Weekly Update #3

We are now back in Canada. The theme of the second week of our training camp in Budapest was speed endurance. And at this time of the season, speed endurance only means one thing. Time spent in the pain cave. Because it is early, and we haven’t done many speed endurance sessions I go into the sessions knowing that its going to hurt. For me, the key is being prepared for, and accepting of, the fact that its going to hurt. That way, I can get over the initial shock and concentrate on the technical things I need to focus on before all out survival mode takes over.

On the whole, I think that the second week, and the camp in general went well for me. We knew it was going to be tough and I was happy that some of my stronger sessions came right at the end of the camp. For me, that is a good sign that I’m adapting well to the training load and recovering from day to day.

We’ve had a few light days since getting back and I’m looking forward to getting back at it over the next few days and into the rest of the summer!

Thanks to Nathalie Michon for this pic of me leading the pack in training last week

 

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Weekly Update #2

First off, Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there and in particular mine! If you are reading this blog its probably because I am a short track speed skater and one of the biggest reasons I am what I am today is my Dad. He was my long time coach and continued supporter and believer in me and the sport of speed skating (you too Mum!, but it is Father’s day today…). Happy Father’s Day old man!

This past week, as I mentioned in last weeks update, was spent in Budapest. It was a week that was all about train, eat, sleep, repeat. We’ve settled into our surroundings here nicely. The rink is situated a few minutes by foot from our hotel at a massive sports park that houses a soccer stadium, velodrome, massive outdoor hockey rink, tennis courts and other facilities. Its all a bit dated, but really, its a fantastic environment to train.

Personally, this week has been a good one for me. We had some adaptation sessions early in the week before getting back into speed and speed endurance work. After being off the ice for nearly three months due to my shoulder injury, and having not done either speed or speed endurance for almost five months it was quite a shock to my body. Wednesday’s speed endurance session was particularly painful. But I made it through and was a lot better in our second similar session on Friday.

After a tough volume program on Saturday, we wrapped up the week with an afternoon off. Liam and I toured the city a bit on a scooter and checked out the view from Citadel Hill at night.

Budapest and the Danube at dusk

Budapest at night

Part of Castle hill under the lights

Michael GildaMax?

The name of the fitness centre that we lifted weights at yesterday. So close but so far?

Weekly Update #1

If you are new to my blog welcome! If you were a reader of my old blog, welcome back!

I’m writing to you from  beautiful (so far, we only arrived a few hours ago!) Budapest, Hungary, where our team travelled to today for a training camp. We’re here for the next two weeks and will be accomplishing a ton of base work as we start to ramp up for the 2012-13 season.

But since this is a weekly update, I’ll be looking back at last week. This past week was a fairly relaxed one as we rested up for the travel to Budapest and the upcoming camp. And a good thing too! I finished up a hard block of training with a little trip out west to attend the marriage of two of my good friends and teammates, Gabby Waddell and Tyler Derraugh. It was a beautiful ceremony and an awesome reception followed. It was great to see some familiar faces from the years I spent in Calgary and celebrate Ty and Gabby’s special day with them.

Myself, Richard Shoebridge, Gilmore Junio and Liam Mcfarlane at the wedding ceremony

Now, having arrived in Budapest after a long travel day that went by surprisingly fast and essentially seamlessly (no lost bags, long layovers etc), I’m looking forward to the camp. I asked Derrick (Campbell, my coach) about what to expect for the next two weeks. He said that we should expect to cry on the inside and the outside. Hmmm…