November

A wandering Moose at Mt. Shark have a lick of salt. 

Currently our mantra is “let it snow, let it snow…” Or at the very least the temperature should drop below zero degrees. Is this the effect of global warming? Very unfortunate. Racing on rollerskis in winter would not be a fun alternative in my opinion. I love the white fluffy cold stuff! I can’t imagine not being able to ski, toboggan, skate, have snowball fights, make snow forts, snowmen and snow angels! So let it snow, I say!

After an excellent camp in France/Austria we have been dry land training waiting for the snow. We also spent a lot of time at the University on the rollerski treadmill. This was excellent intensity training with the advantage of having immediate feedback on technique.

Very recently it snowed in Lake Louise (boo yah!). So we have been doing our ski training there. Obviously word has gotten out how great the conditions are at Moraine Lake road because this weekend was packed with cross country skiers, biathletes, Nordic combined and weekend warriors!

In one week we are off to begin our World Cup tour, beginning in Sweden and finishing in Austria. The first week we are training in Sveg, near Anna Carin’s home turf. The following week is our first World Cup competition in Ostersund, Sweden. Definitely getting excited to race and the gitters are building! After last season, the fire inside of me is burning strong. After Ostersund we travel to Hochfilzen, Austria for 2 weeks of World Cups. Then home for Christmas and preparation for World Cups #5,6 and World Championships.

Other exciting news is the release of our women’s team calendar, Bold Beautiful Biathlon. We have had a busy summer and fall putting this all together and finally now it is on the market! The 5 of us – Sandra Keith, Megan Imrie, Megan Tandy, Rosanna Crawford and myself – put together a black and white tastefully nude 14-month calendar, focusing on promoting the image of a strong athletic body aiming to help fund our Olympic dreams to 2010. If you haven’t checked out our website, please do at www.boldbeautifulbiathlon.com

Fall

Hike up the pass from Bessan, Fra.

Warrior yoga pose on Dachstein Glacier, Aut.





Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each is to succeed.
- Corita Kent



Today is a day for tea and a good book. It has been raining all day here in Ramsau am Dachstein. Fortunately, we have an easy day and I have done just that. Drank tea and chilled. Our shooting session this morning was wet….but survivable! Tomorrow the forecast is for snow at 12000m! We are living at 1100m so I think it will be pretty sloppy out there.

We are currently in the middle of a three-week camp. Last week we were in France – Haute-Maurienne – for the Summer Biathlon Roller ski World Championships. It was a good training experience. I skied well, but had too many mistakes in shooting and didn’t have the results that I was hoping for (finished 13th in the sprint and pursuit). However, it is only September and I know that I am not race ready quite yet. I much prefer winter racing! My teammate Megan Tandy had a great pursuit and finished 3rd in the junior category. Jean Phillip and Marco Bedard had a great sprint finishing 5th and 8th respectively.

After our Pursuit race, we all went on a hike up the valley from the Biathlon site. Was a beautiful area, with a very quaint village of stone houses, and inaccessible to vehicles. The cows grazing in the area decided to stampede down the hill along with boys. Marco got an excellent video footage on his camera. Practically their own running of the bulls…

Now we are on a 2-week camp in Ramsau for glacier skiing on Dachstein (Austria). The ski conditions are excellent this year. Our team here this year consists of 4 women, and 3 men, with coaches Geret Coyne and Jean Paquet. So far highlights include: excessive cheese eating and table wine drinking in France, subsequently interpretive dancing and singing to the Mamma Mia soundtrack in our room, hysterical girl time watching the Sex in the City movie, and overzealous amounts of Milka bars bought once entering the land of chocolate (aka Austria). I suppose skiing this week, could also be thought of as a major highlight, as the last time we were on skis was in Whistler during May. It is awesome to be on skis again!

Next week will be a very busy week on the approximately 8km groomed track on the glacier, as more World Cup teams will be arriving on Sunday. Last year we stayed at a hotel right at the gondola station (1700m), which is great for skiing. However, this year we are staying down by the roller ski track (1100m), which is excellent for afternoon workouts. We get up from our nap and ski 400m to the range! Plus, the owner of our apartment bakes us yummy cakes! Today the occasion was “bad weather” cake!

