With the new season approaching, I have updated my sponsorship package and uploaded it to my LinkedIn Profile page:

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top 


Follow the link above and scroll to the bottom to find the document which includes all of my skiing information (goals, achievements, sponsorship and contact info, etc.).  (I apologize for the untidy formatting at the bottom, Slideshare made some changes during the upload).

Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns regarding sponsorship, or if you would like me to send you a copy of my sponsorship documents.

Happy Easter!
Cheers

"No one can whistle a symphony.  It takes an orchestra to play it."  -  H. E. Luccock

After just writing an article for my team to recap Nationals, I thought I'd go straight into this blog post while the writing juices are still flowing.  (***Side note, I'll put a link up here sometime next week for anyone who'd like to read that article.***)

March 17th - 24th marked my last week of racing of the 2011/2012 season.  The 2012 National Championships were held in Mont Sainte-Anne Quebec, home my the 2007 Nationals as well.  This was my first time repeating a Nationals venue so it was pretty cool to go back to Mont Sainte-Anne and race on the same courses as five years ago.  As usual, the week got underway with the Team Sprints/Club Relays.  These races were held in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham where it became pretty clear that snow was going to be an issue that week.  The stadium was full of rocks and dirt in the snow, and the 200m warm up loop was half under water already.  Despite the conditions, the races commenced and I teamed up with my Hardwood teammate Bob Thompson.  It wasn't a stellar day for us, having not advanced to the Final,. but to me that race was just a means to tune the body for the upcoming individual races, so we weren't overly bummed.

Two days later I was back on my race skis, this time at Mont Sainte-Anne for a 10km Classic race.  My feelings about this race were kind of that of my whole season this year.  I had a strong race, keeping my head on straight and fighting all the way through, but just didn't quite have that elusive "great race feeling" I've been looking for since December.  I finished 29th Overall, and was the 21st Canadian which isn't bad by any means, but I know I could have been top 15.  Day two of individual racing was...a bit of a gongshow (not a term I usually use, but most appropriate, PG term I can think of haha).  This was a 15km individual start skate race starting around 2pm.  Usually racing in the afternoon is OK, but under the scorching sun and well over 20 degree temperatures, it was a tough slog through the slush to say the least.  

Two days following that sufferfest was the skate sprints which thankfully were moved from the Plains of Abraham back to Mont Sainte-Anne (by this time in the week the Plains likely resembled Frosty the snow man after standing in a sandbox in mid June for a day or two).  The race organizers did a great job preparing the course for the sprints at Mont Sainte-Anne, however despite the fast conditions I miss qualifying for the heats by 3 seconds.  It was following this race that I made my goal for next year to qualify in the top 30 in every sprint race I compete in.

Finally, two days later, was the race I was waiting for, the 50km classic mass start.  As a first year Senior, this would my first time racing anything over 30km, so I was very anxious to see how I would fair.  Looking back I'm surprised I slept the night before, having been bouncing off the walls at our house and playing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey on the piano as much as I could (I learned it during my downtime during the week, I was proud of myself haha).  But anyways, back to the 50km...  My starting position had me in the 6th row which was a bit of a let down, but luckily my lane got off the start quickly and by 200m into the race I was up in the top 15 or so.  I skied the first 4km feeling awesome and surrounded by the red and white of the National Team suits, when we hit the biggest downhill on the course and I went down.  Hard.  Since it was 8:30am the track was still nice and icy which meant speeds probably pushing 60-65km/h, which made for a long, hit-by-a-bus type feeling crash.  As you can imagine, those who stayed on their feet were immediately well ahead of me by the time I was back up and moving again, but knowing that I still had another 46km of racing to do, I decided not to panic and to go my own pace.  It wasn't helped when a couple of my buddies who crashed with me decided to go hard to try to catch up to a pack, but I knew that if I skied controlled like I knew I could, I'd likely be seeing them in an hour or so.  And sure enough, after they put probably a minute into be, 30km later one of them started coming into view again.  Thanks to my calmness after my crash I was able to catch, pass and beat him in the end by over 3 minutes.  In my last lap (5km laps) I caught the other guy I crashed with, along with 3 or 4 other guys who had gone out too hard, and almost had two more when I crossed the finish line in 22nd place.  Had I not crashed I am fairly confident that I would have been in the top 15, so that's a little hard to accept, but I am still super happy with how I skied my first 50km race.  And if it wasn't hard enough to be my first 50km, I ended up skiing that last 46km completely alone, so that made me feel even better about how I raced it.

