Silver Star

First NorAm races of the year are done! This past weekend I competed in Silver Star BC. I was extremely happy to finally be able to join up with my team once again! My fellow Canadian friends had a hard time recognizing me in my CXC attire (photos below), that, and the fact that I seem to fit in quite nicely with the team as all the girls have blond hair.

But back to the racing. There were two races, a sprint and a distance that were both classic technique. The conditions and weather were perfect. I had a bit of trouble in the qualifying round for the sprint race, but I felt great in the my heat and finished 3rd, unfortunately not quite fast enough to move on to the next round, so I ended up 15th for the day. The next day was a 10km individual start. I felt technically strong especially for the fist lap, but seemed to fade quite a bit on the second lap and finished 15th overall. Not too bad. I feel like I'm just starting to get into the swing of racing, and it felt good to get the butterflies out of my system.

This coming weekend is another sprint and distance race in Rossland BC, but this time skate technique, which suites me a little bit better. :)

Here is a photo of Jessie, Jennie and I in our new CXC gear!

Pulling it all together

Hi Everyone,

2 weeks away from my first races of the season! I'm getting pretty excited!

The last few weeks I have spent training in Canmore, pulling everything together from the last 6 months of training. I have been skiing on snow since arriving back from Park City, and it just keeps getting better and better!

Here are a couple photos from the "Frozen Thunder" classic sprint race held on October 27th:

Devon Kershaw took the win on the mens side, followed closely by Jess Cockney

Skiing in Lake Louise (about an hour drive away) started in early November with about 20km of groomed trails. It was a nice break from the 2.5km loop at the Canmore Nordic Centre and made those long distance days a little bit more enjoyable. A week ago my friend Amanda Ammar and I teamed up do a mini training camp out there. It was perfect weather and the snow just kept coming.






Final preparations for the ski season are underway for me during the next couple weeks. This includes lots of intensity, time trails and rest to get my body ready to ski fast. My first races will be a skate sprint, and a classic distance held here in Canmore on Dec 3/4 weekend. Then off to BC to join up with the CXC team and compete in the Norams for the rest of December.

Wish me luck, and thanks for reading!

Frozen Thunder!

Since arriving back from a great camp in Park City with CXC and the US National Team, I have had the privilege of skiing on snow here in Canmore. In the spring of 2011 the Canmore Nordic Centre pilled a ton of snow and covered to with saw dust, insulating it throughout the summer. “Frozen Thunder” was then unveiled on October 15th and spread out along the ski trails to create a 2km loop. And its been awesome! Here are some photos:





Here is also a video on the loop:
CBC Frozen Thunder

Happy Thanksgiving!

Earlier this year I was a little disappointed to here that the CXC fall camp in Park city was taking place the same time as Canadian Thanksgiving… I love thanksgiving and normally celebrate it at home feasting on turkey and freshly harvested vegetables from my Mom’s garden. But luckily the CXC team along with a couple other fellow Canadians who came down for the camp, decided we would all get together and make our own Thanksgiving dinner here at Dave Knoop’s house in Park City.

So this past Sunday, my teammates and I spent our rest day preparing a huge feast, with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, Carolyn’s delicious pecan yams, carrots and parsnips followed by apple and pumpkin pie made by Andrea Dupont and Dasha Giasova.

The dinner turned out great! Thanks to everyone for making this happen. ☺

Photo Update

Its coming! Winter is on its way!



Right now I am halfway through a training camp in Park City with the CXC, and US National Ski Team. We arrived here a week ago to sun and temperatures in the mid twenties. Since then there has been rain, frost, and snow. I guess this time of year you have to be prepared for anything. But for skiers, I think it’s a good thing. It keeps you on your toes. Race season is almost here, and the attitude during training sessions is a little bit more focused, the butterflies start to creep up during intensity, and everyone starts to wonder how they will perform in the up coming race season.

Here are some photos so far from the camp:

Roller Skiing at Soldier Hollow, sight of 2002 Olympis

Out on a run one afternoon through the hills and valleys around Park CIty



The last couple months have been packed full of training. For most of September I was training down in Wisconsin. I trained hard, and accomplished a lot. Here are some photos from that camp:

Doing some speed work on roller skis
Jason Cork working with Jessie on technique

VO2 MAx Testing
Leading a Mobility Warm Up during a session with the local "Ski and Tea" woman's group

Unfortunately I caught a cold my last week there which meant that I was unable to race the Birkie Trail Run, but ran it as an easy workout instead, and took some photos along the way... :)

Teammates Santi and Carolyn warming up for the race

Playing in the Rockies

Last Sunday marked the end of another training block. The past few weeks have focused a lot on volume, endurance and technique. Because of this reason, I decided to train here in the Canadian Rockies and get some time on snow up at the Haig glacier.



