Check out what Innovative Fitness Toronto has been doing this winter to stay warm!
Canadian sailing team athlete and aspiring Olympian Claire Merry shows us how her and a group from IF Toronto are getting out of their comfort zone and trying exciting new activities. Thank you to Highlands Nordic in Ontario for hosting and showing the group how a simple twist on a common winter sport can really get things “fired up”.
By: Claire Merry
February is always one of my favourite months in Canada for getting active outside. Except in the really extreme conditions, it is a good month to be active outdoors without feeling like you are sweating too much. These are the months I cannot go sailing in Canada and between regattas down south I like to come home and hit the snowy trails. Cross-country skiing offers a wide variety of levels of difficulty and intensity and is great cross training for almost anything, especially summer runners and bikers. It is also a really fun way to mix things up if you are normally a downhill skier, snowshoer, or hiker.
Biathlon combines cross-country skate skiing and shooting. Cross-country skiing has been used for thousands of years as a way of getting around but became a sport in 1843 when the first race was held.
Recently a group of us from IF Toronto got together and took a biathlon lesson. Yes, that’s right – the shooting part! One of the best parts was learning a new appreciation for biathlon athletes. When you watch biathlon at the top end in the Olympics it does not seem to be a sport for the faint of heart, but it was not until we actually tried it that my respect for the masters of this endurance sport really grew.
The high intensity, interval-like sprints mixed with calm, accurate and focused target shooting make it a sport that anyone can try. A group with a wide range of physical abilities and skills can end up being fairly competitive with one another, and in our group I think it is safe to say that everyone learned something new.
The first part of our lesson was indoors where we learned how to prepare the rifle safely for shooting. In this case we were using rifles with pellets on a 15-meter range. In the Olympics, they use 22 caliber rifles and shoot across 50 meters. After the safety lesson we hit the trails where we warmed up by practicing our skate skiing technique. If you are new to cross-country skate skiing, the motions are similar to those in rollerblading and ice-skating. You strike both poles beside you and push your arms back as you shift your weight from one leg to the other. The less you think about it the more things seem to flow.
After warming up we focused on just the shooting in the range. This is where we learned how to get into the proper shooting position while wearing your skis, and how to line up the gun barrel with the 5 targets.
The last part of our lesson was all about racing. We were taught how to properly skate into the shooting area and after each lap around the course. The importance of breathing technique was stressed during this time, as a fast heart rate (after doing a lap of cross-country skiing) can make it very difficult to have an accurate shot. Our instructor described the breathing technique as something that looks “hysterical” when you do it. One would think he might have been exaggerating the depth and vastness of his breaths coming into the shooting range, but as soon as you we were racing you realized how important deep breathing is. The trick is to shoot as you are exhaling. In biathlon, for every target that you miss it adds 40 seconds to your time, and sometimes you are required to take a penalty lap so it becomes important that you are accurate. For us newbies it was a balance between trying to go fast around the track on the skis, and making sure that we were breathing calmly once in the shooting position. A lot was learned, and there was exercise to be had. A fun day for all with IF Toronto!
Claire Merry
Canadian Sailing Team
IF Sponsored Athlete
Innovative Fitness Toronto Ritz-Carlton
Innovative Fitness Oakville
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