That night all the skiers headed into Quebec City for the Banquet, and then out to experience the City's night life.  Sunday afternoon we got everything packed up, waved goodbye to the snow and started the trip back to Thunder Bay.  I'll be spending the next week here, doing some random training and having some post season meetings, and then next Wednesday night I'm off to Penetang!!  The plan is spend April and maybe a bit of May in Penetang before returning to Tbay to start the 2012/2013 training season, but we all know how quickly plans can change!

Since this is my season wrap up post, I'd just like to say thank you first to all my sponsors and supporters (see sponsors tab above) for all of your support this year.  It's thanks to your support and my dedication to the sport that I am able to do what I do, and it's an honor to have you guys on Team Jordan!!  And to everyone who reads this blog and follows my life's adventures, it means a lot to know there are people out there who care enough about what I'm trying to accomplish to follow my endeavors, so again, thank you all so much for your support!!!!

Until next time,
Cheers!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  Your playing small does not serve the world, there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We were all meant to shine as children.  It's not just in some of us it's in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same, as we are liberated from our own fear."
 - Marianne Williamson

It's been a while since my last post, so despite it being a fairly tame last few weeks, I thought I'd do one more most before my last set of races of the year.

After returning home from the NorAm races in Orford QC I was pretty beat, which ultimately led to my developing a cold once I settled into being home.  But unlike last year in February when I got sick, I was able to take that time to really let my body recover, and a few days later I was back on the trails.  It's been a great couple weeks of training, feeling better every day.  I had a couple race efforts just after I came back from being sick and they did NOT feel good, so I'll admit that was a little unsettling.  But since then I've been able to get a bit of volume in and my last couple intensity sessions have felt much better.  So with Nationals just around the corner, my fitness is definitely moving in the right direction!

I'll be leaving Thunder Bay on Wednesday of this week and flying to Mont St. Anne QC which will be hosting the Canadian National Championships this year.  These Nationals should be pretty interesting for a number of reasons.  Being my 7th Nationals that I've competed in, this will be my first time repeating a Nationals venue ('07 was the same place), so I'm looking forward to seeing how much of the trails I remember (I was smaller then so I'm hoping the hills won't seem so big now :)).  With the timing of the races this year, Canada's World Cup team is supposed to be racing, as well as some of the top young Norwegians and a handful of French skiers too (one of which was the Silver medalist in the 2006 Olympic Sprints), so I'm really looking forward to racing some of the top international athletes as well as the usual domestic racers.  And finally, being my first year as a Senior Man, I'll be doing my first 50km race!!!  (for those of you back home in Penetang/Midland, that's about the distance from Penetang to Barrie).  The longest race I've ever done is 30km, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how I handle an extra 20km haha.

Following Nationals I'll be back in Tbay for another 10 days or so doing some season wrap up type things, and then it'll be home to Penetang for Easter weekend and a few weeks of recovery time.

Until next time,
Happy March 12th!!

"Gold medals aren't really made of gold.  They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts."
  -  Dan Gable

Last weekend wrapped up the last Haywood NorAm race weekend of the year at Mt. Orford, Quebec.  Having been racing Nationally for several years now, it was nice to be going to a new domestic venue where I had never been before, as it doesn't happen that often these days.  We had a solid week of training leading up to it getting to know the trails, which was nice because there was so many!  Definitely a little narrow in places, especially for Sunday's 20km skate mass start, but very fun all the same.

After a couple solid months of racing out west, the Haywood NorAm Series has finally returned to Eastern Canada.  This past weekend was the 2012 Haywood NorAm/Eastern Canadian Championships held at Nakkertok Ski Center near Chelsea Quebec.  This was my 7th time racing at Eastern's and I have always really enjoyed these races, both for the competition, and the great race trails at Nakkertok.  This weekend of racing was also another mini-tour.  It began with a 1.4km Skate Sprint on Friday, followed by a 15km Skate Individual Start on Saturday, and wrapped up with the Handicap Start 30km Classic race on Sunday.

