This winter has been the longest, coldest, snowiest winter I can remember. This winter`s first snow storm was on October 26th, two days before my birthday. Today, at the beginning of April, there is still a good blanket of snow covering people`s yards. In total, we have had five solid months of winter. I only went snowboarding once this winter and it was so cold we could only make it down the hill three or four times before we had to head to the chalet to warm up. With the late arrival of spring, I will finally get a chance to go hunting and fishing. Since we have been getting some warmer weather, the shelf of snow on the edge of the river is slowly melting which means that the rivers will soon be fishable. My Dad and I are looking forward to hunting and turkey season opens on April 25th. I am looking forward to getting my new compound bow out. This bow was given to me at Christmas by my Oma and Opa. I would like to have the chance to shoot a turkey before my Dad does! Finally, we are going to be opening our cottage as soon as the snow has melted. My cottage not winterized so it`s closed for the winter. BY this time last year, the cottage was already open and we were heading there on as many weekends as we could. Over the winter I feel like I am cooped up in the house. I can`t wait to get to the cottage to enjoy nature`s beauty, some relaxing and quality time with my parents.
It has been a great year for speed skating. There have been lots of great moments and I can't believe that it's over already. I will miss my club and all my skating buddies and coaches. I think that all of the skaters at the KW Sertoma Speed Skating Club have done a great job this year and I hope they had a lot of fun. We all traveled across Ontario for our meets and now some of the provincial level skaters get to go to Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec and skate for Team Ontario in the Eastern National Speed Skating Championships. I didn't officially make the team but was named the first alternate skater. It was only a week before the competition when I got word that the team was going to take the top five skaters instead of the top three. I couldn't believe that I was going to have the opportunity to represent Team Ontario at such a high profile event. I hope that it will be a great experience for all of us. At the beginning of the year I set some goals and now that the season is over I can honestly say that I exceeded these goals by a lot. My main goal for next year is to be able to skate 500m in 44 seconds or faster. If I can achieve this goal, the rest of the season should fall into place.
My 30 day challenge is going to involve speed skating. Since skating has come to an end, as of March 31st, I am going to have to stay in shape by myself. This will be a lot harder than if I was with my team. My goal for these 30 days and beyond is to do some kind of workout every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. On workout days I plan to either jog for 5 km, inline skate for 20 km, or road bike for 60 km. In addition to my tree times a week workout, I plan on improving my skating technique by doing exercises with bands. Prior to my workout routines, eating a well balanced and nutritious diet will be very important. My ultimate goal for the 30 day challenge is to be in even better shape at the beginning of dry land training as I was at the end of the competitive season.
|