Training in February

Photo by Calum Neff

How is training going?

That is what I get asked most of the time from people meeting on the road.
All started very good except when I had a nasty cold which was affecting my lungs resulting of a no training period for about 10 days in January and February.
After the first week in February I could start in the gym and slowly get outside to hike, cross country ski, ski and walk.
Beginning of February we had same melting temperatures which got replaced soon with very cold temperatures dropping as low as -30 C and more snow. This season is a very good snow year here in the Rockies. Even today I was hiking up Mt. Swansea in a blizzard and there is no sign of spring yet.
Most of my hiking was with snow-shoes due either the sheer ice on the bottom of the mountain and the deep snow at the summit. When it got to cold I spend a lot of time in the gym to work on overall core strength.
Based on MovesCount.com I still  logged 62 hours of training in February alone.
Suunto is behind MovesCount.com and has sponsored 10 xAlps athletes with T6d watches, a heart rate monitor, walking pad and biking attachment to log our training.
For February I was training most hours of the athletes who logged their times, this does not mean I was working out the hardest as this is not my goal. My goal is to work out every day and slowly bring it up to a level where I can train hard for 4-6 hours a day at least 5-6 days in a row without feeling any fatigue.
Keep on checking out our xAlps MovesCount Group to see what kind of training everyone is doing. Also make sure to check out my profile often at http://www.movescount.com/members/maxfanderl as I can win 1000 Euro if we get most of the hits/visits until the race.

xAlps presentations in the valley

We have been asked several times to talk and do a presentation about our experiences during the 2009 xAlps and how we are preparing for the 2011 xAlps.
A week ago we did 2 "motivational" presentations for the Windermere Valley school and are most likely going to do the same for the other schools in the valley.

We were also asked to do a presentation for the "Wild Voices" which is part of "Friends of Kootenay National Park" and "Parks Canada".
We love to support this project, and this also gives us a great opportunity to, once again, thank all the local businesses who donated services and products for our 2009 fundraiser and all the other companies who supported us with gear and equipment we used in 2009.

The Presentation is Tuesday Feb 22nd, 7:30 pm at the David Thompson Secondary School in the theater.

See you there
Max & Penny

Paradise Ridge the easy way up.

A friend (Rob Gardner) called me and asked if I had some time to play and could take a break from training. As mentioned in the previous blog, my lungs are plugged up and I need to give them a break, so I was game for a snowmobile tour up to Paradise Ridge (2500m ASL). This ridge is across from Panorama Mountain Village (local ski hill) and offers great views down into the valley we live.
We met more guys up there on their snowmobiles going skiing and boarding the "Canadian Style" and I managed to get a great flight in even with quite some wind from behind on take off.

How is training going?

How is training going? - That is the questions I get asked the most the last couple of weeks.
Right now, I am not doing to well as I got a cold and it went right into my bronchitis. Meaning I have to slow down to give it a chance to heal. In the meantime I give Google Earth/maps quite a workout, which is as important as fitness.
In regards to fitness, Suunto sponsors 10 of the xAlps athletes a Suunto watch and heard rate monitor to log our training at www.movescount.com. Who has the most visits will get Euro 1000 from Suunto.
I will keep updating my training and I hope you keep watching my training process to count up my visits.

Happy watching/training

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