For the most part things have been going well. A few weeks ago I fell on roller skis, which resulted in some bad road rash down the right side of my body. No brakes on roller skis have its downfalls sometimes (literally). ☹ But thanks to the wonderful care of my mother who is an emergency nurse, I didn’t miss a day of training, although it was quite painful and I was covered gauze and bandages for a good couple of weeks.
A week ago I had the opportunity to train at the Haig Glacier, joining up with a local club called the Rocky Mountain Racers Ski Team. We had perfect weather and great summer ski conditions. Technique was a big focus for me up there and I felt like I made some big gains. Training with new people is always a pleasure and I was happy to get the opportunity. Thanks so much to John Jaques and the rest of the RMR team for such a great week. Here are some photos to highlight the camp:

A beautiful day in the sunshine! Cindy and I skiing on the Haig
RMR team getting ready for some sprints
Chilling out up on the glacier
Cindy boot skiing down from skiing one day
Dasha and I doing some TRX strength

The Anual RMR Boat race took place one afternoon. Everyone splits into teams of 2, builds a boat and the first boat to make it across the finish line with all parts attached is the winner.
SSS-Stuart Sara Ship-made it through the course in one piece, but unfortuneatly got stuck in a few places and was not the fastest down.
it was viscous out there
The Finish

I am at home now for a couple weeks before I head down to Wisconsin for my next training camp with CXC. I will take some time for a little R’n’R at my cabin this weekend; hopefully eat some smores around the campfire and paddle down the river a little bit. ☺
As the weeks go by I feel fitter, stronger and faster. The mornings are getting colder and the days are getting shorter, which only means that fall and winter is on its way!

Climbing Gooseberry on Tunnel Mountain on an easy day of training, near Banff.


Thanks or reading!

Welcome Back!

Alright, after a years absence, I am back to the blogging world.

First off, I’m making some big changes this year with skiing. I have joined a ski team in the US called Central Cross-Country (CXC). They are based out of Minneapolis/Wisconsin area and have a regional elite development program targeted to post-collegiate athletes with elite aspirations. I became aware of CXC, noticing them at various continental-cup races both in Canada and the US. They appeared to be a great group of people who were very competitive yet seemed to know how to have a lot of fun at the same time. Happily, they took me on as one of their elite athletes and I am very excited to race and compete with them this coming year.

I will continue to live at home in Canmore, Alberta, but travel down to the States for training camps in the summer, fall, and competitions in the winter.

I have recently returned from my first CXC dryland camp at the Telemark Ski Resort in Wisconsin. It was hot, humid, hard work, but I had a great time. ☺ There was a whole community of skiers training at the camp, from young junior athletes all the way to Masters; everyone working hard and having a good time. The camp focused a lot on specific training, doing lots of technique and intensity on roller-skis. We also competed in the CXC Summer Championships; a one day event consisting of a 5km running race the morning, 3 km double-pole time trail in the afternoon, followed by skate roller-ski sprints in the evening. It was tough. You really had to focus on your recovery between events and I think everyone was pretty exhausted by the end of the day.





At the end of the camp I competed in a 46km bike race called the Telemark Forest Mountain Bike. It was the first annual race being held as part of the “American Birkie Triple”. It was a hot day, temperatures reached around 30˚ C, with very humid weather… well at lest humid compared to what I am used to here in the dry Canadian Rockies. It was a 3-lap course that I completed in about 2.5 hours, finishing in 2nd place in the female category. Thanks to all the volunteers for putting it on; from what I could tell everything seemed to run quite smoothly, followed by a delicious BBQ at the end of the race.




All in all, I felt like there was a lot of hard work, energy and focus at this camp. I know I was able to find some weaknesses, got some new pointers, and set some new goals. Now I am super keen to work hard for the rest of summer and hopefully come out as a better skier in the end. I met a great team and am really excited to work with them come fall and winter.

I am back in Canmore now for most of August, stoked to be training in my wonderful back yard of the Canadian Rockies. In mid August I will be joining a local club to go up to the Haig glacier with for a week. I have also started working with a personal strength trainer, Neil Fox at LifeWorks gym. This guy is amazing! He has been building me from the “inside out”, starting with a lot of core/ balance work including the use of the TRX suspension trainer. Every time I go to the gym I come home absolutely exhausted. It feels like every single muscle in my body gets worked and I barely even touch a weight the entire time I am there! Needless to say I think this is exactly what my body needs and I have a feeling I will be making some pretty big improvements in this area!

Thanks for reading, and I will continue to keep you updated through my blog as best I can. Change is always good, and I feel like this is a fresh start that I need in order to excel in the sport and pursue my dreams.

My New Team!