August Update

I t has been a while since I last updated this blog. I had mentioned I would post pictures from our over distance workouts a few weeks ago, but I had forgot my camera on those days and thus, had no photos.

We just finished a pretty intense volume block- it actually finishes tomorrow. It has been an interesting few weeks to say the least. We started off with some bigger days and then mixed in some max strength which was interesting. As I’ve said before I haven’t really been on a periodized weight program, so I am always slightly on the hesitant side when we are in the gym. Unless of course it involves a form of shape magazine core! I got to test out my new found pipes (yes, I have some bumps in the region of biceps!) on the uphill double pole test and managed to smash my own record by over a minute. Again, it’s pretty sweet to improve, but I must say I was pretty blown away when the results were in. We were on the same skis as in May, and the pavement was definitely warmer so that played a factor for sure, but overall I am pretty happy with that improvement.

Next up was a 9 day camp split between Highwood pass in K-Country and three days on the Haig Glacier. The day before we left for camp I did my first trail race in a while. For some reason I get super nervous for running races now because I don’t focus on it for training and have felt some residual effects of “skiing muscles” on my running, but this year seems to be telling a different story. As part of the Salomon XT Wings Flight Crew Running team, we have to do some Saab/Salomon 5peaks races, go to www.5peaks.com for more info. So I laced up my Salomon Speed Cross 2- they have a pretty narly tread, check them out at: www.salomonrunning.com and headed out for the 12 Km loop at the Kananaskis/Delta Lodge/Nakiska resort. I didn’t have time to look at the course profile, but as I stood on the start line and the announcer “mentioned” something about 3km uphill at the start I quickly had to devise a plan of attack to not blow up at the start. As the gun went off I had to remind myself that I was fit and that if I held back a bit for the first 6km I could try to negative split the second. I wouldn’t say I stayed entirely true to that thought, but I did make up time on the second half of the course and I was pretty impressed with myself on the uphill sections. One of the men I passed exclaimed “you and those damn up hills, you almost killed me on the first climb” (he went ripping by me on the descent and I passed him at the 6km mark on the second climb). The coolest part of this course was the ripping down hills, most of the course at the base of Nakiska ski resort so they have some pretty sweet, fast sections! I went home with a box of Kicking horse coffee for the win- and a huge grin! I love the mountains and I love the fact that I have the body and engine to be able to push hard on a course like that one.

The next day I jumped in the van with the team to head to the Highwood River Inn, complete with “theme rooms”. The main focus of this part of the camp was double poling. We did some over distance and then did a sprint race on the second day. I have to say classic sprints are something I don’t look forward to- ever. I rarely race them and avoid them. This year, however I have been working on power and speed, a much needed infusion into my training, however I will admit it still hasn’t done much for my relationship with classic sprinting. As the heats started I immediately went to my “place” at the back of the pack, but quickly realized I was a lot stronger than I thought (roller ski wheel speed was definitely at play here) and decided to just start racing like I do in skating and running. Turns out it works! It was fun to be in the mix and feel like I was fighting for a win. I made it into the final- I have to add that our women’s team is extremely strong! We have some very fast junior and U23 sprinters and coupled with Shayla  Swanson and Rhonda Jewitt I didn’t really think I could make it to the final four. So I lined up with the “ankle biters”. I believe I overheard Mike, the coach telling them to push me around a bit, so I  just decided that I wasn’t going down without a fight (again roller ski wheel speed plays a factor) and to add a bit of challenge for myself, I decided to try some “tactics”- fancy that! Haha! Coming down the final stretch I went into my own rendition of Mark Tucksbury of “go now”  (he won a gold medal in the back stroke at an Olympics a while ago- I don’t know which one, but he has a “tape” of the play by play) and just tried everything I could to get to the line first- turns out it works!  I know its August and I know that it’s a roller ski sprint, but for me, this is a huge deal, I finally have some confidence in double poling and although I don’t know how it will translate to snow, it’s still something I have improved at and that’s what is most important.

