Wow: almost 2 months since my last post... so much for my resolution to keep this up-to-date! A lot has happened in the last few months. The team has had 2 big training camps, 2 rest weeks and plenty of quality training in between. I had a great summer but I can feel the ski season creeping closer... we hiked in a snowstorm last weekend!
The first camp of the summer was the annual week at the Haig glacier in mid-July. It was a great camp; we had good weather and worked on technique and on-snow volume . On the last day I skied in the morning then ran the 2hrs out of the glacier after a short lunch break. This was the first time I have skied and run out on the same day and it was pretty tiring after a week of hard training. The highlights of the day was swimming in Upper Kananskis Lake at the end of the run and eating Sara's mom's delicious home-made ice cream cake when we got back to Canmore.
The 3rd Annual Haig Glacier Disc Golf Championship podium (complete with paparazzi)
After that training block I had another rest week. I decided to stick close to Canmore amd I ended up working a fair amount. I did a 36km hike one day over Northover Ridge in Kananaskis. It was one of the best hikes I have done and we had a great time.
All the girls
View from the ridge looking at the Haig Glacier in the distance
Having fun on the ridge
We headed off to Whistler mid August for a 10-day camp. We spread out the drive: roller skiing towards Lake Louise then driving to Kamloops; running in Kamloops and driving the rest of the way to Whistler. The first half of the camp was mainly roller ski training. Multiple World Cup medalist Peter Larsson was our guest coach for the first part of the camp so we did lots of technique and tactical work on roller skis. Towards the end of the camp we had a long run/ski stride so we went from village to the very top of Whistler Mountain via Singing Pass then took a chair lift and gondola down. It was fun but we missed out on the georgous scenery because it was cloudy and rainy. On the way home we biked from Pemberton towards Lillooet. After a short flat warm up we hit the Duffy Lake hill and climbed in our granny gears for over an hour. It got tough near the top when it got really hot, the breeze disappeared and flies buzzed around us. Going down the pass on the other side was a huge relief. We spent that night in Salmon Arm so I went for dinner with my parents then saw two other friends who were in town too. Overall it was a productive, though tough camp
Training in Salmon Arm on the way home
We finished off our big training block in Canmore then we got a much needed rest week. I had Monday off which I realized was my first day off in 23 days! My mom came out on Wednesday for a visit so it ended up being a mixture of hiking, shopping and visiting. We went to Body Worlds in Calgary which was fascinating! It was an exhibit of plastinated bodies posed to show various anatomical features. I highly recommend checking it out if you have a chance.
Canmore has had it's first frost, there is a dusting of snow on the mountains so winter is just around the corner! Time for a few more months of prep then it's go time!