On the list of activities this week (besides training of course) involve hitting up the forest park which now has a luge looking roller coaster, baking cookies, facebook stalking and playing pranks on the boys. I think it should be a good week ;)

Well Zina from the block is out. Training time….

Summer

at CMH lodge (Rosanna, me, Megan) and my dog Zeak

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." - Ghandi

Fall is in the air! And consuming our minds, as we are now only 3 months away from the start of the season! Not sure what happened to summer. I think we had a few hot days!

Training sessions on the rollerski treadmill at the U of C went very well. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of my lovely self on it. Next time….

We spent the summer training in Canmore, with a 3 day camp to Revelstoke in August. It was gorgeously hot there! I drove out a day early and went sport climbing with my Dad, which was wicked. The climbing in the area is awesome and so much of it is practically right outside downtown. Too bad that town is in the middle of nowhere! Our camp was short but a good blast of fun. We road biked from Revelstoke to CMH. And spent the night at the heli lodge. What a great time we enjoyed there upon arrival… bathing in the sun on the dock (the lake was rather glacier cold), extreme croquet, volleyball, awesome food and an open bar. Oh and an indoor climbing gym. But by the time I got to the climbing, the 5 hrs of biking that day combined with extreme croquet had drained my energy! The next day we roller skied up Mt. Revelstoke. A very, very long climb! The 3rd day we biked from Lake Louise to our respective homes. A dedication goes out to the many enjoyed coffees, cakes, muffins, and sandwiches consumed from the Modern Bakeshop and Café. Delicious!

Early September found us doing the North American Biathlon Roller ski Championships in Canmore. This was also World Cup trials for the 3rd spot for the first World Cup tour. I attended 2 out of 3 of the competitions. I came 1st in the Individual and 2nd in the Pursuit (I started last due to not starting the Sprint the day before). Currently, our World Cup team consists of Sandra Keith, Megan Imrie, and myself (one more women will attend after 2nd IBU competition), and Robin Clegg, Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, Scott Perras (potentially one more man attending).

As the seasons changed, I decided to refresh my living space. A little makeover as I enter a new chapter in my life. I painted my room a deep purple, and love it!
I’m off to drink tea and lounge in the marvelous purple….

The Inukshuk at the 2010 Olympic site in Callaghan

“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”
-Benjamin Disraeli

Finally the summer heat has come to Canmore! Yeahhh! Training has been going very well for my team and me. Our team is made up of 5 girls this year, which has been fabulous so far mostly because of the copious amount of girl talk that goes on. I think our coach is learning to turn a deaf ear to our conversations and fits of giggles. Or maybe he is secretly preparing himself for the maturing of his two young daughters in the years to come!

Fortunately, my setback of a disc protrusion in my low back hasn’t affected my training, as I have still been able to do lots of roller skiing, biking and strength. And now I am almost 100% recovered. That is the course of being an athlete, various setbacks that one must deal with and overcome! I believe that there are reasons for everything in life. And so which each setback there is an opportunity to learn, and grow and thus be stronger both physically and mentally. So if nothing else, I have worked very diligently on my inner core muscles this spring! The only thing that has made me a bit unhappy is not being able to do regular yoga practice because of all the flexion involved in yoga. I did go to one of our athlete yoga classes this week though and just totally modified it to my own abilities…ie. zero flexion…But it was still enjoyable!

In the beginning of June, we were able to get some more ski days in up in the meadows at Sunshine Village. The downhill resort is closed middle of May but in the meadows there is still a substantial amount of snow during June. After a cool clear night the crust skiing can be amazing. We also had a loop groomed for us through the meadow. We have also spent many hours roller skiing up Highwood Pass in Kananaskis. Almost every day that we have gone there, we have seen a Grizzly bear. Today we saw 2! On one occasion there was a 2yr old Grizzly walking right beside the road. Luckily, some tourists let us sit on the tailgate of their truck so that we could drive past the bear. He was minding his own business but it was probably better not to mind his!

