National Team Sprint Camp: Quebec / Craftsbury

This past week, the national team hosted a camp that started in Mont-Sainte-Anne and moved to Craftsbury half way through the camp. The team objective of the camp was to work on sprint speed and power. While my objective was the same, I also had the goal to finish and participate in as many of the workouts as possible. I went with my recovery in mind but also hungry to keep up with all of the top boys at the camp. For the first half of the camp both of my objectives were achieved. But sadly for the second half of the camp I was nowhere near achieving what I came to do, as I was stuck in bed. I got quite sick on the first day in Craftsbury and had to stop training. Eventually I had to make the choice to leave the camp early and head back home.

The first half of the camp:

It was my first time training in MSA in the summer. It was super cool to see the training area and what it was like in the summer. I have only been there in the winter for races. The first day getting to the track was an interval workout and we were trying out the major downhill on this track. Everyone before the camp warned me about the hill saying that it was deadly. But getting there and skiing it the first time it was really not too bad. Late in the week, we had a sprint simulation where the downhill would be part of the course so I was a bit nervous about that at first but quickly became accustomed to the hill. Overall I was just so excited to get to try out skiing on a new track that I had never been on before! 

Day 1 on the Mount Saint Anne roller ski track

Before going to Mount Saint Anne I did not realize how much of a MTB town it is. It seemed like everyone and their dog owned a mountain bike there. It was fun to get to try a few of the trails when the team went for a run because I am still unable to run with my hip. After the first few workouts of the camp were done, it was time for the sprint sim on day 3 of the camp. For me it was a big test for my hip. There was a lot of hesitation doing that hard of a workout at this point of my recovery but after a lot of thought and discussion with my coach I decided I would just take it step by step and try it. I went through the qualifier and my hip felt fine. And qualifying 6th was something that I was content with. Next up was the heats where I anticipated pain to come with each heat but to my surprise none came. I was very happy to be able to complete the workout. But boy oh boy was I tired. I felt like I was going to die after every heat. But as I learned from the presentation the night before and Andrew (our strength coach) reminded me, I needed to get out of Red brain. Hahah. Getting the chance to have a hard effort where I was pushing myself to my limits with my body responding well was something I was very grateful to see happen in this stage of my recovery. 

Sprint sim heat 3/3

This first half of the camp was full of presentations. Every day we would wake up, do our first workout, shower, eat, change, nap/try to fit in some work, do our second workout, shower, change, dinner, and then have a team meeting. Every night it was something different, Nutrition, Mental performance, Criteria, Team Culture, Nordiq Canada’s Goals. It was interesting and the only opportunity we had to do workshops like this in a team environment with everyone in the same place at the same time.

On the last night of the camp we wanted to get a bit of a break so the coaches decided that would be either watching Barbie or exploring old town Quebec. Since I had already watched Barbie with Benita (my girlfriend) I decided to explore old town Quebec! This is where I believe I made the wrong choice. Old Town was CROWDED. Holy. I thought Banff was a tourist destination. But I think that people like old town more than Banff. I believe this is where I got my sickness from. But me and some of the team got to explore the town while the other half of the team was watching Barbie. It was nice to get some quality time with my teammates apart from our busy camp schedule.

The second half of the camp:

Craftsbury. Now this is a cool place. Located in the middle of nowhere. We ducked and weaved through dirt roads and cornfields before popping up on this summer camp-looking cross-country ski resort. I say resort because this was no Canmore Nordic Center. There was beach volleyball, a lake, paddle boards, and a cookhouse. It felt like I just arrived at summer camp and I was ready to learn about wilderness exploring. It was a super cool place though. I was super interested in the system they had. They had their own Geothermal system for heating and cooling the buildings, solar panels for electricity, gardens for food, and so much more. It was cool to see a ski resort being so environmentally conscious. Arriving at dinner the first night was eye-opening to see the selection of healthy food. I also noticed a group of people wearing some odd-looking clothes to dinner and was then told that they were a rowing group that was there training on the lake. I then found out that it was not only a ski area but was for rowing as well. I was told the owners of Concept 2 (a company that makes Ski ergs and rowing machines) own this place as well. I could not get it through my head how cool that was how a company like that started a place for rowers and skiers to train in an environmentally conscious place. It was so cool to me and I was so grateful I got to see the resort even though I did not get to experience the training there. I did however get to spend more time in the beds there than anyone else on the team. So I will take what I can get.

Anyways. Flying home early from the camp was the best thing for me because of my sickness. Unfortunately my sickness led to an ear infection and a lingering cough so in the long run it was best to get home and spend some time in my own bed. I can definitely say that I left the camp hungry for more training though and I am looking forward to the next NST camp in Park City come September. 

Thanks for taking the time to keep up to date with me and what I'm up to!

Chat soon!

• Tommer