Rule 303.2.2

With air temperatures below -20°C (temperature measured at the coldest point of the course and without wind factor) and competition distances less than or equal to 15 km, the Jury must postpone or cancel the competition. With competition distances greater than 15 km and temperature less than -18°C without wind factor, the Jury must postpone or cancel the competition.

This was a rule that everyone involved with the first trial race of the weekend became intimately acquainted with at about 11:15 this morning. When we arrived at the race site at 7:30 this morning, the temperature was -23 and by mid morning it had risen to just -22. It was cold!!!

Luckily, the race directors had the gumption to recognize a dangerous situation and cancel a very important race. Frostbite is bad news, but when racing at this temperature the real concern is frozen lungs. The problem is that frozen lungs = no more athletic endeavours = not cool.

The cancelled race was very much a bittersweet situation for Madeleine today. On one hand, not racing in the extreme cold was a very good thing. On the other hand, she woke up feeling great with amazing energy; it was shaping up to be a very good day. In any event, the pursuit race has been rescheduled for Monday and will still be a selection race for World Championships. Monday will be a good day too.

Tomorrow is a skate sprint that we have decided Madeline will not start. This is simply a decision to deal with energy management to optimize conditions for a great result in the pursuit on Monday and at the World Cups two weeks from today. Instead of deal with a draining sprint day, we will complete an intensity workout focusing on snappy intervals and good technique.

In other news, today was very much a Solda day, focusing heavily on S30 with some F15 blue also in the mix. Grip was going to be a mixture centred around Magnar 2.5.

This was where we were instructed to test wax today. Unfortunately, the Nordic Centre staff were blowing copious amounts of snow all over the tracks. Sometimes it's just easier to test on the course.

Stay tuned to weather updates over the next few days. The forecast is for better temperatures - The Weather Network; Environment Canada