Hey,

Just back with some more pic’s of the recent skiing at Sunshine.

Snow Gopher

Warming Lake

Matthias Ahrens aka Salomon Man

Tyson Smith Mt. Assiniboine background

Melting Lake from a half way up mountain

How not to Ski

Landscape

Kit Richmond Tyson Smith

Until next time Happy Trails,

Hi Everyone,

The name basically says it all.  This week we have been able to take part in some great ski conditions at Sunshine Village the Downhill Ski Resort 10km outside of Banff Canada. And for our first day we were able to take in some decent sunshine as well.

We started skiing at around 8:30 am and it stayed pretty firm for the whole 3 hour ski.  The first hour we were able to take in some great crust skiing and I hope to get in even more crust on Friday.  The ski loop is approx 5 km and has a good mix of hills and downhills which is nice when you are skiing at 2400 meters.

A big thanks goes out to John Jaques, who was able to put this together for the third year in a row.  I believe there will be skiing at Sunshine everyday for 2 weeks so get out there.

Enjoy the pictures!

Me, Brendan, Matthias

B getting his one skate on and me getting my smile on!

The Landscape

Me being stupid

Just happy I didn't break any equipment

I am a large fan of most all endurance sports and power endurance sports that Cross Country Skiing would most likely fall under.

And I have noticed that weight always seems to be a factor considered among top athletes. Whether they are cyclists, mountain bikers, runner or skiers.

It seems to me that there are training weights and race weights for many athletes but I am concerned about how athletes are getting down to these lower weights for the most important competitions of their season.  It seems to me that calorie restriction is a dangerous game because you are going to need your strongest immunity and recovery at the same time you have been losing weight.

I can fluctuate as much as 10lbs in a fiscal year but it is usually without effort.  It is most likely do to my over eating in the off season or Spring Training cycles.

I am currently at 172 lbs and probably the heaviest I will be for the rest of the year.  And although I would prefer to be lighter I don’t really care enough to do something about it right now.  From my experience I can perform very well anywhere from 170 lbs -160lbs  and my performances have more to do with how well I am recovering, sleeping and the quality of training leading in to performances.  Because on race day if I am in good form I feel like I could carry ten pounds on my back and I wouldn’t even know it.  Oh yeah I have to I am a Biathlete and its called a rifle.

So I would really appreciated some input on this subject.  I understand it can be considered a pretty private subject stay so that anonymous if you prefer.

I am interested in what methods athletes are using to increase weight, decrease weight or even maintain weight throughout the vigorous  training and racing year.

Maybe your weight doesn’t even bother and like me you just eat healthy and you just eat, sleep and train.

Hi Everyone,

I am now officially back training full time.  After a April filled with great skiing at the Canmore Nordic Center I took two weeks off training and went home to Regina, Sask.

I wanted to go home and visit with those people I just don’t get to see enough of anymore. My friends and family.  I had a great time at home and it started on the trip home.  I was able to stop in Moose Jaw, Sask for some rejuvenation at the Temple Garden Mineral Spa’s it is a all natural salt spring.  After floating around in there for a hour with the local Seniors I was back on the road now only 71km away from home out of my 854km drive.

When I arrived at home I was greeted with a great home cooked meal and desert.  The latter is probably what resulted in nearly a 5 lbs gain over the month of April.

While at home I was not very active, my first week at home I wanted to take completely off and I was starting to get my normal energy back after a long and draining year.  Then however I started to stay up later and later and ended catching a cold.  It seemed like everyone was sick in April.  So my second week I was even less active only really doing normal activities around the house.  But after healing from that cold I was back feeling like myself again which was good because I would soon be leaving for Canmore to start with training again.

I arrived back in Canmore on May 07, 16 days off total.  And I was ready to get back too it.  Unfortunately I paid for that bit of motivation.  On my first day back I did double training 90 min Weight Room in the morning and 90 min running in the afternoon.  You would think that after 25 years of life I would have a little more common sense then that, however I spent the next two days stiff and sore and it made my training less then enjoyable, especially when the weather was terrible.

However this week we were lucky enough to get a decent day for our precision shooting test.  The first one is usually pretty damn tough for me.  I usually find my trigger timing and stability is a little off.  I was anxious to try it though because over the spring I had a new rifle stock made. It is heavier then my previous model and I wanted to try out the balance.  I ended up shooting a 495/600 and even though that is not a PB I think it might be for this time of year and considering I have been fiddling with this new stock everyday so that I can get it just right before the start of June.  I am happy with the result.

So even though I had a rough start to my training year I have been sleeping like a baby and in May I think that will be my top concern.