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summer rando skimo racing training

Skintrack.com & SMCC September 2013 Skimo Training Camp

June 27, 2013 By Stano Faban 3 Comments

This page was last updated on Sep 10, 2013.
Over the weekend of September 13-15, 2013 Eric Carter and I are organizing a summer skimo training camp in Squamish, BC. And we are stoked that about 15 really enthusiastic people are joining us in this first ever public summer skimo racing training camp.
» If you have confirmed your participation by Sep 8th you have received emails with more details already.

Quick overview

  • Training for three days around Squamish, BC  with fellow skimo racers and some members of the Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Team.
  • Dates are September 13-15, 2013.
  • The agenda includes trail running, strength training, and roller skiing with video technique analysis.
  • Costs $30 per person for all three days.
  • SMCC stands for Ski Mountaineering Competition Canada and is a section of the Alpine Club of Canada
Supporters of this first ever North American skimo training camp. On behalf of everyone - Thank You!
Supporters for this first ever North American skimo training camp. On behalf of everyone – Thank You!
 

Schedule – Important times & Locations

We hope everyone can arrive Thursday evening in order to train together Friday morning.
» For a fully detailed schedule view or download this file 2-page PDF file – Skimo Camp Schedule
Friday September 13th

  • 8:30 AM: Meeting for a run at  Stawamus Chief Park in Squamish
    – the meeting place is here http://goo.gl/maps/pnO81
  • PM: Roller-skiing on Callaghan Valley Access Road in Whistler (VIDEO)
  • 7:00 PM: Ski Mountaineering in China and Kyrgyzstan by Stano Faban & SMCC Meeting (7pm at Escape Route Squamish)
    – Escape Route is here http://goo.gl/maps/TCTPS
  • 8:00 PM: Ski-Mo Canada athletes meeting (PDF – SMCC Fall 2013 Meeting Agenda)

Saturday September 14th

  • 10:00 AM: Uphill Rollerski Time Trial on Cypress Mountain Access Road in N. Vancouver
    – meeting place is here http://goo.gl/maps/hnoLV
  • PM: Running Howe Sound Crest Trail/Cypress Prov. Park in N. Vancouver
  • 7:00 PM: Performance Nutrition – Fuelling for Skimo Presented by DYNAFIT (7pm at Escape Route Squamish) – By Bjoern Ossenbrink
    – Escape Route is here http://goo.gl/maps/TCTPS

Sunday September 15th

  • 8:30 AM: Strength Training with Challenge By Choice in Squamish – (Cost included in camp fee)
    – the gym is here http://goo.gl/maps/QHi4s
  • PM: Running Chekamus Lake to Garibaldi Lake in Garibaldi Prov. Park Squamish

What if I can’t do all 3 days?

  • All training sessions are optional.
  • We will organize rides to these locations and lead groups.
  • Groups may split by ability/speed/objective if we want.
  • Each venue has options to go longer or shorter.
  • All locations dependent on weather.
  • Running/Mountain Bike options available for both rollerski sessions (so no roller-skis is not an excuse to miss out).
  • Come see the awesome terrain we have on the Coast.

skimonightPresentations

Dynafit and Escape Route are bringing us two excellent evening presentations that we think will be interesting to skimo racers and ski tourers. For those already attending the camp, there is no additional cost. For those who just wish to attend the presentations, the cost is $5 at the door. The presentations will take place at 7pm at the Escape Route in Squamish. Escape Route is also preparing special pricing for those in attendance to pre-order the latest and greatest skimo gear that is difficult to get our hands on here in North America.

Cost, Accommodation, Gear

We have been working to minimize the cost of the camp for participants and have some great sponsors to thank for their help. Camp attendance will cost approximately $35 to cover the evening programs, gym use, etc. We will not be providing food or accommodation. We will however try to arrange a couch or floor space in Squamish for everyone but it might be necessary for a few to camp. Please contact us as soon as possible if you think you will attend so we can sort this out. If enough interest exists, we may arrange for a group deal at the Squamish Hostel.
Please bring:

  • Running Gear (including a way to carry water over longer distances)
  • Poles for Bounding (See Stano’s Hiko-run article)
  • Rollerskis (Optional)
  • Mtn Bike/Climbing Gear (if no roller-skis)
  • Sleeping bag/pad
  • Tent (maybe)
  • Rain gear

If a skimo training camp like this interests you, please, email us to sign-up or to ask for more information via the form below.
skimo-camp-sep-2013
» Here is how our Canadian Team summer training camp looked like in Revelstoke in 2012.
» To improve your training in the meantime checkout these:

