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IHot Hot Heat
The last few weeks have been really great! So great that I haven’t had the desire to sit down and write a post with any substance. But, here I am back at the keyboard, mainly due to being inside where it is nice and air conditioned, as opposed to outside where I start sweating without even moving!
Since the hockey camp there was an eastern camp, with most of the eastern based team member training at the ACC. Coming off of hockey camp and only the weekend off in between, that was a really tough week. Last week was a week on our own, where I continued to train at the ACC. It was also Canada Day week, which made for a slightly shortened week, so I took some much deserved time off from being in the gym. Mari had just come back from a camp Mt Hood with the Quebec Team and spent a week in Ottawa. She relaxed while I worked my butt off in the gym!
Canada Day was a blast! Jan Hudec was also in town for a President’s Choice event, so we spent some time with the big guy before hanging out with friends for the rest of the day. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of techno music, and my favourite DJ, Deadmau5 (pronounced dead mouse) was playing in the market that night. It was awesome to see him play live finally, and I even got to meet him! Deadmau5 is actually from Niagara Falls and is the #6 ranked DJ in the world right now. Pretty impressive!
Deadmau5, unmasked.
Mau5head!
This week is the final eastern camp of this dryland block. The heat is making the Dome almost unbearably hot, and I come out each day fully soaked with sweat and a serious thirst. Its good when everyone is together for a week like this though. The motivation (and chirping of course) seriously help to get the work done and put the money in the bank!
Let Me See Your War Face!
Our conditioning coach Matt Price has been killing it with his videos lately. Here are the latest two, “Let Me See Your War Face!” and “Hockey Skillz!”. Make sure to check out Matt’s blog. He’s updating it more and more with videos and useful training info as the summer goes on so stay tuned.
Meridian Athletic Development Blog
And as a bonus I added this one of my girlfriend Mari trying to show me up with her one handed push up skills!
Eastern Camp
After a couple of great weeks in Calgary (minus the snow!) I’ve been back home for the teams eastern training camp here at home in Ottawa. Julien Cousineau, JP Roy, Stef Guay, Louis-P Helie, Tyler Nella, Kelby Halbert, and Ryan Semple are all in town training at the Athletic Conditioning Centre (ACC) for the week. The ACC looks a heck of a lot different from the last time I trained there a few years ago!
The ‘new’ ACC layout
The rest of the dome
The level of training has stepped up this week and I’m definitely feeling it in my legs! It’s been a very similar camp to the one in Calgary, just different exercises and teammates. Matt has been doing a really good job of keeping things interesting and the usual boredom involved with gym time has been avoided, which is unreal. I’ve really been getting in to the hockey lately as well. I’m playing a couple times a week and I can’t wait for hockey camp in two weeks!
On a technical note, Tyler sent me a screen shot of the new site design so far and it looks like it will be great once it’s finished.
Oh and I wrote this whole post on my iPad, which is hands down the coolest, most incredible piece of technology I have ever used!
Dryland Videos
Did my last Calgary workout for a while this morning. I’m heading back home to Ottawa at 6 tonight. The timing couldn’t be better because it snowed for about 12 hours yesterday! Yes, snow. In May. Can’t wait to get home to some balmy 30 degree weather!
The team’s trainer, Matt Price, has been taking a bunch of video of us during dryland over the past few weeks. He’s put together a few videos of the outdoor “Rocky” workout, MMA/kickboxing workout, and some floor hockey. Enjoy!
First Dryland Camp Pictures
Last weeks camp was the first of a few team dryland camps over the summer. It was pretty cool to be around the older members of the team and see how they do things in and around the gym. It was a fun week because the trainers are really trying to step outside the box when it comes to training activities so we don’t get too bored of the usual squats and lifting.
I’ll be out here for another two weeks to be around the trainers and facilities. This week is more gym work, another outdoor session, and a possible 3 sessions of hockey. I’m rekindling my love of hockey and I’m trying to play as much as possible!
Nick Ring teaching us how it’s done
Erik testing his skills on Louis
Robbie Dixon and Trevor White
Thinking outside the box: Outdoor session
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Manny and Jan rock throwing
Hammerin’ some tire
Nella and Kucera. Not sure what this was called but those tubes were filled with water.
Tossing a 20kg kettlebell over a tire swing
Brad Spence and I doing the tire pull/run
Louis doing the second part of the water tube exercise
*Thanks to Chad Buchholz for the pictures
Physical Testing
My time off is officially over as I’m back out in Calgary for the first dryland camp of the new season. As always, physical testing was first up on the agenda. The various bike, strength, and agility tests were done over two days without much fanfare. Nobody gets too excited about pushing their body to the limit on a stationary bike! The head trainer for the team this year is my old trainer who coached me for a few years while I was on the NCO.
First team meeting
In the afternoon of our second day of tests we took part in a hot yoga class. I had never done hot yoga before and for anyone who doesn’t know what it is, it’s exactly what it sounds like: yoga in a ridiculously hot room. Within minutes we were all dripping sweat into big puddles on the ground around us. It was possibly one of the more disgusting things I’ve ever done, but it was interesting and we’ll be doing a lot more of it over the summer.
Today was another first as we did a mixed martial arts (MMA) class with Nick “The Promise” Ring. Nick was on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter TV show, and is a pretty damn good fighter. He took us through the basics of punching and kicking and then let us kick and punch each other while wearing big protective pads. It was a good time and we’ll also be doing a bunch of that through the summer.
The MMA gym
The rest of the week will be more of the same. Gym time, yoga, MMA, biking. This week is more of an orientation week so we all understand the program, rather than a super intense training week.
Sign outside the construction zone of the new center. Click for larger image.
Good news for Canadian athletes! A new multi-sport athletic center is being built at Canada Olympic Park (COP). All I know is that it’s supposed to be state of the art (apparently even more so than the Centre of Excellence in the States) and is planned to be completed before 2012. Can’t wait!
Mike Janyk’s Olympic ring. Pretty sweet.
Revving Back Up
Sorry for the lack of posts lately.. I’ve been busy and I’ve started working with Tyler Brown (one of my first coaches and current MSM Ski Team K2 coach) on redoing my website. I like the general appearance now but updating things is a pain in the butt. So Tyler is helping me transfer everything over to an easier and better system, while also revamping the look of the site. I think it will turn out very nice!
Well my vacation is almost over and its time to start the dryland part of the season. I’ve gotten into the gym a few times in the past week and boy is it hitting me hard! The first few workouts of the year are always tough. Other than the gym I’ve rekindled my love of tennis. I got a wicked new racquet from Head and played a few times while Mari was in town, and played with the Alex and Phil Mach for a 2.5 hour monster session today. It was great and I learned a lot but my hand is simply destroyed with blisters!
At the end of last week I also had the chance to attend both the OSZ and MSM Ski Team Banquets, which were fun. Both banquets recognized the up and coming talent in the region which is always good to see! I was very flattered to be presented with a special award at the OSZ Banquet. Once again I was amazed by the support of the people in the region, and I want to thank every one of you.
As far as my schedule is concerned I leave for physical testing in Calgary on Thursday evening. I’m staying out there for 3 weeks after that to be near the ACA trainers in order to get as strong as I possibly can for the tough season ahead.
Malcolm Carmichael, a Banff based photographer, sent over a couple wicked shots the other day from National Championships in Nakiska:
Super G
Downhill
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