First Camp of the 2010 Off-Season: Silver Star B.C.!

For the past seven days, the team and I have spent our time in the beautiful Silver Star, British Columbia for our first training camp of the year. Being my first time ever going to Silver Star in May, I was shocked to see how much snow they still had and how incredible the conditions were when we arrived on May 10^th. Thanks to the 20+ degree temperatures however, I don’t think they will be skiing for very much longer.

We skied every morning, except Wednesday, with great snow coverage and temperatures up around 20 degrees Celsius! Talk about prefect spring skiing. I also got to ski on trails which I didn’t know that Silver Star had, so that was lots of fun. We had 2 afternoon workouts throughout the week as well, one being a strength workout at a gym in Vernon, the other being a track running workout. Due to some problems I have been experiencing with my Achilles, I was not able to partake in the track workout on Friday. So instead, I was driven down to Vernon with my bike, and got to ride back up to Silver Star. I knew this was a hard ride, being about 20km of climbing a mountain and all, but I had no idea those hills were so steep. I completed the ride in just under 1 hour and 20 minutes, with some pretty shaky legs. But when I arrived at the top, I was able to look down the mountain and see the city of Vernon, and how far I had ridden, so that felt pretty cool.

Wednesday morning was our one morning that we did not ski. We left our houses in Silver Star and drove to Armstrong to begin our 100km bike ride. This was an awesome ride, taking us just over 3 hours to complete. Having done this ride before I climbed up to Silver Star Friday afternoon, I would have said that one of the climbs in Salmon Arm was the biggest climb I have ever done, spanning a mere 2km. That being said, it was still a pretty demanding climb, on which our group of riders went from 7 or 8 at the bottom to 3 at the top. Luckily, Eric, one of our coaches, was waiting for us at the top with some more fluids and energy gels.

The camp wrapped up yesterday, Sunday May 16^th, with a classic sprint workout in the morning. From there we went back to our houses to shower and clean up, then began the 6 hour drive back to Canmore. Now that we are back, I am back to my usual routine of training and working. Our next camp will be sometime near the end of June, which will be immediately followed by the arrival of my girlfriend, Jacquelyn, for a visit here in Canmore, so I am anxiously awaiting both of those events. CAN’T WAIT!!

That’s all for now,

Happy training!!