Home of Rambo

Near the beginning of September, the team headed out West, for our third dry land camp of the summer. We chose Hope, British Columbia as our training grounds, for a few reasons. There are lots of training options with many paved roads and small mountains, and most importantly the altitude. Being situated at only about 50 meters above sea level, Hope would be perfect for a week of high intensity. The idea is that by going well bellow the altitude of the Bow Vallye (aprox. 1350m), we can train much harder and more for a short period of time.

For the first three days the hours and intensity were high. We kicked off the week with a Classic Time trial. I was expecting to do well in the race but was quickly surprised. My tank was empty and i was unable to perform. Rocky way to start off the week and it had me worried. After talking with my coach Anders and Dr. Rawlek, we decided that i would try the next days intensity and g from there. THe next morning we did one of the hardest workouts, ive ever done 20 times one minute all out sprints up a hill. I was surprised that my energy seemed hihg and i was able to remain strong though out the whole session.

After two more days of hard training I was starting to feel better and better. When the next time trial cam around i was ready. We woke up to cold and rain, but i didn't care. I was excited!
I started the time trial like a rocket. I didn't hold anything back and shortly caught my teamate. We skied todether for most of the race until he outspritned me at the line. I still had gained enough time that i won by about 20 seconds. The effort felt very good and i was extremly satisfied. Even better was when i looked at the resutls that night, and saw that my lap times were faster every tiem i went around.

After the race we did two more days of hard training before heading back to home. The next week and a half was very planned to be very easing training to recover from the effort. This is when atheltes improve.

I will have pictures up as soon as i get a hold of them...

ciao
Gerard