FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Uphill Run/Ski

    This week we have scheduled an intensity week and included some of our tests. Today we did our uphill running test. The run is two miles long and climbs up County road, past the Sun Bowl and back to school.

    Anika, Mollie and Brooke skied a tough classic Prologue instead of running because of injuries. Their course started at school and climbed to the top of Tree Tops. They all skied well with Anika nipping Brooke and Mollie (sorry, no pictures).
    Last week we had a big volume week followed by a rest weekend. Our intensity week is scheduled to give the athletes a max VO2 block, to see how they are progressing AND to see how they react to a big block, total rest and then intensity. Some feel great after rest, others feel flat etc… The goal is for each athlete to try different things and find out what works best for them.
    This morning we ran in the rain. County road was muddy and squishy so the course was a bit slow. Here are the todays times followed by the (times from early September).
    Calvin 12:12 (12:12)
    Paddy 12:23 (12:30)
    Murph 13:07 (13:27)
    Gino 13:09 (13:20)
    Tyler 13:25 (13:11)
    Hamish 14:06 (13:36)
    Issy 15:51 (15:49)
    ‘Kenzie 17:26 (18:02)
    Tess 17:28 (17:09)

  • Uphill Run/Ski

    This week we have scheduled an intensity week and included some of our tests. Today we did our uphill running test. The run is two miles long and climbs up County road, past the Sun Bowl and back to school.

    Anika, Mollie and Brooke skied a tough classic Prologue instead of running because of injuries. Their course started at school and climbed to the top of Tree Tops. They all skied well with Anika nipping Brooke and Mollie (sorry, no pictures).
    Last week we had a big volume week followed by a rest weekend. Our intensity week is scheduled to give the athletes a max VO2 block, to see how they are progressing AND to see how they react to a big block, total rest and then intensity. Some feel great after rest, others feel flat etc… The goal is for each athlete to try different things and find out what works best for them.
    This morning we ran in the rain. County road was muddy and squishy so the course was a bit slow. Here are the todays times followed by the (times from early September).
    Calvin 12:12 (12:12)
    Paddy 12:23 (12:30)
    Murph 13:07 (13:27)
    Gino 13:09 (13:20)
    Tyler 13:25 (13:11)
    Hamish 14:06 (13:36)
    Issy 15:51 (15:49)
    ‘Kenzie 17:26 (18:02)
    Tess 17:28 (17:09)

  • 10/12 Double Pole Test

    This afternoon we did our double pole test for the second time since the beginning of the school year. Temps were 55F today compared to 72F when we last did the test on August 31 (rollerskiing is generally slower in colder temperatures) and the team is coming off a big volume week, so it was interesting to see how everyone responded to those variables. Everyone got a warm up in and then we got to it. Afterwards, the team did a little cool down lap around the Sun Bowl and regrouped…only to learn that they were doing the DP test again! It was a good chance for everyone to find out how warmed up they really were for their first effort (a few skiers got faster or had similar times on their second test) and manage the mental aspect of hopping in and doing the test all over again with no prior warning. : ) Results, sorted by the first test, and photos from the warm up below! (No pictures from the test itself since we had coaches timing and doing video.) More photos on the team SmugMug site.


    12-Oct #1 12-Oct #2 31-Aug 9-Aug 7-Jul 9-Jun 13-May
    Hamish 3:58 4:06 4:08
    Murph 4:03 4:06 4:09 4:35
    Paddy 4:07 4:08 4:04 4:18
    Charlie 4:11 4:26 4:29
    Gino 4:13 4:22 4:38
    Tyler 4:16 4:28 4:09 4:27 4:32 4:23
    Walker 4:19 4:32
    Calvin 4:41 4:40 4:36 5:12
    Anika 4:55 4:57 5:07
    Brooke 4:59 5:13 4:57 5:29
    Mollie 5:46 5:49 5:48
    Kate 5:50 6:02 6:05
    Tess 5:53 6:26 6:04 7:03 6:28 6:59 7:40
    Mackenzie 6:11 6:03 7:05 6:55 7:42
    Walker Bigelow is in town and came by for practice – nice to see him out with the guys!
    Tyler and Charlie warm up together.
    Calvin.
    Gino.
    Hamish.
    Anika, Tyler, Corky.
    Mollie and Kate.
    Kate checks in with Sverre.

