Great Fall testing! Now off to Ontario!

This past week was my Fall, pre-season testing week. Having missed the testing in June due to illness, I have been eagerly awaiting this past week for a very long time. I did four tests over the course of three days late last week: a body comp. test, VO2 max test, double pole test, and a sprint prologue test.

Last Thursday I made the trip into Calgary to TCR Labs where I had my body comp. test and then the VO2 max test. Having dropped almost 10 lbs since last year at this time, I was very curious to see what my body comp. would be, and it turns out that I lost a few pounds in muscle, and am now down to 4.4% body fat from last year's 5.6%. I'm pretty happy with these numbers and the decrease in weight was evident in my VO2 max test which followed this one. The VO2 max test is to see how efficient the body is at using the oxygen that you inhale during exercise. So to do this, I wore this interesting piece of headware that made me breath through a tube, which measured the amount of oxygen that I was inhaling and exhaling, and had my nose plugged so that I could only breath through my mouth. I then got on a treadmill and ran at a 1% grade at speeds that increased every 2 minutes until I reached my threshold (basically until I started breathing very heavy and was getting tired). Then the speed was decreased by 1 mph and I started into the climbing phase of the test. This is the last part of the test where you run for as long as you possibly can while the incline increases by 3% every minute.

This was an amazing test for me, as it showed that I have improved my VO2 max over last year's 66.5 ml/kg/min to this year's 70 ml/kg/min. The test also showed that my heartrates are considerably lower this year than last year when moving at the same speed, which is a good sign that my training is paying off. And finally, the test showed me that I am stronger mentally than I thought I was, and I can take more pain than I thought I could, which is possibly the most beneficial knowledge that I got from the whole test.

Two days later, I completed the double pole test here in Canmore. Having been just on the verge of getting sick when I this test in June, I was definitely expecting to beat that time, and my goal was to set a new PB (which I set last year at just over 5 minutes). I ended up setting a new PB pretty handily at a time of 4:49, so I was very pleased about that. That afternoon was my last test, the sprint prologue test (skate rollerskiing). Having never done this test before, I didn't really know what to expect, and came out with a time of 3:33. Being my first time doing this test, I didn't really learn anything about my fitness level, but it was still a good hard effort.

I am now enjoying some much needed days off to recover from this past training block and prepare for the next one, which I have been told is going to be a very hard one. And I am very happy to say that today, Oct. 18th, was my first on snow ski of the year up at the Nordic Centre where they have a very nice, 1km-ish loop open.

Tomorrow morning I will be getting on a plane bright and early in Calgary and heading first to Guelph to spend some time with Jacquelyn and a few other friends who are going to school there. Then on Friday night I'll be heading back to Penetang for a 5 day visit with my friends and family. Can't wait!!

That's all for now, cheers!

Time for an Update: Ski Season is Approaching!

Now that I actually think about it, this last month has been both very long, but at the same time feels like it just flew by. The first few weeks of September were fairly uneventful for me, with the exception of the very unfortunate six days from the 8th - 14th when I was sick. While normally I would be very upset about looking back and seeing that I missed a week of training, as soon as I came back after my cold I felt more fit and stronger than I ever have before. So to me, it meant that I just needed some time to reboot the body and ever since then I have been feeling great!

About two weeks ago I finally got to meet one of my new sponsors in person, Jamie Coatsworth. We had a great breakfast and chat up at the Summit Cafe here in Canmore, and then myself and the rest of "Team Coatsworth" (Jamie sponsors a good chunk of the Canadian National Ski Team, and we are referred to as "his team"), threw him a surprise birthday dinner at Ticino's Restaurant in Banff. It was a great evening of amazing food and great company, and we even had some team shirts made up for all of us :). It was great to finally meet Jamie face to face, and what he does for myself and fellow sponsorees is truly incredible. Thanks for everything Jamie!

While on the topic of sponsors, I would like to thank McLaren's Canada, as well as my Aunt Gail and Uncle Stew, for coming on board and providing me with some of the financial support that I need to train and compete at this level.

My next training adventure came last Monday when the Academy and I traveled to Jasper AB for a 3 day training camp. Being my first time ever in Jasper, I had a great time on this camp (though we didn't really have much time to explore the town). It consisted of some trail running and A LOT of rollerskiing. Over the course of those three days I rollerskied a grand total of about 170km, all of which was great training!

We came back to Canmore on Wednesday night and spent the next couple days doing our normal training, and then it was off to Calgary yesterday for the annual Calgary Roadrunner's River Park Classic running race. The weather this year turned out to be a perfect 22 degrees C and a cloudless sky (compared to last year's O degree temperatures and snow). And while the higher water level in the river crossing slowed most of us down, I managed to finish 6th overall, improving on my 7th place from last year, so I was fairly happy with my race.

I am now enjoying a very nice day off to recover and prepare for my next week of training. Tomorrow morning I will be joining the other Junior and U23 athletes of my team for a 1 night trip to Lake Louise for a very mini training camp. From there we will arrive back in Canmore Tuesday night and finish off this week's training, before starting our Fall testing week on the 11th. I am looking forward to getting to test my limits and seeing how I compare to myself last year at this time.

