Week of March 3 - Youth Champs

 

Great Job Team Hardwood

What a fun time in the sun to wrap-up another great weekend of racing.  Congrats to everyone for strong races at Youth Champs in Huntsville.  Those that stayed at HSB got to challenge themselves to some longer distances at the Fischer Loppet on Saturday.

As we wrap-up the final week of the 2024/2025 Team Hardwood Junior program, the Coaches wanted everyone to reflect on how much you’ve all improved.

The improvement that we want you each to focus on is how you’ve become better than you were when you started in the fall.  That means how you’ve become fitter, how you’ve become stronger, and how you’ve improved your technique.

The Coaches want you all to reflect on those improvements, knowing that the results that you achieved this year are because you were fitter, stronger, and a better skier than when you were last year.

As you look forward to next summer, ask yourself how you can become fitter, how you can become stronger, and how you could become a better student of skiing technique?

But the season isn’t done just yet and there is still more fun to be had this year!  There is one last SOD race on Sunday to wrap-up the formal program for the year.

Having said that, ski season is certainly far from done as the conditions are Hardwood look to have us skiing clear through to the end of March or further!

Tuesday - Ski Cross Practice

We will work on our Skate technique - both uphill, downhill and JUMPS - on some of the steeper hills around the Teaching Flats

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

Please also wear rain gear, both Jacket and Pants, as it's due to be raining and you WILL fall down at least once;)

Saturday – Distance Classic Ski with Sprints

Pack some snacks in your water bottle belt for this one.  We will do a longer steady Classic Ski on a series of loops around the trails at HSB.

Come prepared to move steadily for 90min with some sprints mixed in along the way

Arrive by 9:20AM so that we can get moving by 9:30 AM.  Meet at The Chalet and practice will run until 11:30AM.

Bring your Grip Wax skis so you can practice on a waxable ski.  We will send a recomendation on Friday night.  If you need help with Grip Waxing, please arrive by 9:10AM.

Sunday – Midland Ski Cross

We will send out an email later this week about the Ski Cross with the final details.  Midland also still has LOTS of SNOW, so it should be a fun course!

For the rest of the week be sure to:

• 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