    The crew gets final instructions before starting the DP test.
    Corky is PSYCHED to be feeling better and back on his rollerskis.
    A look at the big climb on the DP test.
    Warming down… all smiles to be done with the test…
    “We have to do it again!?”
    Happy girls post-workout. : )

  • 10/12 Double Pole Test

    This afternoon we did our double pole test for the second time since the beginning of the school year. Temps were 55F today compared to 72F when we last did the test on August 31 (rollerskiing is generally slower in colder temperatures) and the team is coming off a big volume week, so it was interesting to see how everyone responded to those variables. Everyone got a warm up in and then we got to it. Afterwards, the team did a little cool down lap around the Sun Bowl and regrouped…only to learn that they were doing the DP test again! It was a good chance for everyone to find out how warmed up they really were for their first effort (a few skiers got faster or had similar times on their second test) and manage the mental aspect of hopping in and doing the test all over again with no prior warning. : ) Results, sorted by the first test, and photos from the warm up below! (No pictures from the test itself since we had coaches timing and doing video.) More photos on the team SmugMug site.


    12-Oct #1 12-Oct #2 31-Aug 9-Aug 7-Jul 9-Jun 13-May
    Hamish 3:58 4:06 4:08
    Murph 4:03 4:06 4:09 4:35
    Paddy 4:07 4:08 4:04 4:18
    Charlie 4:11 4:26 4:29
    Gino 4:13 4:22 4:38
    Tyler 4:16 4:28 4:09 4:27 4:32 4:23
    Walker 4:19 4:32
    Calvin 4:41 4:40 4:36 5:12
    Anika 4:55 4:57 5:07
    Brooke 4:59 5:13 4:57 5:29
    Mollie 5:46 5:49 5:48
    Kate 5:50 6:02 6:05
    Tess 5:53 6:26 6:04 7:03 6:28 6:59 7:40
    Mackenzie 6:11 6:03 7:05 6:55 7:42
    Walker Bigelow is in town and came by for practice – nice to see him out with the guys!
    Tyler and Charlie warm up together.
    Calvin.
    Gino.
    Hamish.
    Anika, Tyler, Corky.
    Mollie and Kate.
    Kate checks in with Sverre.

    The crew gets final instructions before starting the DP test.
    Corky is PSYCHED to be feeling better and back on his rollerskis.
    A look at the big climb on the DP test.
    Warming down… all smiles to be done with the test…
    “We have to do it again!?”
    Happy girls post-workout. : )

  • OPA + Scandinavian Cup FIS Points Follow-Up

    I started writing an answer to a comment to Monday’s post, but it started getting long, so I thought I’d make it a short post, instead.

    Basically, the question was how can the points be so different between OPA and Scandinavian Cup races when the penalty calculation methods is exactly the same. Recall that these were the estimated point differences between the FIS points of top ten finishers at OPA and Scandinavian Cups and their FIS points in WCs.

    OPA Cups:

    EstimatedDifference StandardError
    Men Distance 27.04 2.23
    Men Sprint 16.73 3.10
    Women Distance 43.24 2.95
    Women Sprint 21.16 3.91

    Scandinavian Cups:

    EstimatedDifference StandardError
    Men Distance -6.03 2.25
    Men Sprint -6.67 2.40
    Women Distance 4.05 3.09
    Women Sprint -0.88 3.57

    So, the penalty calculation method doesn’t really have anything to do with this. Suppose that someone races in an OPA Cup and receives 20 FIS points. Supposedly, this should mean that they ought to get about the same result in a WC race. But in reality what we see is that they tend to do quite a bit worse than this. At least, as measured by FIS points.

    Conversely, if someone gets 20 FIS points in a Scandinavian Cup race, it’s much more likely that this is close to how they’ll perform in a WC race. Again, close as measured by FIS points.

