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….