I thought it was kind of funny, but I don’t think it makes you ski faster. Andrew Armstrong: The guy was strange, he definitely scared me but he was skilled in the arts of hypnotism. Sophie and Daniel’s performances were tremendous and pretty sweet to watch. The deep relaxed state of mind effected by the hypnotism really released their stress and will cause them to ski fast tomorrow. Maisha Goodpaster: HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! |
| WEDNESDAY: CLASSIC DISTANCE RACE After some difficult conditions (for both coaches AND athletes) on Monday, today was a much better day. Difficult waxing conditions were the order of the day, with about an inch of new snow, with quickly warming temperatures and very rapidly glazing tracks. The waxing got better as the day wore on, and Matt Gelso's second win of the competition put everyone in a great mood for the rest to come. Sophie Leonard and Daniel Gelso's strong 5th place finishes, along with Dom Henriques' solid 9th were the highlight, but great races were found throughout the field, including Andrew Pado's 15th place in the J2 boys. Finally, the post-awards banquet Hypnotist show was a hoot for just about the entire team, except perhaps Sophie Leonard and Daniel Gelso, who were up there with 16 other athletes performing some "interesting" acts of humor. |
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TUESDAY: CLASSIC TRAINING Sorry about the lack of photos from the Sprints yesterday, but there just isn't enough hours in the day to sort through all of them and post a gallery. (Maybe if I had a laptop that wasn't built back in the 20th century...) QUESTION OF THE DAY: HOW ARE YOU PERSONALLY PREPARING TODAY (MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY) TO RACE FAST TOMORROW? Andrew Pado: I am relaxing physically and mentally for tomorrow and trying to move foward in my racing. I hope to not let the race yesterday effect the upcoming races. By focusing on racing and not getting distracted I think I will race better tomorrow. Jordan Nadell: Today, I’m hanging out most of the day to keep myself rested. When I ski today, I will go easy, except for some short speeds. I won’t think about yesterday’s race at all today, but I will visualize the course for tomorrow. Tom McElravey: I’m just hanging out and relaxing most of the day. Today in my training I’m going to go a lot easier than I have of the last two, but I’m still going to do some speeds when told. Tomorrow’s race is behind me now and I’m just thinking about tomorrow. And I’m just thinking about tomorrow. Colin Shane: Today is a day of relaxation for me. I have been trying to leave the race from Monday behind me and prepare for the 15 km. classic. I think that I will probably do a lot of stretching so that my body is nice and limber. On the mental side of the preparation I have been trying to get the adrenaline going. I hope for a good finish tomorrow. But I do have one goal that I have been thinking of and that is to ski my own race but also ski with my roommate the whole race. |
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MONDAY: SPRINTS QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT POSITIVE THING CAN YOU TAKE AWAY FROM TODAY’S RACING TO HELP SKI FAST THE REST OF THE WEEK? Joanne Reid: Even if you don’t have the best wax, you have to keep skiing your hardest for the rest of your race and brush it off for the next one. You have to keep positive so that you can make up for it in the next race and kick BUTT. Dayna Stimson: You can remember that not every race is bad, and you can always have a powerful comeback. One race does not affect another, so you can always try again to achieve your highest potential, and make sure that you do not let your morale go down, no matter what happened before. Erika Cornell: What matters from a race is not the results but that, when you are finished, you can look back and say “that was a really good race.” Sometimes you look up at the score board, and you think o NO that is awful and then you think oh wow they did badly too and so did they… sometimes the results are disappointing. That’s just part of life. If you can know in your heart that you skied your brains out the whole race and you will next race and the next race no matter what the results are, then you had a great race and you will continue to do so. And maybe NEXT time the scoreboard will agree with you. Alex O’Neil: Even if you are not #1, or even in the top forty, that doesn’t mean you didn’t succeed. Success should be measured off your personal ability and accomplishment. You have to think about your race, the weaknesses and strengths, and then leave it behind you. Take what you learn from each race and apply it to the next one. And, most importantly, HAVE FUN! |
| SUNDAY After a VERY full day of Opening Ceremonies and much more, including waxing skis until past midnight, your trusty webmaster didn't have quite the time to post the pictures and blog of the day. Hopefully, more tomorrow after the Sprints. |
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SATURDAY QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HOUGHTON? Matthew Picken- Houghton is a rather cozy town; most destinations are relatively close to our hotel. It is cold up here, but today it was nice, sun out and little wind. The course is less flat than I expected. The hills are short but brutal. All and all, the course seems fun and challenging. The worst part of the trip so far has only been the 17 hours of pure sitting. Other than that things are cool here. Alex Taylor - Houghton, although perennially enshrouded in a foggy mist, is a most excellently sweet destination. Instead of driving, people cruise around on their souped-up racing snowmobiles. From our window, we can see snowmobiles drag-racing. One side of the Keewanaw Canal is lined with fraternities and hotels and the other with remnants of the mining era. The skiing here should be surpassingly killer. The sprint course is unconventional—the course descends for .5 KM and climbs steeply to the finish. The snow is surprisingly clean and fast. The week should be awesome. Matt Gelso (Far West Team member 5 years) - When the word ‘Midwest’ or ‘Houghton’ is uttered images of a cold cloudy plain may arise. Although this may be true at many times, it is not true on the Far West trip thus far (however we have only been here one day). Driving from Minneapolis to Houghton required about 7 hours of on-road time and 4 cups of coffee per coach. Unfortunately it was not enough for Gary as he conked out as soon as Elyah took over the driving. When we began our drive it was overcast and cold, but the stereotypical Midwestern weather did not prevail. It stayed cold, however the clouds disappeared and the sun provided a clear view of the countryside, as well as a very attractive sunset. To coincide with this Minnesota sunset, there were also very attractive Minnesotan girls. Whether it was in the Minneapolis airport, or the restaurant in Duluth where the team ate dinner, there was no shortage of young, attractive girls. Not what I would have expected from the Midwest. Now that we are in Houghton a lot has changed, although it did get sunny this afternoon. I was getting ready to not see the sun for at least a week, maybe the Californians have brought the sun with them it’s a possibility. Whatever this sunny miracle is, I hope it survives the entire week! |