Team 2017

Montmorencey 2011
By: Peter Beisel (2011/11/30)

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Everyone knows that the more time you spend on skis, the better you are going to be at skiing. In the fall this means cross-training by rollerskiing such as Team XC Ottawa can be seen doing on the parkway on most weekends. If you happen to be one of the dedicated weekend roller-skiers on the parkway at this time of year, you may also know how tough it can be to get those last couple of hard intervals and distance workouts in before the snow flies and the racing gets into full swing! This is why the Team has an annual trip to the Forêt Montmorency. This training camp always seems to come in the nick of time since we are exhausted from our weekly hill bounding efforts but also on the verge of glorious snow which we wait for all summer long! Here is a a quick look at some of the highlights from the weekend!

First, a little background:
Montmorency is an experimental forestry station and outdoor education centre operated by the University of Laval. It is located near Quebec City. One of our favourite things about the Forêt is that it is located in one of the highest snowfall regions of Quebec. They get snow earlier and lot’s more of it! While it was soggy and warm here in Ottawa, we enjoyed an excellent quality “short track” and a many kilometers of partially groomed trails for long distance skiing.
Here we are regrouping from an interval workout on the “rock skis” territory. (Looks pretty good!)

Of course the main purpose of getting back onto real snow is to get comfortable back on skis and the only way to do it is to get out there and put in some kilometers! We did lots of long slow distance with careful attention to technique to make sure we we were getting quality acclimatization to the snow. We threw in a few hard and fast workouts in there too because you can never have enough practice skiing at speed.
Another great feature of the accommodations at Forêt Montmorency is the food! Nothing is more important after a day of skiing than being able to come in from the cold and try to “fill the void” and we were never dissappointed by the quality, diversity or the volume from the cafeteria here!
Even teammate Kyla V. (Vegetarian), was all smiles at the dinner table with a meatless substitute, although I may never completely understand how anyone could resist a plate that looks like this:

Lee could barely control his excitement.

We're hoping that snow comes to Ottawa soon but if you are considering a pre ski-season forray to the Forêt I highly recommend it!
Here are a few for pictures of team training!