June 6, 2007
Members of the Canadian men’s alpine ski team ride from Lake Louise to Whistler during their Summerstart Tour of Champions |
Take Alpine Canada for example. In May of this year, national team skiers embarked on the first ever Summerstart Tour of Champions. The 10-day, 1,000-km road cycling tour from Lake Louise (Alberta) to Whistler (BC) kicked off their summer training season. Mountain passes and sub-zero temperatures may have been hard-hitting at times, but training in a natural setting invariably beat going to the gym on a daily basis.
“On one day, on the way to Jasper, we’ll bike 175 km through the Rockies before joining a community event,” said Canadian alpine skier Allison Forsyth before their departure. “This tough training exercise reinforces what it will take to be on the podium in Whistler in 2010.”
This tough initiation to summer training isn’t unique to alpine skiers.
Mettle Detectors
Summer cross-training is a test of mettle for Clara Hughes who won both gold and silver medals at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games (speed skating), a bronze medal at Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games (speed skating) and two bronze medals at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Summer Games (cycling). Along with biking, hiking, jogging and weights, Hughes says “the national team’s most important activity is their dry land speed skating imitation training, which works on back and core strength.” Imitation training is essential for helping speed skaters maintain that tough-to-hold forward leaning position. In pairs, with resistance bands around their waists, they take turns mimicking the speed skating motion by crouching low, cross stepping and pushing themselves through the resistance.
“It kind of looks like a bunch of people out in a field looking for coins,” Hughes laughs. “Honestly, you really have to see it to understand it, but I would say that it’s definitely one of the hardest things we do in training, including ice training..”
When summer training gets strenuous, Hughes says it helps to recognize that, come September, she and her team members will only turn in one direction for five solid months. And as a former summer Olympian in cycling, this is her chance to reunite with her bike. Since her transition from cycling to skating, Hughes has cut back her bike time from seven to five hours at a time, but riding is still important for her because being strong on the bike is a confidence boost on the ice.
While speed skaters use the summer months to get outside and try new activities, for athletes excelling in other sports, it’s back to the drawing board – and a refrigerated climate.
In the Ice House
The Ice House at Calgary Olympic Park, where Canadian bobsleigh and skeleton athletes practice their push-start techniques. Photo courtesy: CODA photo archives |
The Canada Olympic Park Ice House – completed in February 2001 in preparation for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games – replicates the first 50 metre start area of a regular bobsleigh or skeleton course. It can emulate outside ambient air temperatures without dipping down to the minus 40 degrees that Canadian sliders sometimes have to deal with during the winter. It’s the ideal setting for athletes to experiment with push-start techniques.
In fact, just in time for the Salt Lake City Games, a few of Canada’s top skeleton athletes – including Paul Boehm, Nathan Cicoria, Duff Gibson, Jeff Pain and Pascal Richard – were responsible for implementing the revolutionary one-handed push technique, something that was practiced in the Ice House in Calgary. According to Cicoria the one-handed push did for skeleton what the “clap skate” did for speed skating.
“Summer is certainly more intense than winter training, and your attention isn’t split with driving, traveling or dealing with jet lag,” says Cicoria, now head coach of Canada’s skeleton development team.
National team skeleton and bobsleigh athletes have to hit world class sprint speeds during push starts, so it’s a given that they spend some of their time on the track for sprint practices as well.
Thanks to specialized summer training facilities, Canada’s athletes are able to continue the same type of technical training they do during the winter. Freestyle skiing is another sport that depends on specialized training facilities when the snow melts.
Cirque de Freestyle
An aerial view of the water ramp used by Canada’s freestyle skiers at Lac Beauport, Quebec. The bubbles on the water’s surface allow for a softer landing for the athletes. Photo courtesy: Phil Larose |
Similar to what they do on snow, athletes ski down a wooden ramp with a plastic surface, launching themselves up to 45 feet in the air, do their tricks and then land in a pool of water.
The bubbled water landing allows freestyle athletes to try new tricks without the degree of risk that comes with a poor landing on the snow.
“We call [the plastic in-run] “meanies” basically because of what it does when you fall,” says aerials head Coach Dennis Capicik of Freestyle Canada. “The water landing is more forgiving but it still hurts when you hit the water on your back or on your face, especially with the kind of air these guys are getting,” says Capicik.
Freestyle athletes also do trampoline training with a four-point bungee spotting harness system. For beginners, or for someone as advanced as Olympic freestyle gold medallist Jennifer Heil, the trampoline gives athletes the air they need to try technically new or advanced positions – minus the bruises or broken bones.
Roller Skiing without Brakes
Canada’s cross-country skiers cover much ground, and unlike other winter sports, there is no artificial climate or facility to train in. Canada’s national team savoured their last bit of snow during a May training camp at the Silver Star ski resort near Vernon, BC, and has since transitioned from snow to roller skis.
Roller skis are best described as elongated inline skates, but without brakes. Cross-country Canada head coach Dave Wood says roller skis have come a long way in the last few years, so summer training on them has more merit.
“[Roller skis] have evolved so they’re lighter, and they track and roll better to feel like a ski on snow,” says Wood.
The national team cross-country skiers don’t typically race on roller skis, yet they are always on the watchful eye and stopwatch of coach Wood, having moved from treed paths to the open roads.
If roller skiing gets old, cross-country skiers have a good balance of cycling, jogging and imitation training, such as hiking with ski poles to fall back on.
Across the Board
There may be a few athletes out there who are able to find time to swing the golf clubs or hit the beach on occasion. But being one of the best athletes in the world isn’t seasonal work. Olympic hopefuls in any sport are constantly committed to mental training, proper nutrition and technical focus.
Members of the Canadian men’s alpine ski team ride from Lake Louise to Whistler during their Summerstart Tour of Champions |
For fans, the 2010 Winter Games may seem far off. But for the athletes, this is the time to push their limits and build a base of strength for what’s to come.
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