Travis’ Workout Blog Week 2: Saturday Slow Long Distance!

Posted on 06/20/2012 by Travis G

So after a hard week of training with 4 to 5 days at the gym, and 5 days of intense bike rides/sprints, my Saturdays are the days where I can relax a bit and do some of the easier but long cardio workouts that are actually some of the more important workouts of the summer! Its really important to really work your “lower end” cardio early in the training period so that you build a strong cardio base, so that when you do those sprints and intervals all week you can work at a higher intensity level. We call these workouts “Slow Long Distance” workouts, and I usually like going on a fun adventure by going on a hike in the mountains! During these SLD workouts I try to keep my heart rate between 135 and 155 so it is pretty chill and I have to go slow on some of the uphills. However there is a huge payoff to doing these workouts outside on a hike rather than on a spin bike in the gym; you get to see some pretty amazing places and it is super fun! Believe it or not, some of the other skiers do these SLD workouts on a spin bike in the gym! This last Saturday I drove up to Lake Louise and did a three hour hike up above the lake to the Lake Agnes Tea House!

Marie and our borrowed dog for the weekend Milka rocking a Big Truck hat and enjoying the view on our Slow Long Distance!

Lake Agnes

And the Tea House!

These SLD workouts are my favorite workouts of the week and not a bad way to spend a day as an athlete getting out of the gym and into the mountains! So make sure to get outside and enjoy the amazing places that nature has to offer, and know that these kind of hikes are actually great workouts and really important for skiers like myself!

Next week Ill post about one of my lower body workouts!

-Travis

First Two Days in Alaska with Warren Miller

Posted on 06/19/2012 by Travis G

I had a crazy spring/early summer. Following a full World Cup Dh and Super race season in Europe, I made a stop at US Nationals in Colorado, and then headed home to Tahoe for a week before heading off to Alaska to go film with Warren Miller Entertainment! It was an awesome trip up to Points North Heli in Cordova and it was super fun working with Tom Day, Danny Day (who I grew up with in Tahoe), and Court Leve.

After Alaska I joined my girlfriend Marie Michele Gagnon, and her teammates Marie-Pier Prefontaine and Eve Routier, as well as Federica Brignone and her boyfriend in Mexico for a few days of surfing and summer in Sayulita! Then I came back to Tahoe for a few days, drove up to my home for the summer, Canmore, Alberta, and then flew to Mammoth for our annual spring ski camp with the US Team. Then I finally flew back to Canmore after that month and a half of craziness and I am settling into the summer training routine here! It has taken me a month to recover from all that travel, and to go through all the photos and get organized enough to blog again! Here are some photos from Alaska! Also here is my first blog about Alaska with some photos.

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Wow we nailed it with the timing here in AK! For three days before we got here it was raining and foggy, and then Tom Day, Danny Day and myself show up and BAM!, the first two days of the trip are blue bird and amazing. My first time here to Points North Heli in Cordova, and my first time filming with Warren Miller, and Im like,”Wow I guess its always sunny in Alaska!” Haha-It looks like the luck is on our side with the weather. The trip has started out well with some amazing conditions and we are already pushing it pretty hard. I am lucky enough to be shredding with Mitch Toelderer, an amazing big mountain snowboarder from Innsbruck who charges as hard as anyone and is a super humble person to be with in the mountains. I am learning a lot from him and its fun to start pushing it a little! All these photos on this post were taken by Mitch! Thanks Mitch, and nice work yesterday sending the first run ever down “The Rattlesnake”. That was burly! It looks like sun for another few days so ill try and send an update soon!

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This line is called Tapas! I skied the lookers right spine and Mitch the lookers left! This was my third run ever in the Chugach.

: Kevin Quinn, owner at Points North is also featured in this Warren Miller segment and is our guide!

This is called Bubbys! We skied it on day two and it was amazing blower powder! I am sure we got a shot from it. I skied the prominent spine/ridge off the top and Mitch the big spine on the peak to lookers right!

Looking at a zone called The Massif from the heli!

Court Leve, our photographer on the left and Tom Day cinematographer on the right! They seem super happy after the first two days! We for sure got some shots.

My second line from day two!

Dropping in off the top!

Heli Skiing in Alaska with Warren Miller

Ripping by the heli at the bottom!

Bubbys in Alaska during my Warren Miller heli ski trip

This is me getting some blower powder off the shoulder of Bubbys! Look at the photo from above called Bubbys to see the scale of this 3000 foot monster!

