Hit’n the Training Camps

Summer has not moved north yet. July 3^rd with daytime high of 14 degrees, I reminisce about the weather at nationals this past March. But cold weather hasn’t stopped us from putting in big hours on training camps.

Our first Yukon Elite Squad camp took place right here in Whitehorse. Believe it or not, it felt good to get some hours in on roller skis after spending so much time on snow this spring. I forgot how nice the roller skiing could be in Whitehorse. A paved footpath following the Yukon River goes the length of the town and we are able to complete a loop, an hour or so long. We’ve also been enjoying the odd “urban roller ski” and if the weather permits, cooling off in the lake after intervals. RIGHT after intervals…

We pulled off a lot of quality workouts including a couple long road bike rides to prepare ourselves for the Kluane International Bike Relay the following weekend. The Yukon Elite Squad smashed the field in the 4-person category.

Having an at-home camp seems very beneficial to me. That is as long as you can stay focused and remember its still a training camp. Why waste energy and money on travel when there is the making for a great training camp at home?

Our latest camp was a hiking camp in Atlin, BC with the Yukon Ski Team. A 3-hour drive down a dusty road brings you to the beautiful town of Atlin. Population: 400. The town is located on Atlin Lake, which is home to the highest fresh water island in the world (Theresa Island). Staying in tents, like every other Yukon Ski Team camp, we cooked bison roast over an open fire and made atlatls on our off-time. We did 3 hikes, one a day, along some beautiful mountain ridges. On the last day we did a  30 minute running race up a steep-ass mountain.

Navigating the ridge through the fog

boot skiing like a pro

up-hill running technique: using arms to drive legs up the mountain

(Photos by David Greer)

Getting back to at-home training camps and how silly it is to create unnecessary travel/fatigue… we could fly to Austria to ski on a glacier but there is literally a glacier 130km from my house. That is why this Friday we will leave to here, the Denver Glacier.

These shabby wall tents will be our home for 5 days. “Sleeping on glacier, no good.” You say? Well the best thing about this glacier is it’s at 1400m. The same elevation as Canmore! The Denver Glacier is a short but treacherous hike from Skagway, Alaska. There are dogsled tours offered on the Denver Glacier all summer long but as far as we know, nobody has ever skied on this glacier. So for the time being we will call it an experimental camp. If it works out, we could be back here several times a year.

Total cost for Glacier camp: about 300 bucks!

Stay tuned to here about the Denver Glacier camp in the following weeks!

Mountain Sliding

CRAZY carpet

Colin and I taking crazy carpeting to a whole new level

catching burbot

yesterdays catch: 15 burbot and one lake trout

Hiking Yukon Style

Climb a thousand vertical metres with dry feet and slide all the way down? Next time we're bringing a wooden toboggan.

The Rumours are True

Word got out. For a while now there has been a rumour going around that the Yukon boys (David, Colin, and myself) were leaving their training centres to return to their one true home. Yukon! We will be joining Yukon ski team members John Parry, Ray Sabo, and Fabian Brook to create our own “elite” branch off of the Yukon Ski Team. Team name and details are yet to be finalized (I’m open to suggestions), but the blueprints are laid out.

First thing I would like to make clear is that neither me, Colin or Dave despise training centres. We simply see the Yukon as better suited to fulfill our needs or desire to become a better athlete. 

There is the obvious benefit of extended on-snow training (late and early season), as well as the psychological benefit that I will call the “happy benefit”. As you know, the most important thing is for the athlete to be happy with what he or she is doing. Plain and simple, I am happier in the Yukon.

The structure of our team lies in our own hands, which is both a good and a bad thing. There is a sense of freedom to be running on a program you’ve created yourself, but also there’s the added stress of having to organize these things that would normally be taken care of for you on a training centre.

It will be somewhat of an experimental year to see how things turn out. That being said, we would not just throw our training centre positions out the window for something we believed wouldn’t work. After all, our goal is all the same: to become the best athlete possible.

I am flattered by the interest in our “team” from outside athletes but because of the low-key, unofficial (but highly professional), stand point we cannot support outside athletes. Sorry, maybe next year!

Our team has got off to a great start; spring skiing being at its best! The snow is going fast though!

Less time training has given me more time to build some willow furniture.

And practice my tomahawk and slack line.

The lakes are getting a bit soft for skiing…

  

But the ice fishing is still good!

epic spring ski videos to come!

