Mountains of Love

Hey team,

We all know you are extremely jealous of those of us who were able to make it out to Canmore this week, so we thought we'd give you a little update on how everything is going thus far.

Its currently 8:15pm out here, we are just mellowing out at Kenny Laurin's chalet in the heart of the mountains after a well deserved day off. Bottom line, Canmore is AWESOME. You would all be soo jacked up if you were here, just like we are. Everyday has been above zero and super sunny, making a ginger like me have to put on sunscreen again! Although it has been warm, the snow out here is really hard packed, so it doesn't get all slushy like it would back east, so waxing hasn't been too much of an issue.

Scott and I got into Canmore on Friday morning, and joined Ian and Kenny (guys from UofT that we're staying with) for the pre-ski of Saturday's sprint course and Sunday's bombshell 10km pancake throwdown. Courses were of course super well-marked, even though we all still managed to get lost due to the amount of trails out here, and it was cool too see some familiar faces chilling out and skiing around the nordic centre, which by the way, is so legit.

Saturday was the team sprint, on a pretty killer 1.2k course. Lots of lactic acid tasting after this baby. Same format as OUAs, Scott led the way for our team, and took it out nice and strong. We kept good positioning through the first two laps, despite the wicked pace of the race, and a super talented field, including two dusters who used to ski for the Olympic team and are apparently "students" at U of Calgary. In the end, I think it's safe to say that the altitude caught up to both of us on the third lap. Scott yukked for the first time after any athletic endeavour and had no vision/couldn't stand upright for about 20 minutes after the race, and I was sucking wind for a good 5 minutes after the race, made me feel like a fat kid playing dodgeball in grade 5 gym class, along with the sweet burn in the legs leading to involuntary muscle spasms. Sounds like fun eh?! We ended up 15 of 18 teams, about 2 minutes back of the winners, so it could have been worse.

After our races, we checked out downton Canmore and headed back to the Nordic centre to catch the open men's and women's finals, which were both barnburners and super exciting to watch. After that, we came back to the chalet and hung out for the evening.

Day 2 (Sunday) was a 10km individ. start skate race. The course was 3 laps of 3.3km. Other than a few extremely short sections, you were either off-setting or tucking the whole loop. No joke. Hills out here forge champions harder than Eden Mills could ever imagine. The duration and incline of the climbs makes the demon and S-climb look like a mole-hill. Again, it was a sweet burn. Crazy to be out here racing with the best of what Canada has to offer, and despite what the results may show, it was pretty cool to finish at 10k course like that in only 30 minutes. It's pretty tough recovering on a course like that one, as even the downhills have your legs burning, and tricky 180 degree turns under bridges and around rocky corners make sure that your head is in the game for the entire race.

Sunday afternoon was pretty sick, we cruised into Banff and hit the hot springs, sporting some classic historic bathing suits, which consisted of a sweet unitard that was soo tight. It also came with a little cotton skirt to prevent our junk from flopping into view of the flocking spectators (most of which were women over the age of 60). In the company of Ben Jones, G-Kilroy and Daphne Haggarty, who also all rocked the historic tighties we were quite the show at the hot springs. After the bath, we picked up Patrick Monette (aka P-Money aka Big Dangler) and we all had a solid meal back at the Laurin palace.

Today was a day off, we got a sweet classic ski in of tomorrow's course, did some waxing, homework, and some frisbee golf. Just winding her down for the evening.

We will post some sweet videos/more posts after our next few days, hope all is well back in Guelph (aka the mud hole aka mother of dusty weather)!!

Take care of team roller skis

After skiing on wet or muddy roads, wash off road grime while it is still wet and easy to clean. A brush, bucket and hose (just for filling the bucket) are conveniently provided in the team room.

Do NOT immerse the wheels in water, or you can do the dissassembly and grease job.

Clean the bindings well, and clean the soles of your boots so you don't grind them down with the road grit. A squirt of spray silicone or other nasty persistent chemical lubricant will also help the binding. (The same stuff on your boot soles keeps them from building up snow in wet snow conditions)

Before each ride, check the wheels roll nicely and the bolts are tight.
Check the bindings are well fastened.
Pay the Team Treasurer if you are borrowing team skis.

