Cross-country skiers from Landing Trail Intermediate School and Edwin Parr Composite School have begun preparing for this year’s competitions.
During the first week of school, the group began training together, which in the fall months means running the Muskeg Creek trails, or dryland cross country skiing.
“It wasn’t just a distance run – we did some intervals today, which means we’re going hard up the hills for about four minutes then easy back. We repeated that about four times,” said the team’s coach, Henrik Asfeldt, on Sept. 14.
This year’s team is comprised of 18 athletes in Grades 5-10.
“Eighteen is a good number. You don’t always know…sometimes, some of them, it’s not what they thought it was so you lose a few through the year. It’s a good number to start out,” Asfeldt said.
For the older, more competitive skiers, they have been training since the snow melted from the ground. Training is more of a year-round program for them, which includes other sports, such as swimming,
Asfeldt said the students training program this autumn – before the snow falls – will cycle between short and long intervals, endurance and strength. Later, once there is snow, the students will work more on the technique of skiing, but for now will do ski bounding, which is running with poles.
“We got a couple of them on the Alberta development team last year, so if we can do that again this year and maybe improve the ranking, that would be good,” Asfeldt said.
