Fast Mom Sheila Kealey

What other sports have you been involved with?
My first serious sport was rowing — which I did through high school and university. At this point I’m still involved in running, cycling, duathlon, and triathlon. I raced some cyclocross in 2002 and loved it, but decided to forgo the Fall 2003 season so that every weekend of the year didn’t involve a race!

What do you do (beside ski racing and training)?
I work with a nutrition and cancer study and other projects with the Behavior Studies Unit for the University of California, San Diego (I telecommute from Ottawa).

How do you balance your training with full-time work and family?
I plan my training around family activities. For me the best time to train is early morning since it’s before other responsibilities and leaves the supper hour and evening free to spend time with Evan. Early morning skis on the weekend mean that I still have the whole day for family time and all the chores that I may or may not get to. Luckily I’m rarely alone in my early morning pursuits, since Ottawa’s got some keen athletes who are willing to set to the ski trails when it’s still dark . . . It’s quite something to be the first group out on freshly tracked trails and see the sun rise when you’re on skis!

Please describe your skiing highlights.
The Keskinada Wordloppet race has been the highlight of each ski season in the last few years. I placed 4th woman overall in 2001, 2002, and 2003 (top North American), and finally this year I broke the spell and finished second, just 6 seconds out of first place.

It looks from your results that at age 39 you are skiing faster than ever. What's the secret and how is it possible?
It’s exciting – my skiing has improved yearly since my son Evan was born (in 1999) — I hope the trend continues! My passion for skiing gets stronger every year.

Certainly my technique — which has improved drastically — has something to do with it, although I still feel I have a long way to go. I don’t have a coach or do specific technique drills, but being smooth, rhythmic, and efficient is something I’m always conscious of when I’m on skis. The idea of skiing faster for the same effort because of better technique is an attractive one!

My training methods have also helped. I am skiing a bit more each year, but with full-time work and family my training time is limited so I tend to do workouts that give me the most bang for my buck. For me that means a focus on hill repeats and other types of intervals balanced with good rest and recovery days. I very seldom do long slow skis or the typical “base” training — maybe one thrown in for good measure at the beginning of the season: endurance is my forte so I don’t feel it’s something I need to work on, especially when my time is limited. I balance the skiing with a bit of easy swimming, running, and speedskating. If you live in Ottawa you simply have to take advantage of the Rideau Canal — the longest skating rink in the world! “Clip on” long blades have an XC ski binding that you wear with skate ski boots – I think it’s a great complement to ski training.

I don’t do any ski-specific training from April through October/November, but compete in triathlons, running, and cycling time trials. How does this non-ski racing focus affect my winter ski performance? I’m not sure, but I feel the offseason racing structures my training and works on my V02 Max and Anaerobic threshold, so I start off ski season fit. The upper body strength gained from swimming is a good thing for skiing and certainly more fun than the weight room.

I know the value of keeping a good training diary (my master’s thesis was on self-monitoring for health behaviors) and learn so much from it. I do track lots of data so I can look back and try to figure out what leads to good racing for me.

My husband John is also an avid skier and really appreciates my passion for skiing — I couldn’t do it without his support.

Can you describe your Keskinada race this year?
I was pretty confident before the race. I felt I was skiing better than last year, when I finished top North American, and was hoping for better race tactics to unfold this time. I ended up skiing most of last year’s race alone and this year I was going to do what I could to get the many benefits of skiing with a group!

Because for the extreme cold temperatures, the race start was delayed 1 hour and the distance shortened to 42km. I enjoyed this extra time to relax and chat with old friends. I was not at all worried about the cold. We’ve had such a cold winter that I’ve had a few too many opportunities to figure out clothing and wax for these conditions!

My start position in the A wave was not ideal, but I managed to work my way up so that once we reached the first major climb up Pinks Lake Hill (about 2 km), I was skiing with Sarah Peters. We were in second and third place, and Canadian National Team member Tara Whitten was out ahead. I felt great and my skis were fast on the parkway, which delighted me since we’d be on the parkway for about 60% of the race. When we turned off the parkway into the woods for the famous Penguin climb (10 km into the race), I moved ahead of Sarah since I thought I’d be able to pull away. Not so! My skis seemed to stick like glue on this climb, and my quads locked up at the top as I let her go by. I watched Sarah ski off in a little pack and thought that was it. Fortunately, this was my only “low” point in the race and it didn’t last long. On the rolling trails of Ridge Road I could see I was gaining on her pack, and managed to catch back on by the time we reached another parkway section leading down to the winding, narrow, and hilly Burma trail, a terrific new addition to the Keskinada course.

I skied in a small pack with Sarah for the next 10km or so and then realized she’d lost a pole basket! I was impressed that it didn’t seem to phase her and she gracefully adapted her style. The pace of our group was feeling a little too comfortable, so I decided to look for opportunities to break away. I jumped on some fast skis on a long parkway downhill and managed to get away from Sarah. The idea of finishing second energized my skiing and I was feeling quite strong. I got tangled-up and fell at a feed but just powered on to keep ahead. We did a U-turn off the parkway into the woods for the final 3km. I reached the final climb and was feeling very happy with my race. Toward the top of the hill I looked up and saw the first place woman! . Seeing Tara gave a jolt of energy to my legs and I furiously tried to close the gap. We only had about 1 km of rolling downhill to go, and I skied my heart out. I saw her fall across the finish line, just 6 seconds ahead of me.