My weekend got off to a pretty good start in the sprint qualifier.  I had a strong feeling qualifier and ended up clocking the 12th fastest time in Senior Men, giving me a spot in the heats for my second time this year.  I felt really strong in my quarter-final as well, but unfortunately my inexperience in the heats got the better of me, and some tactical errors resulted in my not advancing to the next round.  My first mistake was not being aggressive enough to hold my line around one of the 180 corners, which resulted in dropping from 3rd to 4th half way through the race.  I rallied back after this though and was feeling good about my position leading into the final climb.  That is until the guy in front of me seemingly blew up, and the two guys behind me managed to get up beside me and box me in, leaving me stuck with no where to go.  So a tough lesson learned, but still my best sprint of the season so far.

Day two was the 15km Skate race, 3 laps of a very fast 5km course.  My legs were surprisingly drained from the day before, but I was still feeling good during my warm up.  Unfortunately my legs did not hold up for long in the race, and the last 10km were a real fight to keep everything working and pushing hard.  I crossed the finish line happy with how I didn't let my super sore legs stop me from giving my all, but disappointed because I knew I was not going to get the result I was hoping for.  I ended up finishing 27th, which now that I think of it, would have been OK with me at the beginning of the season.  But I was really hoping for a top 20, so it gave me some extra incentive to have a strong 30km the following day.

And so came the 30km Classic race on day 3.  Since it was a handicap start race based on the results from the previous two days, I was starting in 25th place, with the two closest guys ahead of me starting 3 and 8 seconds before me.  I was really looking forward to this race for a number of reasons.  It was 6 laps of a great 5km course, and I was pretty confident that I had the right concoction for my feeds this time around (my feeds in my last 30km race resulted in the hardest 15km of my life).  So I went out feeling good and caught the two guys starting in front of my within the first kilometer, and kept the pedal down.  As it was 30km, I was really hoping the three of us could work together pushing a strong pace in order to catch the guys ahead of us, but after pulling them along behind me for the majority of the first 10km, I decided it was time to put the pressure on a bit to see if I could get rid of them.  It worked, and I ended up opening a 1 minute + gap on the two of them by the end of the race.  I skied the next 20km by myself, and managed to pull back some big time into a couple more of my competitors, crossing the line in 21st spot.  It was a great race for me, clocking the 18th fastest time of the day in Open Men, and 10th for my Under 23 category.  One of the biggest highlights from this race was comparing it to last year's Eastern's when I did the exact same 30km classic race.  Last year I was over 7:30 (7 minutes 30 seconds) off the fastest time of the day, and this year I brought that gap down to 4:15, so I was quite happy with that improvement.

And while all of this was going on, my parents and Jacquelyn made the trip over to Ottawa on Friday to spend some time with me and watch my races, so that helped make it a fantastic weekend.  With my busy race schedule being all over the place these days, it's not very often that they get to see me race, so it was great to have them out at the race site, and of course to spend my down time in their company :).

I am now sitting in my new home for the next week at the Fleur de Lys Motel here in Magog Quebec.  This weekend will be the last Haywood NorAm of the season, with a 10km Classic Individual Start on Saturday, and a 20km Skate Mass Start on Sunday.  After that it'll be back to Thunder Bay next Monday night for a solid 4 week block of training (and the odd local race) to prepare for the final races of the season, the 2012 Canadian National Championships.

I'll throw another post up here after the weekend to let you all know how it went!  Until then,
Cheers.

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."   -   Walt Disney

Last weekend's racing came in the form of the 2012 Haywood NorAm/Western Canadian Championships Mini-Tour in Canmore AB.  The 3 day weekend included a 10km classic individual start, a 1.4km skate sprint, and was wrapped up with a 15km skate handicap start race.  This weekend was also a mini tour, meaning that your times from the first two days of racing were added together, and then dictated your starting order and position for the handicap start on Sunday.

