Skimo Canada Training Camp

I just spent the last few days at the SMC Training Camp in Revelstoke, BC. Our training camps are not like your typical training camp, they are not too long, we do not travel to a snow covered destination, and we don't stay in hostels or dorms. It is a lower budget affair, but in many ways much better than the high priced camps of other sports.

The big focus of this camp was to spend time with the team. This gave us time to catch up with old friends and time to get to know new ones. Come winter we will be spending lots of time together in unfamiliar surroundings and stressful situations, so it's good to have a friend around.

Another important part of this camp was to talk about and plan for the winter. This way we can coordinate travel and accommodation plans. This is particularly important with this season being a World Championship year in Europe.

Fall is a hard time to get together with the team because we spread out all over western Canada and still working hard to fill up the training bank account for the long winter of travelling and racing to come. That being said, we had a good turn out with 7 athletes and 2 support staff.

 

The camp started Friday afternoon with a short trail run and an evening meeting. On Saturday the group split up, with five of us heading up to Rogers Pass for a trail run and scramble up Mt Cheops. After running up amazingly maintained trails to Balu Pass, and a short scramble up the ridge, we were on top of the peak. Our round trip time was around 4.5 hours, followed by a dip in the coldest creek I have felt. After 3 minutes my legs were numb. The other two members of our group, Andrew and Peter, attended the Martha Creek Melt Down mountain bike race. Peter won and Andrew came in 4th.

On Sunday, we all met at the track in Revelstoke for the first annual Skimo Canada "Pentathlon". Events included the 100m dash, shotput, a star run, long jump, and the 800m run. This was probably the best part of the camp. The rest of the day was filled with another meeting and some riding. And just like that, the SMC September camp was over. See you in November everyone!