The 4th edition of our training camp will be based around the beautiful small town of Lake Louise, in the heart of the Canadian Rockies and the Banff National Park!
As usual, the camp will partly serve as a fall training camp for some Canadian National Skimo Team athletes but it will be open to other fit skimo and mountain running enthusiasts as well.
IMPORTANT: To attend, you must fill out the sign-up form further down on this page and be fully ready to participate in all activities. (See bottom of this page for more hints on self-assessment if you have doubts based on the camp’s itinerary.)
Quick overview
- Dates are September 23-25, 2016.
- All training sessions will be based within 30 min drive from Lake Louise.
- It will be mainly a trail & mountain running focused camp.
- Admission is free and additional costs will be kept to minimum – we are fully volunteering our time as well.
- This is not a “guided” training camp in the sense that there will be no official mountain or hiking guides present. We will make all safety decisions together as a group.
Itinerary
The camp will officially begin Friday at 5pm but we understand that work schedules may prevent some from joining us then. Feel free to join us later on Friday night or early on Saturday morning.
NOTE: This itinerary could change due to changing weather and mountain conditions, otherwise, we will most likely proceed as follows:
Friday – Sep 23:
- 5-5.30pm – meet at the hostel
- 5.30pm – easy run and stretching (1h altogether)
– this is not a mandatory session but is good to loosen your legs after the drive - 6.30-8.30pm – dinner, introductions and discussing next day
– see further below for more details about meals (section on Accommodation and meals)
Saturday – Sep 24:
- 8am – depart and drive to trail-head (I will present 2 options to choose from on Friday)
- 9am – start a long mountain run/hike & scramble which hopefully be a loop or A-to-B run
– this will be a 5-6h session - 6-8pm – dinner and skimo related Q & A, discuss next day
Sunday – Sep 25:
- 8am – bootcamp-style strength workout (1h)
- 10am – depart and drive to trail-head
- 10.30am – start a 2-4h trail/mountain run
- 3-4pm – we can all start driving home
Accommodation and meals
- Hi-Hostel at Lake Louise will be our ‘official’ accommodation and cooking place for the camp.
- Every participant is responsible for their own accommodation (unless you are one of the people that I already booked it for).
- Everyone is responsible for cooking or buying their own meals – the hostel has a great kitchen and a small restaurant as well.
Gear to bring
Here is a basic gear list we would like you to bring:
- Mountain or trail running shoes in good condition (La Sportiva or Salomon have the best models many of which MEC or REI carries)
- Training clothing – sweat wicking base layers, shorts, long sleeve and pants
- Water proof clothing – jacket and pants
- Cold weather clothing – bring a down jacket, hat and gloves for sure as we could easily have snow during the camp
- Headlamp
- Survival emergency blanket (like this or similar)
- Sandals and post workout clothing
- Ski poles or running specific poles
- Running vest or a suitable pack that can carry all your gear on Saturday (Ultimate Direction makes great running vests but your skimo race pack will do the trick as well)
- Food and snacks for fuel during workouts
- Helmet for protection against light rock fall
- Personal first aid kit – to treat blisters and stop minor bleeding
- Mountain or road bike (optional)
Registration and Updates sign-up form
Everyone that wishes to participate (although is still unsure) must fill out the form below. Thank you.
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Can I handle the camp?
If you are unsure if you should attend based on the below then send us an email via the form above.
Three things to consider when deciding:
- If you are currently not able to complete 8-10h of trail and mountain running spread over 3 days then this camp might be too much for you at the moment.
- The runs on Saturday and Sunday will include about 20-30% of extended periods of hiking so they won’t be as intense as they may sound.
- We expect you to show up well rested, injury free and with a positive attitude to participate.
» Report from the 2015 training camp based around Whistler.
» Here is how the the first Canadian Team summer training camp in Squamish went two year’s ago.
» Here is how a Canadian Team summer training camp looked like in Revelstoke in 2012.
To improve your training in the meantime checkout these:
- Our Skimo Racing Manual e-book
- Summer training tips for skimo racers from Adam Campbell (professional mountain runner)
- “Bread and butter” summer training for rando racing…
- Hiko-run: Skimo racer’s best summer friend
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