July 03, 2013 (Bend, Oregon) – We’ve just begun our second camp of the year, and they’ve both been in the same place, but with totally different focuses, and really different weather – Bend Oregon. Bend was the place that I had picked for my ski career as the best place to live and train in the world. My wife Beckie Scott also lived and trained in Bend for a large part of her career, partly for me I think, but for sure she found the same great things in Central Oregon that brought me there, and continue to make Bend the ideal place for x-c ski training.

Justin Wadsworth Canadian NST Head Coach © CCC

I wanted to make sure this season started well with everything running smoothly and the camps as dialed-in as possible. Bend was a no-brainer for this because not only does it have perfect training opportunities, great weather, lots other activities for the athletes, but I know every road and trail like the back of my hand, and I know what spot is ideal for each session.

Our first camp in the end of May was on snow at Mount Bachelor, which despite having had a below average snow pack, still had more then enough snow to cover their excellent trails. In fact, the snow kept coming during the camp, and I’m sure we ended the camp with more snow on the ground then when we started.

Anyway, the camp was focused on basic fitness, technique, and a gathering of our whole team to really make sure we were all clear on the task ahead this coming year. What I found was a super-motivated team of athletes, that had learned a lot from the year before, and a world-class support team that seems to never give up on being better. Bottom line from the camp – all the ducks are in a row, and we’re ready to carry out the things that have made us great in the past, and a lot of new ideas that will make us better this year.

Less then a month after our last camp here the focus is now on altitude, and the weather has gone from snowing to extremely hot. It’s a joke to say it’s a dry heat here in Bend, but it is dryness that keeps it just cool enough to make training manageable – perfect for what we’re doing. There are numerous volcanoes on the west coast of North America, but Central Oregon seems to be perfectly situated to have the mix of tons of snow in the winter, and beautiful warm sunny dry weather the rest of the year.

The mountains provide various altitudes to live and train at, and even at this camp in July we will be skiing on snow. The focus is altitude as mentioned before, and getting in a good volume period, but with strong punctuations of intensity and strength. The roller skiing, running and other training options here in Bend are really world class. The roads offer many different opportunities not just for grinding long two-hour uphills, but also for easy, rolling terrain, and for some of the steepest paved roads you’ll find anywhere (18% grade). The running/mountain bike trails are recognized as some of the finest in the US… for us to have so many great options with such variety is amazing.

For this camp we have all four of our World Cup men – Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov and Len Valjas. Joining the guys are World Cup Team member Perianne Jones, and Zina Kocher from our National Biathlon team. Although the men and women are not spending the whole camp together, we are with each other every few days, so the atmosphere is great.

The first few days of this camp were spent crossing the high Central Oregon landscape peaking out at an altitude of 8,000’. Paulina Peak is a relatively unknown volcano which erupted a long time ago leaving behind two beautifully clear lakes not unlike the famous Crater Lake, which lies about an hour and a half south of where we currently are. The boys have been taking full advantage of these lakes, both for cooling hot bodies after training sessions, but also spending much of their free time fishing the lakes for the huge Brown and Kokanee trout that lurk in it’s depths. So far the guys have caught a lot, but mostly the size that fit well in a frying pan. I have full confidence that they’ll hook into a lunker before we leave almost two weeks from now.

For this camp we’ve also tried a different method of living up high which has taken the form of two 36-foot RVs. As we move around from different training locations the RVs give us the flexibility of never unpacking or not having what we need right on hand, plus the massage and recovery can take place right away, and in the comfort of an environment best suited for recovery. It’s a method not so dissimilar from our bus at the Tour de Ski, but these RVs let the athletes cook, shower, rest etc… wherever we deem the best training to be that day. So far the guys have given it two thumbs up, so I’m sure we’ll be using these in the future as well.

While we’re moving around with the guys, Eric and the ladies are carrying out a “low” altitude camp in Bend. Even though Bend is just over a thousand meters, the O2 content in the air, and O2 saturation in the athletes is the same as sea level more or less. As mentioned, Bend has some of the best urban roller skiing with the West Hills providing super steep climbs and many options for intensity to make the roller skiing as close to ski terrain as possible. The ladies did an interval session this morning on the same hill that Beckie used hundreds of times to hone her offset technique and increase her VO2, and the session went really well.

We’ll be mixing up the training more then our normal camps hitting almost every form of endurance exercise to be had, and going from Mt. Bachelor to Smith Rocks, to the rolling roads of Tumalo. All in all this is a great camp, and will set us up for the real meat and potatoes of the training year thru July, August and September. The athletes look great right now, and have really followed through on the key points up until now, so I’m really expecting good things again this winter.