That was an amazing start to the trip! Thanks Kevin Quinn and everyone at Points North as well as Tom Day, Court Leve, Danny Day, Mitch Toelderer, and our pilot!

Travis’s Summer Training Blog

Posted on 06/13/2012 by Travis G

View from Kitzbuhel start hut This photo gives me motivation to get in the gym! (Looking out of the start hut at Kitzbuhel)

Ski season is officially over, and for many ski racers like myself, vacation season (time off) is also sadly winding to and end. This only means one thing; it is time to get back in the gym and start getting strong again for next ski season! Being on the US Ski Team for the last 7 years, I have learned a lot about how important it is to be strong in order to push the limits in our sport and in order to prevent injuries. Injury prevention might actually be the most important thing. The stronger, fitter, and more flexible I am, the faster I am able to bounce back from a crash. In the last training run at Kitzbuhel this year I crashed on the bottom side hill, and bruised myself up pretty good, but since I had worked the entire summer before on getting strong and on my flexibility, I was about to bounce back and have the best race of my career the very next day getting 12^th! I cannot stress enough how important it is to get fit and strong being a ski racer.

That’s me about to crash at Kitz!

Over the next 10 weeks I will be sharing a few of my workouts on this blog. All of my workouts are specifically programmed from my trainer at the US Ski Team, and are designed for my strengths and weaknesses, but feel free to try out a few workouts yourself.

Week 1

I have exactly 172 days until my first World Cup Race of the season at Lake Louise. That gives me 172 days to get stronger before next ski season. The main point that I want to make for this first blog is that it is very important to start your training slowly. There is plenty of time this summer to get strong.

So to start things off I really want to concentrate on my core and my cardio. The stronger I can build up these systems, the harder I will be able to work out later in the summer when I start doing the harder heavier lifting!

Here is my cardio and core workout from Wednesday this week!

Travis hiking at Mammoth Hiking for a threshold workout near Mammoth after skiing!

(P.S. The second exercise is meant to strengthen my patella tendon and I do it twice a day every day so it is also in my workouts)

Cardio

Bike 15mins A1
2 x 20mins at Threshold (if no pain) with 10mins A1
Bike 15mins A1

For this workout I usually go and find a nice steep trail or a ski run to run/hike up for the 20 minute effort followed by a slow walk back down the hill between the two sets. Or You can go on a nice hike and hike very slow for the A1 and jog slowly uphill for the Threshold session! (A1 means that your heart rate is between 130bpm and 145bmp. Threshold means that you work hard with a heart rate between 165 and 175 beats per minute)

Core Workout

1. Single Leg Eccentric Decline Squats 10186

Very slowly lower down with one leg on a 15-20% decline. Stand back up with two legs. This exercise is designed to reduce tendon pain but must be done at a pain level lower than 3/10. 3×15 Twice a Day.

2. Prone stabilization. 3 sets of 65 seconds

3. Single Leg Lowers. (Laying on your back lower one leg at a time slowy and then bring it back up. Do 3 sets of 12 each side)

4. SB roll out stabilization. Start in a squat possition and slowly roll out on your forearms on the swiss ball. Control your movement and roll back into the squat. 3 sets of 8 reps.

5. Hanging hip flexion. Hanging on a pull up bar lift your knees to your chest. Knees Tucked!

6. Back Extension Hold. You can do this on a swiss ball as well. Hold this position for 4 sets of 35 seconds

7. Prone hip extension. Hold your legs up for 3 sets of 30 seconds. You can do this laying and holding onto a bench as well!

8. Side Hold in Glute Ham (hands across chest). You can do this one on a swiss ball. Hold a side plank. 3 sets of 35 seconds

9. Side lying stabilization. Three sets of 35 seconds. Hold yourself up through your shoulder on your forearm.

10. Dumbell Side Hold. I use a 90lb barbell. The core workout is standing tall and resisting the weight pulling your to one side. 2 sets of 30 seconds.

11. Supine spine rotation. I like to call these windshield wipers. 3 sets of 10 reps.

12. BB rotation. Using a bar from a squat rack find a corner to put the base into. Then keeping your core contracted go side to side for three sets of 6 each side.

13. Woodchop (no rotation) . Using a cable machine attach a rope to the end of it. Then keeping your shoulders square, pull the cable from low to high in a straight line and then extend your inside hand up. Repeat for 3 sets of 6!

And that’s it! You are done! I like to finish each workout with a good meal or a smoothie and my body always feels better after doing a cold bath in one of our nice rivers or lakes!