Life in a Bag
Living in a bag!
Home in a Bag.
I write home like this because in my life it has a pretty loose meaning. Something more like a bed I am going to sleep in for a couple weeks, than the traditional meaning. I have become accustomed to this and this summer has been no different. Since the start of June the longest I have been in any one “home” is four weeks, with me spending my time in Quebec, Canmore, New Zealand, back to Canmore, back to Quebec, and Finally and most recently in Ramsau. Luckily in all the stops of my life in training there a few constants that make each place I am at feel like home. The first being my huge green duffel that I move my life around the world in, but more importantly are my coaches and teammates. By having my big ski family along each stop of the way makes both the familiar and unfamiliar fun, exciting and comfortable.
Each trip has played an important role in the lead up to the Olympics and will hopefully give me the best opportunity for me to reach my goal of qualifying. The living out of my duffel restarted, after a couple of months in the spring where I was able to spend much appreciated time in Canmore, with a journey to Quebec for three weeks. This was important to regain contact with all of the guys on the team there and to make a plan for the season with Louis. It was also the perfect setting to start doing some of the first harder workouts of the season and to reconnect with our strength coach Michele. The three weeks flew by and training routines quickly fell in place. With the fundamentals for a great training season back in place it was back to Canmore and to training with the big National team with all of the guys from both the west and east there.
It was nice to return to the big team in Canmore and to have the energy and excitement of a group of about twenty athletes all working hard to reach our goals. We all headed into the Haig glacier to reconnect with skiing and to finally have a camp with all the team members together. Our week of skiing flew by and it was back to normal dry land training. Some of the easterners headed back to their homes for a small recovery block before we would all meet again down in New Zealand. It was nice to have a couple of weeks around Canmore with a little more time for myself and a chance to spend some time with my real family. I was starting to get a little ancy so I knew it must be time to pack up my bag and hit the road again, heading down to New Zealand.
After the long flight down we quickly broke into our new routine of skiing twice a day and living back in winter. It was easy to get comfortable with surroundings since it was more or less the same as anywhere else I spend time, green duffel – check, 20 of my teammates and coaches- check. It seems like this is all I need to feel at home. With the big team having taken over the Snow Farm in New Zealand things took on a familiar pattern, harder skiing workouts in the morning followed by lunch and relaxing or nap until we felt the urge for an afternoon pick me up and converged in the upstairs lounge for a delicious coffee. With the caffeine pumping through our veins we would head out for a pm ski or maybe weight room session. The camp was a great success with the biggest focus for me being technique, skiing twice a day was the perfect way to work on all of the adjustments that would feel second nature by the time winter came around. Once our three weeks were up we all headed home to recover and have some personal time.
For me that was a short visit with my sister in Vancouver, on the way home, and then five quick days in Canmore. It seemed as though I had just unpacked my big green duffel when it was sitting in the bag of my car as I was heading to the Calgary airport and on to Quebec. I was now on my way to Quebec seemingly ready for anything, from rollerskis and sleeveless shirts to winter toques, gloves and skis. I was ready to spend the last of my off season preparation time in Quebec and skiing in Austria.
The first two weeks were spent doing lots of intensity both rollerskiing and on foot. With me feeling like I was getting closer to race fitness it was time to pack my bags again. With an early departure we loaded up and shipped off to the airport at 5:00am on our way to Munich and eventually Ramsau Austria.
Our flight took us through Chicago on the way to Munich and with a 6 hour layover we were able to check out some of the sights.
After a long travel day it was nice to arrive in Ramsau to sunny skies and warm temperatures. We quickly were out the door reconnecting with the rollerskiing loops we had found the year before. The beautiful weather was a bit of a double edged knife, it was great for afternoon workouts and lounging around between training but not the best for keeping snow on the glacier. We were a little surprised on our first morning of skiing to see the glacier looking more like a bluey black rock than the snow covered winter wonderland I remember from the year before. Dodging rivers as we walked down to the trails we were shocked to see that there were still tracks set and they didn’t look to bad. The skiing turned out to remain stable throughout the camp with a small skiff of snow and slightly cooler temperatures even improving things a bit part way through. With this camp being a little shorter than years past it meant no time for taking it easy while adjusting to the 6 hours time change. We charged straight into hard training with the normal schedule being 2.5-3 hours of skiing in the morning followed by another 1.5-2 hours of intensity or strength based training in the afternoon. I found jumping straight into big training days a great way for me to adjust to the time change with the fatigue from a hard training day making me sleep like a baby! The time flew by and next thing I knew I was packing up and hurriedly sending off a couple post cards trying not to get left behind.
So now I am back in Quebec (I took a short recess in the writing of this) and I am starting to see the signs of winter just around the corner. I am excited to be done with the dry land season and to put all my hard work to use out on the race trails. Pray for snow!!
