October 8/09 9:32 am - CCA Victoria Track Camp Underway

Posted by Editoress on 10/8/09
 

The Canadian Track Team Pool attended their first day of an all encompassing training camp on October 7th.  This three day camp will cover topics such as sport psychiatry, how to prepare nutritious and fast meals, self recovery, sleep and human performance, as well as testing.

The day began with a painful wake-up call for Jacob Schwingboth and Cody Campbell who were the first to test their power and lactic acid threshold.  Both riders performed personal bests and were the worst for wear after their efforts.

Susan Boegman helped the boys recover with nutritious food in the "Not Just Cereal and Pasta" session, where all athletes helped prepare a curry lentil dish, some different ways to prepare and eat chicken, a tasty Quinoa salad, and learned how to be creative with homemade salad dressing.  Did you know that fresh herbs are the best source of antioxidants?

More photos by Richard Wooles

Laura Brown had been to many nutritional seminars over the years, but "our session with Sue today was the best one yet. Not only did we learn about proper nutrition and good food, we had the opportunity to prepare and then eat the meals. It was the most effective method to get the value of nutrition across and I know I will be taking things I learned today to go faster on my bike."

Media training was next with Keith Wells, Marina Ellis, and Auburn Sigurdson.  The cyclists were split in to 3 groups where each cyclist was given the opportunity to do a mock interview on camera and be put under pressure by a reporter.  According to Mark MacDonald, "this little bit of pressure made for some comical interviews. But each one of us seemed to improve as the session progressed. Hopefully we all know how to avoid giving the cliche hockey interview now!"  The valuable lesson learned was to prepare for interviews by writing down the key messages the athletes would like others to know about them and to become animated and passionate when being interviewed.

The day's sessions concluded after Andy Van Neutegem scared the athletes with pictures of 28" biceps, stories from his experiences as former head of  GBR Anti-Doping, and important information regarding the different anti-doping organizations that they may work with at some point in their career.  Andy "also showed us some crucial online resources that I'm sure all the athletes here will take full advantage of" said Joseph Veloce, including www.globaldro.com, where athletes can enter the name of a product to find out if it is banned or not.

It was a day packed full of information and ended with the athletes cooking their own dinners, a team meeting, and then off to sleep.

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