Nationals- a good ending to a great season

After Turkey I was in rough shape. I needed to recover fast but sometimes taking it easy can be the hardest part. With the most beautiful spring skiing conditions, all I could do was watch from the living room window sipping on tea and eating soup. With only a few days left to nationals I was finally starting to feel like myself again. I did my first intensity workout on Wednesday, three days before the first race. Here is a look at how the weather changed during the week.

 the week before nationals….

….during nationals

Just as expected the first race, the team sprint, came with the warmest temperatures of the year. 15 degrees and as you could imagine the skiing conditions were marginal. Skiing in ankle deep slush, I teamed up with John Parry to finish fourth on the day. Also from Yukon, Dave and Graham finished second and Colin and Ray finished sixth. Next year we’ll fill the podium.

hammering up the hill in the team sprint.

The classic race came with similar conditions; warm and wet. I felt great and pushed hard up all the hills in the sloppy tracks. My skis were not great but I think most other peoples were not great either. I crossed the line satisfied with my race but not ecstatic. I was surprised later on when I found out I had the fastest time! Also winning Gold medals for Yukon was Dahria and Fabian.

 here i am finishing off my classic race

The warm weather continued on to the 15km skate. I was having a great race, feeling light on my feet and hop-skating the up-hills. It was the downhill’s that really slowed me down. My skis were really bad this day. They almost seemed to stick like a suction cup to the wet snow. Not an issue of waxing, some skis are just slow in different conditions and these ones sucked today. What could have been a great race was still a good one as I finished in 4^th place, 3^rd Canadian.

in the skate race with my way-too-small leader bib

With a day to rest I was all prepped for the sprint race. Expecting the same sloppy snow conditions, I was surprised to be warming up on a rock solid track. The trail crew did a great job of salting the track overnight to firm things up. It was hard to stay on your feet in the icy conditions so I felt unbalanced and uncoordinated in my qualifier. The heats were better. I cruised through my quarterfinal in second place. In the semi I was holding on to second spot when I lost a pole on the last uphill. Someone had stepped on my basket just at the wrong time and my hand just slipped out. I thought of turning around to pick it up but with four more people charging up from behind I just free skated like mad with one pole all the way to the finish to squeak in to a “lucky loser” position. I would also like to thank my teammate Raph for snatching up my pole and trying to get it back to me in the race, in a way sacrificing his own position. By the final I was toasted and had to settle for 6^th place. I was happy to still be holding on to the leader bib at this point.

lunging in my semi final with only one pole

Finally the weather had taken a turn for the better and the course froze overnight. The conditions were fast and icy. For the mass start 30km the pace let out really slow. Sometimes when no one wants to be at the front the pack can stay together skiing easy until the finish where there’s a sprint, much like cycling. Nearing the end of the first lap we hit the icy downhill. Going about 60km an hour I got tangled up and skidded off the trail into some spectators. I scrambled to my feet amazed to find all my equipment intact. From 60 to zero in 2 seconds and I found myself at the very back of the pack. Soon after I fell the two Norwegians made a break off the front of the pack. This was what I was waiting for. Unfortunately there was a wall of 30 skiers between the Norwegians and myself. In no longer than five minutes I was back at the front of the pack but by that time the Norwegians were long gone. Nobody even tried to follow them. Much to my demise the pace slowed down again and we continued like this for almost the entire race. I felt so strong but I had to keep myself from making stupid decisions. Trying to make time on the Norwegians by myself on the second lap would not have been smart. I waited until the last kilometer or two before I started actually “racing”. The only one who could match me was Stefan Sander-Green with his unreal tempo in double pole. I was lucky to get him in the finishing stretch.

leading out a slow pace in the 30km

It was an interesting race. I was happy to win and become Junior Canadian Champion but also embarrassed that the Norwegians were so far ahead. I felt like letting them know we’re not always this slow in Canada.

It was great to rebound after a disappointing time in Europe. It has been a great season for me and although ski season may be over here in Quebec, Skiing is at its prime right now in the Yukon.

Once Dave and I can find the vehicle registration and insurance papers we will be departing on an epic journey back to the Yukon in the Kia Sedona. 6 thousand K past the Great Lakes, Prairies, and Rocky Mountains; the mother of all road trips. You can expect twitter updates along the way. We will also be looking for generous people to offer us their hospitality. The Sedona is great at cruising the highways but offers little comfort for sleeping and has limited food-making capabilities.