    So what’s happening here is that the penalties at OPA Cups are likely artificially low, in that they are overestimating the field strength. Notice that the estimates for many of the Scandinavian Cup disciplines were actually negative, indicating that FIS points at these races are actually underestimating people’s performance in a WC race. How could this be? Well, remember that the penalty at these races can’t be any lower than 15, but Scandinavian Cups often have several Norwegian or Swedish national team members present, perhaps working their way back from an injury or something. This means that the penalty of 15 is likely too high.

     

    Related posts:

    1. <OPA Cup vs Scandinavian Cup: Quality
    2. <How To Win The SkiTrax FIS Fantasy World Cup Contest
    3. <Predicting FIS Points For World Cup Races


  • OPA + Scandinavian Cup FIS Points Follow-Up

    I started writing an answer to a comment to Monday’s post, but it started getting long, so I thought I’d make it a short post, instead.

    Basically, the question was how can the points be so different between OPA and Scandinavian Cup races when the penalty calculation methods is exactly the same. Recall that these were the estimated point differences between the FIS points of top ten finishers at OPA and Scandinavian Cups and their FIS points in WCs.

    OPA Cups:

    EstimatedDifference StandardError
    Men Distance 27.04 2.23
    Men Sprint 16.73 3.10
    Women Distance 43.24 2.95
    Women Sprint 21.16 3.91

    Scandinavian Cups:

    EstimatedDifference StandardError
    Men Distance -6.03 2.25
    Men Sprint -6.67 2.40
    Women Distance 4.05 3.09
    Women Sprint -0.88 3.57

    So, the penalty calculation method doesn’t really have anything to do with this. Suppose that someone races in an OPA Cup and receives 20 FIS points. Supposedly, this should mean that they ought to get about the same result in a WC race. But in reality what we see is that they tend to do quite a bit worse than this. At least, as measured by FIS points.

    Conversely, if someone gets 20 FIS points in a Scandinavian Cup race, it’s much more likely that this is close to how they’ll perform in a WC race. Again, close as measured by FIS points.

    So what’s happening here is that the penalties at OPA Cups are likely artificially low, in that they are overestimating the field strength. Notice that the estimates for many of the Scandinavian Cup disciplines were actually negative, indicating that FIS points at these races are actually underestimating people’s performance in a WC race. How could this be? Well, remember that the penalty at these races can’t be any lower than 15, but Scandinavian Cups often have several Norwegian or Swedish national team members present, perhaps working their way back from an injury or something. This means that the penalty of 15 is likely too high.

     

    Related posts:

    1. <OPA Cup vs Scandinavian Cup: Quality
    2. <How To Win The SkiTrax FIS Fantasy World Cup Contest
    3. <Predicting FIS Points For World Cup Races


  • App Gap Double Pole in Fall Glory

    It was another sensational day in the Valley, so we decided to go somewhere with a view. We settled on App Gap, and decided to double pole. Not a bad way to get some muscles burning! We’ve got a few kids on the hurt/sick list, so it was a small crew today. What we lacked in numbers we made up for in strength: that’s a big hill!
    Ryley gets it going on the flats before the road pitches up: this workout always ends up being faster than we expect.
    MK and Heidi cruise through the flats. The girls double poled up to the base of Mad River, then double pole kicked from there. 
    Dev broke a pole tip later on, but here he’s enjoying the sunshine and some nice warm weather glide.

    Pretty soon this thing gets steep.

    Ryley admits he might have started a little hard: first time double poling the gap on Marwes was harder than doing it on his old rocket skis.

    Dev switches to one-pole mode, but keeps going undeterred.
    (while MK crushes the pavement behind him)
    MK battles the red truck up to Mad River.
    Heidi getting in a good forward position, falling on those poles.

    Ryley smashed his way up to the top, and arrived early enough to enjoy the view.

    Something wasn’t quite right…
    Ouch! The perils of double poling.
     MK nears the top and opens it up.
     Ryley cheers her over the top. Nice teamwork!
     Dev strides off the edge of the world.
     And Heidi is swallowed up by the view: the leaves are just starting to pop in Vermont.

