The Inukshuk at the 2010 Olympic site in Callaghan“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”
-Benjamin Disraeli
-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!