That's all for now!

Cheers!

August Update with the Whistler training camp

What a month! I guess I should probably go all the way back to where I left off on my last post (sorry about the time gap). As I mentioned at the end of my last post, the first week or so of August was a low training time for me, as I was recovering from the 3 preceding weeks of hard training, and it was also when Jacquelyn's sister, Lindsey, and our friend Jeremy from back home were coming out to visit. The four of us had a great time that week, exploring everything between here in Canmore and Lake Louise.

For my birthday we all, along with my roommate Bob, went to Banff for the day to check out what the town's day life was like (I have lived here for 14 months and have never done this, crazy, I know), and then stayed there and enjoyed Banff's night life before walking up to Tunnel Mountain, which is not actually as far as it might sound, and camping overnight. A few days later Jeremy, Lindsey, Jacquelyn and I all went to Lake Louise. The three of them took in the sights of Moraine Lake road as I did my workout for the day, before heading up and canoeing on the lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. (Pictures from these adventures can be found on our Facebook pages). The next day, August 12th, the four of us drove to the Calgary Airport and Jacquelyn and I had to say our goodbyes as her and Lindsey were heading home for the rest of the summer before starting university in September. After a few difficult moments of desperately trying to keep myself composed, Jeremy and I managed to escape the airport and find our way back to Canmore. Jeremy stayed the night and then headed out for Saskatchewan the next morning. It wasn't really until Jeremy left that I realized how much I had become used to having extra people in the house... Everything soon became very quiet around here.

However, my spirits were lifted by that great passion of mine that is now my life: skiing and training. Two days after Jeremy left, myself and the rest of my team packed up and started our trip to Whistler for our 4th training camp of the year. This camp would total 10 days and consist of training in Kamloops, Whistler and Salmon Arm. This was a great camp not only for the obvious reasons like getting to do tons of training in new, cool places, but also because we had a guest coach for the first half of the camp. Peter Larsson, retired Swedish sprinter and 6 time World Cup winner, accompanied us for our first 5 or 6 days of the camp, teaching and helping us with some of the latest techniques and tactics.

After a great time in Whistler, the morning of the 24th rolled around and it was time to pack up and start the journey home. For me, this journey started in Pemberton, about 30km outside of Whistler, where I hopped on my bike and started what would be a gruelling four hour ride with some killer climbs. Unfortunately for me, these climbs were just made harder by my bike having a small chain ring which no longer works. So I spent these four hours in big ring, which may have made me go faster, but it definitely took its toll on my body in the following days. After finishing up this ride, which for me was about 100km and brought me to Lillooet BC, we all hopped in the vans and drove to Salmon Arm where we spent the night. The next morning we woke up and did a great sprint workout in the farmlands of BC before continuing on our way and driving home to Canmore.

I am now finally settled into my normal life of training and working, with some slight changes. I am currently working on changing my diet, which I realize to many people is not very interesting haha, but I am hoping that it will have a significant impact on my fitness level and racing this season. I am also awaiting the arrival of my third roommate, Matt Wylie, who is going to be moving in at some point today.

That's about all that has been going on this past month, so it's safe to say that I am now pretty exhausted, and very happy about this week being a rest week.

Until next time, cheers.

Haig Camp 2010

Two Mondays ago (July 19th), the team and I set out for the Haig Glacier for our third training camp of the year. Despite a very cloudy and wet looking first couple of days, we ended up having fantastic conditions for the majority of the week, which made for some great skiing. From a training stand point, I had an amazing week, getting in over 25 hours of training, and over 200km of skiing. Getting back on the snow also helped to get me all fired up again and excited to start racing this winter.

With the Haig camp also came the annual Academy Disc Golf Tournament, which is put on every year courtesy of teammate Jess Cockney. This year's tournament was full of surprises and was a blast to both compete in and spectate (being put out in a fairly early round, I was able to do a good amount of both). The two time Champion, Chris Butler, was dethroned this year when one of our coaches, Eric Groeneveld, put him out in the semi finals. And after a 9 hole over time and 3 or 4 sudden death holes, teammate Drew Goldsack managed to edge out Eric for the win. While I ended up finishing 9th place overall, I managed to not go home empty handed by getting the only hole in one of the week. So that was my highlight of the tournament.

The camp wrapped up on Sunday for most of the senior athletes, while myself and about 9 others ran out on Monday. So I am now back in Canmore with one last week of heavy training before I will be treated to a much needed rest week to both recover from these past few weeks, as well as to prepare for our next camp in Whistler. I have resumed my job at Boston Pizza, and yesterday I also tried out busking at the local weekly market. The idea was put in my head by a couple of my teammates while on the glacier this past week, so I thought I would go out and see how I could do. I ended up making $15 in about 90 minutes, and despite being a little nerve racking at first, it was pretty fun. Now I just have to learn some more songs and try to find more opportunities to do it.

Jacquelyn and I are both eagerly awaiting next week, as her sister and one of our friends from Ontario will be joining us for a week which, as timing would have it, puts them here for my rest week as well as my birthday.

