Andrea Dupont

Archive for February, 2008

Last email update

As per usual it has taken me a couple “where the heck are you emails” from some of you to make me realize that it has been way too long since I’ve sent out an update. So much has happened since I sent out my last update that I barely know where to begin.

Most of you know, after having a good race season last year I decided that it was time to take the plunge and move out west to focus on training and racing.

I decided that if I were to really take racing seriously I needed to get a full time coach and team.  In the spring I made the decision to join John Jaques and the Rocky Mountain Racers based in Canmore, AB. So after a short working stint in the lab in Waterloo I hopped on a plane, with as much of my belongings that West Jet would allow me to pack into a ski bag and a duffle bag, and moved out west.

 

Since the race season is almost half over, I’m going to completely skip over my summer and fall, which were really great months full of training, fun and painful but fun training. I’m working on a website with a personal blog, where I plan on putting up some posts about my summer training and adventures, so if you’re interested in the nitty gritty of my training you can look there at a later date.  

 

In a nutshell, racing in December was going according to plan. My sprint races were comparable to last year, with good qualifier results, and generally better end results (compared to last year) due to being in better shape after a solid summer of training.

 

My training plan was structured so that I would peak (be my fastest) for the qualifying races early in January. These races were trials for Canadian World Cups and World Champs. Everything was going exactly according to plan… I was feeling in great shape and I was raring to go for these qualifying races.

 

And then… I got hit by a truck… well, not really a truck… it was more like the flu, but it sure felt like a truck. I was in bed for several days leading up to trials. I got out of bed to race the first qualifier… qualified 4th in the morning and quickly returned to bed after getting violently ill (not able to start the afternoon heats of racing)… stayed in bed until the next race (2 days later) and then again tried to race. Fortunately I was still able to qualify for a spot in the Canadian World Cup in Whistler, which took place just over a week later, unfortunately for me, racing sick took more out of me then I expected.

 

So I’ve officially raced the 3rd World Cup race of my career, learned why racing with the flu is really bad, taken some time off and am now recovered, and am preparing to be unbelievably ready for Nationals. By the way, this year Nationals are at Highlands Nordic in Duntroon, Ontario near Collingwood, so if any of you are close by March 6-15, you should stop by and watch some exciting Cross Country Ski racing.

 

That’s all for now, but stay tuned and hopefully by the end of the month I will send you a link to my new blog.

Until next time.

Andrea

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