May 1st marks the start of a new training year for cross country skiers. Usually racing finishes in March and April is a month of rest and recuperation, still active but not structured training. This year has been very different for me in that I have had to take a break from racing on account…
Not quite what I was planning…
Firstly my apologies to those of you who have been anxiously checking my blog each day hoping for a long awaited update. After the season I had a bit of time off, mostly just relaxing and seeing friends but also a short family holiday – something we haven’t managed for about 5 or 6 years!…
Last 2 weeks of skiing for the season.
After flying out to Oslo and onto Drammen I soon realised racing on the Wednesday in the city sprint Worldcup just wasn’t a good idea, I was feeling ok but my throat still was still pretty swollen. I did a short ski session the day before then tested waxes for the team on the day…
Sochi continued
Since my last blog I have competed 3 times at the Olympics so I’ll share a little of my excitement with you. First up following a beautiful week of skiing in sunshine at Laura cross country stadium was the 30km skiathlon. I felt I skied well for the classic section holding a position just above…
U23’s and onto Sochi
After the excitement of Olympic selection and kitting out we settled down to some serious training in Misurina, a picturesque area in the Italian Dolomites. Reading about training isn’t so exciting so I’ll skip to World U23’s The less aged athletes on the team (myself and Andrew Young) moved, along with the juniors to Val…
Swiss champs and Olympic selection
Straight after the races in Chamonix we said goodbye to our Norwegian dynamic duo of Kåre and Åsmund who had filled in as our primary support staff for the week. Following lunch and a quick shower we got in the cars and headed across the Swiss border to Leysin for the Swiss national championships. After…
Chamonix pt 2
Continuing from my last blog, on to the weekend of racing. Friday’s race was a skating sprint round a 1.5km loop with the major stand out feature of a small cliff we had to somehow scale. Although very short, a section of hill had been put in which climbed part of the banking alongside the…
First blog – Livigno and Chamonix
Here is my first blog… Following a month and a half of racing throughout Europe, chasing the required standards to qualify for the Olympic Games in Sochi it was time for a period R&R (well kind of). I, along with several other members of the national team headed for the remote Italian ski resort of…
Callum Smith 