Sunny days

Last week I took a vacation to visit my parents and go to my cabin on Shuswap Lake. I went at the perfect time as it had been abnormally rainy and cold in the Okanagan before that and I arrived to the first real hot sunny week there. It was almost perfect weather with only a couple slightly overcast days. It was the ideal vacation and exactly what I needed after a busy spring.

I spent the first couple days at my parents house and hung out with old friends in Salmon Arm. I spent most of the time at Canoe Beach laying on the beach and floating on the water with my friend Sabrina.

Sabrina at Canoe Beach

Dinner with friends at the Barley Station in Salmon Arm

My boyfriend Mike came out Wednesday night so we headed off to my cabin on Thursday. We swam, lazed on the beach, kayaked down the lake to the Narrows to camp for the night, and spent time with my relatives who were at the cabin for the weekend.

View from the deck

Reliving my childhood on our surfboard at the cabin... the challenge was to have everyone stand on it at the same time!

Sunday I went for a nice road ride along the lake then we headed back to Canmore. We had a tough time dragging ourselves off the beach to make the drive and we stopped in Sicamous for one last swim before we headed back over the mountains. It was a shock arriving back in cold Canmore where it was rainy and miserable early in the week.

Next week we go in to the Haig Glacier for a week of glacier skiing. It will be nice to be back on snow again!

Thanks to Sabrina for all the pictures!

Spring Training

Spring has flashed by in a blur and summer is upon us already. I've had a great two months of training, made better by the fact that I haven't had any injuries as of yet (knock on wood!). It's so freeing to be able to do whatever activity my training plan says and not have to adapt it because of some nagging injury.

The training season started in May with a camp at Silver Star to take advantage of their spring grooming. We did some good technical work on snow and went for an 88km road ride around my old stomping grounds in Salmon Arm, Deep Creek and Silvercreek. I bought my road bike after I moved away from home so that was my first long road ride in the area and I loved it!

Our next camp was a testing camp 2 weeks ago. I did the usual VO2 max, uphill double pole, and uphill skate tests. They all went well and I'm on track with my training.

After the testing camp the team headed off to New Denver, BC for a brief training camp. The first day we did a LONG road ride. The whole route is about 220km and known as the Silver Triangle. The ride went from New Denver to Nelson, then back up to Kaslo and over to New Denver. Only two of the guys rode the whole route. I made it to Kaslo which is about 170km in 6hrs. It was by far my longest road ride and my longest training session ever and I had a blast! The guys started 30mins behind the girls and passed us just before Nelson. We ended up cycling in a train of probably 15 people for a while, intimidating the motorists. The area was beautiful and it was nice to get back to BC.

I did a spring course in May and June at the University of Calgary. I took Abnormal psychology which was fascinating so it made up for spending 4.5hrs sitting in an overly air-conditioned classroom every Saturday afternoon. My final exam was last week and I have been enjoying the freedom from studying and essay writing.

Overall it was a productive, busy two months. Next week is a much deserved rest week so I'm going to head home to Salmon Arm and spend some time vegging on the beach. I can't wait to relax in the sun!