September 7th, 2008
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
