Well XC Ottawa has been getting at the fall training for awhile now…. And I think it’s been going pretty good. We’ve been doing the usual stuff like running, roller skiing, strength, a little bit of biking, oh ya and a whole lot of intensity (compared to what I was doing this summer anyway.)
So everyone has been looking pretty good doing intensity and I thought I would break it down, from my perspective, on who’s killing which intensities. I will let someone on the Women’s side of the team break down who’s killing the Women’s team since they will have a better perspective. I can say that it’s looks like everyone is looking stronger and made some improvements over the summer months.
Andre shows up with a smile every morning to practice (usually pumpin some club beats too, I think “LMFAO- sexy and I know it” is his favourite) but when it comes to zone 5 skate intervals that guy is all business….meaning he’s regularly 20 meters ahead of everyone. This could be due to the fact that he hit the gym hard this summer and is looking pretty jacked.
Andre and Karl chilling at training.
Andre getting jacked this summer...in the woods.
Next up, Karl Saidla. I’m going to say Karl is the funny man on the team, he’s got jokes people. Karl has been ski training for a pretty good amount of time, and in that time he has accumulated a lot of funny stories. In that time it seems he has also accumulated a large lung capacity because most intensities it's a bunch of dogs chasing the rabbit (Karl is the rabbit.) He is also a very strong runner, in the Ark trail running race he beat everyone in the sport category by five minutes….. I didn’t see him after we crossed the start line.
Karl killing some intensity.
Peter Beisel is a very relaxed guy with a chipper attitude. His catch phrase “feeling fresh.” I don’t think anyone can wear this guy down. An example, doing zone 4 intervals a couple weekends ago at camp fortune Peter is complaining that we are starting the intervals to slow. After his lactate test of over 14, which is good for zone 5, he’s still chilling and relaxed. The guy doesn’t feel pain…. Or lactate at least.
Peter during a rainy run in Lake Placid.
Kyle Power, he feels pain….but it doesn’t phase him. This guy goes hard, and also pushes it to the limit…. no matter what. If your looking for some competition for the last interval of the day Kyle is your man, he’s not going to back down. An example zone 5 skate intervals in the park last weekend, Kyle is hurting pretty bad on the third one because he just had his lactate taking so he is off the back a little. Next interval (the last one) no one could touch him, he skied away from everyone right off the start.
Kyle on an easy bike ride.
Mathias Purdon is just tough, he’s known for doing epic workouts while living on scarce diets. Pretty much everything Mathias does for fun is epic, so it goes without saying that when you translate his personality into a workout its going to be hard and he’s going to push you to your limits. For an example of this you just have to ask him what a typical day this summer was like for him.
Matthias at a recent bike race. Thanks to Jane Thomson for the Photo.
Lee Hawkings is a pretty big guy, like if you saw him walking down the street you might be scared (not to worry though he’s a friendly giant.) These days however Lee is looking a little smaller after cutting a couple pounds this summer. He’s all lean mean muscle now and its showing in the workouts. For 30 min. continuous zone 3 intervals he’s always near the front just smiling away like he’s on some cool down run.
Lee racing in his "summer sport", orienteering.
So now that I have pumped up everyone’s tires a bit we will go into the ski season with our confidence peaking.
The team in our sick training gear.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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