    The stalwart crew is all smiles post-DP. Nice job by all.

  • App Gap Double Pole in Fall Glory

    It was another sensational day in the Valley, so we decided to go somewhere with a view. We settled on App Gap, and decided to double pole. Not a bad way to get some muscles burning! We’ve got a few kids on the hurt/sick list, so it was a small crew today. What we lacked in numbers we made up for in strength: that’s a big hill!
    Ryley gets it going on the flats before the road pitches up: this workout always ends up being faster than we expect.
    MK and Heidi cruise through the flats. The girls double poled up to the base of Mad River, then double pole kicked from there. 
    Dev broke a pole tip later on, but here he’s enjoying the sunshine and some nice warm weather glide.

    Pretty soon this thing gets steep.

    Ryley admits he might have started a little hard: first time double poling the gap on Marwes was harder than doing it on his old rocket skis.

    Dev switches to one-pole mode, but keeps going undeterred.
    (while MK crushes the pavement behind him)
    MK battles the red truck up to Mad River.
    Heidi getting in a good forward position, falling on those poles.

    Ryley smashed his way up to the top, and arrived early enough to enjoy the view.

    Something wasn’t quite right…
    Ouch! The perils of double poling.
     MK nears the top and opens it up.
     Ryley cheers her over the top. Nice teamwork!
     Dev strides off the edge of the world.
     And Heidi is swallowed up by the view: the leaves are just starting to pop in Vermont.

    The stalwart crew is all smiles post-DP. Nice job by all.

  • App Gap Double Pole in Fall Glory

    It was another sensational day in the Valley, so we decided to go somewhere with a view. We settled on App Gap, and decided to double pole. Not a bad way to get some muscles burning! We’ve got a few kids on the hurt/sick list, so it was a small crew today. What we lacked in numbers we made up for in strength: that’s a big hill!
    Ryley gets it going on the flats before the road pitches up: this workout always ends up being faster than we expect.
    MK and Heidi cruise through the flats. The girls double poled up to the base of Mad River, then double pole kicked from there. 
    Dev broke a pole tip later on, but here he’s enjoying the sunshine and some nice warm weather glide.

    Pretty soon this thing gets steep.

    Ryley admits he might have started a little hard: first time double poling the gap on Marwes was harder than doing it on his old rocket skis.

    Dev switches to one-pole mode, but keeps going undeterred.
    (while MK crushes the pavement behind him)
    MK battles the red truck up to Mad River.
    Heidi getting in a good forward position, falling on those poles.

    Ryley smashed his way up to the top, and arrived early enough to enjoy the view.

    Something wasn’t quite right…
    Ouch! The perils of double poling.
     MK nears the top and opens it up.
     Ryley cheers her over the top. Nice teamwork!
     Dev strides off the edge of the world.
     And Heidi is swallowed up by the view: the leaves are just starting to pop in Vermont.

    The stalwart crew is all smiles post-DP. Nice job by all.

  • October, Nationals, and Lake Placid

    Since we have been back from Summer Grand Prix, Our team has been pretty busy with preparing for nationals and going to Lake Placid, New york for our annual Flaming leaves competition.

    First I had a small camp in Steamboat, I was happy to go to this camp, as I haven’t been home in a couple month. It was nice to see the family, but It was mostly business and training while I was there. I saw some very positive results in the cross country. We have been doing the same time trial for many years now, I knew I was in good form coming off summer competitions. I was surprised to when I set a course record on the brutally hard course. I bettered my previous time by more than 30 seconds which is pretty large.

    After Steamboat our team headed to Chicago for U.S. Nordic Combined and Small Hill Nationals. About 40 minutes out of the city, Fox Rive Grove has a k70 meter and a club Called Norge. I was very excited as I had a good chance at the National title. Unfortunately I didn’t have a stellar jump and I started to far back for the podium, But on the bright side my cross country fitness is improving even more as I produced the fastest time in a solid field.