On Friday afternoon we headed into the Haig. We were greeted at the trailhead by some cold mountain rain and about 1hr in I stopped avoiding puddles. It got extremely cold as we climbed and I just couldn’t get warm, my heart rate actually started dropping as we went up. I knew that something was awry when I had to actually vocalize to myself that everything would be fine and I was a tough girl. When we crested the rocks into camp this cold wind just kicked my butt and I although I was hungry I couldn’t seem to eat much. That night it sounded like our bunk house was going to launch into the abyss, so most of us didn’t get the quality sleep we needed. I was excited to get on snow, but when I put my skis on I had nothing. I think the cold, lack of refueling properly and the hike up just did me in. I couldn’t even pretend I had energy and was told to hike down after 40 minutes of skiing. I will say this was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I left a perfect track and a blue bird sky half sobbing and feeling sorry for myself on the hike down. When I got back down to camp I ate as much as I could and then had a 3 hour nap (or coma). Then I managed to log almost 9 hours that night too. I think I just need to make sure I dress warmer and eat enough otherwise my body crashes. The other important lesson here was that I had to just let go of that day and not dwell on it- something that I seem to revel in. So I let it go, it was just a bad day.

The next two days we were blessed with some new snow, about 9 inches in camp and a whole lot more at the glacier! And I felt way better, better than I had in a week!  And to top it off I was able to kick a pair of skis that I hadn’t ever thought I would be able to! 

I hope you enjoy the photos, courtesy of Alysson Marshall and Mike Cavaliere.

Ciao,

Brooke

 

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A few weeks ago I read Devon Kershaw’s blog regarding his feelings towards the uphill time trial in Canmore. It wasn’t until today that some of his points definitely resonated quite clearly!

Most of the AWCA athletes have had this day on our plans for over a month and although I tried to avoid eye contact with it- I inevitably ended up in a stare down with it over the last three days. Its kind of funny because really, its the first week of August and its an uphill skate time trial where a ton of variables can come into play. Frankly, its just an intensity, another opportunity to push yourself and get stronger, fitter and faster. However, due to the fact that every skier in Canmore, if not most in Canada have at some point over their ski carrear got into a start position at the intersection of Three Sisters and Rundle Drive and picked their best line through the first 50m of pebbles that could make you remember their name (we all have the scars from at least one) this test becomes a little more then just an intensity. Every skier is well aware of how fast the other can climb that hill- its a right of passage of sorts in Canmore. And regardless of the fact that its a summer, uphill rollerski test- I still get ridiculously nervous for it!

 Fortunately, the only variable on one of the most perfect days in Canmore yet (today) would be roller ski speed. To be honest I’m not even sure what type of roller skis I was on- I think they were the sprint F1’s with a 5 carved in them- observant, I know. We have a test fleet of these skis so they are as close to the same speed as we can get.

I didn’t feel overly good in the warm up, but tried to just focus on technique, and where I wanted to try to push a bit harder and then of course getting my head wrapped around that wonderful smooth paved section 100m from the finish (enter sarcasm here). The paving at that point in the course is everything you don’t want it to be where you don’t want it to be- you know the kind of bumpy pavement that kills any momentum from the roll of your ski so you basically crawl a little deeper into the pain cave then you normally would have liked.

Going into this, the only goal I had was to improve my time from the May testing. I started out a little hard (okay a lot too hard), but it was part of my plan (well it had to become part of my plan as it was happening) because in order to get faster, you have to see where your limits are and then push past them- this time was no different. At about four minutes in I knew I was teetering on blowing up (insert nervous laugh here), but I had already devised a plan for that- go harder (haha). I didn’t know if I was on pace or not for a PB. As I entered the final uphill into the finish with the wonderful smooth pavement, one of the younger girls on my team who I thought I had dropped pulled up beside me. Initially I thought to give up, but decided to see what I had left in the tank to race- so right then and there the time trial went from being a competition against myself to being a fight for the finish- VERY cool and kudos to the speedy little chicky who had the the guts to pull around me! Definetly humbling!

I ended up with a PB of 47 seconds on those rollerskiis. I didn’t really believe it at first because I had dug myself into such a hole within the first kilometer that it felt anything but effortless and “light on my feet”, however as I tried to get rid of the metal taste of lactate in my mouth and the saliva that had attached itself to the pavement and my mouth (so hot right now) I couldn’t help but half smile- its pretty sweet to improve!

Whats even more amazing is that EVERYONE on our team PB’d by atleast 30seconds! Pretty awesome!

