The Waiting Game

I met Kris on his way to breakfast this morning. I was on my way back up from the wax cabin and I joined him for another cup of coffee before we went skiing. He sounded terrible - worse than I’ve heard yet. He claimed that he was feeling better and naturally I assumed that he was simply trying to convince himself that he was improving in-spite of obvious evidence to the contrary. Then we went skiing.

I think Kris had overslept. He must have just woken up when I first saw him. He talked most of the frogs out of his throat over breakfast and proceeded to kick my butt skiing (as well he should). His heart rate was down a huge amount from yesterday, and he had some pop in his stride.

So, the door is still open for racing Sunday, but at this point Kris has decided not to start the Sprint event on Saturday. He doesn’t need the stress of race-preparation a day early. He’s done no speed preparation for the sprint, and his chances of qualifying are slim. The best case scenario for the sprint event is that he qualifies for the heats, at which point it turns into a very long day with serious blood sugar management challenges.

The major goal for the remainder of the first period is to have at least one representative race effort in a World Cup start. We need that to evaluate his fitness and make plans for the January races. He will not start Sunday if we feel there is a chance that he could set himself back further in the lead-up to Davos. But as of now I’m optimistic that he’ll race Sunday. I’m not expecting the world - I still think the race comes a couple of days too soon. But things are on the upswing in any case!

The Waiting Game

Kris Freeman

Fri, Nov 30, 2007 - By Zach Caldwell