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I did get some pictures from the camp, and I have posted them on Facebook. Here is a link for those who are interested:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?id=510412683&aid=191000&s=0&hash=7d09ea4f9e3884f3556ecb0ca33538ee

Cheers!

Summer time!!!

As I mentioned in my last post in June (I apologize for the big time gap between posts), this past month has been a very exciting one. Picking up where I left off, I had the pleasure of joining the Parker family in the Canmore "Try-a-Tri" triathlon on June 20th, and it was lots of fun. I ended up posting the fastest time on the bike by almost a minute (over 9km), so I was pretty happy about that.

The next week was the team's first testing camp of the year, and while I had been looking forward to it for months, I unfortunately got sick at the beginning of that week. So after discussing it with my coaches, we agreed that the upcoming training camp in New Denver was much more important for me than the testing camp, so I took about 5 days off training, missing the testing, but was able to recover in time to join the team for the 3 day camp in B.C.

This camp was very fun, as it was lots of training and lots of km's. The first day was our long road ride around the Silver Triangle (New Denver to Nelson to Kaslo to New Denver). Hats off to teammates Kevin Sandau and Graham Nishikawa for being the only ones to complete the 220km loop, taking them a total of just over 7 hours. For myself and many of my other teammates, we stopped at the 170km mark, which for me took a total of 5.5 hours. The rest of the camp was spent running, ski walking and rollerskiing, and of course, the warm up game for the "World Series" (if you will) baseball game which will take place at our camp in Whistler next month. This game was a bit of a blowout (24-12 I believe was the final score), so team Pepper is going to have to pull up their socks if they want to compete with Team Salt in Whistler.

We arrived back in Canmore the evening of June 30th, at which time I was greeted by Jacquelyn who had arrived that afternoon. The next day I had the Canada Day running race, which went far better than I expected, as I won the 18 and under age category and was 13th overall. A couple hours later my teammates and I got into our Academy race suits and cowboy hats and rollerskied through the Canada Day Parade, which involved our usual short sprints and horse-mess dodging.

The parade was the end of my busy couple weeks, and then I was treated to a much-needed rest week last week. This week I have been ramping up the training again in preparation for my next training camp on the Haig Glacier, which will be taking place next week. VERY EXCITED!!! I am hoping to get some pictures from that camp, so I will try to get them up as soon as I can after I return from the Haig. Until then, Happy Summer!

Feeling like an overdue update

These past few weeks haven't been tremendously eventful, however I feel like I should be doing an update, so here goes. Last week I started my new job at Boston Pizza here in Canmore, and it's looking like I'm going to enjoy it once I figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. The people are great, and the manager is awesome when it comes to scheduling my shifts around my training, so I'm pretty thrilled about that. I'm not a huge fan of the first few weeks at any job, as it can get a little stressful when you know you should be doing something, but you don't know what or how. So I figure by July I should be a little more comfortable there, so I'm really looking forward to when that time comes.

These next couple weeks should prove to get pretty exciting/fun starting next Sunday, as my schedule will be slightly less monotonous. Next Sunday I'll be doing a very short bike portion of a triathlon here in town, and then I will be riding from that to Sunshine, on the other side of Banff, to meet up with my team for the remainder of my workout. Next week is the team's first testing week of the year, so throughout the week I'll be doing a VO2 max test in a lab in Calgary, as well as an uphill time trial and a double pole test here in Canmore.

After a couple days of rest, the team and I will be traveling to Kaslo BC on the 27th for our next training camp. While it will only be a 3 day camp, it's sounding like it could be a tough one. Our first day we will be setting out on our road bikes with hopes of riding the Silver Triangle. This is a loop that goes from Kaslo, to New Denver, to Nelson, and then back to Kaslo. In total this route is around 220km, and by the sounds of things we will be riding a total of 6 hours that day. So while it is very unlikely that we will complete the whole ride, I'm very curious to see how far we make it in 6 hours, and how well my body takes it. Having never spent more than 4 hours on a bike, I'm very excited!

After a couple more days of training around Kaslo, I'll be arriving back in Canmore the night of the 30th, by which time Jacquelyn should be here! The next day being Canada Day, I'll be getting up early to run in the annual Canmore Canada Day running race. That will be followed by the parade, which the Academy is once again going to be a part of, so I'm looking forward to that too.

So ya, not much happening right now, just the usual eat, train, work, sleep, repeat. But very exciting times to come!!

Cheers.

Thank you Sponsors!

While there is nothing overly exciting going on here in Canmore at the moment (despite the frigid temperatures and snow :( ) I thought I would do a brief post to thank my two newest sponsors, Midland Ski Club and Jamie Coatsworth, for coming on board and supporting me in my Olympic dream! Your support is tremendously appreciated because, without all of my sponsors, I would not be able to live here in Canmore and train with the best of the best. So to Midland Ski Club and Jamie Coatsworth, along with all of my other sponsors, THANK YOU!!!!!

P.S. Today is also Jacquelyn and my 1 year anniversary, so happy 12 months Jacquelyn!! :) xo