  •  Summer training tips for skimo racers from Adam Campbell (professional mountain runner)
  • “Bread and butter” summer training for rando racing…
  • Hiko-run: Skimo racer’s best summer friend

Contact us

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Filed Under: Events & Races Tagged With: summer rando skimo racing training

Canadian team summer skimo training camp – Revelstoke, Sep 15-16, 2012

September 21, 2012 By Stano Faban Leave a Comment

Since 2009 Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Team have been meeting every September for our summer training camp.
Previous camps were usually hosted in Canmore, AB by Steve Sellers but this year we thought it’s time for a change and organized it in Revelstoke, BC.
The team was pretty much complete with one exception – everyone’s favorite and North America’s fastest, Reiner Thoni, couldn’t make it as his old truck started to come apart a day before his departure.

Camp concept

The idea behind this camp wasn’t about training hard. It was about getting together and have good times.
We are also trying to blend in some younger blood into the team before people find themselves sharing a room at World Championships in February, 2013.
Attending: Melanie Bernier, Martha Burley, Steve Sellers, Stano Faban, Brad Schalles, Peter Knight, Adnrew McNab, Ian Gale, Jeff Colvin, Julie Matteau.

Day 1: hiko-running-scrambling Mt Cheops (2605m)

Summary of day one and all photos are from Brad Schalles (WestCoast Skimo – http://westcoastskimo.blogspot.ca/), one of new additions to the Team. Watch out for Brad this year, he will be the NA dark horse this year.
On Saturday the group split up, with five of us heading up to Rogers Pass for a run and scramble up 1300m to summit Mt Cheops. After meeting up with Steve, who had spent a cold night at the pass, we headed up the trail in the crisp morning air.
The run up to Balu Pass was fast and we all felt light on our feet on the superbly maintained trail. We made it to Balu in an hour and thirty minutes – we all remarked on how much faster it was to run up the valley rather than ski.

Just below the summit rock atop Cheops Mountain, from left: Steve Sellers, Martha Burley, Melanie Bernier, Stano Faban, Brad Schalles.
After a quick snack on top of the biggest rock we could find, we scrambled along the ridge to the top of Mt Cheops. At the summit we pulled a few bouldering moves to ensure that we were on the tippy top of Mt Cheops. We had a snack and took a group photo in our team Rab jackets, and then we set off down the ridge towards our next stop: an ice cold dip in Connaught Creek (which just might be the coldest creek in Canada).
We made a light-speed trip back to Revelstoke (thanks to Slovakian over-drive), and we regrouped at a fine local establishment with Andrew and Peter. They had spent the day at the Martha Creek Melt Down where Peter placed 1st and Andrew 4th. After a great night caching up and talking all things skimo, we headed home to rest up for the next big day of the camp.
Descending from Cheops with the Trans-Canada highway one vertical mile below us.

Day 2: Skimo pentathlon + bike ride

Watching the summer London Olympics left me with lots of inspiration and so on Sunday morning we all met at Revelstoke high school stadium. The leader for this session was Jeff Colvin – one of the fastest Canadian skimo racers few years back – who is a track & field coach at the school.
Under Jeff’s leadership we all completed the following “skimo pentathlon”:

  • 100m sprint
  • shot put
  • star run (agility run)
  • long jump (from stand-still)
  • 800m run

Everyone had loads of fun as none of us knew what to expect from each discipline. On top of that, by the time our heads somewhat grasped one skill it was time to move to something else – testing our adaptiveness in the process.
Women’s pentathlon was won by Melanie Bernier and men’s main prize went to Brad Schalles who blew everyone in the 800m run on top of winning the 100 dash.
» Revealing video coming soon 🙂
Afternoon
After a season planing meeting during the lunch we split into road and mountain biking groups.
In fact, it was only me and Brad riding the road. We had a good 3h ride in the sunset lit valley north of Revelstoke, riding the always twisting road on the shores of 130km long Lake Revelstoke.
The mountain bike group rode the shadowy side of the valley, however, great Revelstoke trails kept them warm too.

Next camp

Team’s next camp is in the works. It will likely be already on skis somewhere high in the beautiful Canadian mountains.

