Felt good warming up, which was a change from my heavy legs earlier in the week. I started in the middle of the pack. The race plan was to start conservative and build speed through the race.
I felt like I started at the pace I wanted to, however, I got a split at 1.5km that I was already 15 seconds down to the leader, meaning I had started much slower than anticipated. I tried to spike up the pace, but the climbs began to take their toll and I couldn't seem to gain any ground. An Italian racer that started right behind me, passed me around 3km and the difference in pace was obvious.
Coming through the stadium and onto the 2nd lap, I vowed to myself to try and get back into the race. However, the effort kept feeling harder and harder, and I struggled just to maintain my less-than-ideal pace. Determined not to give up, even though I was not having the race I wanted to, I kept encouraging myself to fight for every second. I managed to have an okay final 2km and came across the line in 44th place.
I didn't let myself dwell on the disappointment for long as I had great races by my teammates to celebrate. Caitlin Compton put together an awesome race for 14th place, Morgan Arritola was strong in 23rd and Holly Brooks debuted in her first World Cup start with a wicked 24th place finish! It's great to see our American women ski so well.
Tomorrow is a new day. A classic sprint is on tap. It's a new course from what we raced here two years ago and I'm looking forward to putting down a solid effort.
Here are some shots from the men's race today:
My husband Jeff racing for Canada!
My APU teammate Mike Hinkley skied great today in his first World Cup race!
James Southam looking strong!
Ivan Babikov, the climbing machine!
Kris Freeman, strong in 20th place.
No comments:
Post a Comment