Lillehammer Challenges, Recap

Hi,

Lillehammer World Cup was not fast racing for me. Generally it was a great week, but I’ll share some of the hard parts for interesting blog’s sake.

This wasn’t one of the hard parts

My travel from Finland to Norway took 17 hours after some cancellations and reroutes, and I arrived feeling motion-sick and pretty tired (I was on a different itinerary than the rest of the team). My bag didn’t make it, as could be expected with all the flight changes. I wore borrowed clothes for the first couple days, and also happened to tweak my neck, all of which made me feel not super put-together or race ready.

As inconvenient as those things felt at the time, they aren’t really valid reasons to feel unprepared. Travel setbacks are super common and worth getting used to, so I suppose I’m lucky to have more experience in that department..

10km skate

I got to do my first individual start World Cup distance race, which I was really excited about. I didn’t originally have this start, but the coaches offered one last minute because some others decided not to race. They went down the list in order of FIS points, so after some declines it was my turn.

It’s not usually super promising to race on the World Cup if you don’t outright qualify for the race. Being called up as an alternate is super fun, but it also means I didn’t quite race fast enough to get the start in the first place, which means the World Cup field could destroy me - even on my best day.

That said, I love racing and it was a no-brainer to take the offer. I enjoyed my race and felt honored just to be in it. I was 68th out of 69!! I can’t believe I’m telling you that.

Doing everything in my power not to get last. @gpowersfilm

Sprint Skate

I got quite carsick on the way to the venue and was also nervous for the race. That combination made me nauseous all morning, and it was a fight to make it through the day. I knew I wasn’t ready to rip a fast qualifier feeling like that, but sitting out didn’t feel like an option. I was 58th out of 62, slightly better than the day before, but definitely not good. Good racing for me means landing more toward the top 2/3rds of the field.

I got a cool photo out of the deal! @gpowersfilm

It’s an absurd privilege to race on the World Cup. But like anything in life, there are challenges and less fun moments. There were about 1 million things to be thankful for this week, but hopefully sharing the not-so-great races can give a fuller picture of the journey.

I gained race experience and learned more about what my body needs (or should avoid) to feel good and race fast. I had fun with the team and staff, and am thankful for every minute of it. Bad races help the good ones feel more special, so I’m glad I got some more of those under my belt. ;)

I’m in Davos, Switzerland now for more racing. I’m excited for more opportunities and am feeling relieved that the week is already off to a better start. Thanks for following along and cheering even when I’m not winning. I’m not throwing in the towel just yet

-Renae

Another not-hard moment