A few days ago we did a time trial up Mt. Norquay. It is a 5.5 km winding uphill road to the downhill ski resort just outside of Banff and makes a great climb for a training race. I successfully destroyed my time from last year! After a few hurdles this past year it is excellent to see that I am right on track for the upcoming season.

Besides the rigor of my training schedule, I have had moments to have some fun outside of biathlon! Last week I had a rest week and spent a couple days in Calgary with friends and then went off to my hometown Red Deer for a wedding. The Stampede started last Friday so Calgary has been totally crazy. For those of you not familiar with the Calgary Stampede….it holds the saying “the greatest outdoor show on Earth!” I haven’t had the opportunity to partake in the Stampede festivities this year. But probably the main highlights include the midway rides, Stampede rodeo action, the Chuckwagon races, outdoor concerts (rock and country), and lots of cowboy hats and boots! Oh and of course pub crawls are a very big part of the Stampede experience!

Now we have another few hard weeks of training before a break. This month we will be spending quite a bit of time in Calgary on the roller ski/speed skating treadmill. Not quite as exciting as seeing our Grizzly bear friends up at Highwood!

Happy summer trails!

Sandra and I skiing at Sunshine meadows

May Camp

Welcome to my new website!
Every month (or hopefully!) less, I will be posting new updates to keep you informed of what I’m up to during the training and racing seasons. Feel free to email me anytime! I will do my best to reply as soon as possible.

The website is up in perfect timing for the start of our training season. We are starting our training year right now in the Callaghan Valley, where the 2010 Olympic site for Nordic sports is situated. I am very excited to be training again and feeling 100% ready to go. Last year, I had an excellent summer training year until I became sick with mononucleosis in October. Unfortunately, this affected my whole racing season. And although I was healthy and able to race at World Championship and the last 3 World Cups, I was not in very good shape in skiing, and my shooting scores were also affected. Nevertheless, after taking 8 weeks completely off in the fall, I was incredibly ecstatic to even be able to race. It was an extremely difficult time for me but I took it as an opportunity and learned a lot.

During April, I went on a backcountry ski trip for a week in Rogers Pass with some cross country skiers, Chandra Crawford, Devon Kershaw, Phil Widmir and 8 more great friends. We had a terrific time. Highlights include: having our own dance party on the benches in our little cabin, speed card tournaments, cheese fondue, building a snow cave to wait out the whiteout, and oh of course, summit-ting the nearby peaks and skiing the decent pow down. I also made it out to the local ski hills for some downhill action the weeks after. My last week off, Canmore was a –10 blizzardy crazy place, so I booked it to Ottawa to visit a good friend and bathed in the sun. The weekend took us to Montreal to take on the great shopping, cafes and nightlife…basically a very girly week!

Now the new training season is upon us, and it is time to prepare once again for the 2008/09 World Cups and the 2009 World Championships in Korea. With 20 months left before the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, we began the year with a camp in Whistler. Because the Callaghan has a significant amount of precipitation, we are actually able to ski here every morning! I started the month training here with the National Cross Country team and then the following week with the National Biathlon team. A few other Nordic World Cup teams/athletes have also come out to check out the site this spring such as the Swedish, Norwegians and Americans. While with the Cross Country team, I met Manuela Henkel (German cross country skier, and sister of biathlete Andrea Henkel) who was also here training. This season, all the Olympic venues in Vancouver/Whistler will be holding World Cups in preparation for 2010. The 2009 Whistler Biathlon World Cup will be held in the first week of March.

Unfortunately, at the moment I’ve had another setback in my training this spring. I have a disc protrusion in my low back and have to do lots of rehab here. Fortunately though, skiing is fine (except for double poling) so I can basically do most of my regular training. In the afternoons here I am out swimming or in the weight room.