When we first arrived in Canmore early last week, we were greeted with some -30 temperatures.  As a result there was some worry that Friday's race may be cancelled to due the cold temperatures (FIS rules say that you can't hold a race when it's below -20).  But thankfully, Friday morning arrived warmer than predicted, so everything was a go.  In all my years of racing to date, I don't think I have ever raced on a course as hard as I did for that 10km classic race.  It was 3 times around a 3.3km loop which essentially brought you from the stadium, straight up to the top of the course, and then straight back down to repeat.  So in other words, it's a great race course as long as you don't hit a wall (figuratively speaking of course, because one of the climbs is actually called "The Wall").  So while I may have hit a little one my second time up The Wall, I was able to ski pretty smooth for the rest of the race, and still get in to finish inside the top 30 Open Men.  My biggest issue in individual start racing these days is that I have a habit of thinking about my competitors and how fast THEY are skiing while I'm racing, instead of just focusing on what I am doing.  On that second lap when I was really feeling the pain, that's exactly what happened.  Comparing to past races last year however, I am definitely improving with this, so I'm really looking forward to my next individual start race for another opportunity to try to overcome this obstacle.

Day 2 was the skate sprint, and not a great day for me.  I had a combination of things working against me in my qualifier, and when I arrived at the base of the biggest climb on the course, I was bagged.  I'm happy with how I still managed to fight hard all the way to the finish, but unfortunately I just missed the top 30, meaning no heats for me.

Finally the 15km skate handicap start arrived on Sunday.  I started in 29th place, and was really hoping to be able to pick off a few guys ahead of me and improve my ranking for the tour before I crossed the finish line.  We had the privilege of racing on the Men's World Cup course, which is a very hard, but very fun, 3 x 5km race.  For me this was one of those races where I felt pretty good about my race, but the result didn''t quite match my feeling (apparently I wasn't the only one who had a good day).  I ended up crossing the line in 27th spot, a small gain, but still a gain nonetheless.  One cool part of that race was that Canadian World Cup Team member Ivan Babikov was racing.  Since he hadn't done any of the other races in the mini-tour, he had to start in the mass start, which started 2 minutes and 46 seconds behind me.  Before the race I had kind of expected him to catch me on my final lap, but during the race I really wasn't thinking about it, so when I came sprinting in to the finish line and could hear someone trying to pass me, I really didn't know who it could be.  So I sprinted as hard as I could and managed to beat this mystery person to the line, then turned around to see that it was Ivan!  He may have put 2:46 into me, but I still managed to stay ahead of him at the finish, so I felt pretty good about that :).

Yesterday I traveled back to Thunder Bay where I'll be spending the next week recovering from these past 2 weeks of racing.  Next Tuesday I'll be heading to Ottawa for another 3 race mini-tour, the 2012 Haywood NorAm/Eastern Canadian Championships Mini-Tour.  While these race courses may not be nearly as challenging as those in Canmore, it will be the distance of this weekend that will be the real test.  The races will be a skate sprint on Day 1, followed by a 15km skate race on Day 2, and wrap it all up with a 30km classic handicap start on the Sunday.  I have always enjoyed the race trails at this race venue, Nakkertok, so I'm really looking forward to these races.  And by the sounds of things my parents and Jacquelyn will be making the trip over to watch, so it'll be great to see them again too!

Until next time,
Cheers
"Look me in the eyes.  It's OK if you're scared, so am I, but we're scared for different reasons.  I'm scared of what I won't become.  You're scared of what I could become..."    -  Michael Jordan

Last week I was in Whistler BC for the World Junior/Under 23 Trials races held at Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley.  For those who don’t quite understand my reference in the title of this post, the last time I raced at this venue was the 2008 Canadian National Championships, and it was a complete disaster.  It was so bad that since then, every time something hasn’t gone my way, I’ve told myself, “Well at least it wasn’t as bad as 2008 Nationals.”  But after last week’s set of races, while everything didn’t entirely go my way, it was incomparably better than those races 4 years ago.

