IBU cup finals in France

Today was my last international race of the season. Since Thursday my skiing took a 360 and today was my best ski of the season. Thursday was the 15km individual, it was +18, melt your face off sunny and ankle deep slush. Needless to say not my favourite conditions, I picked a winter sport for a reason! Going into the race my legs were feeling dead and not at all ready for a 15km. Skiing was hard but I had caught one of the fast Swedes who started 40sec ahead of me and had hit 4, 3 in my first two shootings. On my 3rd loop I got tripped up in the slush and a fence and when I got up my legs had given up! I could not get them to move even remotely fast for me. I came into my first standing and cleaned and left the range with said Swede, in a mere 100m she was probably 50sec ahead of me. I decided it was best to not ski the next 6km and save my self for the weekend. It is always a hard decision to not finish a race but I think it was for the best. 

Saturday my legs were feeling a bit better and I was ready for the sprint. I hit 7/10 and came 30th. My ski speed had improved but my shooting had me falling short of my potential. Sundays story goes the same. It was still +15 but cloudy so the track held up much better. The 2km loop was perfect for me, no crazy up hills but some sweet downhills where I was able to make up a lot of time (Chandra has taught me well in the ways of xc skiing downhill) I hit 4,5 in my first two prone shootings and had moved up from 30th to 18th by my first standing bout. I set up and missed 4, I could not believe I had done it again, the same as my pursuit in Forni. After 4 dizzy penalty loops I left in 30th again. I moved up to 28th by my last standing and missed 1. Leaving the penalty loop I was in 30th with 5 people ahead of me, spread out over about 15sec. I skied my heart out and caught them all, passing the last two with about 75m before the finish line. In the end I was 25th with the 14th fastest ski time, my loops were the most consistent they have been all year and I felt really strong today. I am very disappointed with my shooting, but am happy with how my ski speed has improved over the year. 

In the past 3 weeks I have had 9 races, I didn't get sick and by the end I was skiing the fastest I have all year. I would like to take a moment and re read the, I did not get sick part!! This year I only got a short cold right before Christmas. Props body, props! This is the most racing I have done in one season and my body responded well to it! 

Tomorrow we leave Thones at 5:30am to drive to Geneva to catch our flight HOME! I will spend 5 days in Canmore before heading east to Charlo for Canadian Champs. 4 more races to go and my season will come to a close. Since November 20th to March 28th I will have spent 2 weeks in Canmore. After Nationals I will spend some time enjoying the awesome snow Canmore got before taking off for a spring vacation with Brendan. We are not too sure where we are going yet, but have been looking at Belize! 

ciao

Rosanna

Miss Claude Godbout had some personal best at these races with 20th in the sprint and 17th in the pursuit! Bravo ma belle!