BC Ski Team Dryland Camp Update – July 2008
by Toria Whitney
We were recently in Mt. Hood for a ski camp and then had about a week at home before starting a two-week dryland camp in Whistler with Cindy Thomson at the PacSport gym in the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.
We started out this dryland camp with some field-testing for the first couple days. The testing included the usual box jump, high jump (on a jump mat to measure power), and pentajump. There were also some different tests than we usually do at our lab testing, such as the Illinois agility test, the ‘beep’ test (Leger Boucher), a 20 meter sprint, pushups, pull ups, the plank test (to see how long you can stay in a flat plank position on your elbows and toes), the 5-stage core/abdominal test and, of course, the max squat test (how much weight you can squat for 3-5 reps).
After testing we were straight into the dryland camp. We have had two days off, but mostly 6-8 hour training days every day. Our days are either spent in the gym, out in the tennis courts doing agility drills, on the mountain doing hill sprints or on the pavement doing bike hill sprints, along with the ride to and from the gym every day.
Today we are getting the opportunity to try something different as we are going to the freestyle water ramps on Blackcomb Mountain to practice our jumps and tricks! That’s where you put on a wet suit and ski (in your very old skis and boots) down a wet, plastic ramp and fly into a pool filled with freezing cold glacier water. If you have a bad landing, pretty much the worst that can happen is your skis pop off.
It is great to get the whole team together so we can see where we are in our fitness and we can push each other. Also, as the only girl on the team, I have finally made it up to the level of the men’s development team and now the ‘Wo’ can come off the side of the “Women’s” team van!
Only a few days left of dryland camp and all the out-of-towners go home on August 1st for about a week before coming back here for another week-long dryland camp. ~ Toria Whitney (BC Ski Team/Whistler Mountain Ski Club)