The Nordic site is a 30min drive away from the Whistler village (home of 1 of the Olympic athletes village) and will hold Cross Country skiing, Biathlon, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping. Downtown Whistler is a nice walking street with some great shops, après ski bars and patios, café’s, restaurants, and a few pumping nightclubs. Oh and I can’t forget the really cool, retro second hand store where you can find neon colored 1 piece ski suits, MC Hammer pants and tie dye shirts! Definitely on my hit list of shopping items for the next retro ski party!

I also attended a weekend conference for Olympic athletes here in Whistler. It was a wicked weekend that inspired us all to be the best that we can be in 2010 and beyond. Some awesome Canadian Olympic medallists spoke including, Natalie Lampart, Brain Orser, David Pelletier, Catriona Le May Doan, Beckie Scott, and Dan Jansen (American Speedskater, Gold medallist ’94). Their words definitely inspired and motivated me to make the most of the next 20 months and prepare for 2010. I left having made many new friends and above all, totally ready to take on the world!

My training time in Whistler is almost over. Which is good, because the snow basically disappeared this past weekend in Callaghan! I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the area and the Nordic site. And definitely excited to return for more training and the World Cup this season.

Well, I’ll be following my own Inuckshuk back to training in Canmore, as I hit the road back there this weekend!
Hasta Luego Whistler!

“We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let our dreams die, but others nourish and protect them, nurse them through bad days till they bring them to sunshine and light.”
- Woodrow

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We hope that everyone had a splendid and joyful Christmas and holiday time! And yes I am still alive, New Year.s resolution is to actually keep my website updated and full of information for all of you out there ;) The World Cup season is half over, but the World Championships are still a couple of weeks away. I am back in action and competed in the World Cup in Antholz, Italy last week. I was sick with mononucleosis during October, and November. Finally in the beginning of December, I was able to start some activity and slowly begin to train. It felt like an eternity but in the big scheme of things it wasn.t that long. There is no denying that it was a difficult time for me; however, there were endless opportunities for me to take advantage of as well. At a time of the year when skiers are incredibly busy gearing up for the racing season, I took a breather, and chilled out! My back had a chance to heal, and I had plenty of spare time for my favorite biathlon activity . dryfiring (not)! But I did take advantage of this extra time and consciously worked on shooting drills. When I wasn.t at the range, I became a .Sex in the City. expert, a social butterfly on the phone or on facebook, and I even learnt a few new skills such as knitting! It was also an opportunity for honing visual and mental skills, and yoga practice. And also, a chance to give back some time to the biathlon community. Before I left for Europe, I was the guest speaker at a Alberta Biathlon Club dinner in Canmore for the presentation of the Gernot Kostera Foundation. Although I took a public speaking workshop years ago, this was my first public speaking event. Surprisingly, it went rather well! I discovered that similarly to a competition, public speaking can be a piece of cake if entered with the right preparation, planning and, of course, confidence. Yes, time almost flew by! I flew into Germany on Thursday, January 10th joining the team in Ruhpolding, where they were competing in the 5th World Cup. It was very exciting to watch the competitions, however, I MUCH prefer racing them! So I was very anxious to be part of the show during Antholz WC last week. For me, that WC race was purely for racing experience and my preparation for World Championships in Ostersund, Sweden. I needed to go through the motion of racing again if I am to feel ready to challenge the field for WCHS and the last World Cups of the season. With the right preparation, the training and speed work that I lost while I was sick, will return.eventually! Now, we have one more week of preparation for WCHS in Hochfilzen, before flying to Sweden on the 4th. So until Sweden! And my favorite quote of the past few months. .NEVER GIVE UP . A setback is a setup for a comeback.. Cheers, Zina The schedule for the WCHS: 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Östersund (SWE) Date Start Time Competition Saturday 09.02.200 8 11.00h Sprint Women 14.15h Sprint Men Sunday 10.02.2008 12.00h Pursuit Women 14.15h Pursuit Men Tuesday 12.02.2008 14.15h Mixed Relay Wednesday 13.02.2008 17.15h Individual Women Thursday 14.02.2008 17.15h Individual Men Saturday 16.02.2008 12.00h Relay Men 15.00h Mass Start Women Sunday 17.02.2008 12.00h Mass Start Men 14.30h Relay Women