Feb 5-11 Intensity Training

😂Hi Everyone, WOW, WOW, WOW!  What a weekend of Firsts! With people from most Canadian provinces represented and even New Zealand 😂 and American racers, this is the biggest event you will see all year. I am very proud of each and everyone one of you, as your positivity and grit/tenacity was just so palpable!  We arrived as a team, raced as a team and partied like a team (or at least played hide-and-go-seek as a team). You should all be very proud. Every time you race, you learn.
 "The 5 Ss of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit."  Ken Doherty

Check out these photos...did you even ski in Quebec?

Texas Hold'em??

Snacking by the fire??

 Playing instruments??

 Snowshoeing/Hide-and-go-seek??

Thank you once again to everyone who helped to make our trip to Gatineau for Easterns a success. To all of the parents who helped in every way - this could not be done without you.

A special thanks to Scott Good for setting up the accommodations and all of the food that you ate all weekend. This takes hours of preparation and planning...and how about that pulled pork!!!!
Thanks to Jack for his racing/waxing knowledge and all of his support before and after the races. His wisdom and experience in the sport go very far to prepare us for our future as athletes.
Thanks to Dwayne Barber for being our rock in the wax room, and thanks to all of the parents who spent time in the wax room with Dwayne. I saw some thumb cramping that was pretty awesome, so that just shows how much work was done, and how many late nights/early mornings that went into it.
Training:

We are going to stay on an intensity high until Midgets/Youth Champs (aka your Olympics). We are going to have shorter, but harder sessions this week and then dial it back later next week to rest before racing. Please continue to do the full strength this and next week.


Monday: Day off or alternate sport. Stretch and foam roll if you can.

Tuesday: Strength same as last week (can change to Thursday if you can do hills tonight). This should include a core blast too...so add 3x1min plank, sit ups, leg ups.

Wednesday: Skate We will do a short interval session of longer intervals. 4 x 5 minutes with 3-5 minutes rest starting at zone 3 and working towards zone 4. This will be a skate workout. We will meet at the house at 6 pm for a warm up ski (with some parents) then meet me at the lights by 6:30.

Thursday -  HILLS - Can you find a short, steep hill near your house?  Can you RUN/SPRINT up this hill (around 30-45seconds) and do this 10 times? Use poles if it is the ground, if it is stairs no poles. If you are indoors....well a stairmaster?!? Don't forget to warm up/cool down (@10min each)

 Friday - skiing or alternate sports - EASY distance at low zone 1 for 1hr. If you do NOT do this workout easy in Zone 1, then you will not be able to do intervals Saturday well....

Saturday - Team Skate Sprint simulation - These intervals will be 3 x 5 minutes with 5 minutes rest then a 30 minute easy ski and then we will repeat it. We will meet at the trailer at 9-9:15 am for photos ( I am sure 9:15 is ok since it will take time for the Sr group's photo shoot.  Hopefully on snow at 9:30.  It will be a skate workout.

Sunday - Long Classic ski - I would like to suggest that we go to Horseshoe Resort and NOT Suntrails. We can do the Red loops with the long uphills and exciting downhills (achy breaky - yes!)
Can parents respond on the What's App that this is OK. 9:30 at Horseshoe Resort. We will also be able to sample the OWG (Winter games) course.




 After that the races are coming fast:

There was a consensus that Suntrails was too far and too short a race distance this year. So we are not attending Suntrails as a team. Feel free to sign up/race if you like, I have heard the trails are great!

 Ontario Youth Championships Mar 16-18  North Bay. 
Friday:  
• Official training day. Course open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.  
• Race office opens 2:00 pm 
• Coaches meeting 5pm
• Team dinner then team meeting in hotel (TBA)

Saturday: Race office opens 8:00 am 
• Classic Technique Interval Start race by category. First start 10:00 am 
• Classic Technique Relay race by category. First start 1:00 pm 
• Banquet 6:00–8:00 pm at Nipissing University. Doors open 5:30 pm 


Sunday:Race office opens 8:00 am
• Freestyle Mass Start race by category. First start 9:30 am

RACE&DETAILS

 
Pewee   Saturday: 3 km         Saturday Relay:  2 x 600 m     Sunday:  3 km

 

Midget  Saturday:  4.5 km     Saturday Relay    2 x 600 m     Sunday   4.7 km



 Ontario Winter Games - Feb 28-Mar 2 - Kim, Dwayne and Jack will be there for these races and we will be doing waxing in the trailer. If there are any other parents who would like to help please let Dwayne know.  Eric and Thomas will be racing from Jr. Devo. It would be nice of us to come out and cheer if possible. I will post racestart times when I get them.