Week of Feb 24 - Racing Hits its Peak

   

And we are going to Ski FAST

It was great to see you all in action on Saturday at Georgian Nordic at the Team Sprints.  You've all come so far and are skiing so well.

Hopefully, those of you whose parents raced were kind and attentive to their needs for the rest of the weekend as we got to race the furthest - just sayin'

Do take a moment and watch the video that was posted in WhatsApp - you were all REALLY moving FAST.

Tuesday - Steep Skating Hills at HSB

We will work on our technique - both uphill and downhill - on some of the steeper hills on the DVP and the Bowl Loops.

Please arrive by 5:20PM and practice will run until 7PM.

You WILL need a HEADLAMP and this is a MUST to ski safely in the DARK

Saturday and Sunday - Youth Champs in Huntsville

Please read the Race Notice that you should have received this evening from the organizers.  After you have read it over, please feel free to ask the Coaches any questions about the event.

Start to think about packing as the weather on Saturday and the weather on Sunday will have a marked difference!

Start to think about ski prep too.  Make sure your glide zones are clean and that your skis have some liquid wax on them.  We will have the Wax Trailer up there this weekend, so there will be a nice warm place to do final ski prep!

More details to follow, but there will be a pre-ski on Friday afternoon led by Sarah and Bronwen.

Lastly, many of the best U10, U12, and U14 skiers in Ontario will be attending this weekend.  What you can control is how well you know the course, how smoothly you ski, and how hard you work.

You CANNOT control your results, so only judge how good your race was by how well you skied.  Ask yourself whether you prepared well and followed a good race plan, ask yourself whether you used your best technique, and ask yourself if you worked as hard as you could.

If you can say YES to all of the above, then you had a good race - full-stop

Don't look at any results or ask anyone about your placing until you've had a chance to reflect on how well you skied.  Even then, expect that there will be plenty of other kids who are good skiers doing the very same thing!

In the end, you are racing who you were yesterday.

• Get Out and SKI as much as reasonably possible!!  Try to get to HSB for at least one more ski on your own
• Be active every day, get enough sleep, and be sure to always eat healthily
• Running – Try for 20-30min.  Treadmills are okay this time of year if you don't have a steady surface with all this snow!
• Cycling – Try for 20-30min, indoors on a Spin Bike while watching your favourite show
• Strength Training – Keep up with the exercises that we did at practice in the Fall on your own.  We would encourage everyone to keep up with doing one Run/Strength session each week.
• Be sure to keep working on your mobility either through stretching, yoga, pilates, etc.  There are LOTS of great resources online
• We know that most of you are quite active between practices, just be sure you are doing something for 45-60min most every day.

Other Resources

Local Weather - https://weather.gc.ca/en/location/index.html?coords=44.611,-79.422

Regional Radar - https://weather.gc.ca/?layers=,radar&center=44.611,-79.422&zoom=-1

Winter Road Conditions - https://511on.ca/roadconditions

Hardwood Ski and Bike Trail Conditions - https://www.hardwoodskiandbike.ca/home-page-winter/trails/trail-conditions/

Hardwood Ski and Bike Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hardwoodskibike/

Team Hardwood Provincial and National Program Blog - http://teamhardwood1819.blogspot.com/?m=1