Filed Under: Skimo Racing, Trip Reports & Conditions Tagged With: Adnrew McNab, Brad Schalles, Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Team, Cheops Mountain, Ian Gale, Jeff Colvin, Julie Matteau, Martha Burley, Melanie Bernier, Peter Knight, Rogers Pass, Stano Faban, Steve Sellers, summer rando skimo racing training

"Bread and butter" summer training for rando racing and speedier ski mountaineering: Endurance and Activity variety

July 30, 2012 By Stano Faban 1 Comment

I would never believe that my first thought would be about training when waking up today, then closely followed by thoughts exclusively only about bread and butter. Perhaps because I was waking up after a successful Iron Maiden show. Then somehow the brain quickly connected the two and here we go 😉
Ski mountaineer's summer.An old cycling wisdom says: “Tour de France is won in the winter!” It’s an interesting statement since the Tour is ridden in the heat of July.
It means that if you are not building your endurance engine sufficiently  long time before your goal event then you will have trouble reaching your potential that year, and consistently improving over long periods of time.
So what does this mean in rando racing and ski mountaineering terms?
Feel free to let me know in comments below if you want me to expand on any concepts introduced here. I am keeping this article simple for everyone to understand as too much detail can be overwhelming and difficult to act upon.

Endurance capacity should be your “bread and butter” in the summer

Basic principle:

All endurance performances (sports lasting longer than 2-3 minutes) are the most effectively improved (long term) via consistently improving ones endurance capacity (low heart-rate intensity).
The biggest reason for this is that improvements to your more intensive (higher heart-rate) capacities rely heavily on your low intensity endurance base. Simply, if you stop improving your body’s efficiency at low intensities you will have very hard time improving its efficiency (thus speed) at high intensities, also known as around and above lactate threshold.

What to do:

If you are planning to do (or improve upon from last year) couple of rando races in February and March  then July, August, September should serve you as your base endurance building months.
Personally, during this time I don’t follow any structured training plan. All I think about is “bread and butter” – I don’t worry about speed or sports specific workouts during this period because the single most important thing is building a big endurance base.
This “bread and butter” theory also allows for easier prioritization. Let’s say you want to improve in the winter and have time for 14 endurance sessions and 6 bouldering or fishing trips during August. If you miss 2 MTB rides because of bad weather by mid-August then without deep analysis you will know that you should replace 2 bouldering sessions in favour of 2 endurance building activities in the next 2-3 weeks.
Note: I am not saying climbing is not more fun and that you should sacrifice your pleasures. I am simply stating what is “bread and butter” during this time of the year if you really like to improve 6 months down the road.

Intensity:

The intensity could be easily measured with a heart rate monitor or jugged by your breathing comfort level – you should be able to talk fairly easily at any moment.

Activities: variety, agility and injury prevention

I strongly believe endurance base should be built through a variety of activities during this period of the year, and that summer is the best time to improve your agility.

Variety:

Variety is important as it allows your body to relax certain muscle groups while engaging new ones, and it is way more fun to alternate sports from day to day than just running all the time.
Also, 6-8 months from your goal you can afford not to focus on repeating sport specific movements at all times. You won’t be any worse because of that as long as you remember to eat your “bread and butter” regularly.
The most successfully used and easily accessible endurance building summer activities for ski mountaineering are:

  • Running
  • MTB biking
  • Road riding
  • Hiking
  • Running or hiking with poles
  • Swimming

These are great because they let you control your exercise intensity easily.
MTB biking could be an exception here but it depends on the terrain you ride and your skill level. For me, MTB is a bit too demanding until later in the summer when I get the hang of it, which I never fully do though 😉
Great skimo athletes such as Kilian Jornet, Melanie Bernier, Sari Anderson, Luke Nelson (too many to name) are also very successful endurance athletes in MTB, road cycling, trail running, or adventure racing. Variety serves them well.

Agility:

Agility comes from variety but is more effectively developed through different summer activities than the above endurance sports:

  • Climbing / mountaineering / bouldering
  • Soccer
  • Tennis
  • Football
  • Balance challenging strength training

Basically, anything requiring good hand-eye (foot-eye) coordination and balance develops your agility. This will help you with technical skiing, mountaineering, transitions, and injury prevention.
Personally, I spend lots of time playing tennis and soccer between June and August. Then I usually keep only playing soccer until I start regularly skiing (late November).
I don’t do them because I want better agility, I do them because I love the skill, strategy and have lots of friends that are very good at those. But I do notice that if I miss a summer doing them I kind of feel “off balance” once the sliding season starts.

What do you do in the summer?

Absolutely feel obligated to ask or comment below since you got all the way here.
Are there any activities you would recommend to try to accomplish the above goals of summer months?
And a tweet won’t be out of place either if you learned something new. Thank you.

Filed Under: Skimo Racing, Training, Tricks & Tips Tagged With: Kilian Jornet, Luke Nelson, Melanie Bernier, Sari Anderson, summer rando skimo racing training

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Travelling through snowy mountains on skis is like flying… and experiencing life at its core.

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SkinTrack.com, created by Stano Faban, was born out of passion for ski mountaineering and ski touring. Over the years, it has become one of the most popular ski mountaineering blogs in North America.

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