Christmas Training Camp - some photos (a little late I know!)

Lake Louise came good on their promise and we now have a start gate and a start section, the full course should follow shortly after Christmas. This meant that the Christmas Training Camp was all about starts. As my other team mates were off with family and friends, coach Adam and I joined the younger boardercross group for 2 days of mayhem on the start section. It consisted of the gate, two small wu tangs and then a series of rollers. Although the features were small they were the perfect way to get the legs moving again - Adam had insured that they were set up nice and tight which made for fun and funny attempts at pre-ollying the second wu tang. I'm sure this sounds like gobbledigook to those non-snow people. Pretty much it meant we were compressing and extending our legs over and over again as quickly as possible trying to accelerate through all the bumps in the series.
And here are some pictures from us hitting some features... finally

The gate and the wu tangs

The grommets (aka the younger boys) walking back up, this was tiring after two full days!

Coach Adam raking out the snow  on the wu tang - critical to ensuring we didn't completely trash the features by snowboarding on them

Getting some advice from PJ, the coach of the junior team.

The camp was great, it was fun training with the younger kids and I definitely feel a little more confident about pulling out of the gate. However, on the second afternoon my legs had completely given up the ghost and I was struggling to make the changes the coaches wanted. Adam, wisely, advised me to call it a day. I find it really hard to know when enough is enough, thankfully he called it for me.   I'm trying to learn to make my training quality rather than quantity but it is a lesson that goes against my usual ethos, as former coaches would know. I remember Brad Fry, my rowing coach in Year 12, responding to an email from me during the summer holidays regarding my training schedule, with a rather honest, "Alex, you will injure yourself if you keep that up." He was right, I was slightly injured constantly and definitely not in peak condition. I try to keep reminding myself to rest and take it easy, but hate knowing that there is more I could be doing.

Taking a break after hitting my head a couple of times pretty hard. It was definitely time to call it a day!

The last few days have been relaxing with a bit of snowboarding, lots of reading and eating. I also went to the Banff Hot Springs today which was a nice way to chill out before getting back into training full time tomorrow. I'm looking forward to  starting training again up at Louise, getting back in the gym with the team and hopefully going to the park at Norquay to hit some jumps. I  will keep you posted as we get ready to leave town on the 12th for our first race on the 15th at Big White, BC. Pre-race nerves are settling in already!