Coach Richard

Gryphons Skiers are truly “Bad Enough” for Badenoch

(l to r: Gryphon Skiers Nadine Perron, Lindsey Chapman, and Robyn Klinkman placed 3rd, 2nd and 1st repsectively)


(U of T skier Patrick Monette placed 3rd (left) and Waterloo's Glenn Hartman (right, placed 2nd) both made the podium along with Gryphon skier Patrick Twohig (centre, placed 1st)

This past Saturday (November 6th), the Varsity Ski Team had one of its first races of the season at the Badenoch Duathlon, which took place in Badenoch, located about 20 minutes from the UofG campus. This race has become an annual event hosted by Guelph that involves a combination of running and roller skiing. The race provides further preparation for the upcoming season, and a first taste of this year’s competition on the OUA circuit.

On the women’s side, Guelph dominated the field, grabbing the top 4 places in the race which consisted of a 2km run and 8km roller ski. Lindsey Chapman (Aurora, ON) took the early lead in the 2km run, but rookie skier Robyn Klinkman (Bracebridge, ON) was hot on her heels, and was able to overtake Chapman in the roller ski portion of the race. Teammates Erin Creasor (Parry Sound, ON) and Nadine Perron (North Bay, ON) provided threats to the lead pack throughout the race, demonstrating the strength of the rookie class for the 2010-2011 season.

On the men’s side, Guelph also had a strong presence, despite a talented field of skiers from a variety of schools in the OUA, and considering that several members of the Gryphons team were unable to race. The men’s race consisted of a 4km run and an 8km roller ski. Veteran skiers Scott Weersink (St. Mary’s, ON) and Erin McLean-Purdon (Owen Sound, ON) surged to the front of the pack in the running leg, maintaining a rapid pace throughout the 4km leg. However, top Gryphon Patrick Twohig (Mississauga, ON) was able to make up lost time in the run and come out on top of the field after a strong roller ski.

Gryphon Women’s Results:
1. Robyn Klinkman 0:39:28
2. Lindsey Chapman 0:40:30
3. Erin Creasor 0:41:20
4. Nadine Perron 0:41:30
8.Jennie Hissa 0:46:04

Gryphon Men’s Results:
1. Patrick Twohig 0:38:40
6. Scott Weersink 0:40:40
8. Erin McLean-Purdon 0:41:20
14. Matt Underwood 0:46:40
15. Caleb Timmerman 0:48:08

Fall Camp Article

Gryphon Skiers Push the Tempo at Annual Fall Training Camp

Last weekend the Men’s and Women’s Nordic ski teams travelled to Midland/Penetanguishene on the banks of beautiful Georgian Bay to attend their annual Fall Colours training camp.

The focus of this camp was intensity and technical proficiency in cross country skiing, in preparation for the upcoming season.

The weekend began bright and early Saturday morning with rollerski technique analysis thanks to the keen eyes of Head Coach Richard Lay, Assistant Coach Ian Ritchie, and crafty veterans such as Mike Weersink, Laura Hewitt, and Lindsey Chapman. Later on, speed and long duration intervals were carried out on the area’s quiet country roads and steep terrain.

On Saturday afternoon, the team travelled to the nearby Mountainview ski hills, which has been the site of OFSAA high school Nordic Ski championships in the past, as well as the Mountainview Snow Dog Race that the team frequents annually. This workout included a gruelling plyometrics (ski specific strength) and ski striding workout, in which leadership from talented veterans and keen rookies brought a new meaning to the term “throw down.”

Following an evening of good food, hot tubs, and team bonding, Sunday morning included the ever popular Cross Country Canada strength test in which every team member showed that they are not a foreigner in the weight room. Some of the highest scores ever recorded for the team were put up. Three skiers scored over 300 for the first time in the same test, topped by Men’s skiers Scott Weersink and Patrick Twohig who both attained a score of 322. The test measures the maximum amount of chin-ups, push-ups, sit ups, dips, and box jumps a skier can do in 1 minute, respectively. The rest of the day was spent on long distance exercises that focused on technique rather than speed.

The team continues to improve upon all aspects of the sport and looks forward to a promising season – the first on snow race is only 7 weeks away!