    After Chicago was Lake Placid. Every year we go to Lake Placid in the fall for an intensity camps and a couple jumping competitions. It is beautiful at this time and training was great. I started to jump better and felt very good in intervals. Lake Placid was nice because all you can think about is training and you are able to limit all distractions.

    Up now:
    I have just over a month till the first competitions of the year in Kuusamo, Finland. Until then we will take a couple more jumping sessions and finalize the cross country shape for the winter. Recovery will be a  important part of these next couple weeks. Also I will look forward to taking the first jumps on snow hopefully in a couple weeks, as well as getting getting on cross country skis as soon as possible.

    Check back soon.

    Taylor

  • October, Nationals, and Lake Placid

    Since we have been back from Summer Grand Prix, Our team has been pretty busy with preparing for nationals and going to Lake Placid, New york for our annual Flaming leaves competition.

    First I had a small camp in Steamboat, I was happy to go to this camp, as I haven’t been home in a couple month. It was nice to see the family, but It was mostly business and training while I was there. I saw some very positive results in the cross country. We have been doing the same time trial for many years now, I knew I was in good form coming off summer competitions. I was surprised to when I set a course record on the brutally hard course. I bettered my previous time by more than 30 seconds which is pretty large.

    After Steamboat our team headed to Chicago for U.S. Nordic Combined and Small Hill Nationals. About 40 minutes out of the city, Fox Rive Grove has a k70 meter and a club Called Norge. I was very excited as I had a good chance at the National title. Unfortunately I didn’t have a stellar jump and I started to far back for the podium, But on the bright side my cross country fitness is improving even more as I produced the fastest time in a solid field.

    After Chicago was Lake Placid. Every year we go to Lake Placid in the fall for an intensity camps and a couple jumping competitions. It is beautiful at this time and training was great. I started to jump better and felt very good in intervals. Lake Placid was nice because all you can think about is training and you are able to limit all distractions.

    Up now:
    I have just over a month till the first competitions of the year in Kuusamo, Finland. Until then we will take a couple more jumping sessions and finalize the cross country shape for the winter. Recovery will be a  important part of these next couple weeks. Also I will look forward to taking the first jumps on snow hopefully in a couple weeks, as well as getting getting on cross country skis as soon as possible.

    Check back soon.

    Taylor

  • October, Nationals, and Lake Placid

    Since we have been back from Summer Grand Prix, Our team has been pretty busy with preparing for nationals and going to Lake Placid, New york for our annual Flaming leaves competition.

    First I had a small camp in Steamboat, I was happy to go to this camp, as I haven’t been home in a couple month. It was nice to see the family, but It was mostly business and training while I was there. I saw some very positive results in the cross country. We have been doing the same time trial for many years now, I knew I was in good form coming off summer competitions. I was surprised to when I set a course record on the brutally hard course. I bettered my previous time by more than 30 seconds which is pretty large.

    After Steamboat our team headed to Chicago for U.S. Nordic Combined and Small Hill Nationals. About 40 minutes out of the city, Fox Rive Grove has a k70 meter and a club Called Norge. I was very excited as I had a good chance at the National title. Unfortunately I didn’t have a stellar jump and I started to far back for the podium, But on the bright side my cross country fitness is improving even more as I produced the fastest time in a solid field.

    After Chicago was Lake Placid. Every year we go to Lake Placid in the fall for an intensity camps and a couple jumping competitions. It is beautiful at this time and training was great. I started to jump better and felt very good in intervals. Lake Placid was nice because all you can think about is training and you are able to limit all distractions.

    Up now:
    I have just over a month till the first competitions of the year in Kuusamo, Finland. Until then we will take a couple more jumping sessions and finalize the cross country shape for the winter. Recovery will be a  important part of these next couple weeks. Also I will look forward to taking the first jumps on snow hopefully in a couple weeks, as well as getting getting on cross country skis as soon as possible.

    Check back soon.

    Taylor

  • October, Nationals, and Lake Placid

    Since we have been back from Summer Grand Prix, Our team has been pretty busy with preparing for nationals and going to Lake Placid, New york for our annual Flaming leaves competition.

