This posting is for is week 40 in our yearly training program, this means that a race week for both biathlon and Nordic. This week Nordic is racing Eastern Canadian Championships and Biathlon is racing in La Patrie. The focus this week will be short intensities working and recovery.we will always be focusing on good technique. 

It is time that all of the Nordic race athletes 15 - 19 biathlon and cross country have their blood tested for iron, b12 and CBC. In the last 8 months there have been three (two cross country skiers and 1 biathlete that I know that have been diagnosed with low iron levels and fatigue which has stopped them or forced them to reduce the amount of training and racing that they are doing. This is very important for our female athletes but it is also important for our male athletes as well. If we get blood tested now we will know if someone has low iron levels and we can begin to change things before the body shuts down to fatigue. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. For many athletes with low blood iron and fatigue it can take months if not a full year to recover, this sucks. So you will need to go to a doctor and tell them that you are an endurance athlete and you want your blood tested for iron level, b12 and CBC. follow this link to a blog that talks more about this. http://coach-pav.com/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-2

Make sure that you register by tomorrow night nordic online at zone4.ca and biathletes talk to dave. .

 People have been asking about the prologue. It is the shortest distance race in the year. It is fun, it is also happening on Friday  at 11:30am. So my recommendation is that you all do it unless you have a significant school commitment (ie test that can’t be moved or major project) You should also sign up for the other two races. These races will have the best competition other than Nationals so it is a great time to check out how you perform with national level competition.

 Here are the race distances for Easterns. Juvenile boys please note that you are doing a 10km, this is one of your longest races. 1998 boys you can race as either a midget or a juvenile. If you race as a midget you will have better results, if you race as a juvenile than you will have stronger competition.

For waxing, weather people are predicting rain in the early part of the week and then cold for the week end which is going to create some fast abrasive snow. For those that are doing 10km or more and want their glide wax to last you will need to put one layer of graphite on your glide zones, let it cool and scrape and brush and then add one layer of  Swix LF4 glide and iron it, let it cool, iron it again and scrape and brush. It is likely going to be this for all three races. There is a big storm moving in the early part of the week so I will confirm wax on Wednesday. We will apply toppers and grip on site and do not put on a base binder or sand your pocket, because it is going to be cold and abbraisive I want to test binders to see which will be fastest and durable enough.

M

Friday we will need to have all of the skies on site no later than 9:00 am so that they can be waxed in time for the race.

I will confirm Saturdays once I know start orders after Thursdays coaches meeting and I have a better idea of what the weather is going to be..