It’s the part where he pushes himself to his absolute limit that Andrew Musgrave loves.
It is widely accepted that cross-country skiing is one of the most physically brutal of all sports with athletes required to push themselves to breaking point in their pursuit of success but for Britain’s best-ever cross-country skier, this suits him just fine.
It is an attitude that has got Musgrave to this point whereby he goes into today’s 30km race at the World Championships in Lahti, Finland as a real medal chance.
“I do like pushing myself to the limit although I think being able to push myself this hard has come with practice,” the 26 year-old said.
“It’s not exactly the most pleasant when you’re at your absolute limit and when I get to that point, I do look forward to the finish line. It’s pretty painful – everything hurts and so I just try to and focus on something else rather than the pain.
"But I like that side of it and even when I’m doing something for fun during my off-season, I always push myself to see how hard I can go. I think that’s just the type of person I am.”
Until Musgrave made his breakthrough a few years ago, the prospect of a Brit competing with the very best skiers from the Nordic nations seemed faintly ridiculous. But since making the decision eight years ago to base himself in Trondheim, Norway, the Scot has developed into one of the best in the world.
Musgrave, who remains affiliated to Huntly Nordic Ski Club, burst into the British public’s consciousness in 2014 when he won the Norwegian Championship; to beat the very best at their own game on their home patch was quite an achievement.
But Musgrave was unable to continue that form into the Sochi Winter Olympics which came just a month after his Norwegian triumph in 2014 and the Scot departed Russia disappointed after being eliminated in the quarter-finals.
It was a result that made him re-think his approach to major championships. “In previous years, I’ve not done as well at the World Championships or Olympics as I feel I could have done,” he admits.
“So I spoke with one of the physiologists at the Sportscotland Institute of Sport and he had a look at my training. He compared me to a football player in that I do a ton of training in the off-season and then during the season, I race and race non-stop and my form tails off.
"So he recommended that I train more like track and field athletes where they target specific events so I’ve been doing that this season and it will hopefully allow me to go faster in the major competitions.”
Musgrave’s plan working well so far; in his last outing a month ago, he claimed an impressive 6th place in the Ulricehamn World Cup in Sweden which he followed up with a block of altitude training to fine-tune his preparation for this World Championship. It has left him in a confident mood for today’s race.
“I’m feeling good. I want to be in the fight for a medal but I can’t control what the other people do so I just need to focus on myself,” he said.
“To win a medal, I’d need to ski really, really well- probably faster than I’ve ever skied before but to be honest, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t do that.”
Musgrave’s performance today will have a significant impact on how he prepares for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
While this World Championship is important in its own right, it is also acting as a dress rehearsal for next year’s Games, which is now less than a year away.
Pyeongchang 2018 will be Musgrave’s third Olympics so with a wealth of experience now behind him, as well as a finely-tuned plan about how to peak when it really matters, expectations on Musgrave are high.
However the Scot remains relaxed about the prospect of potentially becoming Britain’s first-ever cross-country skiing Olympic medallist.
“This should be my best Olympics – cross-country skiers tend to peak in their mid to late twenties so if I’m going to do well, it’s likely to be at this one,” he said.
“I don’t really feel pressure from anybody other than myself though. I put pressure on myself no matter what so, more than anything, it’s motivating that I should be in my prime and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t do well.”
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