Racing got underway on Thursday with my first ever 30km Skiathlon (for those who don’t know, a skiathlon is a race where you do the first half classic style, enter an exchange zone where you switch your skis and poles, and then do the last half skate skiing).  I had done a couple of 30km races last year, but never a skiathlon format, so I was very excited to see how I’d make out.  I got off to an alright start in the classic, and by the end of the classic leg I was really starting to gain momentum and was picking people off as we headed into the exchange zone.  I then had my best ever transition (and was therefore disappointed when I learned they didn’t time people’s exchanges, meaning I couldn’t compare myself to everyone else).  But unfortunately this was a case of all good things must end eventually.  As soon as I hit the first climb on the skating leg, my muscles began cramping.  By muscles, I don’t just mean the major ones like quads, I mean everything from quads and hamstrings to triceps, abs and even some little muscle in my forearm I didn’t even know I had.  I knew right away that this was being caused my a severe deficiency in something, so being halfway through a 30km ski race, there was very little I could do.  On the downhills I was able to give my legs a bit of a shake and quick massage which helped me to stay on my feet and keep skiing, but my race was, for all intents and purposes, over.  Since I was still standing I told myself that dropping out was not an option, so I just put all my focus into each stride and, slowly and painfully, made my way through the final 15km to the finish line.  While this may sound like a complete disaster of a race, I was able to learn quite a lot from it which I know will help me in future 30+km races, and even in the races to follow in those next few days.

Saturday marked day 2 of Trials with a skate sprint.  After being dumped on with snow overnight, the course set up incredibly soft compared to what we had been skiing in, so it made for a slightly unusual sprint day.  When the snow gets too soft like that, you have to really change your race plans, right down to your technique, how you are physically skiing.  Having had some success in conditions like these in the past, I knew I had it in me to still have a good qualifier despite the conditions.  And having never qualified for the heats in the Senior Men category, I had that added bit of motivation to have my best qualifier of the season to date.  It ended up going pretty well, and after having skied it smooth and relaxed like I wanted to, I managed to qualify with the 16th fastest time in Senior Men, giving me my first opportunity to race the heats.

Unfortunately my quarterfinal didn’t go quite as well, my legs having lactated out on the final climb and running out of gas in the final 200m.  But I achieved my main goal for the day to make the heats, so all in all, a good day.

The final day of competition came on Sunday with a 15km classic individual start race.  This is the race I had been really looking forward to most, so I was hoping to make it my best race of the weekend.  I had a good head going into the start area, and really kept it throughout the race, skiing smooth and relaxed and even embracing the pain of pushing my body well past its limits (always a good day when you can do that).  One of my goals in every individual start race this year has been to cross the finish line as the current leader (this means that you beat everyone who started before you).  And for the first of what will hopefully be many times this season, I achieved that goal on Sunday.  After crossing the finish line I was able to hear the commentator announce that I had the new fastest time, and I even got to look up and see my name at the top of the results list on the jumbo-tron in the stadium.  That felt good haha :).  I held onto the lead for a few more minutes before the top guys started finishing (maybe important to point out that in individual start races, the lowest ranked people go first, with the highest ranked athletes starting last).  After all was said and done, I ended up finishing 16th in Open Men.  This meant a lot of good things for me.  It was both my first time finishing in the top 20 Open Men at a NorAm, and also my first time finishing in the top 10 Under 23 Men at a NorAm.  And with this latter accomplishment, I also will be receiving a small ‘performance bonus’ if you will, from my team.

So while I may not have achieved my goal of qualifying for the Canadian World U23 Team this year, I was able to take a lot from these races and learn some good lessons.  I am now back in my first home away from home, Canmore AB, preparing for the Haywood NorAm Western Canadian Championships which are being held here this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Despite the current frigid temperatures (currently around -40), the forecast looks a little warmer for the weekend, so I’m looking forward to my next chance to have some great races!

Until next time,

Cheers!

P.S.  On occasion I like to browse the internet looking for quotes that speak to me, so after doing so I thought I’d share a couple.  Enjoy :).

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.”

  -  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
  -  Christopher Columbus

Sunday night the team and I arrived here in Whistler to begin our preparations for the 2012 World U23/Junior Trials races.  Since then we have been getting to know our race courses as best we can, testing skis and preparing for the upcoming races.  Despite some rain on Monday, the weather has been beautiful since then, and the skiing has been great!