January 4th — Progression
The Tour de Ski started hot and heavy. The first race on New Year's Day was a 2.5 km prologue in Oberhof, Germany. It is too short to be a sprint and too long to be a distance race. I finished 27th and was in a tie with seven ladies. Pretty crazy considering it was a individual start. Saturday we raced a pursuit starting based on our times behind the leader from the prologue. I picked away girls as I went along and got hip checked into the powder snow by a distracted Russian racer. Despite this, I worked my way to 21st place. Mental note- avoid Russians on the downhills.
We now head to Prague for a skate sprint. There is no time to linger and sample the local beer and bratwurst on this race series. I know this suffering that I am doing will be good for my Olympic preparation. I'm not in the shape I need to be in yet but I believe my spark will be there for the Olympics.
Thank you ATB. You are the flame for my spark!
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