And Then It Poured...

So the fall weather has blessed us here in Squamish...not just a little rain...A downpour. I realized this as I looked outside as I opened the door to head out for a 3 hour roller ski this morning. I thought this was bad, then I turned around to see that a freakin bear decided to rumage through out garbage can...again (not the first time). So I took a deep breath and turned back to the rain, the garbage can wait. So I decided to tour around a bit today instead of the normal Brackendale route. Hitting up some of the different neighborhoods, seeing some new scenery felt pretty good, maybe it was just the distraction from the fact I was already completely soaked 4 mins into my ski...Anyway I have felt pretty tired this week. We started with an easy day that I didn't feel great on but had an alright submax. I figured it must just be the travel from the day before. So we jumped straight into our no pole/double pole test, which 1 of the 2 tests went well, We then had the uphill run planned for the next day but still side lined on Physio's advice I did legs only intensity...can you guess what test I didn't do well in the day before...Strength in the afternoon was a mental battle but still was a quality workout. Today of course was a 3 hour OD classic roller ski. Quite demanding. I feel better now than I did a day ago so I am digesting the training quite well and with one more day of double workouts before my rest day I am sitting well. Next week we run our famous (well maybe just famous with our team) Trials simulation week. Which helps give our coaches an idea of how each person will react during the Trials week in January. For myself I have 2 sprint simulations slated and am getting pretty excited for them. I love the fact that the race season is getting closer and these tests can help get us mentally prepared and start thinking about race mode!

well until the next post!

C

Back at it!

Well it was nice to have some downtime last week! I managed to relax, cut the hours back, get a little bit back into running, play some golf and eat some turkey! Sorry no pic's following I forgot to pack the camera....anyways... This coming week our team has not wasted anytime jumping into. Today we did our final uphill double pole and no pole skate test. Ouch... the double pole test went smooth, I missed my PB but with all respect, the temps were colder and the road was wet. The no poles skate was hmm...let me try to sugar coat this....BAD! I went rigamortis legs with a quick heartrate spike in the first 100meters and was done, I skied in the best I could, basically sitting at red line in first gear...going no where. Thats just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. So looking further into this week our team has the uphill running timetrial slated for tomorrow and I don't think I will take part in it. For 1 i still have hardly any strentgh in my foot ( I rolled it while stepping on a rock blowing leaves) and 2 I feel that the Max VO2 test coming up in about 2 weeks will provide me with better information to which way I am heading. And for the rest of the week we will ease off a little bit and have the last focus as the 4 hour OD. With the following weeek we move into trials week. simulation of our biggest race weekend of the year. For that I have 2 sprint races planned with Thomsen. Then we fall upon another rest week and hopefully we will have snow after that!

anyway I gotta get going I'll keep ya updated as the week goes on.


C

Roller Jam!

The past 3 weeks have been pretty busy with reference to training. I have started to ramp the intensity up to start sharpening for the up coming race season. I am glad to say that I am heading into a rest week!!! I have decided to head out to Canmore to hang out for the week and take a break from Squamish. Yesterday Thomsen D'hont and I competed in a mock classic sprint at Whistler Olympic park. It was a great intensity. We ran 2 prelims and 2 head to head. the first prelim was a "get around the course as fast as possible" run, and the 2nd was a double pole only. The two times were pretty close but striding was slightly faster. The head to head competition was a good battle between us. I lead both of them from the start and worked on staying relaxed. When I hit the climb I decided to try out my legs and went for it and the result was a small gap between Thomsen and I.

Erik got a great shot of the battle at the top of the climb.

It is awesome to have Thomsen here to knock heads with, he is a tough guy who can push himself to the max, which helps push me to the max! It's quite refreshing to have another sprinter and a whole new team. We have had a lot of fun so far this year as a team and I am excited to see the team do awesome things this winter!

When I return from my rest week I will jump into another 3 weeks of volume and intensity. I will try to post an update of my exciting rest week!!!


until next time...

C

Guess whos back...

Yo...
So I have been down and out since I arrived back from Canmore visiting Ammar. I started last week with a 3 hour O.D. with Sam where I felt awesome! Tuesday I thought I may have had some dry throat so I let it slide and determined finally on Wednesday I was... sick. I ended up running a submax and started my recovery from sick rituals which consist of copious amounts of vitamin C and alot of couch and bedtime...Awesome!!!...NOT I can hardly sit still at the best of times! Anyway I ended up finishing a book Amy gave me about 4 months ago (yes already got razzed for that!!!!) But through it all, I ended up better by Sunday and started training again. While the team had a rough go at the Grouse Grind (good effort guys, good thing we aren't training for mountain running!) I was out testing the waters of my energy. Luckily enough for me, my time managment must have been quite good and I felt as good as when I started my downtime. I started off this week fresh and feeling good with a 3 hour double pole and recovery run (just starting to get back into it with the ankle...long I know!) Today was an easy recovery rollerski and some strength in the gym ( Our new program is tough!) the rest of this week has some intensity in store followed by a day trip up to Prince George for a presentation for the Coaches association of BC. Should be an interesting time!!!
anyway keep ya posted on how it goes....



C

Nipika and Canmore

So I really fell off the wagon for keeping you up to date on the testing week. I only ended up completing 2 tests, the uphill double pole and uphill legs only. My physio therapists advised me to stay off the ankle. The double pole test went very well, it was a great push to have Thomsen and Pate on faster skis. I finished right with Thomsen, Pate was just on our heels. Its is great to have a solid group of guys to be able to push each other like we did! The legs only test was a total gongshow! I am a weakling, so I have had a bit of a focus shift to strengthen the legs up a bit.

We were fortunate enough to be invited to Nipika with team 2010, we had a solid week of training filled with volume and intensity. A great sesh for all of us! Now I am in Canmore right now chilling out with Amanda and going to try and jump into some great intensity sessions with Phil and Sean ( sorry can't get Sean's websie to link) Other than that i will be headed back home to resume training with the team.


until next time!

C

Up hill testing.

So far the ankle has been holding up great! we just did our 1km up hill double pole test. My previous time was 4:18 and I was able to come close to it a few days prior, 4:19 during an on my own intensity session. So I did the test with the rest of the team and after the break at the top of the hill Thomsen, Pate and I were out front, as the test progressed I ended up finishing just behind Thomsen and ahead of Pate. I had smashed my old record and posted a new time of 3:46 significantly better! Thanks boys for the push! Now time for the legs only. This test showed improvement but nothing to write home about! I was 5 seconds faster than previous. But hey, I did improve. Here is where you can check out some pics and a short write up from Erik Nilsson.
...ok the link wont load i will add it later today!
More updates to come.
V02 max testing on the treadmill tomorrow!

C

Testing week

Well I have decided to play it safe and not run the uphill time trial. I was honestly looking forward to running this and smashing my old time. It was going to happen. I went to physio today and got turned right around. Turns out the roofers decided to finish the roof work today instead of last night...funny thing IT POURED LAST NIGHT!!! The place was a disaster! so no physio for me. from there I headed to a follow up appointment with a doctor to go over x-rays. No problems there. Although they did find an old hairline fracture on the outside of my ankle (unrelated) but things were ok they said. So I have made it my personal mission to make the double pole test mine. I will head to the access road tomorrow and try a few different strategies and see what saturday will bring. I will keep you posted through the week hopefully with some pics!



C