January 17, 2013

Mid-winter has arrived!  With ridiculous snow conditions in Whistler, the team is happy to be home for a bit and training on the many metres of white stuff in the Callaghan Valley.  The only fear is that the waxing cabin will be buried!  Luckily Whistler Olympic Park has plenty of shovels (and "gas shovels") to make sure trails and walk-ways stay in tip-top condition.

U23 and Junior World Championship Trials (Thunder Bay)
Thunder Bay, Ontario hosted the U23 and Junior World Championships Trials from January 4-6, 2013.  Outside of National Championships, this series of races is the most significant for the CVTC athletes in the season.

Thunder Bay has a long nordic tradition, including hosting the World Championships in 1995, and this series was well organized and exciting.  Top skiers from across Canada attended to battle for spots on the international teams. 

CVTC did not have the easiest week, fighting cold temperatures and illness.  To qualify for the international teams any athlete had to win one of the three races and/or show strong and consistent performance in the other three.  CVTC athletes skied very well, including some breakthrough performances;  however, despite a couple podiums, the efforts did not place any of CVTC's athletes on the World Championship team.  This leaves lots of room for "redemption" at National Championships, on home turf, at the end of March.

Detailed race reports can be found on the CVTC website:
Race Day 1 (including results and selection criteria)
Race Day 2
Race Day 3

BC Cup (Kelowna)
After spending three days at home in Whistler, CVTC hit the road for Kelowna and the BC Cup races on January 12 & 13, 2013.  CVTC's attendance at the event raised the level of competition and also was a great opportunity for the Centre to reach out to other athletes and coaches, young and old, in the province.

A short report and full results are available here.

Whistler is hosting a slew of national championships from March 15-30, 2013.  Known as the "Sea to Sky Nordic Festival," Whistler Olympic Park will host the Cross Country Skiing, Biathlon and Ski Jumping national championships in back-to-back weeks.

More than 500 volunteers are required to make the event happen, and spectating will also be excellent.  For more information on the event, please visit: http://cvtc.ca/national-ski-championships-coming-whistler-olympic-park

With the CVTC athletes participating in the Coast Cup in Whistler this weekend, you're going to want to be ready to toe the start line with them.  Chris Manhard, CVTC coach, provides the following three suggestions for your warm-up to ensure you cross the start line with your engine running smoothly.

1.  Be sweating a bit when you arrive at the start line.  You want to be sweating just a bit when you toe the start line.  This means that your body is warm enough, your heart rate at a reasonable level, and also that you're not fully soaked and going to get cold.  A bit of sweat is a good indicator that you're dressed right and have done a good warm-up.

2.  Do a range of intensity in your warm-up.  You should start your warm up with 10-20 minutes of easy skiing, followed by some intensity.  Your intensity should include efforts of 15 seconds - 4 minutes at a variety of effort levels.  The shorter ones should be harder & faster, the longer ones more at race pace. 

3.  Ensure you're adequately hydrated before you start your warm-up.  This does not mean drinking a litre of coffee on your drive to the race site.  Adequate hydration means lots of water and sport drink.  You do not want to feel thirsty during your warm-up or race.

January 19, 2013:  Coast Cup (Whistler, BC)
February 1-3, 2013: Eastern Canadian Championships (Ottawa, ON)
February 12, 2013: Tuesday Night Twonie Race (Vancouver, BC)
February 22-24, 2013: Western Canadian Championships (Grand Prairie, AB)

Results can be found at www.zone4.ca and event reports at www.cvtc.ca.

NDC-Callaghan Valley (CVTC) is a high performance training center working within the framework of Cross Country Canada. Our mission is to produce successful skiers at the World Cup level.

 

It is the objective of the CVTC to provide a concentration of world-class training facilities, coaching and sport science resources for cross-country ski athletes. As part of its mandate, the training centre provides in reach and outreach programs to support the development of selected athletes and coaches through mentoring, clinics, workshops, and training camps.

 

For more information on NDC-CVTC, please visit www.cvtc.ca or email [email protected]

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