Eating on the Road

1. Eating on the Road

FS: Another person asked about traveling to events and competitions, where most of the time you have to eat at restaurants. Since restaurants don’t always have the best choices from a health perspective, do you have any suggestions for getting foods that are nutritious, and that follow regular eating habits, while you’re traveling?

AK: That’s a really good one. We’ll actually pack food bags with us when we travel, especially when you know you’re going to go to a destination without common foods, and foods you’re used to. If you know a certain cereal or oatmeal is your go-to pre-competition meal, take it with you. You can get a little hotpot and cook it, and take ownership of nutrition for yourself. Kashi makes pre-cooked grains—there’s a lot of ways you can take food with you on the road.

If you’re domestically traveling, and you’re in a hotel, you [can] get sick of eating out—there’s a tendency not to get what you need. Find a local grocery store and find what you can pick through in a complete salad bar—look for a place where you can find what you’re used to eating, where you’re not relying on a menu as much. We have a tendency to overlook the grocery stores and the Whole Foods-type places. When you can walk into any one of those places and buy some bread and deli meat and make a sandwich, that’s going to save you quite a bit of money, and also make you a balanced meal. Salads, rotisserie chickens, you can kind of play around with them that way.

If you are worried about wasting the food, go in with a buddy—You pack it in your luggage and plan for it. If you’re going to country X, where the food is not great, that’s where you tell the athletes to make sure to bring enough to eat right before competitions. I think it’s a matter of planning ahead.

[from Fasterskier.com]

richard

More iron, calcium, Vitamin D

1. More Iron, Calcium, D vitamin

FS: Is there any other gender-specific nutritional advice you could provide people with?

AK: I think iron is a huge one—it’s especially important in younger women as they mature, but it’s important in men as well. That’s a big one. Also, calcium is a big one, especially in more of the aerobic sports. If people are getting stress fractures, that’s something that really needs to be looked into little more. The way calcium works in the body, we’ll say roughly until about age 25 that you store calcium. Beyond that, your body is no longer storing it—it’s just using what you put into it. For kids, thinking about it as a piggy bank, it’s really important to make sure you’re having three servings a day, especially if you’re someone coming off an injury. It’s one of those things you really need to be proactive on.

Vitamin D is the latest craze—that’s just really huge in the literature and the media right now. It’s a combination of a, people aren’t outside nearly as much any more and b, when they are outside they are covered up and c, they are able to test for it now. So, of course, we’re finding epidemic levels of vitamin D deficiency. Obviously, you find dairy products fortified with vitamin D, or otherwise go outside and get some sunshine.

[ from Fasterskier.com]

Richard

Dietary Iron

1. Dietary Iron

FS: .. someone wrote in asking about getting enough iron, especially for women. What would you suggest to a cross-country skier who recently became a vegetarian, in terms of foods and supplements?

AK: That’s a good question. That’s one of the things we do screen our athletes for. We do complete iron profiles, checking their iron, hemoglobin, and serum iron stores. That is a huge deal, and it’s something we try to take a proactive approach on. It’s absolutely essential, knowing iron functions as the primary carrier of oxygen in the body.

Is it possible for vegetarians to get adequate iron? It is—it’s just a lot more difficult. Animal sources of iron are heme sources, which are much better absorbed than the vegetable counterparts, which are non-heme. Non-heme is a less efficiently absorbed form of iron.

When someone is a vegetarian and looking to have more iron-rich food in their diet, one thing they need to focus on is every time they’re having one of those non-heme sources of iron, they need to couple it with a vitamin C source. Quinoa is a source of iron: have that with tomatoes, or some lemon squeezed in there to help with the absorption. Pumpkin seeds are one of the richest non-meat sources of iron: You add a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds to your oatmeal in the morning—having that with four ounces of orange juice is going to give you plenty of vitamin C.

There definitely are ways to get iron from non-meat sources—it just becomes much more difficult, because they’re not as well absorbed. Tofu can be a good source, but four ounces of tofu to give you six milligrams of iron is nowhere the same amount you’d get from shellfish. If they are really concerned about it, in a deficient state, that’s when you’d want to look towards supplementing your iron.

[from Fasterskier.com]

richard