    First I had a small camp in Steamboat, I was happy to go to this camp, as I haven’t been home in a couple month. It was nice to see the family, but It was mostly business and training while I was there. I saw some very positive results in the cross country. We have been doing the same time trial for many years now, I knew I was in good form coming off summer competitions. I was surprised to when I set a course record on the brutally hard course. I bettered my previous time by more than 30 seconds which is pretty large.

    After Steamboat our team headed to Chicago for U.S. Nordic Combined and Small Hill Nationals. About 40 minutes out of the city, Fox Rive Grove has a k70 meter and a club Called Norge. I was very excited as I had a good chance at the National title. Unfortunately I didn’t have a stellar jump and I started to far back for the podium, But on the bright side my cross country fitness is improving even more as I produced the fastest time in a solid field.

    After Chicago was Lake Placid. Every year we go to Lake Placid in the fall for an intensity camps and a couple jumping competitions. It is beautiful at this time and training was great. I started to jump better and felt very good in intervals. Lake Placid was nice because all you can think about is training and you are able to limit all distractions.

    Up now:
    I have just over a month till the first competitions of the year in Kuusamo, Finland. Until then we will take a couple more jumping sessions and finalize the cross country shape for the winter. Recovery will be a  important part of these next couple weeks. Also I will look forward to taking the first jumps on snow hopefully in a couple weeks, as well as getting getting on cross country skis as soon as possible.

    Check back soon.

    Taylor

  • October, Nationals, and Lake Placid

    Since we have been back from Summer Grand Prix, Our team has been pretty busy with preparing for nationals and going to Lake Placid, New york for our annual Flaming leaves competition.

    First I had a small camp in Steamboat, I was happy to go to this camp, as I haven’t been home in a couple month. It was nice to see the family, but It was mostly business and training while I was there. I saw some very positive results in the cross country. We have been doing the same time trial for many years now, I knew I was in good form coming off summer competitions. I was surprised to when I set a course record on the brutally hard course. I bettered my previous time by more than 30 seconds which is pretty large.

    After Steamboat our team headed to Chicago for U.S. Nordic Combined and Small Hill Nationals. About 40 minutes out of the city, Fox Rive Grove has a k70 meter and a club Called Norge. I was very excited as I had a good chance at the National title. Unfortunately I didn’t have a stellar jump and I started to far back for the podium, But on the bright side my cross country fitness is improving even more as I produced the fastest time in a solid field.

    After Chicago was Lake Placid. Every year we go to Lake Placid in the fall for an intensity camps and a couple jumping competitions. It is beautiful at this time and training was great. I started to jump better and felt very good in intervals. Lake Placid was nice because all you can think about is training and you are able to limit all distractions.

    Up now:
    I have just over a month till the first competitions of the year in Kuusamo, Finland. Until then we will take a couple more jumping sessions and finalize the cross country shape for the winter. Recovery will be a  important part of these next couple weeks. Also I will look forward to taking the first jumps on snow hopefully in a couple weeks, as well as getting getting on cross country skis as soon as possible.

    Check back soon.

    Taylor

  • Brattleboro Running Race

    We ended our long weekend with a “back to school” running race. Everyone had been on strict orders to rest after the big effort last week and we were interested to see how they responded. Most of the kids felt a bit flat (not too suprising). It will be good to see how they respond over the next couple of days when we are doing our d-pole test and uphill running test.

    Pictured above is the Jr High race with Russell (in a BF shirt) and Mackenzie.
    Mackenzie ran well. She is working on her pacing and she saved enough energy to finish strongly and win the girls race.
    Russell made it two for two at Brattleboro.
    The boys start.
    Calvin and Paddy cruise down the first hill.
    Hamish and Gino work their way up the 1 km hill.
    Mac ran tough while fighting stomach cramps.
    Calvin.
    Hamish, Gino and Tyler.
    Last time up!
    Tyler always starts slowly and works into it. Today he was around 25th at 2 km and ended 8th.
    Mac.
    Girls start.
    Tess ran a good race (no times yet).
    Kate looks good at 1 km.
    Brooke has been battling a bum knee, but she felt good enough to “get her feet wet” today.