This week was a medium week with more of a focus on intensity and then next week I have a medium-hard week. We have two pretty awesome workouts next week- one is rollerskiing in highwood pass in K-Country for an overdistance ski and the other will be a longer rollerski on the 1A from Banff to Lake Louise- these are some of the most amazing places to train hands down! I have a four hour mountain run on Sunday and I think I will be heading out to the Iceline trail in Yoho National Park with a friend, I will make sure I bring a camera to post some photos. We finish off August with a half Glacier camp on the Haig and a four day camp in Highwood pass!

happy training,

Brooke

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This past weekend I raced on a 5-women team in the 24 Hours of Adrenalin at the Canmore Nordic Centre. The registration for this event sold out in two days last year! I was honored to be asked to be a part of this team, as the other four girls are phenomenal athletes and I didn’t want to be the weakest link.

The race started at 12 noon on Saturday and ended at 12 noon on Sunday. My focus was to recover properly between each leg, and also to make sure I wasn’t going to dig myself into a hole for ski training, especially coming off a big volume week a week before.

The weather was great until about 4:30pm and after that I think we had 3 or 4 Thunderstorms which left the course super wet and muddy. So the night laps were more of a run then a ride. It was pretty awesome to stand in the exchange area and watch all the bike lights wind around the nordic centre, they kind of looked like jurassic park fireflys. After I came in from my lap I was told that a bear cub had found the gel wrappers at check point 2 and was licking them.

Our team won! Yay! and we managed to sneak away with only one flat, and a fall (me of course).

It was a great event, definetly football tailgating meets spandex clad enduro nerds!

Special thanks to Danelle and Luna Bar for organizing the team and providing us with tasty bars, gels, drink mix and some sweet skin suits.

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Haig Glacier Camp Re-Cap

The Haig Glacier Camp is located in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, it is about a 45min drive from Canmore to the trail head and then about a 1:45 to 3 hr run/hike in depending on how fast you go and how far down the snow pack is at the time. I heard rumors that the first camp in this year had to use snow shoes once they got up into the alpine. Almost all the Canadian teams and clubs venture out to the Glacier at least once during the summer.

Our camp was scheduled for July 14-21^st.  The neat part about this camp is that the first day fell on my birthday! I know most people wouldn’t really like to spend their birthday hiking up a mountain, but I couldn’t think of any better way to spend it! I will note, though the morning of the hike we had strength, but I also had a meeting at 9 at work. So I had to meet Mike (the coach) ready and warmed up for 6:30am on my birthday! As he chucked medicine balls at my head and told me to jump higher, oh and the wobbly matt that he put under my elbow for side plank because it “looked too easy”(I am a fan of shape magazine core workouts!) I began to really wish I had been doing the circuits with my team. It was upon that realization that I finally felt part of a team. The last two months the girls have been doing the circuits together and it has provided a huge amount of motivation, especially because every one of us has a different strength in the gym. So when you see someone jumping faster or doing more pushups it definitely motivates you to pull your weight! It’s been awesome.

The hike into the Glacier was great, as usual. I love the run through the forest, it is super soft with some twists and jumps over roots, you can’t help but feel like you are a race car driver (don’t worry I kept my driving sound effects to myself). I even hiked in 15min faster then previous years with a lower heart rate- definitely a good sign as I almost always bonk on the switch backs!

The biggest thing I wanted to work on this year was to feel like I was getting 100% quality out of every workout. This proved to be very easy as Mike handed me my program for the week, I was pumped to see lots of hours- who doesn’t love to ski around on a glacier in the sun? And also a few things to work on. This camp we focused mostly on diagonal stride and offset. I find both techniques really uncomfortable and awkward so it was great to just narrow the focus on these two things. The last day of the camp everything just clicked and all of the sudden classic skiing felt effortless (like everyone told me it does). I actually loved classic skiing that day!

The other focus this camp was nutrition. In the past I have kind of strayed away from sugar and high fats, and because I do come from a running background eating a lot is a little scary to me. This said I had promised myself to jump into this program with both feet and let “them” do whatever they wanted to me as long as it made me faster. So we started to cycle in iron, and then the one thing I really don’t like is recovery drink, but during an over distance ski I would have to drink about 500ml every hour. This wasn’t so much for energy for the day, but it was to keep the energy for the rest of the week. The first day this occurred Mike would stand in the trail waiving the now infamous green Nalgene and I would take a gulp, hold it in my mouth, count to three and swallow. I was definitely like a kid who didn’t like vegetables. However, by the end of the week, I still felt like a superhero, so the coaches get the match point this time around!

