October 4, 2009 (Lake Louise, AB) – Even though we were only an hour west of Canmore for this camp, I feel like I’ve been on a nice getaway. Lake Louise offers spectacular scenery, training opportunities, coffee breaks and even karaoke. Going into this short and sweet camp – not gonna lie – I was a little out of shape. After having two weeks of easy training in the beginning of September, it’s amazing how quickly my fitness confidence slipped away. A little legs only workout on skate roller skis up the Silvertip road a few weeks previous put it all in perspective and made me realize that I never want to feel out of shape again.

Going into the Lake Louise camp I wanted to get back into the routine of a regular training schedule and be hooked into my goals for this winter, just waiting to reel them in. This camp ran very smoothly, in fact it was actually run on Swiss Timing. Christian was the Head Coach in Lake Louise as Mike led some of the Seniors in Silver Star for a getaway of their own.

Considering its small size, we had our fair share of long training days and quality time on the road and trails around Lake Louise. Our camp was kick started with a road ride to Lake Louise, followed by an afternoon roller ski (complete with a freestyle rap session) on Highway 93. The weary travelers returning from Silver Star camp made a star appearance that evening and joined us for a zone 3 roller ski workout the following day up the Moraine Lake Road.

As for the next day, talk about an epic. I feel we got a good taste of what Yoho National park has to offer. Starting at the parking lot of Canada’s second largest waterfall, Takakkaw falls, we made our way up the Iceline trail to the Iceline Summit. At which point the girls peaced out and ran down the pass as the boys put in some extra k’s up the valley. Us girls made our way down the Pass, past Stanley-Mitchell hut. From there, it was down to Laughing Falls and downward still until we thought we couldn’t go down any farther. At which point, we ran down a meandering and seemingly endless trail back to the Takakkaw parking lot. Joyously greeted by some warm clothes and food, the 20km, three and a quarter hour run was long but well worth the scenery and company.

Whoop whoop, on the third day, we sprint. Not so much of a demanding Whistler sprint course, but more of an agility workout complimentary of some pylons set up in a parking lot. Sounds simple, but it turned into quite the race as we had more and more people roller skiing around these pylons all chasing down the sprint title. Complete with a qualifying time trial, three heats of head-to-head racing and plenty of maneuvering made for some good times.

The final day approached as the first one barely left. The team made its get away back to the hometown on roller skis, true style. It was quite a brisk morning, but we made the best of it with some good, focused training along the 1A highway; a quieter road which parallels the Trans Canada. At Johnston Canyon, after two hours on roller skis, we grabbed a quick snack, switched gear, made a couple jokes, had quite the tea party then began the last leg of the journey on road bikes.

My goal of leaving Lake Louise a stronger athlete feels accomplished and I had a good fix of priceless Academy moments, there really never is a dull moment. I feel like I have been granted access to those extra gears on my bike and am now full speed ahead into October. Whatever it has in store, bring it on.