  • Brattleboro Running Race

    We ended our long weekend with a “back to school” running race. Everyone had been on strict orders to rest after the big effort last week and we were interested to see how they responded. Most of the kids felt a bit flat (not too suprising). It will be good to see how they respond over the next couple of days when we are doing our d-pole test and uphill running test.

    Pictured above is the Jr High race with Russell (in a BF shirt) and Mackenzie.
    Mackenzie ran well. She is working on her pacing and she saved enough energy to finish strongly and win the girls race.
    Russell made it two for two at Brattleboro.
    The boys start.
    Calvin and Paddy cruise down the first hill.
    Hamish and Gino work their way up the 1 km hill.
    Mac ran tough while fighting stomach cramps.
    Calvin.
    Hamish, Gino and Tyler.
    Last time up!
    Tyler always starts slowly and works into it. Today he was around 25th at 2 km and ended 8th.
    Mac.
    Girls start.
    Tess ran a good race (no times yet).
    Kate looks good at 1 km.
    Brooke has been battling a bum knee, but she felt good enough to “get her feet wet” today.

  • Thanksgiving!

    This past weekend was quite enjoyable. Some easy training and hiking, lots of food, and some family time made up a great Thanksgiving weekend. My aunt Catrin and her mom came down to Canmore from Edmonton (and Wales) for a quick stay in Canmore. It was great to have a chance to catch up over lunch, and give them a bit of a tour of downtown. Canmore saw lots of rain leading up to the weekend, which translated to lots of snow in the alpine. The sun came out for the weekend though and lit up the snow covered mountains. It really did put on a show for all the mad tourists in town.
    Sunday morning Emma, Annika, Bronwyn and I headed out to Kananaskis Country to hike Wind Tower. The fresh snow and decent weather made for an awesome hike.
    Looking down the Wind Valley with Wind tower on the right.

     Wind Ridge and Valley with Exshaw in the distance.
    Spray Lakes

    The girls hiking high above Spray
     Emma, Bronwyn and Annika
    Emma attempting to fly in the crazy intense wind!

    Cornices starting to form on the leeward side of Wind Tower

    The wind was nutso. Being up high and totally exposed to it was cool, but only for so long…
    Heading home
    Sunday night we had a great dinner with the Lodges. Lots of turkey, smashed potatoes and pies. I spent Monday morning recovering from my food coma, then headed to Jess Cockney’s house for an AWCA Misfits Thanksgiving dinner for all those skiers in town with no family. Thanks to Jess and Marlis for putting on a great night with delicious food! Shout out to Russell Kennedy for his amazing maple bacon potatoes!
    They are pushing out Frozen Thunder as I write this and we should be skiing by the end of the week! Pretty excited to get back on snow and get the season underway!
    Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Pictures of Frozen Thunder to come!

  • Recovery Week Day 1

    MK wanted some pictures of us “pumping iron” so she brought her camera down to the weight room and took some shots while we did a lift at the end of last week. We’re all making some pretty major strength gains, and we looked stronger than ever even during a week when everyone was tired from three time trials.
     Hans poses with our alpine friend, Brian, who was lifting some serious weight while we were down in the gym.

    We’ve been working on balance and agility with this little drill: six times around the ball, hopping on one foot to each of the taped directions. It’s nice to see improvement over time with an exercise that is difficult at first.

    I had to get a piece of the action: Ryley’s music was bumpin’ and everyone was working so hard that I couldn’t resist.

    Fitzy puts up some big time weight on the bench press: follow this with 10 fast pushups!

    Then right over to the pull-ups.

    Then right over to the box jumps: we had the circuit humming the other day.


    Heidi gets dynamic while Fitzy contemplates the next set in the background.

    MK managed to get out from behind the camera to crank out some pull-ups.


    Ryley demonstrates some big-league arm and core strength.

