As Andre last wrote, XC Ottawa recently enjoyed an awesome training camp in Lake Placid, at the Olympic Training Centre. After intervals and hiking the first day, we were a bit sore and tired on day two. Still, we were certainly enthused to 'bag some peaks' and rollerski some more on the scenic roads of the area. After a breakfast of many champions, Sunday started off with a long hike to the top of Giant Mountain. Luckily, we were able to follow the advice of a friendly passer by who gave us some sound hiking advice: "don't fall and get dead!"
Girl's group at the top.
Taking a hard-earned lunch break at the top.
Cooling off in a pond after the hike...refreshing!
After a solid nap session, we finished Sunday's training with a roller ski along Riverside Drive, taking some video for analysis along the way.
Katie and Jess skiing on Riverside Dr.
View of the ski jumps.
Monday was our last day at the camp. We ended the weekend off with a 3 hour roller ski near Wilmington. If you roller ski a lot, you can't help but become a bit of a pavement conoisseur, and I gotta say - Americans do road maintenance right! The majority of the loop we skied was wide and smooth. The residents seemed to be really friendly too! Although when the driver of a pick up truck pulled up and asked us if we wanted some high test (Coors Light) we regrettably had to abstain. You get pretty dehydrated on a 3 hour roller ski in the heat. Beer probably would not have gone over too well...
Here's a map of the 42 km loop we followed:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5647008
After staying at the OTC it's a bit of a bummer to have to cook our own meals and do our own dishes. Guess you have to accept reality at some point! The team's already planning another trip back there next year though. Should be good!
"Jessica Spring - Illustration + Design"