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Final Weeks of Summer
By:  Kyle Power   (2009/08/05)

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As the last weeks of summer are already fast approaching its time for me to get ready for that transition period. By that, I do not only mean getting ready for some changes in my ski training, I also mean its time to get ready to move back to Ottawa for the school year and another exciting ski racing season.

First of all, just a little bit about what I have been up to over the last month and half. My early summer training went very well, it was defiantly some of best training I have ever logged for that time of year. As the weeks went on my plan was to start increasing my time spent rollerskiing, other ski specific workouts and gradually increase my training volume. At this time, I also started doing some extra summer sport activities such as playing in a local soccer league and rowing in the local Regatta. This gave me some good cross training benefits and kept an interesting mixture in my weekly training.

Another thing that I have worked in to my weekly training is spending twice a week working with some rising stars from my local ski club, Menihek Nordic. After all, I do spend most of my time training alone here at home during the summer months and these young guns made great training partners. It just goes to show that a training partner at any level can improve the motivation and quality of any workout. Over the last month I did some great training sessions with these Midget and Juvenile aged skiers. I introduced them to some new workouts for dry land training and passed along lots of information and tips that I have picked up over the last couple years from my coaches. I have to say, that I enjoyed doing this a lot more than I would of thought and it was great to get a chance to give back to my home club who have helped me out so much over the years. I defiantly gained a new perspective on involvement in the sport of cross-country skiing. Here are a few photos of some of the skiers in the group;


Doing some hill strength on Smokey Mtn.




We did an awesome Hike just past the Quebec border. Pretty nice views and sweet trails with ropes and latter's.

The past weekend, I competed in the Labrador West Regatta. It is an awesome local event and is also the 2nd largest regatta in the Province. This was my third summer rowing and each year our team gave it a good shot for the title. I’m proud to say this year we sealed the deal and came away as the Men's Overall Regatta Champions. It was an intense day of competition with every race coming down to a fraction of a second. It felt good to compete in a race again and the thrill of competition made me realize why I enjoy ski racing so much.


Rowing back to the dock after tough race.


Victory photo after winning the Regatta.

It is now first week of August and here in Labrador you can already feel the Fall weather creeping in.  This isn’t unusual however, just about every year this is the month where the daily temps start to drop and it will rain just about everyday. I am in the middle of a hard week of training then will be finishing my 2nd last cycle for the summer. Next week is an easy recovery week but I also plan to be competing in an adventure running race. This will be an interesting event for me to say the least and one that I am looking forward to. The following weeks of training I think are the most important weeks of summer to prepare for Fall training. I am hoping to get in some big volume weeks by the end of the month to get ready for the added intensity and will be thinking a lot more about skiing technique. I will also begin to pack up for my move back to Ottawa and will be arriving in the end of the month. I can’t wait to get back rollerskiing in the Gatineau Park; my options are limited home and have nothing comparable to the Ottawa area. Looking forward to returning and training with the team!




 
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