    After an incredible Indian Summer weekend, the good weather persisted for ski imitation and speed bounding yesterday. We started out with some drills, thinking about setting kick wax, keeping the hips forward, and swinging our arms and legs to conserve momentum.

     After drills and stretching, we did some max speed bounding, trying to be both light and powerful.




    It was Ryley’s 19th birthday, and he smashed through some bounding before heading off to eat steak for dinner. Not a bad birthday, in my opinion.


     Hans joined us after doing some spinning. What’s up, Hans?

    Heidi is all smiles after a good workout.

    We hung out on the upper soccer field for a while and stretched. It was almost too nice to go inside, but after some ski pole javelin we all headed off to dinner and homework.


  • Recovery Week Day 1

    MK wanted some pictures of us “pumping iron” so she brought her camera down to the weight room and took some shots while we did a lift at the end of last week. We’re all making some pretty major strength gains, and we looked stronger than ever even during a week when everyone was tired from three time trials.
     Hans poses with our alpine friend, Brian, who was lifting some serious weight while we were down in the gym.

    We’ve been working on balance and agility with this little drill: six times around the ball, hopping on one foot to each of the taped directions. It’s nice to see improvement over time with an exercise that is difficult at first.

    I had to get a piece of the action: Ryley’s music was bumpin’ and everyone was working so hard that I couldn’t resist.

    Fitzy puts up some big time weight on the bench press: follow this with 10 fast pushups!

    Then right over to the pull-ups.

    Then right over to the box jumps: we had the circuit humming the other day.


    Heidi gets dynamic while Fitzy contemplates the next set in the background.

    MK managed to get out from behind the camera to crank out some pull-ups.


    Ryley demonstrates some big-league arm and core strength.

    After an incredible Indian Summer weekend, the good weather persisted for ski imitation and speed bounding yesterday. We started out with some drills, thinking about setting kick wax, keeping the hips forward, and swinging our arms and legs to conserve momentum.

     After drills and stretching, we did some max speed bounding, trying to be both light and powerful.




    It was Ryley’s 19th birthday, and he smashed through some bounding before heading off to eat steak for dinner. Not a bad birthday, in my opinion.


     Hans joined us after doing some spinning. What’s up, Hans?

    Heidi is all smiles after a good workout.

    We hung out on the upper soccer field for a while and stretched. It was almost too nice to go inside, but after some ski pole javelin we all headed off to dinner and homework.


  • Recovery Week Day 1

    MK wanted some pictures of us “pumping iron” so she brought her camera down to the weight room and took some shots while we did a lift at the end of last week. We’re all making some pretty major strength gains, and we looked stronger than ever even during a week when everyone was tired from three time trials.
     Hans poses with our alpine friend, Brian, who was lifting some serious weight while we were down in the gym.

    We’ve been working on balance and agility with this little drill: six times around the ball, hopping on one foot to each of the taped directions. It’s nice to see improvement over time with an exercise that is difficult at first.

    I had to get a piece of the action: Ryley’s music was bumpin’ and everyone was working so hard that I couldn’t resist.

    Fitzy puts up some big time weight on the bench press: follow this with 10 fast pushups!

    Then right over to the pull-ups.

    Then right over to the box jumps: we had the circuit humming the other day.


    Heidi gets dynamic while Fitzy contemplates the next set in the background.

    MK managed to get out from behind the camera to crank out some pull-ups.


    Ryley demonstrates some big-league arm and core strength.

    After an incredible Indian Summer weekend, the good weather persisted for ski imitation and speed bounding yesterday. We started out with some drills, thinking about setting kick wax, keeping the hips forward, and swinging our arms and legs to conserve momentum.

     After drills and stretching, we did some max speed bounding, trying to be both light and powerful.




    It was Ryley’s 19th birthday, and he smashed through some bounding before heading off to eat steak for dinner. Not a bad birthday, in my opinion.


     Hans joined us after doing some spinning. What’s up, Hans?

    Heidi is all smiles after a good workout.

    We hung out on the upper soccer field for a while and stretched. It was almost too nice to go inside, but after some ski pole javelin we all headed off to dinner and homework.