One of my teammates also organized a Frisbee golf tournament- which I am now told is called “Frolph”. There was even a trophy, gift certificates and prizes! And it provided for some humorous spectating in the semi-finals and finals- especially considering the coach was in the final, and got beat (I’m probably going to have to do like an hour of plank for documenting his loss). Unfortunately I don’t have any Frisbee prowess and shot +16 on a par 3 course of 9 holes…

At the end of the week we learned/worked on lunging at the finish line. Anyone who knows me will know that my cat-like reflexes are non-existent and my balance seems to waiver. However, lunging turned out to be a hoot, especially when you are learning with 8 other girls, it was definitely empowering to start to get confident and almost excited to test it out in a race and it will no doubt provide for sweet pictures, minus the face plants and falls.

The other thing that stood out in my mind from some other camps is that being around a group of girls (specifically) who “bring it” to practice everyday is great, but this echoed even louder this camp. As I said before everyone has different strengths, but I think the neat part is that its the weaknesses that these girls are not afraid of working on. Its so easy to get into a habit of doing the things your good at- who doesn’t like the feeling of confindence and stability all the time? But I think it takes a lot of courage and pushing your ego aside to work on things your not very good at. For instance I love core, and one of the u23 girls on the team doesn’t seem to like just as much, but during our circuit she asked if she could do another round with the older girls. You know someone wants to improve when they voluntarily put themself in a position that is adverse- very cool! Then as we went outside to do pullups (my absolute weakness) the same girl cranked out the most of the group and I tried to do some sets of 2 or some negatives after they left. I think in situations like this it makes it easier to improve on your weakness, but it also keeps you VERY humble and grounded.

Some of the team members were going a little stir crazy and in anticipation for the Pictionary show-down the last night of the camp so they decided to sort the team into the Harry Potter houses. I got put in Raven Claw. I asked what house that was (I don’t really know anything about Harry Potter) and a fellow “Raven Claw” told me it was where the smart people are- confidence up. Then I asked someone else what the “Raven Claw” house was and they told me it was where all the “nerdy, goody goody’s” are- confidence shot. We didn’t have a Pictionary show down afterall, and now I am trying to get myself out of the Raven Claw house…I don’t think it will happen anytime soon, I think my nerdy disposition is innate.

We capped the week off at Boulton’s Ice cream store where the single scoops are the size of my head!

Tomorrow I will be racing in the 24 Hours of Adrenalin on a 5 women team. I am so excited and extremely nervous, but I think either way it will be a blast.

 

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Rest and Recovery- Steps to maximize the days off and stay sane in the interim

When I received my program for the month a few weeks ago, I scanned the entire month, noting the hard days, the long days, and the strength days.  Everything seemed to in order, until my eye caught two squares back to back, highlighted in bright yellow. My heart immediately went to my throat and a sense of panic set in.  These two squares represented the doomed rest days. And you must have thought I was building up for some crazy epic zone 12 bounding intensity up some crazy hill with a name like Rambo…this is much worse.

I know you’re sitting there rolling your eyes, or furthermore saying to yourself, “I love rest days”…if you are one of those fortunate few who can take a rest day in stride, please tell me your secret, because I find these days the hardest. 

If anything, it is the thought that all my competitors are out training (getting stronger, faster, fitter) while I attempt to sleep in or try to “lounge” in front of the TV (I do recall my friends trying to teach me to slouch in a couch last summer…but I will save that lesson for another article).  The other issue is that when rest days fall on the weekend, I don’t have work, so I am left with the WHOLE day (Now you’re raising your eyebrows…stay with me, it will make sense soon).

So I have compiled a list of things to do on a rest day where you have to “respect the rest day”[1] (I was also reminded of this phrase as my coach drove by as I finished my last training until Monday, with my head down and a mild feeling of resentment brewing).

1)      Try to sleep in- it will make the day shorter (yes, I hate rest days so much I try and make them as short as possible!)

2)      Read two books:  One that challenges your brain and one that doesn’t (i.e. a romance novel)

3)      Clean your room or rearrange the furniture in your room (not sure if moving a bed is resting though)

4)      Cut up vegetables, fruit, etc. and put into containers so you have them pre cut for the next weeks omelets, salads, smoothies breakfasts etc.

5)      Make some chili and freeze it in individual containers for when you are too tired to cook during your volume or harder weeks

6)      Make a huge batch of cookies and muffins to bring to practice the next volume day- points with your teammates!! (unless your coach eats them all while your training)

7)      Do yoga- Google a simple yoga routine and try to focus on the stretch rather than the fact that you’re not training- don’t go to a level 2 Ashtanga class for 2 hours where you do a million vinyasas and get dehydrated, even if it is to pick up some cute yoga chick (I know why you guys go to those classes!)

