Back to the Blogosphere, up to CANADA!

Hello, folks! Sorry it has been so long since my last update- these last few weeks have been packed with an increase in intensity to the training, making the final preparations for SOS (skiing on snow, duh) and pg chilling (as usual). We have had some great intensity workouts, ranging from intervals on the rollerskis to moosehoofs on the feet with lots of technique work, some speeds and strength sessions in between.

skate intervals

moosehoof madness before breakfast!

A classic, but nonetheless stunning Burke-set

After saying goodbye to my alpine counterparts who are skiing and racing in British Colombia, I headed home for a quick break. It was great to see my friends and family, go for a great run, eat Thanksgiving dinner, and hoof around with the nordic team! 

Yesterday we made the trek up to our home for the next week or so, Foret Montmorency. It is a forestry research laboratory about an hour north of Quebec city. In the summer, students from L'University Laval study, and there are many of the trails are logging roads, so I'm assuming that quite a bit of logging goes on too. We are staying in the dorm here and eat our meals in the dining hall, which is really convenient because we really don't have to leave. There is a wax room down stairs and the trails are literally right out the door so we can generally get in 2-3 ski sessions a day and still have the right amount of rest in between. Right now, there is a about a 3-4 inch base (not that much) on some of the trails, and a 1k manmade track. Today on rock skis, I got in a little over 30ks of skiing- not bad for the first day! It felt really great, and I didn't feel nearly as wobbly as this time last year. It is also pretty cool to ski around up here because it is really the only place on the East coast that has skiable snow (well at least up until today.. I guess you all got hammered with the pow at home!), so tons of teams are zipping around the trails. Today it was us, UVM, Colby, St. Lawrence, UMaine-Presque Isle, Bowdoin, some Canadian teams, and I think that a few more are going to show up tomorrow and for the weekend.

Stay tuned for more updates and pictures as soon as I can git 'em!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emilie