Nordic Combined Canada

After last weekends performance in Oberstdorf, I arrived in Oberwiesenthal with a huge urge to put together an event that I can feel good about, and build from coming into the final stretch of the summer training season. Which at the time seemed a pretty tall order, since I didn’t really leave Oberstdorf feeling I had accomplished much. One good jump and a couple of races that either finished strong(until I got pulled) or started strong(until I took a dive through some thistles), I wasn’t feeling 100% confident in myself.

After the events in Oberstdorf Scott and I moved onto Klingenthal, a jump only an hour away from Oberwiesenthal with one of the best hills for me to be jumping. It forces you to fly and punishes your mistakes, something that I really need. I was not feeling strong however and the jumps were not flowing and improving but becoming more tense and stagnant then before. It took a lot of mental patience and strength to tell myself to jump and commit, and it felt like I needed something more then that. So I put the jump sessions behind me and turned my focus to Oberwiesenthal, a hill I have never jumped in a place that I have never been. I was confident however that I could jump closer to my ability on a smaller and less intimidating hill.

The event was given in a little different format this go around, where we had the official train in the morning on Friday, and the first event that same evening. It made for a stressful day, between preparing for the official training and then having to de-tune from that only to have to build up enough again to have a solid competition. It most likely didn’t help that it was raining all day, and didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon. The jumping portion wasn’t quite there on Friday and I didn’t put myself into a very good position for the race, which was frustrating and nerve racking because I was really looking forward to finally having an event that I can be proud of. After the jumping though it was not to be, and the race then became an opportunity to build on the success that I had been having from the previous races leading up to Friday. The weather had decided that it was not going to cooperate and started spitting rain from the end of the jumping event and progressively getting harder and harder until it got to the point were you can’t think it can get any worse, then it does. So wet, cold and ready to race fast I took to the event ready to perform. I started the race in decent fashion, but after the first lap found myself fighting to stay afloat and watching the group that I wanted to ski with pull further and further away, it was not going to be my day. So I toughed it out in the ever worsening rain and cold, navigating 180 degree corners onto rough cobblestone,the feeling though was starting to get stronger and stronger. After I finished the race I knew that I had more to give on the course and was ready for Saturday.

Saturday was what I would consider to be my best World Cup level competition that I have ever had. The jumping event was what I would think would be the norm anywhere that there are wind turbines within 5Km of a ski jump. Inconsistency and gusts prevented the jury from having the most fair event but I think that TD Joe Lamb and his crew did a very good job with what they had to work with, it may not have been perfect but they were able to hold a safe and mostly fair competition. My jump on the other hand did not go as smooth, I made a few adjustments with my inrun and a few other changes for the better but all of that was not important since I watched the take-off slide beneath me missing it by a few meters. Frustrating as it was I was still able to jump 87 meters, and far enough to not be in the wave start and put myself in a much better position to ski from. During the warm up I didn’t feel like I had the day before, the intensity wasn’t there and the body was starting to feel sluggish and slow, but I wasn’t going to let that take me away from building yet again on the racing that I had been doing. The start of the race feeling much better then I had thought, feeling much smoother and free then I had in any race this summer. So I building on that feeling, racing confident and aggressive passing skiers and racing with a group rather then skiing in ”no-mans” land, finishing with a race that I know that I gave everything I had leaving nothing out there. So I am happy with the event on Saturday, but am disappointed that I didn’t have a jump to call home about leaving little doubt in my mind that I can continue to build and improve.

I can leave the competitions feeling much more confidence then I had before, and am ready to enter the rest of the summer with a renewed vigor and intensity, happy that I am more ready I was before. One of my bigger goals of these Grand Prix events was putting together an event that I can look back on and think that I could not have done any better, I could have not done one thing different to make it a better event. I think though that I will always be chasing this idea of the prefect event, one where I have my best jump and my fastest ski. Maybe it is just not possible, there will always be something that I look back on and think that I could have done differently could have changed and I just need to start focusing on going out every day and performing at the best of my ability and in time the results will come. Then there will be one day that comes along when the stars are aligned in my favour and I am able to put together my ”perfect” event.

Thanks

Wesley Savill

Hi,

My name is Wesley Savill, and this is my Blog.

The Nordic Combined is a very difficult sport, combining the quick twitch explosion of the Ski Jumping and the endurance and power of the Cross Country skiing. I requires a very special athlete to be able to succeed at the top level. Not only is it extremely physically demanding but the combination of the two is very mentally straining as well.

Carole (Scott’s Wife/team nutritionist) suggested to me before leaving on this trip to Grand Prix that I read a few books on sports psychology, so on the reading list is Thinking Body, Dancing Mind. TaoSports for extraordinary performance (Chungliang Al Hung, Jerry Lynch, Bantam books, 1994), a book on mental fortitude and the ability to perform at your best. It has provided a lot of incite into the inner workings of something that in the past has not received a lot of development. I looked forward to introducing some of the ideas that I have learned into my training and competition routines.

This past week in Oberstdorf was my first opportunity to test out some of my new mental preparations. The results however expected are very good to see. I was very happy with how quickly I was able to adapt to a hill that I have never jumped before, an then progress with my jumping just another little step forward. So carrying these newfound skills into the competition I had a renewed sense of confidence and prowess that I had not experienced in all my years of competing.

The first event was the perfect opportunity to test my mental strength when arriving to the hill with the winds starting to swirl, and having had the opportunity to watch this all day. I was able to get past my typical mental blocks and get to the top of the hill in a much better mental position to jump and perform(not that it mattered though since they ended up using the provisional jump from the day before). The ski was one thing that I was very nervous for, the race was very difficult from the getgo since I have not had a race that I have been at all happy with. It started much the same as all the races this summer before, slow, weak and lacking tempo, however at lap 3(of 6) I was able to find a little rhythm and strength. This was a very good feeling to have, and gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the race but two laps later I was lapped by the leader and forced to pull out. This didn’t phase me though

The Sunday was a little different day, after a better jump and a little luck from the wind gods I found myself at the start line in a better place to ski from. So in preparation for this ski I made a few changes to the warm up, and mental attitude to help me do a little better then the day before. It started really well, feeling good and ready to ski, but three-quarters through the first lap I lost my balance going round a corner and flew off the side of the track off a little roll and through some thistles. Not what I would call the best race strategy, but I found the strength to pick myself up off the ground and finish the race. Not the best day I have ever had, but I learned a lot about myself and the mental and physical strength that is required.

The events in Oberstdorf have taught me how to better play the mental game, the mental strength that I need to perform better. I am very happy with what I have learned so far and am looking forward to taking these techniques and taking them to the next level. I hope that these new techniques will continue to develop and mold me into a much more mentally fit athlete and continue to improve my skiing as it has this past weekend.

Thanks,

Wesley Savill

Ps. I understand that this is a week old, I have just been having a few technical problems

Janaury 1, 2010 at World Cup Nordic Combined

Val di Fiemme, Italy

“we did the hill climb today.
6200m of flats, 2800 m of climbing, 500m vertical, 30% grade, should I say more?

It was the toughest race that I have ever done. They started us off on a modified version of the XC race course, then they made us ski 3 k to the bottom of a ski area before we started up the bottom of a downhill race course. We had to race up the course, and do switch backs, but instead of going up during the switchbacks they would go straight across the hill, and then make us go up again. I think the best way to describe it would be to say that I had to race up a blue ski run, as hard as I could. Very hard!”

Wesley Savill

Val diFiemme