      Rent a movie, you can even use it as an excuse to invite that cute boy or girl over that you’ve been crushing on.

9)      Do your laundry: Yes, that scary pile in the corner with a weird smell will not decompose any time soon- your teammates and roommates will appreciate it if you smell like Tide Fresh rather than cat food.

10)   Sharpen your rollerski poles

11)   Clean your rollerskis

12)   Oil your bike chain

13)   Clean your house

14)   Meet a friend for coffee

15)   Invite friends over for a Cranium championship

16)   Have a bbq that ends early

17)   Try to do something creative- painting, knitting, making bead jewelry…if its not aesthetically pleasing, you can just hide it, or give it to your mom on her birthday - she will love it no matter what!

18)   Catch up on emails

19)   Write thank you letters (as a Nordic skier, there are always people who support you who you should thank)

20)   Write letters to friends and family- everyone loves getting snail mail. Just make sure you put some annoying confetti in the envelope so when they open it, it spills everywhere!

21)   Start a blog to write articles about your training – I KNOW there are junkies out there that read every single skier’s blog!  And, writing about your training is actually a useful tool to gain some perspective and reflect on how it’s going.  You’d be surprised how much you learn just by writing about yourself!

22)   During those sweet three weeks in July, watch Tour de France coverage three times a day (this was  suggestion by a friend, I don’t really know anything about the Tour other then that its in France)

 

That list should be sufficient enough at least to get you through one day!

The most important thing to remember when you have rest days is that they are a part of the big picture, they allow your body and mind to recharge so that you can drive ahead even harder. AND most of all they usually help you remember how much you love training and racing, and there’s nothing better than the feeling of wanting to jump out of the start blocks amped to reach your next goal!

If anyone has anymore ideas, please let me know! 

 

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Wow, I feel a little nervous- first post on a pretty popular website.

In case your wondering who the heck I am, please click on “about”- it should fill you in, without me having to fill this post with a lengthy, winded statement of who I am- articulation and conciseness are not my strong suits.

Training eh?

I’ve been back at training since May first, the usual start of the Nordic calendar. Its been an interesting spring to say the least. This year I switched coaches and I am part of a new team- albeit, I am one of the oldest by quite some years, but charging around the trails with some youngsters nipping at my heels has proven to be just what the doctor ordered.

So I suppose I will use this post to tell you a bit about the “Alberta World Cup Academy” (say that 10x fast!). This is the inaugural year r the team and is the brain child of many coaches and supporters to help fill a gap between the training centres (which does not exist in Canmore) and the National team. It has also allowed for some of the mature athletes (it sounds a bit better then “old”) who are still in pursuit of the Olympic dream to have access to high performance coaching and training resources that are difficult to fulfill when on your own. The head coach is Mike Cavaliere and the assistant coach is Chris Jeffries, coupled with a team of supporters such as doctors, physio therapists, nutritionist and strength coaches it is a pretty “full on” team.

To be honest it took me a while to warm up to the idea of being a part of a team and structured practice schedule, and not to mention the accountability of a having to enter training into ilog. For the last three years I was coached by Robin McKeever and had pretty much trained when I could and met up with Robin when it was feasible for the both of us. Now there is a team that holds me accountable to be on time to practice and to be prepared for the day. However, as July is approaching, I think it was a really good decision.

The training has been pretty different then what I am used to. I have never been on a “weight program” and I have never done a double pole test or VO2 max test, so now I have some weaknesses that seem to be the focal point of my program (yay!- insert sarcasm here). However, I am definetly getting stronger and although I was adiment that I don’t want to be a hulk, its actually kind of nice to have some biceps! And yes, I am definetly “that girl” who wouldn’t lift weights or go mountain biking until after my friends wedding last week. My whole explanation didn’t go over well with the coach, and well the confused look on his face was definetly deserved!

Other then that I am loving the mountains right now and we finally have a blue bird sky today (haven’t seen that in a few weeks!). There is nothing better then waking up and heading out the door to play in a backyard of mountains- it hardly seems fair to be so happy ‘working’. Getting motivated to train is definetly not a problem out here.

We are heading out to the Haig Glacier very soon and from then on- from what I can tell from the program training kind of does the whole 90degree curve upwards! giddy up!

ciao!

Brooke

 

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